Coronavirus in Rural America (Part CXXXI): Two Washington Post education stories feature rural schools

Both of these recent stories are by Hannah Natanson, education reporter for the Washington Post.  The first is dateline Eden, North Carolina, though it's about a school in Bassett, Virginia, population     , just across the state line.  That's because the Virginia high school used a venue in North Carolina, where pandemic restrictions were less strict, for a prom.  The headline is "How a rural Virginia town came together for an unforgettable pandemic prom," and it's a tale of rural community and resourcefulness.  

The second story is about families who moved to other places--some of them rural--so their children could attend school in person.  Now that schools everywhere are opening, these families are considering what to do--to stay or return home.  One of those families moved from near Portland, Oregon, to Homer, Alaska, population 6,000, into a cabin called "the end of the road." The kids fell in love.  Here's an excerpt: 

The family moved to Alaska last August after online schooling led to “so much screaming and tears and sadness,” Elder said. She chose the small town of Homer for its in-person learning, but also because it’s where she grew up and where two of her brothers still live with their wives and children.

The benefits were immediate: Her third-grader, Audrey, and kindergarten-aged son, Kenneth, started making progress in school again. Their faces lit up every morning when they spotted the school bus. Every afternoon, 6-year-old Kenneth listed aloud everything he learned that day.

Given Homer’s low coronavirus case rates, restaurants remained open. Rural Alaska also opened a new range of outdoor activities, including fishing and hikes with views of Homer’s harbor.

You'll have to read the entire Natanson piece to see how that family's story ends.