Stephan Bisaha

Wichita’s middle and high school students should brace for at least nine more weeks of virtual learning.

On Thursday, the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education voted 5 to 2 to start the school year with remote-only classes for the district’s middle and high schools.

"It's the right thing to do for the kids and the city," said board president Sheril Logan. 

School activities will also be remote only, meaning there will be no fall sports competition. The school board will revaluate the restrictions nine weeks after school starts.

Jay Golden started 2020 with a new job as president of Wichita State University.

Three months later he announced the school was going remote-only because of the cornavirus. 

Since then, classes have been entirely online and educators worried students wouldn't want to enroll in college during a pandemic. But Golden says more students have signed up than last year. They're moving into the dorms and getting ready for in-person classes to start again on Monday. 

WICHITA, Kansas — Kansas teachers that don’t feel safe going back to crowded hallways as schools reopen could take medical leave or teach online. But at the many districts that don’t have those options, teachers eye another choice: quitting.

Ehlaina Hartman is among the hundreds of college athletes in Kansas awaiting word on when their team — specifically Emporia State women's basketball — will return to the court.

Having just graduated high school, Hartman is familiar with uncertainty and rapid change. One minute, her Spearville team is in the state basketball tournament, looking for a title. The next minute, they're processing that it's been canceled while eating at Olive Garden.

But the college freshman seems unflappable, showing off her shot and her optimism to the Kansas News Service.

Curtains have been allowed to lift since Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s stay-at-home order ended in late May.

But local theaters are still figuring out how to do so safely. And the ones that have opened are struggling to convince audiences to take a seat.

"People are not buying tickets," said J Basham, owner of The Crown Uptown Theatre in Wichita.

The Crown reopened in early June. To keep the audience safe, the theater cut its capacity in half. But even with fewer seats, Basham says he’s not filling them.