Imagine a high school where students can take classes as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 9 p.m.

Some of the courses are taught face-to-face in the school, with others delivered online and still others taught through a mix of classroom and computer-based instruction.

At this school, tuition is free and students can enroll in specialty courses such as Latin and business Spanish that their home schools don't offer.

And by taking classes at night or over the summer, they could earn a diploma faster than their peers.

So how do students sign up?

Well, if they attend Penn Manor, Hempfield or Manheim Township high schools, they're already enrolled.

The three Lancaster County schools plan to unveil an "open campus" project in the fall that is believed to be the first collaborative effort of its kind in Pennsylvania.

Across the state, many school districts have their own cyberschools or contracts with outside companies or groups to offer online courses to their students.

But this is the first time districts have collaborated to offer their own courses taught by their own teachers in online and "live" formats to students from multiple school districts.

Tim Eller, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said he's not aware of any other program like it run entirely by school districts.

The open campus project will blur the lines between school districts and alter the traditional school schedule, while helping to preserve teaching jobs, cut costs and stem the tide of students fleeing public schools for cybercharters, school officials say.

But the biggest benefit, they say, is that it will give students more choices. And "school choice" — in the form of tuition vouchers and increased competition from charter schools — is a major theme in Gov. Tom Corbett's education agenda.

"Choice is coming whether we like it or not, and we need to get out in front of it," said Brenda Becker, Hempfield superintendent. "We have to change the way we do business if we're going to survive."

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The open campus idea originated from meetings Penn Manor superintendent Michael Leichliter held in the summer with families that had left Penn Manor for cybercharter schools.

What he discovered, Leichliter said, was that most students weren't disillusioned with the district; they just wanted more options to fit their schedules, including a mix of online and "bricks-and-mortar" classes.

When Leichliter shared his findings with Becker in September, they agreed the two districts should consider collaborating to address those needs. Manheim Township joined the consortium, and officials from the three districts began meeting.

The open campus project is driven by Becker's belief that the districts' teachers can deliver a better education program than anything offered by a cybercharter school.

Early on, the superintendents made a conscious decision to bring all parties — teachers, principals and union representatives — on board in the planning stages to avoid potential conflicts.

"Our approach is, we're not forcing this on anybody," Becker said. "We're not forcing it on students, and we're not forcing it on faculty.

"Only those folks who want this as an option can do it, and that's alleviated a lot of fear and anxiety."

While students have yet to learn the details of the project, the response from teachers has been positive, superintendents say.

Nearly a third of Penn Manor's staff attended open campus informational meetings, Leichliter said, and the three districts have had more teachers than they need volunteer to deliver the first-year courses.

Twelve classes will be offered to juniors and seniors beginning in September, including English 11 and 12, U.S. history, civics/economics, global perspectives, advanced-placement calculus, pre-calculus and astronomy, all of which will be taught online.

Students will be able to access the material at any time of day or night, and teachers will provide office hours during which they'll be available for live, individualized help.

Four other courses — Latin I, business Spanish, physics and chemistry — will be taught in a hybrid format of online instruction, classroom teaching and labs.

The three districts are sharing course-development duties and hope to enroll an equal amount of students in each class.

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The venture won't cost the districts additional money, Leichliter said, because existing staff and course materials are being utilized, and free open-source software will be used to deliver the online instruction.

Over time, the project could cut costs because districts won't need to hire teachers for some specialized subjects taught at neighboring districts. It also will save jobs, Becker said, by providing a larger pool of students for low-enrollment courses that otherwise might be cut.

"As resources are shrinking, we can no longer afford to run classes where maybe only six students sign up," she said.

Once the project is expanded, it also could reduce the need for expensive school construction projects.

"Right now, we're tapped out at the high school in terms of space," Becker said. "If I don't have all those kids in the high school at the same time, it may eliminate the need for me to do a multimillion-dollar construction project."

The districts are purposely starting out small — only about 300 students may enroll the first year — and will retain the traditional school schedule for most students and teachers.

But in future years, the districts want to explore offering classes at night and over the summer, which would enable motivated students to earn their diplomas much more quickly. That also could free up more space at the three high schools.

To provide those options, the districts likely would need waivers from the state Department of Education, which mandates the number of days in the school year, hours of instruction in core subjects and other issues.

State officials have been "very supportive" of their efforts so far, the superintendents said, but much work remains.

"The (Pennsylvania) School Code and state Board of Education regulations create a really tight box for us that we have to stay within, and moving outside of the box will take a lot of work and a lot of waivers on the part of the state," Leichliter said.

"We can no longer use the same agrarian-based education model we've used for the last 100 years."

As the project expands, the districts will face other regulatory gray areas.

For example, if a Manheim Township 11th-grader is taught math by a Penn Manor teacher, which district would get credit for that pupil's PSSA math scores?

Which district would be credited for the subject-area tests all students must pass to receive a diploma? How will teacher evaluations be handled when students are from multiple districts?

The superintendents are confident these logistical issues can be worked out and are hoping the state treats the open campus project as a pilot exempt from many regulations in its first few years.

Eller said the Department of Education is "committed to working with these districts to ensure that this innovative program remains an option for students."

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The three districts also must secure agreements with their teachers' unions to allow staff to deviate from the traditional workday stipulated in their labor contracts.

The superintendents don't expect that to be a problem because teachers realize the value of the open campus project and appreciate the potential for more flexible hours, they said.

"We have staff who are very excited about it because some of them will have the ability to stay home with their children during part of the day and maybe teach later in the day," Becker said.

Tony Carrodo, a Penn Manor math teacher, said he volunteered to teach a calculus course because he considers the project the wave of the future.

"I thought it was important, as our district does, to get in on it as early as we can," said Carrodo, who plans to include video clips, online tutorials and links to other Internet sites as part of his AP calculus curriculum.

"It's going to be different. It's going to be a challenge. But it's the way things are going," he said. "We don't want to let it pass us by."

Another Penn Manor math teacher, Dori O'Connor, said the open campus classes will provide more options for students.

"I really like the fact that students will have a choice where they can do a little bit of both — they can do some regular classes and some online," said O'Connor, who has never taught an online class before.

To assure that her students "get that teacher aspect of the class," she plans to keep on top of their progress by maintaining office hours where pupils can talk to her in person or via Skype or iChat, O'Connor said.

Exactly what each course will look like will be determined in the coming months as teachers and administrators develop curricula. The three superintendents hope to have most details worked out by the end of June so training and other preparations can be completed well before classes begin in the fall.

Given the financial constraints that all public schools face, the open campus project is likely to be the first of many collaborative efforts for county school districts, said Gene Freeman, Manheim Township superintendent.

"The change is inevitable, and we either work to control the change or the change controls us," he said.

"If we can piggyback and create more choices for students, I think that's what so many districts are going to need to do."

bwallace@lnpnews.com