State education officials say they can’t intervene, and the tiny school district that oversees Indiana Virtual School has not pressed the school to improve until recently. Burroughs also defended the school’s graduation rate and student-to-teacher ratio. He said the school’s “innovative” approach offers a last chance to students who would have no other way to graduate. A company run by Stoughton’s son also held a contract with the school.ĪlphaCom’s involvement was necessary for Indiana Virtual School to launch and has now waned, according to the school’s lawyer, Thomas Burroughs. Since 2011, AlphaCom has held multiple contracts with Indiana Virtual School totaling about $6 million to provide management services and office space. Some of that money has gone to AlphaCom Inc., a for-profit company also founded and led until 2016 by Stoughton. The school they end up attending differs widely from other online charter schools emerging across the country, with far fewer teachers per student - 1 for every 222 students last school year, according to state data - and fewer students taking and passing state exams.Īs enrollment at Indiana Virtual School ballooned, so did the school’s state funding, which is distributed on a per-student basis. In recent years, students have signed up in droves, responding to social media advertising campaigns. Thomas Stoughton founded the school in 2011, taking advantage of a new law allowing Indiana charter schools to serve students exclusively over the internet, rather than in brick-and-mortar buildings. What Indiana Virtual School did have: Tens of millions in state dollars due to come its way over the next two years, and a founder whose for-profit company charged millions of dollars in management fees and rent to the school. The school also had very few graduates - 61 out of more than 900 seniors graduated last year. One of Indiana’s largest high schools ended this past school year with almost 5,000 students, but no desks and no classrooms. Originally posted on Chalkbeat by Shaina Cavazos on October 31, 2017
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