MAVA (Massachusetts Virtual Academy) at Greenfield is the first and only virtual public school in the Commonwealth. MAVA is a critical educational option for hundreds of parents and students, providing a solid curriculum, support from qualified teachers, and a sense of community and belonging to students who are not suited or able to attend a brick and mortar public school.

In January 2013, Massachusetts passed H. 4274 "An Act Establishing Commonwealth Virtual Schools," expanding virtual education opportunities. The new legislation ends Greenfield's virtual Innovation School, since the provision under which MAVA exists ends effective June 30th, 2013.

On February 12th, the Greenfield School Committee received the guidelines for submitting a proposal to reconfigure the school as a Charter school. The response date requirement is March 25th, 2013, 3:00 p.m.

At its monthly meeting of February 28th, the school committee voted to not submit a proposal to reconfigure the Innovation School model and submit an application to the Department of Education by March 25, primarily because the timeline was too short to consider the options and vote on them prior to submitting the application.

There are many reasons that families choose a virtual school. Some children have medical or emotional issues that make attending a traditional school impossible. Some children are highly or profoundly gifted, and enjoy the opportunity to learn at their own pace while still being part of the public school system. All of these children deserve the option of the quality education that MAVA is successfully providing.

We urge the legislators and local officials to act together and find a compromise that will at least extend MAVA for another year.