Chalkbeat

Detroit schools are enrolling more migrant students. Can the district meet their needs?

2024-02-26T19:29:50+00:00

As an influx of school-aged migrant and refugee children have resettled with their families in Detroit in recent weeks, schools are working to quickly adapt to meet their needs.

Some are more prepared than others.

Detroit Public Schools Community District campuses on the southwest side of the city have long served diverse student groups and have many Spanish-speaking teachers and administrators who can easily communicate with parents. But a large number of students who have recently migrated to the U.S. are being placed in available shelter beds on the city’s east side, where schools have historically served children with different needs.

“It’s no fault of the schools,” said Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, CEO of Freedom House Detroit, a nonprofit that supports asylum seekers and refugees. “It’s just that they’ve never had to prepare for that before. Meeting the needs of a new population of kids is a big ask to put on an already tasked school system.”

Translation services in those schools are often limited. Additionally, transportation for kids to attend schools in southwest Detroit can be difficult to arrange, advocates say. The district is required by the federal McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act to help students without a fixed address maintain school stability.

“We are seeing a lot of school-aged children come in, primarily in schools outside of southwest Detroit that aren’t necessarily prepared for children coming from other countries who don’t speak English,” said Orozco-Vasquez. “It’s a resource that has to be built.”

About 70 families who recently arrived from Venezuela enrolled their children in DPSCD, according to the district, and the number continues to grow. Administrators say they are providing language interpretation and translation, and training staff to understand new students’ unique needs. In the long term, the district is considering establishing newcomer programs, which would centralize students at specific schools to streamline services for migrant and refugee children.

Detroit hasn’t seen the large numbers of migrants and refugees arriving that large cities like Chicago and New York have in recent months. But some of the families arriving in Detroit are coming from those cities because shelters and humanitarian organizations there are overwhelmed.

DPSCD is working to meet students’ needs

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email all schools in the district are now receiving support as they adapt to meet the needs of migrant students. Staff are being trained to use translation tools, to identify curricular resources to help students learn English, and to address the trauma the kids may have experienced.

The district has formed a small team of teacher training and support coordinators specializing in English language learning to deploy to schools with newcomer students, he said. DPSCD is also continuing to collaborate with community members through its Bilingual Parent Advisory Council as well as the Office of Family and Community Engagement to meet the families’ needs.

Staff can request a live interpreter and document translations, said Vitti. The district also offers over-the-phone and remote video interpreters, and students and staff are able to use Microsoft Translate.

“The district is working with all school leaders and teachers to make sure that they are fully aware of these resources and use them consistently to communicate with families who need language services,” said Vitti.

Part of the challenge, said Orozco-Vasquez, is that the newly arrived students are speaking many languages. In addition to Spanish-speakers, some speak Portuguese or French.

Some nonprofit organizations work with school districts to fill gaps in providing language support to refugee students. Samaritas, a faith-based statewide nonprofit, works with DPSCD.

“If there is no comprehensive ELL program in place, we work with the school on providing that,” Rawan Alramahi, supervisor of Samaritas’ school impact program.

Funding from a $94.4 million settlement – from a 2016 lawsuit that alleged Michigan failed to teach Detroit students to read and described inadequate education for English language learners – will likely allow the school system to hire more academic interventionists to work with English language learners, the superintendent said. A task force formed to identify how DPSCD should spend the settlement recently recommended the district do so.

The settlement funding will also be used to help the district determine whether there is a need for more newcomer programs to be developed at schools in DPSCD to “better serve first- and second-year immigrants,” Vitti said. There is one existing program at Western International High School that provides academic and social support to newcomer families.

“Through this strategy, newly arrived students with limited English skills would be assigned to these schools so we can concentrate resources for support, such as ELL teachers and [academic interventionists],” said Vitti.

The planned Health Hub at Western International, which will provide medical, dental, and mental health care, will also have a resource center with services for newly arrived families, said Vitti. Other Health Hubs, which will expand over the next three years at schools across the district, may also have the same focus, depending on need, according to the superintendent.

For migrant students who experience homelessness or are housed in shelters, the district will provide all the services guaranteed by the McKinney-Vento Act, which mandates that unhoused students be allowed to quickly enroll in schools, stay in the same school even if they move outside of enrollment boundaries, and receive transportation to their schools regardless of the distance, among other protections.

Overall, the district’s system for identifying students who need services through the act has improved, said Vitti. The need for transportation services with that funding has increased in the community across the board and is not unique to newcomer or refugee students.

“Newcomer and refugee students are not always homeless, but when they are, we are committed to providing transportation services,” said Vitti.

In the past, there were concerns about DPSCD’s ability to educate English language learners, who graduate from high school at lower rates compared to their English-speaking peers. Parents expressed a need for more language access in the district, and felt their concerns were ignored.

Inequities for ELL students is not unique to DPSCD. Michigan ranks among the lowest in the nation for funding for students who are not native English speakers, according to an analysis by The Education Trust-Midwest.

Last year, the state passed a historic school budget that provided $1.3 million more in funding for ELL students.

Some migrant families arrive from Chicago, New York, Texas

Most of Detroit’s migrant students have come from Venezuela, according to the school district.

Others are coming from Columbia, Angola, Senegal, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Orozco-Vasquez said there is a mix of families coming from larger cities like New York and Chicago as well as various cities in Texas, where officials have struggled to keep up with the growing need for services for migrants, as well as people coming directly from their countries of origin.

Samaritas is currently serving more than 250 school-age children, and has recently seen more families coming from Venezuela and Cuba, along with families from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

Both Freedom House and Samaritas said most of the newly arrived school-age children they serve have enrolled in DPSCD, and some are attending charter schools in Wayne County.

The increase in the number of families migrating to Michigan isn’t expected to slow anytime soon – officials expect to see a 40% increase in refugees settling in the state this year, which would amount to more than 3,600 people. As demand for temporary housing grows, the Office of Global Michigan this week asked residents to open their homes as part of a refugee support program.

Michigan has long been a destination for refugees and asylum seekers. Though the recent influx of migrants is sizable, it’s not the largest the state has experienced.

In 2013, more than 3,400 Iraqi refugees resettled in Michigan. And after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, more than 2,000 refugees came to live in the state.

DPSCD has also previously seen influxes of migrants. More than 40 refugees from Afghanistan enrolled in the district in May 2022.

Navigating a foreign school system

Ivan Nakonechngi, 13, works on his computer at home on Wed., Feb., 21, 2024 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

In addition to DPSCD and other schools in Wayne County, refugees are also being placed and enrolling in schools in Macomb, Oakland, and Genesee Counties.

One mother, Svitlana Nakonechna, 33, arrived in the U.S. three years ago after fleeing the war in Ukraine with her son, Ivan Nakonechngi, now 13.

Nakonechna is still learning English, and she communicates with Ivan’s teachers at South Hills Middle School in Bloomfield Hills Schools through an online translator application in email and on video calls. The mother tries to keep up with Ivan’s grades and when his work is due.

“Usually, I keep track of that since she’s not really good with English,” said Ivan, who began learning English in school in Ukraine.

Ivan Nakonechngi, 13, left, poses for a portrait with his mother, Svitlana Nakonechna, 33, in their home on Wed., Feb., 21, 2024 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Nakonechna said through an interpreter that she doesn’t know much about the curriculum Ivan is being taught, but she trusts he’s learning because she sees he’s engaged in his school work.

Though her sponsors and Samaritas have been helpful in enrolling her son in school and navigating the system, Nakonechna worries what may happen if she has to move out of the housing she receives through her employer to another school district.

“If we move from this place to another city and I need to find a new school, I still will need help because I don’t know how to handle it by myself,” she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school leaders want action to get pot edibles away from kids

2024-05-02T22:12:53+00:00

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Detroit school district leaders are urging lawmakers to help address what they describe as an “increasingly alarming” rise in student use of marijuana edibles and vape pens containing marijuana.

“A week of school rarely passes where a student is not taken to the hospital due to intentional or unintentional consumption of edibles,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and members of the Detroit school board said in a Thursday letter emailed to federal, state, and local lawmakers.

From the 2019-20 to the 2020-21 school years, the Detroit Public Schools Community District had 289 drug-related incidents. Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, there were 1,735 incidents. It is unclear how many of those incidents included marijuana use.

“This school year alone, we have already faced 745 drug-related infractions as of last week,” the letter said. The district leaders noted that the numbers have risen since marijuana was legalized in Michigan in 2019.

Vitti and board members are asking lawmakers to adopt safety measures that include:

Requiring clear labeling that identifies edibles as including marijuana.
Prohibiting manufacturers from using packaging that imitates non-marijuana candy.
Providing each school with funding to purchase detection systems for vape pens and marijuana. The funding from this initiative would come from the profits and taxes collected from marijuana sales.
Initiating a public awareness campaign, funded using marijuana legalization revenues, to educate the community on securing edibles and keeping them away from their children, as well as the potential risks of access to children.

The letter includes an image that shows some edibles packaged to resemble candies such as Skittles and Starburst.

“In some cases marijuana edibles are indistinguishable from regular candy brands, misleading our students and facilitating the ease of their distribution within our schools,” the letter said.

Attorney and DPSCD parent Marcia Spivey isn’t surprised by Vitti’s characterization of marijuana use in Detroit schools. She says she fought hard against zoning rules to try and keep marijuana dispensaries out of her neighborhood. In her work representing children in the foster system in Wayne County, she has clients “who are in middle school or high school that have admitted to using marijuana on a daily basis.”

She wants to see city leaders working more closely with school officials in the district, especially when it comes to policies such as the city’s marijuana ordinance.

“There needs to be better coordination in terms of legislation that impacts our families because the legislation that the City Council passes directly impacts the families in Detroit,” she said.

Parent Aliya Moore echoed Spivey — she wants to see the city and school district working in tandem on this issue. She said there should be a strong focus on businesses that sell to minors and parents should face consequences, too.

“Ultimately we are responsible — we can’t just say they walked to the store and got it on their own,” Moore said.

Still, Moore says the legalization of recreational cannabis in Michigan makes this a thorny issue.

“Basically,” she said, “you can get weed out of the gas station.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Robyn Vincent is a reporter covering Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at rvincent@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD summer school program will aim to keep students on track after the school year winds down

2024-04-23T20:12:25+00:00

Every K-8 student in the Detroit Public Schools Community District has access to summer school programming this year, school officials said this week.

During a school board committee meeting Monday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district will offer five weeks of summer school for young students at 26 locations, paid for with help from community partners.

High school students also will be able to take classes at seven locations and online during the summer. That instruction is paid for by the district.

The goals and focus for students attending summer school through Detroit Public Schools Community District differs depending on the grade level.

At the high school level, the emphasis remains on course recovery for incoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Vitti said this option has become crucial for some 12th graders, who “are able to graduate because they take those final courses” during the summer.

The classes for K-8 students will provide an opportunity to continue their learning over the summer, so they can be “at or above their grade level for the fall, and … make up skills that they may have lost from the previous year,” Vitti said.

Summer learning is an important tool to keep students on track after the school year comes to a close. Last year Detroit students showed minor improvements in standardized test scores, a promising sign after a major disruption in learning during the COVID pandemic. But students in Detroit charter and traditional public schools continue to perform well below the state average.

A review of a handful of summer programs held in urban districts throughout the country suggests students reap multiple benefits from summer classes. The RAND Corporation analyzed five school districts’ summer programs and found they gave many children “short-term gains in mathematics.” The analysis also found “promising evidence that, after two consecutive summers, students with high attendance outperformed their peers in mathematics and English language arts.”

These students also showed “stronger social-emotional competencies.” The value of such programs is especially pronounced in urban school districts with higher numbers of students from low-income homes, who are at a greater risk of falling behind than their peers, the report said.

Here’s what you need to know about this year’s summer programming:

New funding makes summer school a reality

These programs are free to DPSCD students. Thousands have applied for previous summer programs through DPSCD but Vitti does not anticipate a completely full roster of summer students. This year, summer school instruction for K-8 students is funded through a new grant from the Ballmer Group and United Way for Southeastern Michigan providing up to $2,000 per student. The summer program marks an expansion of offerings in comparison to last summer, when the district offered just a few options for students.

The new funding does not cover summer instruction for high school students, Vitti said, and the district will continue to rely on district funds for high school summer classes.

DPSCD teachers and contractors will make up most of the summer school teaching staff.

Important dates and summer schedules

Enrollment for DPSCD summer school will begin May 1 and continue through May 24. Forms to enroll will be available online and at all schools in the district.

Classes start June 24 and last until July 26.

Morning sessions for K-8 students will focus on academics, such as math and language arts. In the afternoon, sessions will center on art and physical education.

Meanwhile, incoming 10th, 11th and 12th graders who need at least one credit for their graduation requirements in social studies, science, English language arts, and math will be able to take that class over the summer. They can access coursework online and at seven locations staffed with teachers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The location is determined by the school students normally attend during the school year.

Internet access is also available at these sites and at recreation centers and local libraries through the Connect 313 program, which is focused on expanding internet access for Detroit residents.

