The Federal Way school district is getting some assistance from a local crowdfunding platform to buy 5,000 laptops for students. It’s an example of the many ways school districts are trying to make sure children have what they need for remote learning.

In a 3-2 vote, the Kent School Board has voted to extend the contract for Superintendent Calvin Watts, a move that comes amid some community controversy.

Marina Gray says her 11-year-old son has fallen into a pandemic pattern. Like many kids his age, he plays the video game Fortnite with his friends. Back in the pre-coronavirus days, Gray had strict screen-time limits, but now she’s relaxed those restrictions because the game allows him to stay social while also staying safe from the virus.

School districts are moving forward with the huge task of reinventing school during a pandemic. Now, the state has issued guidance to help with one important part — how to serve students in special education. Across the state more than 160,000 students receive special education services, and the abrupt switch to remote learning in the spring caused a lot of upheaval for those families.

When her children’s school switched to distance learning in the spring, Dana Rosenberg found herself trying to sort through a pile of emails from teachers and keeping track of multiple website logins. And she was disappointed in how little live online instruction her kids received. Now a new school year is set to begin and the Kent School District, where her kids have been enrolled, plans to begin with remote learning due to the pandemic. Rosenberg has chosen a different option for her son, who

This story originally aired on November 9, 2019. Back in 1988, the Seattle school district had a problem on its hands. Black third graders were underperforming their white classmates in reading by 29 percentage points. It was a glaring disparity, and it was getting attention. That’s the year that Keisha Scarlett started at Garfield High School in Seattle. Today Keisha is still at Seattle Public Schools, and so is the disparity — in fact, the gap has gotten even bigger.

When Alayshia Baggett, an 18-year-old from Tacoma, saw the video of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, she said she felt a lot of anxiety. “I was going back and forth through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, just refreshing, refreshing,” she said. “Because things were just popping off.”

Tacoma Public Schools, like many districts, will begin the year with remote learning due to the pandemic. But some elementary students — possibly thousands — will not get computers for months.

Parents of children with disabilities in the Puget Sound region say they’re very concerned about the school year to come, as many school districts announce that they’ll begin with remote instruction.

UPDATE, 7:02 pm: Adds information about other UW researchers contributing to the project. The pandemic is having profound effects on children, with everything from school disruptions to limited opportunities to play with other kids. Economic insecurity is also taking a toll, and that’s the focus of two University of Washington researchers.