As school districts increase cyber academy efforts, Waterfront Learning leads the way

By Jeremy Tepper

On high school graduation day, Preston Hartman swells with pride, as he recognizes the growing number of students whom he’s had an impact on. Hartman is the Director of K-12 Virtual Learning of the Plum Borough School District’s Plum Digital Learning Academy (PDLA), an online learning platform for district students.

“It’s awesome to still see those kids walk across the stage in May. I can sit there and say, ‘they took a class, they had two classes with PDLA, they were full time PDLA,’” Hartman said. “It’s pretty neat to see the impact that we’re able to have and to help our students meet their goals.”

Success stories for school district cyber academy directors like Hartman are growing, as their student population grows too. Since Hartman helped jumpstart the PDLA when he was hired in late 2020, the program’s participants have grown every year. Similarly, over at the Gateway School District, the Gateway Cyber Academy has grown just about every year, jumping from 27 students in 2010 to 514 students in the 2024-25 school year.

Both Plum and Gateway operate their own cyber academies, but they do so with support from the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s Waterfront Learning program, which provides course platforms, training, and sometimes direct teaching staff. This partnership enables partner schools and districts to provide flexible, efficient online programs while relying on the AIU’s expertise and infrastructure.

Cyber academies that once were started or expanded due to a need for online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are now growing for other reasons, as students and their families thirst for the flexibility that these oft-asynchronous programs offer. Some students might be traveling for athletics and can’t fit learning into a conventional schedule. Others might be working a job, balancing a career and technical education, or just learn better in an online environment. The throughline is flexibility, which these cyber academies can offer, as students can choose to be full time online or hybrid.

Over time, Waterfront Learning has refined its approach, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that progress as schools urgently shifted online. During that period, the program not only helped schools launch virtual options but also trained teachers and supported staff who were suddenly navigating unfamiliar territory. In a matter of a few months, Waterfront Learning saw its elementary student enrollment triple.

“I’ve been a public educator for 25 years now, and I have never experienced anything like that,” said Jill Manczka, Ed.D., Waterfront Learning’s program director. “We were able to bring those districts online and train teachers—and we supported them throughout. I’m very proud of how Waterfront Learning was able to meet that challenge and support districts.”

The 1,406-student figure shown for 2024–25 refers to students whose courses were taught directly by Waterfront Learning teachers. Many other districts, including Gateway, license Waterfront’s online course infrastructure but use their own faculty. Those students — such as the 514 enrolled at Gateway last year — are not included in the 1,406 count, meaning the program’s overall reach across 66 partner districts and schools, is much larger than the direct-teaching figure alone.

Growth of Waterfront Learning’s online education program

“Post-pandemic, flexibility is really the number one reason that students are utilizing these cyber academies,” Dr. Manczka added. “And districts want to support their learners. They want to be able to keep them in the school community and offer them as many things as they can.”

Onboarding starts with a discovery meeting and follows a process where Dr. Manczka and her team identify needs and share learning platform options. School districts can mix and match these curated learning platforms, before Waterfront Learning eventually helps train staff, provide technological support, build a virtual learning handbook, and much more.

“The help and guidance from Jill and her team was phenomenal in helping us troubleshoot and learn how to really fine-tune our processes,” Hartman said. “That partnership has been pivotal in helping us reach our full potential and provide the best services possible to our community.”

Gateway and Plum run courses on learning platforms supported by Waterfront Learning, including Accelerate Education, Imagine Edgenuity, and Imagine EdgeEx. The classes are led by school district teachers and fully meet state requirements for graduation. Courses can go beyond normal core offerings and electives. Gateway Cyber Academy, for example, offers classes like Introduction to Coding and Small Business Entrepreneurship.

Each cyber academy is unique in its strengths. Gateway’s Cyber Academy, for example, thrives in its ability to adapt and consistently meet the needs of its students. Marci Klinger, Ph.D., and Regan Reeder, who both head the cyber academy, offer drop-in hours for families and students to stay in regular contact. “We don’t look at any student as a number. We really try to take the time to build relationships with parents and listen to all of their concerns to make sure we’re meeting the specific needs of their child,” said Dr. Klinger. “We genuinely care about each and every kid in this program and we want them to be successful.”

Hartman said Plum succeeds in keeping PDLA students connected to the school community through constant communication and invitations to participate in school activities and extracurriculars.

“You’re still a Plum student, so you still have access to all the resources and services here in the district,” Hartman said. “Our PDLA students aren’t in this separate little bubble of, well, they’re over here in this alternative education thing. We’ve really just integrated the PDLA program into who we are.”