Catherine Steinberg and her 2nd grade students celebrate Theodor Geisel’s birthday Tuesday by reading favorite Dr. Seuss books. Courtesy/OLA
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com
Like its mascot, the roadrunner, Los Alamos Online Learning Academy got up and running in a hurry when COVID-19 closed down classrooms in March 2020. Also like the plucky bird, the Academy defies expectations, Director Sharon Fogle said.
The Academy’s guiding principles are “keep it simple and stay focused.”
When Los Alamos Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Guy proposed the idea of an online academy serving grades K-8, Fogle jumped on board.
“I figure, never waste a crisis,” she said. “If there is any place an online school could excel, it would be here. The thing that struck me was the pandemic meant we had to do school differently. We needed a new kind of school.”
Fogle taught math at Los Alamos Middle School for nine years before moving to Florida for two years. She returned to the school district after that and worked as an instructional coach. This is her 35th year in education.
The Academy has served 357 students this year and has 46 staff members, Fogle said. There are two classes in every grade and three classes in grades 1, 2 and 5. Students are live with their teacher from 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. with a half-hour break. The teachers provide off-camera activities for independent work. Teachers also can use the afternoon to work with small groups and services can be provided then, so students don’t need to leave the class to get them.
The Academy provides a full range of services, including physical and occupational therapy and the GATE program. Special education teachers work with the students who need them. The Academy also has online councilors available to students, Fogle said.
The bonds students and teachers form online are just as strong, if not stronger, than those formed in a traditional classroom, she said.
“A school is its teachers and that’s especially true of the online academy,” Fogle said. “Our teachers don’t let technology get in the way of good teaching. All of our teachers had experience in the classroom. They say their students are doing as well or even better online.”
Online testing bears this out. When it became apparent that students were lagging in math in comparison with language arts, the academy created a new math curriculum and made it a priority.
“Flexibility has been our strength,” Fogle said. “We can adjust rapidly. If something isn’t working, we change it. Teachers have a lot of autonomy to innovate.”
Even though most students may be returning to the physical classroom full-time, an amazing number of students are staying with the academy.
Twenty-five percent of students have already committed to the program for fall. Another 50 percent are still deciding and 25 percent have opted to return to the physical classroom.
Why is it that so many families are choosing or considering remaining in the Online Academy this fall?
There are many reasons, Fogle said. Giving parents, grandparents and other caregivers an opportunity to be directly involved in their child’s education is attractive to some. Others value the consistent, open schedule, which allows students to pursue other interests such as competitive sports or robotics. Some value the extra family time.
There also are academic benefits to online instruction, Fogle pointed out.
“It’s amazing to see the computer and tech skills the students are developing,” she said, “You should see the five-year-olds help their teacher when something isn’t working on the Internet … Students have so much information at their fingertips and this creates lifelong learners.”
Fogle has big plans to make the Academy even better in the fall.
“The future is exciting,” she said. “We continue to build on our strengths. Teachers are already coming up with new ideas.”
Partnerships with the Pajarito Environmental Education Center and the local library are in the works. Other possibilities will be explored as things open up after the pandemic is fully contained, Fogle said.
“People are sometimes skeptical about online education,” she said. “We want people to know about us. The Academy is not right for every student, but for some, it’s a perfect fit. I want to get the word out about our success.”
Fall enrollment has opened for the Los Alamos Public Schools. The Los Alamos Online Learning Academy is an option for students in grades K-8 this fall.