Distance learning, Kern County style; an EdSource reporter's reflections on grief

Finding strength in unity, 22 school districts in Kern County are collaborating to create a shared platform for distance learning that offers teachers abundant resources and applications, plus lessons for every grade and subject, or the option to create them. The new system debuts Monday, April 13.

This week, Lisa Gilbert, deputy superintendent in the Office of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, explains how it’s coming together. And the county’s chief technology officer, Anthony Davis, describes how he’s solving the other big challenge the rural county faces: getting Chromebooks and internet connections as quickly as possible to the tens of thousands of students in the county who lack them.

Also, EdSource reporter Zaidee Stavely reads a powerful excerpt from “Parenting during a pandemic: A family journal,” chronicling her life in chaotic times.

For background to this podcast, check out the following from EdSource:

• Thousands of California students still without laptops and Wi-Fi for distance learning
• With students at home, “spring break” has very different meaning during coronavirus epidemic
• Parenting during a pandemic: A family journal