Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A proposed virtual school program that Somerset-Jefferson wants to implement, and that the Jefferson County School Board has twice voted down, may yet come back before the board a third time.
That is, if the Florida Department of Education has a say in the matter, which it may if Somerset-Jefferson appeals the decision – a possibility that School Superintendent Eydie Tricquet mentioned to the board upon its rejection of the proposal.
The Somerset Virtual Academy, as described in the 140-page application that Somerset-Jefferson submitted, aims to provide full-time online instruction to eligible students in grades K-12.
The way it would work, according to the proposal’s executive summary, the school would contract with Somerset Academy, Inc., doing business as Somerset Virtual Academy, to deliver the course content, based on a K-12 research-based virtual curriculum aligned with Florida’s State Standards.
The proposal argues that while most students are suitably served in brick-and-mortar settings, “there are some who can reach their full potential only in an unconventional setting such as the proposed program, with its individualized instruction and flexible scheduling.”
The online classes, moreover, would be available to in-district and out-of-district students alike, as well as to students in home education and private schools, per the document.
Tricquet reintroduced the Somerset proposal to the Jefferson County School Board on Monday, Feb. 8, notwithstanding that the board had voted it down in July 2020, when the former superintendent first presented it.
Tricquet, who is aware of the growing popularity of online classes, believes that the Somerset virtual school would benefit the district. She thus argued for its approval, noting that the district would get a percentage of the state funding for each student who enrolled in the online program.
“We can negotiate the percentage of the FTE,” she said, underscoring that the district currently receives no money for students who enroll in Florida Virtual, a K-12 statewide Internet-based public high school founded in 1997 and recognized as the country’s first such school.
She estimated that if 300 of the district’s students were to register for the Somerset online classes, it could translate into about $90,000 annually to the district.
FTE, which means Full Time Equivalency, is the measure of enrollment of full-time students by which the state funds school districts, which funding equates to so many dollars per student.
The school board members, however, remained unconvinced that Somerset virtual school would prove beneficial, Shirley Washington foremost among them.
“That children get a well-rounded education, that needs to be the requirements of the criteria,” Washington said.
She noted that in the PowerPoint presentation that Somerset staff had made to the school board on the proposed virtual school, she had “not seen any child that looked like me.”
“I’m more concerned with programs that prepare children for the work world,” Washington added.
As for the extra FTE money that the virtual school might bring to the district, Washington said, “Money is not everything. Educating our children is what I hold firmly to!”
She also questioned why Somerset was proposing the virtual school in Jefferson County and not in Miami-Dade or other of the locations where it had academies. As she also questioned who would run the virtual school here once Somerset left this county.
Tricquet argued that the virtual school would produce additional funding for the district, which it could use it to fund programs that the school board and she wanted to see implemented once it got the schools back.
The money, she said, would come in handy, as much of the grant funding that Somerset was now receiving would go away, as this funding was largely tied to the school’s previous underperformance. “It would help us do the things we want to do a little quicker,” Tricquet said.
She urged approval of preliminary form, so that the district could negotiate the terms of the contract with Somerset, noting that the district had lost $40,000 in the last semester by not approving the contract when first presented.
Her arguments, however, failed to move the board.
School Board Member Bill Brumfield mentioned having read somewhere that Somerset was involved in a $1 million lawsuit, although he couldn’t remember the specifics. But bottom line, he said, he didn’t see the need for the Somerset Virtual School.
“Besides, we already have Florida Virtual,” Brumfield said.
Tricquet found it necessary to clarify her position.
“I’m not in cahoots with Somerset,” she said. “My goal is to do everything I can to get the revenue to do the programs that are vital to our community. We can’t move forward on these programs if we don’t have the revenue.”
School Board Member Charles Boland didn’t say much. But when it came the time, he relinquished the gavel to Vice Chair Gladys Roann-Watson so that he could make the motion to reject the application.
The vote to reject the proposal was 3-2, with Roann-Watson and Sandra Saunders on the losing side.