Amid COVID-19 crisis, public media steps in to provide accessible, remote learning programs

• By Yoni Greenbaum, PBS39

As COVID-19 continues to sweep the nation we are drastically altering the way we live and especially the way that we learn. In an effort to respond to the rising need for remote education, many public media stations across the country have jumped into action to create a curriculum that marries PBS content with state standards that work for local school districts.

According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, its members collectively reach nearly 99 percent of the country, including areas where families have no internet service. This is what makes public media so powerful— its accessibility. It is through community support and government funding, that public media has the power to prepare and inform the public.

When it became apparent that Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, children would not go back to the classroom, PBS39 was one of the very first stations to leverage 50-plus years of experience in educational programming and curate the distance learning initiative, Lehigh Valley Learns. This came at a crucial time when cities across the state were fighting for funding to help bring internet access to underserved communities.

PBS39 helped fill that disparity gap by creating a custom curriculum that requires only a TV. But PBS39 wasn’t the only station stepping up. The six other member stations in the state of Pennsylvania partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Education. After hours of calls and late nights with local station leaders and educators around the state, the PDE was able to release a statewide Learning at Home microsite, with hours of free and approved education content for students at varying grade levels.

Today and into the future, public media stations continue to look for ways to use government funding to pour support and resources back into the communities they serve. For example, PBS39 is working on even more programming dedicated to educational topics such as child trauma, scheduling, mindfulness for stress and managing behaviors as the weeks in quarantine roll on.

Station resources don’t stop at their broadcasts though. Online educational resources are abundant, whether they are created as custom curriculum with state educators or shared resources through PBS LearningMedia. Through Facebook forums and social media updates, live webcasts and daily newsletters, public media stations are inherently driving home their missions of supporting and inspiring their communities and will without a doubt, continue to do so.

Yoni Greenbaum is chief content officer of PBS39, the public television station operated by Lehigh Valley Public Media.

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PA Post’s parent organization, WITF, is also working with public broadcasters across Pennsylvania to provide educational resources to children while schools remain closed.