School District 2 trustees to consider ‘going virtual’

Trustees of Sheridan County School District 2 could decide this coming weekend whether to proceed with a pilot program of virtual instruction.

Scott Stults, who’s one of the district’s assistant superintendents, said trustees will meet in a retreat Saturday, and at that time, a third presentation will be made of a proposal by Assistant Superintendent Mitch Craft to offer a high school class, or classes, online.

Stults explained the procedure if trustees do, in fact, approve such a program.

Stults said virtual learning isn’t for everyone and is, in fact, very difficult for many students because they don’t have the structure in place. He said students who take classes virtually need a lot of self-initiative, a lot of responsibility and the dedication and commitment to do the coursework every day.

He said there would be a process for School District 2 to make sure the right students are being chosen to participate in virtual learning.

Craft presented a proposal for School District 2 to create a virtual high school learning program at the school board’s meeting in February and followed up with a second presentation at the meeting earlier this month.

Stults said the proposed virtual high school program won’t be the virtual education program that the district had in place during the statewide school closures last spring. He said the district considered that to be an emergency situation, whereas the virtual high school program would be carefully planned out.

Stults said the school district initially will start small in terms of the number of classes offered virtually. He said the goal is to make sure the virtual learning is done right.