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Education on the laptop: Janesville’s new virtual school works—for some

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Miranda Rotzoll works on her algebra homework during a virtual school session in her Janesville dining room.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Miranda Rotzoll reflects in the screen of her laptop as she watches a video of President Ronald Regan discussing the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster while doing some homework in her virtual school.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

A lesson about the Presidents of the United States from the Janesville Virtual Academy.

JANESVILLE — Miranda Rotzoll skipped school, often and with gusto.

“It’s addicting,” she said. “Once you do it a couple times, you want to keep doing it.”

By the start of her junior year at Parker High School, she had amassed almost no credits.

She partied. She did drugs, she said.

Her home life was in chaos. Grounding didn’t help. Her mother threatened boarding school.

Miranda got A’s in elementary school, said her mother, Shirley Rotzoll.

“Something happened in sixth grade, and she just never got it back,” Shirley said.

“I can’t concentrate when I’m in big groups of people,” Miranda said. “I get really nervous, or I just try to fit in, so I act like everybody else.”

She got caught up in the social scene at school, her mother said.

Some family members and some people at Parker warned her she’d never amount to anything.

All that has changed.

Miranda, 16, transferred from Parker to the new Janesville Virtual Academy in October. She has chalked up one success after another ever since.

Perhaps it’s too early to say Miranda will make it. But spend a little time with her, and you become convinced she’s fiercely determined to do so.

She plans to work through spring break and this summer. Even so, she knows she’ll likely be 19 before she gets her diploma.

Miranda is one of 40 Virtual Academy students, grades 9-12. Numbers have fluctuated in JVA’s first year, as some found they weren’t cut out for it and went back to Craig or Parker, said teacher/mentor Dave Parr.

Nine students returned to the high schools so far, and more might do the same at the end of this school year, said Donna Behn, district director of instruction and JVA’s principal.

JVA has a waiting list of 12. Parr hopes those can join the school in September.

The school might expand in the future, but not next year, Behn said.

Shirley Rotzoll said she knew Miranda could to better at home, with fewer distractions.

And she did.

“She went from bad grades to awesome grades,” said her relieved mother.

Miranda is pulling down an A-minus in American history and a B in algebra.

Parr helps.

“He calls and checks up all the time,” Miranda said, not sounding at all annoyed. And Miranda can call Parr at home if she has a question.

“He’s awesome—Dr. Parr. He goes way out of his way,” Shirley said.

Miranda does most of her work on a laptop provided by the school. She reads novels, writes essays and research projects and takes quizzes, “almost the same as school,” she said.

But it’s all on computer.

Every time she logs on, she sees a summary of how she’s doing—grades, assignments and a percentage showing how far she has to go to complete the course. Her mother can monitor her progress.

Each course has a teacher, whom she can call or e-mail. Courses are bought from the Florida Virtual School through a consortium of eight Wisconsin school districts.

Teachers may be from any of the eight districts, but local help also is available. Parr teaches social studies courses online and also helps any student who calls for help. There’s also a local tutor for higher-level math.

Parr’s duties include keeping tabs on how all the students are doing.

Students do phy ed on their own. Their parents or other “coaches” keep track of their hours. Miranda walks on the family treadmill or outdoors.

Students are required to get out of the house. The academy provides “seminars,” which can include lectures or tours of places such as General Motors, UW-Rock County or Blackhawk Tech.

Virtual school allows students to set their own pace. Miranda’s pace has been blistering.

“They said I was one of the fastest students that actually was passing,” she said.

No one is allowed to pass a course with anything less than a “C,” Parr said. That keeps a student from speeding through courses by doing the bare minimum.

Virtual schooling is not for everyone, Parr warns.

“This isn’t just going to class and sitting in front of a teacher. They actually have to do all the work, and it’s daily work,” Parr said. “Some kids thought they could do this just when the felt like it, and it’s not like that. … You have to be incredibly motivated.”

Miranda seems to fit that description. And she seems happy, even though she knows how far she has to go.

“I get along better with my parents,” she said.

She tells her younger sisters, “don’t skip, or I’ll kick their butts.”

Miranda still sees her friends.

“If I’m doing good and get all my stuff done, I can go out with my friends for a while,” she said.

But she’ll make up for hanging out by working hard and long the next day, she said. Sometimes, she’ll get bored late at night and turn on the laptop.

“I don’t take advantage of my freedom anymore. … I know my life’s going to be hectic for a while, before I have the freedom that I actually want,” she said.

Miranda seems intensely focused on graduating. She said that passion comes from all the people who told her she’d never make it.

“I’m trying to prove them wrong,” she said.

And there’s this: “I know I don’t want to work at McDonald’s the rest of my life, even though I know it’s probably going to be my first job.”

For now, Job 1 is getting a diploma through JVA.

“It did change my life,” she said. “Now when I get up in the morning, I want to do my homework.”

The only difference is, it’s all homework.

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For more information about the Janesville Virtual Academy, go to http://janesville.k12.wi.us/jva.