captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, aust 29th: a special report: covid-19 and the classroom, how educators, students and parents are gearing up for an unfamiliar school year. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend imade possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow

can help you make thmost of today. nmutual of america ial group, retirement services and investments. additional suprt has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a patvate corpn funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. for millions of students and their families, this time of gathering school supplies and preparing for the first day of classes, but the coronavirus has changed all that. for city leaders and educators, the summer has been spent weighing whether or not students can return to school safely or at all. this weekend, for our special ovid-19 and the classroom," we'll be exploring what parents, children and educators are planning as this unconventional school year begins. but first, here's the news summary.

in the wake of hurricane laura, at least 16 peop are dead,, thousands of homes are destroyed and more than half a million redents are without today, on the 15th anniversary of hurricane katrina's landfall in new orleans, residents in southeast louiana where laura t are just beginning the cleanup process. losiana governor john bel edwards in a series of tweets this m confirmed seven deaths in the state were due to carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe ope of portable generators indoors. he warned residents to never use generators indoors or a garage. officials in texas also reported three deaths from ca monoxide poisoning. before and after satellite imagery shows the extent of severe damage to trees ang structures ahe storm's path. more than 400,000 homeare without power in louisiana and local officials warn icould be weeks before power is restored. the state's department of heth estimates more than 220,000 people are without water. yesterday president trump approvedederal disaster assistance for those affected by the storm.

this morning, he traveled to louisiana and texas to survey the damage. n.b.a. players retto the court thisfternoon after a dramatic three day work-stoppage in respoe to the police shooting of jacob blake. the n.b.a. players association and the league agreed to form a social justice coalition, and many n.b.a. arenas will be used as voting sites this fall. on wednesday, the milwaukee bucks did not take the court for playoff game against the orlando magic. this led to league-wide cancellations, and players in seother sports, including ll and soccer followi their lead. in kenosha, which is about 40 miles sou family of jacob blake called for unity today in dding justice over the shooting. police shot blseven times in the back last sunday. he remains in the hospital and is now paralyzed. the number of infected with the coronavirus neared 25 million worldwide today. in the unitees new confirmed cases continue to fall. the new york times tracking project shows new cases are down 21% over a 14 day period still, more than 46,000 cases wereeported and more than

000 people died of covid-19 in the u.s. yesterday alone. in berlin this morning, thousands marched to protest government restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. police broke up the march before noaying the demonstrators were not following a court order that mandates social distancing. chadwick boseman, best known as the star of "black panther,"ay died yesterdf cancer. >> i never freeze >> sreenivasan: playing king t'challa in "black panther" was the honor of boseman's career, according to a statement posted on social media. the 2018 movie became a global cultural phenomenon, inspiring millions, especially african- american moviegoers, as the first major superhero movie to >> why is it important to yout. that there's a movie like this that represents black heroes? >> okay. um, it's important because i didn't have this growing up. >> sreenivasan: boseman also portrayed several real life black icons on screen, including jackie robinson, james brown,

and thurgood marshall. the newshour's jeffrey brown spoke with him about portraying the first black justice on the u.s.me court as a young lawyer in 2017's "marshall." >> the great thing ie that you do he destination. you know what he's going to become. >> brown: yes, even if he doesn't know it at the moment. >> even if he doesn't know it at the moment. and so you can't play what he doesn't know >> we've beeg for this country >> sreenivasanboseman appeared da 5 bloods," was spike lee's" noleased in june on netflix. boseman was diagsed with colon cancer in 2016 and died at home surrounded by his wifend family, according to a statement. chadwick boseman was 43 years old. for more on chadwick boseman's and international news visit w.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: most families got a sense of what this coming semester might look like back in march when schools across the

country suddenly made the switch to remote learning due to covid- 19. it was an early indicator of which students might, and might not, succeed. i recently spoke with form kentucky education commissioner and dean and professor of education mont university in nashville, wayne lewis about what lessons were learned and how we move forward. >> i think we learned a lot in the spring. there can be very significant differential impacts on kidand families when we shift to remote learning. so, for example, if you're talking about my family and the shift to remote learning, because of the socioeconomic status, the economic situation, the job situatioer that my daugas, with-- with two wparents, such as me and e, hough there are challeng associated with it, we can me it work. when you shift to a completely remote learning situation for kids tt come from low-income

