Franklin Regional, Hempfield and Norwin schools team up for K-5 online academy

Three area school districts are banding together to create an online academy for students in kindergarten through fifth grade during the upcoming school year.

Franklin Regional, Hempfield Area and Norwin formed the consortium Westmoreland Online Academy. A total of six teachers — two from each district — will be assigned a grade level and will provide daily, real-time learning to a class of students from all three school districts, according the Hempfield Area Superintendent Tammy Wolicki.

In addition to the grade level teachers, speciality teachers from two districts will provide a weekly lesson for art, music, physical education and more.

“The number of families expressing interest in an online elementary program for the 2021-22 school year has been very low in comparison to last year,” Wolicki said. “Such low enrollment for a single district does not warrant six teachers — one for every elementary grade of kindergarten through grade five.”

As of Monday, about 84 students were enrolled in the Westmoreland Online Academy across all three districts.

According to Wolicki, the school calendars for the three districts were compared and a single 2021-22 calendar was developed for the online academy.

The Hempfield Area School Board this week gave its approval for the district to form the consortium. The decision came after school leaders worked to extend the Hempfield Area Cyber Academy to students in kindergarten through fifth grade last year because of the covid-19 pandemic. The district’s cyber program is still open to sixth through 12th graders.

Hempfield had 24 students registered for the Westmoreland Online Academy as of Monday.

Norwin School Board members approved a similar motion this summer. According to Superintendent Jeff Taylor, the consortium will replace virtual instruction being offered through the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. Instruction from the Westmoreland IU was not always offered by Norwin teachers, Taylor said.

According to Taylor, Norwin had only 25 elementary students register for the Norwin Online Academy. None of the three schools had a sufficient number of students to allocate teachers to conduct real-time learning for those elementary grades, Taylor said.

The Norwin Education Association, which represents Norwin teachers, did not provide input into the creation of the Westmoreland Online Academy with Hempfield and Franklin Regional, said Ryan Lynn, president of the teachers union.

“We always prefer Norwin students to be taught by Norwin teachers, but this model has been used for many years at the secondary, seven-12 level. It is our understanding this consortium will be using the same curriculum and working together to provide the best education possible for students in the respective districts,” Lynn said.

Similarly, board members at Franklin Regional approved a motion this week to form the consortium, an official at the school said.

According to Robin Pynos, assistant superintendent at Franklin Regional, the goal is to have the consortium become a long-term program that will allow districts to share resources “so we can provide the best education for our kids.”

The Westmoreland Online Academy is also a way to teach students in real-time virtually with teachers known to the school district.

Knowing the teachers who are participating in the program gave all three districts “that comfort level,” Pynos said.

So far, 20 students are enrolled in the program from Franklin Regional.