Jodi Fortino is a General Assignment Reporter for KCUR-FM, focusing on local news in the Kansas City area. Her work also appears in St. Louis Public Radio. Jodi covers a wide range of topics, including education, politics, and social issues, with a commitment to providing in-depth and informative reporting to her community.
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Kansas City, Missouri, United States (Local)
Jodi's coverage primarily focuses on local education and government announcements in the Kansas City area, with a strong emphasis on school-related issues such as test scores, bond measures, and initiatives to support students. She may be interested in pitches related to educational policies, local government decisions impacting schools or student welfare, and human interest stories within the education sector.
Given her focus on specific locations and topics like standardized testing and LGBTQ+ equality at a local level, she would likely respond well to sources who can provide insights into these particular areas. Community activists, educators with experience in addressing these issues locally or experts familiar with regional educational policies could be valuable sources for her articles.
Pitches that align with Jodi's focus on hyper-local education news concerning Kansas City area schools are more likely to resonate with her compared to broader national-level trends or general political news.
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By: Jodi Fortino
A teacher leads a class of first grade students at Ingels Elementary School in south Kansas City.
By: Jodi Fortino
A bill headed to the Missouri governor's desk would require larger school districts to receive voter approval before adopting a four-day week. That includes the Independence School District, which switched to a four-day week this school year to attract more teachers.
By: Jodi Fortino
Independence School Superintendent Dale Herl and School Board President Eric Knipp listen to public comments before the board voted to implement a four-day school week.
By: Jodi Fortino
First grade students fill out worksheets at Ingels Elementary School, which recently switched to a year-round model.
By: Jodi Fortino
Students at Meadow Lane Elementary School in Lee's Summit line up for lunch during the school year. The school was the site for free summer meals during the month of June.
By: Jodi Fortino
Fewer children in Missouri and Kansas live in high-poverty areas, but students continue to grapple with math and reading after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools, according to the latest Kids Count report
KIDS COUNT, an annual child wellness report, found 20% of students in Missouri and 27% of students in Kansas were chronically absent in 2021-2022.
By: Jodi Fortino
This year's new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was delayed and glitchy, so many students struggled to complete it. College classes start soon, so education professionals are still helping students fill it out to get financial aid.
By: Jodi Fortino
Students at Meadow Lane Elementary School make their selections from the salad bar and head toward the cashier on April 13, 2023.
By: Jodi Fortino
Nicole's daughter stands outside Park Hill High School. Her mom worried before she enrolled that students with disabilities took all their classes in the basement, and lobbied the school district to move classrooms upstairs.
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