The Richland School District’s Alternative Programs

The Richland School District currently provides alternative education options to students in four different ways: the PARTNER School, the Richland Online Academy (ROA), an Off-Campus Alt-Ed, and R-SSEE (pronounced RC). These four methods have allowed the district to increase learning options in an effort to provide the best educational experience for all students. District Administrator, Steve Board, told the Board of Education at Monday night’s meeting that the district is continually analyzing and exploring ways to make these Alt-Ed options the best versions while operating as efficiently as possible.

The original goal was to grow the PARTNER School at a slower rate to ensure that the components and foundation for success were established. The current enrollment is 25 students. Board stated that the district will be expanding the enrollment to 40 students for the 2025-26 school year. Currently, there are 18 students on a waiting list to enroll in PARTNER.

In the off-campus alternative education option, it is available for students where the district is legally required to provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), but where students are generally not able, through impairment or other, to be on school property. In these cases, staff are facilitating the individuals’ education by meeting with them in person or virtually regularly and providing them with “homework” in between meeting sessions. The current enrollment of the off campus alternative is six to nine students. There is a need for slightly more staffing to accommodate the needs of all students in the programming structure. The Board is being asked to consider adding a quarter Full Time Equivalent (FTE) to the current staffing, which will create one FTE for this alternative programming. This may be divided between multiple individuals or by one. In addition, this position would be able to take on a larger role in the GED-Option 2 program.

The proposal for the 2025-26 school year for the Richland Online Academy is to revamp it to create a platform that is mostly online. Instead of having one curriculum resource to use, the district would have several different options for students to use for their education. In fact, any one student could actually have multiple platforms they could use, with Schoology as the “hub” for students to access the material with links taking them to outside sources. The district would also have the ability to purchase curriculum textbooks/resources for families that want to take a more active role in their child’s education. These resources would be available to the families and then turned back into the District upon completion; becoming available to another family. The administration staff feels this would allow the district to draw more homeschooled families, while still allowing the families to have a very active role in their education. If families are looking for a faith-based component, they would need to supplement that part on their own, as public school funds could not be used to purchase this type of curriculum. All curricula would be vetted through the Director of Curriculum and Instruction to ensure they align with state standards. On average, the anticipated spending is around $3,000 per student per year. For the 2025-26 school year, that allocation is expected to be $12,221. With this revamping of ROA, administration is proposing hiring one FTE-certified teacher who will help facilitate a child’s education. This would involve meeting with the family and student each term to ensure they are progressing along, and taking a more active role in assisting students who are not making adequate progress. This individual would also be a resource for families and students to reach out to if they are struggling with technology or any of their courses. This program is modeled after the Nekoosa School District. In Nekoosa, one teacher has 80 students on their caseload. A minimum of 35 students are anticipated to be enrolled in this program in the Richland School District. The number could be as high as 75 to 80 if an experienced alternate-education teacher were hired for this position. The program is likely to have a slight deficit in the first year of around $50,000, but should be self-funding or produce a surplus when at capacity in year two and beyond.

A plan for the possibility of a new charter school was also discussed at Monday night’s meeting. We will have more on that in tomorrow’s news cast.

District Administrator, Steve Board, reported that last week’s Parent Teacher Conferences which were canceled due to weather, will not be rescheduled. If you have a concern you are asked to reach out to the teacher or staff. In the same respect, staff who has concerns about a student, will reach out to you.