(Note: There is apparently a little "loophole" in Ohio's laws which allows superintendents to give out the names of the homeschoolers in their district because they are not technically "enrolled." These names have been purchased or given to these new cyber academies so that they can directly recruit homeschoolers for their cyber schools (with promises of computers, etc.), and then ALSO sell the lists to other companies. One of my friends who was excessively careful about never giving out his daughter's name, discovered that she is now on lists all over the country. Most probably because the school district, which is the only entity to have her name other than the hospital she was born at 13 years ago, gave out her name. - Sarah Leslie conscien@nacs.net )

May 20, 2002

Ohio Home Education Coalition (OHEC) ohec@earthlink.net

Subject: Friday's Press Conference and UTCSC vote

To our knowledge, three newspapers reported on the K12 contract on Friday which received unanimous approval from the UTCSC and its opposition. Those reports can be found in:

The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) LINK

The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) LINK

The below report from the Columbus Dispatch may need some clarification.

First, the school approved by the Reynoldsburg school district happened a few days before the K12-managed school was approved, on Friday, May 17.

It appears that the names and the acronyms were very close.

Therefore, it appears that in the eleventh hour, the K12 school changed its name. The contract, their website and the news media will now refer to the school managed by K12 and approved by the UTCSC as Ohio Virtual Academy or OHVA. The school approved by Reynoldsburg School District and run by Coletta/Don Musick is Virtual Community School of Ohio or VCS.

Second, the intent of the marketing of the school in the third to last paragraph can readily be seen.

Unsolicited spamming on the Internet may be far exceeded by the unsolicited use of the names and addresses of homeschoolers, directly received from the school district records. Certainly, Reynoldsburg homeschoolers can anticipate that their school district will now give over their private information to the VCS school due to the school district sponsorship of this public cyber school. Other school districts with no interest or resources to open a similar school may be willing to sell names to the highest bidder.

Third, we asked two questions of the K12 Vice President as he insisted he wanted to "dialog" with the group of 50+ people who attended the press conference on Friday. We asked:

-- Will you go on record in front of all of these people to state that you will not spam homeschoolers as you market your product?

He said they will use every resource available to them to advertise their school. (We repeated the question) He indicated that he would not commit to our request and that they will send their materials to homeschoolers in the state. (ECOT and OHDELA sent materials to homeschoolers across the state as well.)

-- What is your profit margin?

First, he did not know. (Objection from the crowd -- the K12-managed school had just received their contract!) Then, yes, he knew his profit margin. Then, no he did not know his profit margin. Then, he claimed an unspecified loss. He was challenged that they will not be in business very long operating at a loss. Then, he changed the subject.

(Later, it is reported to us that one eight-year-old in attendance asked his Mom: "Why was that man so nervous as he was speaking to us?")

OPEN HOUSES FOR K12 BEGIN JUNE 10 and will be held around the state.

As OHEC reported in February:

"Homeschoolers in Ohio may want to take steps now to protect the privacy of their children from use by school districts and third parties. Information included in this report is based on Ohio Revised Code provisions covered under § 3319.321 Confidentiality of student information; law enforcement and military recruitment use. Section (A) of that statute reads: 'No person shall release, or permit access to, the names or other personally identifiable information concerning any students attending a public school to any person or group for use in a profit-making plan or activity.'"

Despite the use of the word "attending" above, we believe that it is very important that homeschoolers take steps to insist with their school district that their families names (even if they are not "attending") not be released to anyone to whom each family would deny access.

>From a fact sheet at the US Department of Education, Family Policy Compliance Office website, regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act:

"Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

* School officials with legitimate educational interest;

* Other schools to which a student is transferring;

* Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;

* Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;

* Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;

* Accrediting organizations;

* To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;

* Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and

* State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

"Schools may disclose, without consent, 'directory' information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student and book, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school."

Copied for Educational Purposes from: LINK

Suburb's classes go online: Reynoldsburg gets charter school

May 18, 2002

By Mary C. Bridgman, Dispatch Staff Reporter

The Reynoldsburg school district will become the first in Franklin County to sponsor a charter school when the Virtual Community School of Ohio goes online Aug. 26, 2002.

VCS will be the state's fourth Internet school. A fifth -- Ohio Virtual Academy -- was awarded a contract yesterday from the University of Toledo Charter School Council to begin enrolling students in July.

In the five years since Ohio started funding charter schools, the numbers have grown rapidly: 92 schools with more than 23,000 students that this year will receive $131 million in taxpayer dollars.

The online schools, which currently educate 3,815 students, have come under fire recently for spending the millions of dollars they receive from the Ohio Department of Education with minimal oversight. The largest enterprise, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (eCOT), last month was asked by the state to repay $1.6 million.

The Ohio Home Education Coalition yesterday criticized both the huge allocations cyberschools receive and the charter council's handling of the Ohio Virtual Academy contract.

"I resent taxpayers' money going to private profiteers with no accountability,'' said Peggy Daly-Masternak, a member of the coalition, which is based in Toledo. "The awards result in huge corporate profits at taxpayer expense.''

In Reynoldsburg, state allocations will go to the district and then be channeled to the online school.

Superintendent Richard Ross expects about 150 of his students to log onto the Virtual Community School of Ohio -- vcslearn.org -- next school year.

Sarah Bringenberg, a freshman at Reynoldsburg High School, will be among them.

Bringenberg, 14, was home-schooled in seventh grade, went online with eCOT in eighth grade and this year has attended Reynoldsburg High School.

Learning later in the day will be less painful, said Bringenberg, who has juvenile arthritis and fibromyalgia.

"It's really going to be great for me.''

All VCS students in the Reynoldsburg district will be eligible to participate in school activities, Ross said. For accountability, they will be tested every six weeks in school.

The district's first choice for VCS superintendent was Coletta Musick, who earned $96,000 as the former eCOT administrator. But Musick now volunteers with eSchool Consultants, which helps manage the new online school.

Her husband, Don, was hired as superintendent and is paid $70,000 annually plus benefits. He is a former teacher and administrator in vocational and traditional education and worked most recently for the Teays Valley school district in Pickaway County.

VCS students and their teachers will be monitored to assure they are online and working, Mr. Musick said. Principal Paula Laslay, a former assistant superintendent in Reynoldsburg, will have the hardware to assure everyone's on task, he said.

Teacher salaries will start at $27,000 for a bachelor's degree and no experience and go to $43,000 for a master's degree and 30 years experience.

Teachers could earn up to 13 percent more through performance bonuses.

VCS plans to market itself to parents of Ohio's 120,000 homeschooled children and the state's 180,000 dropouts age 21 or younger, Mr. Musick said.

He hopes to have 2,600 students and 80 teachers for the 2002-2003 school year.

The school will host an open house at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Reynoldsburg High School.