When school changed, learning was lost

From Laconia Daily Sun, March 25, 2022

Roberta Baker

FRANKLIN — Kelli Kneeland is no ordinary kindergarten teacher - and her young students vary greatly, too, in their early reading and writing skills and ability to sit and learn.

To her pupils at Paul Smith School, she is a playtime coach, a role model for kindness and behavior, a story reader, question asker, explainer, attendance taker, and guide for exploring a novel world.

She’s also a spotter of individual needs and levels – a job made more pressing and complex by COVID.

“This year I have a kindergartener already reading at a first-grade level. The kindergartener next to her did not know the letters in her name,” said Kneeland, who has taught for eight years at this pre-k -through-grade three school in Franklin...

Click here to read the full story by Roberta Baker, in Laconia Sun