Improving access and equity for students

The school locations offering summer programs for students all have air conditioning, part of an effort to keep the instruction “consistent,” Vitti said.

“In years past when we offered summer school in non-air conditioned buildings, because of obviously the heat in the summer, there are days that are well beyond 90 degrees in the building and individual classrooms,” he said. Those high temps have forced the district to cancel classes, which disrupts learning, eats into parents’ work schedules, and impacts child care, Vitti added.

The district is continuing other services that help students to thrive during the regular school year. Students who received free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches will continue to receive those meals during summer school.

Summer school locations are determined by the school K-8 students normally attend during the school year. Students who live more than three-quarters of a mile from the summer school site are eligible for bus transportation.

Summer school sites for K-8 students

Summer school classes will be held at multiple sites across the district. Here are the sites and times of programming:

Barton Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Barton, Sampson-Webber
Bennett Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Bennett, Maybury
Carstens Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Carstens
Charles Wright Academy of Arts and Science, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Charles Wright, Bow, John R. King
Coleman A. Young Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Coleman A. Young, Bagley, Cooke STEM
Davison Elementary-Middle School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Davison
Duke Ellington Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Duke Ellington, A.L. Holmes, Blackwell
Durfee Elementary School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Durfee, Noble, Thirkell
Earhart Elementary School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from AOA at Logan, AOA High School
Edmonson Elementary School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Edmonson, Edison, Palmer Park (Montessori)
Emerson Elementary-Middle School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Emerson, Edison
Fisher Magnet Lower Academy, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Fisher Magnet, Brewer, Pulaski
FLICS School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from FLICS, Bates, PRMX, Marygrove
Golightly Education Center, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Golightly, Burton, Virtual School, Spain
Gompers Elementary-Middle School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Gompers, Ann Arbor Trail, Burns, Dixon, Dossin, Mann
Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Greenfield Union, Nolan
Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students at Hutchinson, Bunche, Chrysler, Garvey, Nichols
Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students at Mackenzie, Carver STEM, Gardner, Henderson
Marion Law Academy, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Marion Law, Brenda Scott, DIA, Mason
Mark Twain School for Scholars, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Mark Twain
Marquette Elementary-Middle School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Marquette, Carleton, Wayne
Munger Elementary-Middle School, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Munger, Clippert, Neinas
Priest Elementary-Middle School, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Priest
Roberto Clemente Learning Academy, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Roberto Clemente, Harms
Ronald Brown Academy, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for students from Ronald Brown, Hamilton, J.E. Clark
Schulze Academy for Technology and Arts, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for students from Schulze, Bethune, Palmer Park (Gen Ed), Pasteur, Thurgood Marshall, Vernor

Summer school sites for high school students

All schedules run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cass Technical High School, for students from Cass Tech, Crockett Midtown, DIA, DSA, Douglass
Detroit Lions Academy, for students from Detroit Lions
East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, for students from EEVPA, Denby, Osborn, Pershing
Mumford High School, for students from Mumford, Central, Cody, Henry Ford, Northwestern
Renaissance High School, for students from Renaissance, CMA, Marygrove, Virtual HS
Southeastern High School, for students from Southeastern, Davis Aerospace, King
Western International High School, for students from Western, Academy of the Americas

Robyn Vincent is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit, covering Detroit schools and Michigan education policy. Contact her at rvincent@chalkbeat.org.

Principals, district leaders will be trained on managing conflict in the Detroit school district

2024-04-11T13:25:24+00:00

The Detroit school district will invest money in next year’s budget to ensure school leaders and central office leaders are trained to manage conflict.

The district will also bring in third-party mediators to help resolve some conflicts.

Those were two new steps Superintendent Nikolai Vitti announced Tuesday during a report he made to the school board on dealing with complaints. Part of that report included a flowchart on how complaints are handled.

Vitti’s call for more training for school and district leaders is based on recent complaints made during the public comment period of board meetings and “just what I have seen over eight years with employee manager relationships.”

As the district has pushed harder on student performance and focused on outcomes and ensuring students do better academically, “administrators are holding employees more accountable to what’s happening in classrooms,” and in some cases that is leading to more tension and conflict, he said.

“But that does not excuse abuse,” Vitti said. “It does not excuse mismanagement of people and employees.”

The budget for the 2024-25 school year would include money to cover training for school and district leaders that would coach them on “how you manage change, how you manage conflict, how you manage disagreement.” The district hasn’t presented a proposed budget yet, and Vitti didn’t say how much the training could cost. Michigan districts must pass a balanced budget by June 30.

Vitti, who often faces criticism himself from those attending school board meetings, said he’s tried to model the kind of reaction he believes district leaders should follow.

“I try to focus on what is the substance and root of the concern rather than taking it personally. And it’s not easy to do. But it’s something that all of our leaders must do better at,” Vitti said.

At the board’s March meeting, a group of staff members at Thirkell Elementary-Middle School used the public comment period to make allegations that their principal has created an abusive and retaliatory atmosphere at the school. Several returned Tuesday, but were also joined by supporters of Stephanie Gaines, the principal.

Gaines told Chalkbeat last month that when she arrived at the school in 2019, it was not focused on teaching and learning.

“Thirkell serves some of the most disadvantaged and challenged students and families in the country. I come to work each day to give them an opportunity to succeed in this hard world,” Gaines said.

One of the returnees to Tuesday’s meeting was Emma Howland-Bolton, a fourth grade teacher, who told board members Tuesday that most of the current and former staff whose testimonials about the alleged abuse were part of a letter sent to the district now want their names attached. The letter was signed by some staff members but not all who provided testimonials.

She said she is skeptical the district will address the concerns that have been raised.

“I now know there is nothing I or anyone else can do or say to get the people on this stage to care,” Howland-Bolton said.

“They don’t care that we have the highest teacher turnover rate in the district because of the culture of fear and intimidation that permeates our building. And they don’t care that our young people often have three or four different teachers in a year as a result,” she added.

Kelly Townsel, a math master teacher at Thirkell, told the board Tuesday that she supports Gaines.

“School leadership keeps the staff, students and families safe. Never at any time since I have arrived at Thirkell have I witnessed any hostile situations with school leadership. We are doing amazing things … I believe in our leadership,” Townsel said.

Last month, Vitti responded to the complaints by saying that the district would interview staff at the school. During an update at Tuesday’s meeting, he said that work has already begun. Willing staff have been interviewed, and an ongoing survey will help the district assess the climate at the school. The results will be shared with the school’s leadership team and staff, Vitti said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Succession plan is part of Vitti’s agenda after contract extension

2024-03-27T12:18:14+00:00

A succession plan is among the goals on Nikolai Vitti’s agenda as he embarks on another four years as leader of the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Vitti told BridgeDetroit he’s unsure what his plans will look like in four years and, for now, wants to focus on the district’s current priorities. But he also intends to work with the school board to develop a plan to identify a successor when the time comes for him to transition out of the role.

“Serving as superintendent in DPSCD after this latest contract extension would rest with the school board and, for me, the relationship I have with the school board and whether they are still committed to the reform work,” Vitti said about serving beyond his newly approved term. “It would also depend on if I felt the school district still needed my leadership and/if a successor was ready to go further and deeper than what I could provide the district, city, and most importantly, students and families.

“A lot can happen between now and the end of the latest contract extension,” he said.

The school board last week extended Vitti’s contract until 2028, cementing him as one of the longest serving superintendents in the district’s history. He was hired in 2017 for a five-year term, and his contract was set to expire in 2025 after the board extended it in 2020.

Vitti believes Detroit’s next superintendent should have high expectations for student achievement and a strong work ethic, be a good communicator, and understand the community. They also should be a person of color and come from the district’s leadership team, so that the reform work Vitti and his team have started can be sustained, he said.

Vitti, who is white, faced some criticisms from the community when he first became superintendent for leading a predominantly Black district. According to the DPSCD website, 82% of students are Black.

“Perhaps most importantly, they need to be strong enough to be criticized while putting children first, even when it’s not popular,” Vitti told BridgeDetroit. “They need to be politically savvy, but not political, or the work and reform will stop. The person needs to continue developing people while holding them accountable. Lastly, they must be able to retain and recruit good talent to maintain a strong team.”

Finding a successor will ultimately be the board’s decision, Vitti said, but he hopes members will trust his judgment during the hiring process. DPSCD Board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said the undertaking would mirror the one the district used when it selected Vitti, such as embarking on a national search with an approved search firm.

Peterson-Mayberry said the board opted to extend Vitti’s contract now because spring is the time when parents and teachers begin to make plans for the next school year, and members want consistent leadership through 2028. Plus, she said, she is seeing positive results from the reform work the superintendent is doing.

“The importance of progression is tied to the ability to continue the reform and innovation work,” she said. “We know when we have changes in leadership, you lose stability.”

Vitti said student achievement and improving attendance are his top priorities in the coming years. He told BridgeDetroit via email that while it has been challenging to demonstrate improvement in each area of performance, he’s excited to continue.

“However, the next challenge is accelerating that improvement,” Vitti said. “I look forward to overcoming that next, but different challenge.”

Mario Morrow, a political analyst with a background in education, supports the board’s decision to keep Vitti in place, citing his focus on academics, safety, and fiscal responsibility. He also liked that Vitti secured a contract with the Detroit Federation of Teachers last year without major disruption.

“In his seven years of experience with DPSCD, he’s learned Detroit,” he said. “Detroit is a hard city to learn and to maneuver. People like to be welcoming, but Detroit is a hard place to crack. He’s done a good job with the way he’s maneuvered. He’s visible, he’s in the schools, and he’s focused.”

From student performance to redesigning high schools

When it comes to Vitti’s goals of student achievement and attendance, the district is beginning to make progress. During a recent school board meeting, he reported that 53% of all students are showing at least one year of growth in literacy, and 58% are improving in math. This is slightly higher than last year’s percentages of 53% and 54%, respectively, and an improvement in performance since the pandemic-impacted school years of 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Vitti also presented the literacy proficiency of the district’s current fifth graders, who were in kindergarten when the district implemented its new curriculum in 2018. Students who are never chronically absent or are continuously enrolled have proficiency percentages of 36% and 22%, respectively. Meanwhile, students who are not continuously enrolled have a lower proficiency at 15%. The overall percentage for DPSCD fifth graders is 18%.

“It’s exciting to see that if the trend continues, what eventually will happen in DPSCD with this cohort of students is that we will exceed the state average in literacy,” Vitti said at the board meeting.

This year, the average daily attendance is 83%, better than the 81% from last school year and 75% in 2021-22, according to Vitt’s report. However, chronic absenteeism remains high. So far this year, 62% of students have been chronically absent, while 66% of the district’s students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year.

Other goals for Vitti include “redesigning the high school experience,” by expanding college and career courses and placing more students on college campuses, in career and technical education programs, and in internships during their junior and senior years.

Morrow said besides increasing student enrollment and academic performance, he also wants Vitti to prioritize adding more certified teachers to the classroom. But Morrow, who previously served as assistant superintendent for DPSCD and superintendent for Albion Public Schools, knows the pressures of the job.

“Being a superintendent is extremely stressful,” he said. “There are lots of sleepless nights. You don’t know from one day to another what crisis you are going to have and you are going to have a crisis every single day. But I respect him and I respect his ability to work on these issues and try to solve these problems.”

Vitti said he does not plan to leave Detroit or the state when his contract expires. The educator still wants to be involved in the school community, even if it’s just attending board meetings, he said.

“I don’t see myself serving as superintendent in another district,” Vitti added. “I don’t see a superintendency that would be as challenging, fulfilling, meaningful, and personal as this one. This is my home.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Here’s how DPSCD is weighing spending literacy lawsuit settlement money

2024-03-26T20:32:37+00:00

Detroit school district officials are finalizing plans for spending $94.4 million in literacy lawsuit settlement money, with a proposal that invests heavily in student support, teacher training, and parent resources.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, outlined the proposal to members of the school board finance committee during a meeting Friday morning. He said the full board will discuss the proposal more at an April 15 school board retreat.

The district’s plan aligns with about 90% of a proposal released last month by a task force that spent months getting community input on how the money should be spent, Vitti said.

The state allocated the $94.4 million to the district as part of a settlement of a lawsuit, filed in 2016 and settled in 2020, that alleged Michigan failed to ensure students in the district received a proper education during a nearly 20-year period in which the state controlled the district.

Vitti said the district has already seen improvements in literacy.

“Our goal is to accelerate … and to outperform city charter, county average, state average,” Vitti said.

Here is how the district is considering spending the money:

More students would receive help from academic interventionists

The district had originally anticipated spending some of the money to offer a summer school program, but a grant from Ballmer Group is covering the cost of that program at a number of schools.

That is freeing up settlement money to be used in part to hire more academic interventionists who work closely with students in grades K-4, Vitti said. Academic interventionists can work with small groups of students or one-on-one.

“That is central to improving the foundational skills that students lack in the early grades.”

