Virtual Learning Solutions Slams Local School Boards in 1,080-Page Response

When K-12 and Virtual Learning Solutions presented their proposal of an online charter school for the Fox Valley area to the Oswego 308 board about two weeks ago, the board expressed their "disappointment" with the information given.

“If we don’t ask these questions and don’t get the answers we could be damning these kids,” said board member Dave Behrens at the informational meeting on Tuesday, March 19. “You’re coming to us and you don’t have answers to these very pointed questions. You can’t treat our kid’s education this way.”

K-12 has now responded, releasing via email a 1,080-page PDF document stating its case for the charter option.

The report is attached here, for your light-reading pleasure.

It makes strong, data-supported arguments for online charter schools as well as the performance of the K-12 schools elsewhere in the country. The document, introduced and signed by Virtual Learning Solutions President Sharnell Jackson, takes a few moments to slam what VLS calls "special interest groups"—notably including local school board members—for trying protect their "power base."

From the report:

"The many adult interest groups that live off our public education system are already doing their best to co-opt digital learning for their own ends—and to ensure that nobody uses it to threaten their power, membership, or revenue base. Two such groups are especially powerful players in the politics and policies of public education.

"First are local districts and their school boards, vigorously represented by the National School Board Association (NSBA). This crowd would stifle the openness and global reach of digital learning in the name of district empowerment and local monopoly. According to Ann Flynn, NSBA’s director of education technology, online learning 'should be something that school districts can control.'

"Such a cramped viewpoint has even been adopted by some smart reform thinkers. Writing recently in Education Next, for example, veteran thought leader (and digital-learning advocate) Paul Peterson notes that 'if digital learning is to advance beyond the pilot stage, it needs to work within the current system of public education, not against it.' "

Area school districts are expected to vote on the proposals, starting this week. 

Oswego 308 will be voting on the proposal at their Monday night meeting on April 8 at 7 p.m. at Oswego East High School.

Patch will be providing a link to a livestream of the meeting on Monday evening. 

Districts Targeted for a Fox River Valley Region

1. School District U-46
2. Indian Prairie School District 204
3. Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202
4. Community Unit School District 300
5. Valley View Community Unit School District 365U
6. Naperville Community Unit School District 203
7. Oswego Community Unit School District 308
8. East Aurora School District 131
9. St. Charles Community Unit School District 303
10. Community Unit School District 200
11. West Aurora School District 129
12. Batavia Public School District 101
13. Geneva Community Unit School District 304
14. DeKalb Community Unit School District 428
15. Yorkville Community Unit School District 115
16. Kaneland Community Unit School District 302
17. Sycamore Community Unit School District 427
18. Central Community Unit School District 301