Student Participation/Attendance
 

Students enrolled in the eSACS Virtual School are expected to spend approximately 25-30 hours per week completing their course modules. While study time is flexible, students MUST demonstrate consistent progress toward completion of the coursework. Parents can monitor the current status of their student's pacing by clicking on the GRADES link, located on the Canvas menu bar within each course.

Students and parents will receive an email communication if the student did not complete and submit all of their assigned work during the previous week.

Students who do not complete all missing work prior to the designated late-work due date on the following Friday will have not met progress expectations for two consecutive weeks and therefore will be considered truant. A Virtual Academy truancy email will be sent advising the parents that they have 3 days to make contact with the counselor to receive a plan for getting the student back in compliance with the course pacing. Failure to contact the staff will result in immediate truancy filing with the local authorities.

Students who have been placed on a return to compliance schedule, but fail to meet the expectations set forth in that plan, or have a second instance later in the same semester of not fully completing their modules during two consecutive weeks, could be withdrawn from the program and transferred back to their originating school at the beginning of the next grading period.

Student Late Work

eSACS Virtual School courses are designed with instructional modules that are released each Monday. These modules will include graded assignments and/or assessments. All work assigned on Monday is due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday of that same week.

Some modules may contain multiple assignments with individual due dates throughout the week. Some of these mid-week assignments may be graded, while others may be offered to help you to prepare for the graded assignment, project, quiz, or test that will be given at the conclusion of the module. Take full advantage of these experiences, so that you are well-prepared and confident prior to completing the graded tasks in the module.

It is your responsibility to meet all deadlines, and each Weekly Module must be fully completed by 11:59 p.m. on Friday of the week the module was posted.

Late work will be accepted up to one week after the Friday deadline, but students will receive a 25% deduction for any work turned in after 11:59 p.m. of the week the module was posted.

Students who submit work 11 or more days after the module was published will receive zeros on all graded work, including but not limited to assignments, quizzes, discussion board entries and/or assessments.

It is important to note that because this is a sequential module course, you will not be able to access any module until you have moved through the previous modules. Each module includes important course content and skills that students must acquire before moving on to the next module. Therefore, failure to submit work by the posted deadlines will not result in a student being able to bypass those assignments and assessments. That work will need to be completed in order to move on to the work that can still be submitted for credit. 

As you can see, it is imperative that you log into Canvas each Monday and begin working on the modules for each of your courses. Although eSACS Virtual School is designed to allow you to work at your own pace, you must set a daily routine that will help you to complete all of your assignments by the Friday deadline, in order to earn points and receive credit.

What to Do When You Have Questions

Students should contact the classroom instructor or teaching assistant whenever they have questions. Students can send questions using the Canvas Conversation System OR by email.  All emails and Canvas messages will be answered within 24 hours Monday through Friday.  

eSACS Virtual School teachers are also available once a week via Zoom. Teachers have placed a page titled RESOURCE ROOM at the start of each module. This page contains the days and times when the teacher is available to speak directly with the student. A Zoom link is provided for easy student access to these virtual office hours. Students are strongly encouraged to utilize this opportunity to work directly with the teacher any time that they need assistance or if they wish to dive further into a topic they are learning about. Once you click on the link, you will enter a virtual waiting room. Teachers admit students one at a time for individual consultations, so please stay logged in and be ready to ask your questions as soon as your teacher becomes available.

Open Forums

Each course module will have a page posted at the beginning of the week with a link to a GoogleDoc called Open Forum. Students can use this document to talk about the class and help each other with any questions that might come up while working on the module. The course instructor or teaching assistant will monitor the forum, but it really is a place for you and the other students in this course to have academic conversations, pose and answer questions, and provide support to each other. If the class discovers that many students are needing help with something, one of you can send an email asking the instructor to log in to the forum to give the group some guidance.

Discussion Boards

Students are required to participate in ALL online discussions assigned to them by their Virtual Academy instructors. Discussion Boards are created so that students and teachers can have meaningful and timely conversations about the material being studied. The value of these digital discussions to the student who is taking an online course cannot be overstated. These opportunities to process the material by interacting with fellow classmates, and to form a collaborative community that is focused on achieving the goals of the course, are both significant reasons students should make it a priority to fully take part in these conversations. Research shows that students learning is enhanced through online discussions and chats, which is why they are included in online learning platforms at every grade level. 

