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Harmony Public Schools officials announced Monday the schools will offer full virtual learning opportunities to students in kindergarten through Grade 12 for this fall.
The schools will also continue to offer in-person learning at each of its 58 campuses for the majority of its 38,000 students across Texas. Harmony has two campuses in Brownsville.
The virtual school, however — known as Harmony Virtual Academy — is intended for those families who either still need or prefer to learn online, officials said in a media release.
“We’ve learned during the pandemic that most students still learn best in the traditional classroom setting surrounded by their peers,” Harmony Public Schools CEO Fatih Ay said. “But that’s not necessarily true for every scholar. For students who need to continue studying from home or who simply just learn better that way, we’re excited to continue offering a virtual school choice for Fall 2022.”
Harmony Virtual Academy is approved by the TEA for roughly 572 students for Fall 2022. About 400 students attended virtual classes with Harmony in 2021-22.
To be eligible, students must be enrolled at Harmony for the upcoming year, maintain at least a 90 percent attendance rate, have passed their most recent STAAR test, and be passing in all of their core subjects.
Beginning this August, the academy’s team of teachers will be housed in the building currently occupied by the Harmony School of Science-Houston.
From there, Harmony educators will connect with scholars from across Texas in both real-time synchronous learning and student-led asynchronous lessons. Students also will have access to Harmony’s full range of support services, as well as an array of extracurricular activities.
“Parents deserve to have a choice in their child’s education,” Ay said, “and so many families have told us that a virtual option is a choice they still need. At Harmony, we listen to our families and we’re committed to providing those who choose virtual learning the most comprehensive online education possible.”
