High school students in Rocky View Schools (RVS) have made their decision on what learning mode they wish to be in for the rest of the school year and at this morning's (January 7) meeting of the Board of Trustees, Superintendent Greg Luterbach updated them on those decisions.  

Back in August, RVS announced that it would be offering a teacher-supported online learning program for grades one to 12 and a week later released a four-page overview of the program.  An online form was opened to allow students and families to indicate the delivery mode of their choice, either homeschooling, in-person or online for the school year ahead.  At the time RVS said families would have the choice to change their delivery mode for February 1st and said it would be unlikely that students would be able to switch delivery modes for the remainder of the school year.

When school began in September, RVS had just over 3,000 students in the online option for fall, or about 11 percent of projected enrollment.  RVS went to work creating the online offerings, assign students, and shift teaching staff, something Luterbach says was a massive logistical challenge.  Resources were developed for new online students and staff have been added through the fall.

By October's end planning began on how best to facilitate the choice being provided to families for the second half of the school year.  In early November, RVS began communicating with families to anticipate making the selection just prior to winter break and that they would need to remain in the option they chose until the end of June.  A letter was sent to all families providing a timeline for making the decision in early December.

Then, the government threw a wrench into the plan by announcing that, starting November 24th, students would move to temporary home learning.  That made RVS decide to adjust its timeline.

While students in grades one through eight, and some in grade nine, were given the week of January 11th to 15th to make the decision if they would attend online or in-person, Luterbach says that because of the complexities of high school timetables, along with a higher number of course offerings, more planning was required for grades nine/ten to 12.  "There's about 6,500 students in that grade nine to 12 world in Rocky View.  We heard from about half of them and that means if we didn't hear from you you're staying in the mode you're currently in. Then from that half, most of those people said, 'I'm happy where I am, I'm glad to stay that way until the end of the year."

Luterbach says when students were sent home temporarily, about 700 high school students were enrolled in the on-line mode.  "Some of those on-line students are now moving face-to-face and some of the face-to-facers are moving online.

Luterbach says, based on those selections,RVS anticipates that the online population in the division will increase between 250 and 300 students to where there are between 950 and 1,000.  While Luterbach says the change is not massive, it still requires confirming those numbers with schools, adjusting the staff for the increase, and working on student's timetables. 

Luterbach also says some teachers indicated a desire to switch the mode of learning that they were teaching in the first semester and RVS will try to accommodate them as well.

Since students in grades one to eight/nine were given more time to decide, Luterbach says their cutover date for changing modes will be February 8th. 

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