Flexibility and FLVS

I love Google Alerts.

I’ve got one set up that notifies me any time Florida Virtual School is mentioned on a forum or in an article. I usually start my day sorting through two or three of them, and continue to receive notifications from Google throughout the day.

Some of my favorite alerts are generated by prospective students. It’s interesting to me to see how different each student plans to use FLVS as a part of his/her education. For example, yesterday I received one from a high school student posting on a forum asking if he can take four classes at his traditional school, but then two classes through FLVS. I read it and nodded my head, thinking, “Yes, you can!”

It’s important to remember that FLVS was created to provide flexibility and offer open enrollment to students around the state.

Our statute states:

The mission of the Florida Virtual School is to provide students with technology-based educational opportunities to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. The school shall serve any student in the state who meets the profile for success in this educational delivery context and shall give priority to:

1. Students who need expanded access to courses in order to meet their educational goals, such as home education students and students in inner-city and rural high schools who do not have access to higher-level courses.

2. Students seeking accelerated access in order to obtain a high school diploma at least one semester early.

We must continue to protect this mission and not allow policies to chip away at the flexibility that FLVS allows students.

We were built to help students accelerate as well as give them the flexibility to take the extra time they need to succeed. This model has been proven over and over as our exam scores continue to outpace the state averages and student survey results show that most students use FLVS to graduate early or on time – now that’s impressive!

Imagine if this choice did not exist for students. Please take a moment to thank your local legislator for creating and continuing to support Florida Virtual School.

Find contact info for your legislators at www.myfloridahouse.gov and www.flsenate.gov.

Post by Holly Sagues, Former Executive Director of Governmental Affairs & Strategic Solutions