ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — A school board in Alamance County met Monday night to discuss plans to keep a virtual school.
Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS) said they wanted the school to stay open, amid its budget issues.
According to members of the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education, Alamance Virtual School (AVS) is here to stay.
During the meeting, several members even applauded the dozens of parents and students who sent emails and went the extra mile to have their voices heard to keep the school open.
Virtual school staff members joined the fight as well. One teacher reflected on that day last week when they first received word the virtual school might be closing.
"People may think that AVS only has 236 students but on that morning, there were 236 ABSS students that were crying. They were angry, not understanding, high anxiety, depression. They were worried about their future," AVS Science teacher James Coble shared.
Virtual school students said the school has allowed them to thrive academically and socially.
"They make learning fun and easy because of how good the descriptions that they give are and in a brick and mortar school, it's just distractions everywhere, there's either someone talking behind me, beside me, everywhere," AVS 6th grader Gabriel Strickland said.
"We really like this school. This school has brought our friendship together. We have had the same classes since 3rd grade. For everything to be changing, it's just very hard," AVS 6th grader Kaitlyn Campbell shared.
Several board members said they plan to make it a priority to keep AVS running, insisting the school was never meant to be a temporary, COVID fix.
"There was infrastructure put in place for the virtual school. We have to school code for it, principals, and support staff. It wasn't just a result of COVID. It was something to be forward-thinking about for our school system and our students who thrived in the virtual learning space, so something to give them another unique experience in learning," Alamance-Burlington Board of Education Member, Seneca Rogers explained.
Board members apologized for the way the virtual school announcement was handled last week but said they want to keep it open, especially after seeing the number of people fighting for the school themselves.