The idea of a web-based St. Michael High School is sounding like a pretty good idea about now
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
With COVID-19 sweeping the country and much of the world, students everywhere have switched to both social distancing and distance learning.
But online schooling isn’t a new idea for St. Michael School in Waialua. In fact, the Catholic pre-K-8 school is planning to launch an online-based high school in the fall, provided it reaches a minimum student enrollment goal.
The call for a Catholic high school on the north shore of Oahu goes back awhile as the next closest one, Damien Memorial School in Kalihi, is about an hour’s drive away. Parents continue to ask for one, including in their feedback during St. Michael’s accreditation process last year. But funding a new brick-and-mortar high school hasn’t been possible.
Now St. Michael thinks it’s found the way to have a high school without the need for a new campus or independently hiring faculty and staff.
Kainoa Fukumoto and Dallas Carter in the renovated space at St. Michael Parish in Waialua that will be used for distance learning students. (HCH Photo | Anna Weaver)
“Our mission … was to find a convenient, accessible high school option that integrated the Catholic faith and also was affordable relative to some of the options out there,” said Dallas Carter, a St. Michael’s religion teacher and the new director of the school’s Catholic Virtual Program.
Under the leadership of Carter and Kainoa Fukumoto, St. Michael’s principal, the school is partnering with Catholic Virtual, a national, accredited, online-only college-prep program. Students will take both live and independent study classes through Catholic Virtual’s large school network and can receive virtual tutoring, all at intervals that work for Hawaii’s time zone.
St. Michael has set up a small classroom space on its parish and school campus where some of their current middle schoolers already come to take online Catholic Virtual elective classes. The room was furnished through monetary donations and extra supplies and will be ready to take new high schoolers in the fall.
Both Bishop Larry Silva and Llewellyn Young, the Hawaii Catholic School’s office’s associate superintendent, have come to see the school space and learn about the program, which now has the approval of the diocesan Board of Education.
“All we need to do is get the students,” Carter said.
The minimal enrollment required to start in fall 2020 is 10 students, and so far six students have given a verbal commitment to the endeavor. Three of those six are current Oahu students doing Catholic Virtual who have said they plan to register for St. Michael’s high school next year.
The hope is that enrollment would grow from the initial 10 students.
“Nothing sells a school like a functioning school,” Carter said. “This is the absolute hardest part.”
St. Michael high schoolers will be able to choose from three tiers of tuition options: full-time yearly tuition for students on campus three to five days a week is $11,950; part-time yearly tuition for one to two days a week on campus is $9,950; online-only off-campus students pay $6,950 a year. In comparison, the cheapest Hawaii Catholic high school base tuition at Damien costs $14,806 for the 2019-2020 school year.
“[Online learning] is a valuable tool for our kids, and it prepares them for what’s coming up,” Fukumoto said in terms of looking beyond school to how many jobs are being done remotely. “And at the same time, it teaches them to be independent learners.
“The good thing about it being here is that there’s still that social aspect to it. They’re still connected to a community … connected to the life of a school.”
St. Michael is actively looking to pair up with other Catholic high schools for sports and other extracurriculars it won’t be able to provide. Virtual students can also come to Mass and other school events on campus.
The existing school has science labs for classes that require use of one, and religion classes can be taught in person by Carter, who is certified as a Catholic Virtual network teacher. High schoolers also will be able to take classes tailored to their skill level and interest, including a wide range of languages and Advanced Placement courses.
Along with fulfilling a desire by Catholic families for a Catholic North Shore high school, Carter and Fukumoto think St. Michael’s online school will help fill a niche for other unique student circumstances.
They gave the examples of military families moving in the middle of the school year who could keep their high schoolers enrolled at St. Michael’s even while relocating. Students who have special medical needs or other circumstances that don’t allow them to attend school in person can use the school’s online-only option. Or homeschool families who want to send their kids to a physical space to take coursework can make use of the high school being attached to the larger St. Michael School campus.
The coronavirus has shown that schools are ready and able to adapt all levels of coursework to distance learning or online platforms, Fukumoto and Carter pointed out.
“I really believe that what we are looking at is the future of education down the road,” Carter said. “This is what schools are slowly going to look like 15 years from now, and we are just getting it started.”
For more information about St. Michael’s virtual high school go to stmichaelschoolhi.com/high-school.html.
