ORLANDO, Fla. — Because many school systems are not offering the option to attend classes remotely, like Orange County's LaunchEd, in the fall, Florida Virtual School is increasingly becoming an option for families.

Tanya Rezak says her family has taken numerous steps throughout the pandemic to stay safe. Her daughter —  who she did not want to be named for this story — attended class online all of last school year.

“It was successful. We were able to keep our household COVID-free up through our vaccinations,” Rezak said.

Her daughter also got the COVID-19 vaccine. But after a recent beach trip with a couple of unvaccinated friends, she says her 16-year-old contracted the delta variant.

“It took one encounter with one friend, in a year and a half, for my daughter to get COVID,” Rezak said.

Despite the diagnosis, Rezak says if her daughter is cleared to attend school, she will be there in-person. 

“We decided to take a gamble,” Rezak said. “And at this point, I’m glad my child has built-up antibodies now to delta, because with the vaccine and now delta antibodies, there’s a chance she’ll be able to continue a year of school.”

But parents do have another option: Florida Virtual School.

FLVS has offered online learning for more than 20 years. And its administrators say they have received more applications for enrollment than in years before the pandemic.

It differs from last year's online learning option in that students are not attending their assigned district school remotely, watching their teacher and their lessons as though they were in a live class; FLVS courses are mostly self-paced.

Although Rezak believes her daughter will be safe, she thinks in-classroom instruction will face many disruptions.

“I anticipate there will have to be a lot of decisions made when whole classes come down with COVID and have to be quarantined,” she said. “It’s not even an if, but a when.”

So thinks Florida Virtual School is a good option for parents.

“If you’re thinking about children who maybe are immunocompromised and are unable to get a vaccination, I think keeping a child at home is maybe the only solution that you can have,” Rezak said.

After more than a year of playing it safe, Rezak says her family’s patience is wearing thin.

“To think after a year and a half we haven’t learned a thing seems incredibly frustrating to me,” she said.

While the deadline for applying for full-time enrollment for Florida Virtual School for high school has passed, it was extended for full-time schooling for grades K-8 through Aug. 13. 

Families that would like to incorporate one or more online courses as part of their education plan for the upcoming school year can enroll in FLVS Flex year-round and start at any time.