WESTOVER — Somerset County Public Schools for the 2021-22 school year offered a blended virtual program (BVP) for grades 9-12 which offered online instruction through Apex Learning, a national digital curriculum.

While less than a dozen students opted in, there is a new enrollment cycle that closes this Sunday, June 5. A family information session is being held online 6 p.m. Thursday, June 2 via Zoom with the registration link at www.easternshorevirtual.org.

BVP is not synchronous instruction, and applicants last year were vetted by SCPS to ensure they could benefit from learning in a virtual environment. Core, honors and AP classes are offered.

Governor Larry Hogan in a May 27 letter to General Assembly leaders noted that BVP had a 75% passage rate its first year statewide, with 77% of parents giving positive feedback and wanting their children to continue the program next year.

Nationally, Gov. Hogan wrote, 35 states allow enrollment into a virtual school, and the “Blueprint for Maryland’s Future encourages innovative programs such as this.”

BVP was grant funded with nine counties in the Eastern Shore of Maryland Education Consortium participating. In addition to the website there is a Facebook page at ESMEC Blended Virtual Program where updates are posted.