The district announced in February that it will offer a virtual and hybrid school program for the 2026-2027 school year. Enrollment for the fall semester is open until 5 p.m. on April 3.
“The virtual program is called SOAR: Student Option for Academic Readiness,” Assistant Superintendent Dawn Jordan said. “It’s open to students who are in ninth through 12th grade that live in the Argyle ISD zone, so it’s not an open enrollment program.”
Virtual classes will be offered through Edgenuity, a self-paced module program.
“We started using it last year during the summer for credit recovery, so one of the reasons we’re choosing it [this year] is that it worked well,” Jordan said. “We didn’t have any issues or complaints from staff or students.”
Hybrid students take classes before or after their in-person classes. AP, dual credit and honors classes will not be offered virtually.
“We believe the in-person class can ensure the intended rigor of these higher-level courses,” Jordan said.
Students will be able to contact a district Student Success Coach and an Edgenuity teacher through on-demand tutoring.
“Students can use the chat feature to contact a content specialist and a whiteboard will pop up,” Jordan said. “All chat conversations are recorded and the student cannot speak to the Edgenuity teacher. They can only type in the chat.”
Hybrid students can participate in extracurricular activities as long as they are on campus for that class period.
“You just have to have that work with your schedule,” Jordan said. “You have to come to school for those things and meet all the requirements for those programs.”
Parents will receive daily emails from Edgenuity showing their student’s progress.
“It is really hard to keep yourself accountable and make sure that you are doing your work,” junior and previous virtual student Addison “Kat” Harvey said. “It’s really bad for people who have procrastination issues, because then you just don’t hold yourself accountable.”
Virtual students will be required to go on campus for semester exams, MAP tests and STAAR tests.
“Virtual learning is not right for all students,” Jordan said. “Because students are required to take their semester exams, which count as 20% of the final grade, in person, it is critical that they complete assignments at home with academic integrity.”
Principal Shannon Knowles hopes that virtual students will still have extracurriculars outside of school.
“I don’t want people to be isolated,” Knowles said. “That’s my biggest fear, but that’s a choice parents and that student get to make and we’ll always take them back.”
To sign up for virtual or hybrid classes, parents must fill out a Google interest form on the district website. After the interest form is sent, a second form will be sent out for course selection.
“I’m really excited about being able to give families options,” Jordan said. “I’m just very happy that we have an option for families that maybe traditional school didn’t work for.”
