Council Rock is taking the first of several “baby steps” to introduce virtual learning to its high school students. 

According to Barry Desko, Council Rock's director of secondary education, the district has formed a partnership with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to begin exploring options for online learning.

Desko, along with other teachers and educators, on Tuesday offered a presentation about the effort to the Council Rock School Board.

Desko said the district is moving “cautiously” as it explores various cyber-learning options. The Intermediate Unit’s Bridges program helped the Quakertown Community School District form its cyber-learning program three years ago. Quakertown now offers 50 online courses to its students and has seen “great successes,” said Pamela Newman Dinan of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

The Bridges program is currently working with Bucks County school districts to expand online education options for high school students, Dinan added.

Next year, one teacher at both of Council Rock’s high schools will offer one of their classes online, Desko explained. 

According to district officials, online learning has various benefits for students. It would provide them scheduling flexibility as well as expanded opportunities, such as the ability to take a course that is otherwise not offered.

There are several issues that need to be worked out before the cyber-learning program takes flight. Questions like where students will take the courses, how they will be supervised and what technology is necessary must be answered first, Desko said.

“We just think it’s the right thing to do at the right time,” Desko said, adding it is the district’s aim to build a program that protects academic integrity.

Klein stressed the district is taking baby steps towards offering virtual learning opportunities. “We’re in this process to learn if it fits in Council Rock,” he said, adding an online program must make education for students better.

Board members embraced the concept but questioned logistics.

Jerold Grupp said he’d like to know what cyber learning would mean for the district’s average daily attendance rate. He also wondered how the online courses would be weighted in connection with grade point averages.

Board member Patti Sexton said while she understands the merits of offering such a program, she disagreed that it would be in the best interest of the students.

“I have a natural aversion to online learning,” she said, adding it fails to provide the same interaction and “joy” that can be achieved during face-to-face instruction.