Hampton schools will launch pilot K-5 online learning program

HAMPTON — Online learning didn’t work for everyone during the pandemic, but public educators said some students thrived academically.

During the summer of 2020, Kate Maxlow began to brainstorm what would become Hampton City Schools’ Future Learning Experience, also known as the FLEx program, which will launch next school year for K-5 students.

“I know that there are lots of kids who in-person is the right thing to do for them, but there are some who truly love this virtual environment as well,” said Maxlow, the director of the district’s Department of Innovation and Professional Learning.

She saw it in her son, in sixth grade at the time. He liked learning at his own pace. And other parents agreed, she said, saying there were fewer distractions at home and they could help their child get back on track more easily.

“We taught some pilot lessons with employees’ students in the Spring of 2020 to learn more about what worked with virtual learning,” Maxlow said in an email. It was one way the division tried to alleviate stress teachers who are also parents dealt with during the onset of the pandemic.

Hampton schools will enroll 108 students in its first year — 16 for kindergarten and first grade, 18 in second and third, and 20 for fourth and fifth — and hire one teacher for each grade. The division hopes to expand to other grade levels in subsequent years.

The district received over $1 million in pandemic funding to support the program, Maxlow said. Most will go toward salaries, as well as instructional materials and extracurricular activities.

Hampton will host two informational meetings each month until the end of April, and parents must attend one session to be considered. If the district has to switch to a lottery system due to a high number of applicants, 70% of students will be from Hampton schools, and the remaining spots can go to children from across the state.

Applications are due April 4 for teachers and May 6 for students.

Parents can also sign their child up for a sample class to see if the online experience would be a good fit.

Any teacher who has a teaching license in Virginia can apply for the virtual role. Teachers do not have to currently work for Hampton schools, nor do they have to live in Virginia.

So, how does the program work?

When asked what makes FLEx different from the other online programs, Maxlow said it provides families with more flexibility.

After doing research on homeschooling, Maxlow said the program needed to build schedules that wouldn’t keep students in front a computer for too long.

FLEx will still meet the state’s requirement for instructional hours, but each day will be split between live Zoom sessions and independent work.

“Students will have live Zoom classes either mainly in the morning or in the afternoon, leaving the rest of the day for families to structure however makes sense for them,” Maxlow wrote. Teachers will still be available for assistance, but school officials stressed that parents must be heavily involved to make sure their child stays on track.

Students will learn their core curriculum skills — math, English language arts, social studies and science — Monday through Thursday to meet Virginia’s Standard of Learning requirements. But on Fridays, they will apply the lessons throughout the week during an “immersive adventure” based on the grade’s theme.

For example, fourth-graders will follow a “storyline” throughout the year in which students become time travelers to fix a spyglass that could disrupt Virginia’s history.

“Our guiding principle in programming FLEx has been how to genuinely keep students so excited for learning that they never want to miss a class,” Maxlow told the school board this month.

The independent portion of the day lasts up to 3 hours, 40 minutes for K-1 and almost 3 hours for other grades. But it doesn’t mean students will complete worksheets at the dining room table the entire time.

The program’s asynchronous portion will provide parents a variety of options. It also includes physical and socialization activities, and parents can also attribute bedtime stories to the 25-minute daily reading component.

“We’re just providing a treasure trove of games and books and activities (students) can do with their families,” Maxlow said.

Grades 3-5 are required to take their SOLs in-person at the end of the year, but all other assessments can be proctored remotely.

Students must complete the program for the year that they enroll, but returning in-person would be assessed on a case-by-case basis to ensure the student doesn’t fall behind academically. If a child is disenrolled, they won’t be allowed back in unless there are serious circumstances.

If students are already enrolled in Virtual Virginia or Edgenuity, they can still apply for the FLEx program. According to Maxlow, around 800 of Hampton’s students are learning remotely this year.

“A lot of people have a bad taste about virtual learning because they think it is a teacher talking at you through a screen, and that is not what this is going to be,” she said.