A national webinar hosted on Wednesday highlighted how two North Carolina rural school districts — Polk and Bertie — used federal COVID-relief funds to respond to student and community needs during the pandemic.
The webinar, hosted by the Rural Education Special Interest Group of the American Education Research Association, focused on the needs and strengths of rural school districts, along with the impact and sustainability of interventions following the end of COVID-relief funds.
“(The federal funding) was the catalyst for the work that’s happening,” said webinar panelist Dr. Jenny Seelig, senior research scientist at the University of Chicago’s NORC. “What we’re hearing about on this webinar is that there are passionate people, there are relationships that have been developed, and there are truths that have been shared around what that funding was and where it can go to support rural schools and communities.”…