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Schools

Waukesha School District's Virtual School Getting Makeover, New Name

School board approves changes and money for marketing the virtual school.

The virtual school, iQ Academy, is getting a makeover for next school year.

The School Board voted Wednesday night to approve a name change, a marketing plan and curriculum modifications, with all changes deemed necessary as the district takes over control of the virtual school from its current partner, KC Distance Learning.

Starting next year, the new name of the virtual school will be Wisconsin Academy of Virtual Education (WAVE), causing one board member to humorously point out that the name follows in the long tradition of education to have a strong acronym.

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Most of the discussion by the board about the changes was about the marketing plan for the virtual school, with some board members balking at the $460,000 estimated price tag.

“$460,000 just seems to be a huge amount of money to recruit about 800 students,” Board Member Ellen Langill said.

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However, Finance Committee Chair Joseph Como said that the school is coming out with a new name, which will take more effort to promote, plus they want to increase promotion over what was done by KCDL, which according to the district, didn’t make much of an effort to promote the virtual school.

The break-even point of the virtual school is 550 students and for every student that enrolls over that number, the district recovers the money, Como said.

“We want to make sure our marketing efforts succeed. This is an important plan to increase enrollment,” he said, noting that the current enrollment at the school is 750 and that they hope to be over 750 students enrolled after the district’s marketing efforts. More than half of the $460,000 will go toward TV and radio advertising.

Superintendent Todd Gray said that with the other provider the district was paying $3 million. He also said the 750 students are worth about $5.5 million to the district, making recruiting students worth the $460,000 they expect to spend next year.

Plus, district purchasing policies would still apply: “So it’s not like we’re handing Rick a blank checkbook with $460,000,” Gray said, referring Rick Nettesheim, iQ Academy prinicipal.

The board voted to approve $460,000 for marketing the virtual school 7-1 with Langill dissenting.

Lastly regarding iQ Academy, the school board approved scope and sequence modifications within the iQ social studies program and new graduation requirements for social studies.

The move brings the virtual school into better alignment with curriculum in other Waukesha high schools and also schools in other districts, allows for more of an emphasis on global perspectives and more options for students taking social studies classes online, according to School Board Curriculum Committee Chair William Baumgart.

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