With Kansas school closures, we’re about to live the longest snow day in history
There’s a lot we don’t know about Gov. Laura Kelly’s order to close every K-12 school in Kansas for the rest of the school year.
But one thing, we know: Families are scrambling.
Our community is about to embark on the longest snow day in history — and we know how folks gripe about snow days — with many parents panicked about child care and other issues.
This, though, will be day after day, week after week, without the normal school routine — a quarter of the school year, a spring vacation followed immediately by summer break.
Because of concerns about spreading coronavirus, Kansas schools are ditching traditional classrooms and will have to improvise a whole new way of doing business.
Can they adapt quickly to online, at-home or small-group instruction? And can they do it without jeopardizing the physical, emotional and educational welfare of hundreds of thousands of Kansas children?
We’ll soon find out.
Wichita Superintendent Alicia Thompson pledged Tuesday that “our students are not done learning yet.” Teachers will teach, seniors will graduate, special-education students will continue to get the services they need, she said.
But Thompson didn’t offer any details on how we’ll shut down schools without shutting off young minds. And the roadblocks to teaching during a global pandemic seem overwhelming.
Some districts in Kansas and elsewhere will rely on online learning, but that poses a colossal challenge in Wichita, where not every student has a computer and not every home has internet access. Public libraries also are closed.
In Wichita, the state’s largest public school system, more than three-fourths of children come from homes of poverty. About 7,600 children qualify for special-education services. Thousands speak languages other than English. Hundreds are recent immigrants or refugees.
When emergencies happen, such as a recent school bus crash on the Kansas Turnpike, school officials often discover that family contact information is incorrect or outdated.
If schools can’t reach parents during an emergency, how can they depend on parents to make sure children are completing lessons — and possibly even Advanced Placement exams — at home?
Amid all the unknowns is a bit of good news: The Wichita district will continue to offer free breakfasts and lunches to hungry children, even while schools are closed.
After years of practice running its popular summer food program, the district stands ready to employ a tried-and-true network of churches, recreation centers and other sites to distribute grab-and-go meals each weekday for the rest of the school year.
Even better: Children won’t have to complete burdensome paperwork or even be enrolled in Wichita schools to receive a meal. Starting March 25, they’ll just have to show up at a food site — locations will be announced soon — and get the meal, no questions asked.
Thompson, the Wichita superintendent, urged parents to start planning for the extended school closure: Update your contact information. Monitor district announcements. Make sure your child has a work space at home.
The first test, though, is for Kansas education officials, and it’s a tough one: Make sure learning continues after schools close.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 5:32 AM.
