After Collierville announced it would open a stand-alone virtual academy, Stancy Curtis knew she wanted to be part.
Curtis taught at West Collierville Middle School in the 2019-20 academic year. When Collierville offered a 100% virtual option as a response to the pandemic during the 2020-21 year, the teacher seized the opportunity. Now she is working at Collierville Virtual Academy, the district’s 10th school.
“Personally, I believe there is a real need for this,” she said. “There is a real life group of kids who are better served this way.”
Collierville Schools and Germantown Municipal School District planned to open a virtual option in future years, as other Tennessee districts already established their own prior to the pandemic. However, COVID-19 accelerated the process.
State leaders did not allow districts to offer an all-virtual option in the same format as last year. If families wanted to learn virtually, districts had to open a stand-alone virtual school. But both districts were able to build upon what they learned through virtual teaching last year, and in Collierville, Superintendent Gary Lilly had experience after overseeing a similar program in Bristol, Tennessee before moving to Collierville in 2019.
CVA currently serves grades 3 through 12, while Germantown Online Academy of Learning serves student in grades 6 through 12.
“I’ve become more of a niche teacher and serve a specific set of kids,” Curtis said of the new model.
She believes it’s a smaller, more intimate approach and also provides flexibility. If a student needs to meet with her, she can make it happen.
Collierville Virtual Academy Principal Tim Strickland said the district leaders and administration are supportive of the new school, and many want to help. The teachers are Collierville employees and work on campus in a modular outside West Collierville Middle School. The school operates from two hallways inside that middle school.
Students are engaged. Those in the elementary and middle school grades meet with teachers daily.
“There’s a lot of things you would see in a brick-and-mortar school that you would see in CVA,” Strickland said. “Kids are interacting with their teachers. They’re interacting with each other — it’s just a virtual setting versus an in-person setting.”
Andrew Blackard, physical education teacher, shows students how to incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. Thursday afternoon, students practiced hand-eye coordination using objects they find in their homes. Students were coming up with the activities.
“Thinking outside the box,” Strickland said of all CVA subjects. “(P.E.) doesn’t have to be in the gym with a ball of some sort.”
Students sometimes construct neurons with items around their home.
“You really draw on the teacher’s expertise,” he said.
Strickland notes virtual learning is not a temporary solution to COVID-19, but a long-term offering to serve the needs of all families. District leaders in Germantown and Collierville seem supportive of using these models for the long-term.
For some kids, CVA provides a safe environment due to the evolving conditions in the midst of coronavirus. That was a challenge for some of the schools’ families at the beginning of this academic year.
However, for others with specific passions and interests that require flexibility, this option is available to them.
Strickland said families are pleased so far, noting their students are engaged. As he walks around to teachers’ rooms, he can hear students answering questions and thoughtful discussions.
There are office hours and intervention time for all students. Students who need extra support can receive that, but the arrangement also allows teachers to push high-achieving students.
At this time, CVA has 265 students, although it could grow. Some students can transfer to the school based on availability, and it is only available to Collierville residents.
Germantown Online Academy of Learning
Likewise, GOAL is only open to Germantown residents. It started out with about 40 students and closed registration Aug. 31 as the enrollment grew to nearly 70.
Germantown is different since its teachers are outsourced through Pearson Connexus, but the family response has been positive, according to Principal Heather Fisher.
“We’ve had strong feedback from families in terms of curriculum, and they have been pleased with the rigor,” she said.
A majority of the work is asynchronous, but there is live instruction weekly.
Each morning, home room announcements are followed with icebreakers to help students connect, although not physically in the same location. Connections are forming, Fisher said.
Germantown Municipal School District has placed an emphasis on the whole-child strategy, which includes students’ social and emotional well-being. Even though GOAL students are virtual, Fisher wants to keep that a priority.
“We are very intentional with making sure we are planning meaningful events,” she said. “You want to make sure you are fostering the whole child and building opportunities for connections. Students are building rapport with each other and it’s budding very much like it would in a brick and mortar setting.”
GOAL hopes to have events at least once per quarter, which recently was a board game night. It’s a time to unplug and help students interact.
GOAL is also having monthly student-led leadership meetings and they give ideas on ways to improve from a student perspective.
“It’s been beneficial for our students and they’ve been great. I really like the ownership of our students,” Fisher said.
She noted it’s a testament to servant leadership — the theme the school is focusing on this year. The students on the team volunteered. Servant leadership is also the topic of guest speakers Fisher invites. She hopes for community service events to give students experience this year.
Both districts are performing benchmark testing to gauge student performance. Germantown can administer them online, while Collierville has to bring in students once per month.
Students must take TCAP tests in-person in the spring.
Although the Tennessee Department of Education reopened the window for districts to apply for virtual schools, Collierville does not plan to expand its offerings.
Germantown is exploring offering GOAL to elementary grades, Superintendent Jason Manuel confirmed Friday. The district is still looking at logistics issues. Board approval may be needed, and the district is also exploring how many grades might need to be added. A few other issues must also be discussed with Pearson.