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Volusia Online Learning Community Brief

Monday, January 13, 2025

This is the time of year for resolutions and new beginnings. In that spirit, I hope you have taken some time to reflect on the past and look forward to this new year with optimism and anticipation. After all, as writer Hillary DePiano said, “We all get the exact same 365 days. The only difference is what we do with them.”

As we enter the second semester, I want to welcome our new enrollees to VOL! As many know, we held a mid-year enrollment period for this first time last semester. As a result, we have approximately 50 new VOL students, ranging from kindergarteners to seniors, starting this semester. We are very excited to expand the VOL Family, and I hope that we can quickly get our new students connected to the amazing community of students and parents here at VOL. Thank you for trusting VOL to be your child’s home for online learning!

In addition to welcoming those who are new to VOL, I want to continue to encourage parents to check the status of their child’s classes. Whether a student is taking classes using the FLVS platform or Edmentum, parents can monitor student progress 24/7 with a parent account. If you do not know how to set that up, please contact your child’s teacher and they will assist. I also want to ask parents to promote student attendance to live lessons this semester. Our experience shows that live lesson attendance is strongly correlated with overall success in a class, likely due to the connections students make during those sessions and the awareness of teacher expectations and pacing. Over the last three years, I have seen our teachers put together outstanding, engaging, and effective lessons designed to help students understand the concepts within a class, the rigor with which the student should apply that concept, and how a particular idea relates to other things the student is learning. We have a lot of incredibly smart students, no doubt, but even the smartest need guidance from their teachers. The live lesson provides that opportunity at a specified time each week. Please help our teachers and your student by emphasizing the importance of these sessions.  

On the topic of important items, we are currently in the second progress monitoring window for FAST testing. Please remember that participation in state testing is a requirement and expectation of all VOL students. If your child missed any of their testing sessions (all 3rd – 10th grade students have at least one assessment, and most likely two), please be on the lookout for communication from our testing coordinator, Dr. Markell, who will sharing information about FAST make-up sessions over the next couple of weeks. She has also included a wealth of information about testing in her section below, so please be sure to scroll down if you need more information.

That’s all I have for this issue. Please scroll down for important information and to learn more about the phenomenal students and teachers who make up the VOL Family!

Thank you for reading.

Dr. Serianni

January 15th – NHS/NJHS Meeting 

January 16th – 5th & 8th grade MOAS Field Trip

January 20th – Martin Luther King Day (No School) 

January 21st – Lego & Robotics Club

January 28th – STEAM event 

January 29th – SAC Meeting 

Remote Progress Monitoring Assessments (PM2): The second Progress Monitoring assessment window (PM2) starts this week. These are mandatory state assessments for students in grades K-10. 

PM2 Remote Test Dates:

• January 9: Reading - Grades 3-9
• January 14: Math - Grades 3-8, Reading - Grade 10
• January 15- 24: Grades K-2

Personalized testing emails will be sent by test administrators prior to the PM2 test dates in January with important student-specific information students will need for testing. 

Remote Testing Reminders: 

• For grades 3-10, the Florida secure browser must be downloaded to the students’ computer. If you have switched computers since PM1, please make sure the browser is downloaded on the computer you will use for PM2. For instructions on how to download the browser, click here
• To perform a quick check to make sure that the bandwidth and internet connection you are using will be able to support the test, please go to this link and do systems check well before testing: https://netdiag.cambiumtds.com/diagnostictool/Pages/?c=Cambium  
• Practice materials and further information can be found at https://flfast.org/families.html 
• Remote proctoring consent is required. Most parents and guardians have already provided this in the fall, but new VOL families must complete this online form for each student in grades 3-10 prior to testing: Remote Consent Form  
• Participation in state testing is a required condition of enrollment at VOL.  

Please reach out to Dr. Markell with any questions or concerns about state testing at bgmarkel@volusia.k12.fl.us or 386-734-7190 ext. 72701

Happy New Year! 

