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 Since Florida school districts are now offering several public “virtual” school options, there is some confusion as to the differences. While all of these are free, the only options available to home education students at this time are the School District’s FLVS Franchise and the Florida Virtual School (FLVS). Home educators can go directly to FLVS as they have in the past, but now some school districts have a FLVS Franchise which offers the FLVS curriculum taught by district teachers during the 180-day school year. To make it even more confusing, at the present time students register at www.flvs.net for both schools.
Parents must decide which virtual school option is best for their student. “While Florida Virtual School has been around a long time and has received many national awards for excellence, the district virtual schools are new and do not have a track record,” HEF President, Brenda Dickinson explained.
Since there are variations between school districts it is best to check with your school choice office to get the specifics. You will want to compare the FLVS model to the Franchise.
- Students can enroll in FLVS anytime during the year.
- FLVS teachers are available 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and are required to respond to a student’s questions within 24 hours.
- All FLVS teachers teach in the subject for which they are certified.
- A home education student can take as many courses as he chooses through FLVS and still participate in sports at a private or public school. District FLVS Franchise courses are considered part-time enrollment and a student cannot take more than half of his total classes at any one school or enough courses to receive a diploma OR lose he will be considered a public school student for athletic purposes by the FHSAA. The student would then be eligible only at his zoned public school.
Once a parent decides which option is best for their student, care must be taken to ensure that the student is enrolled in the school of their choice since registration for both FLVS and the School District FLVS franchise is on the same FLVS website. Check the “Course Request” chart on the “Cumulative Academic Report” to confirm in which school the student is registered for each course.
Here is how a parent can confirm which virtual school his child is enrolled in. This is the page you will need to submit to the FHSAA to verify in which school.
After you have registered your child for class(es) go to the child's "Dashboard " page and find the link on the left, put the cursor over "Student Records," and select "Cumulative Academic Records.” On the Cumulative Academic Records page, locate the chart titled "Course Requests" as seen in the sample chart below.
In the column next to the "Course Name" is a column entitled "Virtual School Name." This column will show the name of the school as either FLVS or the School District Virtual School, where your child is registered to take each course.
In the example chart, you will notice that this child is registered for Calculus at FLVS and Geometry at Leon Virtual School.
If you discover that your child is registered in a different school than the one you selected, contact FLVS immediately so they can correct the mistake. The FLVS contact info can be found on their Home Page.
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Deciding which option is
