By Rachel Schleif

OMAK — The Omak School District last week became the region’s first home base for a statewide online school. Dozens of students, local and statewide, logged on for the first day of school Friday at Washington Virtual Academy-Omak.

Omak Superintendent Art Himmler sees the online school as a way for the 1,700-student district to offer a wide variety of classes it can’t afford otherwise. Online classes also bring in students who need more flexibility than a traditional school can give: Students with autism or social problems, students with medical issues, students who work and American Indian students who miss school for cultural events.

“People are excited because they see opportunities for kids here in Omak,” Himmler said. “They have a chance at taking courses that we have never offered before … Here’s a chance to open up choice.”

As of early this morning, the school district did not know how many students were enrolled.

The school district contracted with K12 Inc. last year to become the third Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) in the state. The other two are operated by school districts in Monroe and Steilacoom.

The idea started with Himmler, who was superintendent of Steilacoom schools when they contracted with K12 Inc. in 2004. Since then, WAVA-Steilacoom has become the biggest online school in the state with more than 2,880 students, kindergarten to eighth grade. Because of WAVA’s popularity, the school district nearly doubled its enrollment in five years.

Himmler said Omak’s program will likely not grow as fast or large as Steilacoom.

“We were the first in Steilacoom,” he said. “When Steilacoom went statewide there was almost no one else out there.”

Omak will pay K12 Inc. about $1,700 for every online student, Himmler said. The district will keep the rest to pay for teacher time, training and benefits. The district is also responsible for overseeing the program’s quality and operations.

Himmler said he expects the program to break even after the third year. K12 Inc. will shoulder the debt if the program runs at a loss this year.

“I need to emphasize the goal is to provide this as a service,” Himmler said. “We are a full-meal-deal public school program ... We did all this to provide options for our kids in the district, not as a fundraiser.”

Himmler said he doesn’t see Omak as a threat to other school districts.

“Every other district is welcome to offer what they like for online instruction,” he said.

Several districts in the area, including Eastmont and Cascade, signed contracts to offer online classes within the district. So far Omak is the first to open a comprehensive school program statewide.

It’s a matter of philosophy, Okanogan Superintendent Richard Johnson said. The Okanogan School District contracted with Advanced Academics about five years ago to offer an online option for its local high school students. This year, three students are enrolled in the Okanogan Regional Learning Academy.

“What I had was some kids that weren’t fitting the mold,” Johnson said. “There were so few that financially I couldn’t start up another school for them.”

For every full-time student who joins Advanced Academics, the company takes $5,000. The district doesn’t make a dime, Johnson said.

Unlike other online programs, Okanogan will not accept students from outside the district unless the students’ home district doesn’t offer any alternative.

“We do this so as not to get caught up in raiding students from other districts just to increase our own student counts,” Johnson said. “If districts had to give back to the state the profit they are making by offering online classes at less than $5,000 per student, then ‘raiding’ would probably stop immediately and the state will only be paying out what it actually costs.”

He said he’d also like to see a regional option for all school districts, instead of the ‘have’ and ‘have-not’ districts competing with each other.

Not every school district contracts with an outside company. Wenatchee School District created its own about four years ago. Wenatchee Internet Academy offers seven classes online for high school students, developed and taught by local teachers.

“When we moved from a seven-period day to a six-period at the high school, it limited the number of elective opportunities students had and tightened up schedules, so we thought this would be a way to provide that option for students,” said Superintendent Brian Flones.

The program costs the district between $40,000 and $50,000 a year.

At first, the district talked about accepting students from outside districts, but the program became so popular among Wenatchee students that there was no room for others. About 200 students enrolled this year.

Eastmont School District joined a nonprofit co-op, Columbia Virtual Academy, this year to give homeschool students online support, but the option is open to all students. So far, more than 20 students have signed up for classes with CVA. Under the one-year agreement, Eastmont forwards 92 percent of the enrollment money it receives from the state for that student, said Superintendent Garn Christensen.

“It’s one choice we needed to make available,” Christensen said. “I believe online education is something all students will get some exposure to at some point. There are not many jobs anymore, my own included, that don’t have some online component. It’s part of our world.”

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/feb/01/local-schools-booting-up-their-own-online/