Reply to BOE reconsidering the Virtual Academy, Leader in Me, and Innovative School Year Calendar

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I also wonder if there would be much cost savings closing the virtual academy. After all, there is no physical building, or anything associated with that. The technology is already baked in, in that all MCPS students have access to cheomebooks and zoom. It may actually be cheaper, in some ways.[/quote]

It is cheaper when you look at the numbers so this makes no sense. [/quote]

It's not cheaper.  Schools are roughly fixed costs in this case.  You can absorb VA students back into homeschool classrooms without needing to build more schools.  And, unless there's a concentrated group of VA students in a particular place and grade, you wouldn't even need to bring in another teacher to accommodate them. VA simply adds additional costs beyond what we already need to spend on classrooms.[/quote]

Of course it’s cheaper to educate virtually.  And, it helps with overcrowding.   The issue is they are not giving the student money to the va, they are giving it to the homeschool and paying for the va out of different funds.  They need to use that students allocated money and give it to the va.  Most Va kids never set foot in their home schools so them getting funding for these kids is wrong.  [/quote]

The question isn't whether it is cheaper to teach kids virtually than in-person.  It is whether the cost of VA is less than the marginal cost of moving VA kids back into schools.  And it's not.  It would be cheaper to teach those 900 kids in their homeschools than to continue to operate a special program for them.[/quote]

No, the issue is how they are funding it.  They need to change the funding.  They were funding it out of covid money.  The idea was that the home schools would provide sports, after school clubs, music, theater, and field trips as well as provide dances, graduations and all the stuff in person kids get.  However, only a select group of schools allow virtual students to participate and many of the VA students have never set foot in their home schools (especially those who refuse testing).  So, those homeschools are getting funding for students they are not serving.  So, take that funding that you are giving to the home schools and fund the VA with that money, problem solved.  Give virtual kids the same opportunities for clubs, sports and other things through the virtual academy and fund things like graduation.  The cost savings given how much MCPS spends on other things is very minimal.  And, it serves an important function for some kind who are not well served in person or cannot be in person or just learn better virtually.

Look, we get you don't like virtual.  We get that you cannot stand having your kids home and prefer someone else deal with them the bulk of the day.  But, what does't work for you and your family works for other families.

And, part of the mass exit is because of the social and other things promised that MCPS didn't deliver on so many families felt forced to send their children back in person to get those things met.

Or, MCPS should give families stipends to do the activities outside MCPS if they are not going to have equity and give the VA kids the same as in person.  [/quote]

Didn’t it come about because of the pandemic? What did your kids do before then?  The only families I knew in it participated because of health concerns related to Covid.  Even they are back in person now.

Using the federal money to provide virtual learning during a public health crisis made complete sense. Whether it makes sense long term, and where to pull money from once federal funds are out, is more debatable.  I’m glad MCPS is evaluating whether it makes sense to continue.  I get that you’re annoyed that others have different opinions than you, but as taxpayers, we are all entitled to our opinions on how the money is spent.[/quote]

So, if we are all entitled to how money is spent, just like you don't feel our kids should be virtual, maybe we feel that all kids should be virtual.  That would cut down on lots of MCPS expenses and then they can just focus on education.  See how that works.  You are blessed if things are going well in person for you.  There are many reasons why families choose virtual and no one owes you an explanation as to why.[/quote]

You are entitled to advocate for virtual school and the rest of us are entitled to advocate to get rid of it. Who knows if they will keep it or get rid of it. For now it is a black hole - we have no idea if kids are learning and whether it is an adequate substitute for in-person learning or not [/quote]

As compared to in person school?  Talk about a black hole. [/quote]

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