SALTSBURG--For some students, public schools just don't offer them what they need, in academics, quality of classroom, or safety.
Born from those concerns is a new trend in education--cyber schools, where independent students work over the Internet from home.
Becca Smith is one of those students. Formerly an honor roll student at Saltsburg Middle School, Smith was unhappy--very active in competitive horse riding, Smith found little time to train, yet with a lot of downtime during school that she felt could have been spent in a better way.
In the spring of her ninth grade year at Saltsburg, the daughter of Monty and Donna Smith learned that an acquaintance from horse competition circle was enrolled in a cyber school.
"I knew there were cyber schools, but the ones I knew of you had to pay," Smith said, explaining why she never checked it out.
"We didn't know anybody that attended (cyber schools)," added Donna Smith.
Intrigued by the concept, Becca Smith and another friend talked with their cyber schooled acquaintance to learn what it entailed. "We were both interested. So we decided we'd like to join together."
Smith later researched the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School on the Internet, and put together a detailed presentation to try to win her parents' approval.
"I begged my parents," she recalled.
Her parents soon agreed to help get her started.
But enrolling in cyber school wasn't as simple as logging onto the computer. Smith had to take a placement test to find if cyber schooling would suit her.After Smith passed the placement test, PCCS invited Smith for a interview, both to get to know its prospective student, and to allow the opportunity for Smith and her parents to ask questions.
PCCS staff asked to see her grades, and they fielded questions from her parents.
"We didn't know anything about it," Donna said of cyber schooling.
They learned that under Pennsylvania's charter school law, their local school district must pay the tuition for its students to attend.
PCCS said she was a shoe-in for enrollment.
That was in May 2002, and by August, Smith uprooted from the public school system and became a member of the Internet classroom.
That summer, Smith's instructional supervisor contacted her several times to set up a class schedule. A few weeks before classes started, Smith received a computer, printer, and all the books she needed.
After the school year was over, the PCCS provided pick-up sites to drop off books, but the computer is hers until graduation.
When she started cyber school, Smith had three different curricula from which to choose as her course of study--Keystone, meant for college-bound students, Missouri, a bit more of a relaxed program, and Virtual, courses taught "live" with other students.
Smith studied her first year under the Keystone curriculum accompanied by a virtual French II class.
She finished her first year with straight A's, which only solidified her opinion that cyber school was for her .
And it "will pick up more and more," Donna believes, but "I don't think it's for every student.
"If you have a child that does well in school and is self-motivated, then they can get some of their college courses over with while they're in high school."
Dr. Robert Mencer, superintendent of the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District, agreed that although cyber schools may be a good choice for some students, not all would benefit.
"For those who are self-motivated, and disciplined to the interaction with the learning process over the computer, then it's certainly an alternative, and can be very rewarding for them."
Mencer said the first wave of cyber school interest hit the district in the 2002-03 school year. Blairsville-Saltsburg School District currently has 18 students enrolled in several different cyber schools.
Public school officials may be able to recognize that cyber schooling may be suitable for a handful of students, but most are unhappy that they have to pay for it.
"The fault that I have with cyber schools, and the fault that the board of directors have with the cyber schools, is the funding mechanism," Mencer said. "The district has to bear this cost."
Mencer estimated that at a tuition rate of between $6,500 and $7,500 a year, times 18 students, the district is paying close to $115,000 per year for students in another school.
(The state reimburses the local school district only 25 percent of the cost.)
Mencer also suggests that the district is being ripped off on the tuition rate--"I don't believe that it costs the cyber schools that amount to operate," he said.
In other words, the cyber school owners are profiting from local taxpayers unfairly.
But Smith doesn't care--she said she is much happier with what the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has offered her.
"There's the flexibility aspect, where I can ride horses in the morning," said Smith. "Then, there's the opportunity to take college courses. And there's not a lot of down time in cyber school, and no social drama."
She said she doesn't miss the interaction with other students, which she implied was not always a positive experience.
"I still get to see my friends from Saltsburg," she emphasized. "We go bowling, ice skating, go to the movies. So I don't miss (public school) that much."
"It's not like she's totally shut off from the outside world," added Donna.
