Policy 224.1 - Virtual Instruction
Adopted on September 23, 2021
Effective September 23, 2021
The Board establishes the following as its virtual instruction policy for the purposes and means described herein.
Scope
This policy shall govern any and all virtual instruction made available to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade wherein the virtual instructor, software, or program is intended to provide the core instruction to students. This includes the county's official local virtual offerings provided through various vendors under the Roane County Virtual School.
Eligibility
All students who are eligible to enroll in the Board's educational programs in Kindergarten through 12th grade may apply for placement in virtual instruction. The Superintendent shall set reasonable requirements on such placement, including but not limited to timeline for application for a particular school term, ability of a student to reliably access virtual instruction, and past academic performance as a predictor of success in virtual instruction.
Students who live outside the County or who were previously provided home instruction shall be enrolled in one of the Board's school under the process and requirements of Policy 410 prior to enrollment in virtual instruction.
Instructional Models
Students may be enrolled in virtual instruction through the following instructional models:
- Full-time through the Roane County Virtual School
- Part-time through the Roane County Virtual School and part-time through the Board's other educational programs so that the student may take part in advanced coursework, vocational programs, or co-curricular offerings.
- Part-time through the Roane County Virtual School or West Virginia Virtual School for courses not offered through the Board's other educational program due to lack of need, lack of interest, scheduling conflicts, and/or lack of qualified instructors
- Part-time through the Roane County Virtual School for the purposes of fulfilling the requirements of WV Code 18-2-25 to participate in extracurricular activities
- Full-time or part-time through the Roane County Virtual School for a set period to meet requirements of a disciplinary placement in alternative education, to fulfill educational need when attendance at a school is prohibited by medical advice, or other extraordinary circumstance as determined by the Superintendent.
Instruction may be provided in a synchronous or asynchronous manner so long as the requirements of the appropriate content standards and objectives provided in state and local policy are met. Courses shall generally follow the school year as laid out by the Board's school calendar, though nothing shall prevent a student who can display mastery of a
particular grade level or subject area while in virtual instruction from progressing at an accelerated pace, if such opportunity is provided by such instruction.
Assessment and Monitoring
Students enrolled in virtual instruction shall complete the standard assessments required of all Roane County students of their grade level, including but not limited to any required state or local summative or formative (benchmark) assessments.
Students shall be assigned a professional staff to monitor for successful completion of assigned work.
Students enrolled must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA to remain enrolled in virtual instruction, provided the appropriate coursework is available through the Board's other educational programs. Students who do not maintain at least a 2.0 GPA in these situations for a particular grading period shall be placed on "academic probation" for the following grading period and notified that continued performance below a 2.0 GPA shall result in the student being unenrolled from virtual instruction and instead placed in a traditional educational program.
Students enrolled in virtual instruction shall be considered "present" for attendance purposes if they complete all necessary assignments for a course in the time frame given. If all necessary assignments are not completed in the time frame given, then attendance shall be measured using participation in synchronous or asynchronous instruction provided for a set period.
Students enrolled in virtual instruction are subject to the Board's policies governing student behavior while participating in virtual instruction, including but not limited to Policies 440 Student Code of Conduct and Policy 490 Acceptable Use of Technology by Students.
Extracurricular Activities
For the purposes of extracurricular activities and accountability, students enrolled in virtual instruction shall also be enrolled in the school at which they would normally attend, unless such students follow the process for enrolling in a school other than the one to which they are assigned and are approved for such enrollment pursuant to Policy 410.
Students enrolled in virtual instruction and participating in extracurricular activities must meet all health and safety guidelines required of students enrolled in the Board's other educational programs and/or as required by the WVSSAC.
Instructor Qualifications
Any instructor providing direct instruction to students in a virtual setting must meet the same certification requirement(s) for the subject or grade level taught as those required in the Board's other educational programs.
Third-Party Providers
The Board may identify a third-party provider for virtual instruction and/or to serve as the program-of-record for the Roane County Virtual School. Such provider must comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and policies.
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