In the Press

Students at Auburn Middle School will soon have the opportunity to communicate with students from China, India or Alaska.

Starting Sept. 5, up to five middle school students will be taking online courses with students in other parts of the world. Auburn High School has had this program for five years.

Thanks to a partnership with the VHS Collaborative, also known as the Virtual High School, the middle school will have access to a variety of online courses.

Ann Coates has taught social studies at Hanover High School for 16 years. However, this year will be completely different for her because, in addition to her other classes, Coates is teaching in a virtual classroom.

“I love taking online courses,” she said. “Teaching offers me a different perspective.”

Coates has been taking online courses for years and still takes them to add something new to her teaching.

“I mostly take education courses,” she said. “I like to learn how to more integrate the web into the classroom.”

The VHS Collaborative, a nonprofit provider of online learning opportunities based in Maynard, has announced that Debbie Kenny of Lancaster has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of sales and marketing. Ms. Kenny joined VHS in February 2011 as the director of sales and marketing and will now take an expanded role in leading VHS's growth initiatives. She has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate training, e-learning and education industries.

When 11-year-old Stephanie Kuplast was in first grade, tests showed that she was at a sixth-grade reading level, according to her mother Kimberly. "She was the happiest kid in the world (until) she started school," said Kimberly, of Southampton, who said that a teacher told her Stephanie was so far ahead of the rest of the class that the school could not advance her any more. "They'd give you little paperback books (for homework) and say, Read the first page.' I would read the entire book," said Stephanie.