Education, Careers & Professional News
Accredited Silver State High School offers online education
Coming and going is more irregular than a traditional high school, but the students attending Silver State High School still have to get the work done.
“It’s not a gimme,” said SSHS Principal Steve Knight, the brainchild for the blueprint of SSHS.
There is less teenage angst common in traditional schools, and discipline problems, while rare, can be resolved quickly by simply sending the student home, according to some of the teachers and students of the free, charter school located in north Carson City.
In the five years the school has been open, Knight said only four parent complaints have been made.
“There’s not a whole lot of angry kids walking around here,” said senior Dane Hexberg, who said he often was bored and unchallenged when he attended a traditional high school. “There’s more freedom.”
The typical student at SSHS is outgoing and wants to get their work done, said Hexburg.
Billing itself as “Nevada’s First Statewide Virtual High School,” the atmosphere is likened to a college approach, where students are largely in charge of how many hours they spend at the school – located at U.S. 395 and College Parkway – or working online. The only requirement is one day a week for four hours.
Online education
The school is an online distance education high school where students may be separated by time and location, but technology can bridge that gap. Most class work can be done online. It ranges from straightforward material to interactive, real-time experiences, such as a streaming Web cam lecture.
According to the school’s Web site, students can also phone or “contact their teachers using instant messaging during the day and into the early evening whenever they need help.”
“That’s why they love it. We are so high-tech,” said Vice Principal Alan Staggs.
The school is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate different schedules. In July 2006, SSHS was accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, the same accrediting body of any other area traditional high school.
This means a diploma is acknowledged as equal to one from any other accredited school, Knight said.
“I think it is wonderful,” said Joy Hexberg, Dane’s mother who has sent all three of her sons to SSHS. “It is an alternative for students to be responsible for themselves.”
Hexberg’s oldest son started attending SSHS because the family was big into BMX racing and needed to travel often. She said it turned into a real blessing in disguise for her boys.
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