Talent & Education

The Detroit district and the union had been at odds over safe working conditions for teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal comes about a week after union members voted to allow leadership to launch a safety strike if certain demands weren’t met.

State law gives schools wide discretion on whether to inform the public if there’s an outbreak. That must change, says a union representing 120,000 teachers and support staff.

The governor’s office and state health officials have yet to identify schools with active coronavirus outbreaks. And under current state policy, there is no requirement of a public announcement.

School principals began asking teachers last week if they prefer to teach in person or remotely. Classes resume Sept. 8 for the district’s 51,000 students.

The COVID outbreak at CMU shows no signs of slowing, with the case count now at 54 among current students and 75 when counting others who were infected primarily at student gatherings.

Classes are moving online and dorms will remain shuttered for the first three weeks of school at EMU, while officials figure out how to adjust their reopening plans in light of coronavirus outbreaks at other colleges, including Central Michigan University.

Michigan has already reported 14 school-related COVID-19 outbreaks. CMU’s appears to be another.

The “yes” vote means union members could now walk if the district doesn’t abandon its plan to provide in-person learning to some students whose parents chose that option.

Coronavirus standards set by the CDC, WHO and Harvard point to most Michigan counties being safe for class. But a lack of specific state benchmarks means individual districts are left to wing it on their own.

With Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina facing COVID outbreaks after classes started on their campuses, MSU is switching to remote learning before students return to East Lansing.

A compromise schools plan approved by the Michigan Senate, and backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, requires weekly check-ins between teachers and students, monthly board meetings to reaffirm instruction plans and offers some funding safeguards. Unions backed the deal, but some educators are upset it was rushed just before the start of school.

Students are returning to colleges throughout Michigan. That means partying is inevitable. But state, business and local leaders are working to find a way to ensure that doesn’t lead to coronavirus outbreaks.

Michigan school districts would have the ability to choose in-person, remote or hybrid instruction this fall under a plan being negotiated by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Republican-led Legislature.

School closures in other states have Michigan education leaders preparing for what they say are inevitable closures and quarantines this fall.

Michigan schools are creating reopening plans for the fall during the coronavirus pandemic with little guidance from the state about what is required, and how they’ll be funded.

Will 18-year-olds eager for a college experience opt to stay home to be safe? Michigan State University is about to find out.

Despite planned safety protocols in schools, half of residents surveyed aren’t sold on the notion of returning children to classroom settings in the midst of a global pandemic. Thirty-six percent said schools would be safe, a drop since earlier polling.

MSU said in May it would reopen its campus in the fall. But rising coronavirus cases have led university officials to encourage students to take their classes online from their homes.

Grace’s story, first published by ProPublica Illinois, prompted outrage and debate across the country. Though a judge refused to set the girl free, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered her immediate release from a juvenile detention facility in Detroit.

Some schools say classrooms aren’t safe, and others are hanging up the welcome sign (albeit with plenty of face masks). It’s confusing even for epidemiologists.