Court Says Virtual School Must Keep Physical Boundaries

Posted by in Uncategorized Dec 17th, 2007

Recently, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled that the online charter school, Wisconsin Virtual academy, violated state law because students and teachers were not all located in the school district boundaries. Jeff Bush, the executive director of a charter program called Insight School of Wisconsin published a response to the decision in the Capital Times. Basically, he believes that virtual schools should not have to follow the out-dated law. Here's a blurb from his letter to the editor:

"The ruling is a step back for education. It hurts Wisconsin's quest to be economically competitive in a high-tech, online educational world. Most disturbingly, it hurts some of the neediest students we're all trying so hard to help.

The Appeals Court ruling denies what is already happening in schools. As a former teacher and principal, let me point out the obvious: Technology has changed the classroom. Online schools, video programming and Web-based distance learning have obliterated school district borders. The world is now our classroom."

I'm no legal expert, but I do think that this case teaches us that trying to fit new technology into old laws is often a disaster. States should review their educational policies and create revisions that reflect the current state of schooling.

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