Virtual classroom: Online high school has its advantages

By Ian Whitaker

Monday, June 15, 2015 | 2 a.m.

When school starts for William Foster, he’s usually still in his pajamas.

He typically wakes around 9 a.m., wipes the sleep from his eyes and goes downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. Then he cracks open his laptop at the foot of his bed and, within minutes, is connected to his first class of the day.

Foster is one of hundreds of students in Nevada who have switched from traditional brick-and-mortar neighborhood schools to online charter schools.

Foster is a junior at Nevada Virtual Academy, founded in 2008. With about 3,000 students enrolled in K-12, it’s one of the largest state-sponsored charters in Nevada. Foster is one of more than 700 students in the school’s online high school.

He used to have to get up at 5 a.m. to ride the bus to Centennial High School. Not anymore.

“I wake up, drag myself out of bed, and I can still barely get up in time, to be honest,” Foster said.

As online education has gained in popularity, some have criticized it as being too geared toward motivated students. Many students come to Nevada Virtual Academy as a last resort after doing poorly in public school. As a result, the school has a 50 percent graduation rate and a 2-star rating, but officials say that’s because some students are not proficient in reading and math or are credit deficient when they enroll.

During class, Foster listens to the teacher’s lecture through headphones and takes notes as a student in any classroom would. The school, since it’s part of the public education system, is tuition-free and sends Foster the textbooks he needs. His schedule is similar to a traditional student’s, about six hours each day.

“I’m not gonna lie, it does still get slightly boring,” Foster said. “But you learn to be responsible.”

Foster’s path to online school began in 2013, after he spent four months as a freshman at Centennial. He initially was excited to go to high school.

“The second week, I was like, ‘This is not going to work,’” he said. “There’s a lot of drama. It just got to be too much.”

So his mom, Patriece Foster, pulled him out and enrolled him at Nevada Virtual Academy after she heard about it through a school counselor.

“I just want my son to have a good, quality education,” she said. “He doesn’t have to worry about what he looks like or what he’s dressed like.”

The big draw for William is being able to work at his own pace. He tracks his progress online, so he knows what’s due and what he needs to read that week. When it’s time to take a test, proctors check in on students via webcam. When the test is over, Foster gets the results immediately rather than waiting for a teacher to grade it.

But just because he gets to hang out at home most of the day doesn’t mean it’s easy. Most of his day is spent taking notes, listening to lectures and doing assignments. When he’s not doing that, he’s doing required reading.

What keeps him organized and on task? Ironically, it’s that there aren’t teachers hovering over him or holding his hand. If he doesn’t turn in an assignment or log in to class each day, he knows he will miss vital information that could come back to hurt him during tests.

“It’s a lot of responsibility,” he said.

If Foster slacks off, it doesn’t take long for school officials to take notice. That helps Patriece, who works more than 60 hours a week at University Medical Center and can’t stay home every day to make sure he’s on task.

“I’ll get a phone call within a week,” she said. “A lot of parents might worry their kid might slack off, but they’ll let you know.”

If Foster does fall behind — and he says that’s easy to do ­­— he can schedule face-to-face tutoring or meet with teachers in person at the school’s campus on South Eastern Avenue near the 215 Beltway. The school also offers electives and college credit through Advanced Placement courses. Occasionally, classes take field trips.

After the school day, Foster’s life is like those of many other kids his age. He hangs out with neighborhood friends and goes out on the weekends. He said his social life hasn’t suffered for not seeing his friends at school.

Orlando Dos Santos, principal of Nevada Virtual Academy’s high school, oversees the online high school’s 35 teachers.

“The students who choose us do so for all kinds of reasons,” Dos Santos said. “The traditional brick-and-mortar school doesn’t fit everybody.”

Many students who take classes at Nevada Virtual Academy do so because they simply have no other choice. Some of the students have jobs with odd schedules, while others are rural students or homeschoolers transitioning back into public education.

When Foster graduates in a year, he wants to be either an anthropologist or a historian. He hasn’t decided which yet, but he wants to go to UNLV.

“I’ve learned a lot,” he said, pausing for a moment to think. “It’s actually kind of weird.”