Parent Coalition President published in Oregonian in support of virtual schools

The Oregonian recently published a guest opinion by Oregon Virtual Public Schools Alliance President Cindy McGraw. Please comment at the bottom of the article to show your support for virtual public schools and urge their continued availability to children across Oregon.

Below is the full guest opinion.

Oregon legislators need to walk their talk on virtual schools 

The Oregonian
Friday, April 1, 2011
Guest Opinion
By Cindy McGraw

In the fall of 2009, I found myself in a position shared by thousands of other Oregon parents. I was an anxious mother watching my 10-year-old daughter fall behind in school and trying desperately to help her keep up. My daughter has a mild learning disability that was causing her classroom performance to decline, and my attempts to seek help were not showing progress. After months of searching for an education pathway that would serve her, I found the Oregon Virtual Academy, a full-time online public school. It has transformed our lives and my daughter's promise.

Knowing what it has meant to my family, a year ago I decided to get active in promoting this public school option so that other children who need it would have an alternative to the traditional classroom. What I received was a disappointing crash course in Oregon politics. Every elected and appointed leader I've met with over the last year has talked approvingly of online education, the promise it holds for Oregon families and the need to embrace technology in the quest for student achievement gains. Yet those same leaders would then vote for policies that prohibit the creation of new virtual public schools and place restrictive enrollment caps on existing schools to deny access to more families.

Equally as frustrating as the policies prohibiting access to virtual public schools has been the bureaucratic shuffle parents have had to endure. The Oregon Legislature and the State Board of Education have been playing hot potato with this issue for three years, each one unwilling to agree to set up a permanent framework for virtual public schools or open enrollment for more kids. At one point this year, Oregon Virtual Academy had nearly 160 Oregon children on a waiting list for enrollment. Because of a law passed by the Legislature, the academy can accept no more than 600 students this school year. What public interest is served by forcing these kids to stay in an environment where they struggle to learn?

It's time that Oregon's leaders live up to their rhetoric on virtual public schools. There are two virtual public schools that operate in Oregon on a statewide basis: Oregon Virtual Academy and the Oregon Connections Academy. Both have met academic standards established by state and federal guidelines and both tout substantial parent satisfaction in surveys of families. They have withstood the scrutiny for quality and financial solvency that rightly accompanies any institution seeking public funding to provide education services. We are no longer debating a theoretical system for delivering education. We have real results and real families who need this public option to be available.

Hundreds of virtual school families recently rallied on the steps of the Oregon Capitol in support of keeping our schools open and granting access to more kids searching for an alternative to the traditional classroom. We will continue to bring this message to our elected and appointed leaders. Our only hope is that there will be a growing convergence between their words and their deeds.

Cindy McGraw of Canby is president of the Oregon Virtual Public Schools Alliance. 

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