Gov. Bob Riley will visit a Latin class at Bob Jones High School today, but the teacher will be in Sheffield.

The Latin class is part of a pilot program using videoconferencing and the Internet to let students get class credits in courses their school could not otherwise offer.

Bob Jones was chosen last fall as one of 24 pilot sites for Riley's Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide program. The school received about $100,000 of the $10 million that Riley included in the state education budget for the program.

"This is going to revolutionize the way we teach children in Alabama," Riley said in a press release. "By making the right investments in our classrooms, we've put the latest technology to work for our students and teachers, and it's opening up whole new worlds of opportunity to children who would otherwise not have the chance to take these courses."

Bob Jones Principal Robby Parker said Wednesday that Riley should be impressed with the entire school, not just the long-distance Latin class. He said 14 students are taking the Latin class, which began with the second semester two weeks ago.

Parker said the class is about "98 percent as good" as having a teacher in the classroom teaching the students.

The students are able to ask questions of Adina Stone, the Latin teacher at Sheffield High School, Parker said. The students and teacher can see each other via cameras.

"I think it's a whole lot better than not have the class," Parker said.

Parker said it would not be feasible for the Madison school system to spend $50,000 to hire a teacher to teach Latin to a few students. A Bob Jones teacher uses her planning period to sit in the room to chaperone the students.

Along with Bob Jones, the Latin class is simultaneously taught to students at Alma Bryant High School near Mobile.