Kansas Officials: Medicaid Recipients Losing Coverage
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — About 70% of Kansas Medicaid recipients who’ve had their eligibility reviewed since April have lost their coverage. The Kansas News Service reports that this spring, Kansas had one of the highest rates of taking people off Medicaid rolls. Most of the recipients lost their coverage over procedural issues, like mailing paperwork too late to meet deadlines. Kaiser Family Foundation Director of State Health Reform Jennifer Tolbert says states that give the least amount of time to renew their coverage are more likely to take more people off of Medicaid. “The high procedural disenrollment rate in Kansas is actually consistent with other states that similarly have only a 30-day response or notice period," she said. Tolbert says Kansas officials could temporarily keep recipients with procedural issues on Medicaid while they streamline the renewal process.
==========
2 Dead, Another Injured, in Shooting Involving Kansas City Officer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP/KPR) — Two people are dead and a third is injured after a shooting involving a Kansas City police officer Friday night. The shooting happened after an officer called for help shortly before 9 pm near a McDonald's restaurant in eastern Kansas City. Few details were immediately available. The Missouri Highway Patrol says officers who responded found five people and the officer near a white van, and three of the van's occupants had been shot: 42-year-old Marcell T. Nelson, of Kansas City, and 42-year-old Kristen Fairchild, of Gardner, both died. The third victim suffered minor injuries. Two others were detained. The officer was not hurt. Investigators are working to determine what happened before the officer radioed for help and whether anyone else besides the officer fired a gun. A handgun was found at the scene.
==========
Police Investigate Homicide at Kansas City Apartment Complex
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) — Police are investigating a homicide at a Kansas City apartment complex. Officers were called to the Eastwood Crossings apartment complex (near the corner of I-435 and Eastwood Trafficway) early Monday morning. KMBC TV reports that one person was found shot to death inside an apartment. This marks the 81st homicide of the year in Kansas City, Missouri. That's more homicides than this date in any of the past five years.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call detectives at (816) 234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
==========
Kansas Men Among Those Indicted for Operating Gun Trafficking Ring
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Federal charges have been filed against two Kansas men for their alleged role in a gun trafficking organization in Connecticut. Authorities say residents from Connecticut and California were also charged. A federal grand jury in Hartford returned a 19-count indictment charging 46-year old Brian Baker, of Scott City, and 33-year-old Ramon Pichardo, of Elkhart, with engaging in a firearms trafficking conspiracy. Authorities say Luis Perez, of Waterbury, Connecticut, was acquiring firearms that were purchased by co-conspirators in Kansas and shipped through the U.S. Mail to a stash location that Diaz maintained in Hartford. KWCH TV reports that Perez allegedly coordinated the purchase of the firearms through Baker in Kansas and another defendant in California. Baker allegedly used straw purchasers to acquire firearms from licensed gun dealers in Kansas.
==========
Douglas County DA Says She Won't Enforce New Kansas Transgender Laws
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) — Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez says she will not prosecute anyone under a new Kansas law that bars transgender women from women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and other spaces. In a news release Friday, Valdez called the law “vague, cruel and hate-fueled.” She says her office will not use resources enforcing the law and will instead focus on crimes against kids, violent crimes and sexual assault. Supporters of the law have argued it’s needed to preserve spaces for women.
==========
KU Professor: Don't Ban Artificial Intelligence in Schools
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) — Some schools are banning artificial-intelligence apps because of concerns over cheating, but a KU professor says teachers should embrace the technology. James Basham teaches special education at KU. He says students with learning disabilities can use tools like ChatGPT to improve their writing. They could give the chat-bot a topic and then correct what it produces. Basham says schools should think of A-I as a teaching tool rather than banning it from classrooms. “This is one of those things that’s not going to go away." Basham said, "And in fact, it’s going to probably get continually more disruptive if we don’t get on the front end of it.” Basham is urging teachers to spend the summer months learning about A-I and brainstorming ways to incorporate it into lessons.
==========
Tulsa Not Included in Proposed Oklahoma City-to-Kansas Passenger Rail Expansion
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Tulsa World) — A proposed passenger rail expansion that could connect Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas, leaves Tulsa out of the mix. Oklahoma and Kansas officials are seeking federal approval to extend Heartland Flyer passenger rail service north from Oklahoma City through Wichita and up to Newton, where there is an Amtrak station. The Tulsa World reports that Oklahoma transportation officials still have no immediate plans to connect Oklahoma City and Tulsa via passenger rail service.