backgrounds, for kids th may have one, or in some cases, no parent at home, parents with lower levels of education, you can have really disparate impact, particularly on low-income kids, particularly on kids who historically have not been served well by our schools. we're going to have to icitically examine every p every program, every line item, and think about how we might spend dollars different, so that with additional investment, we can transform the way schooling looks for kids. >> sreenivasan: now, tt said, there's still at least, 10 or 11 million kids that don't have access to the same digital tools, right? ipads at home, or-- or laptops the case for everyone.ill not and even if they had a computer, there is still the of broadband and whether that's a universal lifeline service or utility, or should be considered thatversus if it's, you

know, a luxury. >> you know,nk we're at the place at this point in the 21st century where there shouldn't be any d broadband access and access to digital tools and digita resources is not a luxury. it'sn absolute necsity. and when we think about kids not we should think about it very similar to the way we would think if kids di't he access to electricity, righ there's no way in the 21st century environment, as wee preparing for a 21st century workforce for these kids, that they can have the type of education that they need and that they deserve, unless we can ensure that ery child has access to those resources. and i want to be really clear that that is not the responsibility solely of schools. so, to say that it's the school districts to make sure that all kids have access to that, i don't think that's the case. it's going to take partnership

on the part of federal and state governments to make sure that families have that type of access. >> sreenivasan: wayne, finally, just academically, how should parents be looking at this year going forward? i mean, given the school districts and the cities and the composition of the workforce in which unions might support strikes, and-- it's not going to be a normal year, but at thetime, we still want our cucldren to be ed and advance. or that's a scary question me, and here's why. we understand from the research literature that kids who lose an academic year tend to be disadvantaged for the better part of their academic careers. kids that leave-- that lose two academic yrs, the chances that they'll ever tch up are

slim to none. so even while we're dealing with this pandemic, this very real public health crisis, we cannot afford to lose an academic year. 're not just talking about an academic year. many of our kids have been out of school, for all intents and purposes, since march of last year. and what i see happening on the ground is not much different than what we've seen traditionally with education in the united states, which is parents and families who have resources, who have time, are ensung that their kids are not only not falling behind, but they're using those resources to make sure that their kids move ahead, while at the same time, fa and kids who have traditionally been underserved and don't have resources are falling r behind. the effect of which, unless we are intentional in intervening here, is large achievement gaps andarily

the past.ts that we've seen in >> sreenivasan: all right, joining us. so much for >> absolutely. >> sreenivasan: covid-19 concerns have forced schools and universities around the globe to rethink how to safely mainin social distancing and get back to the work at hand. remote learning is not an option thinking aboutrsono they are learning outdoors. newshour weekend's christopher booker has more. >> reporter: come rain, snow or shine, the kids who attend the little leaf school-- a natur preschool just norty of new york are outside for much of the day. >> we serve children ages two to five. we have a small twosroup, which we call the acorns. then we have the sugar maples that are ages three to five. they'll have geaf it's a rainy da

they have onain pants, rain boots, a jacket. they're ready to play. eporter: theresa mccaffrey is the founder and head of little leaf schoolwhich has three locations along the hudson river and started heren hastinhudson. so you actually put up strings >> just in tinning of the year, so that they understand the boundary. this is our sixth but in t beginning, my goal was to be outside, someplace beautiful, preferably the forest, and have a group of kids with me playing. and there's a whole movement now of early childhood environmental educators.i think it's a great o work. wey have to be a team and brainstorm and make things work because every day is an adventure. >> reporter: as parents consider classrooms, interest in outdoor programming has surged. we're just a few weeks away from opening. where are you in terms of your preparation and how many students are scheduled to come? >> so, we're totally filled. said we have to keep our has

