Virtual Loudoun Elementary school was a virtual program which provided a safe equitable education to child(ren) who were medically fragile, bullied, faced racism, and who have learning disabilities.  This is proven to be the least restrictive environment and successful for all children.  Sadly, this program was not included in the 2023-2024 budget.  Parents and teachers advocated to keep the program going but were unsuccessful.  We would like your support to help bring back this successful program.  Students attending the program had improved state test scores, less anxiety due to previously being bullied, and medically fragile students missed fewer school days.

https://www.loudounnow.com/news/education/parents-teachers-speak-out-ask-to-keep-virtual-loudoun-elementary-going/article_d70aadda-dae9-11ed-bb8b-c75e4209632d.html

Below is the news article from the Loudoun Now:

Valerie Smith is no stranger to speaking out about the division’s recent decision to close Virtual Loudoun Elementary. She has been speaking virtually at most School Board meetings since she learned the program would close at the end of this school year. 

Smith’s son Ben has complicated medical issues that prevent him from attending school in person. She said parents weren’t given a say on the closing of the program, and said of the more than 80 students enrolled, most don’t have a choice to be there. 

“This isn’t a choice, but everyone acts like it is. It’s very frustrating. No one would ever walk up to you while you were having an asthma attack and if you couldn’t reach your inhaler say you made the choice not to be near it,” she said.

While the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools for children everywhere, Smith said the introduction of virtual learning opened up a new world for children who couldn’t attend school in person because of complex medical issues. Now she says it’s cruel to shut that window just because normal life has resumed for everyone else. 

For many students in the online program, it’s their first time being in a classroom setting with a teacher and other peers. 

The Virtual Loudoun Elementary program offers synchronous all-day learning and includes specials like art, P.E. and music classes. Students can do group learning in breakout sessions, get extra help in a more private one-on-one setting with their teacher and, most importantly, socialize and make friends in a safe environment. 

“Without this program these kids won’t be socializing. The reality is they are isolated because of medical needs. Some are extremely immunocompromised. They can’t go to parks or Chuck E. Cheese and be with friends. They have friends now. Take this away and you take away their world,” Smith said.  

She said having virtual school makes the many doctor’s appointments Ben has easier because he can take school with him and not miss anything.

“There are so many benefits, I don’t see a real reason why the program wouldn’t go on,” she said. 

With a price tag of $2.5 million dollars for 24 positions and just over 80 students, the division decided in October at a budget work session that elementary distance learning was not a priority and cut it from superintendent’s proposed budget in January, citing low enrollment and arguing in-person learning is better for students. The division decided to keep virtual learning for both middle and high school.

Deputy Superintendent Ashley Ellis said the program’s numbers have steadily been decreasing. She said in August of last year enrollment was over 100, but as of the April 11 School Board meeting only 81 students remained. Ellis said they saw a similar drop in enrollment during the 2021-22 school year from 300 to 261 over the course of the year.

“People dropped over the course of last year as mask mandates lifted and vaccines became available,” Ellis said in an interview. “This year some families were still nervous about in person learning, but then over the course of the year either became comfortable or decided virtual learning wasn’t best for them.”

Ellis said the $2.5 million dollars covers the salaries and benefits for the 24 teachers, including a counselor; art, music, P.E. and special education teachers; operational costs; and materials and supplies for teachers. 

Acting Superintendent Daniel Smith said at the April 11 School Board meeting that the program was never meant to be a long term one, and that it was created with COVID-19 relief funds to help students transition out of the pandemic. Smith said they used the funds again to keep it for the current school year, but with no more funding there is nothing to carry it into a new school year or beyond. 

Currently in the program there is a kindergarten class with only three students and a fourth-grade class with eight, according to Smith. Smith did not give numbers for other grades.

“We are moving forward based on the direction we felt we had,” he said. “If we go back and look at that we’d have to cut something out of our current budget to find the funds to support it.”

Kyung Suh has two children in virtual elementary school. She said initially the pandemic is what lead them to it but then found it worked better for her family.

“With virtual, he [her son] didn’t have that anxiety of meeting people that would bully him. Then his confidence got better and right now he’s doing really well in his classes and his focus is better,” she said. “His special ed teacher has been really good too.”

She said the special education teacher can pull her son into a breakout room and work one-on-one with him without distractions or embarrassment. She said she feels her son has gotten more support with virtual school then he did in-person.

Other parents with children in the program agree. 

One father who asked that his name not be used, citing fear of retaliation, said his daughter has specific medical needs that require constant monitoring. He said with virtual elementary they can turn off her camera to take care of those needs without disrupting the entire class, but she can still listen and be present. 

He said virtual school is all his daughter has ever known and worries about what life will be like for her in a brick-and-mortar building with her complex medical needs and constant care.

He thinks the enrollment is low because it wasn’t advertised enough to let parents know it was an option for the 2022-23 school year. He said he thinks there are more students who would benefit from the program if they only knew about it. 

Other parents said there is nothing equal to the program in the state, especially if the student has an Individualized Education Plan or a Section 504 plan—a plan that includes accommodations, aides and/or services for students with disabilities to have equal access to activities and programs.

According to one teacher in the program, 40% of students in Virtual Loudoun Elementary have an IEP.

Parent Heather Hughes said other programs like Virtual Virginia and Virginia Virtual Academy aren’t the same caliber as Loudoun. She said some don’t take kids who aren’t on grade level or above for reading, the majority aren’t synchronous, and some are not accredited. Others have a cost associated with having what is naturally built into Loudoun’s program. 

“It’s a family community made with all the virtual families and now they are telling us its gone and no longer here. It’s making the families scramble and leaving us with ‘less-than options,’” Hughes said. 

Parents think the division should keep the program “because it’s a source of pride for the division.” They said it should be capitalized and become the model for other divisions. 

Teachers also have good things to say about the program. They’ve said students are thriving, and they don’t have a problem showing up, turning on their camera and participating.

“I know that every penny we put into public education matters, and I know that it’s not all being spent in the way everyone feels it should, but before people decide the way we are spending this money doesn’t matter I really want them to come to my class,” Virtual Loudoun secondary teacher Heather Benson said. “Anytime, show up and I will let you see the magic that is happening. You don’t have to leave your house, come see what I’m doing before you decide its not worth the money.” 

Denise Corbo (At-large) said on April 11 that the program has had proven academic success and offers the closest possible thing to a regular school environment.

“What we have done in Loudoun is created a pretty incredible program… Loudoun should capitalize on VLE, perhaps working with surrounding divisions and expanding the opportunity to some of our most vulnerable kids,” she said. 

Ellis agreed the program is unique. 

“[They] are not the same as our program. I cannot sit here and tell you it’s the same. It is not fully synchronous, they do not have specials classes and it does not mirror a normal school day like our virtual program does, but that is also why we have 24 FTEs [full-time-equivalent positions] dedicated to it,” she said. 

Corbo asked April 11 that the superintendent evaluate the program and try to find ways to continue it by possibly combining classes, using underutilized staff and by bringing homebound students into the program. 

Valerie Smith thinks most students and parents would agree to cut something from the budget to allow students to continue attending Virtual Loudoun Elementary School. 

“Most would say let these kids go to school in the safest way they can, ask the other kids. I truly believe that,” she said.