Melissa Melvin was excited about the S.C. Virtual Charter School until class actually started.

Melvin was one of many parents who pulled their children from the school following a rocky beginning to the program this year. The first problem was the state backing away from an initial promise to supply every child in the school with a computer and Internet access. That was changed to cover only those students who would qualify for the free and reduced lunch program at a traditional public school.

Next came the textbooks that didn't arrive until two weeks after classes had begun.

"We got back from summer vacation on Aug. 26 [and] it took another two weeks to get any books at all," Melvin said. "School started on Aug. 20. This was a massive problem for the whole school."

Officials with the S.C. Virtual Charter School did not return calls from the Fort Mill Times.

Two years ago, Melvin pulled her daughter Sarah out of Gold Hill Middle School, where she was struggling on standardized tests, and began home schooling her with the "K12" program. When she learned that the state was going to use a K12 curriculum for SCVCS, Melvin decided to give public education another try.

However, after a few months with SCVCS, Melvin felt the system set up was holding Sarah back. Her first complaint is that South Carolina requires the entire eighth grade year in social studies be spent on South Carolina history, which was a departure from the K12 curriculum used nationwide.

She said the superintendent of the South Carolina Virtual School, which is a separate entity from the S.C. Virtual Charter School, interpreted the law that created SCVCS to require each student to spend five hours a week in online "elluminate" sessions. Each session lasts an hour and is essentially a video conference over the Internet with the teacher assigned to the class and all students going over a lesson. Melvin and other parents who have set up a Yahoo news group to discuss SCVCS contend that the "elluminate" sessions should be available for students who need them, but not required.

The "elluminate" sessions were supposed to be grade specific, but SCVCS didn't have enough teachers to do that, so it ended up with math sessions for sixth through eighth graders, Melvin said.

"They had 60 to 70 students in one class, but this was absolutely no benefit to (Sarah)," Melvin said. "So she's just sitting there logging time while they're going over something she learned already."

Melvin eventually pulled her daughter out of SCVCS. Before that, she spent countless hours trying to track down and speak with SCVCS officials about her concerns. She said she sent more than 150 e-mails and called nearly every extension in the S.C. Department of Education's phone system with little response from officials.

"I thought VCS would be an opportunity for your child to study at the level they are at, as opposed to making them study exactly what everyone else studied regardless of their mastery of the subject," Melvin said.

"It [angers me] that we hear educators say 'we need more involved parents,' but they didn't respond to anything," Melvin continued. "They're not interested in hearing what parents have to say; They're only interested in what a parent can do for them."

Melvin said Sarah would still be enrolled in SCVCS if the school would let her take certain advanced classes she is taking as an independent home schooler through the K12 curriculum on her own.

In response to Melvin's and others' efforts the S.C. Board of Education is considering new regulations governing charter schools, which Melvin said will make it more difficult for charter schools to get approved. First reading of the changes has already passed. The 60-day comment period will end in December, before the board takes a second vote, she said.

"I've asked parents to write letters and make phone calls," she said.

The experience has also spurred Melvin to get active in education reform, she said. Melvin has organized two meetings to discuss education reform with other concerned citizens so far and plans to hold others in the future. The meetings have been sponsored by People Revolutionizing Our Voices Effectively and Citizens Advocating Reasonable Education.