This is the current proposal Detroit Public Schools Community District officials are considering for spending $94.4 million in literacy lawsuit settlement money. The school board will discuss the proposal at an April 15 meeting.

The district is already using federal and grant dollars to place academic interventionists at some schools. The literacy lawsuit money will allow the district to expand to all elementary schools. There are nearly 80 schools that have K-4 grades.

Board member Sonya Mays, who chairs the finance committee, questioned whether the district would have to lay off the academic interventionists when the money runs out.

The settlement requires the district to spend the $94.4 million over a three year period.

It’s a reality, Vitti said. But he believes the district will be able to take advantage of other funding sources. He also said that “natural attrition” could be a factor in the district’s favor, as well as some academic interventionists opting to transition into a teaching position.

“I don’t think we will be in a chaotic situation,” Vitti said.

The bigger challenge is whether the district will be able to hire enough academic interventionists. The pool has been shrinking, Vitti said.

In addition to academic interventionists, the literacy lawsuit money will also be used for online tutoring, to expand City Year, a program that provides tutoring for students and support to teachers in many district schools, and to provide stipends for Let’s Read tutors, who currently volunteer their time to help students with literacy.

Teachers would get more training and support

For staff, the proposals revolve around providing more training, some bonuses, and improving the working environment to improve learning. Some of the efforts would need to be bargained with the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

Here are some of the top items:

Providing more pay for teachers who attend enhanced literacy training
Paying teachers to earn an English as a Second Language certificate
Providing additional coaching and support
Reducing class sizes
Providing bonuses for teaching in hard-to-staff schools
Creating a merit pay system that would provide bonuses to the district’s top literacy teachers, based on student achievement

District would provide books for home, literacy events, and parent education

Families would also benefit from the literacy lawsuit money. Among the proposals the district is considering:

Providing culturally responsive books for students to take home
Involving parents in culture of literacy events in schools
Providing stipends for parents who participate in literacy-focused sessions

Chronic absenteeism remains a barrier, even with settlement money

Mays questioned how the literacy lawsuit money could be spent on addressing chronic absenteeism, saying all the initiatives that are part of the proposal can be diminished if the district’s rates of chronic absenteeism remain high.

During the 2022-23 school year, 66% of the district’s students were chronically absent, meaning they have missed 18 or more days.

Vitti said the strict requirements of spending the lawsuit settlement money bars using the money directly on chronic absenteeism initiatives, such as hiring more attendance agents. But some of the district’s proposals, such as lowering class sizes, providing incentives for students to read books and participate in academic contests, and paying parents to attend education classes, may increase engagement.

“You know that’s not very satisfying, right?” Mays responded.

“Yes, I agree. But that was the condition of the settlement,” Vitti said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit principal under fire from staff over hostile work environment

2024-03-21T21:23:11+00:00

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Detroit school district officials will be interviewing staff at Thirkell Elementary-Middle School to address complaints against the principal from staff members who say she has created an abusive and retaliatory atmosphere at the school.

Many of the complaints against Principal Stephanie Gaines were aired by staff members Tuesday during the public comment session of a Detroit school board meeting. Staff had previously presented the district with a letter of no confidence they said was signed by every staff member. At least one staff member, though, told Chalkbeat Friday morning that she did not sign the letter. Later in the day, that staff member and six others signed a statement of support for Gaines.

“I have never been in such a toxic environment,” Mitzi Davis, a Thirkell teacher, told school board members. “We are tired of coming to work in an environment of hostility, intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation.”

Among the allegations aired by staff Tuesday and in the no-confidence letter: They said Gaines retaliates against staff who raise concerns about her actions, has made homophobic comments, keeps student bathrooms locked — allowing only scheduled bathroom breaks — and does not allow recess.

The staff members say that Gaines recently told a Muslim teacher that she could resign if she didn’t like being denied accommodations during Ramadan; that she frequently assigns the dean and assistant principal lunch duty, making it difficult for them to carry out their duties; and that she has made it clear to parents and community partners that they are not welcome in the school.

The names of the staff members who signed the no-confidence letter were withheld because most of the employees fear further retaliation, the letter said. Supporting information with the letter included testimonies from current and former Thirkell employees. It also included a list of community partners that the letter writers say will no longer work with Thirkell.

The lack of names on the letter, though, makes it difficult to investigate those specific allegations, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The allegations “will be investigated by human resources if individuals put their name to the allegations, so the individual can be interviewed about the allegation,” Vitti said.

None of the allegations, Vitti said, would be investigated by the district’s inspector general, because they are not linked to fraud. Nor, Vitti said, do the allegations rise to the level of requiring the district to remove Gaines or put her on administrative leave.

Still, he said “there are certainly concerns about general climate and culture, interpersonal engagement, overall feedback, but again, we need people to put their names to the allegation.”

In the meantime, Vitti said, the district is interviewing Thirkell staff “to gain their sense individually of the climate and culture of the building.”

Board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo also said she is concerned about the number of complaints and questioned how the district could not see it as a “hostile work environment.”

“It’s insulting to have that many educators — white, Black and everything in between — all saying the same thing about the leadership at Thirkell,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “That’s a problem. I’m hopeful that we don’t just brush this under the rug, that we get some timeline in place of how long staff has to deal with that.”

In a statement to Chalkbeat, Gaines said: “If I have offended anyone as I have pushed for higher expectations for students, then I deeply apologize. I look forward to listening and reflecting upon how anyone has been disrespected by my leadership and look forward to working together to continue our improvement.”

Gaines said that when she arrived at Thirkell in 2019, “there wasn’t a focus on student teaching and learning.” She said the school was once slated for closure, and was identified as part of the state’s intervention program for the worst-performing schools in the state. The school has since exited that status.

On Friday afternoon, seven teachers sent a letter to Vitti challenging the allegations about a hostile work environment at Thirkell. In the letter, Kelly Townsel, the school’s math master teacher, said one of the union building representatives who spoke out against Gaines decorated the principal’s office for her birthday. She said the school has had a family atmosphere until the allegations were made.

“Principal Gaines has turned around our school for students, staff, families, and the community. She is data driven, passionate for the students and collaborative with the staff,” she and the six others said in the letter. “Change is hard and uncomfortable for some people. We believe the disgruntled staff are harboring bitter feelings because the former principal was asked to leave. We have been welcomed by Principal Gaines since we have been at Thirkell. We may not agree with every decision that she has made but we trust and respect her leadership at Thirkell.:

On Tuesday, Thirkell teacher Emma Howland-Bolton said that even with the working conditions in the school, “kids and teachers are accomplishing amazing things.”

“I wish I was here today to regale you with those tales. Instead, I’m here to ask you to just remove some of the roadblocks in our way,” Howland-Bolton said. “The conditions at Thirkell are not just the result of the principal’s pattern of retaliation and abuse or her lack of training or her lack of understanding of childhood development, but they are a product of the district’s neglect.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include new information about the number of staff who signed the letter of no-confidence, and after a new letter was sent to the district by teachers who say they support Gaines.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD Superintendent Vitti’s contract extended until 2028

2024-03-20T17:16:03+00:00

The Detroit school board voted Tuesday to extend Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s contract until 2028, cementing him as one of the longest serving superintendents in the district’s history.

Vitti was hired in 2017 for a five-year term, and his contract was set to expire in 2025 after the board extended it in 2020. Six of the seven board members approved the new extension. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo was the lone dissenting vote.

“I just think the timing is wrong,” Gay-Dagnogo said, noting that the district must address some culture and climate issues in the district. Gay-Dagnogo also pointed to November’s school board election, in which three seats are on the ballot. She said the board should wait until it is clear who will run for reelection and until new members are elected. The terms for Gay-Dagnogo, as well as Vice President Misha Stallworth and member Sonya Mays, expire at the end of the year.

“I have a problem voting on this. I understand stabilizing the district, keeping the district with the proper leadership. I just think timing is the issue,” she said.

Gay-Dagnogo told BridgeDetroit that since Vitti’s contract was set to expire next year, it should not be a priority at this time. She also said that board members were being inconsiderate of the audience, which had to wait two hours for the group to come out of closed session before they could give comment.

There are several climate and culture issues the district should be concerned about, Gay-Dagnogo said, such as the delays students with disabilities are experiencing with receiving Individualized Education Programs and widespread complaints aired at Tuesday’s meeting alleging that the principal of a district elementary school has created a toxic work environment.

“Who are we elected to serve? We’re elected to serve the people. Our priority should be the people and our staff,” she said. “So, to make that (the contract) a priority last night without even any discussion in any prior conversation … was very insensitive.”

There was no other discussion, aside from board chair Angelique Peterson-Mayberry telling Gay-Dagnogo that her feedback was “duly noted.”

The vote followed a two-hour closed session that riled some in the audience who had to wait until after the session to speak during the public comment period.

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, the president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the board’s decision to move the closed session ahead of public comment “discourages our participation and minimizes our voices.”

“You attempt to vote to adjust your agenda so you can get done early at our expense and then vote to extend the superintendent’s contract well before its expiration date,” said Wilson-Lumpkins, who added that it “is parallel to all the shenanigans we encounter at the negotiating table and in many of our schools. We do not have confidence in you.”

Vitti currently earns a base salary of $354,973. The contract amendment the board approved Tuesday calls for him to receive a salary increase based on the percentage of teacher union pay increases. The district is in negotiations with the union, which is in the final year of its contract.

When he took over, Vitti had the task of turning around one of the most troubled school districts in the nation, following a 2016 legislative initiative that addressed massive debt and restored local control after years of state oversight. The district had the worst test scores among big city districts in the nation on a rigorous national exam.

Under his leadership, the district adopted a new curriculum to replace one that Vitti called an “injustice to the children of Detroit” because it was outdated and inadequate. He set out to reform the district’s high schools in part by giving students opportunities to explore careers. And he has made increasing salaries, particularly for teachers, a priority. In 2022, Vitti was named Urban Educator of the Year.

Before the pandemic, the district had begun to see small gains in enrollment, test scores, and reduced absenteeism. Post-pandemic, though, enrollment is down by 2,000 students, and chronic absenteeism remains incredibly high — 66% of the district’s students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year. Test scores remain low, but a recent study found the district is showing strong signs of recovery from the pandemic.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Career exploration plays major role at Detroit’s Martin Luther King High School

2024-03-18T16:07:21+00:00

In Shedrick Ward’s science class Thursday morning, all eyes were on the eyeballs.

Four students hunched over the long table in front of them, each of them holding a cow’s eyeball in their gloved hands as they snipped off the fatty tissue surrounding it with a pair of scissors.

“We have talked about vision and sight, knowing that there’s two differences between them,” Ward said to the class. “You use your eyes for sight, you use your brain for vision. We want them to understand that they have to have a vision of themselves for tomorrow, just as they need sight in order to do the dissection today.”

Dissections are one of many things students are learning about anatomy in the science academy at Martin Luther King Senior High School in Detroit. The academy is a partnership between the school and NAF, an education nonprofit aimed at addressing students’ economic and social disparities by creating career pathways in high schools across the country.

The organization has 619 academies across 34 states and two territories. In Detroit Public Schools Community District, NAF operates 30 academies in 20 high schools such as Southeastern, Osborn and Cody. The academies focus on pathways in growing industries – engineering, health sciences, finance, hospitality and tourism, and information technology. At King, the school offers three specialized programs: Mathematics, Science and Technology, the Center for International Studies and Commerce, and College Preparatory Liberal Arts.

Sue Carnell, deputy superintendent for the Michigan Department of Education, and NAF CEO Lisa Dughi toured the learning academies at King and Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men last Thursday.

Dughi said she visited the two schools to get an inside look into some of the academies so that NAF can continue to replicate the initiative at other schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

“One of the things that we see so clearly in this is that this is truly changing how differently students are thinking about their futures and they get these real-world experiences while they’re in high school,” she said. “And so, getting to see that in action really does change for us how we think about it and how we make sure that we’re continuing to provide those opportunities for students.”

Ward, who has been teaching for 50 years, said he continues to remain in the classroom because it’s important to have people like himself who love their craft involved with youth.

“I thought, if I walk away, there is no replacement,” he said. “There is no one, doing at this level, integrating all the sciences…the real world does not have a separate partition for each of these content areas. It’s just science. It’s just problem-solving.”

One of the students handling the eyeballs was K’Lynn Clemons. This is the first year the 11th grader has been a part of the health sciences academy. Clemons, 16, said Ward is different from other science teachers she’s had.

“Any other science class I had we never did anything that Dr. Ward does, so it’s a nice experience,” she said.

Finding their path

King Principal Damian Perry said kids can begin exploring careers in the ninth grade, where they can try out each of the school’s pathways driving the first semester. By the second semester, students should select which pathway they want to study. Then for the next three years, students’ electives will focus on those pathways.

Perry said this year will mark the first graduating for kids in the learning academies.

As a 1994 King alumnus, Perry said he’s glad kids have more exposure to careers than he did when he was a student.

“Allowing kids to see firsthand experiences instead of just reading a book … are just priceless. That is the value of CTE (career and technical education). It also excites the students because this is what they want to do. So what better way to demonstrate that by ‘This what I like to do, this what I’m passionate about.’”

