What to know
The virtual school was among the CISD campuses Deputy Superintendent Bethany Medford discussed Feb. 5 when she presented A-F accountability ratings for 2024. The unofficial ratings were locally calculated and then verified by the Texas Education Agency, as previously reported by Community Impact.
In the presentation, the virtual school received a D as it was considered under the high school label even though the previous year the school had received a B, officials said.
“The state determines what type of campus a school is defined as based on their grade span, and based on their grade span last year, they were grade four through grade nine. The state counted them as what’s called a K-12 campus,” said Lauren Helfer, CISD’s coordinator of accountability, data analysis and performance reporting.
K-12 campuses are rated as a high school, which Helfer said was more challenging than if the school was defined as a middle school.
Dig deeper
The virtual campus for district students in fifth through eighth grades began in the 2022-23 academic year, as previously reported by Community Impact. It was initially created by $1.5 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
The school offers fifth through tenth grades for the 2024-25 school year, according to its website. Students log into their homeroom each morning for a check-in, then attend Zoom classes throughout the day, according to CISD.
Medford said the district is waiting to get authorization from the state to be able to continue.
“People are interested and they call us all the time, but they don't want it until we go all the way to 12th grade,” Medford said.
What they’re saying
- “Our feeling right now is that we have one foot in and one foot out when it comes to the virtual school, because we haven’t been able to commit; we even struggle internally on how much we advertise it and how many kids, because we only had authorization until this year,” Superintendent Curtis Null said.
- “One of the groups I heard from is a group that is adamant on keeping the virtual school, and I can’t in good conscience say ‘Yes’ if we are still struggling,” board of trustees President Misty Odenweller said.
