Whether you want to contact a board member, speak publicly at a meeting or just keep an eye on changes in your district, we’ve updated our guide to what you need to know.
Maria Benevento
Maria Benevento is The Beacon’s education reporter. She joined The Beacon as a Report for America corps member. In addition to her work at The Beacon, she’s reported for the National Catholic Reporter, Columbia Missourian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her education reporting began in 2017, and she became a full-time Kansas City education reporter with The Beacon in mid-2021. She graduated from Creighton University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in theology and American studies. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master's degree in journalism. She’s lived in Missouri most of her life and first moved to Kansas City in 2017.
Posted inEducation
Do some kids learn better online? A new Kansas City virtual academy thinks so
Some families couldn’t wait to get out of online school. Others don’t want to leave.
Posted inEducation
KCPS’ $424 million bond proposal would close, open and move schools — and increase your taxes
The lack of a bond has left the district behind on repairs and upgrades.
Posted inEducation
Johnson County schools expected a flood of open enrollment students. It didn’t arrive
Three large districts are seeing low numbers of open enrollment applications.
Posted inEducation
Central High School football is back amid growing enrollment
Growing enrollment makes it easier to support a robust team. But that’s only part of the story.
Posted inKansas City
Year-round school is out at three KC-area schools, but another says it’s boosting test scores
The North Kansas City School District and Gordon Parks charter school have turned away from year-round school, while Hickman Mills recently introduced it.
Posted inEducation
Missouri uses money, laws to push evidence-based reading instruction
If you drop into an elementary reading lesson, you might see kids learning about the long U sound, building their vocabulary or practicing how to read aloud without sounding like robots. And if you visit Kansas City Public Schools this fall, you should see all students in the same grade learning the same thing. After […]
Posted inElections
What’s on your Kansas primary ballot this August
Kansas primary voters will decide Aug. 6 who will survive for the general election in races for the U.S. House of Representatives and seats in the state Legislature. The deadline to register to vote in the primary is Tuesday, July 16. (Here’s how to check if you’re on the voter rolls, register if needed and […]
Posted inElections
What’s on your Missouri primary ballot this August
In cases where one party is heavily favored to win, or is even running unopposed, the primary election could be your best chance to influence who ends up in office.
Posted inEducation
A high school in midtown Kansas City says it found more time for learning when it locked up cellphones
The difference one teacher saw in her English classroom was “night and day” after a crackdown on cellphones midway through the 2022-23 school year.