groupings no bigger than 15. i've spent the summer doing zoom calls with parents and listening to their fears and anxieties. and teachers, too. i've spent time taing to teachers about their fears and anxieties, and training them on the safety protocols that we have to have in place. >> reporter: studies of covid-19 transmission have shown it's much riskier to be indoors with poir circulation, making outdoor classrooms a much safer, t is outdoor school onlyr. possible in rural or suburban districts? ier in the summer, new york city launched its open streets program, promi10ng to convert miles of city streets to pedestrian-friendly zones, areas for bicycles a outdoor dining. f , 9,000 permits have been granted to restaurants. proponents of outdoor schools say this could be used for the city's 1,700 schools. >> schools are hungry to use outdoor space so that their

students and teachn work together in ways that are safe in some cases, even healing and inspiring. how about thatyes? ( cheers ) >> reporter: brad laer is a council member in new york city. he said lf of the schools in his brooklyn dishave requested permission to close streets next to their schools to expand outdoor spa for students. >> the teachers we've talked to have beeortive, and the principals we've talked to have been supportivas well. we're not looking to dictate what schools have to do. we're looking to offer them >> reporter: taking classesdo. outdoors is certainly not a new idea. new york city had "open air schools" over a century ago when tuberculosis and the spanish flu hit the city. >> yes, in 1918, when the pandemic hit, there was outdoor schooling. this isomething that's taking place all around the world, all around the country. we just have to make sure every school has access. >> reporter: how do you apply somethinlike this equally throughout all of new york city's 1,700 schools? >> yeah, those schools that have a really big playground can do a

on their playgrounds. those schools that don't have a playground might be across the this one right here.park, like this would be plenty oupspace to put a few tents. and every school is located on a street, and street space, as we've seen with our restaurants, if we can get 9,00aurants permits for street space, we can llgive that to schools as >> reporter: for sarah ferholt, a music teacher and parent of two scol-aged kids, outdoor learning is a no-brainer. >> i would love to teach outdoor fu-time. and particularly as a sic teacher, everything i do has been deemed high-risk and something i'm not allowed too in person. for good reason, you know, no singing, no movement, no holding hands. all of the things i do as a band teacher. >> rep do your fellow teachers share this desire to be outside, or is there resistance within the teacher's group >> you know, everybody's different. many, many teachers would love to teach full-time outdoors. and some teachers, that's a new idea. of course, somhers don't want to. but i don't think this is a prescriptive. >> reporter: but both the principal and teachers' unions in new york city have called for

a delay in reopening.they are ce school buildings' ventilation systems and covid-19 t plans are inadeq. new york city, the largest school district on track for partial in-person learning, plans to reopen schools on september 10-- less than two weeks away. on monday, mayor bill de blasio announced that new york city schools can submit plans to have outdoor learning, and the approving them next week.ill >> the department of education is going to work with principals to opeore space, if that's what they want, if that's what they think will work for their school community. in certain cwe can close off streets for a period of time. in certain cases, we ce space available in local parks. >> reporter: but the head of the teacher's union said in response, "the mayor'sning plan connues to fall short, particularly in terms of necessary testing." and the principal's union called mayor de blasio's outdoor planning "far tolate" and the guidance "short-sighted," and noted "without funding, thisba plan will exac existing

disparities." so far, at least 585 new york city schools-- that'one-third of the district's schools-- have submitted proposals to go outdoors. learning, approval from the city can't come soon enough. >> this is like a good lesson for r kids in what safety looks like. how do from the virus?er safe that's the work we have too together. oithat's not all solved by outside, but it is solved by being able to be and act together in person more than online. >> reporter: is there time to implement something like this? >> yes, there is time. we've got to get started. this is why 're out here today. >> sreenivasan: as we've just seen, finding space for outdoor classrooms in urban areas is much more challenging than it is in places like portland, maine, where the city has appointed coordinator to work with schools on creating outdoor learning options. i recently spoke with educator and senior associate with great gahools partnership kate oqui from maine, who acknowledges that with some ingenuity the challenges can be met.

