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Students learn fulltime online

Marc Valero, Highlands Today

Lake Placid High student Esteban Porres works on his online Florida Virtual School classes on Friday in the school's Performance Based Lab.

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: November 24, 2009

SEBRING - The Highlands County School District has 12 enrolled students who don't have to step on a school campus to learn.

They are not homebound students, but the first students in a new fulltime learning option from Florida Virtual School (FLVS).

Since it was founded in 1997, Florida Virtual School's enrollment has steadily increased and, since the start of the 2009-10 school year, now includes a fulltime online program.

The Highlands County School District has one or two students, learning fulltime online, in most grades from grade one through 11.

"We started out with about 21, but I think that some have found that it in some ways it is more difficult because, although you have access to a teacher and interact with a teacher, it is still not to the extent that one has when you are in a classroom all day with the teacher right there," Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Rebecca Fleck said Monday.

Also, the district's fulltime FLVS enrollment dropped because a few of the students moved from the district.

Some students enrolled fulltime in the virtual school because it gives them a more flexible schedule, Fleck said.

But most of the county's FLVS students attend a brick and mortar school and take one or two classes online.

Lake Placid High School has 31 students enrolled in Florida Virtual School.

Guidance counselor Marie Wilson said most of those students are taking only one course and they are taking that class on campus.

"We may have a student taking AP (advanced placement) computer science because we don't offer that class on campus," she said. "We have students taking Chinese. Again, we don't offer it on campus so they can still get the curriculum and course work through Florida Virtual."

There is a whole gamut of reasons students are taking Florida Virtual School classes, Wilson said.

A few Lake Placid High students were taking online class Friday in the school's Performance-Based Lab.

Sophomore Megan Mahoney is taking her first online course - algebra II.

"I didn't learn algebra I that good so it helps me comprehend more," she said.

Taking the course online allows her to set her own study schedule and pace.

"You can get three assignments done one day and two the next; you just have to do five in a week, she said, and it's one-on-one with your teacher."

After starting the school year in an advanced placement American history class, Junior Camille Renzoni switched about two weeks ago to a regular American history class online.

The AP class was too much for her to handle so she was going to take the honors class, but it was full, she said. "So I decided that I already had some experience with this online stuff so I just decided to take it online."

After previously taking a biology and English class online, Senior Thaddeus LeGree is now taking algebra II online.

"I needed something at a slower pace because in class I couldn't get it because it was going too fast," he said.

After taking a couple of advanced placement classes online, Esteban Porres is currently taking macro economics online because it is not offered at the school.

FLVS served more than 63,675 students in 137,450 half-credit enrollments in 2007-08. The previous school year (2006-07) students completed 87,250 half-credit hours.

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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