Massachusetts got its first public virtual high school this week, and it's set up shop on a college campus in Newton that also houses a preschool and a retirement community. The Felix Commonwealth Virtual School held its opening ceremony on Tuesday at Lasell University, marking the start of classes for an inaugural class of ninth and tenth graders when the school year begins this fall.
Felix is open to students in more than 90 cities and towns across the Greater Boston region, and as reported by WBZ NewsRadio, the school offers tuition-free public education that combines a flexible digital curriculum with an in-person learning hub. Newton Mayor Marc Laredo joined education leaders from across Massachusetts at the opening ceremony, according to the same report. Lasell University President Eric Turner said the university is proud to bring together learners from across generations and backgrounds, adding that Lasell is excited to welcome the Felix school to its campus.
A Hybrid Model Built Around Self-Paced Learning
Felix uses competency-based pacing, meaning students move through coursework as they demonstrate mastery rather than on a fixed classroom schedule, per the station's report. That structure includes embedded college credits, giving students a head start on higher education while still in high school. According to the 1851 Chronicle, Felix's eligibility zone stretches to families within a 90-minute commute of Newton, and optional in-person hub hours run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for students who want a physical campus presence alongside their remote coursework.
The school is projecting a total enrollment of up to 200 students, with roughly 50 to 60 expected on the physical campus on any given day, according to OurNewton.org. Felix's core digital curriculum runs through Khan World School @ ASU Prep, a mastery-based online learning platform co-developed by Sal Khan and Arizona State University Prep Academies, according to information published by Lasell University. Enrolled students can also take tuition-free college courses through a dual-enrollment partnership with Arizona State University, earning transferable credits toward a degree while still working on their high school diploma, according to the Charles River Regional Chamber.
Credentialed 'Guides' Anchor the Mentorship Side
Teaching staff at Felix carry the title of Guides rather than teachers, and they are Massachusetts-credentialed educators who each manage cohorts of roughly 17 students, according to a staffing description posted on JobLeads. Those Guides serve a dual role, acting as both individual academic mentors and subject-matter instructional specialists for the students assigned to them. The school's leadership brings its own credentials to the launch: Felix Superintendent Matthew Spengler has more than 30 years of public K-12 education experience, having previously served as founding executive director of Blueprint Schools Network, program director at Harvard University's EdLabs, and founding principal of MetWest High School in Oakland, California, according to his biography with the ASU GSV Summit.
A Campus Built for Every Generation
Felix's arrival adds a new layer to Lasell University's long-running experiments in intergenerational education. The university, established in Newton in 1851, opened Lasell Village 25 years ago as the nation's first college-campus continuing care retirement community requiring an educational component, and it also runs an early childhood preschool and daycare center on the same grounds, according to Lasell's own announcement of the partnership.
State Rules Shape How Far Virtual Schools Can Grow
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education approved Felix as a Commonwealth Virtual School, joining a small and tightly regulated category of institutions. Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71, Section 94, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education can grant up to 10 Commonwealth Virtual School certificates statewide, with total virtual school enrollment capped at 2 percent of the state's public school students, according to a legislative report filed with the Massachusetts Legislature. Before Felix, the state had only two operating statewide virtual schools, Greater Commonwealth Virtual School and TEC Connections Academy Commonwealth Virtual School, both serving grades K through 12 and both seeing significant enrollment growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, per the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Commonwealth Virtual Schools are funded through state school choice tuition transfers billed to students' home districts, but local school committees retain the authority to restrict additional transfers once more than 1 percent of their district's enrollment attends virtual schools, according to the state education department's enrollment guidance. That provision means how sending districts across the more than 90 eligible Greater Boston communities respond to Felix's growth could shape how large the school is ultimately allowed to become.
