COVID-19 & Education: A Video Q&A with WBUR’s Kathleen McNerney

“Inequality is the big issue,” Kathleen McNerney, senior producer and editor, WBUR’s Edify, told me this week in a Q&A about what her team is covering amidst COVID-19. “We’ve known that our school systems have huge inequities because our society has huge inequities. COVID-19 is breaking it open like a chasm.” 

Edify covers preschool through post-doctoral topics in education throughout Massachusetts and it has always had a strong focus on mission-oriented stories that are reflective of the society in which we live. COVID-19’s impact on education has heightened and further clarified the values that Kathleen’s team brings to their storytelling and news. 

Children, families, teachers and school districts are struggling right now. From families who don’t have Internet access, to the families who are dependent on mental health services and meals for their children that are normally provided by the school, bringing these stories about the most vulnerable are the priority themes for Kathleen and her team’s reporting right now. She is also planning ahead and asking questions that we don’t yet know the answers to yet: How will all these missed lessons and services students usually receive affect them years from now? What will the new normal look like in our schools? Will the achievement gap widen and will universities remain closed until the spring semester? 

You can hear more about what Kathleen and her Edify team are covering in the video below: 

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