GREENFIELD — School Committee members are tasked with deciding whether they should cap the number of local students the district enrolls in the Greater Commonwealth Virtual School during fiscal year 2027 at only 1%, or 12 students, before the first week of March.
The Greater Commonwealth Virtual School, formerly known as the Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School, is the state’s first virtual, tuition-free school, serving more than 1,200 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Greenfield pioneered the online academy under its original name in 2010 before the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education began overseeing the school in 2013. There are currently 17 Greenfield students, or roughly 1.32% of the student population, enrolled in the virtual school.
Interim Superintendent Roland Joyal Jr. explained at a School Committee meeting Wednesday that any community that sends more than 1% of its student population to the virtual school now has the option to cap that number at 1%. Joyal added that DESE caps virtual school enrollment statewide at 2% of the 900,000 public school students in Massachusetts. Should the School Committee vote to cap the number of students it sends to the school to 12, Joyal continued, the five other students that are currently enrolled would be “grandfathered in” and allowed to continue their online education.
School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve said the school primarily serves students who cannot attend in-person classes because of unique circumstances.
“This is for a very specific subset of students. This is not just for anybody,” DeNeeve said. “You can’t just say, ‘I don’t want to be in-person.’ This is very regimented and specific. … We should keep that in the forefront of our minds because this really isn’t about money as much as it’s about specific circumstances that our students find themselves in very rarely and still need support.”
However, according to DESE’s Frequently Asked Questions page on the virtual school, the school is open to any interested Massachusetts student.
“Any student who resides in Massachusetts can apply for admission to a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Virtual School (CMVS). If more students apply to a CMVS than there is space available, the school will hold a lottery to determine which students will be admitted,” DESE states. “Once admitted to a CMVS, a student is entitled to attend in subsequent years without reapplying.”
The School Committee must decide whether to implement an enrollment cap prior to March 2. As no vote was taken on the matter Wednesday night, the committee is expected to vote at its Feb. 11 meeting.
Committee Chair Stacey Sexton encouraged community members to weigh in on the matter before the next meeting, sending their questions or comments to the superintendent. Sexton also noted that the School Committee has been eligible to cap student enrollment in fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2026, but has decided not to.