Vermont Edition

Exit Interview: Education Sec. Dan French on leading schools through COVID-19

By Connor Cyrus,

Published April 3, 2023 at 5:27 PM EDT

Secretary of Education Dan French, at a podium in 2018, said Wednesday that schools will reopen this fall with "precautions and safety measures" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. — Education Secretary Dan French lead the state's schools from 2018 through March 2023.

Dan French, who has led Vermont’s Agency of Education since 2018, is leaving his post to take a senior leadership role at the nonprofit Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, D.C.

He helped guide the public education system through the pandemic, from the first school closures in March 2020, through hybrid learning, to an eventual return to in-person classes.

Broadcast on Monday, April 3, 2023, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

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Connor Cyrus

Connor Cyrus joined Vermont Public as host and senior producer in March 2021. He was a morning reporter at WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), he started his reporting career as an intern at WPTZ, later working for WAGM in Presque Isle, Maine, and WCAX Channel 3, where he covered a broad range of stories from Vermont’s dairy industry to the nurses’ strikes at UVM Medical Center. He’s passionate about journalism’s ability to shed light on complex or difficult topics, as well as giving voice to underrepresented communities.

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Tedra Meyer

Tedra joined Vermont Public as a producer for Vermont Edition in January 2022. Before moving to Vermont, she was a journalist in New York City for 20 years. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.

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