Guest Commentary: Oklahoman Editorial Says 'Flap Over Online School Stokes Long-Simmering Feud'

"Twentieth-century school policies met 21st-century technology. The result wasn't pretty."
That's the opening of the Oklahoman editorial on the recent controversy over the launch of Oklahoma's first virtual school charter.
The school, Epic One, has been plagued with a series of problems that delayed its opening by more than a year.
Now, while it is enrolling students from throughout the state and getting ready to open this fall, another problem cropped up.
"Dozens of parents had their children's school plans disrupted and were left scrambling to make alternate plans. Oklahoma City schools Superintendent Karl Springer complained about a virtual charter school possibly trying to “franchise” all over the state in violation of its contract. The charter school in question — Epic One on One Charter School — maintains its on-site plans weren't actually schools. And state education officials were left to referee two issues pertaining to charter school law and school transfer policy, apparently to the full satisfaction of no one," according to the editorial.
"Sooner rather than later, either the state Education Department or lawmakers need to revisit the transfer and charter school laws with an eye toward online schooling trends," the editorial added.
Click here to read the complete editorial and read more about "the uneasy relationship" between Oklahoma's charter and traditional schools.