This photo provided by Charles Timtim shows his daughter doing schoolwork from home in Waipahu, Hawaii, on Sep 22, 2020. HONOLULU, Hawaii: Zan Timtim doesn't think it's safe for her eighth-grade daughter to return to school in person during the coronavirus pandemic but also doesn't want her exposed to a remote learning program that misspelled and mispronounced the name of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch to rule the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Some schools have turned to programs like Acellus to supplement online classes by teachers, while others use it for students who choose to learn from home as campuses reopen.And because of the scramble to keep classes running during a health crisis, vetting the curriculum may not have been as thorough as it should have been, experts say.
This photo provided by Adrienne Robillard shows her daughter doing school work at a computer at home in Kailua, Hawaii, on Sep 18, 2020. He says he started a company focused on hydrogen energy technology and that he later earned a “doctor of research and innovation” degree at the International Academy of Science, the nonprofit that develops Acellus courses.
“We were in some serious situations with the pandemic, and we had to figure something out,” Hawaii school board member Kili Namauʻu said at a recent meeting. “And I think schools made some pretty quick decisions. Maybe they weren’t the most accurate decisions.” Then most of Hawaii's public schools, which began virtually on Aug. 17, extended remote learning until mid-October.
In a recent memo, the California Department of Education said it “has learned through examples shared that Acellus lessons may contain highly inappropriate content and may not meet state legal requirements surrounding instructional materials".