Pulling plug on WSD’s Virtual School ‘no big loss’

Online learning in Manitoba has largely reverted to its pre-pandemic state following the closure of the Virtual School.

For some, that’s a huge relief. Others consider it a missed opportunity.

The education department’s new enrolment report shows the Winnipeg School Division-run Virtual School ceased to exist in 2024.

The decision to discontinue the alternative program for grades 9 to 12 students — a roughly $1-million annual expense — was made without fanfare.

Former principal Aaron Benarroch said that, in the end, it served a temporary purpose to re-engage students after the initial COVID-19 lockdown and address health and anxiety concerns.

“It wasn’t perfect. A lot of students who signed up didn’t have the stamina or discipline or support to engage every day. Even though they registered, it doesn’t mean they necessarily participated. Many did, but many also did not,” said the administrator who oversaw its rollout.

The Virtual School was formally established as a WSD high school with 76 students in September 2021. That number dropped to 61 the following year. During the final fall, there were 95 registrants.

As of 2023, the school was staffed by six teachers who provided lessons online. A guidance counsellor was also available to students.

Benarroch said it proved incredibly challenging to “take good care” of student academics and well-being from afar.

At the same time, InformNet, an online high school that accepts students from all over the province, remained an option, he noted.

WSD launched a trial version of the Virtual School in 2020 to support kindergarten-to-Grade 12 families with immunocompromised members. Elementary students were later transferred to the province’s now-defunct virtual K-8 school.

Sarah Smith, a mother of four, said she’s disappointed that remote learning infrastructure, which was costly and time-intensive to set up, is being dismantled.

Smith’s family spent three years enrolled in virtual classrooms to protect her child with a heart condition from COVID-19.

“It is a missed opportunity, I think. There are still tons of families who need that type of support and there’s nothing for them now, and that sucks,” she said, noting there was public outcry when the province closed the Manitoba Remote Learning Support Centre in 2023.

There’s a “mishmash” of homeschoolers who could benefit from a certified educator’s expertise, Smith said, drawing on her first-hand experience as a child who was taught by non-teachers.

“It is a missed opportunity, I think. There are still tons of families who need that type of support and there’s nothing for them now, and that sucks.”– Sarah Smith, a mother of four

Provincial officials defended the decision to shutter the support centre by citing the importance of young students attending their community school to learn and socialize in-person.

While there are fewer standalone virtual schools in Manitoba, interest in InformNet has surged in recent years.

The online high school, jointly operated by the St. James-Assiniboia and Pembina Trails school divisions, registered about 1,500 students annually, pre-pandemic. It now teaches between 3,000 to 3,500 students from all over the province.

The president of the Manitoba Association of Education Technology Leaders said droves of mainstream classrooms have adopted Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams and other e-learning platforms to complement in-person learning.

“There’s been this huge shift forward in the digital literacy skill sets of both students and teachers,” said Richard Roberts, a teacher who currently works as an IT consultant for a school division in Winnipeg.

As far as he is concerned, division leaders — in partnership with the association, should they want to draw on outside IT expertise — are well-positioned to implement remote learning on a case-by-case basis.

“I don’t see it as a big loss,” Roberts said about the end of the Virtual School era.

Superintendent Matt Henderson attributed the closure to WSD not receiving specific funding for it, low enrolment and interest being primarily among residents located outside the division that encompasses central Winnipeg.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca