Richland’s virtual school is here to stay. And it’s now open to students statewide

Khara Lewis took her Richland students on the road with her.

The Richland high school teacher has made the world her classroom as co-star of the reality TV show Gold Rush with her husband Fred Lewis.

“I was still filming in Oregon when the school year started, it would be kind of neat because we would be talking about the Industrial Revolution,” she said.

“I happened to look out my RV window ... and there were some camera crews and they were putting together a generator and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is connecting to what I’m talking about.’ I flipped my computer and showed my students what was going on outside of my RV.”

Lewis isn’t the only one to find Richland’s online school a pleasant change from learning in traditional brick and mortar school buildings.

And now Richland’s virtual school will enter its second year with a new name and a goal of reaching more students in different ways and even beyond the Tri-Cities.

Pacific Crest Online Academy is now accepting sixth- through 12th-graders from anywhere in the state.

“We have several students coming to us from other districts,” said Principal Andre Hargunani. “With this, we’re no longer capped. We can accept as many as want to join.”

It’s coming at the right time because the district is expecting a dip of about 500 student in its online program as parents send their students back to buildings next year.

Washington state saw an explosion of online school programs this year as schools districts created options for parents that weren’t ready to return their students to classrooms during the COVID pandemic.

In all, 51 virtual schools were started in Washington in the past year. About 40 are still accepting students.

Rhett Nelson, the alternative learning department director with the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, said it’s still too early to tell how many will continue offering classes.

“The challenge is that the emergency created online options out of necessity and not intended to be long-term,” Nelson told the Herald in an e-mail.

“As a result, we may see some of these programs shrink or disappear, or new program requests as districts begin to make long-term decisions about the options they want to provide their students.”

The Kennewick School District also added an online academy. And it plans on keeping some form of fully online courses in place next year. More details about it are expected in June.

The Pasco School District had an online program already in place.

20 years of online schools

While many school districts created programs in immediate response to COVID shutdowns, Richland was planning for an online school before its opening this school year.

Officials initiated the plan when state officials decided all students needed to start the school year online.

“Online schools have been around for 20 years, and they really serve a need for families and students who are looking for something different than what they have been experiencing in a traditional high school, middle school or elementary school,” Hargunani said.

This is the second school Hargunani has opened for the district.

He came to Richland in 2016 from California to open Leona Libby Middle School.

Before that, he was the founding principal for the August F. Hawkins Critical Design and Gaming School for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“So starting a new school is always a challenge,” he said. “Now you’re starting a new school in a distance model where even the staff can’t come together in a room. ... I felt fortunate that I have planned out new schools in the past.”

Online classes already existed in the district, such a courses students would take to make up for classes they missed, Hargunani said. They have started with that base model and have worked from there.

He also had the help of a committee of teachers, parents and other community members to help with the process.

“We’ve been finding that (learning online is) inherently isolating and so you have to be very intentional about how peers are going to have the opportunity to interact,” he said.

Teachers, such as Lewis, have been incorporating more chances for students to interact, either with the teacher or with each other.

With COVID restrictions starting to end, Lewis and Hargunani are hoping to add club activities and sports.

“It’s not that we’re restricted to only having online social activities because we’re an online school, we can also have in-person social activities. What is restricting it right now is COVID,” he said.

Lewis and other high school teachers plan to implement a “house” system next year where students are grouped by grade and have special events. They are also considering weekly assemblies.

While school officials expect to see some decline in enrollment next year, Hargunani expects some students and parents like the freedom offered by online classes. They’re also getting contacted by families who weren’t part of the school this year, but are interested in joining.

“What I’m actually finding is I have a lot of people reaching out and asking about the online school because their kids were just regular going-to-school-everyday type of kids and now with this COVID experience, they were forced to experience learning from home,” Lewis said.

“They’re saying, ‘I’m starting to think maybe that’s a lot for kids who have to sit from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every single day.”