Meanwhile, Carnell said the school visits allowed her to see the passion students have to explore careers that may become a part of their futures.

“I really liked the mentorship that I saw of people wrapping their arms around those students, giving them wraparound support, to help them see their potential to move forward,” she said. “That was amazing.”

Beyond the game

The tour also included looking at King’s M3 pathway, which focuses on sports management, medicine, and marketing. Dan Wolford, the lead teacher for the pathway, said the program offers students a chance to explore careers in the sports industry beyond being an athlete. The school has been able to form partnerships with Detroit City FC, the Detroit Tigers, and University of Michigan’s School of Kinesiology and School of Information.

In addition, the sports pathway offers a mentorship program with the Detroit Pistons called Beyond the Baseline. Over five months, students are mentored by Pistons staff where they learn about careers in sports management and professional development, Wolford said. Interns were also responsible for creating an event with a $25,000 budget that utilized one of the Pistons’ four pillars: mentoring, equality, education, and health and wellness. During a presentation, five students revealed they will be hosting an educational event in June at Belle Isle.

Hillery Marks, 16, said it didn’t take too long for her and her classmates to create the event, which will feature games, food sponsored by Little Caesars, and a raffle for two scholarships. The hardest part was figuring out a way for them to make education fun for kids, she said.

The high school junior said she has been a part of the academy for two years and has enjoyed learning different aspects of the sports industry, like management and sports media. Marks plans to attend an HBCU after high school and study business.

“I definitely think I’m going to go the business route because I feel like that fits me better,” she said. “I feel like I want to go into a sports job eventually. I just don’t know which one yet.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Davis Aerospace school’s move back to City Airport remains in a holding pattern

2024-03-11T10:50:12+00:00

Detroit’s school district needs nearly $10 million to return the Davis Aerospace Technical High School to the grounds of the Coleman A. Young International Airport.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told BridgeDetroit that the district is looking to privately raise $9.6 million with support from the DPSCD Foundation or to obtain a one-time earmark in this year’s state budget.

Relocating Davis Aerospace to the airport on the city’s east side will also require the district to convert one of the terminals into a school building. That would require removing escalators and luggage conveyor belts, installing a fire suppression system and alarm, adding newer mechanical equipment, and replacing the roofing system, he said.

DPSCD does not yet have any leads or funding commitments. But the project remains a priority for the district, which is aiming to have the move take place during the 2026-27 school year, Vitti said.

“The school board and I are fully committed to making the relocation happen,” Vitti said. “So if private funding or separate state funding is not provided, then we will prioritize this commitment in future district budgets.”

The continued push to relocate the aviation school comes amid forecasts that the industry faces a national shortage of pilots, maintenance technicians, and cabin crew members. Advocates say Davis Aerospace — one of few training centers for student pilots in Michigan — is a critical component of helping to fill the void.

In 2019, DPSCD decided that ninth-graders participating in the aviation program would be bused to the airport for afternoon classes. While the aviation school is still offering afternoon classes for its 100 students, the long-term goal of fully operating Davis Aerospace at the facility has stalled, with airport advocates and community members wondering what happened.

The delay was discussed at a January school board meeting by Keith Hines, a 1973 graduate and former electrical inspector for the city. He asked why the district hasn’t valued the importance of aviation education and the school, noting that Davis Aerospace has supplied numerous qualified mechanics for the aviation industry for years.

“Why can’t $50 million be set aside from the $700 million (facility master plan) for aviation education, technology skills and advancement since the demand is growing?” Hines said. “We need to see the stamped, finalized, approved plans for the Davis relocation project.”

The school was relocated from the airfield, better known as City Airport, to Golightly Career and Technical Center in 2013 while the district was under state-appointed emergency manager Roy Roberts. Without access to the airport, the school could no longer help students obtain the federal certification in aviation mechanics that would give them an inside track to steady, high-paying jobs.

“We did place $5 million in the (facility master plan) for the Davis move to the airport,” Vitti said. “However, we learned that the city could not use grant funds to support the facility work needed for the school, and costs of the facility increased due to flooding damage to the terminal. In addition, code costs were higher than expected from initial walkthroughs.”

A Tuskegee Airmen monument sits at the entrance of the Coleman A. Young International Airport. The Detroit school district is looking for philanthropic dollars to cover the nearly $10 million it will cost to make repairs needed to move Davis Aerospace Technical High School to the airport.

There are several aviation and aerospace high schools across the country, but Davis Aerospace is the only school of its kind in Detroit and one of few in Michigan. The most well-known school outside of Detroit is West Michigan Aviation Academy in Grand Rapids.

Beverly Kindle-Walker, executive director of Friends of Detroit City Airport, doesn’t understand why DPSCD needs $9.6 million to relocate and rehab Davis Aerospace. The nonprofit was founded in 1990 to expose young people to the fields of aerospace, aviation, and STEM.

“Just to inhabit it as a classroom structure, there’s no way it’s going to cost that much money, so we’re wondering where they’re basing it from,” Kindle-Walker said. “If they’re going to go into the private sector to raise money, I don’t know why they’re not making an effort to work on that. There are many people in the aviation field who are looking for pilots and mechanics, avionics, and all sorts of people who will be willing to partner with the public school system to help train their workforce.”

School fills ‘a critical need’ in developing aviation talent

Keith Newell, a former member of the Coleman A. Young International Airport Education Association, said that Davis Aerospace provides Detroit kids with career exploration and preparation for the aviation industry. And the need for new talent is critical, he said, especially with the aviation industry experiencing a shortage of pilots and mechanics.

In Boeing’s 2023 Pilot and Technician Outlook, the company projects that commercial carriers will need significant personnel through 2042 to support the global commercial fleet, including 649,000 pilots, 690,000 maintenance technicians, and 938,000 cabin crew members. This comes as domestic air travel has fully recovered from the pandemic, and international traffic is near pre-pandemic levels, the aircraft maker said.

In addition, pilots and mechanics are aging out of the industry, said Newell, who is now the manager at Wexford County Airport in Cadillac. Commercial airline pilots are required to retire at age 65, and air traffic controllers at 56 years old.

“Davis Aerospace fills a critical need in pipeline management,” he said. “They’re training kids on the skills that they’re going to need in those careers and then, depending if they become pilots or mechanics, some might require some college, some might not. But there are definitely paths to continue going to get into those careers.”

Detroiter Bin Userkaf graduated from Davis Aerospace in 2020 and had a positive experience at the school. While he mostly studied graphics and printing technology at Golightly, he still participated in aviation classes.

“After middle school, I realized I was not going to high school to make friends,” said Userkaf, now 21. “I really wanted to feel like I was ready to take on the world and a career in the field that I wanted to go into, and Davis had that. They just had great programs for people who actually wanted to do professional work.”

However, he remembered visiting an airport only once, and that was Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus. During his sophomore year, Userkaf said, there was an aviation class he took where students worked on the frames of cars. He said it would’ve been more fun if they had the opportunity to work on planes.

“I feel like it’s a disadvantage, because it’s a school that’s called Davis Aerospace and it’s down the street from City Airport,” Userkaf said. “By not having that as an avenue, it’s cutting off an entire part of what could be a really cool curriculum, even for people who might not be into aviation. It can just be a cool thing to learn, because you never know, it could ignite someone who was not initially interested into feeling like, ‘Wow, I feel like I want to pursue aviation.’

“People who find the school should be given a full experience of what Davis specifically has to offer instead of a generalized experience of flight,” he added.

Brian Smith, president of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, also wants to see Davis Aerospace back at the airport. His organization, which hosts various programs and classes for children, teens, and young adults, is helping to fill a void for areas the school doesn’t have the capacity to teach, such as a flight academy and a full maintenance program, he said.

Roy Roberts “just took the teeth right out of what Davis was offering, which was a pathway to the middle class without college for our inner-city kids, the ones under-represented,” Smith said.

Sometimes, Smith gets asked whether he will open an aviation school. But his response is no, saying Davis Aerospace is still the best option for teens who want to pursue a career in the aviation industry.

“I want the school to be at the airport. I want it to succeed,” Smith said. “And I’ll go back to the role I had before the school at the airport was shut down, which was to take those students who could not attend Davis and give them the opportunity for flight.”

Leonard Shirley is one of the students enrolled in the Tuskegee Airmen’s flight academy. The 16-year-old is a 10th grader at Davis Aerospace and wants to become an airplane pilot. Shirley said he joined the Tuskegee Airmen program a few weeks ago to receive additional aviation instruction after school.

He said his class doesn’t come to City Airport often, and he believes he would have a better experience at school if Davis Aerospace was on site full-time.

“If someone is into being a pilot, they can actually take a test flight with an instructor,” Shirley said. “They’ve also got good mechanics and drone pilots, and we will actually be able to see the planes in front of us.”

Airport remains active, even after loss of a runway

David Tarrant has also advocated for the airport and aviation school.

Tarrant is the former executive director of the Coleman A. Young International Airport Education Association, a nonprofit made up of community advocates formed in 2017 when the airport was at risk of being shut down. But after the city announced its layout plan for City Airport in 2022, Tarrant stepped down as director, and the association has since become more of an informal organization, he said.

Coleman A. Young International Airport, as seen from French Street in Detroit in August 2023. The airport could soon house Davis Aerospace Technical High School, which was moved out of the facility in 2013.

One of the issues the association was fighting for was to keep the use of a smaller, crosswind runway used during windy conditions and for inexperienced pilots. However, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the decommissioning of the runway in 2022, freeing up 80 acres of land for new development.

Tarrant said the crosswinds runway was important for training pilots, such as the students at Davis Aerospace.

“Student pilots have a lot of wind restrictions … and if you take the other runway away, it limits training,” he said. We won the strategic battle; we kept the airport, but we lost the tactical battle, which was to keep that runway.”

Today, the airport is used by private fliers, with hangar space leased to private and corporate planes. Kindle-Walker said even though commercial services ended more than 20 years ago, City Airport is still active with general aviation and medical transit.

The next generation of pilots and mechanics can help the airport overall and bring in revenue to the city, Tarrant said.

“There are so many bright, young minds that are being wasted if you don’t have a way to take the next steps,” he said. “There’s a crying need to give young people inside Detroit a way to give back.”

Kindle-Walker said Davis Aerospace students deserve to be in the atmosphere of an airport and receive hands-on training. It’s part of the school’s history since its inception in 1943.

“People don’t recognize the benefit of that school in the Detroit area,” she said. “We have people from all over: alumni who have gone into the military or the private sector who have an education that’s untouched coming from Detroit Public Schools. We want to get back to that but sometimes, they (the school board) seem to be reluctant to do just that.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Mentoring program provides Detroit kids with a forever ‘friend’

2024-02-22T20:19:47+00:00

On a warm, sunny day last July, Autumn Palmer and Peighton made their way to the playground at City Centre Park in Southfield.

Peighton hopped on a friendship swing. Palmer, 28, gave her a couple of pushes.

“Do you want to go higher?” Palmer asked. Peighton nodded.

After a few minutes, the 10-year-old wanted to try the zip line. “Ready?” Palmer said. Peighton held on tight to the cord and smiled as she slid to the other side.

At first glance, the two look like they could be mother and daughter. But their special bond began only three years ago thanks to an unique mentorship program.

Palmer and Peighton are part of the Detroit chapter of Friends of the Children, where children ages 4-6 are paired with a professional member called a “Friend” for 12 years or longer. The mentor is there for all of the child’s ups and downs –helping them learn how to read and write, navigating their relationships with friends and family, exploring their interests, and preparing them for college or a career.

BridgeDetroit has been following Palmer and Peighton for seven months, seeing their interactions and getting updates on Peighton’s progress. BridgeDetroit is identifying Peighton by only her first name to protect her privacy.

The organization has 36 locations across the country, including New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. The Detroit chapter launched in 2020.

Friends of the Children works with kids who have adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, said Detroit Executive Director Derschaun Brown. These include experiencing violence, abuse or neglect, having a parent who is addicted to drugs or alcohol or being placed in the foster care system.

Brown, who joined the organization in 2022, said one thing that attracted her to the job is that Friends are not volunteers but paid, full-time mentors. Friends work with eight to 10 children each, spending three to four hours every week with each of them.

As someone who has worked in education for 25 years, Brown had never seen a model like Friends of the Children.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” she said. “I’ve been mentoring for 30 years and I’ve never received a dime. And, once I looked at the data around the organization, I said, ‘I’ve got to be part of this.’”

Autumn Palmer pushed her mentee Peighton on a swing at City Centre Park in Southfield last July. The two are part of the Detroit chapter of Friends of the Children.

Counted out of society

Friends of the Children was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1993 by entrepreneur Duncan Campbell and his wife Cindy Campbell. Duncan grew up in an impoverished neighborhood with alcoholic parents and wanted to help kids who came from similar backgrounds.

The first chapter opened in Portland with three professional mentors serving 24 children and eventually spread to other cities like Seattle, New York, and Boston.

