For the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year, a new school called Valley Oak Online Learning Academy will be provided to give students in grades TK-12 the option to continue with an online study program. This was an action item that was presented to the Oakdale Joint Unified School District board during the meeting of March 14. Providing the overview of the program was Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Craig Redman and the online option was approved by the board.

The new study program will provide a remote learning option through Edgenuity and Google Meets as well as have on campus visits occasionally.

To be eligible, students must be in good standing with attendance and grades or have a life situation that deems it difficult to be a part of in-person school.

This year while the state mandate was in place, students and parents were allowed to enroll and re-enroll as they saw fit as long as the student was doing well and attendance was not an issue. Next year, since the state is not mandating the districts to have an Independent Study School Program, this new remote option will have more leeway in making sure that students stay in independent study for at least one complete grading period. If they want to enroll and then re-enroll parents must present facts as to why the student needs to do so.

“We do not want Independent Study to provide an excuse for students to get out of in-person learning, nor do we want Independent Study to be a revolving door for any student,” Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Gillian Wegener stated.