Wide Ruled: The future of Kansas schools with education commissioner Randy Watson
June 7, 2017 | Nathaniel Bozarth
Editor’s note: In partnership with the Wide Ruled podcast hosted by Brainroot Light and Sound, Startland News hopes to offer its audience more avenues to learn about innovators in Kansas City. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.
Wide Ruled is a Kansas City-based podcast focused on equality in education. Each episode showcases a struggle or triumph in working toward a better education system.

Nathaniel Bozarth
In this episode, host Nathaniel Bozarth talks with Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson about the Kansas School redesign initiative — a push for Sunflower State educators to think more entrepreneurially about schools.
Home of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision, Kansas does not historically have the best track record as far as systemic inequality in education goes. Bozarth’s conversation with Watson looks to the future of Kansas education, discussing the Kansans Can vision as well as inequity in Kansas education.
Listen to the conversation in the podcast below.
Nathaniel Bozarth is a regional Emmy-award winning producer with Brainroot Light and Sound. Over the past three years he’s teamed up with Christopher Cook to create engaging documentary content on how race and immigration impact opportunity in America. Wide Ruled is Brainroot’s newest production on this trajectory. @bo_nathaniel

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Blooom to expand with $4M Series A
Financial tech firm Blooom is blossoming into a local startup success story. The Leawood-based company announced Thursday that it raised $4 million in a Series A round to expand its operations. QED Investors from Alexandria, Va., led the round, which also included DST Systems Inc., Commerce Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners and UMB. Blooom created an online…
Report: KC needs (a lot) more venture capital
The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute released a report that says Kansas City needs more venture capital for its biotech industry. Just how much venture capital? That is up for debate. Wayne Carter, Life Sciences Institute CEO, said $100 million is the common amount thrown around in conversation regarding Kansas City’s need, and while…
90 on the Clock with ShotTracker
90 on the Clock with ShotTracker By John McGrath, KCPT, and Bobby Burch, Startland News Ed’s Note: Flatland and Startland News have partnered to highlight Kansas City’s innovators and entrepreneurs, all in 90 seconds. This is the third episode in the five-part series. From propelling the game’s emergence in the early 1900s to honing hall of fame players like…
The WTF Series: Agile
On a daily basis, Ben Kittrell translates the jargon-filled world of technology for clients of his tech consultancy. The Words that Frustrate (WTF) series aims to offer readers some clarity in an industry dominated by techies’ confusing argot. In the stone age of software development, there was one way to manage projects, and we called it “Waterfall.”…