Oklahoma officials say extending Heartland Flyer service to Newton would allow for more connectivity to the national passenger rail network because the Amtrak train would connect to major east-west trains on both ends of its route. The Heartland Flyer currently runs from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, Texas, making stops in Norman, Pauls Valley, Ardmore and Gainesville along the route. The proposed rail expansion to Newton could include stops in Edmond, Guthrie, Perry and Ponca City.
Fort Worth is one of the many stops for the Texas Eagle, an Amtrak train that runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. Amtrak’s Southwest Chief train also runs from Chicago to Los Angeles, with a stop in Newton.
Members of the Northern Flyer Alliance have advocated for the Oklahoma City-to-Newton expansion for more than a decade. That route used to be traversed by Amtrak’s Lone Star, which ran between Chicago and Houston until 1979.
Oklahoma and Kansas officials are asking the Federal Railroad Administration to add the Heartland Flyer expansion to its Corridor Identification and Development Program, which would allow the states to unlock federal funds to expand passenger rail service.
==========
Kansas Receives More than $3.6 Million for Youth Suicide Prevention
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) – The state of Kansas is receiving more than $3.6 million as part of a federal grant to implement youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies. Governor Laura Kelly says the funding is aimed at reducing suicides and suicidal ideation among young Kansans, especially those between the ages of 10 and 24. The program, funded for five years, will try to reach young Kansans through schools, juvenile justice systems, substance use programs, mental health programs and the foster care system. Much of the suicide prevention work will focus on young Kansans living in Wyandotte County as well as in 12 counties in southeast Kansas (Allen, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson).
==========
USDA Announces $50 Million to Bring High Speed Internet to Southeast Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KZRG) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a nearly $50 million loan to connect thousands of rural Kansans to affordable high-speed internet. The project will improve service for hundreds of businesses and farms and more than 40,000 people in Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and Neosho counties.
KZRG reports that this is the fourth round of funding from the USDA's ReConnect Program. The latest announcement is part of a larger national announcement totaling $714 million in USDA investments in Kansas and 18 other states. To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
==========
Marlon Wayans Cited After Luggage Dispute with United Worker at Denver Airport
DENVER (AP) — Comedian and actor Marlon Wayans was cited for disturbing the peace after a dispute he said he had with a United Airlines employee over carry-on luggage at the Denver airport last week, police said Monday.
Wayans said on Instagram that a gate agent told him he had too many bags and, despite consolidating his luggage, he was told he would have to gate check his bag rather than carry it on. Wayans, who said his treatment constituted harassment, said he took his ticket and began walking onto the plane.
In response to questions about what had occurred, United issued a statement that did not refer to Wayans by name.
“In Denver on Friday, a customer who had been told he would have to gate-check his bag instead pushed past a United employee at the jet bridge and attempted to board the aircraft. The customer did not fly on United to his destination,” it said.
Wayans said he booked a flight instead on American Airlines to Kansas City, saying he would rather fly coach on another airline than fly first-class on United. He apologized to his fans in Kansas City for missing a performance.
“Sorry KC I’m gonna miss tonight’s shows due to a United gate agent who probably hated white chicks,” Wayans said on Twitter, referring to his 2004 movie which also starred his brother Shawn Wayans.
A spokesperson for Wayans, Leslie Sloane, said Wayans had a backpack, a small carry-on and garment bag with a suit jacket in it and put his backpack inside the garment bag but was still told he had to check his bag on a flight that was not full.
She said it's important to Wayans that everyone feels safe and respected when flying, no matter what class they are in.
“He felt none of that,” she said.
The citation issued to Wayans says he must appear in court in Denver on July 11.
==========
Kansas Man Drowns at Kanopolis Lake
ELLSWORTH COUNTY, Kan. (JC Post) — Authorities are investigating a weekend drowning at Kanopolis State Lake. Just before 6:30 pm Saturday, Ellsworth County sheriff's deputies and other first responders arrived at the lake following a report of a potential kayak-related drowning. The JC Post reports that the body of 47-year-old Brannon Curiel, of Hutchinson, was recovered. Sheriff Murray Marston says released no additional details on Sunday.
