Summit. Hello, everyone and welcome. I am the anchor of cnn newsroom weekend. Welcome to this closing plenary, reimagining the future. Schools have started in much of the nation and today of course we have had a full day of this valuable virtual summit, and so many questions remain. How should schools fully reopen . Who should remote learn . Who should teach Remote Learning . Is this the school year that is lost, and can kids really learn and benefit as best they can from such a variety of issues . And is the gap between the haves and havenots, is at widening . What needs to change right now to promote and protect the greatest potential for every child in every neighborhood in every Apartment Building in every shelter . Because times are that tough. We have good number of our kids now operating and living in shelters. We are going to try her best to tackle all of these questions. Iveot an incredible panel with me now. You have seen some of them. That you can see them. Paul kerger, president and chief executive of pbs, the nations largest noncommercial media organization. Doctor spencer crew, acting director of the National Museum of African American history and culture. Secretary arne duncan managing partner at emerson collections and former u. S. Secretary of education. And secretary margaret spelling, ceo of texas 2036, and former u. S. Secretary of education. Welcome to all of you. Thank you. If anyone has children at home you know that this is a particularly taxing and challenging time. I have got twin second graders and 15yearold High School Sophomore and challenging at a minimum is what we are all experiencing. I wanted you, secretary spelling, should we all change our expectation of what getting an education is today in the pandemic . We shouldnt change of expectations that ive won his holster and on path progressing to the fullest potential and giddy a years worth of education that we taxpayers continue to pay for and that these children and students so desperately need. What we do need to change our expectations about how thats going to happen. Clearly time is just a Concept Network the school year, these arbitrary 185 200 a schedules are out the window. We need to think about how we deploy and use human capital, our teachers. We need to think about how we use the physical plant. Everything is on the table. We reinvent education but we cannot shy away from expectation that this is not a lost year. This is a here that not only is not lost but we need to double up and make great progress for our students. Pbs kids, there any commitment to really opening childrens eyes and it really is about thinking outside the box. Should we all be looking more outside the classroom, outside of these Remote Learning classrooms that are at home . What other resources . Look, we have since a beginning 50 years ago october 4 is a 50th anniversary, we were involved in education. We start out as educational television. We are all local, our stations. Many of our stations have very deep relationships with school. Some of our stations are owned by School Systems. I got a call early march from l. A. Unified and he said look, i think with kids that are going to be at home. We know you offer this robust learning experience through broadband. We have millions of users a month. We jumped almost 1 million users all contextual plants and so forth. What he is most concerned about with the kids and i who were not going to access to broadband. We are all well aware of digital gap and even in this shortterm how to be closed that come how do we look for ways, not just in light education but true educational experiences, how do we approach of those kids . We began quickly to convert our broadcast which is how we started ironically at the beginning. There are a lot of questionsn this time were in right now of what we should be doing everytng for the work we do with littlest kids whi is all core curculum but also as a look to the future. Its clear that hybrid learning is in synchronous learning is going to be a continuum. And how do we media staons, state agencies, other organizatis like the smithsonian, how do we all come together look at this new arning paradigm and think about both how are we reaching kids that have access and means through broadband ptforms and others, to how do we make sure were not leaving kids behind, even at the nation were debating the policy of everything from access to ubiquitous broadband and so forth. This is a momt that we need to be worki very hard so that were not losing time. It also we should be looking at the future toigure out howe are building something that w close gaps in the longterm. Access, thats key. Secretary duncan, there have been no National Plan ding this pandemic as a pertains to education. School districts have been doing th best they can. And have been guided by such a variation of leadership. How worried are you about the disparitie the differences in the approaches and staards . We havent had a National Plan to defeat the virus and we havent had a National Plan t try to educate. Virus this and no red versus or state boundaries. The leadership at the federal level has been bad. [inaudible] across the country, creativity and humility and urgency and compassion still working is extraordinary. [inaudible] the fact theyre trying to do all the things by themselves is really hard. Talked about l. A. Theyre trying to put inlace and Time Health Systems and try to tt every child, every animal, family. Its unbelievable what were aski School Systems to d on the educational parthey are feeding children to try to take care of children social and emotional health. Just hard rock work at the local level and its way too hard. They shouldnt be in this positi. Its not fair and its not right. It is really hard. My heart goes out to the educators and the course to all the families and parents who feel like theyre trying their best to be surrogate teachers, instructors, and theres no lesson plan book for that. I think so many households are struggling and are and i realld about