Our children have always learned at home, which worked well with the unique lifestyle of a military family. We moved to Maine in 2013 after retiring from the Air Force. In 2014, it was the Maine Connection Academy’s (MCA) first year, and we were able to get our daughter enrolled with them.

MCA is an online public school and originally began with grades 9-12 and with an enrollment cap of 297 students. We were fortunate enough to have our children continue school at home while having access to a great curriculum, certified teachers and the flexibility of working the school schedule to our own schedule.

A year later MCA expanded to include seventh and eighth grades as well, and the cap on students enrolled was 396 students. Our youngest son, enrolled in seventh grade, was struggling with reading. The teachers were able to work with him online, so that by the end of seventh grade he had jumped four reading levels to be at a ninth-grade level.

Our daughter graduated from MCA last year. While in her senior year of high school, she was able to do live-in care for an older friend who had fallen from her roof. Our daughter was able to continue her schooling, participate in National Honor Society, and do the daily care and doctor visits with our friend for three months. This was only possible because of the online schooling.

MCA has had an enrollment cap of 429 students for the last couple years with a waiting list every year. It is my hope that online schools here in Maine will not have their hands tied by legislation that would cap their growth both in student enrollment numbers and grade levels taught.

 

Amy Jajliardo

Mount Vernon