Original Research by School Decision on Starrs Online Academy
STARRS Online Academy is an online public school serving grades six through twelve, based in Windom, Minnesota, and operating under the Region 6 and 8-SW/WC Service Cooperative. That cooperative is not a traditional school district: it is a regional service agency that provides programs and support to multiple member districts across southwestern Minnesota. Windom itself is a small, mostly rural farming community and the county seat of Cottonwood County, with a compact downtown square, a mix of manufacturing, agriculture, and retail employers, and modest population growth in recent years. Housing values in the area are well below state and national averages, reflecting the area’s lower cost of living.
The academy appears to have been designed as a fully remote option for middle and high school students in the region, but public records show it is no longer active. The Minnesota Department of Education’s organizational directory lists STARRS Online Academy as inactive, alongside several other programs under the same service cooperative. For families in member districts, this means the online learning and alternative pathways that the cooperative once offered through this school are not currently available.
State testing data is extremely limited and effectively unusable for drawing conclusions about academic performance. In the most recent testing year available, only a single student in grade eight was tested across math, English language arts, and science—and that student’s results were suppressed by the state to protect privacy. No proficiency rates, scale scores, or participation rates were reported. There is no graduation rate for the school because it reported zero enrollment across every grade level. That zero enrollment figure, combined with the inactive status in the state directory, strongly suggests that STARRS Online Academy is not currently serving students.
The available data on student demographics, special populations, discipline, staffing, and attendance are all missing, likely because the school had no active enrollment during the period covered. For a parent or resident seeking an online school option in the region, this school would not be a viable choice. The district brief notes that the service cooperative’s other learning centers and targeted services programs are also marked inactive, indicating a broader reduction in alternative educational options that were previously available to students in member districts.
In short, STARRS Online Academy appears to be a shuttered program. Any family looking into online public schooling in southwestern Minnesota would need to explore other providers or contact their local school district directly about available remote learning options.
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