The January enrollment count is in for January at Stanley-Boyd. With 1,069 students present the second Friday of January, the district is up one student from September, at least per estimate.
“Our estimate in January is 1,069,” District Superintendent Jeff Koenig shared Monday. “You can see that’s up one student from January.” Koenig said exact numbers were hard as the district also had open enrollment and online students to take into account. Official counts matter as the district is funded on FTE or “full time equivalency” students, set on a three year rolling average.
“If you look across our historical time, in September of 2021 we were at 1,086, September of 2022 we were at 1,096, and then (last year) we were down to 1,066 and working our way back up,” he said. “We just keep bouncing around in that same range, and the difficult part for us is that so many students are continually going in and coming out. It’s kind of a daily thing,” he said of estimates.
A DPI mea showing growth since 2003 largely coincided with the opening of Stanley Correctional Institution, while another bump had occurred in 2010, but nothing major since then. Factors impacting enrollment included birthrate and the choice for alternative schooling, including open enrollment out.
Also covered Jan. 27, the school board approved an agreement to partner with Medford Area Schools for Rural Virtual Academy.
Approved with a motion by Denise Hoffstatter seconded by Lanse Carlson, the new online school will replace the district's earlier contract with eSucceed. RVA has a virtual school access fee for affiliates based on number of full time students that ranges from $3,000 for one to 4 students up to $15,000 for 40 or more. Tuition fees for RVA are the amount set by state school aid minus $2,500, or $8,500 with Stanley-Boyd's otherwise $11,000 allowable student aid figure.
District Supervisor Jeff Koenig gave details on the new school and decision to switch.
"We previously had been part of the consortium for eSucceed virtual schools, and for a lot of reasons we decided to no longer be a part of that," Koenig said. "When we decided to stop doing that I asked RVA if we could join them to provide both a virtual school where kids could attend and still be considered our students, and also we could have students that are here take one or two classes on areas that they have interest in."
Also included with RVA are options for faculty at Stanley-Boyd.
"One thing that we offer, is--if we notify them in time--we could have an English class or something, that's taught for everybody through them. I don't really think people would do that, but on the flip side, if we had a staff member that was teetering on part-time or full-time status, we have them teach virtual classes through the network and without paying full-time reduce our costs and have a course."
The district also stands to save funds from the shift as students currently openly enrolled out to RVA would now be included.
"We currently have nine students that open enroll out to the RVA," Koenig said. "And that costs us about $76,000 in aid. And that would no longer be a cost for us, however, we would have the consortium fee so it would still pay for that it would just be at reduced cost. So it's really just a good option for our students and staff."
As for staff, the RVA allows for the potential of teaching virtual classes and online textbooks, while for students
"They've been around for a long time and have a lot of other members in our area," he said.
Board member Ryan Lewallen had a question prior to approval.
"Mr. Koenig, if a student takes a class through RVA, does their grade come through that entity or does it come through Stanley-Boyd? Is it on our grade report?"
"Under the current set up if you go to RVA you would get an RVA report card," Koenig said of grading for the online school. Classes taken by students online but not through RVA meanwhile would potentially be on the school report card.
Board member Lanse Carlson had a question on the teachers for RVA.
"Did they say their instructors were coming from Wisconsin, from Medford?" Carlson asked.
"They're all licensed teachers," Koenig said. "They could be from out of state. They could be from anywhere."
"So presumably you could have a teacher involved with them that's from Texas," Carlson said.
"Yes, the important thing is that they're licensed by DPI to teach in Wisconsin," Koenig said.