Administration has been unable to find teachers for seven Spanish classes and five Physics classes. One solution for students enrolled in these classes is to take online classes through a company called Edgenuity.
Principal Adam Littlefield in an email to parents said, “Edgenuity is a reputable company that serves online learners at Lowell High School, San Ramon Valley Unified School District high schools, and several other high performing high schools in the Bay Area.”
According to PUSD Chief Financial Officer Ruth Alhadoiyan, PHS will spend roughly $25,000 on Edgenuity classes which will come from the parcel tax and local control funding.
Edgenuity courses have many are negative reviews, especially on an online company review site called Sitejabber.
On Sitejabber, 109 out of 117 reviews are one star with negative comments from a mixture of students, parents, and teachers. The comments range from how easy it is to cheat to complaining about the software breaking and the lack of help they received from tech support.
A representative from Edgenuity told Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Cheryl Wozniak that the poor reviews were mainly from students who got bad grades in the online course and who complained about the workload.
One important advantage to Edgenuity that not all online learning solutions have is that Edgenuity fulfills UC a-g subject requirements, NCAA academic requirements, and is compatible with our technology platform.
Junior Cutter Mitchell, who took Spanish three online through Laurel Springs Online High School, said, “Online classes seem less effective than in person, because learning from a real teacher engages me more.”
The administration also considered using Laurel Springs Online High School but it was too expensive, Littlefield said.
