Although Lee Home Connect will no longer be an option for students in the Lee County School District next year, students can still be enrolled in Lee Virtual School until July 15.

“We know the best way for students to learn is in a classroom, engaged with their teachers and interacting with their classmates,” District Spokesperson Rob Spicker said. “While Lee Home Connect has been a valuable alternative and worked for many students and families this school year, it has not worked for them all. Some students are isolated and their academic progress is inadequate, so we needed to address that. We currently have almost 80 percent of our students back on campus and all the feedback to the superintendent’s office from teachers and administrators has been that face-to-face learning is their preferred model of instruction. For those reasons we decided to discontinue Lee Home Connect for the next school year.”

Students who are currently enrolled in Lee Home Connect will automatically be transitioned back to face-to-face learning at their assigned school, the school they attended before the pandemic. There is an exception for fifth graders moving to middle school and eighth graders moving to high school. No action is needed if families are OK with their child being transitioned back to the in-school model.

“There are currently 12,614 students enrolled in Lee Home Connect that will be automatically transitioned back to their home school for face-to-face instruction unless they choose to attend Lee Virtual School,” Spicker said.

The same transition will happen for those who are currently enrolled in Lee Virtual School. Students will automatically be transitioned back to face-to-face learning at their assigned school.

“Approximately 2,200 LVS students enrolled just for this school year will be automatically transitioned back to their home school for face-to-face instruction unless they choose to attend Lee Virtual School,” he said.

Superintendent Dr. Greg Adkins said during Monday’s school board workshop that Lee Home Connect got the district through the pandemic. They received a lot of feedback on how difficult the model of learning was and so need to have a discussion of how distance learning is going to happen moving forward.

“One of the realities that we have to face with this governance team is this pandemic has changed the way we deliver instruction. It also gives us an opportunity to capitalize on that. As we look forward to opening the school year this fall, (there are) a number of students that want to remain in a virtual environment,” Adkins said. “We may have to adjust that virtual environment.”

Before the pandemic, Lee Virtual School served more than 300 students and it met a niche.

“We may have to expand that niche. Students may need to have a traditional approach,” Adkins said.

Spicker said as of Friday all current safety protocols will remain in place, which includes wearing face masks. He said they continue to consult with the health department and review CDC guidelines and may adjust policies as recommendations change.

Families that would still like their child to learn virtually have until July 15 to enroll their child into Lee Virtual School by visiting https://lvip.leeschools.net/enrollment .

“All they need to do is follow the Lee Virtual School enrollment process. Students will receive an email confirming their selection once it is processed and will also be able to confirm through their Parent Portal FOCUS account by checking the enrollment information for the 2021/2022 school year,” Spicker said.

On April 9, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Emergency Order 2021-EO-02, to “empower students, families and teachers with data on students’ progress and growth and provide them with the necessary tools to create the best educational experience for each individual.”

Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran also said in a prepared statement that the Emergency Order will “protect high school seniors and empowers local school districts and schools to make the important decisions on graduation, promotion and whether to opt-in to school grades and improvement ratings.”

Due to the Emergency Order the district will use calculation of learning gains and middle school acceleration for school grades based on growth of two school years, rather than one. Promotion also will be determined by the district and schools for course grade decisions, which includes those courses that require end of course exams.

In addition, the district and schools will have the flexibility to determine a case-by-case basis if a senior’s high school record demonstrates a comparable level of achievement to state assessments. Deadlines to earn qualifying test scores for ACT, SAT and PERT for Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars have been extended to Dec. 1, 2021. The Emergency Order also forgives volunteer hours required for students who intended to complete service hours prior to graduation.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to provide comment from Dr. Greg Adkins, superintendent of Lee Schools