KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knox County Board of Education approved a contract with Florida Virtual School to buy educational software and services Wednesday night.
The contract comes at an estimated cost of $1 - 1.5 million for the 2020 fall semester. Officials said it should not cost more than $3 million for the 2020-2021 school year.
Officials said there were around 90 vacancies within the school district and without filling them, students may not be able to be placed in the virtual program. Around a third of Knox County's student body signed up to learn from home for the semester.
"I want to compliment the staff and the hard work they've done over a short period of time," Superintendent Bob Thomas said during the board meeting. "Preferably we want to use our own folks. With Florida Virtual, we'd be using a lot less by the time school starts."
Some Knox County teachers said that they would be willing to teach in-person and virtual classes simultaneously, officials said. They considered offering a stipend to teachers willing to teach both virtual and in-person classes.
Officials said they did not want to put additional demand on teachers by asking them to teach classes simultaneously, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teachers hired through the Florida Virtual School program will need to be certified through Tennessee, officials said.
The contract will help fill vacancies in the virtual learning program so that students will be able to participate in learning from home. Knox County Students are set to return to school on Aug. 24.