Penn Hills School District's cyber school has been retooled with a new direction and room for growth.

C.H.I.E.F.S. Academy — Cyber High Quality Interactive Education Fostering Student Success — launched this school year.

“The importance of having quality online study options allows us to compete with cyber charter schools that are not as closely regulated,” Superintendent Nancy Hines said. “Our (C.H.I.E.F.S.) students have the benefit of receiving a Penn Hills High School diploma when they graduate, with no distinction on their transcript. Additionally, having a hybrid option allows our students to become familiar with this style of learning that is becoming more and more common in the college/university setting.”

The “hybrid option” involves drop-in centers at Linton Middle School and the high school. There, C.H.I.E.F.S. students can participate in online classes with the option of interacting face-to-face with teachers and possibly other cyber students.

Students can enroll in the academy at the start of each nine-week grading period. There are 50 C.H.I.E.F.S. students in grades three through 12 — 40 full-time cyber and 10 hybrid. Nine were enrolled in other cyber charter schools last school year.

“We're hoping to grow,” Academy Coordinator Amy Kingerski said. “We have 10 solid (families) interested for next year (on top of the 50 students). Our goal is 100 (students enrolled in 2016-17). We feel we're a better option because we have more to offer (than other cyber charter schools).”

District spokeswoman Teresita Kolenchak said C.H.I.E.F.S. gives students an online option while attracting students from other cyber charter schools to Penn Hills.

Charter schools are self-managed, taxpayer-funded public schools approved by local school districts. When students leave district schools, state funds follow them to their new schools.

Penn Hills charter school enrollment at the beginning of 2015-16 was at 720 students, compared to 811 at the end of 2014-15 — the first drop in several years, according to the district.

Penn Hills pays $11,300 a year per cyber/charter student in regular classes, $22,600 per student for cyber/charter school special education. The district spent about $12 million in 2014-15 on charter school tuition.

Hines said the district's own cyber program was initially developed for alternative education students in 2007-08. It later expanded to include Boyce Campus Middle College staff and students after neighboring districts pulled out of the BCMC Consortium. The district's cyber school overhaul this school year includes staff selection based on familiarity with the best online teaching practices, curriculum realignment to raise academic standards and improved communication.

Hines said other improvements were development of student attendance standards and an orientation period that involves both students and parents/guardians, plus the drop-in centers and facilitation of field trips.

C.H.I.E.F.S. students can attend Forbes Road Career and Technology Center and participate in district musicals and sports. The district uses its own teachers for C.H.I.E.F.S. students in seventh through 12th grades, and Waterfront Learning teachers, through the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, for third through sixth grades. Students enrolled in the academy receive computers through Waterfront Learning.

The district will hold an academy open house from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 19 at the high school, 309 Collins Drive. More information about the academy is available by calling Kingerski at 412-793-7000, ext. 5311; or online at phsd.k12.pa.us/cyberacademy_home.aspx.

Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-871-2367 or mdivittorio@tribweb.com.

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