Virtual Schools

Based on the YouTube video....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8woVgj6Ao8

I think that online classrooms are going to continue to grow and improve in every school district across the country. By having online classrooms, school districts can better serve every student in their district and can truly follow the national goal of "no child left behind". Online or virtual classrooms can also save school districts lots of money. Think about the costs that schools can avoid. They would no longer need to provide a building, transportation, food service, and staffing. Some school districts are also charging families to enroll their child in an online class which enables the school system to make even more money. For our school system (MCPS), the online courses make a lot of sense because for one our county is extremely large and two it will improve our overall graduation rate. As I mentioned before our school system will eventually save lots of money (and maybe earn money) by continuing their virtual classrooms.

After watching the YouTube video above i started thinking about the future of the classroom teacher. With the current laws, many charter schools are being set up online. This means that families can decided to send their student to the local charter school over their local public school. Each student receives approximately $8,000 from the state. If the student goes to a Charter school, that $8,000 will go to the Charter school rather than the public school. If a child decides to attend a charter school, by law they still get to participate in any extra curricular activity that is offered at their local public school. Guess who pays for the transportation, uniforms, insurance, etc.? The public schools. Another problem that worried me about this video was the fact that Charter schools do not have a Union. Most Charter schools pay their teachers MUCH less than the public schools which could eventually lead to some conflicts down the road with public school teacher salaries. If schools are losing money and enrollment numbers to local charter schools then they are also losing funding for staffing public school teachers. This means more lay offs for public schools. So, yes online classes like the charter school that the family from the YouTube link above has enrolled their students in might be a great thing for them. However, as public educators we also have to be aware of the consequences for allowing online charter schools.