Megan Sylvia, also a senior, has completed a course in mythology, and junior Margaret Crook is taking a course in marketing and e-commerce. Using distance learning, these students can take classes and exams and interact with teachers and other students without ever meeting them in person.

“It gives the students an opportunity to study a subject that we don’t offer at the high school … really exciting things that we wouldn’t have the staffing to offer,” said Mary Nancy Toscano, Westerly assistant principal and on-site coordinator for the program.

The program is called Virtual High School. Based in Maynard, Mass., the nonprofit corporation was founded in 1996 and offers more than 200 elective courses to advanced placement and honors students. Those courses include forensic science, oceanography, and pre-veterinary science.

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Burke explained that the school’s Advanced Placement (AP) Biology class enrollment requests went from 18 last year down to six this year, a number too small to fund a face-to-face class. With VHS, the course would still be able to take place, despite the low enrollment at Coventry. Other enrollment fluctuations as well as the inability to offer very specific courses catering to only a small group of students limits the school’s ability to offer a more personalized and expansive education.

“The kids dictate what’s run and we can’t offer everything,” said Burke. “When the data tells you that something might not be possible for kids, you have to start to think twice.”

The Virtual High School curriculum is made up of rigorous reading and writing assignments, class discussion via message threads, pre-recorded instruction videos, evaluations and personalized communication between students and teachers. VHS also offers a 25:1 student-to-teacher ratio in all of its courses.

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“People didn’t have running water. People didn’t all have electricity. This school is like a palace. It had hot and cold running water. It had central heat,” Ball said.

Since then, the Block Island School has continued to evolve. The most recent addition is a brand new gym.

Over the years, the school has added more teachers, more courses and the latest technology.

“Make this a great learning experience for an isolated community, and we do our best. We also have a virtual high school, which will allow kids to take courses virtually through the Internet,” said teacher Kristine Monje.

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