BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – After the deadline to register for Brevard Virtual School had already passed the school district announced it would reopen sign-ups at the direction of the superintendent.
Registration for Brevard Virtual School K-12 is now open until Aug. 6 at 11:59 p.m. To register a student and find out more visit https://www.brevardschools.org/BrevardVirtual.
The change comes as Brevard County hospitals are seeing a surge in unvaccinated coronavirus patients.
Health First, Brevard County’s largest hospital system, said it reached a record number of COVID-19 patients Monday at its four hospitals in Cocoa Beach, Viera, Palm Bay and Melbourne.
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In a statement, the district said it wanted to “ensure parents have an additional option for educating their children due to the recent developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in our community.”
District spokesperson Russ Bruhn reiterated the decision in an interview Wednesday.
“It was connected to parents reaching out to us and then also, as you look across the county, at the COVID numbers,” he said.
Bruhn said 400 students are registered for Brevard Virtual School right now and more than 1,000 were enrolled in virtual school last year.
The district said it expects another significant increase in enrollment by the end of Friday.
Brevard Virtual School is a virtual school with instruction by teachers in Brevard Public Schools and limited in-person requirements.
Should parents and students miss the extended deadline Brevard Virtual will continue to offer flex or part-time options for families, as well as home education.
Despite the trending COVID numbers, Bruhn said the district is still hoping to have as normal of a school year as possible.
“When looking at getting back closer to normal, that’s having parents come on campus as volunteers. We want that. That also includes extracurricular activities more normalized,” Bruhn said.