==========
Kansas Man Dies While Rafting on the Arkansas River
FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (Denver Post) — A Kansas man died after the raft he was in reportedly flipped over in the Arkansas River in Colorado. Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said 47-year-old Dustin Harker, of Hutchinson, died on scene. The Denver Post reports that the raft flipped in the area of Sunshine Falls around 2 pm Friday. The commercial raft was carrying Harker and additional occupants. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday to determine whether Harker died from drowning, a cardiac event or something else.
==========
Loved Ones and Volunteers Search for Missing Kansas City Man
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) — A Kansas City group has banded together to help find a man who disappeared more than a month ago. KMBC reports that 28-year-old Timothy Blake was last seen on May 3. On Sunday, a group of loved ones and the AdHoc Group Against Crime gathered to raise awareness of Blake's missing status. The group gave out flyers at three spots near Independence Center, Zona Rosa, and a gas station in the northland. They are asking people to come forward with any tips.
The circumstances of Blake's disappearance are suspicious. The 28-year-old always showed up for family activities and deeply loved his family. His family regularly got together. Now, he's missed Mother's Day, a wedding and graduation. The 28-year-old is one of 13 siblings. His family has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help find Blake.
==========
2 Hospitalized After Helicopter Crash in Kansas Wheat Field
PRATT COUNTY, Kan. (JC Post) — Two people were injured when their helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed into a Kansas wheat field. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the accident happened Sunday afternoon in Pratt County. Authorities say the 1972 Bell Helicopter was piloted by 38-year-old Nathaniel Taylor Brown, of Georgetown, Kansas. The JC Post reports that the pilot was starting to land when the aircraft ran out of fuel and the engine shut off. The helicopter came to rest in a wheat field about five miles southwest of Pratt. Brown and a passenger (36-year-old Andrei Cherushnikov, of Renton, Washington) were transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center.
==========
United Airlines Flight Makes Unscheduled Landing at KCI Due to Fumes in Cockpit
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A United Airlines flight made an emergency landing at the Kansas City International Airport Sunday night. The United Airlines flight #464 departed from St. Louis and was heading to Denver. KCTV reports that fumes in the cockpit were the cause of the impromptu landing. There were 37 passengers aboard, including the flight crew. No injuries were reported. The KC Fire Department Aircraft Rescue responded to the scene. The incident remains under investigation.
==========
Wichita Woman Crowned Miss Kansas 2023
PRATT, Kan. (KWCH) - On Saturday, Courtney Wages of Wichita was crowned the 2023 Miss Kansas. Sixteen women from across the state competed in this year’s pageant in Pratt. Following Courtney was Sierra Marie Bonn as the first runner-up, Alexis Smith as the second runner-up, Lluvia Escalante as the the third runner-up, and Alison Nofsinger as the fourth runner-up. KWCH TV reports that Courtney Wages will receive a scholarship award and represent the state throughout her one year term.
==========
Oldest Captive Chimpanzee in the World Celebrates 69th Birthday in Manhattan
MANHATTAN (KSNT) – Manhattan’s Sunset Zoo is celebrating its chimpanzee for living a long life and breaking a record. The Sunset Zoo is celebrating Susie, a female chimpanzee, who is turning 69 today (MON). That makes her the oldest living chimpanzee in human captivity in the world. KSNT reports that Susie came to the Sunset Zoo in 1974.
==========
Kansas Governor Picks High-Ranking DEA Official to Take Over Embattled Highway Patrol
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas governor chose a high-ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Friday to head the state highway patrol, replacing a retiring superintendent who is facing federal lawsuits over the agency's policing and allegations that he sexually harassed female employees. Governor Laura Kelly's appointment of Erik Smith came on retiring Superintendent and Col. Herman Jones' last day. Smith has strong ties to Kansas. He is a native of the small central Kansas town of Ellsworth, holds a criminal justice degree from Friends University in Wichita, and served nine years with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office before joining the DEA. He has been chief of the DEA's Inspection Division since 2021.
Smith's appointment must be confirmed by the Kansas Senate next year. Lawmakers are out of session for the year, but a committee of Senate leaders will determine this summer whether Smith can serve as acting superintendent until a confirmation vote.
