As the United States deals with coronavirus, more states are following Kansas' lead and closing schools for the rest of the school year. Kansas was the first state to shut down schools.
A month ago, Governor Kelly ordered that all K-12 schools in the state close. Within days, a group of Kansas educators had developed a continuous learning plan for school districts across the state.
"Kansas was the first state to say, 'You know what, it's not realistic. Let's plan for the long run.' So we kind of had a jump start at this," explained Brad Neuenswander, Deputy Commissioner at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE).
Now, as more U.S. school districts choose to close their doors for the remainder of the year and switch to distance learning, they are looking to Kansas for direction.
"I probably had 20 plus states reach out to me by the end of the week," said Neuenswander.
Tabatha Rosproy, Kansas' Teacher of the Year, helped develop the continuous learning plan. She says she has had educators from other states reach out for advice. She says the Kansas plan is even being praised by national teaching groups in the country.
"Holding us up as an exemplary model for this," said Tabatha Rosproy, Teacher at Winfield USD 465. "You know, Kansas being one of the first schools to close for the remainder of the year, I feel like we were more than happy to share that because, man, we're so much better together."
"Our Continuous Learning Task Force did all of this work to help other Kansas teachers and leaders, and we were like, 'Hey, if another state can use it, take it.' Because we're all in this together," Neuenswander added.
Both Tabatha and Brady say, one of the important things for parents, students and even teachers to remember is that this is new for everyone. They say parents and students should do what they can, at a pace that makes sense for them, and to reach out to teachers for help.
