Study Hall from School News Network

In his 30 years in public education, Dr. Ron Gorman has served as a teacher, principal, K-12 administrator and now as superintendent of Kent ISD. In this episode of “Study Hall,” Dr. Gorman talks about his evolution from an indifferent student at Godfrey-Lee Public Schools to overseeing nearly 100,000 students in Kent County, the vast array of Kent ISD’s programs and the funding challenges distric...

Since 2006, Kent School Services Net work has been helping students and families in Kent ISD with basic needs such as health care, housing and food: all key to students doing their best in school. In this episode of “Study Hall,” we talk to Keenan King, KSSN executive director, and Jose´ Rodriguez, community school coordinator at Godwin Heights Middle School, about the difference KSSN makes at God...

Holly Lawrence, Aluet Deng and Girum Merriman come from three different school districts, but they share an optimism about their futures and the good they can do in the world. All three are members of Kent ISD’s Student Leadership Community , 41 students from across Kent County who met throughout the school year to give input on their educational experience to Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Gorman an...

As schools have become ever more concerned with the safety and security of their students, school resource officers have taken on an increasingly important role. Public law enforcement officers trained to work in schools, SROs provide not just protection against bad actors but day-to-day support for students dealing with personal problems, from family issues to medical conditions. We talk with SRO...

Mehran Najafi is deeply grateful to have come as a refugee from war-torn Afghanistan to the United States, where, he says, “you get to have a normal life.” Now a U.S. citizen, the graduate of Wyoming High School and Western Michigan University works with abused and neglected teens and hopes to work for the United Nations helping other refugees around the world.  We talked with Mehran about his fou...

Heads up, everyone: AI has arrived and it’s everywhere, including classrooms.  How can students responsibly use artificial intelligence tools to help them learn, not do their learning for them? How can teachers employ AI to amplify their lessons and keep cheating in check? We talk with two educators on the leading edge of AI-augmented instruction, Aaron Romoslawski in Forest Hills and Michael Kenn...

Students in Michigan and nationwide are struggling with reading , but not in Amy Dyksterhouse’s classroom. The fourth-grade teacher at Kettle Lake Elementary School integrates reading skills into all subjects, as part of a K-5 curriculum that takes students from “learning to read to reading to learn.” We talk with her about why Caledonia’s reading scores rank well above state and national averages...

It’s barely past 6:30 a.m. but the student musicians of the ABC Orchestra are rocking hard on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” a heavy-metal arrangement of “Carol of the Bells.” The 32 members of this East Kentwood High School ensemble are trained in classical music but play “anything but” that genre in ABC, performing in other schools and community venues while learn...

Whitley and Dan Morse met as new teachers in Grand Rapids Public Schools. Fifteen years later, the married couple are still there, Whitley as a teacher at Ottawa Hills High School and Dan as principal of North Park Montessori Academy. Their shared commitment to serving students in urban schools was recently honored as alumni of Davenport University’s College of Urban Education. They talk to SNN ab...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires children with disabilities be educated to the “maximum extent possible” with non-disabled students. At Meadow Ridge Elementary School in Rockford, Michigan, a team of educators is doing just that for Ellie Gard, a student with Down syndrome, who learns in a general-ed classroom al...

These days, school districts are looking for more than a few good teachers, with not enough people entering the teaching pipeline and too many leaving it. The West Michigan Teacher Collaborative aims to flip that script by helping aspiring teachers become certified and current teachers earn graduate degrees and endorsements. Susie Dennis and Angie Drake describe how WMTC has been “life-changing” f...

  As schools reopen the week of Aug. 18, their leaders lack the answer to a crucial question: How much money will they have to teach students? Political gridlock in the state Legislature and proposed drastic downsizing of education spending by the Trump administration have left major chunks of state and federal funding in limbo. Dan Behm, executive director of Education Advocates of West Michigan,...

At the start of the school year, Kent City first-grade teacher Marla Anderson said she was excited to begin her rookie year as a public-school teacher. At the end of the school year, she said she’s excited to begin her second year next fall. After talking with Anderson last September, we caught up with her on the day before school let out to see if she was still happy she went into teaching. The s...

