The Alle-Kiski Academy of Excellence offers students, from any district, the opportunity to learn in a synchronous manner from the comfort of their own homes.
The four participating districts are Burrell, Derry Area, Hempfield Area and Kiski Area.
Students are allowed to participate in all activities offered in their respective districts.
The program is powered by Google for Education and currently enrolls 53 students from the four districts.
Teachers instruct students from all four participating districts.
Kiski, Burrell and Hempfield each have two teachers in the program and Derry has one, for a total of seven educators.
Hempfield teachers handle all of the special instruction sessions.
The academy is accepting new students, but students not residing in the four core districts would be responsible for tuition.
For example, tuition for a nonresident at Kiski Area School District is about $6,500.
Students enrolled in the participating districts attend at no cost.
"This is a high-quality, personalized, flexible and locally driven school experience," said creator Dan Smith, director of technology and information for Kiski Area.
Smith serves as principal of the program, and Burrell's Melinda Kulick serves as the technology and integration coach.
Kulick said the program helps to retain students within their respective districts.
"We are keeping our kids," she said. "If you are a Burrell student graduating, you are getting amenities and a Burrell diploma. A student has all of the amenities of a brick-and-mortar school in the district."
For example, Alle-Kiski Academy students can participate in school pictures and attend class parties, field trips or any school event, such as a book fair or dance.
Burrell has four students enrolled in the academy.
"It's more modern times than it is from the pandemic. We learned from the pandemic, and we learned this is the way education is going. We understood what our capacity was to serve our families," Kulick said.
Kulick expects enrollment to increase as news of the program spreads, and the academy could expand to 12th grade, she said.
Smith said the desire for students to learn from nontraditional locations had been growing even before the pandemic.
"It's available. We have the technology. The world has changed, and new things are available that weren't available," Smith said.
Parent Sara Monnich of Hempfield chose Alle-Kiski Academy because she said she didn't want to take money away from the district by using a third-party cyber program.
Monnich enrolled her daughter in the program as a compromise to homeschooling and in-person schooling.
At Kiski Area, Alle-Kiski Academy second grade teacher Brandy Schmitt speaks to a classroom of stuffed animals while teaching.
She placed the furry animals, which serve as her "students," throughout her room to give her students something fun to look at while learning from home.
Her five students appear on two screens in her classroom, and a camera mounted near the ceiling follows her every move as she teaches.
Classes are held from 9 a.m to 3 p.m., and students participate in special sessions that include art, library, gym, music and technology.
"The students see the stuffed animals," Schmitt said. "I notice moms or dads in the background while I'm teaching. I feel it's almost a way to home-school with the same curriculum and standards you would get from a brick-and-mortar school. The parent doesn't have to be the teacher with this."
Kiski Area enrolls 25 students in the program.
Michelle Conn of Hempfield decided to make the switch from teaching in a traditional classroom to cyber and said her seven students interact online in a robust fashion.
"We do social time online. We do a show-and-tell 'Fun Fridays,'" Conn said. "They talk and share just like if they were in the classroom."
Two screens and a camera, in addition to audio equipment, allow each teacher to move freely about their classroom, interacting in real time.
"I see them, they're talking to me, the camera follows me all around the room," Conn said.
Each class will be capped at 25 students.
"Even though it was new and it's always a toss-up of how it will go, so far we are happy with our choice," Monnich said. "The teachers and principal are awesome and have great communication. We all work as a team to make sure the program is successful for the students."
Smith said the program could add additional districts in the future.
The strengths are the way we are trying to tie things back to events inside the district, he said.
For instance, a Kiski Area sixth grade field trip this week to the Flight 93 National Memorial included several Alle-Kiski Academy students.
Burrell makes use of guest speakers, such as the district's behavior specialist, who recently presented lessons to the students about growth mindset, hard work and perseverance.
Two surveys were sent out to all enrolled families. So far, feedback has been tremendous.
"Our two kindergartners enrolled for two weeks, and their parents said they're thriving," Kulick said.
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