Northport Schools to Begin Virtual School

Exciting things are taking place in the small town of Northport. On Tuesday January 19th Dan Benjamin, of FutureEd, presented an opportunity to Northport Schools to create a Virtual School. The School board unanimously voted for Dr. Key, Northport Schools Superintendent and Daniel Benjamin to begin drawing up a contract to be reviewed by the Northport Schools attorney. By the February 9th School Board meeting this agreement should be signed and our community will be well on the way to opening a Virtual Academy by September of 2010.

NCPR designed, addressed and sent out about 600 flyers to local residents advising them of the meeting. Approximately 70 people attended, listening to Mr. Benjamin’s presentation and asking numerous questions. At one point our new mayor, Mike Lamb, stood up and said “OK, I want to know, how many are for this?” Overwhelmingly the crowd was supportive of the proposition.

The Virtual School has the possibility of creating 2 non-teaching jobs per 100 students. This is a much needed boost to a dwindling economy in our area. We just want to acknowledge the leadership and visioning of a few individuals. Four teachers, Leesa Ewen, Don Baribault, Terri Carlson and Heidi Leaden for hours beyond measure; researching and taking the administrative classes necessary to successfully lead this school. To Eric Middlesworth, TECH extraordinaire, for his leadership in setting up the new school and the technical basis for this project to get off the ground. To Dr. Leroy Key, our interim school superintendent, who has vision and drive to move this school forward into the technology age. I am sure there are more individuals who have donated time and to you we are also grateful. Each one of these individuals has embarked on an ambitious timeline to see this project come to completion. What an awesome opportunity for our little town!