Kansas Department of Education

The beginning of this school years was "a rough couple of weeks," said John Calvert, the director of the Kansas Department of Education's Safe and Secure Schools Unit. School shooting responders must learn from mistakes of the past, he said.

Missouri State Highway Patrol has received 102 tips about school shooting threats since July 1. Schools around the Kansas City area have increased security in response to a wave of threats.

Ward Worley, executive director of Plaza Academy, was charged in September with a misdemeanor. Because it's a private school, the state has no oversight on personnel issues. The mother of the victim has since enrolled her child at a different school.

Ahead of the Nov. 7 election, conservative candidates for school board seats across Kansas have repeatedly asserted that scores on the state standardized test show schools are failing. But experts say that's not necessarily true — and scores are just one part of the picture.

A legislative committee on education offered a glimpse at what Kansas lawmakers could propose during the 2024 session. The Legislature hinted at changing the formula for funding special education and pushing more school choice measures.

Unofficial results show four seats on the Kansas State Board of Education were won by conservative candidates who want to restrict how race and social-emotional learning are taught in schools.

More suburban school districts are talking about diversity and inclusion, but their Black students say they continue to face racism and discrimination.

Missouri's two largest counties say "chaos now reigns" in the state after a judge's ruling handcuffed local health departments from issuing COVID orders. Plus, conservatives in the Kansas Legislature want to ban critical race theory in schools, but educators worry those efforts could hamper their ability to teach history honestly.

Critics say public schools are echoing liberal talking points in ways that breed white guilt and accelerate racial conflict.

The rules are different for virtual school instruction outside a pandemic. That means students who choose online next year won't be Zooming into a class being taught at their neighborhood school.

The challenge of holding smaller classes to meet social distancing rules has meant the state needs even more teachers.

Segment 1: Kansas City, Kansas, family stuck in PeruHis wife and daughter have been in Lima, Peru, since January, and Brian Copeland felt like spending…