SAN DIEGO – A virtual high school will open in San Diego this year to serve a growing number of students who want to get their education online and off campus.

The San Diego Unified School District will launch its virtual high school at the Mount Everest Academy, a campus that already serves independent-study students who work mostly from home. The program would expand to satellite campuses and would allow students to take online courses, with support from teachers and counselors.

The virtual school will start with about 75 students as early as November, with plans to expand to 700 students by 2010. District Superintendent Terry Grier predicts that within 10 years, every high school student will take up to 25 percent of his or her courses online.

“This is cutting-edge, but this is already the world our kids live in,” Grier said. “We have to understand that education is no longer going to be a teacher in front of a chalkboard talking to students.”

Virtual classmates would be an unlikely mix of students on the brink of dropping out, academic standouts determined to cram more into their schedules, home-schoolers and perhaps child actors or serious athletes.

Owning a computer is not a requirement. All students would be assigned a laptop and broadband connections.

Virtual high school students would meet with teachers at school during the first two weeks of class. They also would confer with counselors to develop custom plans that outline their to path to graduation, which might include vocational programs along the way.

Even after students begin their virtual education, teachers would help them with their studies. Some classes would require additional meetings. For example, biology students would work in labs to conduct experiments and projects. This year, four teachers will oversee instruction and serve as mentors. Students would have access to a growing menu of courses, including Advanced Placement classes.

“These will be fully functional online courses paired with qualified teachers to deliver instruction and serve as mentors,” said Darryl LaGace, the district's chief information and technology officer.

The new school will cost $580,000 to set up, but after state reimbursements it would set the district back about $152,000, Grier said.

The virtual-high-school movement is among the fastest-growing segments of public education.

“Of course, we want to make sure the kids are doing the work,” said Grier, adding that they would be required to pass the state's high school exit exam and other assessments.

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