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K-8 virtual program reports enrollment growth, adds counseling and parent-partnership expansion
Summary
K-8 virtual principal Brenda Maloney told the board the program now serves about 205 students; a parent-partnership homeschool option grew to 29 students this year and the school added counseling, life-coaching and in-person tutoring as part of an effort to recruit students back to the district.
Brenda Maloney, principal of K-8 Virtual, told the Yakima School Board that the district’s online K–8 program has 205 enrolled students and that the parent-partnership homeschool option grew from a handful to 29 students this year.
Maloney said the parent-partnership model allows families to select curriculum while receiving district guidance, in-person tutoring and access to neighborhood-school classes and extracurriculars. The program added counseling twice weekly and a life-coaching app (described during the presentation as Clayful Life Coaching) to give students rapid access to certified life coaches.
Maloney said the program is making direct outreach to families of about 1,000 in-district students currently enrolled out of district in other statewide or private online programs, and staff are calling and mailing families to recruit them back to Yakima. K-8 Virtual set a goal to raise the percentage of students who successfully complete all courses from 23% last year to 50% this year and reported progress tied to expanded in-person supports.
Board members asked for clarification about enrollment math and where out-of-district students were located; Maloney said the program maintains a spreadsheet of target families and that many students attend other Washington online programs.
Why it matters: growth in the district’s virtual and parent-partnership offerings could affect the district’s enrollment, funding and student support needs, and the program is actively recruiting students currently enrolled elsewhere.
