Virtual only school GA Connections Academy sees uptick in enrollment amid COVID-19

MACON, Ga. -- Six months ago when schools across the state were scrambling to piece together digital plans, one Georgia school didn't.

Georgia Connections Academy is a statewide charter public school that has been 100 percent online since it opened in 2011. The school is for 5th through 12th grade students.

Brazilia Bilal-Page, the Executive Director at GACA says, "The biggest thing we had to do, was communication."

The school created a COVID-19 message board to share information from the state superintendent and governor, but since their school building is online, it didn't have to close or change the way education was delivered to students.

Once the school year ended, GACA saw a triple digit increase to traffic on their website. Parents were interested.

School districts in Middle Georgia took the summer to decide how students would return in the fall, some pushing back the first day or offering hybrid models of in-person and distance learning.

The uncertainty led some to withdraw their students from the county school system and enroll into the Connections Academy.

In September of 2019 the academy had 4,750 students, this year they're up to 5,100 and enrollment is still open.

Bilal-Page sees digital learning as very different from online school. She says in digital learning, schooling was meant to happen inside of a building so a lot of adjustments have to be made in order to deliver it online.

The director says the driving force for many parents is consistency. "They wanted to go with an expert in virtual learning. They wanted to make sure their children didn't have to experience issues that maybe have plagued a number of schools who had to switch very quickly from traditional brick and mortar to virtual learning."

When schools shut down, GACA began helping other school systems develop protocols and procedures for functioning online. According to Bilal-Page, they hosted webinars and spoke on panels for the State Charter Schools Foundation of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Education.

Even though the school uses a virtual learning model, it still serves students who are homeless, have disabilities, or special needs.

While the online public school did not have to make the same major changes that traditional school districts did, there were adjustments to be made.

The social and emotional stressors of the virus affected teachers and students just the same.

Teachers at the academy who are also parents now had their children at home during the school day while students with siblings had to adjust to sharing computers and laptops.

Bilal-Page says in her experience, parents typically have a harder time transitioning to virtual learning than students.

At the academy, parents or the adult that is present while a student working online, is called a "learning coach." The learning coach manages the learning environment.

"In a traditional brick and mortar classroom you put your student on the bus and that was it, you see them at 3 or 4 o'clock that evening. In the virtual learning world you do need a learning coach, meaning you're the one to tell the student take out paper and pencil," Bilal-Page explains.

GACA has parent orientation during the summer to help parents make this shift.

Bilal-Page has advice for parents during this time of transition, "Give yourself grace." She says parents should remember to stay calm and establish expectations with teachers, your student, and yourself.

Most importantly, the director encourages parents to stay connected with the teachers and your student. She says online learning is not meant to be done in isolation.

Even with many school districts across the state and country using digital learning platforms to start their school year, Bilal-Page doesn't believe that it's the future of education.

She says during this time some students and teachers will discover that they thrive in online learning, but to her education isn't one size fits all.