One of the sample lessons from K12 talks about water in a science lesson. The virtual classroom lessons can be done anywhere with a good internet connection. - World Photo by Lou Sennick

NORTH BEND — The North Bend School District wants to become the second district in Oregon to establish a virtual charter school catering to students throughout the state. Designed by K12 Inc., an established Web-based curriculum company in Virginia, the Oregon Virtual Academy’s structure and curriculum would give students an educational alternative freeing them from the confines of brick-and-mortar classrooms.

But questions remain about the academy:

Who is directing it?

Why did the North Bend School District — one of about 20 initially contacted — hop on board?

Virtual school

A partnership between K12, the Oregon Virtual Academy — a nonprofit organization that shares its name with the school — and the North Bend School District, ORVA is designed for children who aren’t thriving in a traditional public school model. It is expected to enroll 500 Oregon students in kindergarten through 10th grade in its first year and may draw up to 2,500 — including juniors and seniors — in its third year. The North Bend board approved a contract with the nonprofit in November.                                                                                         

Peter Stewart, the senior vice president of school development for K12, said the program would appeal to students who want to learn at their own pace, who can’t attend a traditional classroom on a regular basis or for military families who want to provide their children with a consistent education. K12 has programs in Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“This is one option in the public school menu,” Stewart said. “It won’t be the right fit for a large percentage of families who are happy with their public schools, but for some others, this might be the right fit.”

Stewart said the program is individualized to meet student needs and every instructor will be Oregon certified. K12 would provide curriculum, technology and consulting services for the academy, which will be overseen by a governing board made up of a former superintendent, parents, an attorney and a CPA. The academy’s governing board is responsible for the operations and budget of the academy and will be accountable for monitoring K12’s performance.

“The boards can dismiss K12 if we fail to meet the terms of the contract, including if we do not help the school make progress academically,” Stewart wrote in an e-mail to The World on Dec. 13.

Board of directors

According to the Oregon Virtual Academy charter proposal, submitted to the School District, the charter board will include parent Kim Jonas; accountant and consultant Chelsea York, who works for Price Waterhouse Coopers; Steve Odell, an assistant U.S. attorney, District of Oregon; Rosemary Green Alva, a professional/technical bilingual writer who lives in Beaverton; and board Chairman Jack Reeves, a retired superintendent of two Texas school districts. He lives near Woodburn.

Except for Reeves and Alva, Stewart would not provide the cities of residence of the other directors and would not detail how or why most were chosen for the board or who chose them.

According to the e-mail from Stewart, Reeves was recommended to the ORVA Board by Rep. Betty Komp, D-Woodburn, chairwoman of the Oregon House Education Subcommittee on Innovation. Stewart said little about Alva except that she had friends from other states familiar with K12 schools, that she had inquired about how she could help bring this sort of option to Oregon and that she had studied the curriculum.

Randall Greenway, K12 director of school development, said North Bend residents would be chosen to expand the board of directors.

On Thursday, North Bend Superintendent B.J. Hollensteiner said she did not know all of ORVA’s board members and was primarily familiar with Reeves. Other North Bend board members, including Dave Ellingson, Deb Reid and Robert Adams Jr., also were unfamiliar with the academy’s board.

They all said they are supportive of the Virtual Academy and see it as an opportunity to help students who don’t fit the traditional school mold.

Why North Bend?

In the e-mail, Stewart said North Bend School District was among a group of approximately 20 districts K12 contacted. Each district had experience authorizing, evaluating and supporting charter schools and their boards, he said.

“Based upon interviews with a few, North Bend seemed to be the best fit. The schools they currently authorize are high performing,” Stewart wrote. “North Bend also has internal staff with expertise  in charters. They have clear policies and procedures and can provide guidance to charter leaders as they learn to work with families and the state’s education leadership in Salem.”

Stewart said Oregon was the first state to have a public online charter school — out of the Scio School District — and North Bend and the Lincoln County School District are seeking their own.

Hollensteiner said her district was approached by K12 via an e-mail that went out to many districts in the state.

“It looked very intriguing to us and we wrote back,” Hollensteiner said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for kids. ... It just opens up another door for them to attend a virtual school and (K12’s) curriculum is extremely strong.”

The waiver

Jim Moyer, North Bend’s director of curriculum and instruction, said less than 1 percent of public school children from the state are expected to attend the virtual school. With a proposed student population of about 2,000, Moyer said only about eight children from North Bend likely would attend the Oregon Virtual Academy.

And therein lies one problem for the virtual school.

Any Oregon charter school has to have a minimum enrollment of 25 students, Moyer said. Under current law for charter schools, 50 percent of those must come from the sponsoring district — in this case, North Bend.

 “You need to have enough students so it can pay for itself,” Moyer said.

The academy has submitted a waiver application with the State Board of Education, which would allow it to recruit students from outside of district boundaries.

Hollensteiner said she and representatives from the academy will go before the State Board on Jan. 17, to present their proposal.

According to the Charter School Agreement between North Bend and the academy, without the state waiver for the 50-percent-residency rule, the agreement will be subject to additional negotiations. Pending the Oregon Department of Education review and the Board of Education’s decision, it is the district’s intention to support the charter school’s launch this month or in February. ORVA would be permitted to operate the charter school for five school years.

 Morgan Allen, a legislative director for the Department of Education, said the state has received the charter agreement and the waiver request. He said the State Board has a policy to make a decision within 120 days of receipt.

“There are no hard and fast criteria for denying the waiver,” Allen said.

However, he listed four broad criteria that would drive the board’s decision, including whether the applicant promotes development of programs by providers, enhances the equitable access by underserved families to the public education of their choice, extends the equitable access to public support by all students or permits high quality programs of unusual cost.

Opposition

Despite the bright face the School District and K12 representatives have put on the academy, the online school already has  drawn some opposition. Bob De La Vergne, superintendent of Coos Bay schools, believes the academy would poach students from other districts (see sidebar). Also, a North Bend School Board member resigned over the issue.

Tom Hibbert stepped down in September after the virtual academy was brought up at a School Board retreat. He said he opposes the idea because virtual schools do not provide human interaction that he believes is necessary for student development. He added that he is not against technology but prefers brick-and-mortar schools.

“There is more to education than learning on a computer. There’s learning how to get along with students ... playing sports,” Hibbert said. “I think some aspects of education do lend themselves to computer or technology, but others do not.”

He said he is also concerned about how the virtual charter school would be funded.

According to the Charter School Agreement, the school would not charge tuition fees, but it may charge “reasonable fees for the processing of applications, instructional materials, after-school programs and student activities.” The charter school would receive state school funding based on average daily membership. Schools typically receive about $6,000 per student. In this case, that money would be split between the school, the district, and each student’s resident district, Moyer said. A 5-percent oversight fee per student would go to North Bend, to be split in half with the student’s resident district. The remaining 95 percent would go to the charter school. A fee also would go to the online school program and for purchase of materials or other budgeted items. He added that if a North Bend student were to join the online charter school, the school district would lose 95 percent of the average daily membership. To break even, about 20 students from other districts would need to join the charter school to make up for North Bend’s loss.

Moyer said the School District has put more than 200 hours of labor, rather than money, into the establishment of the academy, and the district does not see it as a revenue stream.

“We see it as another option or service for some kids,” Moyer said.