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Prince Edward County Public Schools will offer online learning opportunities from Virtual Virginia for the 2021-22 school year.

Virtual Virginia is a program of the Virginia Department of Education serving students in Virginia public schools by providing flexible options for the diverse educational needs of students and their families.

According to the Virtual Virginia website, the program offers equal access to online courses. For grades sixth through 12^th grades, Virtual Virginia offers online advanced placement, world language, elective, and core academic courses to students across the commonwealth.

The courses utilize course management software to maximize the interactivity of each class. Each course contains video segments, audio clips, whiteboard interaction, multimedia activities, and online discussions, as well as text. Instructors are available for telephone and online communication with students throughout the day.

Full-time instructors are online with students at least 40 hours per week. Adjunct instructors have posted office hours. Virtual Virginia courses offer a rich multimedia learning environment that appeals to a variety of learning styles. While the asynchronous component of Virtual Virginia courses allows for flexibility, attendance of synchronous sessions is mandatory unless there is a conflict with school responsibilities. All synchronous sessions are recorded, and students are required to watch the recording if they are unable to attend live.

“One of the great things about students participating in Virtual Virginia is that they are officially students of Prince Edward County Public Schools. Virtual Virginia students will enjoy all of the extra curricular activities to include being eligible to participate in athletics, just like a traditional on-campus student,” Dr. Michelle Wallace, assistant superintendent said.

Prince Edward County Public Schools will provide all Virtual Virginia students with an age-appropriate technology device for remote learning (Chromebook or Chrome Tablet) at no cost. Technology devices will be returned to PECPS at the end of the academic year or if the student transfers out of PECPS as outlined in the mobile device agreement.

More information and an interest form can be found on the PECPS website at www.pecps.k12.va.us.