On Board Online • April 7, 2025
By Sara Foss
Special Correspondent
Chris Saggese teaches social studies in the Milford Central School District, but his reach goes well beyond his Otsego County classroom.
Saggese is a distance learning teacher. His courses are taught in a room full of Milford students and also shared online, using state-of-the-art equipment, with students throughout the state. This year, he is teaching college-level American politics, economics and personal finance to 60 high schoolers from other districts.
Is this the future of public education? In an era when school districts find it difficult or impossible to fill certain positions with certified teachers and the State Education Department has launched a regionalization initiative to ensure that students in different districts have roughly similar academic opportunities, distance learning (DL) could become more commonplace.
DL can help districts fill curriculum gaps, enabling students to take classes that wouldn't otherwise be available to them. It can give more advanced students access to more rigorous courses and the opportunity to earn college credit - all at a low cost compared to hiring a full- or part-time teacher.
Saggese's classes are live, and he interacts with his students in other school districts just as he would with in-person students. The challenge is "keeping off-site students engaged and listening," he said. To that end, he asks lots of questions and has them play online games.
Milford, a small rural district with 340 students in pre-K through 12th grade, began offering DL about 20 years ago. In that time, "it has grown exponentially," said Superintendent Kristen Shearer.
Last year, the State Education Department launched a regionalization initiative inviting school districts throughout the state to work with their BOCES district superintendents to identify solutions to academic and operational challenges. The goal is to ensure all students have access to high-quality educational experiences.
Shearer sees DL as one way to economically achieve that goal.
"If a school lacks a certified teacher in an area, the fastest way to get students in front of a certified teacher is distance learning," she said. "If I've got a low-enrollment class, I would invite neighboring schools to jump on and be a part of that."
In addition to sharing courses with other districts, Milford uses DL to bring online courses from other schools to its students. The district assesses what interests rising eighth graders, then plans accordingly. "If they're an accelerated ninth-grade student, we know we're going to have to supplement in 12th grade," Shearer said.
Aidan McWaters, a Milford senior, took a DL psychology course through a local community college. "I don't think the fact that it was a distance learning class had any bearing on my enjoyment or aptitude for the subject," McWaters, 18, said. "It was really enriching."
Distance learning has existed in New York for more than 25 years. Participation has steadily increased as technology has evolved and options have expanded. Educators interviewed for this article expect that growth to continue, especially in rural districts that typically have fewer staff and more limited course catalogs.
Thirty-three of the state's 37 BOCES are part of the New York State Distance Learning Consortium, which helps facilitate distance learning through the sharing of expertise, best practices and other resources. The consortium also represents the state's 12 Regional Information Centers, which provide technical support to school districts in computing, purchasing, cybersecurity and professional development.
Distance learning programs vary from BOCES to BOCES, according to Melissa Daniels, co-director of the New York State Distance Learning Consortium. Some might specialize in a particular area, such as live classes that are available to other schools, while others do "a little bit of everything," said Daniels, who is also director of virtual learning and innovation for CiTi BOCES in Oswego County.
Some BOCES offer what's known as asynchronous learning, where students can access digital course materials and learn at their own pace. Those courses aren't live. Last year, the state Board of Regents approved a new rule requiring that all virtual instruction, including asynchronous courses, give students regular and substantive contact with certified teachers.
Distance learning can also be used for credit recovery, helping students who otherwise might not pass a class or advance with their classmates to the next grade. DL can also be used in class-to-class collaborations in which students in different districts use videoconferencing to meet and work on joint projects and/or take virtual field trips. Students who are medically fragile or have other health issues might opt for distance learning.
Districts can also partner with local colleges to make college-level courses available to students. The Distance Learning Consortium has a database that lists available courses and where they are taught.
Distance learning often involves collaboration and problem-solving on a regional or statewide basis, Daniels said. ' and then we can see what the options are."
For instance, Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES launched a virtual tutoring program in 2024 with 30 tutors, all New York State-certified teachers. The program has been popular among participating school districts, particularly in helping suspended students keep up in classes.
"Districts were finding it hard to entice teachers to go to students' homes," said Tami Fancher, distance learning coordinator for ONC BOCES. She said DL tutors approach their work with students as "a clean slate."
For schools that offer DL courses, there is a financial benefit. Those classes become shared services, and other school systems pay fees that help offset the district's costs in employing the teacher.
Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic is viewed as a setback, not a boon, for distance learning. Daniels explained that the school shutdown required an abrupt shift to remote instruction, and teachers with little or no training in distance learning were forced to do it for long periods. Everyone got tired of looking at screens.
A couple of years later, interest in DL is starting to pick up, she said.
One early adopter, Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES, has demonstrated phenomenal growth. In 2003-04, it became the first BOCES in New York to launch a distance learning program. During that first year, there were 43 enrollments; today, there are 1,700 through AccelerateU, operated by EduTech, which serves both Wayne Finger-Lakes BOCES and Genessee Valley BOCES.
AccelerateU offers over 300 online, asynchronous courses. Approximately 10% of AccelerateU's students use DL courses for credit recovery, and courses can be tailored to meet their needs, according to Mike Morone, administrator of online instruction for AccelerateU. For example, staff can develop a course of study that doesn't repeat material the student has mastered.
AccelerateU operates year-round. It has 32 teachers and pulls content from nine vendors.
One DL superuser is Charles Sawyer, a senior in the Romulus School District who participates in the sport of ski mountaineering. The competitions involve climbing and descending snowy slopes of mountains at least three times either as an individual, a team or a relay.
Sawyer attended high school in person for his freshman and sophomore years, but he took all of his courses online during his junior and senior years to accommodate his travel schedule for training and competitions. When On Board spoke with him in March, he was in Montana. He reported that he had already finished all his coursework required for graduation.
"Distance learning gave me time and the flexibility to travel," the 17-year-old said. Sawyer praised his DL teachers. "They took the time to get to know me as a person," he said. "The lessons were well-designed." The downside: "You're not getting the traditional social aspects of learning."
"It's a great program," Sawyer said. "A lot of kids could use it. I'd love to see it grow."
Charles Sawyer's father, Mark Sawyer, said his son was accepted to all of the colleges he applied to "partly due to the efforts he made to advance his education in the way he has. ”Next year, Charles will attend Carroll College in Helena, Mont., for nursing and pre-med. The choice will allow him to be in a place where he can continue with his mountaineering.
"We are certainly very happy with how this program has worked for him and all the friendships he has made during his travels while maintaining his traditional high school friendships," Mark Sawyer said.