Log on: Virtual school could be on the way

Next winter, Merced High School students could be learning algebra on laptops in the comfort of their own homes.

The Merced Union High School District received school board support Wednesday night to apply for a $30 million i3 grant, a competitive grant funded through the U.S. Department of Education with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The simplified version of the proposal is, if selected, the high school district will get funding to create a virtual school, enabling students who may not be attending classes to learn remotely. The second component of the grant is that the district will be able to offer supplemental online assistance in algebra for all students.

The grant will also provide time and resources to math and science teachers so they can create science and technology, engineering and math content, according to MUHSD officials.

The purpose of the grant is to narrow the achievement gap for home-schooled students or students attending under-performing or rural schools, school officials said.

The details of the grant are a bit more complex.

For starters, MUHSD is part of a 16-school California consortium, referred to as the California Open Campus Initiative, that created a partnership with the Riverside Unified School District to seek the ARRA funds.

The school districts that banded together for the grant are in seven counties and most are in Southern California.

"Having these districts come from seven different counties is really unique," said Dave Haglund, director of education options for the Riverside Unified School District. "It has the potential to impact 300,000 students."

To get the federal funding, the grants must include a 20 percent nongovernmental matching in funds, which Haglund allocated.

Some of the additional partners in the consortium include the College Board, Pearson Learning, Blackboard, the University of California and the University of Southern California, according to Haglund.

These partners provide management systems, curriculum and other resources, MUHSD school officials said.

Locally, Merced could become the Northern California hub for virtual learning, said George Sziraki, MUHSD assistant superintendent of educational services.

The virtual school is open to students in the seven counties that border Merced County. The district will receive state funding for those students, Sziraki added.

Tim O'Neill, MUHSD school board member, said this is a great chance to become a leader in the state in online learning.

The virtual school would be available to students any time of the day, so it could work with a student's schedule if he or she had a job or a child.

The grant would provide MUHSD with the resources to get Western Association of Schools and College accreditation, a principal, four full-time teachers and 20 part-time staff members.

Scott Scambray, MUHSD superintendent, and Sheila Whitley, MUHSD California Teachers Association president, also expressed their support for the grant.

The deadline to apply is May 12. If selected as one of the 100 recipients, MUHSD will receive the money by the end of September.

Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209)385-2407 or joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com.