Lawrence public school officials had a goal of enrolling 30 students in the inaugural year of the district’s virtual charter school.

By Wednesday afternoon, 37 children had been signed up for Lawrence Virtual School.

And they aren’t done yet.

Gary Lewis, principal of the virtual school, said that there were no limits to enrollment and that he ws hoping to bring in even more students from Lawrence and across Kansas.

“We just want to partner with home school families and allow them to use us and see the virtual school as a viable option,” he said.

Since last week, Lewis has pitched the Lawrence Virtual School to families, mainly home-schoolers, in Overland Park and Wichita. He also spoke with about 25 parents at an open house Wednesday afternoon in Lawrence.

Several parents left the open house saying they had good feelings about the virtual school, some to the point they decided to enroll their children then and there. That was the case with Lara Burger, who decided to enroll her 5-year-old son, Andrew.

Burger said that for several months she had been studying K12, the curriculum program the online school will use, and she was pleased with it.

“I like the fact that it has accountability built into it,” she said. “It’s also organized and comprehensive. So, I can spend my time teaching and loving my children.”

Basehor-Linwood Virtual School in Basehor is one of the state’s longest-running virtual schools. It’s entering its seventh year.

New principal targets homeschoolers (7-5-04) Lawrence Virtual School moves forward (6-29-04) 6News video: Charter school an exercise in virtual reality (5-4-04)

Brenda DeGroot, director of Basehor-Linwood Virtual School, said it had about 350 students. Enrollment peaked last year with 363 students from across the state.

“It’s been a very rewarding program, and it’s exciting to see other school districts pick up on what we’ve done,” DeGroot said. “I don’t promote that it will be the future. But I see it as a good alternative.”

A charter school for four years, the program became self-sustaining by 2002, DeGroot said.

She said that her goal was to reconnect people with public schools, and that about 50 of the virtual school students go back to public school every year.

In Lawrence, the program also is operating as a charter school, and received state grant funding.