Our conversation with a district cyber administrator

Sharon Sedlar | April 17, 2025

Last weekend, we hosted “Education Unlocked” in Broadheadsville, PA – a parent information event for area schools, community resources, and family support. The event was put together by Regional Parent Volunteers and PaFEC team members – some traveling over an hour and a half! It was a wonderful three hours with cupcakes, coloring pages, and conversation. Parents attending were from a variety of options – district, charter, cyber, home education, and private.

At the invitation of one of our team members who absolutely loves her district schools, Pleasant Valley School District’s Cyber program administrator, Principal Jason Van Voorhis and counselor Ariana Leibenguth were in attendance. I was really excited that they came!

I introduced myself, and in case there was any potential awkwardness about a district school coming to an “education choice” event, I pointed out our brand-new logo and the fact that district was clearly included in those choices. Mr. Van Voorhis said that he noticed that and thanked us for it, citing the need for more student-centered conversations.

Pleasant Valley’s cyber program is doing many things right – a specially assigned counselor and special education teacher (who supply one-on-one services), a fundamental understanding that cyber students are some of the most challenged and at-risk students in our education system and require extra supports (many times not documented in a formal 504 or IEP), and that kids absolutely must come first.

Now, that’s not to say there wasn’t a bit of back and forth about some things, but the important takeaway is that we were able to have a constructive conversation. We both mentioned more than once that more conversations like ours are needed, and PaFEC was invited to do so again the next time in the area.

When we say, “All options, all kids, all the time,” we mean it – and we aren’t afraid to have conversations with anyone about our perspective – our truth. We realize that district education works for many children and families and can provide an amazing education. We support district education – always have, always will. And that is why we recently changed our logo to literally spell out the education models to include district; in part because we were tired of the mainstream misrepresentation being applied to us that suggests you can’t be aligned with all options (even our Governor said we can do both!). Our focus doesn’t serve a particular education model, but rather children and families.

So thank you to Pleasant Valley School District’s cyber program for your attendance at our event, our conversation, and your wonderful work and dedication to your cyber students.