Study Hall from School News Network

Following a recent multi-billion-dollar settlement by Meta over allegations its sites endanger children and teens, Kent Career Tech Center seniors Chloe Riley and Danny Dicosola talk about the positives and negatives in their use of platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Kent ISD Mental Health Liaison Ashley Myers joins the conversation about how social media can be addictive and harmful to students, but also beneficial when used wisely.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

The beginning of a new school year brings excitement and stress for district superintendents, and none more so than for two stepping into that role for the first time. John Philo and Cherie Horner, newly hired heads of the Grandville and Kenowa Hills school districts, respectively, talk about navigating everything from tracking enrollment and last-minute hires to connecting with their communities, while always putting students first.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 districts face in the coming school year.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

Since 2006, Kent School Services Network 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 Godwin and all 49 schools it serves in Kent County. 

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 and other leaders. In this episode of “Study Hall,” we talked with them about the ups and downs of high-school life, their plans for college and careers, and their concerns about what challenges they could face in the future.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 SROs Jon LaSotta and Chad Wells, Kent County sheriff’s deputies whose beat is the hallways of Kent City Community Schools.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 four-year journey to America and his efforts to bring the rest of his family, who were approved for refugee status until the Trump administration suspended the program.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 Kennedy in Grandville, about how teachers are creatively preparing students for a world that will be filled with AI.     

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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, and how she engages students with strategies like “brain movies.”   

Click here to watch a short video on Amy Dyksterhouse leading a reading activity.

You can download this episode of “Study Hall” by clicking on the embed above, or listen to it right here on School News Network. If you would rather read our conversation, click on the Transcript tab here. You can also subscribe to the podcast through the RSS feed here, find it on many of your favorite streaming platforms, or listen to more episodes in the player below. A shorter version of this podcast can be heard on WGVU Public Media, 88.5 FM.

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

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 learning how to be gig-ready musicians. SNN talks to students Millie Fernandez, Maggie Geurink and SJ Cale about growing as musicians and as people under ensemble director Ryan Wallace.    

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!