Schools eye policy change

Schools around the state, including those in Whitman County, will soon change school policy on online courses after a shift in state legislation asked school boards for more regulation of the courses.

Colfax school board will soon finish policies that give the board more control over which courses can be taken by students.

The board is also considering putting a cap on the cost of online courses.

“Most schools have to be concerned: ‘Is that online program valuable for the kid in their education program or should it be supplemental and doesn’t need to be run through the school?,” said Colfax superintendent Michael Morgan in a later interview with the Gazette.

Private organizations are selling an increasing variety of courses to schools, Morgan said.

This growing selection should be monitored by local school boards, according to this new state policy.

Little will change for the day to day routine of Colfax students and their courses, Morgan said. However, the board and school principals will now have more say in deciding which courses fit in a student’s typical curriculum.

For example, a student taking a Horse Husbandry class at school could learn many useful things, but where does that class fit within the student’s required curriculum? In a situation like this, the school principal and school counselor could decide where the course fits.

Tekoa Superintendent Wayne Massie said his district will also be mulling over their present guidelines on online courses.

Of the 200 students in all grades at Tekoa school, only eight or nine students a year take courses online, he said.