That doesn't mean Smith doesn't experience peer pressure. Some of her friends--even a former cyber student who went back to Saltsburg High School--urge her to return to public school.
"One of my friends did cyber school for a year then came back, and another is totally against it," Smith said. "They all want me to come back, but they know I'm not."
Added Donna, "It really makes sense for a student like Becca to get this head start."
A 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. set school day is almost nonexistent in a cyber school. Students work whenever they want, as long as the course requirements are finished by a predetermined deadline.
Smith chooses to dedicate one hour each day to each subject, which last school year allowed her to finish up her semester almost two months early--she was finished at the start of May, but had until the end of June to meet requirements.
Smith generally is out of bed by 7:30 a.m., and she'll eat breakfast before heading out to the horse barn to perform chores and exercise her animals. Later she'll tackle her school work, and is finished by early afternoon.
Although she doesn't have to do schoolwork every day, daily attendance is taken through the website.
The PCCS website is her guide to assignments and tests, and gives a formulaic layout of what needs to be covered in a semester and in what order it needs to be completed.
The regular cyber school year ends in June, but students have the option of continuing with summer courses. Smith's involvement in horse competition, though, doesn't allow enough free time, but she also doesn't want to graduate early, or she would lose her financial aid for the college courses she's taking.
"We're trying to work it out so she doesn't graduate early," said Donna.
Technically a high school junior, Smith has already begun college through the classes at Westmoreland County Community College. This semester, she's taking Intermediate algebra, college writing, general psychology, and a Western civilization course.
"They're general courses," Smith noted, although understandably, her college classes "are definitely harder than high school. But I think I'm adjusting to it."
This semester, two of the college courses she's taking are online, but she's also able to experience a live college classroom--she travels to WCCC's Latrobe campus for algebra, and Delmont for college writing. Once she gets her driver's license, she might take more classes on campus, she said.
The college credits will be a huge asset to her when she graduates from high school--she'll already have obtained an associate's degree.
Ideally, the general credits that she has procured will count toward the basic courses most college freshmen are required to take, meaning she'll be able to dive right into the courses she'll need to obtain a degree.
Smith said she's unsure of what that will be, although she wants to work with horses. Right now, she said, her interest is in horse breeding and training.
PCCS will pay for up to 20 college credits each school year--10 credits per semester.
For her junior year, Smith is taking four courses through Westmoreland County Community College, and one course with the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School--she must take at least one course through PCCS for them to financially back her college credits. This year, she's studying French III through PCCS.
"We hope for her to have two years of college done by the time she graduates high school," said Donna. The college credits, she said, will count toward Smith's credits she will need to receive her high school diploma.
"We kill two birds with one stone," Donna said.
But cyber schooling is not a informative free-for-all. Smith has an instructional supervisor who checks in with her at least once a week to ensure she's keeping up with the curriculum.
The supervisor can log on and check Smith's progress and grades, as can Smith's parents, whenever they like.
"He (the supervisor) can keep on how she's doing, I can keep up with how she's doing, and it saves a lot of time," Donna said, noting that to check on her daughter's progress in public school, she would have to call the school office and wait for one of Smith's teachers to return her call.
Smith does not have to be completely independent with her schoolwork--should she have a question, she only needs to log onto a discussion board on the PCCS website, which each cyber school teacher reads daily. Her questions are typically answered by early evening.
For cyber schooling to count towards a student's high school diploma, the general courses must reflect what a student is required to take in high school: English, social studies, math, and science.
Physical education is no exception, but Smith's active involvement as a horse rider counts toward the 72 physical education hours she's required to complete.
Neither is a cyber school student exempt from state-mandated tests such as the PSSA. Test dates and sites are scheduled for students to complete those tests.
Cyber schools have recently come under fire when the results of state-mandates tests showed their students were performing below public school students in reading and math.
Another controversy, especially in Blairsville-Saltsburg, has been in whether public schools must allow cyber students to take part in extra-curricular activities, such as sports.
Blairsville-Saltsburg's position is, "No way."
Two years ago, legislation was introduced that would have forced districts to allow cyber and home-schooled students to participate in extracurricular activities. To Mencer's knowledge, that bill never passed.
