Letter: Virtual schools help motivated students

Robert Bencivenga

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun's Oct. 1 stories about virtual schools:

The reach of a virtual school is limited only by the desire of the student. When I was a teacher for Virtual High School several years ago, a Clark County School District student who had to temporarily move to India with her father, who was a college professor, did not want to lose her standing with the Clark County School District.

She was motivated enough to register in the School District's Virtual High School. When I began my online class at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, she was at her computer at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. And, because her home couldn't provide computer access, she was attending class in a local coffee shop.

Combining motivated students with the worldwide reach of virtual learning can be very powerful.