Today, the organization serves 3,000 children. In its 31 years, Friends of the Children has seen outcomes such as 83% of youth receiving their high school diploma or GED, 92% going on to enroll in postsecondary education, enlist in the military, or enter the workforce with a living wage job, and 93% staying out of the juvenile justice system.

The Detroit chapter currently has eight Friends and serves 64 children and is expecting to enroll two more Friends and 16 kids next month, Brown said. Mentors must have an associate degree or higher, experience working with youth, and a passion for working with children.

“Many of our mentors come from education,” Brown said. “They were former teachers, former counselors, those who have trauma-informed practice experience and so, they come to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience, as well as love. Those are the three critical components that they must bring in order to be a part of Friends of the Children Detroit.”

Children are referred to the organization from four sources – Detroit Public Schools Community District, River Rouge School District, child welfare agency Orchard Children’s Services, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Brown said Friends of the Children focuses on kids ages 4-6 because that’s when they’re at the beginning of their education journey.

“They (the referral sources) do an assessment on each of the children,” she said. “It could be that they’re threatening to be a part of foster care, they’re in foster care, or that they’re having some challenges in school. Once they do the assessment and determine, ‘Oh yeah, this kid has two ACEs,’ then they qualify to be a part of our program.”

Kids who face systemic and circumstantial barriers are often counted out of society, Brown said.

She was one of them.

Brown’s parents divorced and her father was absent from her life. Brown eventually gained a stepfather, but he died from a drug overdose. That left her mom a single parent raising Brown and her two siblings.

Brown said she didn’t have a mentor growing up and had to come to terms with her childhood trauma on her own.

“That’s why we’re fighting so hard for them (the children) because there is a chance for them to experience optimal success. There’s an opportunity for them and their families to thrive and not just survive,” she said.

Autumn Palmer and Peighton worked on a puzzle together at City Centre Park last July. The two often go on outings to the park or the library.

‘It takes a village…’

Peighton has also faced traumatic experiences in her young life. Her father is out of the picture and her mother is incarcerated. The fourth grader and her two siblings live with their grandmother, Tori Scheday-Walton, in northwest Detroit. In addition, Peighton has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which can make it challenging to focus in school.

Scheday-Walton said she was referred to Friends of the Children by Sonya Lewis, the principal at Peighton’s school, Detroit Leadership Academy. They joined the organization in June 2020.

“I just felt like Peighton needed an extra buddy or a person in her life,” Scheday-Walton said. “It takes a village to raise children and you can never have too many helpers in a child’s life.”

Since Peighton started Friends of the Children at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, her first meetings with Palmer were virtual. But as restrictions began to ease, the two would go to places like the park or the library. During the school year, Palmer spends four hours a week with Peighton; two hours in school and two hours outside of school.

And Palmer assists Peighton with her growing interest in gardening. She has grown tomatoes, celery, onions, carrots and more, her grandmother said.

“She’s an excellent gardener,” Palmer said.

When it comes to schoolwork, Palmer is there to help Peighton with reading and math. The mentor also worked with Scheday-Walton to get school officials to offer Peighton an individualized education program, or an IEP.

“Autumn definitely advocated for me to make sure I knew what to say and do so they could get that in place,” Scheday-Walton said.

She has seen her granddaughter’s confidence grow with Palmer.

“She encourages Peighton a lot. It’s like having a big sister/co-mom for me,” Scheday-Walton said. “And Peighton depends on Autumn and looks forward to seeing her. It’s not often that a child looks forward to spending time with another adult that’s not a family member.”

“I like everything about her,” Peighton added about her Friend.

Last month, Palmer and Peighton participated in the Friends of the Children’s Mentor Day event at the organization’s headquarters inside Durfee Innovation Society. Along with several other kids and mentors, the two conducted science experiments from a kit, like making putty and perfumes.

Since meeting almost four years ago, Peighton has become a stronger reader and more confident in herself, Palmer said. Together, they’re working on goals like limiting screen time, eating healthier, and memorizing times tables.

“And I feel like she’s found the things that she really enjoys to do and advocates to do those things more often,” Palmer said.

Time will tell how Peighton will continue to grow. The pair have eight more years together, and possibly a lifetime, to go.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Start with first graders: How a task force says Detroit literacy lawsuit money should be spent

2024-02-14T23:50:39+00:00

First grade students should be the target of a large chunk of the $94.4 million the Detroit school district received from the state as a lawsuit settlement, according to a key recommendation from a task force that was created to provide guidance.

That recommendation would have the district spend 60% of the settlement on “initiatives tailored for 1st-grade students, ensuring these funds are dedicated to programs that follow and support these students’ progress,” as they move to second and third grades.

The remaining money would go toward tutoring for older students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

The money is part of the settlement of a 2016 lawsuit filed against the state of Michigan by Detroit students who alleged they were denied access to a basic reading education while the district was controlled by state-appointed emergency managers. The lawsuit outlined poor academic and physical conditions in district schools.

A 2020 settlement in the case called for the creation of a Detroit education task force and reserved $94.4 million in state money for DPSCD to support evidence-based literacy interventions. The Michigan legislature, which was under Democratic control last year for the first time in decades, included the money in this year’s budget after previous attempts failed.

The task force had 23 recommendations from 200 gathered during community meetings held over several months. Many common themes emerged within the ideas provided by the community, said Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, who chaired the task force.

“Parents wanted to see more tutoring. They wanted parent family workshops. They wanted to see culturally-responsive literature materials,” said Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

Seven of the recommendations were identified as priorities, in part because they were vetted through the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse, which provides “scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies,” according to its website.

In addition to the focus on first grade, the recommendations include:

Adopt more reading intervention programs across all grade levels.
Adopt a supplemental reading program that is aligned with the science of reading.
Increase the number of reading interventionists who work with English language learners.
Increase access to culturally-responsive reading materials.
Increase one-on-one tutoring through various existing programs.
Expand literacy programming that personalizes and enhances students’ aspirational learning journeys.

The task force, which included more than a dozen educators, literacy experts, district and union officials, students, parents, and community members, delivered the recommendations to district leaders and school board members Tuesday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the board’s monthly meeting.

Their recommendations far exceeded the $94.4 million, totaling well over $200 million for one year. The seven priorities alone total $70 million for one year, based on the DPSCD chief financial officer’s cost estimates.

Task force member Rev. Larry Simmons, who co-founded advocacy group 482Forward, said it was challenging to pare down the recommendations.

“Even as we disagreed, we disagreed about method, not outcome,” said Simmons, a retired pastor who is executive director of the Brightmoor Alliance. “There was a very strong commitment and recognition that this was a unique, maybe once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We had to be very careful not to squander it.”

Vitti told Chalkbeat Wednesday that district staff will provide an analysis of the recommendations to school board members.

“From there the Board and I will offer final recommendations on how to use the funding and then engage the community on those recommendations,” Vitti said in an email. “After that the Board will vote in April or May on their official use.”

Vitti said the recommendations align with the district’s own literacy priorities. The district is not required to adopt any of the task force’s recommendations.

There is much at stake in Detroit schools. Though the district has shown signs of recovery from the pandemic, reading performance on the state standardized exam remains low. And on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national exam given to a representative sample of students in each state, Detroit students have posted some of the worst reading scores in the nation since 2009.

The first-grade recommendation, which would cost $94 million over three years, should be a priority, Simmons said. The money could go toward teacher training, family engagement, and interventions regarding attendance, the task force said in its report.

First grade “is the first opportunity we have for every child who’s required to come to school to address this. By staying with these children through the third grade, we get some longevity,” Simmons said.

The reality, though, is that while $94.4 million sounds like a lot of money it will only go so far in a district with more than 48,000 students, Simmons said.

The district must spend the money by Sept. 30, 2027. It is one-time funding and there is no indication lawmakers will provide additional money specifically for literacy efforts in the Detroit district. But Simmons said groups like 482Forward will continue advocating for more money because of the importance of literacy.

“Literacy is liberation,” Simmons said.

Wilson-Lumpkins described the work of the task force as “a beautiful process,” and said she is hoping for one thing now that it’s up to the district to determine what recommendations to adopt.

“That these community meetings were not in vain, and the community has spoken resoundingly. The injury {that prompted the lawsuit} was to the community and so what we’re hopeful for is that these recommendations are taken very seriously. This was hard work. But parents wanted their voices heard. Kids wanted their voices heard.” Wilson-Lumpkins said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit schools administrator Marie Feagins chosen to lead the Memphis school district

2024-02-09T21:51:07+00:00

Marie Feagins is the school board’s choice to be the next superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools and the first outside leader to direct Tennessee’s largest school district since it was created through a merger a decade ago.

In a meeting Friday, school board members ended the Memphis superintendent search with a vote to select Feagins for the role. With successful contract negotiations, Feagins will join the district from her current position as chief of leadership and high schools for Detroit Public Schools Community District.

The board’s search went well into a second year and included no shortage of twists, turns, and disputes. Ultimately, the board rebooted the application process last fall and narrowed the finalist pool to three out-of-state candidates who returned to Memphis earlier this month for a final round of public interviews.

As the new superintendent, Feagins will oversee a district of 100,000 students at a pivotal time. Students have made some progress since the pandemic but have yet to totally rebound to scores that have historically lagged behind state averages. And, like other districts, Memphis is projecting a large budget gap as federal pandemic relief funds expire, leaving leaders to decide which academic programs and personnel they can afford to cut or keep. Plus, the current administration has launched a major facilities overhaul that could involve school consolidations and closures.

The new leader will also have to deal with direct challenges to local control from state leaders and lawmakers, who have stepped up the pressure on public school systems. A new proposal would specifically target Memphis by expanding the school board with additional members appointed by state officials.

Eleventh-hour letters from Rep. Mark White, the Memphis Republican who plans to sponsor the proposal, as well as from Shelby County Commission Chair Miska Clay-Bibbs, also a former school board chair, urged the Memphis board to take no action Friday.

Said MSCS board Chair Althea Greene: “While we are interested in hearing from state legislators and other elected and business leaders, the time for critical input and action has passed.”

Board member Michelle McKissack nominated Feagins as a “visionary changemaker” the district needs.

After two rounds of voting, Feagins eventually earned votes from board members Michelle McKissack, Chair Althea Greene, Stephanie Love, Kevin Woods, Mauricio Calvo, Keith Williams, Frank Johnson, Amber Huett-Garcia, and Vice Chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman.

Feagins was in competition with Yolonda Brown, chief academic officer in Atlanta Public Schools and Cheryl Proctor, deputy superintendent of instruction and school communities for Portland Public Schools in Oregon. The Memphis board worked with outside search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to solicit applications.

Feagins is expected to start by July 1.

She will follow in the steps of interim Superintendent Toni Williams, whose contract allows her to retain a role with the district through the next year. Williams, the district’s former finance chief, has had an active interim tenure, negotiating plans and financing for new school buildings, embarking on a plan for all of the district’s facilities, and reorganizing the district’s procurement and finance departments.

In August 2022, Williams was the single nominee for interim leader while the board committed to a national search for a successor to former Superintendent Joris Ray, who agreed to resign from the post in a cloud of scandal.

What to know about new Memphis school superintendent Marie Feagins

Feagins works in Detroit’s public school district with high school academic programming, and acts as a liaison for the district with the mayor’s office and state education department, she wrote in her application. Before coming to Detroit, she was a principal in Cleveland, and started her education career in Alabama.

“The right leader at the right place at the right time changes everything,” she told MSCS board members in December.

Feagins told board members in February that she increased the number of students who were on track to graduate in Detroit by monitoring data regularly and introducing a competition among schools.

Of managing teachers, she said: “People are okay with being responsible for the things that they can directly contribute to and own … I think that when you tell people what to do, you get robots. And when you empower them, then you get the type of creative leaders that we need in our spaces. And that’s how we get the results that we’re ultimately seeking.”

Feagins explained her approach to leading Memphis public schools like this: “I want people to get to know me first, and so that you know that the heart of the decisions are good, they’re pure, the intent is right. But you also know that I honor that the impact is what is felt most, and is what matters most ... and that’s where the leadership begins.”

Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.

United Way, Ballmer Group looking to offer free summer school for Detroit students

2024-01-31T23:37:59+00:00

After a scaled back summer school program last year, the Detroit Public Schools Community District may have more to offer students in 2024 thanks to funding from community partners.

During a school board meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti announced that United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Ballmer Group will provide summer school programming for grades K-8. Called Summer Discovery, the initiative provides enrichment programming for schools in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties at no cost to families.

United Way is teaming up with Building Impact Partners, an advising firm that has created similar initiatives in New York and Indiana.

The program will last for five weeks during the summer break, with United Way and the Ballmer Group providing up to $2,000 per student, Vitti said.

“We know the importance of summer in maintaining students’ progress and providing enrichment,” co-founder Steve Ballmer said in a news release. “We’re supporting schools to offer opportunities to kids in Southeast Michigan who wouldn’t have the same chances as kids in other parts of Michigan.”

