Parents upset with delays and lack of communication with the Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy told the school board Thursday night that they feel strong-armed into putting their children back into the district’s brick-and-mortar schools. Some called for the board to fire the superintendent.

“We still have not heard anything,” said Christine Deihl of Polk Township. “And this is not fair to tell us we have to go back into the brick-and-mortar, and that’s not fair. My daughter is a high asthma risk. … To tell us that we need to sign her back up into the brick and mortar, just breaks my heart. We have all of the equipment for her to get started.”

Deihl said they are ready to begin once they get her books.

“We need a timeline. We cannot be told to just wait and see,” she said.

Other parents said their children have individual education plans for being gifted, but are left stagnating, wanting to start school again.

Stacey Bittenbender of Chestnuthill Township said, “I feel like we are trying to be strong-armed into sending him to school. I put all my trust in you guys to give my son a quality education. … Here my son is still at home asking me, ‘When am I going to start school? When am I going to get my books?’ This is another gifted child sitting here not being engaged.”

School in the brick-and-mortar buildings began for students on Aug. 31, but students requesting enrollment in the cyber academy are hanging in limbo waiting to begin instruction nearly two weeks into the school year. Parents repeatedly said there is next to no communication from the school district and no timeline for resolution of the problems.

According to the school district’s enrollment reports, the number of students requesting enrollment in the cyber academy ballooned by the end of August to 1,200 students.

The cyber academy had 171 enrolled as of July 1, which increased to 329 by Aug. 4, following the district’s approval of a hybrid education plan on July 16.

The hybrid plan has students with last names beginning with A through K attending in-person classes on Monday and Tuesday and online Wednesday through Friday. Students with last names beginning with L through Z attend online classes Monday through Wednesday and in-person classes of Thursday and Friday.

Superintendent Lee Lesisko told the school board on Aug. 27 that district would not be able to start on Aug. 31 for the cyber academy, because there were not enough textbooks. Plus, he wasn’t sure how many families would need Chromebooks. He said he thought enrollment would be maxed out at 500 students. The rest would have to enroll in the brick-and-mortar schools.

He also said the students would not be counted as being absent. Most of the parents did not know if their child was going to be accepted into the cyber academy or not.

The following week on Sept. 4, the school district sent out an email to the parents that the academy was going to be capped at 800 students and no one else would be able to be admitted this school year.

Still waiting

The majority of the parents were still waiting to hear whether or not their child was one of those enrolled.

The email said 154 students’ families had picked up their bundle of textbooks and Chromebook, and more had been called to pick up their supplies after Labor Day. The rest would be called, but no indication was given as to when.

Nothing was mentioned about if families could use their own equipment. Nothing was mentioned about possible truancy issues.

Then on Thursday at the school board meeting, Lesisko repeated that the situation was unforeseeable and asked parents to be patient. He did not say how many students had received their supplies that week, but several parents said they are still waiting to hear from the school district.

When asked, Lesisko said Thursday night that families that had not made the cyber cutoff had not yet been notified.

Instead, he encouraged the parents to send their children back to the brick-and-mortar school buildings until the cyber academy can be made fully accessible.

“Safety is our number one concern,” he said referring to the efforts the district has made to keep the schools clean, socially distance the students, wear masks, and establish a hybrid schedule to reduce the number of students in the school.

Several parents thanked school board directors Susan Kresge and Dan Wunder for being their voice.

Kresge said after Lesisko’s statement, “The lack of leadership, communication and mismessaging to do with our PV Cyber Academy over the past number of weeks is an embarrassment and completely unacceptable. ... I sincerely want to apologize to the parents, students and community of this district for this inexcusable confusion.”

She went on to say that the school board members received eight updates in August with a shortage of printers being the biggest issue until the Aug. 27 meeting when the whole situation came to light.

“When I read this email (referring to the Sept. 4 email), I was devastated and extremely upset. As a board member, we were not given any advance notice or reasons let alone the opportunity as a board to discuss other possibilities there might be or to alleviate the impact this announcement was going to have on our school students” she said. “This should have been sorted out in the spring.”

Kresge went on to ask her fellow board members if they knew what was going on before it came out publicly. No one said anything.

Parents again asked how this will impact their child’s attendance record. Will they be considered truant? Will the truant officer come out if children aren’t in school?

Lesisko said, “That’s not been identified yet.”

He said he needs to meet with the principals and plans to do that next week.

The school district’s attorney Mark Fitzgerald said that the state Department of Education has deferred the issue to the local education agencies about attendance. At this time, truancy does apply.

Jeff Hallenbeck of Eldred Township referred to getting the cyber academy open for all of its students.

“The response from the administration is ‘I don’t know.’ This needs to be number one,” Hallenbeck said.

“Attorney Fitzgerald just spelled out truancy. Why didn’t the superintendent know?”

The parents threw out ideas to get instruction started for their children. Some suggested creating a third option, such as allowing these students to do online instruction with the hybrid students, but just not go into the schools - stay online completely.

Hallenbeck suggested getting virtual copies of the textbooks they are using in the cyber academy while they wait for the physical books to come in. Several others said they have the computer, internet connection, printer and ink, so they are ready to begin. They don’t need a Chromebook from the school district.

See the full meeting on the Times News Facebook page.