Meanwhile, a trial is scheduled in September in the sexual harassment lawsuit against Jones, DeVore and the state, alleging that the female employees faced a hostile work environment. Jones has denied allegations of improper conduct, and Kelly has stood by him, telling The Topeka Capital-Journal in December that the state conducted two independent investigations and found “no substance to the allegations.” Jones and DeVore settled a third lawsuit last year, filed by two majors who alleged that they were pushed out of the patrol in 2020 in retaliation for helping female employees file sexual harassment complaints. The patrol restored the two men to their previous positions, and they received more than year's worth of back pay.
==========
KU Researchers Claim 99% Accuracy Detecting ChatGPT Fakes
LAWRENCE, Kan. (GIZMODO) — Scientists from the University of Kansas have published a paper detailing an algorithm that they say detects academic writing from ChatGPT with an accuracy rate over 99%. That's according to a report from Gizmodo.com. As AI chatbot content begins to flood the world, one of the biggest concerns is reliably spotting the difference between the words of robots and real human beings. There have been a few attempts to build ChatGPT detectors, and dozens of companies are competing to build AI-spotting technology. But so far, none of the options work well. The ChatGPT spotter described in the KU paper is only built to work in specific contexts, but its reported success seems promising.
The paper, which was peer-reviewed and published in Cell Reports Physical Science, describes a technique that sniffs out AI-penned academic research articles. The study selected a set of 64 scientific researcher articles written by human authors across a variety of disciplines—from biology to physics. The researchers claim their algorithm detected entire articles written by ChatGPT 100% of the time.
The researchers hope others will use their work to tailor detection software to their own niches and purposes. “We tried hard to create an accessible method so that with little guidance, even high school students could build an AI detector for different types of writing,” said Heather Desaire, an author of the paper and a chemistry professor at the University of Kansas, in an interview with EurekAlert. “There is a need to address AI writing, and people don’t need a computer science degree to contribute to this field.”
The model built by Desaire and her colleagues won’t work out of the box for teachers hoping to penalize cheating high schoolers. However, Desaire said you can theoretically use the same technique to build a model that detects other kinds of writing. As promising as these results may be, tech companies and AI boosters say tools like ChatGPT are in their infancy. It’s impossible to say whether detection methods like this one will stand up if AI continues developing at the pace seen over the last few years. (Read more.)
==========
K-State Salina Campus Getting Millions to Address Pilot Shortage
SALINA, Kan. (KNS) — Kansas State University's Aerospace and Technology Campus in Salina is receiving almost $5 million in federal funding to help address the national shortage of pilots. The money from Congress will go toward building a flight simulation center at the K-State Aerospace and Technology Campus. The federal government estimates there will be about 18,000 openings for commercial pilots this decade. Only about half of those vacancies are being filled. The shortage has led to flight delays and cancellations. Last October, K-State received $10 million from California-based company General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to expand its aerospace research campus.
==========
Parts of Midwest Threatened by "Flash Droughts"
UNDATED (HPM) — Preliminary research from a team of meteorologists has found that something known as a “flash drought” is beginning to spread across the Midwest. Harvest Public Media reports this type of abrupt dryness could get more common with climate change. The new study predicts that by the end of the century, North America could have a 49% annual risk of experiencing a flash drought. That’s up from 32% a few years ago. Jeffrey Basara, with the University of Oklahoma’s School of Meteorology, was on the research team. He says that’s cause for concern, since flash droughts can be even more damaging than a long dry spell. “Instead of something that takes place over six months, or 12 months, these are events that happen over three to six weeks," he said. "And really, because they have rapid developments, they can catch people by surprise.” In the past, flash droughts have destroyed billions of dollars of crops, zapped water sources and led to deadly heat waves.
==========
A Kansas School Reopened Quickly After COVID. Kids' Reading Was Still Behind
COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — Students spread out in their rural Kansas classroom, answering questions with a partner about invaders atop elephants attempting to sack Rome more than 2,000 years ago.
“Do you want to read?” one of the third graders, Parker, asked his partner after the lesson on the Punic Wars. “Because I’m not really good.”