Vitti did not specify how many hours per day students would attend or how many would be served.

Schools interested in becoming a Summer Discovery site can apply on the program’s website until March 1. Applications are open to public and charter schools in the three metro Detroit counties. The schools must conduct in-person classes, serve at least a 50% free lunch population, have 50 students or more attending during the school year, and serve students completing grades K-8 this spring.

Schools will be notified by March 24 if their applications have been approved, according to the Summer Discovery website. Applications will then open to families, said Jerome Espy, the director of media relations for United Way.

“The goal is to stem the learning loss that happens in the summer, so we’re hoping this bridges that gap,” he said.

DPSCD will also be working to identify its own schools that can offer summer school since not every school building has air conditioning, Vitti said.

Schools will have the option of using their own curriculum or following a curriculum provided by The Lavinia Group, an education organization. The curriculum provides 185 daily minutes of literacy and math for students and accommodates students with disabilities and English language learners.

“We really want to create an environment where households are more stable and that children can thrive,” Espy said. “This sounds cliche, but this is the next generation and during the summertime, if they’re without some kind of engagement, then students can lose the progress that they’ve made. And it’s even more important now post-COVID.”

District looking for ways to offer summer school after pandemic

Vitti said during the meeting that the district had been considering using some of the $94.4 million DPSCD received from its literacy lawsuit to fund summer school.

“We did talk about using literacy lawsuit money to fund summer school this year, but there would’ve been restrictions on that because it could only focus on literacy,” Vitti said. “But now with this funding, we can use that literacy lawsuit money for something else.”

As DPSCD has already spent or allocated the $1.27 billion it received in COVID relief funds, the district is looking at alternate ways to provide educational programming during the summer.

DPSCD was among the many Michigan school districts that used COVID relief aid to beef up their summer programming, offering everything from credit recovery to camps focused on robotics, sports, and culinary arts. The expanded options came at a time when students were struggling with the academic impact of the pandemic and parents were struggling with child care. Many parents and students had been looking for extra study time, fun activities, and opportunities to make up credits.

DPSCD spent a combined $21 million on programs during the summers of 2021 and 2022, and the Biden administration spotlighted its Summer Learning Experiences program.

But last year, the district was only able to offer course recovery for missed or failed classes to students in grades 8-12, a transition program for incoming kindergartners, and some limited activities in partnership with local recreation centers and public libraries.

Vitti said in a news release that DPSCD is grateful for this year’s investment in Detroit families.

“This investment in summer programming fills a long-standing gap in equal access to providing all children, regardless of zip code, with a safe learning environment over the summer,” he said.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said 50% of the students who would enroll in the summer program would have to be those who receive a free or reduced price lunch. Officials said Thursday that the percentage would apply only to students who receive a free lunch.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com

Here’s why you might need to get fingerprinted to volunteer at your kid’s school in Detroit

2024-01-16T22:51:44+00:00

Thirkell Elementary teacher Emma Howland-Bolton spent weeks “gently badgering” parents to chaperone a March 2022 field trip to the Belle Isle Aquarium after COVID-19 lockdowns. She managed to get five parents to volunteer.

“I was just so hyped that we were finally getting to go somewhere,” Howland-Bolton said. “I had kids who had basically been alone for two years … so anything that seemed fun, we were super hyped about.”

But on the day of the field trip, the school’s principal sent all the parents home, leaving just Howland-Bolton and a school secretary to chaperone. It turns out that Howland-Bolton had unknowingly broken the Detroit Public Schools Community District volunteering policy, which requires school volunteers to be cleared through a portal, pass a background check and, in some cases, get fingerprinted.

Other school districts have similar policies to the one at DPSCD, which established its most recent policy in 2019 to help ensure student and staff safety.

But some Detroit parents are concerned about who has access to that data, saying the policy invades their privacy and discourages them from being involved in their children’s academic lives.

DPSCD’s visitor policy varies depending on the scope of the volunteer work

In short, there are levels to this policy and how much information a visitor has to give DPSCD.

The school district’s policy states the superintendent can bar school access to anyone if their presence would be “detrimental to the good order of the school.” The policy specifies that the access of non-staff — which can include parents and community members — to classes is at the principal’s discretion. DPSCD’s background clearance guidance further outlines what level of security clearance visitors and volunteers need, but it doesn’t specify how to get that clearance.

For a governing policy, it’s difficult to find online. You can search for it on a district website, but you have to know what you’re looking for to find it. Go to the DPSCD Board of Education page and open the “BoardDocs & Meeting Agenda” link. On the page that opens, select “Policies” in the top menu. Choose “3000 Professional Staff” in the left menu, and the volunteer policy is titled “Volunteers.”

There’s an important distinction between visitors and volunteers. Parents and community members can visit the school during school hours if they are escorted to and from their location by a staff member. Parents are also allowed inside schools for events like parent-teacher conferences or career days without going through the volunteering portal, said Sharlonda Buckman, assistant superintendent of family and community engagement.

But anyone who volunteers at a school must complete a background check. There are levels to this, too.

Buckman said volunteers who will be supervised by school staff must provide their contact information and an ID, which the district runs through the Internet Criminal History Access Tool and the Michigan State Police Sex Offender Registry. Buckman said it takes about seven business days to get approved for this level, with no cost to volunteers. Most field trip chaperones fall into this category.

If the volunteer will work one-on-one with students without staff supervision, more information is needed — including a more thorough criminal-conviction background check and checking fingerprints through a federal database called the Criminal Justice Information Services, Buckman said. It takes 10 business days to get approved at this level, and Buckman said the district is currently covering the $65 fee for volunteers. Tutors and coaches fall into this category, according to DPSCD.

“We have a committee … to look at individual issues,” Buckman said. “If (a conviction) is old and (the offense) hasn’t harmed children, a lot of times, we can go ahead and give them the green light.” She said those with offenses like crimes against the district or criminal sexual misconduct are barred from access.

The background checks occur through the district’s Human Resources Department. Buckman said the school district uses the same system as the Michigan State Police for background checks.

“We’re only vetting you to find out whether or not we’re going to have you working around children,” Buckman said. “We don’t turn over information. We’re getting the information from their systems.”

Buckman said the district cares about supporting the children in their education, and that includes abiding by policies designed to keep students safe, especially with rising school-related violence.

“We don’t ban parents,” Buckman said. “That’s not what we do. We’re in the spirit of bringing people in, not pushing them out. … We recognize that sometimes there are issues, so we restrict the visits” of those parents.

Some parents say they feel left out

DPSCD officials have met with parents who expressed concerns about the policy. Some have said they feel left out of their children’s academic lives, and they’re noticing it more after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharell Williams has four children who attended Thirkell Elementary. She said she used to volunteer freely and bring cupcakes to her children’s school. But when pandemic-related lockdowns ended, something shifted. Her relationship with her children’s teachers and the school staff as a whole became distant.

“I understand a lot of stuff has changed,” Williams said. But the schools “used to make you feel welcomed. … It’s not a welcoming feeling.”

Shannon McEvilly is a parent of a sixth grader at Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School a board member of the National Lawyers Guild. She said she used to volunteer at her child’s school, but the lack of information about fingerprints and background checks deterred her.

“It’s never been explained what they’re doing with those fingerprints,” McEvilly said.

Other school districts, including ones in Dearborn and Hamtramck, have similar volunteer policies.

Some DPSCD parents haven’t let the policy deter them from being involved in their child’s schooling. Jaquitta Nelson frequently volunteers at Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, assisting teachers in classrooms and monitoring students during cafeteria duty. However, she wishes the process was easier so more parents could volunteer.

Nelson said it took about four months for the principal to approve her volunteer application. She was told the delay was because the principal had been busy.

“Who knows how many people have been deterred from that? It was such a hassle,” she said.

Balancing safety with parental involvement

Parental involvement is important for students’ development inside and outside the classroom. Students with parents involved in their studies are more likely to earn higher grades and graduate from high school. These students also tend to develop higher self-confidence and have better social skills.

Wayne State University assistant professor Kess Ballentine, who researches how parental involvement affects students’ academic lives, said school districts must implement less rigid policies if they want higher parental involvement in schools.

She pointed out that Black families are disproportionately detained by police in metro Detroit, which has led to less confidence overall that police will treat them fairly.

Ballentine said this distrust is why many Black and brown parents want to be involved in their kids’ schools — because just as adults are discriminated against by police, their children may be overpoliced by authority figures in school.

“Given the context of Detroit, we have the opportunity, but also the responsibility, to think creatively about how to get parents who are … more likely to be affected by the criminal justice system” in schools, Ballentine said. “We need to think about what we are losing, and what we are gaining by these kinds of blanket policies.”

Ethan Bakuli and Chalkbeat Detroit’s Lori Higgins contributed to this article.

SaMya Overall is a reporter for Outlier Media. You can reach her at samya@outliermedia.org.

This Detroit teacher became an educator to fight for equity in the classroom

2024-01-12T22:14:52+00:00

Peggy Clark dropped her career as a hair salon owner to become an educator after an interaction with her daughter’s second grade teacher that left her baffled.

“One day, my daughter came home and told me that all the kids that looked like her were in the lower academic groups in her second grade classroom,” said Clark.

Her daughter had been reading before entering kindergarten, and still, she was placed in a lower reading group, composed mostly of Black students, like her.

Clark asked the teacher about her child’s placement at the Ohio magnet school she attended but to no avail. Only after a meeting with the principal was Clark’s daughter moved to another classroom.

Though the student body of the school was diverse, Clark said the mostly white teaching staff did not reflect the student population.

“I think that’s really important,” Clark said. “If kids see someone else who looks like them in different positions modeled for them, they internalize that they, too, can attain those things.”

Clark, now a fourth grade English language arts and social studies teacher at Erma L. Henderson Academy in Detroit Public Schools Community District, has been an educator for nine years. She was recently named a Michigan Collaborative Teacher Leader in a program co-led by the Education Trust-Midwest and Teach Plus, which picks 20 educators across the state to meet with lawmakers, share their classroom experiences, and learn more about statewide education policies.

In the program, Clark is working on a committee focused on equitable school funding. She said her experience as a parent and an educator seeing inequity in schools first-hand informs her work.

“I’ve worked with students in poverty for most of my career,” she said. “Teaching has given me a variety of experiences and I’ve seen the things that students are going through. It made me be more empathetic to those students and realize that instead of just focusing on learning, we need to be wrapping our arms around them and supporting them.”

Peggy Clark

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

Teaching is a second career for me. When my daughter was a student, before I became a teacher, I got to see the public education system from an adult perspective. As I was going through the ordeal with her teacher, I began to wonder about what happens to children who don’t have parents who advocate on their behalf. From that moment forward, I wanted to do more to ensure equity for all students.

How do you get to know your students?

I get to know my students by providing them with various opportunities to talk about themselves. I spend the first couple weeks of school engaging them in various games and activities focused on building relationships and getting to know each other. I share personal information and stories about myself to make my students feel more comfortable with sharing about themselves.

I use a variety of get-to-know-you activities so I can reach all of the various types of learners in my class. Many of the activities involve movement and provide students with opportunities to interact with each other. Some of my favorite activities include the games 4 Corners, When the Wind Blows, and Teacher Hot Seat. In addition to classroom activities, I also make it a point to join my students for lunch in the cafeteria, so that I can talk to them and, hopefully, learn some of their interests as they interact with their peers.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach. Where did the idea come from?

I do not have a specific favorite lesson, but I do have a favorite lesson delivery method. I enjoy escape rooms, which can be used to teach a wide variety of different topics. I like escape rooms not only because my students enjoy them, but also because they provide the opportunity for students to practice a wide variety of skills that include collaboration, critical thinking, and academic standards. I got the idea of escape room activities from the 10-Minute Teacher podcast and subsequently did more research on them.

The most recent escape room that I used had students use context clues to determine the meaning of words and then place them in puzzles or riddles to identify a code. Once students determined the code, they delivered it to me, the Emoji Queen, to receive the next challenge. My students found the activity to be both challenging and fun.

What object would you be helpless without during the school day?

The object that I would be helpless without during the school day is my smartboard. My smartboard has a touch screen, which provides students with opportunities to take turns manipulating and annotating previously loaded activities or materials. I use a smartboard to guide students through lessons and assignments as I model expectations and my thinking for them. I also use it to guide students through the navigation of and use of various apps and software programs. My smartboard displays timers, videos, choice boards, and anything else that can aid students in their learning.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on inside your class?

Something happening in the community that I think is having the greatest impact on what goes on in my classroom is the obsession with technology. I think that technology has many useful benefits and can provide students with many advantages that I did not have when I was in school. For example, it provides immediate access to dictionaries, translation services, calculators, learning videos, and many other things that can be used to advance the attainment of knowledge.

On the other hand, I think that technology is being overused. When I’m out with my family, I often see other families sitting at a table with everyone’s head buried in a phone or another device. I witness the impact of this lack of human interaction and dialogue in my class in the form of limited vocabulary, lack of critical thinking skills, inappropriate conversation etiquette, attention-span deficits, and writing deficiencies.

