Mike Sherry
Contributor and Former Senior Reporter
Stories by Mike Sherry
School Shootings Pit Safety Vs. Pedagogy
In the aftermath of World War II, amidst Cold War tensions with the Soviets, U.S. students practiced “duck and cover” drills to prepare for nuclear attack. Fast forward more than half a century, and one of the most common safety precautions in schools today has nothing to do with a far-off threat; “active shooter” drills…
Kansas City Public Schools Takes Big Step Toward Full Accreditation
The Kansas City Public Schools district is one of just a handful throughout Missouri that is not fully accredited by the state, but that could change based upon annual performance results released today by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Kansas City district scored an 82.9 percent on the report card, which…
Regional Effort Aims to Improve Health and Education of Native Americans
If you want to know how many American Indians live in the United States, the Census Bureau will tell you — sort of. That’s because its count of approximately 2.6 million Native Americans, or about 0.8 percent of the population, mostly groups them together with indigenous Alaskans. The same goes for federal health and education…
Educators And Execs Welcome Workforce Development Collaboration
“Our students are not widgets!” Certainly that is the sentiment of educators who see business involvement in schools as “putting in orders” for workers. Yet that refrain might be less common in an era when the whole notion of career and technical education is evolving way beyond shop class. Maybe that’s because each side understands…
A Digital Downside: Cyberbullying
In the old days, the mean kid at school would rough up people on the playground or shove them out of the way at the water fountain. But the advent of technology has brought with it the person who harasses classmates on social media or hacks into their online accounts. As the digital world continues…
Candidates to Replace Sly James Compete for Likes
The idea seemed far-fetched when it was first suggested in October to East High School teacher Katharine Perna. What if her multiculturalism and social justice class could persuade the nine leading mayoral candidates to answer questions, in person, crafted by the students themselves? On Wednesday night, before an audience of about 150 people in the…
Grading the Soft Skills
It’s the time-honored question from students: when are we going to use this in real life? But as we have seen in this season of Take Note, schools are increasingly focused on the “soft” skills that are relevant for the workplace, such as critical thinking and team work. That brings up another question for the…
All In The Family
Dave Damico has fond memories of talking baseball with his grandfather while growing up in Grandview, Missouri, just south of Kansas City. But one subject Damico’s grandfather rarely discussed — save for mention of fleas and lice — was his time in the trenches as a regimental-supply sergeant during World War I. Nor does Damico…
Are School Buildings Obsolete?
A “school without walls” is typically a euphuism for a building that substitutes collaborative learning for the standard approach of stationing teachers in front of a classroom full of students. But the internet age has brought us to a point where walls literally are superfluous — where students do their work online as part of…
Do You Know Twelfth Street’s (Famous) Past?
If there’s a street that defines Kansas City, Missouri, which one would you say it is? Obvious candidates include Ward Parkway, The Paseo and Southwest Boulevard. But what would you say to the dark horse selection of 12th Street? It’s a relatively pedestrian thoroughfare now, but it has a bawdy history that reaches back to…