By JOSH MONIZ, Hill Country News

Leander ISD will begin offering a permanent, online-only high school program called the Virtual Learning Academy starting this fall.

The program, which was approved by the LISD Board of Trustees on Feb. 22, will initially be limited to just LISD 9th and 10th graders this school year. A total of 300 students will be accepted into the program, or 150 students per grade.

LISD will add another, higher grade to the program each year until it eventually builds the program out into a four-year program, which will be hosted at New Hope High School. The VLA will be staffed by 12 full-time teachers.

The program does come with some drawbacks – students who enroll in VLA will not be able to participate in school extracurricular activities and will not be offered many elective options.  

Enrollment in the program will be limited so students interested will have to complete an application process in order to be eligible for the April lottery for slots, according to the school district.

Students who are not selected during the lottery process will continue their enrollment at their home campuses. 

VLA will allow students to graduate within four years. District staff noted in prior school board meetings that some students have been shown to thrive in an online-only learning environment.

More information is available at www.leanderisd.org/virtuallearningacademy/ or by contacting Terri McClain at terri.mcclain@leanderisd.org.