Before COVID-19, Cael Keck had a hard time juggling everything: wrestling practice, training time and classes at Park Hill High School. He didn’t know it then, but his grades weren’t as good as they could be.
When the pandemic drove schools online a year ago, Cael discovered he had more time to train. His grades improved. He’s hoping for a college athletic scholarship.
So this school year, even after the district brought students back in a hybrid model two days a week, Cael, 16, soon realized he was better off finishing his junior year 100% online.
Now Park Hill is joining a trend locally and nationally to offer that option in the future, even when the pandemic is just a memory. The district is among those launching a permanent online academy in the fall for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. That’s where Cael will spend his senior year.
“He is doing great,” said his mother, Amy Grothaus. “He will say the work is harder online, but I think that helps him to really focus. This works for us and it was his choice. I love that he has this option.”
Why now?
Credit COVID-19 for the birth of this new education option.
“I think online is definitely beneficial for a lot of students who never took classes virtually before COVID but found out they enjoyed having classes online,” said Sarah McKenna, who teaches English both online and in person at Park Hill High School.
No one is disputing that most students learn best sitting in a classroom with a teacher at the front of the room. And in some communities, the lack of good internet made remote learning a challenge. Online school is not for everyone.
Grothaus said she would never suggest it for her daughter, who is in middle school. “My daughter needs the social aspect,” Grothaus said, and she doesn’t work well independently. “I would have to be right there with her, and I don’t have the time for that.”
But a 2020 survey by the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research group, found that about 2 in 10 U.S. school systems are adopting virtual schools, planning them or considering the idea. In fact, it was the one innovation that most district leaders said would continue past the pandemic.
Park Hill’s academy “grew out of what we learned having to deliver education virtually during a pandemic,” said Mike Kimbrel, the district’s assistant superintendent for academic services. COVID-19 meant districts had to pivot fast, Kimbrel said. “And it put us in a position for families to see and experience it.”
Schools have offered some online classes for years as credit recovery options and to help students with medical issues stay on track. But this is different.
“Last year it was about responding to a pandemic and a crisis,” Kimbrel said. “But now, it’s about making sure students have what they need to be successful.”
Kimbrel said his district has been kicking around the idea of expanding online classes for several years. “I think it’s become a more accepted option now because of COVID,” he said. “And in a more school choice environment, we are always looking at the best way to meet learning needs.”
Before COVID-19, Park Hill offered about 14 of its 180 high school courses online. The new academy will offer far more, and district leaders expect to continue adding courses.
Of course, students will still need to show up to school if they want such classes as band, orchestra or theater.
McKenna said that before COVID she was teaching only about 30 to 60 students a year online. A recent survey of Park Hill parents found that about 5%, or 200 students, are now interested in taking at least some classes online next year.
Students will work at their own pace and schedule video meetings with teachers.
For example, students who are really good at English but struggle in math could breeze through what they’re good at and spend more time on the problem areas.
“A student could slow down and watch a video lesson 15 times if they want,” McKenna said. “They can watch it until they’ve got it. In the classroom, we don’t have that kind of flexibility. Some students just enjoy having that kind of autonomy, and it teaches time management,” McKenna said. “It’s not just an academic opportunity. For some it’s teaching life skills.”
“I like the freedom,” Cael said Wednesday. “It’s not like you have one class and then the next and the next. You can do two classes and take a break and then finish, or do one class, all of it, and take a break. Really, it’s all up to you. That’s what I like about it.”
Kansas City area schools
Not all districts are on board with the trend.
Shawnee Mission leaders decided that even though they have interested students, they are not offering online-only school.
“We do not believe that a virtual learning model would give us the ability to guarantee the same level of high-quality, personalized instruction that is necessary to meet the goals of the district Strategic Plan,” spokesman David Smith said in an email to The Star.
But most districts on both sides of the state line are moving ahead with online-only options.
The Lee’s Summit school district has had limited online classes since 2008, said Kyle Pace, the district’s director of instructional technology.
“Up until COVID our online classes were designed for students who wanted extra classes, like the music student who wanted to take a lot of music — band and orchestra and choir — and take other courses for graduation online,” Pace said.
But next school year the district is starting a full online academy for elementary through high school. Middle and high school students will also have the option of mixing online classes with in-person classes.
“If a student has four in-person classes and three online classes, there will be a place in the school where they can go and be allowed to work online,” Pace said. “Or they could work on those classes outside of school.”
Pace said that while online has worked better for some students, some teachers like it better too and want to do it full time. “I’ve had teachers say to me, ‘This is my jam.’ It has opened new doors for teachers in their careers too.”
Pace said Lee’ Summit is so confident with its online classes that it has applied to the state of Missouri to accept enrollment from students living anywhere in the state.
Kansas City Public Schools has had its Kansas City Virtual Academy for 12 years, but its class offerings were limited and enrollment small, mostly in high school, said Christy Harrison, who manages the program.
The district is one of the last in the area to bring students back to in-person classes. Kindergarten through third-grade students returned to buildings on Monday. More grades will phase back March 22 and next month.
“When all the schools shut down in March, we started getting calls like crazy from people wanting to enroll,” Harrison said. Academy classes, she said, are more flexible than the regular remote learning schools offered when the pandemic hit.
Prior to COVID-19 about 200 students were enrolled. “Now we have about 1,800,” Harrison said.
The district had to quickly hire additional teachers and staff who only work the online academy.
“It became big really fast. But we have kind of gotten in our groove and it is going really well. We are able to support kids no matter where they are.”
In Kansas, several virtual charter schools have long operated in the state. Olathe and Blue Valley are planning online-only schools for next school year.
“The Olathe Public Schools is moving forward in creating a stand-alone virtual school for a select group of families that needed a virtual learning environment,” said Maggie Kolb, district spokeswoman. She said the district will release more information next month.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 5:00 AM.
