PENDLETON — This summer’s trial run of the virtual education academy at Pendleton Heights High School produced 37 credit hours for high school students.

Dr. Mark Hall, assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum, instruction and college and career readiness, told the board at its Aug. 1 meeting there were a few hiccups in the initial run, but the plan is to go forward this fall by offering the option for the full school year to interested students.

Hall said the school has received 10 applicants for the 2019-20 school year. Those students are being vetted to make sure they are interested in going forward with the program that benefits students who can’t attend or have not had success in traditional schooling.

“We’re judging to see if they are going to be good candidates for our program,” Hall said. “We want to put people in that are going to be successful. I anticipate we’ll have kids taking full virtual classes this fall.”

The virtual school will provide the majority of the approved courses for the State of Indiana requirements and some elective courses that are not currently offered in the traditional school.

In the summer, school credits were earned in Algebra I and health classes.

Hall said issues from the initial run were mostly of a logistical nature, such as proper filling out of applications for courses.

“Some kids, for a variety of reasons, do better in this environment,” he said. “We have kids with unique situations. Some may have to work, support families, pay bills, and they also are trying to get an education. We want to provide them a quality education. We want to make sure we are serving the kids in our district and they don’t have to go outside our district to get an education.”

Students take classes remotely through the virtual school, but Hall said unit and final exams will still be taken in person.

“We’re not making them come (to traditional school) every day, but they have to come and show they are the person that is doing the homework at home,” Hall said. “If we are going to give you a diploma, we want to make sure you have the knowledge. The diploma basically indicates you have met needs the state of Indiana has for high school requirements. We want to make sure we can stand behind that.”

Hall said, through the trial run this summer, he has learned the key to running the program successfully is communication between all parties involved, including himself, parents, counselors, teachers and students.

“The key to success is to make sure everyone is on the same page,” Hall said.

Bicentennial plans

Members of Pendleton’s 1820 Society, preparing for a bicentennial celebration, gave a presentation to the board at the Aug. 1 meeting.

Jeanette Isbell and town council president Jessica Smith represented the committee preparing for the Celebration of Pendleton, 1820-2020 — Then and Now.

Isbell said she wanted to bring the board up to date and let it know what they have in mind for the celebration.

“It’s over a year away, but we have to start now (with the planning),” she said.

Isbell told the board they want to do a weeklong celebration in September 2020. She said she hoped the celebration could coincide with Pendleton Heights High School Homecoming.

The committee would like to get the school involved, including the contribution of historical photos for a patron’s page that would go into a coffee table book to recognize 200 years of Pendleton.

“We want to focus on honoring the past, reflecting where we are and where we are going,” Smith said. “It’s not just about the last 200 years but the next 200 years.”

“We’d love to have you really involved,” Isbell said, noting the group has been struggling getting people interested in something that’s a year away.

Smith said the bicentennial committee typically meets 6:30 p.m. the first Wednesday each month at town hall, 100 W. State St.

Approvals

The school board accepted multiple personnel recommendations, including:

• The retirement of John Williams, a maintenance worker at the Administrative Service Center.

• Hiring Ryan Jones as a science teacher at Pendleton Heights High School and Chasity Denger as a sixth-grade teacher at Maple Ridge Elementary School.

• The resignation of nine support staff members: Bus drivers Heather O’Connor and Gary Hubble; bus aide Cheryl Hubble; instructional assistants Jenelle Miller, Stephanie Nyboer-Hull, Kristen Blakely, Adrianne King, Cynthia Reynolds and Kari Tabor.

• The hiring of 17 support staff members: Instructional assistants Kayleigh Wynn, Rachel Owens, Melissa Kirby, Diane Peine, Douglas Dunn, Whitney Myers, Amanda Case, Cassie Wilson, Kayleigh Hamilton and Suzanne Slyford; bus drivers and bus aides Pam Aldridge, Adrienne Kiddeer, Ryan Reed, Dan Wallace, Curt Nickel and Jo DeWitt; and Administrative Service Center worker Nathan Hall.

• The hiring of extracurricular recommendations, including Pendleton Heights High School junior varsity baseball coach Ryan Jones, Pendleton Heights Middle School seventh-grade volleyball coach Brandie Alexander and PHMS study tables supervisor Alicia Escue-Cox.

• The transfer of instructional assistant Leah Dummel from East Elementary School to RTI at Maple Ridge Elementary School.

• A leave request for PHMS math teacher Sara Ragan.