CLEVELAND, Ohio — Now that school has started, a number of families in and around Ohio were not willing to leave their child’s public school education in the hands of districts that could open or close at any time due to COVID-19.

As parents scrambled to figure out the best education solution for their child, Ohio Connections academy got quite the boost, with the online school’s enrollment increasing by 1,200 students.

Last spring Ohio Connections Academy ended the year with about 4,800 students. Now Superintendent Marie Hanna said it’s at 6,000.

“I think it was the uncertainty I think they decided that, at least, if they were here they’d have a consistent learning pattern and I think there's some concern now that the schools might have to switch, you know to be safe,” Hanna said.

Hanna said they’re not just helping families in the pandemic, but teachers too. That includes those who made the switch from traditional brick-and-mortar schools.

“We hired 25, you know, additional teachers,” Hanna said. “A lot of our student growth was in kindergarten, first grade, and so we have, you know, we went from having, you know, three or four kindergarten homerooms to having, you know, eight of them.”

With 40-50 percent more kids, she said they’ve had to shell out more money for kids to use their online platforms. That's “more money on the products and licenses so that we can serve the students.”

Now there’s a waiting list full of kids looking to get into the school. Whether parents have their child on the waiting list or not, OCA is hoping parents can help their kids understand that everyday won’t be perfect, but they’ll get through it.