By Karen Goveia — [email protected]
After determining the continued need for an online learning option, Deer Valley Unified School district is launching a new online academy for students in kindergarten through grade 12 for students and families, beginning with the 2021-22 school year.
The curriculum offered through Aspire will be taught by certified teachers under the leadership of Juliet Amara, who brings 18 years of combined experience teaching and administration roles to her new position as DVUSD’s Director for Online and Virtual Learning. Students in K-6 will participate in virtual real-time, teacher-led instruction, grades 7–8 will learn through a hybrid of both teacher-led instruction and prepared resources, and grades 9–12 will learn through prepared resources, with open lab access to teachers with both virtual and in-person office hours. Full-time Aspire students can still participate in extracurricular activities at their designated DVUSD school.
Enrollment is underway and is open to all students in Arizona and there is no fee to enroll in the full-time program. In-person DVUSD high school students can sign up for a part-time option for a fee.
In addition to its traditional course offerings, the academy will offer music, art and physical education and technology at the elementary level and a variety of electives/exploratory classes offered at middle school. High school students can enroll in advanced placement courses, and future plans include dual enrollment, career and technical education internships, clubs and eSports.
“We believe providing this choice for parents who want an online will keep students enrolled in DVUSD,” said Deputy Supt. Dr. Gayle Galligan.
To date, DVUSD anticipates an enrollment of 750 K–12 students in the Aspire Academy, and while all grade levels still have availability, at the time of this writing, grades 2, 5 and 6 were close to capacity.
To register, families must complete the open enrollment process at www.openenrollment.dvusd.org/application.