Welcome, iNACOL Southeastern Regional Committee Members & Guests May 10, 2012

1. Debi Crabtree Welcome,iNACOL Southeastern Regional Committee Members & GuestsMay 10, 2012 Earlene Patton Rob Darrow

2. iNACOL UPDATES – Rob Darrow, iNACOL • VSS 2012: October 21-24, 2012 in New Orleans. • iNacolCommittees Wiki - http://inacol.wikispaces.com/ • iNacolWebinars - http://www.inacol.org/events/

3. iNACOL – New Employees • Following the recommendations of the iNacol strategic plan outlined in August 2011: http://www.inacol.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=9788 • New iNacol Employees - http://www.inacol.org/contact/ • Jonathan Oglesby, Director of External Affairs/Communications, joglesby@inacol.org • Bruce Friend, Director Strategic Partnerships/Development, bfriend@inacol.org • David Teeter, Director of Policy (hired in Nov. 2011) – dteeter@inacol.org

4. SouthEast Committee Co-Chair Nominations/Elections • A. Meagan Adams • Teacher, Florida Virtual School • B. Victoria Pylvainen • Executive Director Digital Content, VSCHOOLZ, Inc. • C. Tara Rodriguez • Teacher, Kentucky Virtual High School

5. A. Meagan AdamsTeacher, Florida Virtual School • Employed at Florida Virtual School for 4.5 years, previously employed by School District of Hillsborough County for 3.5 years. • Known as a “game-changer” at Florida Virtual School – wrote 3 middle school PE courses which placed nearly all content into fun interactives and games, changing the previous. • Led many initiatives, including integration of Wii Fit and Xbox Kinect into FLVS PE course workout logs, hosting coffee chats, and acting as the subject matter expert for health and PE at FLVS. • Wrote/writing exam questions for FLDOE “Race to the Top.” • Currently pursuing a master’s degree in Educational Leadership.

6. B. Victoria PylvainenExecutive Director Digital Content, VSchoolz, Inc. • Former high school teacher and department chair – Spanish, science, and social studies certified • Former virtual teacher – 6-12 • Ran demo site for national school, CSK12 modeling best practices for use of digital content in a brick and mortar classroom and online • Quality Matters trained in instructional design • Currently I am the executive director for the digital content design team at VSCHOOLZ, an e-learning company

7. C.Tara RodriguezTeacher, KY Virtual High School • Taught face-to-face for 17 years at a public high school • Currently teacher liaison at the Kentucky Virtual High School.  • When KVHS closes at the end of May, I will transition to digital learning team member at the Kentucky Department of Education. • Master’s degrees in Spanish, science education and educational leadership • I have a passion for online learning, especially blended.

8. Vote for SouthEast Committee Co-Chair at End of Meeting via Polling Function • A. Meagan Adams • Teacher, Florida Virtual School • B. Victoria Pylvainen • Executive Director Digital Content, VSCHOOLZ, Inc. • C. Tara Rodriguez • Teacher, Kentucky Virtual High School

9. Public School? Online? Yes. for iNACOL Southeastern Region Committee Meeting May 10, 2012 Scott Merrick, Online Learning Specialist and Dr. James Witty, Executive Principal

10. Where do you fall in this matrix? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/04/all_edtech_summarized_in_one_slide_market_open_and_dewey.html Trying to establish and maintain self-sustainability MNPS Virtual • in a responsible School way

11. Not at all. A Solution in Search of a Problem? Brick and mortar schools and their 18th century design are too often prisons where we send "children who have committed no crime:" "Too many children in public schools are not motivated to learn. Apathy is the prevailing mood in many classrooms. Children sit, stare out the window hoping to see something happen, and serve their time as aimlessly as prison inmates waiting for their release dates; like inmates they occasionally act out to break the boredom. Why are we punishing children who have committed no crime?"- -Jack F. Troy, School's Out, The Case for Abandoning Failing Public Schools and the Rebirth of American Education at Home

12. What's the Public School to DO? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2zqTYgcpfg

13. A Brief History: • August 2010--Coordinator and Specialist hired • September 2010--e4TN courses begin MNPS Virtual Learning Program, part-time Counselor • December 2010--Registrar/Assistant hired • May 2011--FLVS Global School leases begun-- • 15 full-timers, 100 hybrid, 7 graduates • July 2011--Full-time Counselor hired • Summer 2011--A+Credit Recovery, ~300 seats, TN School Number issued! • Adjunct Faculty search and hire • Fall 2011--Courses leased & purchased (FLVS and eDynamic Learning, 3 LMSs, 50 full-timers, 220 hybrid, including 3 MS beta projects and one MS full-timer • Spring 2012--Here we are.

14. Here we are: • New Principal! • Specialist, Secretary (12 mo.); Registrar &Counselor (10 mo.) • Graduating 6 full-timers May 21 • Summer Session • Planning for a BIG 2012-13 • Up to 150 full-timers • # of hybrid learners?

15. Vision(s) for the Future • Potentially the largest enrollment of any school in MNPS • Self-sustaining funding stream • Many more staff, including full-time faculty • Middle School • Pk-4 • A deserved reputation for excellence • A duty of care that focuses on what is best for our students

16. Public School? Online? Yes. for iNACOL Southeastern Region Committee May 10, 2012 Scott Merrick, scott.merrick@mnps.org and Dr. James Witty, james.witty@mnps.org