Bekah Noel told her students to jot down answers for their partners if they needed extra help writing or spelling. Halfway through the school year, with some of her students reading nearly 200 words per minute and others struggling to sound out around 10, she has had to make a lot of tweaks like this.
Exiting from the pandemic, the assumption might be that Noel’s students should be among the least scathed. The tiny, 900-student school system in Columbus pivoted to remote learning briefly in March 2020 before going back in person that fall, initially without masks. While some U.S. students spent a year or more learning online, pandemic school in rural Kansas was as normal as it got.
But the upheaval still took a toll. Students and teachers got sick, social distancing made it hard to teach kids in small groups, and the pace of teaching ground to a crawl. Three years later, Noel has more third graders than ever who are reading below grade level. That’s the true elephant in the room.
“I have kids,” Noel said midway through the year, “that legitimately cannot read.”
Noel is used to adapting to students’ needs, and she has been pulling out all the strategies in her toolkit. She pairs strong and struggling students, reads questions aloud and jots down dictated answers for students to rewrite in their own handwriting.
As the pandemic was raging, the district also adopted a new strategy: a reading curriculum that is heavy on phonics — a stressful gamble that the science-backed curriculum might help kids catch up.
There are signs the changes are helping, particularly for older students. Educators from other schools have been coming to observe the changes. But this is third grade, the last year students are typically taught to read.
And time is running out.
___
During a group session in October, third grader Emmett Mayfield and a classmate dismantled the word “athletic” with paraprofessional Jessica Seitz. Columbus used federal pandemic relief money to double the number of paraprofessionals assigned to help its small groups of struggling students.
“How many syllables do we have?” she asked. Emmett answered: “Three.”
It was part of a lesson on closed syllables, a term that refers to a vowel being followed by a consonant. This matters because it creates a short vowel sound, meaning the letter “A” in the word is pronounced as “ah.” If it was a long vowel, it would sound more like the name of the letter.
“Make a fist,” Seitz instructed. “We are closing that door. The consonant is stopping that vowel from saying its name.”
This type of lesson is a common one now that the district emphasizes the so-called science of reading that is gaining momentum nationwide. Schools piloted two new reading curriculums for a few weeks in November and December of 2020, as COVID-19 case levels soared.
Spared initially, small towns in rural Kansas were so overwhelmed that hospitals had to fly patients hundreds of miles away for treatment. Parker’s mom, Chelsea Brinson, a medical assistant, was testing droves of COVID samples at a clinic. “Everybody was stressed out,” said Brinson, who now works as a nurse’s assistant in the district.
Students started masking. But that meant mask breaks were added to the already disrupted schedule.
Reading specialist Kelly Walters asked the overwhelmed teachers whether they wanted to put the reading pilot on hold.
“One hundred percent of our staff said, ‘No, we want to move forward,’” recalled Walters, who struggled so much to learn to read herself that she suspects an undiagnosed case of dyslexia was to blame.
The program they picked weaves phonics and other reading changes throughout the curriculum. No longer are those elements mostly isolated to worksheets. Staff praised it, which was encouraging to Walters, who tested the materials on her youngest child, just 3 at the time, while stuck at home early in the pandemic.
“As a mom, who was a struggling reader, to give that gift —” she said, and then stopped and corrected herself. “I shouldn’t have said it was a gift, because it’s not a gift. It’s a right.”
___
In late November, Noel taught a science lesson on the skeletal system. Like the rest of the curriculum, it also incorporated reading instruction, with “structure” among the vocabulary words she highlighted.
“Have you ever seen a house being built before?” Noel asked. The students blurted out examples before she continued: “And they’ll have the wood up first, and it will be like beams.”
She then asked whether the word “structure” was a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. Why, she then asked, was it one of the vocabulary words in a lesson on the skeletal system?
Parker shared his answer: “Because our spine holds up the rest of our body.” Noel rewarded him with a fist bump.
Parker started the year reading at the level of a first grader. He was, Noel, said, “embarrassed.” Midway through the year he seemed stuck, learning new skills and then seeming to forget it all. Staff were worried. He was flagged for a special education assessment.
When the pandemic first closed schools in 2020, Parker was a kindergartener. His mom recalled “freaking out,” trying to figure out what to do with him. To get him to do schoolwork, his grandmother or someone else had to sit beside him at all times. Otherwise, Parker said, he would “squirrel off.”
