The Lake Elsinore Unified School District governing board wants parents and students to think Southern California Virtual Academy when considering educational choices. The name was recently approved as the first step in building an identity for the district’s new virtual K-12 school, scheduled to open in August 2011. District officials believe a virtual school can fill a real need.
According to District Superintendent Dr. Frank Passarella, “Technology is rapidly driving demand for alternatives to traditional education. We need to attract students who might otherwise attend school elsewhere.”
Online courses are increasingly popular. For some learners, they offer more flexibility than a traditional class setting. They have long been used for independent study, credit recovery, and as a self-paced alternative to semester-based courses.

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If the pilot program succeeds, it could be expanded to more students, including students working at home, school officials said.

The virtual class could serve students who are struggling in traditional classes, have health issues, have been expelled or otherwise would benefit from the alternative program, Romoland Superintendent Anthony Rosilez said.

Students who fall behind may not feel comfortable asking for help or to have a teacher repeat something in a traditional class, said Sue Scott, Romoland’s director of pupil services.

“There’s a lot of safety in learning” in the virtual environment, she said, because students work at their own pace.

Most of the classroom instruction in Connell’s class comes via computer-based lessons using curriculum from the Florida Virtual School, an accredited virtual school for students in grades K-12.

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