At the Oct. 6 special board meeting, the Montgomery ISD board of trustees discussed a proposal for a new virtual learning pilot program.
The project
Amy Busby, MISD assistant superintendent of student services, said the initial plans for the program were created due to interest within the district. Busby said that the district has had conversations with parents, teachers and other administrators about a new virtual program to support students.
The current proposal is for a pilot plan to begin in the spring 2027 semester. The pilot program will be open to students in grades 9-12 and will be fully virtual with limited enrollment. The purpose is not only to test the virtual program's capabilities but also to bring back former virtual students who recently left the district.
If the board is satisfied with the initial results of the pilot program, the plan is to move from limited to open enrollment for the 2027-28 school year. For the 2028-29 school year and beyond, the district's main goal is to retain its virtual students and offer additional flexibility to MISD students, such as hybrid learning.
Students zoned for MISD or whose district transfers have been approved are eligible for the virtual program. The virtual program provided by MISD through Pearson offers numerous courses but does not offer every course required for graduation.
Approval for the program will also be based on remaining credits needed to graduate. The program is recommended only for students who have passed the required end-of-course and State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams.
Dig deeper
Busby said MISD is considering various factors to make sure virtual students are able to get the full MISD experience online. Students who are part of the virtual program will be allowed to participate in UIL activities, pep rallies, prom and student clubs, according to the organizations' bylaws.
Virtual courses in the program will count toward students' class rankings. The reasoning behind this policy is that MISD still counts virtual coursework toward rankings for any student who transfers into the district from a previous virtual program.
To make sure students are completing coursework ethically, they will be provided with laptops from MISD that have virtual learning programs and monitoring systems pre-installed.
One last thing
Further conversations on the virtual school program will happen at MISD’s next public meeting on Oct. 20.
