School district working on cyber option for students
Kindergarten through grade 4 to be targeted
Administrators in the Bethel Park School District are proposing a district-run synchronous cyberlearning program for the 2021-22 school year for students in grades kindergarten through fourth. The matter was discussed at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
District director of cyber and alternative learning options Brian Lenosky said the cyber program would “add another layer” to education in Bethel Park.
The district has offered an asynchronous cyber option since 2012, called the Bethel Park Online Academy, and also has a blended option where students can learn partially online and partially in the school building, which Mr. Lenosky said is popular among high schoolers.
The new proposed synchronous program would be taught by Bethel Park teachers using Bethel Park curriculum.
Mr. Lenosky said there are 134 students living in the Bethel Park district who are receiving their education outside of Bethel Park, be it in cyber schools or charter schools. That number climbed significantly this year at the elementary level with 52 students — up from seven last year.
In total, Mr. Lenosky said, the number climbed from 49 students opting for cyber or charter to 135 by the start of the school year.
Mr. Lenosky said the district is currently teaching synchronously as there are still district students who are remote due to the pandemic.
As for starting its own districtrun cyber program, Mr. Lenosky said, “If we don’t do it, somebody else will, and they will continue to attract our students.”
The district is looking to start with the lower grade levels at first, because Mr. Lenosky said parents of students at the elementary level would rather have synchronous learning than asynchronous.
No changes are proposed in the current asynchronous online academy or the blended option.
The administration is proposing that five teachers teach the remote students in kindergarten through fourth grade, one teacher per grade level.
Mr. Lenosky said he calculated that if kindergarten through fourth grade students who are currently receiving their education outside of the district came back to Bethel Park, at least $715,000 would return to the district.
“That is on the low side,” he said.
Mr. Lenosky said gaining back 6.1 students to Bethel Park would cover the cost of one teacher.
He said at least five students per grade level would have to come back to the district to warrant a dedicated remote teacher for that grade. For instance, if first grade had three cyber students, the teacher would have to teach those students at the same time as the students in their classroom.
“It’s not financially feasible to have a remote teacher for three students,” he said.
Mr. Lenosky added that the new layer of cyber would also make it easy for students to transition from cyber to the traditional classroom because it would be the same curriculum. Students in the cyber program would also have access to all of the district’s resources, including counselors, and would be able to participate in extracurricular activities and sports.
The administration intends to send surveys to parents of students who have left the district as well as the current remote students to gauge interest in the cyber program. The program has not yet been approved by the board.