Aug. 9—WORTHINGTON — The Minnesota Department of Education has terminated District 518's online VIBE program, which had been under review for the past two years following a 2018 parent complaint.
Eighteen teachers with the VIBE program, who do not work in District 518 buildings, will need to be put on leave or terminated. Two have been offered positions with the school but have not accepted, said Superintendent John Landgaard Monday at a meeting of the District 518 Board of Education's Instructional Committee.
VIBE, or Virtual Instruction by Excellence, is a public school program for home-bound and home-schooled students that allows them to learn online. About 400 students from around the state were enrolled in the program last year, and 700 were expected for the 2022-23 school year.
"They'll either move to a different program, they'll home-school, or they'll go back to in-person (learning)," Landgaard said.
One of the two reasons the MDE cited for the termination was licensure issues, which Landgaard believed was likely due to a data entry error, as everyone in the program was licensed appropriately.
MDE also stated it did not agree with the curriculum's usage of multiple options for parents, believing it did not fully meet Minnesota standards.
"They go by a report they get and they don't look at anything else," Landgaard said. "We had communications last fall, January, and they showed up for a site visit on May 26, and we got this email on July 28."
There were no phone calls or emails stating the MDE had concerns and there were no requests for more information, which Landgaard called "very frustrating."
School board member Adam Blume asked if the data could be resubmitted, and Landgaard said that was up to the school board.
"How long is it going to take to build it back up, because I don't want to lose these kids or lose these teachers?" Blume asked.
Landgaard said that when they get a program up and running again, it would most likely have 200 to 300 students back in it fairly quickly.
"I think we need to resubmit," said Brad Shaffer, school board member.
Provided the full school board approves, District 518 will attempt to establish a new online learning program that would start in the 2023-2024 school year.
The loss of VIBE will also affect the school's finances, as VIBE had brought around $3.2 million of revenue into the budget. While declining enrollment aid to the tune of $625,000 will offset some of that money, the revenue will be down about $2.5 million, said District Accounting Supervisor, Pat Morphew at a meeting of the district's Operations Committee on Tuesday.