Columbus and many other rural school systems reopened that fall. With strong opposition to masks locally, the district instead added “sneeze guards” to desks. But in-person school was far from normal. The pandemic had hobbled one of teachers’ most effective tools: small groups.
Typically, they would pull kids from different classes to create groups targeting specific skills, Noel said. But with COVID, they were trying to keep each of the classes separated to limit the spread of disease. And then there was COVID itself. Between illnesses and quarantines, students and staff were missing two weeks or more of school multiple times throughout the year.
“It was taking us two days to do something that would have taken us one,” Noel said.
Noel was infected twice, forced to miss school again just this past fall because of a COVID-sickened child. Parker caught COVID in first grade, missing two weeks of school.
Across the country, federal data show, the disruptions wrought by the pandemic were accompanied by widespread learning setbacks, even in states that saw students return quickly to in-person learning. Among those showing the largest learning losses are this year’s crop of third graders, who were in kindergarten when the pandemic hit, a foundational year for learning to read.
Now Noel’s students and other third graders are under pressure to master reading ahead of later grades, where literacy is key to learning everything else.
___
By late January, it was time to show off at “Books and Breakfast,” with parents, grandparents, preschool-age siblings and friends visiting Highland School to see what the children were learning. The students sprawled around the school building, eating doughnuts and reading books to their special guests.
As Emmett read aloud from “Grumpy Monkey,” he got some help with the word “discovery” and plowed ahead, reading clearly how the bananas were “too sweet.”
“I used to didn’t like to read,” said Emmett, who started the year reading more like an early second grader, “but I just started reading.”
At home, though, he is still resisting reading, said his mother, Jessica Mayfield, a 39-year-old hospital lab technician. She blames it in part on those “awful” days of virtual learning. There were meltdowns, and she fretted even then that he would fall behind, with those early years of school so “crucial.”
Mayfield, herself an avid reader, doesn’t know what more the district could have done. “I think,” she said, “it’s just to be expected.”
Assessments showed 13 of Noel’s 24 students are reading below grade level. Many of them are kids who moved to the district in the middle of this school year. Nine have been getting the most intensive so-called tier-three level of support. Some of her students scored so highly they were evaluated for the gifted program. In a rarity, none fell in the middle tier group of kids needing just a little extra help.
It’s a trend seen elsewhere around the country as the pandemic widened the gap between higher- and lower-performing students.
Noel is working harder than ever to keep her advanced students from getting bored, assigning them special projects. Grace Epler, an advanced reader who is prone to finishing assignments early, sometimes spends her free time making up math problems, helping her classmates or playing educational games on her iPad.
State tests are looming, and it weighs heavily on Grace.
“They compare this school to all the other elementary schools in Kansas, and it scares me,” she said at lunchtime, her wrist in a pink splint after a swing mishap. “I might get, like, five wrong.”
This even though she reads nearly anything put in front of her. She is particularly partial to a book the kids wrote and illustrated themselves that documented what they will miss most about their soon-to-close school, a building filled with quirks like a toilet in an old shower stall.
Many kids in Noel’s class are progressing, but not as much as she would like.
“Those highs grew even more,” Noel said. “And the lows, they grew, but they’re still quite a bit lower.”
___
One day in April, Emmett and Parker were taking a turn in the small group getting extra reading help. After talk of the basketball and softball seasons, the small group took turns reading a book called “A Prince Among Donkeys,” with lots of words and spelling patterns they’ve seen before.
Parker rested his hand on his forehead, reading: “To Adam’s surprise, Emma smelled.” Then, a quick correction: “smelled” to “smiled.”
Imperfect though it was, something had happened over these months of phonics drills and small-group work. When the special education testing came back, not only did it show he didn’t qualify, but he also made so much progress he was close to reading at the level of a beginning third grader.
“I actually do like reading now,” Parker explained. He described evenings spent on the couch with his mother, practicing. He and Emmett are now obsessed with the same book series about a superhero cat. “It’s just fun to do.”
When Parker finished his turn reading, he had the choice of picking who would go next. But he didn’t choose Emmett or any of the other kids.
“Can I pick myself?” he asked. And he kept reading.
==========
This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.