whether their kids are getting the most out of this experience, even though some of the resources are being poured into a district, districts across the country. I wonder, doctor crew, your museum is the learning and teaching institution. I grew up in Public Schools in montgomery county, maryland, a part of the curriculum was going to the smithsonian, going to the variety of smithsonian museums and buildings there. But because you had a stiff social distancing, kids may not be able to do that. Except, dr. Crew, you will be opening the doors very soon, right . But have you changed your capacity to instruct and reach kids . I think the focus for us has been to really shift our attention away from inside the building activities. A few were done an awful lot of special between teachers and school rooms. Moving more towards kind of a digital presence so that a lot of the learning, a lot of the ideas, a lot of the information that we have in the museum would now be outside the museum to a variety of people. We found not only teachers but parents and caregivers are coming to us looking for materials and things they can use to help inform their children but also give them a variety of different ideas and concepts to wrestle with. We have found to be much more creative and do that. And also we found out is what we can provide for parents and caregivers along with teachers is a chance for them to step back and allow us to interact with the children and they can have a chance to take a deep breath. We found that its been just as important as anything else in terms of how we can be helpful to all those who are now trying to figure out about learning and about education in a new kind of way. We talked about the importance of helping people care for themselves as does care for their children and care for education. Were hoping to provide that can support system so we can step forward and provide educational experiences for children and others, and caregivers and education can take a deep breath. We can regroup and go back into the conversation. Tha deep breath is really important. Families are stressed beyond any nd of notation. Anything theyve ever experiencebefore. You have familiesho are dealing with loss of js, loss of roof over their heads, rent or their mortgage not being met. How can the educational system help these families when they e trying their best to help provide the educati with these remote classrooms . Theres so many other stressors. Right. One thing i do think were saying, seeing and its been a hard lesson for sure is that parents understanding obviously how valuable our schools are, how important that are i so many ways. Secondly, they are having the lands they might not otherwise have hadnto their childrens progress and into the reading levels and how well they are doing and not come at the kind of suprt they need and the kent resources it will take. I do think the fact that parents understanding oh, my gosh, my kid may or may not be on track. Its a good thing. T what i am seeing is communities, districts above all are seeing some really disturbing numbers right off the bat as school heads back and kids are lost. We are seeing far reduced enrollment in Early Childhood programs. Are seeing reduced numbers all overhis country from kids and families, they are just check out, that is a very,ery worrisome sign and we have to find them and recover them and get them back on track. Those are the families and parents that i worry most about. Secretary duncan, how do you measure what upside to come from this very new uncharted territory for so many families . A lot of down size. We shouldnt be in this position. We have given them [inaudible] what do we do . Were talking when the show started National Tutoring program to help those kids across the country, catch up who fell behind with covid in the spring, fell behind in the summer slide during the summer and as you said, may not have been rolled back in school so they are months behind. We cant allow that to happen. We have to step up, find the kids, go get teachers, social workers and go out. What can we do differently with technology . Ways we could make sure every child in the country has access to a device into the wifi, the internet. Children should not be confined to learn in a physical school building. And let children find a path wherever that might be where they can learn anything they want anytime anywhere 24 7. Margaret has talked a lot about this, rural environment, one of our best algebra teachers not teaching when hundred kid today but i found to today are 100,000 to today and today and just doing our best best teachers to reach more and more students. Other time for individual instruction, small individual instruction, tutoring whatever it might be. Finally School Calendars obsolete. Why do we need the summer break . We just need to meet kids with arthur some kids for many kids that so we nowhere near enough. We have to be more creative and that confidence in time i think [inaudible] its been updated. Now is a time for us to do that an try something better. Pla, you agree, it really is, we are all challenge with what do we do, but isnt this the motivation of inventions, reinvention of how to best reach kids, how to maximize resources that are available . The one thing i want to add in as we were talking about parents, there are a lot of teachers in the classroom right knee. There are a lot of teachers and classrooms were trying to manage hybrid classes were you may have ten kids in class and 20 kids in distance learning. With no training on how to manage that kind of environment. The stresses on teachers is unbelievable. We manage, we create because we work with so many teachers across the country. I have sat in on a number of discussions with teachers because we have groups of Early Childhood champions that meet on regular basis. We have teachers that create virtual faculty rooms. If you listen to those conversations that should really make you sit up straight and think about we have got to get our priorities