Steilacoom recruiting schools for virtual academy

West side school district looks to Moses Lake for students

MOSES LAKE — Imagine a public school program where Moses Lake students are taught at home via the Washington Virtual Academy, but are members of the Steilacoom Historical School District No. 1 in Steilacoom.

The concept is one Washington families are being presented with as WAVA makes presentations across the state.

WAVA is a public school program of the Steilacoom district and serves students in kindergarten through eighth grades within Washington. It was founded this year.

Steilacoom is located in the central part of the Puget Sound region.

While reported numbers of students enrolled have ranged from 250 to more than 500, public school administrators have concerns about students in their service area being enrolled in an outside school district.

"My concern is that it appears some of the students they're trying to target are kids not currently in the system," said MLSD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Michelle Price before the presentation. "If they register for this program they would then be a Steilacoom School District student. "

Instructional content is accessed through K12 Inc., the organization that developed the curriculum. Students are taught primarily by their parents in conjunction with Washington certified teachers who are employees of the Steilacoom district.

Teachers hold conferences with students and families both in person and virtually, or by phone.

At Wednesday's meeting one parent expressed how she felt her child's needs were not being met in the public education system. She wanted to know about options available to her.

Others came who were both first time and continuing home school parents.

"Our audience is for people who are home schooling and want to have top flight, first rate full meal deal curriculum," said Arthur Himmler, superintendent of Steilacoom schools, in a phone interview with the Herald. "This is not any easy correspondence course, this is a very substantive program."

When asked if the program has raised concerns in other school districts about the possibility of losing enrollment, Himmler said he was aware of a few.

For each student enrolled school districts receive a certain amount of funding.

School districts do not receive funds for home school students not enrolled in their district, he said, therefore the districts they live in are not losing money.

"My concern is if they're setting up shop all over the state how are they going to handle the state assessment?" Price said referring to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

WAVA does take students through WASL prompts and offers training for parents to ensure they understand how the WASL works, offering both online and in-person sessions, said Randall Greenway, chief administrative officer for WAVA.

After hearing the presentation Price said she was glad to see that WAVA was up front with parents that their children would be enrolled in Steilacoom public schools.

Steilacoom became interested in offering the program two or three years ago in an effort to find alternative programs to serve students whose needs the district was not meeting.

After piloting the program for two years the district decided it had been successful. Fifteen students enrolled the first year followed by roughly 57 the second.

Administrators then chose to expand the program statewide.

Himmler said the program does not go beyond eighth-grade as many parents appear to stop home schooling as their children get older.

"The big demand for us has never been high school, but lower elementary schools," he stated.

A message left at the Ellensburg School District, another Eastern Washington district where WAVA presentations are being made, was not returned by press time.