With school districts planning more virtual learning for the upcoming school year, some parents have decided to take matters into their own hands and start their own “mini schools” at home.
But according to a local expert, that endeavor is often much more difficult than parents realize.
“It is just not that easy to do,” said Colleen Ganjian, founder of DC College Counseling, a company that coaches students who are heading to college.
The idea involves parents joining with other families and hiring a teacher for a few days each week so their children have regular in-person education.
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Ganjian said for most people, forming a mini school is prohibitively expensive.
“If you want to get somebody qualified, you’re going to have to pay that person enough to make it worthwhile to them,” Ganjian said. “They’re not just going to quit their job to go work at your house and lose their health insurance. It’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Plus, Ganjian said, mini schools are often not technically legal due to local zoning and licensing regulations. “All it takes is one unhappy neighbor to report that you are running a school out of your home,” she said.
Local school districts, including the public school system in Virginia’s Fairfax County, have been criticized for announcing a “hybrid” school model that leans heavily on virtual learning.
Specifically, Fairfax County families are being offered the choice of either two days a week of in-classroom learning or five days a week of distance learning.
“It’s left a lot of people very unhappy,” Ganjian said. “Many of the families feel that they have no other option [than to start a mini school].”
The Fairfax County plan led to criticism from U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who proclaimed that schools “must fully open” and “must be fully operational.”