Virtual Learning Solutions Withdraws Charter for Online School

There won't be an online charter school in Plainfield anytime soon.

Virtual Learning Solutions, a nonprofit organization that had partnered with the for-profit K12 Inc.,  has halted its fight to open an online charter school known as the Illinois Virtual Charter School @ Fox River Valley. 

The charter school faced an uphill battle after all 18 affected school boards — including those in Plainfield School District 202 and nearby Valley View School District — voted against the proposal.

Read:  Plainfield School Board Nixes Online Charter School

District 202 board member Eric Gallt, whose term on the board has since expired, went so far as to call the proposed charter school "a money-laundering operation," while fellow board member Rod Westfall repeatedly called the proposal "pathetic."

Virtual Learning Solutions was in the process of appealing all 18 denials when Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation that put a stop to new virtual charter schools for one year in the State of Illinois.

The executive director of the Illinois State Charter School Commission, Jeanne Nowaczewsk, said in a release on June 11 that she recommends, “to adopt staff recommendation to deny the 18 appeals filed by Virtual Learning Solutions … regarding the establishment of the Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley.”