WWW.THEFLORIDACATHOLIC.ORG September 2020
FLORIDA Catholic
MIAMI ARCHDIOCESE
Archbishop Thomas Wenski was the main celebrant and homilist for the annual celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Charity, Sept. 8, 2020, which due to the COVID-19 pandemic took place at St. Michael Church in Miami with reduced and socially distanced attendance. The faithful were able to greet Cuba's patroness by driving through in front of the church for two hours before the Mass.
Feast of
Our Lady of Charity
ADOM-VCS never had to close or change its teaching methods due to the pandemic
CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO
Florida Catholic correspondent
MIAMI Virtual and online school. Dis- tance and remote learning. These buzzwords refer to the way most schools have functioned since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pan- demic forced a digital revolution that neither teachers, students, parents, or even internet providers were prepared. But one Catholic school was unaffected by the COVID-19 transition to digital classrooms and online learning: ADOM-VCS, the virtual Catholic school of the Archdiocese of Miami. "For me, when I say, 'virtual school,' it means my particular school, Archdiocese of Miami Virtual Catholic School. Essentially, we never closed. It really is available year- round, if needed," said Rebeca Bautista, prin- cipal of ADOM-VCS. Entering its seventh year, ADOM-VCS is accredited by Cognia, and, un- til recently, was the only archdiocesan-sup- ported virtual Catholic school in the United States (the Diocese of Arlington launched St. Isidore of Seville Virtual School Sept. 8, 2020). ADOM-VCS has the seal of approval from the archdiocese's superintendent of schools, Kim Pryzbylski, as well as Archbishop Thom- as Wenski and the U.S. Conference of Catho- lic Bishops. The school is also registered with the Florida Department of Education and The College Board, which recognizes ADOM- VCS's curriculum, credit recovery courses and While the obvious distinction of ADOM- VCS is that it is not a traditional brick-and- mortar campus, neither are its classes bound by time. They occur asynchronously, with pre-recorded lessons and no real-time inter- action during class. "It is different at ADOM-VCS than it is in the virtual classrooms that schools have cre- ated (for Covid-19 and distance learning). This was designed for students to be able to log on at any time and be able to do things at their own pace, whereas what they're doing in the schools now, it's the traditional curricu- lum, and the traditional school day, Monday through Friday, with a teacher," Pryzbylski said. "It's really a parental choice, and most par- ents, especially with the little ones, they want their children with their teachers. It's different ways of delivering instruction, and that's criti- cal because parents should really be able to choose which type of instruction they believe their child should have," Pryzbylski added. With ADOM-VCS, "you can follow a tra- ditional 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule, or you can log in the morning, in the afternoon, or on the weekends," Bautista said. To be clear, teachers are assigned to each course and they do check-in with students and parents weekly. (Most of them teach at brick-and-mortar Msgr. Edward Pace High and other archdiocesan schools.) While some parents appreciate the inde- pendence, Bautista cautioned that it may be a difficult transition for students who don't have the discipline. "A second grader creating their own sched- ule will be completely different than a senior who says, 'I got this.' It's a completely different expectation. Parents want structure, for the most part, or a routine, and we do have one, but it's up to each individual student or family member to decide what that is," said Bautista. Virtual education is not easier, she added: "We're a fully accredited school. If you're going to earn half a credit from us, you're going to do the work that merits half a credit."
CATHOLIC, ONLINE, ANYWHERE
Annette Wedin discovered ADOM- VCS while living in Birmingham, Alabama. She had been searching for alternate educational options for her sons, Austin and Jason. The lo-cal Catholic high school, John Carroll High, which partners with ADOM- VCS, recom-mended the virtual school option, and the family found a match. "I don't look at it as homeschooling. I look at it as my kids went to a Catholic school, and it just happened to be that it was online. You have everything that you get at a school, you're just not sitting in front of the teacher," said Wedin "They still have their curriculum and work to do, but they can do it at their own pace and time." Both of her sons graduated from ADOM- VCS and are attending Arizona State Univer- sity, with Austin pursuing a degree in law, and Jason in healthcare. The flexibility of the ADOM virtual school came as a blessing for Susana Moro, a Span- ish-born, Miami-based mom of three, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2016. The treatment kept Moro in the hospital for four months. At the time, her eldest daughter, Valeria, was a freshman at Immaculata-La Salle High, and she began experiencing depression and difficulties at school. "She was not happy, and when a teenager is not happy you have a problem," said Moro. Moro's husband, Jason Quimby, discussed options with Immaculata's principal, Salesian
Online vs. virtual: What's the difference?
A screenshot from an ADOM Virtual Catholic School online promo.
high school diploma. Earlier this year, the school beta tested its kindergarten through fifth grade curriculum, making ADOM-VCS a fully online elementary, middle and high school. "Some parents are wanting pure virtual now and they've gone to ADOM-VCS because it is an established school," Pryzbylski said. The curiosity, however, doesn't come en- tirely from south Florida. Families across the country, and even a few outside, have reached out because they are looking for options as they wait for decisions from their own dio- ceses and local school boards as to how their students will return to school. ADOM-VCS can enroll students for a quar- ter, a semester, or a year-long curriculum. So far, the first quarter option (August through December 2020), has the most pending en- rollments.
ASYNCHRONOUS EDUCATION
PLEASE SEE VIRTUAL, 2
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