Shrinking enrollments, creative schemes

In a darkened room at Indian Lake Central School District, six students sit quietly and at attention, eyes fixed on the two screens in the front.

Using a mix of smartly edited video clips and live, online instruction, these screens immerse the teenagers in a subject not taught on their own school campus, or by any of their teachers: marine biology.

Indian Lake, with just 120 students in grades K-12, uses distance learning to augment its academic offerings. That gives high school students access to a broader array of courses. The marine biology class is taught over 70 miles away, at Granville High School in Washington County.

“Someone might say, ‘Your course selection—how are you supplementing it?’” said Indian Lake Superintendent David Snide. “And we can say, ‘through distance learning.’”

Snide, who retires in June, has seen Indian Lake’s enrollment fall by more than 50 percent since arriving in the Hamilton County school district in 1989.

Grade sizes range from five to 14 students, and small classes and activities are the norm. A recent band rehearsal drew fewer than 20 students from both the middle and high school. At