Virtual academy holds open house at new Little Rock hub

LITTLE ROCK -- Teachers, administrators, parents, students and supporters affiliated with the Arkansas Virtual Academy charter school rarely gather in person, but as many as 300 did so Tuesday to mark

The 20-year-old virtual school with a staff of about 140 state-licensed teachers delivers online instruction to about 4,000 kindergarten-through-12th grade students who typically do their school work from their homes spread throughout Arkansas' 75 counties.

The school is the oldest and largest of three online or online/in-school charter school programs in the state. The others are Arkansas Connections Academy based in Bentonville and the newer LISA Academy Arkansas Hybrid School that is headquartered in Little Rock.

All three struggled academically in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. Arkansas Virtual's elementary school has a state-applied F grade and its secondary schools have D grades. Lisa Academy Hybrid has a D grade, as does Arkansas Connections Academy. The state letter grades from 2021-22 will be replaced later this year with results from the 2022-23 school year.

"ARVA is unique for several reasons," Amy Johnson, the head of school who lives and works part time in Marshall, said of her staff who also work from their homes and the students who choose the school for reasons such as fragile health, the need for flexible scheduling, experiences with bullying at other schools, or because they flourish with individualized learning.

Now, a totally remodeled 48,000-square-foot former office furniture store at 717 W. Seventh St., in downtown Little Rock is providing a physical space large enough for staff training sessions, student-teacher meetings and student testing.

There is also space for students to access technology for Environmental and Spatial Technology or EAST Lab projects, as well as space for lessons in 11 career pathways, room for the annual school prom and space for the development of a career acceleration center on the building's top, second floor.

The airy new spaces in the building are furnished with easily movable tables, desks, chairs and couches. Colors are in terra cotta, yellow and teal blue.

"It doesn't look like a school and I think that was our goal -- to have the space to be innovative," said Ashley Holder, the high school principal who works most days from her home in Strawberry in Lawrence County.

The online school has drawn money for the $1.5 million purchase of the building and the $4.2 million renovation from the $7.9 million it is receiving in special federal covid-19 relief funding, Johnson said. She has called the one-time money a blessing to an organization that is ineligible for state facilities money.

"One of the most common questions I get is 'You are a virtual school. Why do you need a building?'" Johnson said to the crowd on hand Tuesday for speech-making, ribbon-cutting and tours. "This hub will serve to provide opportunities for us to interface with our students," she said.

Johnson commended the school's board of directors for its bravery in taking on a building for an online school. The new space will become a strong, central part of the school, she said.

The ceremony and open-house Tuesday came on the same day that the Arkansas LEARNS Act or Act 237 of 2023 went into effect. A key component of the 145-page law is the expansion of school choice options for families, including the lifting of the cap on the number of state-approved charter schools, as well as taxpayer-funded vouchers for tuition costs at private schools.

Rep. Brian Evans, R-Cabot, chairman of the House Education Committee, told the crowd that enactment of the law will allow the state "to move forward and see great things happening for all of our kids.

"This fabulous education hub is a great demonstration of how innovative choice options can directly impact our students and families," Evans said, adding that the career pathway features of the school will be a particular benefit to students and to the state's economy.

"ARVA is going to be on the cutting edge of changing kids' lives and creating unbelievable lifelong opportunities," Evans said.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin called the newly enhanced Arkansas Virtual Academy "part of that mosaic of options that works for some and something else may work for somebody else."

The option of the virtual school "is about getting away from the cookie cutter mindset, getting away from people you have never met telling you where you must put your kids in school -- people who have never met your kid," Griffin said.

James Rhyu, chief executive officer of Stride, Inc., that provides the K12 curriculum for the school, called the Arkansas Virtual Academy's combination of learning both online and in physical space "innovative" and "a landmark moment."

The school's focus on tailoring instruction to students and families as customers who have choices ... "will really help propel education in this country forward," Rhyu said. "I think ARVA and this center represent that."

Shanda Strawn of Scott, a parent of two sons at the virtual academy, said she has been very happy with the several years of online learning and individual support provided to her sons, one of whom will graduate this year.

"This hub is going to be extremely helpful to us," Strawn said. "We live in a very rural area. The wi-fi service is very limited. Now, if we have any issues with wi-fi, we know we can come here. We also know we can come here and get other kinds of support we need. We can meet with teachers and get extra help, or just come and let the kids hang out and meet other children."

Print Headline: Virtual academy holds open house at new hub

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