Monarch Academy to continue eSchool
80% online program to be extended into the fall; enrollment open
Monarch Academy Annapolis will continue its eSchool in the fall, an 80% virtual program with a 20% in-person option that is open to all Anne Arundel County Public Schools students in prekindergarten through fifth grade.
ESchool@MAA was developed in the summer of 2020 and approved by county schools Superintendent George Arlotto. The Children’s Guild has a contract with AACPS to operate Monarch in Annapolis. The guild also operates a Monarch contract school for the county in Laurel as well as a charter school in Glen Burnie.
This school year enrollment in the eSchool was 106, and for the 2021-2022 school year it can accept up to 150 students. Chromebooks are provided and hotspots are available as needed.
“What we have seen is it really works for students who it works for,” eSchool teacher Erin Troast said.
That includes families who are interested in homeschooling but not sure how to start, special needs children who are more comfortable learning at home and students who thrive with independent programming.
For some, setting the pace helps overwhelmed students.
Adrianne Womack’s son has special needs and she said having him on a time limit to finish work wasn’t working. She said she has watched her kids become more interested in learning through eSchool.
She said she wishes the program was around when her children were younger, so that they might have been eager to learn rather than forced to go to class.
“Sometimes I have tears, not of sadness, of joy,” she said.
Lakisha Thelusma has a child in the program with a special medical diet, and
she said it allows her family to get education from the county while being able to support his medical needs at home.
Monarch officials say their program is framed on the IB Primary Years Programme, which includes six transdisciplinary units per grade per year that incorporate math, science, reading and social studies.
Art, music, media, social-emotional learning and physical education are taught, as well as Spanish language and culture.
There are four units in kindergarten instead of six.
Womack said a sense of community is built between students as well as their siblings, who are learning side-by-side and sometimes see their classmates in the background in a sibling’s Zoom meeting.
Teacher Mary Mouring said educators are getting to know parents and families, going on virtual tours of homes and chatting with guardians who are just off-screen, instead of outside a classroom.
While in the 2020-2021 school year some grades were grouped together, in 2021-2022 each individual grade level will be a separate classroom.
Monarch will have a virtual open house May 19 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Details can be found at www.monarchacademy.org.