Harrison County Board of Education members approved an update to policy 23 70.01 (virtual instruction) after questions from board members about enrollment procedures, counselor responsibilities and credit recovery oversight.
Board members asked how students will enroll in the virtual program, who will supervise testing and grading, and how credit recovery will be administered and monitored. Rebecca, a district staff member who answered questions during the meeting, said counselors will enroll students and receive course grades to transcribe into student records, while the virtual program oversees test administration and proctoring.
Board members asked whether the updated policy applies only to State virtual programs or also affects charter providers; staff said it applies to the state virtual school. The board also discussed that, historically, some schools had site-level positions (for example, a librarian or an online communications position) who handled virtual programming and testing; those positions were abolished countywide several years ago.
On credit recovery, staff said sign-ups are typically coordinated through counselors at the end of the school year for high school students; proctors or assigned staff oversee the credit-recovery sessions and report pass/fail status back to school counselors for transcription at the start of the next term.
"When they're enrolling in a virtual, they usually meet with the school counselor first and they enroll there," a staff member said during the discussion. The board approved the policy update by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The board also approved a 10-day public comment period for proposed changes to policy 5136 on personal electronic devices, to run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 15, as part of routine policy updates presented at the meeting.