When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Florida Virtual School came to the rescue of students beyond those in the Sunshine State, jumping at the opportunity to partner with more than 160 new schools and districts. One of the world’s leading online learning providers, FLVS now serves more than 240,000 students.
Editor’s note: This article appeared Monday on the74million.org.
Kristy Maxwell realized something had to change the day she picked her son Levi up from school and found out his teacher had left the autistic kindergartener alone crying and throwing pencils from under his desk.
The Michigan mom switched her son to a school that had a good reputation serving students with disabilities, but things didn’t improve. Because Levi was a “math whiz,” staff ignored his trouble socializing and his difficulty handling the cafeteria’s loud noises, Maxwell said.
Meanwhile, she was unsuccessful in lobbying the school to screen her child for autism, a way to secure the extra services required by law for students with disabilities. The mother worried her son might never get the learning support he needed.
Then, in March 2020, the pandemic shifted all classes at his school online and forced the family into an accidental experiment in a new model of education.
During remote school, Levi could get one-on-one attention sitting next to his mother, who had to temporarily stop her work as a massage therapist due to COVID. His younger sister, who struggles with anxiety, could take breaks to pet the family’s dogs.
“When everything shut down and we were forced to go virtual … my two younger kids did really well,” Maxwell said. “We decided after doing that, since the younger two kids did so well outside of a brick-and-mortar [school], keeping them virtual would be the best way to help them academically.”
The Maxwells, whose three kids are now 9, 11 and 15, are among the thousands of families across the U.S. that tried virtual learning for the first time during the pandemic and are now staying with it.
New data indicate that online schools have had a staying power beyond the pandemic that few observers suspected. While some virtual academies have operated for decades, they saw a well-documented enrollment explosion in 2020-21, the first full school year after COVID, as many virus-wary parents looked to protect their children from infections and anti-mask families sought a way out of face-covering requirements.
But in the following year, even as brick-and-mortar schools fully reopened and mask mandates fell, remote schools mostly maintained their pandemic enrollment gains — and in many cases added new seats.
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Jessica Strong, a sixth-grade teacher at Florida Virtual School and the first person in her family to graduate from high school and college, received the 2022 Ron Nieto Digital Educator Award.
On this episode, ReimaginED Senior Writer Lisa Buie talks with Jessica Strong, a sixth-grade English language arts teacher at Florida Virtual School, who recently received the Ron Nieto Digital Educator of the Year Award for 2022. Named in memory of Nieto, who served as Florida’s first deputy commissioner of innovation, it is given to a Florida educator who excels at using technology in the classroom to positively impact student outcomes.
https://nextstepsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Reimagined.jessstrong_mixdown-final.mp3
As the only child of a single mom whose struggles had forced her to leave school in seventh grade, Mrs. Strong never imagined she would go to college, much less become an educator. But not only has she become a teacher, but also one of the best digital educators in a state that pioneered high quality virtual education.
“My internship was with FLVS, and it was a unique experience, and I fell in love. I saw how innovative and interesting things can be done with a student who isn’t right in front of you…Students are tech natives, so their natural inclination is to learn and find out things on the computer, so putting education on computers is such a fascinating concept and with a little ingenuity, there’s nothing I can’t do.”
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RELEVANT LINKS
https://blog.flvs.net/inspiring-the-next-generation-2021-22-team-members-of-the-year/
https://store.classroomauthors.com/product/mnv-v6xn
On this episode, reimaginED Senior Writer Lisa Buie talks with Caroline Tevlin, an elementary school Spanish teacher who customizes her students’ education by tapping into their individual learning styles.
Tevlin transitioned to teaching online after working in a traditional school setting for six years. Four years into her experience at Florida Virtual School, she enjoys the flexibility as an educator and recognizes its benefits for her students.
“It was such a great fit for me. It was nice to be there at the beginning of the Spanish program. It was so great to have that flexibility along with so many tools I could utilize … This really made me think creatively and connect with students and meet them where they’re at. I have always known that every student learns differently.”
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On this episode, reimaginED Senior Writer Lisa Buie talks with Michael Bonick, an elementary teacher and guitar player at Florida Virtual School, who engages students by incorporating music in core academic subjects.
A teacher for 22 years, Bonick’s interest in music blossomed when his father suggested that he play the saxophone to address an injury that prevented him from moving his right arm. Bonick, who was 7 at the time, quickly lost interest in the sax but later taught himself how to play the guitar because his condition created a challenge, and he thought his success would inspire students someday.
Bonick began his academic career as a pre-school teacher, transitioned to teaching elementary students, and joined Florida Virtual School in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Despite campus re-openings, Bonick never looked back.
He always shows up for his online classes with his guitar and composes ditties on the spot that incorporate students’ names with the concepts he’s teaching.
“The first day I taught at the preschool, and we had lunch and I walked out, and I thought, ‘Okay are you going to walk back into that classroom?’ It was one of those defining moments … I said, ‘Go back. It’ll be the best decision you ever made.’ And it was. It has been for 22 years.”
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The following bill has been filed for the 2022 Florida legislative session, which begins Jan. 11 and runs through March 11.
BILL NO: SB 980
TITLE: Virtual Instruction Programs
SPONSOR: Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., R — Hialeah
WHAT IT WOULD DO: SB 980 would make it easier for out-of-state virtual schools to offer services in Florida by removing requirements that providers must have an administrative office in Florida, that their administrators are Florida residents and that their instructors are Florida-certified teachers. If passed, the bill would take effect in July 2022.
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