straight in education in this country. Everything has been thrown from teachers to become how to manage during this time the schools are open. The may or may not have all the tools and support they need. Parents are stretched beyond belief, and we are expecting teachers to jump in in ways that they have never tried to anticipate before. Many of our stations because we have experience in distance learning, and i agree with arne and margaret that this idea finding our best teachers and figure out how to connect them to a much wider group. I mean, that Technology Enables that but we also have to Pay Attention to how we are managing the Mental Health of teachers that are actually in the classroom now, and how we look to the future of the kent what i think will end up being a very different way of education. I agree, the School Calendar has got to shift. Maybe this is the moment for that. Parents i think the through the Spring Semester because it was march, april by the time for having to deal with the kids at home, some School Systems used the summer as a jumping off point. Many School Systems spent time trying to figure what theyre going to do in the fall and hoped the virus would be on a different trajectory. So now here we are. What do we do about it . This is a policy question, a big question by community. There has to be a moment would look at how ever going to fill these gaps, how are we going to create the opportunity our stations using the educational broadcast. Again you cannot expect in every home is going to have access. Its going to be this. Which may or may not be connected to broadband. We have done a lot of work in the space. We download stuff into a divide. You dont have to have a live broadband connection at all times. The pieces are there but we desperately need is some leadership to try to knit some of this together so you dont have 15,000 Solutions Across the country but yet some really good examples of whats working that can be built upon. Youre nodding a lot. What have you been hearing from families, caregivers, people that youve been in touch with about the digital divide, about the stress or alleviating some of the stress that just but every household is feeling . I think we go what all the others have been talking about, and that is a fact this is a new era, a new way of trying to function and operate. Everyone trying to figure out how they can best provide for the children. What weve done a lot of these two really listen to teachers and parents and to find out what it is we can do and how we can provide information in the way they find useful. A couple things set of hit us along the way is that, first of all, what people are saying is they want things in smaller bitesize chunks. You dont want a large instructional information takes a long time to navigate. But instead a lot of times they want to use and get the children engaged and then step away from and going to the next thing. We look at how we are providing Data Information to those children and to think as an institution what were kind of think about is that we are 19 different museums. As an institution what were trying to look at is how it do e begin to get her Education Department to work in unison and work in collaboration so we provide sort of a unified, organize set of materials that people can turn to and use. And how do we position those materials for people find them useful . Theres no point for us to create these things if no one wants to use them. So were listening to the teachers, listening to the parents, understanding how we can best provide the data for them. Its an important part of what we do. At the same time in this pandemic, we are also dealing with the nation with the reckoning of race. Im wondering, secretary dunc, are you any more hopeful today that children of color will have more equitable opportunities . This is the milliondollar question. We have been making calls [inaudible] i see it only bins if it works. Its a moment of reckoning for a country. [inaudible] very much in the wrong direction in terms of equity, terms of fighting basis of the last couple of years. We are finding fighting to make Public Health crisis, the pandemic and systemic racism. In chicago refighting gun violence. [inaudible] black and brown communities. The question is are we willing to reimagine, reinvent and do something that is more fair and equitable across our society, including education . I dont think youll find a cure for cancer putting a man on the mars. This is heard and will. I hope and pray we as a country can find the courage so we come out of here and not go back [inaudible] millions of kids across the country. Sitting here today i cant guarantee you that we would do that. I hope to be a small, small part of the army that works to move to a betterlace. Doctor crews, do you have any more reason to be more hopeful today . [inaudible] i have lost his idea. Im sorry. I am cautiously optimistic. I think we are at a time in the country that has the possibility what i think the wing and a better different direction. The question is do we take advantage of it and make the kind of commitment that is necessary . This commitment of resources. We begin to equalize the Resources Available to all children so that they had that chance to assess that. The other thing thats very important for us to think about is also how do we think about what these children face when they go to try to learn . What are the challenges one of the challenge i believe is now that their more at home, all of those things, the environment that are pushing against him, to take the chances away from learning the, magnified. What we have to begin to do is take that into account in serious kinds of ways. We do that when the going to school which had make sure they were fed. You have to know whats going on at home. If something happened and gotten them refocuses the meals at how do we bring them back in. This is even more magnified as we of children atome and all those issues are right in front of them rather than something they can put