The Campbell County School District's effort to open a "virtual" elementary school hit another bump in the road recently, with Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride criticizing an effort to market the school to families across Wyoming.

Families with school-age children in Casper and other cities received mailings this week that began, "You want the best for your children, and that includes their education."

The mailing says parents can enroll their kids in the Wyoming Virtual School and give them "the excellent education they deserve."

The Wyoming Department of Education, McBride said, is willing to work with the district in developing the virtual school, but doesn't want the district reaching out of its boundaries.

"We are not prepared to endorse a pilot that recruits students from other districts throughout the state," McBride wrote in a letter last week to the Campbell County school superintendent, Richard Strahorn.

Strahorn and McBride spoke Tuesday and had a positive discussion about how the school could move forward with the state's help, said the school's principal, longtime Campbell County teacher Roger Larsen. Campbell County officials still may meet in person with McBride and education department staff, as there are a number of details to work out, Larsen said.

The mailing in question came from K12 Inc., the company providing the curriculum and materials for the virtual school. The company operates virtual schools in 15 states, a spokesman said. He said he didn't know how many fliers were mailed out or how the company chose households for its mailing list.

The mailing advertised information sessions coming up in September in cities around the state - Cody, Evanston, Sheridan, Laramie and others. The first events are a meeting tonight in Gillette at 7 p.m. at the Best Western Inn, and one in Cheyenne at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Best Western Hitching Post.

In his letter, McBride said he was "deeply concerned" about the statewide marketing effort and that the success of the program depends on honest communication.

"I would hate to see the whole notion of virtual education in Wyoming fail or develop a less than professional reputation because adults in this situation were not thoughtful in the execution of a plan," he wrote.

Moving forward

The virtual school's leaders are still optimistic about the success of the program and are prepared to move forward in this school year, Larsen said.

McBride's concern might have come as a result of miscommunication in the mailing, Larsen said.

Larsen said he wants families across the state to know the virtual school is an option, but doesn't want to recruit families who are currently happy with their local public school options.

"The home-school population is our target population," he said. Home-schooling parents who are looking for a free, quality, pre-packaged curriculum might be interested, he said.

"We want people to understand that the focus is not to pull someone away from other schools and thereby take money from other school districts," he said.

The idea for the program began when the Campbell County district was contacted by the K12 company. District officials researched the company and decided it was not just reputable but an excellent alternative, Larsen said.

"We felt there was a real large number of students, whether they were home-school based or students in families that had mobility issues, that needed to have a consistent and high-quality education, and we wanted to provide that for them," he said.

Not so easy

But the school ran into a roadblock when the education department said it didn't have the laws and rules in place to fund students in a virtual school.

The state's only other virtual school, the Wyoming E-academy of Virtual Learning in Fort Washakie, is actually a governed as a charter school, where students learn online from computers inside the school building, an education department spokesman said. Rules are already in place governing charter schools.

In order to go forward this year, the Campbell County School District would have to use money outside the regular stream of state funding, which is given based on the average number of students at school each day.

The Campbell County school board decided it could afford to provide the virtual school with funding for up to 100 students this coming year, at $7,000 per student, Larsen said. That's less than the district and state spend on students inside school buildings.

The district isn't trying to make a profit, Larsen said; it wants the state to reimburse it just at the level it costs to run the program.

For the school to continue in future years, the Legislature will have to pass a law allowing the Department of Education to fund virtual schools, and the department will have to write rules on how these schools are to be run.

More than 20 students have enrolled already for the pilot year. Students from Campbell County and nearby counties will be given priority. They will learn at home using computers and materials provided by the virtual school. All the materials work with Wyoming's state learning standards, Larsen said. Their parents can guide them, but they also meet regularly with a Campbell County teacher to ensure their progress.

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.