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School 2.0

School News Network continues its reporting on how districts, teachers and families are helping students learn both inside and outside the school walls during the coronavirus pandemic. We want to serve our schools and you, our readers, during this challenging time, so please send us your ideas for stories we should be telling and questions that should be answered. Thank you, and live safely!

‘I want it to look happy’

Wyoming Erin Albanese

With help from generous donors, elementary teachers worked to make welcoming, kid-friendly space while following the rules of social distancing and sanitation...

The virtual classroom: 18 students, three screens and one busy teacher

Rockford Charles Honey

Teaching online, from a classroom, requires multitasking and multiple screens for this fourth-grade teacher...

Districts ponder how to keep students learning, engaged

School 2.0 Erin Albanese

Teachers are challenged to keep their style of instruction intact with students who are socially distanced and, often, not in the building at all...

New online academy looks to provide paced learning, support

Kenowa Hills Alexis Stark

Approximately 25 percent of Kenowa Hills students -- about 300 -- opted for virtual learning to start the year...

Amid uncertainty, new protocols, there’s laughter, new connections

Northview Olivia Austin

Junior Olivia Austin reflects on the first day of a very unique school year...

Teachers agree: virtual classroom has its pluses, but ‘much of the joy is missing’

Kenowa Hills Cris Greer

Two Kenowa Hills teachers reflect on the good and bad of virtual education during the school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic...

Making school from home work for everyone

School 2.0 Janice Holst

Districts scrambled to aid families with connectivity and tech support from March to the end of the school year...

Parents say in-person, full time instruction is best, but are concerned about keeping families safe from virus

All Districts Phil de Haan

A recent survey of Kent County parents shows high confidence in the quality of traditional, in-person instruction but significant worry about safety in keeping families safe from COVID-19...

Keeping students connected and fed

School 2.0 Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

Kent District Library worked to help keep students connected in school and out through accessible wifi and hot spots and is offering a summer food program at 12 locations...

Farm family gets closer while business builds during quarantine

Cedar Springs Cris Greer

One farm family is all-hands on growing the business during the unfamiliar, uneasy time of stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19...

From relay races to flamingo stands & tissue crawls

Grandville Hannah Lentz

Kathleen Messing, a second grade teacher at South Elementary, hosted a virtual field day for her students based on 'Minute to Win It' games...

The year of schooling at home: hard work, loneliness and little blessings

School 2.0 Charles Honey

In this time of distance learning, parents like Keshia Alhasan have truly lived the adage that parents are their children’s first teachers...

Our Kids, Our Future: COVID-19 and the looming crisis in public school funding

School 2.0 Sunil Joy, research data analyst for Kent ISD

Schools had to adjust overnight to the new reality of the pandemic, and now face a funding crisis with literally billions of dollars at stake...

Father recovering from COVID-19 thanks ‘Team Gladiola’ on Zoom

School 2.0 Erin Albanese

Principal Cheryl Corpus began Parent Zoom sessions the second week of the district’s Continuity of Learning Plan, and often more than a dozen parents logged on to ask questions and connect with staff and each other...

What will school look like in the fall? Community leaders prepare for various scenarios

School 2.0 Erin Albanese

Much is still to be determined about reopening for the 2020-2021 school year, and superintendents are preparing for various scenarios. Families are asked to complete a survey to provide input and share their opinions...