Friday, March 31, 2000
Net class to assist at-home schoolers
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — A new charter school set to open this summer won't have classrooms, playgrounds or a cafeteria — it will teach all subjects online. Supporters expect hundreds of students to enroll statewide, but the Department of Education questions whether it can meet students' needs.
The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or eCOT, will give students a computer and access to classes and teachers on its Internet site.
The Lucas County Educational Service Center approved the proposed K-12 school last month.
The school expects to enroll as many as 1,900 students by fall, most of them drawn from home-schooling families, said Bill Lager, a Columbus sales consultant and co-founder of eCOT.
“What we seem to think is a fair number of parents feel the traditional school environment is not for their children,” Lager said Thursday. “We hope to address those parents as best as possible.”
Other potential students might be children with disabilities, teen-agers in detention centers and older students completing high school equivalency exams, Mr. Lager said. The intent is not to draw students who already are enrolled in traditional public schools, he said.
The school opens July 1, Mr. Lager said. As of Thursday, it hadn't enrolled any students or hired any teachers, he said.
There are about 60,000 home-schooled children in Ohio, said Monica Zarichny, an Education Department spokeswoman.
“The staff did research among other states, and there wasn't enough information out there that they felt comfortable enough that this school could reach the needs of its students,” she said.
Thomas Baker, Lucas County Service Center superintendent, said he's confident the school will work based on eCOT's business plan.
“I'm not here to dispute what the state Department of Education said, but we feel they'll have no problem at all carrying out their mission,” Mr. Baker said.
It's uncertain whether home schoolers will enroll in the school because so many already work extensively on the Internet and with online programs, said Bruce Purdy, executive director of Christian Home Educators of Ohio, which represents 2,200 home-schooling families.
“As far as the principle of it, I think home schoolers would be interested,” Mr. Purdy said. “I don't know if many home schoolers would be interested in online schooling with a charter school, only because of the oversight of the state Board of Education.”
There are similar initiatives elsewhere, including plans in Kentucky for a virtual high school next year.
Research generally shows that older, more mature students do best with online classes, said Dick Howell, assistant dean for technology at Ohio State University's College of Education.
“It might not be very helpful to the younger, less-experienced students with less socialization,” said Mr. Howell, who teaches two online courses at Ohio State.
A 1997 state law created charter schools, which are publicly funded, privately operated schools. There are 47 operating in Ohio this year, 34 of them sponsored by the Education Department.
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