In schools across the state, Virtual Arkansas is a program that allows students opportunities to take classes that aren’t offered on their campus, each facilitated by a teacher in one of the campus classrooms. Through Virtual Arkansas, Bryant has been able to offer classes such as German, Fashion Merchandising, Criminal Law and more, all facilitated by Amanda Black.
“I started ten years ago facilitating; the newest teacher we have that I know has been teaching for six years, so it’s a very tight-knit group facilitating campuses,” Black said.
Funding for virtual classes comes from the school budget, as Virtual Arkansas only covers the cost for teachers, not the equipment required to run the class.
“It was into the thousands, like over a thousand per student, and there were ten students in my class at the time,” Black said.
With costs rising, Bryant decided to cut Virtual Arkansas classes to focus on repairing old infrastructure.
“The ten that took the class fought to keep it, and those same ten were sad to see it go,” Black said.
Despite support of the program from faculty and students, administrators made the decision a week before Christmas break that the Fashion Merchandising class would be cut for the spring semester.
“There was no real sustainable option but to drop the class. If we had a year to prepare, perhaps we could’ve done more, but the Department of Education makes those choices, not us,” Black said.
Providing resources for these classes was left to the school and teachers to somehow come up with.
“We had to have specific tools, like an architect’s ruler to do things like drawing to scale and we ended up buying supplies and donating materials for these students to actually do their work,” Black said.
For facilitators like Black, the lack of control over which classes are offered has been an ongoing challenge.
“I don’t get a say, I get asked for my opinion by the counselor registrator and a lot of times we get met with a ‘no’ to provide these classes by administration,” Black said.
The decision to cut Virtual Arkansas classes at Bryant highlights the ongoing challenges schools face when balancing budgets, repairing infrastructure and providing unique opportunities for students.
For facilitators like Amanda Black, the loss is personal, as she misses the connections she built with her students. Until funding and preparation time align, the return of these courses remains uncertain.
“I miss it because I miss the students, you get close to them and I had to let them go mid-year,” Black said.
