3 schools named ACCESS sites

By Staff
Melissa Cason, Franklin County Times
Gov. Bob Riley announced yesterday that 100 more Alabama high schools will be sites for the Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, &Students Statewide program (ACCESS), and Franklin County's students will be among those to reap the rewards of the program.
Russellville High School, Belgreen High School and Vina High School were each designated sites for the ACCESS program, which allows students to broaden their education by taking classes via television conference or Internet that are not provided by the school itself.
"We felt like we are at the time now to take advantage of it," Russellville Superintendent Dr. Wayne Ray said.
Ray added that students would have the opportunity to take a course not offered by our school such as calculus or French.
Anne Graham with the Alabama Department of Education said that the program began in 2004 with only 24 pilot sites in the state, and there were only 26 sites in 2006. This is the first time the program has been offered by 100 schools.
"They're hoping to get it [the program] in every high school in the next few years. " Graham said. "The plan is to keep expanding until it's available to every high school."
According to the ACCESS website, the program is an education initiative of the Alabama Department of Education. It provides opportunities and options for Alabama public high schools to offer Advanced Placement, elective and other course otherwise not available to the students.