There must be a balance of tech and human interaction so that students — at home and school — develop skills important to their future. I do use laptops within my classroom because I want my students to have the ability to navigate various programs on their devices and to use the internet to become independent researchers and designers of fabulous print and video materials.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

During my first year of teaching, I called the home of a student who was sleeping a lot during class. As I was speaking with the parent, she shared that they were currently homeless and did not have a stable place to stay. This significantly changed my perspective and approach. I had been thinking that the student was either being lazy or staying up late to play the latest video game. Upon learning about the student’s situation, I realized that I needed to extend more grace to students and spend additional time trying to make them comfortable to share the why behind their actions. Now, I try to listen more and talk to students when they are exhibiting undesired behaviors.

What part of your job is most difficult?

The most challenging, and also exciting part of my job is meeting the needs of every student. I teach a district-mandated curriculum and spend a great deal of time with my students on that content. I also intentionally work with students who are reading below grade level to teach them the necessary foundational skills they might have missed so that they can persevere through a complex text or math problem independently. I believe we must strongly focus in the elementary grades on the development of these foundational skills so students can achieve and thrive in the latter years of school. I also hone in on each student’s needs by meeting with small groups of about six to eight students daily to focus on a particular skill or standard that they may be struggling to master.

What was the biggest misconception that you initially brought to teaching?

The biggest misconception that I initially brought to teaching was that teachers can only impact education from within the walls of their classroom. I now know differently. Through communication with other teachers, I have realized that we share many commonalities when working with diverse students, including building opportunities and policy levers to support our student’s emotional well-being, physical health, nutrition, and learning challenges, to name a few.

My desire to support as many students as possible has led me to Teach Plus, which helps teacher leaders like me advocate for student needs by empowering us to elevate our voices. This year, I’m looking forward to working with a cohort of Michigan teachers to push for changes in the areas of equitable school funding, early literacy, teacher retention and recruitment, transition to post-secondary education, and social-emotional and academic development. As a group, we will advocate for students by making policymakers and other stakeholders aware of the issues important to teachers, students, and communities.

Recommend a book that has helped you be a better teacher, and why.

The book that helped me be a better teacher is “Teach Like a Champion, 2.0″ by Doug Lemov. The author provides classroom management techniques for teachers to use and details specific actionable steps to help them to implement high expectations for students. It includes well-scripted routines accompanied by videos demonstrating how to implement them with students. It remains a resource that I sometimes refer to, and most of the strategies have become ingrained into my daily practice.

For example, one of the techniques from the book is called “Threshold,” which involves greeting students at the door as they enter the classroom so that I can assess how they are feeling to attempt to curtail any future problems or concerns. Another technique is establishing a routine of having students complete a brief 3- to 5-minute task that Lemov refers to as a “Do Now,” allowing me time to take attendance and/or speak with students as needed.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about teaching?

The best advice I’ve received about teaching is to remember to take time for myself. When I first started teaching, I would arrive early and often stay late after the school day ended. I wanted to make sure I was providing my students with the best education that I could. I found myself tired and missing out on something important to me: family time. Since receiving the advice, I still arrive to work early, but I get up even earlier to ensure I’m putting myself first. I go to bed early and try to get a good night’s sleep so I can make it to the gym at about 5 a.m. Sleep and exercise help me to be in the best physical and mental shape possible for both my students and me. Additionally, I meditate, eat healthy foods, and set time limits when I take work home to ensure that I have time to engage in activities with my family and friends.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit students getting limited food options due to strike at distributor

2024-01-11T18:18:30+00:00

Meal options will be limited for students in the Detroit school district for the next week or two because an employee strike against the district’s main food distributor is causing disruptions in service.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, told district families about the disruption on Wednesday.

“All students in all schools at all grade levels will continue to be fed breakfast and lunch,” Vitti said Thursday morning during a policy conference in Detroit.

“The menu will be lighter, but we’ll continue to feed everyone,” Vitti said.

The disruption to school meals is particularly important in a district like Detroit, where a significant proportion of students come from low-income homes and rely on the breakfasts and lunches they receive at school.

US Foods is a national company that distributes food to schools, restaurants, health care facilities, and hospitality businesses such as hotels. The company has a distribution center in Wixom.

Officials from the company could not be reached for comment.

Angela Angeles’ four children, who attend Maybury Elementary and Priest Elementary in southwest Detroit, began complaining earlier in the week that their portion sizes for lunch have gotten smaller.

The district notified parents about the US Foods strike Thursday morning via text message, she said.

As a former parent outreach coordinator for DPSCD, Angeles said she had seen school cafeterias run short of certain items.

“Sometimes it’d be like, pizza and french fries (for lunch) and then some kids would just get pizza and no french fries, because they will run out of french fries, so we offer them something else,” Angeles said. “Once they run out of french fries or chicken nuggets, they substitute it with corn or stuff like that for different grades.”

Until US Foods is able to resume normal deliveries, Angeles said she will make sure her children eat breakfast before going to school and have them bring a packed lunch.

Vitti said the strike by the company’s truck drivers is “preventing the district from receiving the volume of food regularly received to feed students.” He said the district was exploring other food vendors in order to provide basic food options to students.

Vitti said the closest strike affecting Detroit schools was in Wixom and was resolved Wednesday.

“There are still some lingering supply chain issues, but we will continue to feed all children breakfast and lunch.”

Detroit isn’t the only school district affected. In Indiana, WTHR reported that some districts were experiencing delays in food deliveries.

BridgeDetroit reporter Micah Walker contributed to this report.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach Lori at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Orlando Bailey is the engagement director for BridgeDetroit. You can reach him at obailey@bridgedetroit.com

Eight key Michigan education stories we’ll be watching in 2024

2024-01-05T19:41:50+00:00

With elections that could alter the state’s political balance, a new agency getting involved in education issues, debates over funding and budgets, and numerous policy changes taking effect, 2024 will be an eventful year for education in Michigan.

Educators and advocates who recorded big victories for their reform agenda in 2023 will look to keep their momentum in 2024 and tackle what they see as some unfinished business — specifically, dealing with staffing needs and locking in more equitable and sustainable funding for public schools.

But they face a number of obstacles and uncertainties, including the potential for economic and political shifts.

“I think a lot of us will be looking at the budget in 2024,” said Bob McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, which advocates for public schools. “We put really good building blocks in place in 2023. But can we find a long-term, sustainable solution for funding?”

“When looking at things like social workers, we can’t make the hires we need without knowing there is long-term funding in place,” McCann added. “We need to find ways to make sure these programs will be funded, even in leaner budget years. Those are the critical next steps.”

Wendy Zdeb, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, said it’s essential that reasonable increases in per-pupil funding continue.

“It will depend on state revenue and the economy, so it’s hard to say what it will look like moving forward,” she said. “I’m hopeful about where we’re at now and that it is only going to increase. But history tells us otherwise, and that’s always concerning.”

Here is a preview of some of the top stories Chalkbeat Detroit will be watching in 2024.

School funding: The push for equity continues

The end of federal COVID relief aid for education has increased the pressure on school district finances this year and reignited the conversation about equity in school funding.

Michigan has historically been among the worst states in the nation for big gaps in school funding between wealthy and impoverished communities. Educators and advocates have criticized the state’s current method of funding schools for decades and pushed for an overhaul of the system.

Last year, the state passed a historic $21.5 billion school aid budget that provided gains for the students with the most needs. An “opportunity index” measure in the budget allocates more weighted funding to districts with higher concentrations of poverty. Previously, the state gave the same amount of per-pupil dollars to all students considered to be at risk, regardless of the poverty levels in their districts.

Advocates say this type of funding boost would have to continue for decades in order to correct imbalances for districts that historically were underfunded.

2024 elections: Fate of Whitmer’s agenda at stake

Just over a year ago, Democrats solidified their power in Michigan by retaining the governor’s office and winning control of both chambers of the Legislature by slim margins. As a result, a number of education policy changes and priorities they fought years for became a reality in 2023.

This year’s elections will test the Democrats’ strength. Already, their legislative power is diminished: Two Democratic House members won mayoral races at the end of 2023, and their departure leaves the House with a 54-54 partisan split, at least until new members are chosen in an April 16 special election.

Both seats are in heavily Democratic districts. But given the stakes of the election — potential control of the House and the power to advance or thwart Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s agenda — political analysts are waiting to see if Republicans will make an aggressive push to flip the seats in their favor. A total of 12 candidates have filed to run in a Jan. 30 primary for those seats.

Voters cast ballots at the Robert Bowens Senior Citizens Center in Pontiac during the August 2022 primary. This year's elections will be a test of the political strength Democrats gained in the 2022 election.

Another test will come in the November general election, when the entire House will be up for election.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District will have contests for three school board seats in November, with the potential to alter the dynamic of the seven-seat board.

The Michigan State Board of Education will also have seats up for grabs in 2024, and other potential changes tied to the elections. The only two Republican-held seats on the board are up for election, and Republicans will likely fight hard to keep them.

One of the Republican members, Nikki Snyder, is currently campaigning in the Aug. 5 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Debbie Stabenbow. And Board President Pamela Pugh, a Democrat whose term expires at the start of 2031, said she plans to run for an open U.S. House seat in 2024.

Candidates for the board are typically announced at party nominating conventions, usually in the summer. The primary elections for the U.S. House and Senate seats will be Aug. 6.

Of course, 2024 is also a presidential election year, and debates over school choice, teacher pay, student mental health, and curriculum have already begun to play out in the campaigns ahead of primary contests beginning this month. Candidates vying for the Republican nomination have also made an issue of learning materials and library books containing mentions of racism as well as sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ matters.

Student health: Bills and health centers in the works

Amid the continuing recovery from the pandemic, more legislators from both parties are acknowledging the mental health struggles students are experiencing, and they’re supporting bills to improve access to mental health services. Several more bills were introduced in 2023 and we expect to see movement on them in 2024.

One bill would allow K-12 public school students to take up to five mental-health days a school year as excused absences. State Sen. Sarah Anthony, a Democrat from Lansing who introduced the bill, said she will advocate for it to move quickly through the education committee when the legislative session begins.

Many advocates are still pushing for Michigan to add more counselors to its public schools. The state reported last year it added over 1,300 mental health professionals to schools since 2018, but it’s still short of the average student-to-counselor ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association.

The 2024 school aid budget includes $33 million for school-based health centers and another $45 million to upgrade existing centers. Watch for the impact of that spending to appear this year.

DPSCD is set to open a total of 12 high school-based health hubs over the next three years with $4.5 million in philanthropic grants. Some of the hubs have already opened, offering medical, dental, and mental health care.

Legislators from both parties are supporting bills to improve access to mental health services. One bill introduced last year would allow K-12 public school students to take up to five mental-health days a school year as excused absences.

Special education: How will the state deal with staffing shortages?

School staffing shortages have been a problem in Michigan schools for years, and they’re particularly pronounced in special education. The state’s list of critical shortage areas for schools includes special education administrators, teachers, and support staff in every disability and role. These shortages can make it difficult to comply with state and federal rules on serving students with disabilities.

Much of the discussion regarding special education shortages has been focused on teachers, and not as much on the support staff whose roles are critical to ensuring that students are evaluated and receive the services they are entitled to. This was highlighted during a meeting of the Detroit school board last month, when a handful of special education support staff urged board members to address the shortages they say have led to increased caseloads.

How schools address shortages in special education and other areas is critical to ensuring that students receive a quality education. Though many efforts are underway to address the problem — including training programs that give aspiring teachers a quicker route to the classroom and programs that aim to get high school students interested in teaching — they won’t provide the solution schools and students need now.

MiLEAP: New agency will take on some education functions

Whitmer in July issued an executive order establishing the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, which focuses on improving educational outcomes for students in preschool through postsecondary programs. Michelle Richard, who was the governor’s senior education adviser, will lead the department, known as MiLEAP.

With the new agency under a cabinet-level leader, the governor’s office will be more directly accountable for educational performance in the state. That is something critics of the state’s current system have demanded for years. Some education stakeholders hope this will allow the governor to make faster changes in education policy.

The department moves forward in 2024 with work on issues such as child care licensing, before- and after-school programming, and college scholarships. Meanwhile, educators, administrators, and policy makers will be watching whether MiLEAP leads to more efficiency or more bureaucracy.

The department is made up of three offices: early childhood education, higher education, and education partnerships. It takes over several functions previously handled by the Michigan Department of Education, including the Office of Great Start, which serves the educational needs of children up to age 8.

‘Right to literacy’ settlement: How will DPSCD allocate $94.4 million?

DPSCD has a big new pile of state money to help address problems with reading and literacy for students in the district, thanks to a settlement in the 2020 “right to literacy” lawsuit.

The state appropriated $94.4 million under the settlement, and DPSCD has until 2027 to spend the money. But big decisions will come this year on how the money can best be used to improve student achievement.

A task force is working on recommendations to the district on how to spend the money, based on community input. Its recommendations are due by June 30. The district doesn’t have to adopt the recommendations, but Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said the district will consider them.

