SALT LAKE CITY — With uncertainty about how fall semester will turn out amid the coronavirus pandemic, many students in Utah are shifting to options outside of their school district.
Hundreds of students are leaving traditional classrooms in favor of online academies.
The executive director for the Utah State Charter School Board, Jennifer Lambert, says parents are looking for schools that have been doing online learning for a while now.
“There is a high demand from parents wanting a school that is fully online and that has been doing online for a number of years,” Lambert told the Salt Lake Tribune.
So far, about a thousand more students have registered for classes at the Utah Connections Academy in Woods Cross, and 1,500 new students are attending Utah Virtual Academy in Murray.
The Utah Board of Education has approved an enrollment waiver cap for both schools to increase capacity.
A complete count of students migrating from traditional public schools to online is expected next month.
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