Virtual high school to start small

As Sheridan County School District 2 prepares to offer virtual classes in a pilot program to start next fall, Mitch Craft, an assistant superintendent with the district, says the venture is going to start small.

Craft said the district is currently involved in collecting information from students and parents, including whether the students are interested in taking virtual classes next year and what those classes might be.

At the same time, he said, the district is also working with teachers who are interested in teaching virtual courses.

The virtual school will only be for high school students at this time, and Craft said the district is slowly piecing together what the offerings will be. Craft said teachers who will be involved in the virtual program will have time for training over the summer, including a focus on adapting their classroom curriculum for an online setting.

Craft has said in past interviews that, unlike the virtual schools that already are being taught in some Wyoming school districts, the Sheridan County School District 2 virtual classes will be taught by the school district’s own teachers.