Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Struyk-Bonn.
Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
This is my 27th year of teaching. I spent about 10 years in traditional brick and mortar schools, teaching everything from Spanish 1 to US History to Senior English to Link Crew. Being around kids energized me. They could make me laugh so hard, I’d cry, and they demonstrated so much potential and talent, I could see futures open up for them. I also found the job exhausting, and when I had kids of my own, I found that I didn’t have enough energy for my own family because the intensity of day to day in-person teaching is so draining.
In 2009, I had the opportunity to apply for the English teaching position at The Metro East Web Academy, then the Gresham Barlow Web Academy. My kids were very little at the time, and this job looked like it offered some flexibility in schedule while still allowing me to do what I loved – teach. I ended up getting the job and it was exactly what I needed at the time. I taught English for grades 6-12 and worked with seven other staff members as the founding members of this online charter school. It was the most exciting work I had ever done. Being part of the growth and development of a brand new school was thrilling and as we fumbled our way through different practices, we came to learn what worked and what did not work.
We also found ourselves with a unique student population. They were the opposite of the bell curve. Instead of having most students in the middle of that bell curve, we had more students at either end: either very successful, or really struggling. We had to find different methods that would work well for these students and this meant a lot of outreach, a lot of communication with families, and frankly, some trial and error.
But through the years since then, we have grown an amazing program. We have families tell us all the time that if it weren’t for us, their student would not have found success in school. We have students flourish at our school who would have struggled in a traditional setting and I am so proud of the work we’ve done and the students we’ve supported.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not always been smooth.
Our school was started through a grant that the Gresham Barlow School District (GBSD) applied for that allowed them to start an online charter school. GBSD had discovered that there were about 500 students in the district who were not attending school at all and the idea was that the new online charter school, could help re-engage these students.
When our school started, and all the way through to today, our student population still primarily represents students who have struggled in the brick and mortar environment and are behind. Even though the purpose of our school was to re-engage the unengaged, we have had leadership within the district criticize our accountability measures such as graduation rates. When leadership in the district is new and doesn’t know the historical narrative behind the school, we can find ourselves under scrutiny. We understand this, but it is not always easy.
Another bump in the road is funding. We do not receive the same per pupil funding as our brick and mortar peers and this can mean less pay for staff or fewer resources for students. We continue to battle funding to this day, and even though our high needs students require additional support for engagement, counseling, and outreach, we often find ourselves short on funds to meet these needs because of the lower funding model for online charter schools. We are also often written out of grants, such as the Student Investment Account (SIA) grant that is about providing Social Emotional Learning support for students. This grant would be a huge benefit for our students and they are exactly the population that should be receiving it, but we do not receive this funding source.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Metro East Web Academy?
What I am most proud of with The Metro East Web Academy is our goal to provide students with a personalized learning plan. When students come to us, they are often struggling in the brick and mortar setting. These struggles might be social emotional, academic, or logistical and our goal is to support them where they are most in need. We have a low student to counselor ratio for this purpose, we have a social worker on staff, we have an entire team made up of staff members whose focus is to engage students, and we have a front desk staff who is welcoming and kind with all students. I am so proud of all the ways we work to support kids and come up with unique approaches to promote education and interest in school. Our mission is to “Break through barriers in education” and that is what we strive to do through our School Improvement Plan and our day to day interactions with students and families.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
What we have found is that gathering with like-minded schools and similar educational delivery systems is an amazing support. The Oregon Digital Leaders Collaboration (ODLC) is a network of leaders from online schools who collaborate and meet regularly to discuss policies and practices in online education. We have been meeting together for a number of years and have even done job-a-likes, where we get staff members in similar positions at our various institutions together and discuss some of the issues they may be encountering. This has made for a united online system that strives to do what’s best for kids in online education. We have found that this collaborative is willing to share best practices and experiences, which only helps elevate the experiences our students have.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mewebacademy.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mewebacademy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metroeastwebacademy/
- Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/mewebacademy/
