Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield said at Monday night's school board meeting, the first offerings will be Spanish I and Health.
"We hope by November to be able to add Spanish II and we think the race will be on from there," he said. "We'll be able to start adding content and courses online at a rapid pace after that."
While the move will save some money, Schofield said the most important aspect to offering online courses is the flexibility it affords students. He pointed out that students who take band or chorus often cannot take other electives because they have no room on their regular schedules.
Dr. Aaron Turpin, the Executive Director for Technology for the school system, said system officials have done their research on online classes. He said it's a trend that has become prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.
He said the school systems they talked with had nothing but praise for online courses for high school students.
"Number one, [they said] once you start offering it, you'll be amazed at the number of requests you get. They also talked with us about some keys for student success, so each of the online classes has a highly qualified content specialist teacher."
Turpin said if there is room in a student's schedule for either of the classes being offered online, but the school can't work out the schedule to accomodate the student in a physical classroom, then the student may take the course at no cost.
If, however, the student has a full schedule and wants to take Spanish I or Health online, there will be a tuition fee for that online class.
Turpin noted, too, that offering online courses will prepare students for advanced education.
"Online classes...that's the way we work and we learn professionally," said Turpin, "so it's preparing our students for their future world."
Hall County School Board members Nath Morris and Craig Herrington talk with Superintendent Will Schofield following Monday night's meeting
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/6/249561