BAY MINETTE — School superintendent Alan Lee would like to see Baldwin County host the state’s first virtual school.

Students would “attend” classes and take tests in a variety of courses, just like other high school students. They would just do it online instead of a traditional classroom.

 “We plan to open enrollment to students who currently attend one of our brick and mortar high schools but who might be better served in a more flexible, personalized learning environment,” Lee said in presenting the idea to the school board Thursday night.

The idea came from a visit to the veterinarian when Lee saw a girl who used to attend Fairhope High School. She left FHS and enrolled in a virtual high school in Florida, which enabled her to finish high school and gain experience working with animals. She plans to go to veterinary school.

Currently, 31 states and Washington D.C. have full-time on-line schools with more than 250,000 students enrolled. The Baldwin County Digital Renaissance High School would be the first virtual high school in Alabama.

The school would work in partnership with the Troy University ACCESS Support Center to provide instruction. It would only be open to Baldwin County students in grades 9-11 at first. They would have to have at least a 2.0 overall grade point average and no more than five unexcused absences in the previous school year. The students would be issued a district-owned MacBook Air computer and be required to have consistent, daily access to the internet (at least 1.5 Mbs). The students would be required to “attend” classes each day. Their attendance will be monitored as they log in to the classes.

Students will be expected to keep up with traditional students during the course of the school year. At the same time, virtual students would be permitted to work ahead and finish courses early. They could then enroll in additional classes needed for graduation.

The students would be required to come to a traditional school building for state testing events as well as some aspects of the L.I.F.E. Physical Education course, which is required to earn a diploma. The virtual students would not be able to participate in sports or any other school-sponsored extra curricular activities.

“For the first year, we would stick to just Baldwin County students,” said Lee. “But we could potentially enroll students from across the state.

“The state (department of education) is interested in this. I think they will approve this soon and I can bring it back to you next month.”

School officials said there are around 200 homeschool students in the county. The virtual school would be marketed to them as a way to participate in an accredited public school, with the flexibility of remaining at home.