The unprecedented disruptions triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic have emphasised the need for strategies to navigate such large-scale crises and lead to the next normal. In particular, given their stewardship role and their provision of key services, public institutions cannot shut down but must even scale up their activities, while planning for an uncertain future. In order to explore these issues, this article looks at how schools, one of the most impacted services, in Italy, itself one of the first and most affected countries, dealt with lockdown and social distancing measures. By investigating how schools reacted to the crisis and focusing on their knowledge management strategies, the study highlights strategies to help educational institutions deal with large-scale crises and plan the new norma