Each week at City High Middle School this year, about two dozen high schoolers gathered to celebrate and learn about Black culture, from music and cooking to history and current issues. But the Black Student Alliance isn’t restricted to Black students; in fact, the majority are not African American. Founding members Elijah Jones and IMara Smith Skyers talk about the group’s ambitious array of acti...

Q: How early do special-education workers in Kent County begin helping children with special needs? A: From the time they’re born. As part two of our discussion about the possible closure of the U.S. Department of Education and its potential impacts on special education, Study Hall talks with Lindsey VanDyke, a coordinator of Kent ISD’s Early On program serving children from birth until age 3. Ser...

President Trump’s March 20 executive order calling for closure of the U.S. Department of Education has special-education advocates worried about the  harmful impact that could have on services for students with disabilities.  In today’s episode, Kirsten Myers, Kent ISD assistant superintendent of student services, and Mark Higgins, special education finance supervisor, explain what special-ed prog...

We’ve all been there: the car won’t start and we don’t know why. That’s where auto mechanics save the day, and that’s what students are learning in Ron Denning’s automotive maintenance and repair class at Grandville High School.  Grandville is one of many districts building their own programs in career and technical education, alongside a Kent ISD effort to double enrollment in CTE programs by 203...

Brianna Vasquez de Pereira, a Kent School Services Network coordinator in Kentwood, discusses the questions and fears of immigrant families about President Trump’s deportation plans. ( Note: This podcast was recorded prior to President Trump’s inauguration and his order removing schools as sites protected from apprehensions by federal deportation agents.) For more great stories about the changes a...

As parents and educators grapple with the ongoing problem of gun violence in schools, ensuring safe storage of guns at home has become a prime focus of averting tragic shootings by young people. Eunice Benavidez, a social worker for Kelloggsville Public Schools, has launched a district-supported initiative to educate parents about safe gun storage in compliance with Michigan law. A volunteer for t...

A recent survey found 72 percent of K-12 teachers say students being distracted by cell phones in their classroom is a major problem. Some states and school districts have adopted policies restricting their use by students during the school day, including Forest Hills Public Schools near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Study Hall welcomes David Simpson, principal at Northern Middle School, and Ari James ,...

Study Hall welcomes Marla Anderson, who is just beginning her teaching career this fall as a first-grade teacher at Kent City Elementary School. A Kent City native, she is excited to enter a profession badly in need of new teachers. Along with her mentor, veteran kindergarten teacher Angela Sabin, Marla talks about the challenges and rewards of teaching, preparing her lessons and getting her class...

Kentwood — In this episode, “Study Hall” welcomes recent Crossroads Alternative High School graduate JB Barnes and his dad, Kevin Barnes. JB was recently featured as a Kentwood Public Schools Grad with Grit in School News Network because of his incredible academic turnaround — from nearly failing out of school to finishing his final semester with As and Bs.  JB has sickle cell disease, which cause...

Study Hall welcomes Jerry Hopkins, Kenowa’s superintendent for the past 13 years, and Robyn Bradford, a district teacher for the past 32. The veteran educators reflect on a tumultuous decade that saw students forced to learn at home by a global pandemic, controversies over books and teaching content, and changes in family dynamics. Through it all, they agree, “students are students,” and schools s...

 “Study Hall” welcomes Jordan Poisson, a Lee High School graduate who is now a school counselor at Westwood Middle School in Grand Rapids Public Schools. School News Network has followed Poisson’s story over the past 10 years as she went from a student overcoming the obstacles of living in poverty, to a college student pursuing several degrees, to now working as a school counselor herself. In this...

Study Hall welcomes Lowell High School junior Ezequiel “Q” Gonzalez, who School News Network featured as a student leader in the article, "A voice for others, he inspires and educates." In this episode, Q talks about his involvement at Lowell High School in drama, choir and Model UN. As a person with disability, he talks about how systems impact people with disabilities, common misconcep...