>> when we talk about outdoor learning, we talk about a tremendous equity challenge across the country, because we have many school really have so little access to any kind of green space. and i think this is a challenge that our citready should have been working on. and i think ifhis current crisis pushes every city in the country to say, "h can we make sure that every schoolchild has access to a green space in which to learn?" that will actually be a really positive outcome. however, if a schoolas even, you know, a dirt play-yard or a parking lot, those kinds of areas can have more potential than we realize. and i think looking at your parking lot in your school and asking "how can we make this into an exciting and inviting learning space?" that's an amazing, novel problem. and if you bring your students into the solution of that problem, there's your first unit. >> sreenivasan: you know, you mentioned equity, and i also wonder, how do you make su for example, kids with either

learning challenges, phycal disabilities, have access to whatever these work-arounds are as well? >> you know, we want to make sure that we are making outdoor spaces which are accessible, which are very close to, you , close to the doors of the building, and where students can their physical disability might be. in terms of other kinds of challenges, in terms of, like, attention challenges or emotional challenges, there is quite a bit of research. and i know from my own decades of experienc students often gain tremendous social and ional benefits just from being ouide. and they can gain tremendous benefits if they're engaging in nahere-based learning, where teacher has actually said, "how can i use nature, or the nural surroundings, touild the learning experience?" but they can also benet just from being outside. so even if they're sitting in a circle outside and l calculus or talking about

history, there are still social and emotional benefits that can really accrue both to the students and to the teacher, to everyone in that situation. >> sreenivasan: sometimes when pele hear these kinds of ideas, it's, "oh, well, this is the nature stuff. that's really nice. i'm glad you're teaching environment-related content. but what about the rest of school?" how would kids get the necessary curriculum they need outdoors? >> so, when we talk about outdoor learning, we can talk about two different things. so i think for many teachers in. this context, outdoor learning is simply going to mean taking asas much of the curriculu they can, that they would have taught indoors, and just teaching it outdoors d the sacussions, the same texts, the same problems. i know that pr particular challenges for teachers who need equipment, like science teachers, so i know not all of the currican translate. but for many teachers, outdoor

learning might just mean learning the same things butpan an outdoor. nature-based learnso,bout lessons,ctivies, experiences which are rooted in having students connect witnature-- it is absolutely true that we can make those experienc as academically rigorous as anything that students can do indoors. no matter what questions we are instigating, say, in a science clas matter what we're asking art class or an english class, we can have themead very complex texts that discuss those questions or thaent ideas about that art. and we can ask them to produce academically-rigorous products, if the context for their work is an outdoor exploration. >> sreenivasan: all right. kate gardoqui, thanks so much >> thank you so much. very appreciated.

>> sreenivasan: that's all for shthis edition of p.b.s. nr weekend. for the latest news updates visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan thanks for watching. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by wg media access group a access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made

possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. lthe cheryl and pmilstein family. ubarbara hoperberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. rat mutual of ame, we believe taking care of tomorrow fn help you make the most today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and vestments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a varief no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team yon help find onthat fit to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. aadditional supporteen provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private

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so steves: ento is the ideal home base for exploring the stunning amalfi coast. tourists line up each morning, packing the buses which make the memorable day trip. but this is a case when i hire a cabbie, like raffaele monetti, to be my drir and guide. time for a trip on the amalfi? y. -yes. -o but, especially for a small group, when you factor in the value of your time

and the frustration of trying to explore a congested a day with your own driver can be a fine value. in-love-with-life italy at its best. dramatically perched port towns, and historic rui the amalfi is italy's coast with the most. whether you ride the bus or a taxi, the trip south from sorrento is one of the world's great road trips. you'll gain respect for the rsalian engineers who built the road and even more respect for the bus drivers who drive it. [ horn honks ] cantilevered hotels and villas cling to the vertical terrain, and beautiful, sandy coves tease from far below.

notice how the mediterranean really twinkles. traffic is so heavy that private tour buses are ouly allowed to go sout. even so, because of the narrow roads and tight corners, expect some delays... -[ speaking italian ] steves: and enjoy the show.

>> from tennessee state prison in nashville, tennessee... "a concert: behind prison walls," starring roy clark... linda ronstadt. and now from the gymsium of the tennessee state ison, "behind prison walls," our specl guest star -- johnny cash! [ cheers and applause ] [ "folsom prison blues" plays ] >> yeah! ♪ ♪ i hear the train a-comin' ♪ it's rollin' 'round the bend since i don't know when ♪hine ♪ i'm stuck ifolsom pson and time keeps dr