TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Districts across the Magic Valley have their hands full getting ready to welcome students back to school in person, but they're also preparing to welcome them virtually.
In the Twin Falls School District, one of those options was the Virtual Schoolhouse. That remote learning program was so popular they've had to add a second online option.
"We realized here recently that we needed to offer a second option to families because the first option was filling up," explained Dr. Brady Dickinson, superintendent of the district. "What we're looking at now because of the number of people we have that are desiring for a full online option, is to pull our staff, partner them with the Idaho digital learning academy to offer that coursework in truly an online fashion."
The district would have a dedicated team of teachers specifically for the online option.
"We have to look at right now, what staff do we need to have in regular brick and mortar classrooms, and which ones do we need to able to shift into the online or virtual world," Dickinson said.
If you select this option, the district says they'll provide the device, but you'll be expected to commit to the entire school year and you'll be required to have solid internet access.
"You do have to have some things at home to be able to make it work, and connectivity would be an important part of that," Dickinson said.
The district says they need to get an idea of how many people are interested so they know how many teachers to designate to the program.
They're providing an online form on their website for parents to indicate interest. The deadline to fill out the form is Wednesday.
