This story has been updated.
To accommodate families and educators
who prefer remote education during the pandemic, the Diocese of Arlington is
launching a fully online education option this year — the new St. Isidore of
Seville Diocesan Virtual School, named after the patron saint of the internet.
Several teachers and school
families, particularly those who are medically vulnerable, had expressed
interest in the creation of such a school. The diocesan Office of Catholic
Schools is recruiting around 30 teachers and is looking to enroll a maximum of 207
students at the single-track kindergarten through eighth grade school, with an
anticipated start date of Sept. 8. Leslie Lipovski, diocesan assistant superintendent
of curriculum and assessment, will serve as interim principal.
Currently, about two-thirds of diocesan
schools plan to offer in-person instruction in the fall, said Joseph Vorbach,
diocesan superintendent of schools, while the other third will offer online and
in-person hybrid models. While there are clear benefits to in-person
instruction, said Vorbach, during these uncertain times, St. Isidore will offer
the stability of a totally online environment with experienced educators.
"While there remains
some uncertainty about the effects the virus could have on K-12 education this year, once
you commit to (St. Isidore), you know your child will be in a consistent online
and Catholic environment for the whole year,” said Vorbach.
Read more about the fall reopening plans of diocesan Catholic schools.
St. Isidore students will have the
benefit of the approved and accredited diocesan curriculum, said Lipovski. “I think the goal with a lot of these families is to
be (at St. Isidore) this year because of the pandemic, (but) we’re all hopeful
that the following year they can return to their home school,” she said. “If they’re in our diocesan virtual
school, they haven’t missed a concept or standard" that they might miss in
a non-diocesan school.
White believes she and other diocesan
educators have learned a lot from their foray into online learning earlier this
year that they will implement in this online school. “In the spring, we were
reacting to the situation,” she said. “What makes St. Isidore different is the intentionality
of creating a virtual school that brings in a lot of the best practices of what
a virtual school should be, for example, the class size will be capped smaller
than in in-person instruction.
One advantage will be the opportunity
for the families to watch the weekly livestreamed Mass together. “One of the
things that make Catholic schools great is that you’re able to attend weekly
Mass as a community and here, we also have an opportunity to evangelize to
parents and families,” she said.
Part of the tuition, which is around
$6,000 per student, will go to support the diocesan schools that will be losing
students and faculty to St. Isidore. Some of the money will go to the schools where
the teachers came from and some money will go to students’ schools to
incentivize them to hold a spot in the classroom for that child the following
school year. Families receiving
financial aid at their previous school will receive the same percentage of aid
at St. Isidore.
If the school
reaches full enrollment, parents will receive a rebate lowering tuition.
Tuition for other diocesan schools varies based on the school, the number of students
enrolled per family, and if that family belongs to the parish, but rates range
from about $6,200 per student to $11,000 per student.
While St. Isidore was created to serve the needs
of some in the Catholic school community during the pandemic, the diocese will
see if St. Isidore will be viable even after the pandemic. The
Office of Catholic Schools is examining other virtual school models and seeing
if St. Isidore would be of interest to families who prefer home schooling.
Find out more
To find out more or to enroll your child in St. Isidore of
Seville Diocesan Virtual School, go here.