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 SNN@kentisd.org. 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 SNN@kentisd.org. 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 SNN@kentisd.org. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!