Genesis supporters crowd public hearing in defense of community school

For the life of a community school, nothing could be more dire than what brought a tense and overflowing crowd into an east Kansas City meeting room Monday night. Genesis School, attorney Chuck Hatfield said, is staring down a “death penalty.”

Public hearing to weigh future of Genesis School

A state commission’s plan to close Genesis School over issues of performance will be tested in a public hearing Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Bluford branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 3050 Prospect Ave. Members of the Genesis School community will be given a chance to speak at the special hearing before the Missouri Charter Public School Commission.

National report finds Missouri student test scores dropped during pandemic

A new report released this week documents the impact of COVID-19 on student performance in Missouri, with test scores for math and reading dropping from pre-pandemic levels.

Time to rise: State analysis shows how far performance fell during pandemic

It’s as severe as the education community feared. The effects of the pandemic on lost learning place a community-wide burden on everyone — including LINC’s Caring Communities — to help children recover.

Critical summer: Here's how everyone can help children 'learn, grow and play'

The summer of 2022 has arrived with refreshing joy and possibilities — but also with a heavy air of fear. The hot season has long brought out the best and the worst of the fellowship that brings neighborhoods together and the violence and neglect that endangers children and families. Here’s what KC is doing about it and how you can help.

Building better childcare: LINC's training helps kid programs soar

“It really gave us a new enlightenment of how to teach,” Young Professor’s co-owner Paula Smith said of LINC’s training and consultation program for Missouri’s Infant Toddler Specialist Network.

Remake Learning Days offers family fun across KC

Here they come again. Remake Learning Days-Kansas City are back with opportunities for families to create, invent and experience hands-on learning at a host of programs sites and schools May 6-16.

National Campaign for Grade Level Reading honors the 'indefatigable" Bert Berkley

As Kansas City is being recognized for its citywide crusade for reading, the national director of the Campaign for Grade Level Reading took a moment recently to honor one of the movement’s “fiercest and most relentless champions” — LINC Founder and former Chairman, Bert Berkley.

Former LINC staffer, pastor elected as first Black Independence School Board member

A former LINC part-time staffer made history election night. The Rev. Anthony Mondaine won a seat on the Independence School Board April 5 and will serve as the district’s first Black representative.

'Beating the Odds' study shines light on KCPS, Hickman Mills schools making academic gains

A PRiME Center study from Saint Louis University raises up high-poverty schools in Missouri that are among the best in showing growth in state test performance.

'Absolutely Awesome!' Center opens new Indian Creek Elementary to rave reviews

Once the red ribbon was cut and the first tours were under way, students Jaiden and Janae Taylor joined the wide-eyed procession inside Center School District’s new Indian Creek Elementary School Thursday as some of the most precious guests. See what they like the most.

All aboard! How you and everyone can play a role in this most critical school year

We’ve learned a lot in the past year and a half. And everything we know about hardship, strength, resilience and unity has primed us for what looms as the most critical school year probably in a lifetime. But it’s going to take all of us, and here’s why.

Fort Osage schools to turn closed highway road stop into mecca of real-world learning

“The possibilities are endless,” said Fort Osage Superintendent Jason Snodgrass. The beloved JBZ's Rockin' B & Mercantile, closed during the pandemic, will become a student-run coffee shop and community event space across five acres of land.

'Find your community'; In critical year ahead, schools want you back, welcomed and safe

It doesn't matter how well — or not — you and your child managed Covid’s hard time. A common message is brewing. Children, however much they struggled with online learning, will be advanced with their peers into the next grade. Everyone will recover together. Schools’ plea: Just come back.

Kansas City Public Schools' anti-suspension policy takes stand for equity, prosperity

The Kansas City Public Schools took a stand against historical injustice and the school-to-prison pipeline when its board voted to end discretionary suspensions of elementary school children Wednesday night.

KC's Remake Learning Days promises festival of innovative fun, May 1-10

Everyone’s pretty much ready to let loose, right? Just in time comes a wave of learning adventures that promises to unleash the imaginations of children of all ages. Remake Learning Days is an innovative learning festival taking place May 1 -10.

'Here to do our job'; LINC re-opening more sites, Covid-safe

Covid-19 cases are in rapid decline. Vaccines are coming. Reports from the CDC of low transmission in safe schools are encouraging . . . More children are coming back into school buildings, and LINC is ready.

KCPS to legislature: Pay teachers, help the underserved, be equitable

Kansas City Public Schools is determined to do its part to “re-imagine and rebuild” a district ready to emerge from Covid, its leaders said. But Jefferson City needs to help. “We have political road bumps we are going to have to get over.”

Calling all KC hands to rescue education system 'on verge of collapse'

The “frightening” expanse of unenrolled or disengaged children across the Kansas City area can be rounded into large numbers — or bared one-by-one. An enrollment and drop-out task force is issuing a call to educators, business leaders, policy makers and anyone else who wants to join in the work.

Dancing with dinosaurs for 'Books and Treats!'

LINC Caring Communities in Hickman Mills threw a joint party, handing out books, snacks, candy and helpful resources for some 260 children and adults, dancing drive-thru style.