"The board of directors has a policy in place," Mencer remarked. "Technically, (cyber school students) are enrolled in another school," and therefore are not able to participate in public school activities.
Not that Smith would have had time. Her involvement in the competitive horse riding ring keeps her on her toes and on the saddle for the majority of her free time.
Smith grew up around horses, thanks in part to her mother's love of the animals. She was only 5 when she began riding lessons, and by 6, she was moved a step up to jumper classes.She was 6 when she also received her first pony, Sunshine, who is still with her today.
She has trained her current competition horse, Heavens Comet (also known as Harley), since he was two years old.
"I basically taught him everything he knows," Smith said.
Jumper competitions, Smith said, are timed events, based on tight turns, clean jumps, and speed.
She is a member of the Wildwin Stables Equestrian Team out of Greensburg, the organization through which she competes.
Betty Johnston, of Wildwin Stables,has been her trainer for Smith's entire horse riding career.
AWARD WINNER
For the past two years, she has won the Best Overall Jumper award through WSET, and in June, she captured the Jumper of the Day Award at a show.
Although she has competed in hunter events--where the horse and rider are judged on the smoothness of their movement as they run an obstacle course of jumps--jumper events have been her mainstay.
"I thought it was fun," she stated of why she chose jumper competition.
"It's not opinionated--with the hunter competitions, they judge you on how nice you look.
"In jumper, it's how fast do you go and did you knock any poles down.
"Plus, it's more exciting."
Smith has more recently become involved in dressage competitions in the horse arena.
BALLET ON HORSE
A bit more difficult to execute than the jumper exercises, dressage is a collection of intricate patterns that the horse performs from cues from its rider.
"Some people call it ballet on horseback," said Smith. "At the higher levels, the horse looks like it's dancing," noted Smith.
There are different levels of dressage--the higher the level, the more complicated the patterns are.
At the lower level, riders are permitted to have a reader who can spout off the patterns, but more experienced riders must know the patterns from memory.
Judged on horse movement and rider control, dressage required a good deal of technical training, for both horse and rider.
Dressage is executed through cues given to the horse, and body language is paramount.
DOCKED FOR VOICE
Riders are docked points if they use their voice to control their horse.
Smith has worked dressage patterns since her start with horses, but only recently has she seriously begun to compete.
Harley is her current jumper and dressage companion, but that may soon change.
For her 16th birthday, Smith was given an unbroken Frisian two-year-old stallion, which she named Gabriel.
In the next year, Smith said she hopes to begin breaking Gabriel and training him in dressage.
"When I get Gabe broke, hopefully he'll become a good dressage horse," she remarked.
Smith rides year-round, but competition season usually takes place from May through October.
Typically, the competitions Smith participates in are scattered throughout Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio. But in October, she will partake on her furthest journey yet as a horse jumper--both in physical distance and in competitiveness--as she participates in the Bengt LJungquist Memorial Championship for dressage.
TWO MAIN AREAS
Jumper and dressage are Smith's two main arenas for horse competition, but lately, she's also taken up a third competitive interest--judged pleasure trail rides.
Donna, seeking some company on her own rides, encouraged Smith to take on this contest, which is a six-mile trail with 10 obstacles. Riders are judged on how effective they complete the obstacles.
"Competition in the horse world has done a lot of good for Becca," Donna remark-ed.
"I've seen kids her age that don't have a lot of focus in life."
Working with horses "doesn't leave a lot of down time--caring for horses is a daily job, with grooming, cleaning the stables, and training. It takes a lot of time.
"I think the lessons she's learned, she'll be able to use throughout her life."
The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has also given Smith opportunities that Donna believes she would have never had otherwise.
People sometimes remark on Smith's decision to receive her eduction online--some are curious, but others look down on their choice.
Donna remarked that many people are simply ignorant to what cyber schooling is.
"A lot of people don't know what it is," she said. "The most people say is about the socialization they think she'll miss.
"But she's gone to public school up through her ninth grade year, and if she hasn't learn to socialize by now...
"Besides, the academics are more important than socializing."
