Chelsea’s Virtual Learning Academy provides an educational opportunity for some of the city’s most vulnerable public school students.
At last week’s school committee meeting, Chelsea VLA principal Meg Maccini and several of the virtual school’s students highlighted some of their successes over the past three years.
“We are Chelsea Public Schools newest public school, and we were created in 2021 as a single district virtual school,” said Maccini. “After the pandemic, (Superintendent of Schools Dr. Almi Abeyta) felt that the district needed another alternative to serve students who might need to come to the school for medical, for personal, for other social emotional reasons.”
The school currently has an enrollment of 76 students, with 19 of those in middle school grades and the rest in high school. There are 50 female students and 26 male students, Maccini said.
“We are part of the superintendent’s plan to provide educational options for students,” said Maccini. “The superintendent charged all schools with knowing students by their name, strength, and story. Central to what we do at the school is building positive and appropriate relationships as a foundation for our success with students at the school.”
The principal said the school serves students who among other things prefer virtual learning, want a small school setting, have social anxiety or have been bullied, have unstable housing, are pregnant or parenting, or who are struggling with mental health issues.
“Every student at our school has a different story,” Maccini said.
Since opening in 2021, the school has enrolled approximately 225 students, many of whom represent the district’s most vulnerable students and families.
“While these students are at every single school, they are overrepresented at our school,” said Maccini. “We graduate students who might not otherwise graduate.”
In 2022 and 2023, the school graduated a combined total of 27 seniors. This year, Maccini said there are 18 seniors at the VLA.
In addition to the virtual classes, Maccini said the school has partnerships with a number of local organizations, such as La Colaborativa, Junior Achievement, Bunker Hill Community College, the One Love Foundation, Bottom Line, and MassHire. Many of these partnerships help students with college and career readiness and assist graduates of the school, as well.
“One of the charges of the superintendent is to graduate students who are college and career ready, so we have tried to build partnerships that have our students college and career ready,” said Macini.
Of the 10 seniors who have applied to college this year, nine have already been accepted to at least one college of their choice, and a number of those students have been accepted into multiple colleges.
The school also focuses on building meaningful staff and student relationships, and while classes are virtual, the school has held a number of in-person gatherings over the years.
“We also serve as a local model, and three Massachusetts communities have reached out to CVLA in the past two months to learn about our model and operations and success,” said Maccini.
Several of the students who addressed the school committee spoke about the welcoming and comfortable atmosphere they have experienced at the academy, with teachers who seem to care about both their educational and mental wellbeing.
“I am really proud of the work that they are doing,” said Abeyta. “Ms. Maccini, she was charged with basically starting this school from the concept.”
Abeyta said Maccini was able to take that concept and vision and make it a reality.
“So now in the district, we have the Chelsea Opportunity Academy, Chelsea High School, and now we have the Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy,” said Abeyta. “For a small district of 11 schools, we are trying to meet our students and our families where they are.”