The Pleasant Valley School District’s cyber academy is beginning the new year with a clean slate.

Its name has changed from the Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy to Bears Academy.

Superintendent James Konrad said, “The name change was to separate and differentiate the old cyber offerings and associate the new cyber offerings with Pleasant Valley staff and partnerships with state school districts that will provide excellent educational support resources and assistance for students to be successful.”

The cyber school came under fire during the pandemic when it could not handle all the students who wanted to enroll. The cost has also affected the budget.

In March, the district switched cyber services from VLN to the Seneca Valley School District’s Seneca Valley Outreach Program for Technology that uses Edgenuity and Compass Learning. The change can save the school district more than $3,000 per student in cyber charter school tuition over VLN. The new program gives PV more control of the courses.

Long-term goals

Eventually, the district wants to grow the cyber program into one where students can attend online classes either full-time, part-time or hybrid. Hybrid means that students can take classes in both in-person and online. For example, a high school student who attends in-person classes may want a course only offered online. This program would allow him to register for that one class through the Bears Academy.

Eventually, the school district wants to have all of the teachers in the Bears Academy be its own.

Starting block

Brian Morgan, a Pleasant Valley high school counselor assigned to the cyber academy, and Aleisa Kinsey, the PV teacher of record for the students in kindergarten through fourth grade in the cyber academy, gave a presentation about the program to the school board Thursday night.

Morgan said the program was rolled out this summer for remediation courses in math, science, social studies, English, physical education, health and career exploration for 119 students. It used a blended teaching model of Pleasant Valley and Seneca Valley teachers.

“The technical support from SV was phenomenal,” he said. “They did a great job.”

The program can also be used for students who are homebound or need remediation courses, credit recovery courses for students who dropped out of school, or temporary learning option for students who have been placed on disciplinary action or expelled from school.

Cyber students will also have access to services, such as evaluations for special education services, Chapter 15/504 Plans, access to school counselors, the cyber academy counselor, the school social worker and the St. Luke’s school-based therapy program called Your Emotional Strength Supported.

Communication will continue to be available through parent portal, and daily, weekly and monthly progress reports will be emailed home. Conferences will be held with the teacher of record and the school counselor.

Compass Learning

The program is split into two parts. Compass Learning will be used for grades kindergarten through fourth grade, and Edgenuity for grades fifth through 12th.

Core subjects in Compass Learning include English language arts, math and science. The courses are loaded into the child’s account where they can work at their own pace.

Students should be working 30 to 45 minutes per subject each day.

Specials are not included in the online courses, so students will be required to complete a Special Area Class Journal. Students have to complete five hours per grading period in each of the special subjects: art, music, physical education and library. This can be accomplished by visiting local art venues, creating artwork, taking music lessons, participating in a community sports program, and going to the public library, for example.

Virtual tutoring will be available daily for the K-4 Bears Academy, and in-person tutoring can be scheduled. Check-in meetings will be held weekly to check the student’s progress and go over any additional information. Kinsey said there will also be opportunities for in-person socialization possibly through math labs, writing labs and other activities.

“We want them to still be a part of our district and not feel left out,” she said.

Edgenuity

The Edgenuity program is for students in fifth through 12th grades and is flexible enough to give some students who want more rigorous coursework that option.

It includes core credit classes, electives, honors, advanced placement courses and prep courses for SAT, ACT and GED. The students will also be able to explore a variety of careers through PV’s XELLO program.

The courses are developed by teams of experienced educators and instructional designers with the instruction led by on-screen teachers, currently through Seneca Valley. The program also includes formative, summative and authentic assessments to measure the student’s mastery of the subject.

Bears Academy will also offer small group instruction, collaboration with peers in classes, and the ability for students to participate in PV clubs, organizations and sports, as well PV traditions such as Paw Painting, Homecoming, Grad Walk and the graduation ceremony.

Currently, there are 123 students enrolled in Bears Academy, down from 276 last school year, and 370 students in outside cyber charter schools, down from 454 last year.

The school district has to pay a tuition to outside cyber charter schools for each student within its school district.

PVSD does not pay anything to families who choose home-school or to religious-based private schools.