Forsyth High School Gets a New Name

CUMMING, GA -- iAchieve Virtual Academy will be no more, come July 1, when its name will officially switch to Forsyth Virtual Academy.

The alternative school got a new name last week, when the Forsyth County Board of Education approved the change at its monthly meeting.

Susan Atkins, the director of the school, said the renaming is part of a rebranding of sorts for the virtual school. She said she's run into many people in the community confused by the current name.

"Since really the beginning of iAchieve, over time we have discovered and learned that the name does not clearly communicate to parents and students and really some of our own people and people in the community, exactly what we do and that we are a public school directly related to Forsyth County schools," Atkins said at the meeting Tuesday night.

She noted that the new name would bring Forsyth in line with naming conventions from other metro Atlanta districts, with online schools such as Cobb Virtual Academy, Gwinnett Online Campus and Fulton Virtual.

Currently, about 225 students are enrolled in the school, which allows them to take course online in a more flexible format than traditional schools.

"We're serving a number of students who really need an alternative experience," Superintendent Jeff Bearden said.

Bearden said the virtual school meets the needs of those students, while also helping alleviate crowding issues at the county's more traditional high schools.

"It's really a win-win," he said.

The renaming was approved unanimously by the school board.