COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Parents of District 11 students will have a new option of where to enroll their child for the 21-22 school year.
The district has announced a new school solely for e-learning. D-11 leaders say the pandemic has shown some families prefer remote learning.
The new online school already has a principal, Julie Johnson. She started with the district 20 years ago as a teacher and says the past nine months have shown e-learning is better for some students than the traditional classroom setting.
“The students that we see flourishing in the online environment, they feel a degree of safety, being able to engage in learning in different ways,” Johnson said.
Johnson expects the biggest appeal of the online school to parents will be flexibility. E-learning cuts school pick-up and drop-off times out of the equation. Also, families can plan schooling time around the rest of their schedule.
Many online schools have popped up in other districts as temporary, emergency responses to the pandemic, but Johnson says this school is different.
“We’re being very intentional, building something that will be sustainable and scale out,” she added. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a part of this journey and really take an active role in providing a need that needs to be filled.”
Students living in D-11′s boundaries will have the option, but district leaders are still deciding what grades the school will teach. More details are to come. The school is set to launch in fall 2021.
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