Amarillo ISD amps up virtual classes after loss of 700 students

At the Monday evening, Feb. 9 meeting of Amarillo ISD, Jennifer Wilkerson, the district's assistant supervisor of curriculum and instruction, revealed that more than 700 AISD students looking for more virtual options have found other alternatives at other locations.“Families are looking for more flexibility,” she told the school board.Wilkerson said that the world was changing and that they need to meet the challenges presented to them. Virtual education can be used for accelerated learning as well, but also for full-time students. Wilkerson said that they had applied for a grant after meeting in August to discuss the challenges, and they had been awarded a $226,000 grant for two years from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).Amarillo ISD's Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction, Jennifer Wilkinson, speaks at the Feb. 9 meeting of school district's board of trustees, where she explained the increase of virtual learning courses proposed to help meet the students of students.Although virtual education has been deemed unsuccessful when used during the COVID pandemic, Wilkerson said that they had discovered some "secret classes" — a pocket of time spent where virtual learning went very well.“It is an opportunity to expand our goals and do more research and offer excellence in profiling our students and using instructional design,” she said.Wilkerson expects the program to launch in the 2027-28 school year.When Board President Doyle Corder asked her what type of students it was for, she said that it would be for accelerated learning and primary instruction — and possibly hybrid in some cases.When completed, the courses would be for grades 6-12, with limits in fine arts and physical education, and then eventually would be for 100% of classes. When Corder asked her if they would have to add instructors, she said they might have to, depending on results.Wilkerson emphasized that the virtual learning was not for early graduation, but for added flexibility for students who also wanted to work or had other exceptions. It was also brought up that some schools like Ascension Academy were already offering virtual classes. She also stressed that there would be accountability when applications were being filled out.Students would be able to have classes when they want, rather than a regular time when they are posted.Board member Don Powell said that he was more favorable for traditional education with in-class instruction, and Wilkerson responded that it was also a stretch for her.“I am not the face for virtual education and never have been,” Wilkerson said. “It’s been a stretch for me to launch into this because I love when you’re talking about sitting across from a kid and watching him 'get it'. That’s why we get into education. But what I know is, that our world is changing, and we have to be mindful of that. And if we want to be current and relevant, we have to figure out how to do how to do it, and we know what is best for kids in a way that in keeps our families in mind.”Wilkerson concluded by saying, “We are not absolved from accountability measures. All the same things that students and schools have to do to meet accountability, these students and schools will have to do (virtually) as well.”This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo students seeking flexibility of virtual learning cause change