Daryl Lease is an editorial writer at the Herald-Tribune in Sarasota, Fla. His e-mail address is daryl.lease@herald-trib.com.

Prominently displayed at the entrance to one of Florida's newest high schools is this motto: "Any time, any place, any path, any pace." It is a striking contrast to the attitude at many schools these days. After the shootings in Littleton, Colo., and elsewhere, anxious and bewildered school officials are not offering many options of the "any" variety. They are busily seeking more ways to control students, even to the point of requiring see-through book bags.

But at this particular school in Florida, which recently began its third year, you will not find metal detectors at the front door, or police dogs sniffing lockers for drugs. Even the quaint annoyances of yesteryear -- mystery meat in the cafeteria, insufferable pep rallies in the gym, bullies conducting lunch-money shakedowns at the restroom -- are gone.

At this school, students set the tone and are pretty much free to come and go as they please. It is so laid back, in fact, that if there were a school uniform, it might be pajamas. It is called The Florida High School, and it exists only on the Internet.

Who they are and how they do it

The school is one of several dozen online programs launched by public-school systems nationwide in the past few years. And if the growth and success of this school is any indication, we will be seeing more like it.

If the success of this online school is any indication, we will see more like it

Twelve hundred students from around the state are enrolled in Florida's online high school, taking their pick from 51 courses ranging from the basics to the advanced. Most students "attend" class before or after they attend public or private schools during the day. They join home-schooled students, who comprise about one-quarter of the student body.

A small number (5%) take all of their classes online, but officials expect that figure to be much higher someday. The goal is to turn The Florida High School into a full-time, diploma-granting institution.

The school started as a joint venture between the Orange County and Alachua County school districts and was nurtured with a $1.3 million start-up grant from the state. Corporate support has come from IBM, Lotus, Sprint and others.

The school appeals to a wide variety of students, including, among others, those who are homebound because of illness, live in small school districts that do not offer certain advanced courses, or have a history of disciplinary problems. Students have a substantial say in setting their goals.

They communicate with their teachers by e-mail, phone and, especially at exam time, face ¿to face. "Students frequently remark that they have more interaction with a teacher than they did in a traditional classroom," Phyllis Lentz, a resource/research specialist at the school, said in an e-mail interview.

They also talk to each other online and supplement their learning by visiting workplaces and other "real world" locations. "The online environment," the school's Web site explains, "enables students to learn at their chosen pace, relieving the stress of feeling rushed or pressured and providing enjoyment in the learning process."

A virtual tour

There is reason for skepticism, of course. The Internet long has been touted as a revolutionary learning tool, but reality usually has fallen short of the hype. For all of its promise, the Net is still largely the domain of scam artists, pornographers, hate groups and people with entirely too much time on their hands -- generally not the sort of people we would like to teach our children.

But after touring The Florida High School, I would have to say there is hope the Internet can outgrow its wild frontier days and enhance education. From what I have seen, this school offers a challenging, fun learning environment. In fact, I wish it had existed 20 years ago when I was slogging my way through high school.

I spent much of my visit to the school in the classroom, or module, where American Government is taught. The module offers an informative, well-designed virtual tour of Washington, D.C. The Reflecting Pool is used to guide students through an analysis of their own core beliefs and the beliefs of their country.

The syllabus includes Ayn Rand's "Anthem," a CNN video of the Tiananmen Square protests, a multimedia encyclopedia and dozens of Web sites. The text is well written and engaging and, in many cases, far better than the textbooks I remember from high school. (A few words of advice, though: This section and others sorely need a copy editor to correct typographical errors.)

The creative effort seems to be paying off, judging by the comments posted by students. Several said the interactive exercises led them to explore topics they had not pursued in conventional classrooms. One student with a learning disability spoke of how much it helped to be able to move through the course more slowly.

Gauging the school's performance this early would be difficult, but there are encouraging signs. Students who took the online SAT course raised their scores an average of 140 points. Others who have taken computer-programming lessons have won first place in competitions at the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida.

Not for everyone

Other online schools are reporting similar news. Two years ago, Jerald Schutte, a professor at California State University at Northridge, taught half the students in one of his classes through traditional lectures and the other half through a new online curriculum. The results were surprising: Online students scored 20% better. Schutte speculates that students felt less inhibited online and, as a result, interacted with each other more and pushed themselves farther than they would have in a traditional classroom.

That does not mean online classes work well for all subjects or all students. It is difficult, for instance, to envision students with little self-direction or self-discipline succeeding in this environment. I also am not sure that students struggling with, say, algebra will thrive if they have to rely on a series of e-mail messages to walk them through difficult problems.

Still, online education offers exciting prospects for students who, for whatever reason, do not fare well in conventional classrooms. It also significantly could broaden the opportunities for students in school districts ever short on money and classroom space.