Bexley Connection
BCS Online School is a unique, independent K-12 school within the Bexley City School District. Students enrolled in BCSOS will not simultaneously be enrolled in a physical building or be assigned to a Bexley classroom teacher and will not be assigned to a class of Bexley students.
A Bexley faculty member will oversee operations and serve as a liaison between the district and families of enrolled students. This liaison will send monthly newsletters to families with important updates, and families will also continue to receive the weekly district email newsletter.
Content Provider
BCSOS will be operated in conjunction with the Jefferson County Educational Service Center in Steubenville, Ohio. Jefferson County ESC has been operating a Virtual Learning Academy since 2004, having worked with over 50,000 Ohio students across 173 districts along with students from across the United States. They have developed a curriculum based on Ohio learning standards and utilize licensed teachers. For more information about their work, visit their website.
Technology
Students enrolled in BCSOS will be provided a device under the district technology plan that includes the utilization of an iPad for students in grades K and 1 or a Chromebook for grades 2 through 12. District staff will assist families with internet access upon request. For tutorials on using the learning platform, please visit the JCESC page.
Staff
BCSOS students will be assigned to a licensed teacher through the Jefferson County ESC. The assigned teacher will not be a Bexley City Schools teacher. Teachers will grade work daily during the school week, will provide feedback on student work, answer questions, and monitor student progress. Teachers will take and report daily attendance and will be available for questions at designated check-in times.
Attendance
Ohio law requires students to be actively participating in school experiences, even in an online school situation. the assigned BCSOS teachers will be documenting attendance based on student progress through the online assignments. Students typically must complete one unit per course per week in order to stay on track and fulfill attendance requirements.
Assignments can be completed during the day or evening, weekdays, or weekends. Students may work ahead in one or more courses if they choose. If students are not on track when attendance is taken, they will be marked absent or present for each day based on the time spent and the number of assignments completed.
Grades and Report Cards
It is expected that all work completed in the online system is done by the student. While parents, guardians, or caregivers may provide support in navigating the lesson or clarifying an idea or concept, the student should be doing the activities and assignments with independence.
Most of the courses will automatically grade assignments and report those grades for immediate feedback within the system. Assigned BCSOS teachers will grade other assignments and provide feedback along the way. Parents and guardians can monitor student success with lessons in this platform. **Individual assignment grades will not be entered individually in Powerschool. They will only be visible in the online lesson platform.
At the end of each quarter, grades will be entered in Powerschool in order to generate a report card. Students will receive a Bexley report card in the same manner as all other Bexley students, however the BCSOS report card will include numerical/letter grades at all levels rather than the standards report cards used in the physical elementary and middle school sites.
Extracurricular Activities
BCSOS students may participate in extracurricular activities with another district school. Extracurricular activities include those activities offered after school or during lunch that are not connected to a class. Examples include middle and high school athletics and student government. Field trips, counselor lessons, and most instrumental and vocal music and art programs are tied to instructed curriculum and considered co-curricular; therefore, BCSOS students are not eligible to participate in those at another building Similarly, school-based events such as field day, 5th grade graduation, or school parties are specific to individual school buildings. Students enrolled in BCSOS would not be eligible to participate in those activities.