As we move into the new semester, we want to welcome back our current students and welcome our new virtual students. Transitioning from a traditional learning environment to virtual is a significant change. Please reach out to your teachers if you have any questions about your courses. It is important for our students to create a daily/weekly schedule and stick to it. This will help them to remain on pace and perform better in their online courses. Teachers will be assigning Quarter 3 report card grades based on student progress at the end of the school day on Thursday, March 13th. Report card grades will reflect actual student progress or lack thereof for each course listed on their schedule (this includes special area and elective courses).  

All Volusia County Schools will be closed to the public on Monday, January 20th in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday. Teachers will not be available for grading, DBAs, assessments, text messages, or emails until classes resume on Tuesday, January 21st.  

Last week, many of our students participated in FAST PM2 Reading Testing in grades 3-10. This week, our students will be participating in FAST PM2 Math Testing in grades 3-8 and our primary students in grades K-2 will be participating in FAST Testing. Our testing coordinator, Dr. Markell, will be reaching out to any students who are in need of a makeup session.

Did you know Volusia Online Learning students participate in district initiatives? This week Michelle Spencer, our fifth-grade teacher, and Brenda Mabry, our eighth-grade teacher, will take their students to the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach for a field trip sponsored by a generous grant from the Lohman family. Classes participate in a planetarium show, science stage show, and tour other museum exhibits. The field study is aligned with state standards, reinforcing important concepts that will be assessed later this year on Florida Statewide Assessments. 

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Senior Interest Survey - https://forms.office.com/r/uegvvAXrcz

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VOL Graduation Calendar: 

• VOL Senior Awards Ceremony – Tuesday, May 27th @ 7:00 PM

• VOL Graduation Rehearsal – Thursday, May 29th @ 12:30 PM

• VOL Graduation Ceremony – Friday, May 30th @12:30 PM

Mrs. Koteff has a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Math Education. She currently teachers Algebra 1, Probability and Statistics, and Math for Data and Financial Literacy. In her free time, Mrs. Koteff enjoys spending time at the gym, the beach and going to Disney World.

Inspirational quote: “Come on brain, think of things Come on brain, think of things Come on brain, be so smart” ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

For the month of January, we want to recognize three wonderful students at Volusia Online!

Elementary School:

Our Volusia Online Learning elementary Student of the Month is Isabella Cuencas. Isabella was nominated by Ms. Spencer. She is in the 5th grade. For her nomination, Ms. Spencer wrote, “Isabella is such a conscientious student and attends all live Zoom classes that are offered; participating and volunteering. When we meet for a Discussion-Based Assessment, she has the most organized and thorough notes! She even has more information to extend her knowledge of the concept being discussed. It is apparent that she is dedicated to becoming the best student she can be.”  

What a great nomination! Congratulations, Isabella!

Middle School:

Our middle school Student of the Month is Liam Hernandez, who was nominated by Ms. Girard. He is a 7th grader in her science class. For the nomination, she wrote, “Liam has become an online science superstar this year! He is a natural scientist, having an inquisitive mind that seeks out knowledge beyond what is presented in our lessons and in the course. He often shares what he has discovered on his own with the rest of the class during our live lessons. He has always been an active participant in our live lessons—both last year in 6th grade and now this year in 7th. However, this year Liam has shown significant growth in academic discipline, as he has been able to keep himself up to or ahead of pace in his science course! It has been a pleasure having him as a student and witnessing him taking on new responsibilities as he matures.”  

Congratulations to Liam for this wonderful nomination!

High School: 

Our high school Student of the Month is Micah Davis. Micah was nominated by his teacher, Ms. Shawna Moore. He is in the 10th grade in Ms. Moore’s history class. For his nomination, Ms. Moore wrote, “Micah is nominated for being a very hard worker. He is very conscientious about his schoolwork. He attends and participates in the weekly live lessons, and always actively contributes to the discussions. He is always very polite and respectful of his classmates and his teacher.”  

Congratulations to Micah!