WSCUHSD launches West County iAcademy
WSCUHSD launches West County iAcademy
The high school district is making its online curriculum available to more students at Analy and Laguna High Schools
The first day of school at Analy and Laguna High Schools is this Wednesday, August 14. But at least 27 students won’t be hoisting their backpack over their shoulder and heading out the door. Instead they’ll be scuffing over to their desk in bunny slippers (OK, that’s my imagination) and flipping on their laptop.
The West County iAcademy is the new name for West Sonoma County Union High School District’s (WSCUHSD) online education program. The district has been offering an online option for students since before the pandemic, but according to Analy’s iAcademy administrator Gianna De Persiis Vona, the program has been “rebranded and expanded.”
“It’s really the same program that we’ve been using for the last two years,” Di Persiis Vona said. “There’s really lots and lots of interest from our students. Last year we ended up having to open another section here [at Analy] to try and accommodate the need.”
Last year, roughly 40 students used the school’s online learning program through Analy and eight students did it through Laguna. This year there’s room for twice as many online learning students at Analy. She said the number of students allowed to do all-online classes is capped at 10% of the student body, which means there are 82 slots for online learning at Analy and eight slots at Laguna.
Twenty-seven students haves signed up for the West County iAcademy at Analy so far, but De Persiis Vona expects that number to rise.
West County iAcademy uses an online learning platform called Edgenuity, which is asychronous, meaning it isn’t taught by live person in real time. Rather it consists of a series of pre-recorded lessons, videos, modules and tests.
“It’s pretty user-friendly on the student’s end,” De Persiis Vona said. “They’ll go in there and click on the course, and it’ll just run through the modules. Depending on the class, sometimes there’s a quiz or knowledge check.”
The same program is offered at Analy and Laguna, though each school has its own administrator: De Persiis Vona at Analy and Greg Alexander at Laguna. The only difference between the two schools is the class schedule for students at Laguna might be “more focused on credit recovery,” Alexander said.
Edgenuity’s online classes fulfill the requirements for entrance into the University of California system. De Persiis Vona said the platform has become popular with schools because unlike the platform the school used previously, Edgenuity offers advanced placement classes.
iAcademy students have to check in with veteran teacher Jane Mays once a week to make sure they’re making steady progress. These meetings can be in person, on the phone or over Zoom.
West County iAcademy is not a hybrid learning program. Students in the online program can’t take regular classes at Laguna or Analy—though they can go to the dances and do after-school sports.
DePersiis Vona said the reasons students decide to do online school are as varied as the students themselves. Sometimes it’s because they have intense social anxiety or because they have to work to help support their family; sometimes it’s because they’re so involved in training for a particular sport, say gymnastics, that they have to fit their school around that interest. Sometimes they just learn better on their own.
Students from outside the school district who are interested in being in the West County iAcademy have to apply through the district’s interdistrict transfer program before they can apply for the iAcademy.
De Persiis Vona is pleased that the program has openings for more students this year. There was a long waiting list for the online learning program last year, and she said it was rough deciding which students needed the program most and turning others away.
“I think it can be like a safety net for some kids and some families,” she said. “You know, sometimes you try a lot of different things before independent study—different interventions and different support. On the other hand, some people come in and right out of the gate they’re like, ‘I want this. This works for me. This is the kind of learner I am.’”