When responding to the assigned prompts, always go beyond simply answering the question. Your goal should be to stimulate further thought and discussion. When replying to the posts made by your classmates, make an honest effort to engage with them in a conversational manner, advancing the discussion in thoughtful and unpredictable ways. There are many examples throughout history where written correspondences between great minds led to the development of important philosophies and life-changing discoveries. Strive to be a valuable participant when invited to join in a Discussion Board conversation, advancing knowledge and understanding as a member of the Virtual Academy community.

Academic Honesty

Upon enrolling in eSACS Virtual School, students have implicitly asked the district to provide them with the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the content and skills targeted for learning in the course and to develop each proficiency set forth in our Portrait of a Graduate. Every element within the modules, including but not limited to lectures, reading, writing, discussions, practice work, assignments, and assessments have been selected to support student learning. Cheating is defined as any act of intentional academic dishonesty, through which a student attempts to gain an unfair advantage through dishonest means.

Cheating shall include plagiarism, forgery, unauthorized copying or sharing of information, and all other forms of academic dishonesty.  It is against the Southwest Allen County Schools Online Academy policy to participate in or knowingly have access to testing materials in the form of answer keys, completed tests or assignments curated from previous students, or other forms of completed coursework. 

Students who cheat are forfeiting the opportunity to acquire knowledge. Southwest Allen County Schools takes academic honesty very seriously, and will uphold the integrity of the online educational experience by applying serious consequences to those who violate this policy.

Violations Include:

1.  Cheating on Exams - It is cheating to work with another student or any other person while completing an individual assessment. It is cheating to copy answers made by other students. It is cheating to utilize resources during an assessment, such as using books, a computer, a phone, or other programmable devices, such as calculators, to retrieve information. For take home exams, assignments that involve collaboration, or group projects, the instructor will provide clear rules and students must follow those exactly. If a student has any questions about the meaning or intent of those instructions, they must contact the instructor prior to completing the assessment. In ALL cases, the answers submitted by the student MUST represent his or her own knowledge and skills.

2.  Multiple Submissions - Students may not submit the same paper, or substantially the same paper, in more than one course. Students should never attempt to avoid an opportunity to learn and improve their research and writing skills by using a product created in a previous class. Educational tools designed to identify plagiarism will also notify teachers if a student is reusing his or her own work.

3.  Plagiarism - Plagiarism entails taking the written composition of another person, or parts of passages of another person’s writings, or the ideas or language embodied in another person’s writings, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind. Plagiarism shall include not only cases where students exactly duplicate the literary work of another person, but also all cases where unfair use of such a work is made by lifting out a portion or portions of work completed by others. The act of plagiarism can include taking the work of other artists, musicians, architects, designers, draftsmen, culinary artists, computer programmers or other creators and presenting their work as an original idea or product without giving them credit. The creation of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by U.S. copyright laws.  It is against eSACS policy to participate in or knowingly have access to  testing materials in the form of answer keys, completed tests or assignments curated from previous students, or other forms of completed coursework. 

 
All of the following are considered plagiarism:

-turning in someone else's work as your own
-copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
-failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
-giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
-changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
-copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

Students who violate the eSACS Honor Code will receive a zero on the work submitted.

Students enrolled in eSACS Virtual School who violate the Honor Code a second time in that same course or in any of their current or future online courses, will face further consequences, up to and including failing the course and not being permitted to enroll in future eSACS online courses.

Students enrolled in high school courses in the eSACS Virtual School will be required to take midterms and/or final exams in most classes.

Students in all Indiana public high schools must complete any state-mandated testing that is required to earn a high school diploma. Currently, none of these exams can be taken virtually at home.  ILEARN Biology end of course assessment, and SAT graduation exams must be taken in person at Homestead High School. Students and parents will be notified about these requirements and dates to appear as they become applicable.

Students in Indiana public middle schools must also complete ILEARN state-mandated testing. Currently, none of these exams can be taken virtually at home. Students must take these exams at Homestead High School. Students and parents will be notified about these requirements and dates to appear as they become available.

Even though you will not be attending school in-person, those who would qualify for free and reduced lunches should complete the Free and Reduced Lunch Form using the link provided below.

This form must be on file in order for your student to qualify for fee assistance, EBT cards, etc.

Please Click Here to Complete the Free and Reduced Lunch Form