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Fitch offers alternative school, online program
By Elise Franco
Austintown
School district officials said offering online classes at Austintown Fitch will broaden curriculum options for students.
Classes in Austintown begin Monday, and with the start of the new school year will come the start of an alternative school and online program, said Janet Polish, program coordinator.
Polish, who was previously a district Title 1 math coach and principal of the evening alternative school, said the program will give students interested in online coursework more options and flexibility while keeping them in a school setting if they choose.
“They will have a choice,” she said. “They can work in-house in a computer-lab setting, or they can work from home and come once per week and work out of the school.”
Polish said about 25 students already have expressed interest in the program. Those students still will receive the same level of education as other classmates, she said.
“We’re looking at all the core subjects. ... As well as [advanced-placement] classes,” she said. “We want to continue to see the excellence.”
Unlike many online programs, Polish said students in Austintown’s program would have regular contact with tutors and intervention specialists.
“We still want them to have contact with teachers,” she said. “They can get intervention and help on a daily and weekly basis, and we’re going to personalize tutoring to help them with Ohio Achievement and graduation testing.”
Polish said the program costs nothing for students and will be a minimal cost to the district through the general fund. She said she can’t give a definitive figure until she knows exactly how many students will take part this school year.
Superintendent Vince Colaluca said the district will apply for a $500,000 grant from the state to expand the program in 2011-12 if it is successful.
Polish said in 2009 about 150 students left the district for other online or charter schools.
The administration hopes the online courses will help bring back some of those former students who still want to study online, Polish said.
“Unlike other online or charter programs, these kids will be able to participate in athletics, clubs, band, choir, and they’ll receive their high-school diploma from Austintown Fitch,” she said. “Those are pluses they don’t get the opportunity to have when they leave.”
Colaluca said in approving the new initiative, the school board has a growing vision for the future of the district.
“Phoenix University wouldn’t be the biggest university in the country if it wasn’t for the online component,” Colaluca said. “Districts have to recognize that, and we have in Austintown.”
Colaluca said expectations for the program are high.
“The direction that education is moving is to online,” he said. “We believe some of the things other online schools have done wrong, we’ll do right.”