ANGOLA — Parents and guardians of Angola High School students that are failing at virtual learning are being ordered to send their kids back to school before the month is over.

High schoolers who failed or are currently failing at least one class will now have to return to school for in-person instruction before or on March 29, said a letter the high school recently sent to those families.

Students may remain virtual for health reasons, but parents who fail to comply with the new policy could be referred for criminal charges, said the letter signed by Angola Principal Travis Heavin.

The Herald Republican obtained a copy of the letter, dated March 1, which Heavin confirmed was mailed out last week.

Heavin said in a Tuesday email that the new policy is the result of above-average failure rates high school administrators are seeing, especially among distance learning students, and concern about the toll that isolation is taking on students’ mental health.

“Even though many students are being successful with virtual learning, many other students need the help and guidance of an in-person teacher,” he said. “While the primary function of the school is to educate students, we also care about the mental health and well-being of our students and the effect that isolation has on a student’s health.”

Data collected by the school shows a sharp uptick in the number of students whose grades are not at acceptable levels for them to advance with their class or graduate on time.

At the end of the fall 2020 semester, 27% of Angola High School students were failing at least one class, Heavin said. In a typical year, less than 20% of the school’s students are failing a class at any one given time.

Of the failing students, more than half are ones who have opted for distance learning, Heavins said. Data the high school has been collecting shows virtual learning students are much more likely than their in-classroom peers to be failing multiple classes.

The decision to require the students that are failing distance learning to return to school was a collaborative decision involving teachers, department chairs, Angola High School office staff and members of the district’s central office, Heavin said, as well as conversations with some of the struggling students and their parents.

Angola High School has offered the option of at-home learning to all of its students since the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a vast majority of the high school’s student body — 84% — are now in a classroom setting.

Heavin said he and his staff have seen rapid improvement among the students who have returned to in-person classes.

“While several of our returning students have been initially reluctant to return to school, our staff works hard to reintegrate them into the school,” Heavin said. “Many have reported feeling happier, and grades have begun to improve.”