High schools look to offering online courses

GENESEE COUNTY (WJRT) -- (11/19/08)--Forget classrooms and chalkboards. Soon, students in Genesee County will only need a computer and Internet access to get a diploma.

The Michigan Department of Education has approved a request allowing students to take up to 100 percent of their high school courses online.

It means if they meet specific requirements, students can attend a virtual high school.

"I like it," said Jill Schubring.

Millington High School seniors Schubring and Rachel Scribner both take classes online.

"I think it's a good alternative," Schubring said.

Both like that they can set their own pace and even work from home if they want to.

"I do most of it at school, but if I have to I'll do it at home," Scribner said.

Their principal also likes the system. His students can take courses he otherwise wouldn't be able to offer at the smaller-sized school.

"It's created a lot of avenues to get students the type of get academic classes they would like," said Millington High School Principal Roger Bearss.

In Michigan, students can take up to two online courses per semester.

But a dozen districts -- the Genesee Intermediate School District now included -- have a waiver from the state which allows students to log all their high school courses online.

It's a program expansion the GISD is more than ready for.

"There was a vision years ago," said the Genesee Intermediate School District's Beverly Knox-Pipes.

"These visionaries built this system. We have over 400 miles of fiber that connect every school building here in Genesee County."

Genesee County students are signing up for online courses at record rates. There is a 58 percent increase from last year.

A spokesperson for the State Department of Education says students still must meet with a teacher mentor, they must be counted on count days, and juniors still must take the Michigan Merit Exam.

The GISD will provide much more information about this big change Friday.

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local, lori dougovito

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