District officials have been previewing their own ideas for how the money might be spent, including hiring more academic interventionists, increasing literacy support for high school students, and expanding teacher training on how to help students who are several grades below reading level. At a school board retreat in November, school board members brainstormed solutions that included training high schoolers to teach basic reading to young children, and partnerships with maternal health programs and early childhood centers to help educate families about literacy before their children enter school.

One thing to keep an eye on is whether the solutions meet the terms of the legal settlement requiring that the money be invested in programs that follow evidence-based literacy strategies. The money can also be used to reduce class sizes for K-3 students, upgrade school facilities, and provide students with more reading materials.

School safety: Proposals respond to Oxford killings

Legislation and reform aimed at preventing school shootings will remain a top priority for lawmakers in 2024.

Since the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School, where a 15-year-old killed four students and injured seven others, Michigan has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into improving school safety.

The 2024 school aid budget allocated $328 million to improving student safety and mental health.

Numerous bills addressing school safety were also introduced last year, including one that would mandate that all school buildings be equipped with panic alarms, one that would create a state office of school safety, and one that would require an emergency safety manager in each district.

In November, Snyder, the State Board of Education member, proposed a resolution calling for stricter safety training requirements for school staff and increased accountability for school employees and administrators for safety lapses. The proposal came after an independent report on the Oxford H.S. shooting found multiple failures by school administrators to take steps to prevent the killings.

The board didn’t adopt the resolution, but many members expressed interest in revisiting it after more input from state officials.

Chronic absenteeism: Will schools succeed in improving attendance?

Last year brought some encouraging news with small declines in chronic absenteeism. But even with those dips, large numbers of students in the Detroit district and across the state are missing far too much school.

A sign at Samuel Gompers Elementary-Middle School in Detroit promotes regular attendance. Chronic absenteeism rates have improved in Detroit and across the state, but they remain high.

We’ll have our eye on this issue, because efforts to improve student achievement won’t work when classrooms are missing students on a regular basis, and teachers are constantly having to reteach material that students missed.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 18 or more days in a school year. During the last school year, nearly 31% of Michigan students were chronically absent. In the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the rate was 66%.

Important issues to watch in 2024: Will schools find innovative ways to improve attendance? What happens to students whose frequent absences trigger punitive acti on? And will communities band together to address the causes of chronic absenteeism?

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

These are the 6 storylines that defined Michigan education news in 2023

2023-12-21T16:16:06+00:00

This was a transformative year for education in Michigan. Democrats took control of the state Legislature and rolled back some of the reforms enacted during Republican control.

Gone are the requirements for holding back struggling readers, using test scores to evaluate teachers, and giving letter grades to schools.

A new state education department was launched with an eye on improving outcomes for students. The state education budget invested historic amounts of money in the most vulnerable children.

The news went beyond Lansing, of course. Schools in Detroit dealt with budget cuts precipitated by the loss of federal COVID relief funding, which dried up in the district. They also tried to address high rates of chronic absenteeism.

As we head into the holidays and into a new year, here’s a look back at six big story themes from 2023:

Chronic absenteeism continues to threaten pandemic recovery

All the education reforms in the world won’t make a difference if students aren’t coming to school every day. That poses a particular problem in Michigan, where low achievement levels have driven calls for improving the way students are educated and schools are funded.

Those efforts have bumped up against data showing nearly a third of Michigan students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year, meaning they missed 18 or more school days; in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, two-thirds were chronically absent.

Chalkbeat Detroit has made reporting on chronic absenteeism a priority, because it’s important for readers to understand the consequences of frequent absences, the reasons students miss school, and the broader factors that are fueling absenteeism.

During 2023, we wrote about how Detroit’s spotty transportation options for students make it difficult for some to get to school every day. We also wrote about a state law enacted in 2015 that punishes parents of chronically absent students. If those parents receive public assistance, the state has the option of yanking that aid. Family poverty is a leading contributor to student absenteeism, and as Chalkbeat reported, some research has found that punitive approaches to chronic absenteeism don’t work. Critics argued the state shouldn’t take away assistance from the very families who need it the most.

Chalkbeat took readers inside Gompers Elementary-Middle School to capture efforts to improve chronic absenteeism. We introduced you to Effie Harris, an attendance agent whose work is at the center of those efforts, and students such as Jay’Sean who were benefiting from a mentoring program that paired students at risk for chronic absence with an adult in the school. We also reported on community efforts to boost attendance.

Finally, we reported on some positive developments after after the dramatic increases in chronic absenteeism during the pandemic. The state’s 30% rate in 2022-23 was down from 38% in 2021-22, and DPSCD’s 66% rate was down from 80% in the previous year.

Democrats take control of Lansing, roll back GOP school reforms

For the first time in decades, Democrats had control of the Michigan Legislature and the governor’s office. They didn’t waste any time flexing that power, and applied much of it to the state’s schools.

Among the big moves lawmakers made during 2023: They repealed Michigan’s A-F letter grade accountability system for schools. They repealed the portion of the Read by Grade 3 law that requires schools hold back third graders who are a year or more behind in reading. They passed legislation that restores the collective bargaining rights of teachers — rights that were removed under Republican control more than a decade ago. Legislation was also enacted to remove student test scores as a factor in evaluating teachers.

Perhaps the biggest move was in the passage of a state K-12 budget that was lauded by many education experts and advocacy groups as groundbreaking, because it reflected an aggressive approach to addressing learning that was lost during the pandemic, and because it allocated more money to some of the most vulnerable students in the state.

Much of the Democratic-led education legislation passed along party lines, with Republicans largely opposed. Some of the opponents told Chalkbeat for a recent story that they believe accountability and transparency have been removed from classrooms.

New state education department launched

Among the other big political issues that grabbed headlines in Michigan was Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement in July that she was creating a new education department focused on improving outcomes for students in preschool through postsecondary programs.

The new department is the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, or MiLEAP. It is taking on some functions previously handled by the Michigan Department of Education, such as early childhood education.

Some cheered the announcement, saying it would give the governor more direct control over some important functions. But others worried that a new department would create more layers of bureaucracy. The State Board of Education, which oversees the MDE, asked the state attorney general’s office to rule on the legitimacy of the department.

The department launched this month with Michelle Richard, a Whitmer adviser, as its acting director.

Federal relief aid is on its way out in Michigan schools

As we’ve reported for more than a year, federal COVID relief funding has helped school districts pay for expanded tutoring, mental health services for students, and other resources needed to recover from the pandemic. It has also helped school districts, particularly those that are financially troubled, become more secure.

But that money has already dried up in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, which undertook the difficult task of cutting positions and laying off some staff during the spring. The federal funds don’t run out until September 2024, but because the district allocated more than half of its nearly $1.3 billion allocation toward a massive facility plan, the district hit what experts have described as a fiscal cliff sooner than most other districts in the state.

Early in the year, Chalkbeat reported on whether school districts are ready for the impending loss of the federal aid. And throughout the spring, we provided consistent coverage of the debate over cuts in the Detroit school district, as some in the community worried that the district could return to the days of state control, when financial crises led to routine cutbacks and school closures.

Detroit district finally gets literacy lawsuit money

The 2016 Detroit “right to literacy” lawsuit was finally fully resolved this year when the Michigan Legislature allocated $94.4 million to support literacy efforts in the Detroit school district. As part of the settlement in that suit, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had committed to including the funding in her budget proposals, but it wasn’t until Democrats took control of the Legislature that her proposal became a reality.

Now, the focus turns to how that money will be spent. There is no shortage of opinions on how that money will benefit students most. A task force required by the settlement held meetings this fall to hear from residents and is required to deliver recommendations to the district. Detroit school board members discussed options during a November retreat.

The money comes at a crucial time. Improving reading skills among Detroit schoolchildren has been a large concern for decades. Reading scores for Detroit students have ranked among the lowest in the nation over the past decade and a half.

Mixed news on early childhood education

State officials have made early childhood education a priority for years now, and this year, lawmakers took a step toward ensuring that any child, regardless of family income, is eligible to enroll in the state’s free preschool program. And Whitmer has also pushed to expand access to child care programs. Meanwhile, a report released this summer said Michigan is improving outcomes for early childhood health and education.

But the early childhood education industry in Michigan is still unstable. Staffing shortages will make expansion efforts difficult. Child care providers have demanded more funding so they can pay their workers competitive wages. And federal COVID relief money that was intended to keep child care centers open during the pandemic dried up in September, leaving some predicting the loss of the money will result in programs closing or increasing costs.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

In their words: The students, teachers, and advocates we heard from in 2023

2023-12-19T21:22:56+00:00

At Chalkbeat Detroit, we take seriously our mission to inform readers about efforts to improve public education in Michigan and explain how inequities create barriers to learning.

Crucial to our work is ensuring that the voices of the people who have the most at stake — students, parents, advocates, teachers, and other school staff — are front and center.

That’s part of our regular reporting. But we also elevate these voices with special features, such as first-person essays, How I Teach features, interview Q&As, and other formats.

As we wrap up 2023, we’re looking back at some of the voices we showcased over the last 12 months. Below, you’ll see highlights of those pieces.

And as always, if you have a story you’d like to share, or know of a voice that deserves to be heard, please reach out to us at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Confronting racial violence with tenderness

I am required to teach Abraham Lincoln and how he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but not about the felony disenfranchisement that keeps many of my students’ families from experiencing true freedom.
N’Kengé Robertson

Detroit teacher N’Kengé Robertson tackled issues of racial violence and identity in this first-person piece. She explains that learning materials often leave out “critical conversations of race, gender, religion, language, and sexuality,” and fail to capture the lived experiences of students they’re supposed to reach. To address that, she said, she worked with her high school students to “improve the situation by compiling new resources, reshaping our lessons, and moving away from Eurocentric narratives in our classroom.”

Detroit students shed light on the need for self-love, inner peace

The pandemic has done a number on me. I don’t and can’t go anywhere, can’t sleep some nights, always see the negative before the positive, and I doubt almost everything and everyone around me.
TaMyra Smith

Detroit teen TaMyra Smith wrote about mental health and depression as part of Local Circles, a nonprofit that works with youth to research issues that are important to them.

In February, we published excerpts of student-written pieces about mental health that shed light on some of the post-pandemic struggles students are facing. The writing was part of a project of an organization called Local Circles. The participants included one student who said she struggled with depression, and another who urged students to seek help when they need it. For the most part, they agreed that self-love and inner peace are important for their healing. There is still widespread concern about the mental health challenges of students who are grappling with the after-effects of the pandemic. Adults trying to address this must listen to what young people are saying they need.

A Detroit man’s passion for getting kids to school every day

It was heartbreaking to me to see these children squandering an opportunity that later in life they’ll have to pay to get.
Larry Simmons

Chronic absenteeism has been a major storyline for Chalkbeat Detroit for more than a year. We’ve given readers a close-up view of one Detroit school’s efforts to get students to school regularly, the role community agencies have played, and barriers to improving attendance, such as spotty transportation and a state policy that punishes the parents of chronically absent students. In this interview Q&A, retired pastor Larry Simmons talked about what drove his years-long effort to help get kids in school regularly, and what it felt like to see children walking around his neighborhood when they should have been in school.

Looking at the world through a similar lens at Michigan camp

Detroit teen Torrance Johnson wrote a first-person essay about attending a Michigan camp for children with muscular dystrophy.

I rejoice in thoughts that my lost friends are running around happy and alive in the afterlife; at the same time, my heart aches, because they are no longer by my side.
Torrance Johnson

Detroit teen Torrance Johnson wrote a first-person piece, a version of which was initially published by the Detroit Writing Room, about how a camp in Lexington, Michigan, for children with muscular dystrophy changed his life. Going to this camp each year gave him an opportunity to be around other children like him who have muscular dystrophy. He wrote of the joys that brought, but also the sadness of losing friends.

Adults failed her when she was a kid. Now she is a watchdog for children.

No adults ever took the time to ask what was behind my surface-level behavioral issues … despite best practices and what research tells us about kids who “act up.”
Hannah Dellinger

Chalkbeat Detroit reporter Hannah Dellinger wrote a first-person essay about overcoming childhood trauma.

Chalkbeat Detroit reporter Hannah Dellinger, who joined our team in June, wrote an intensely personal essay about her experiences overcoming trauma. The sexual abuse she suffered as a young child led to behavior problems in school — signs of the trauma that adults ignored. Hannah’s piece illustrates not only the importance of having school staff trained to meet the needs of students struggling with trauma, but also how important it is for adults to be able to act on telltale signs that a student isn’t just acting out, but perhaps exhibiting the effects of trauma.

This Detroit teacher’s mission: Bring back school libraries

I really need to impress and stress how important going to school is and the work that students do there, not only because they’re young and they’re learning, but also because it has long-term ramifications for their life. The absence of libraries is an atrocity.
Josie Silver

Josie Silver teaches early elementary grades in the Detroit school district, and one thing she’s passionate about is equipping her children with books that will fuel their love of learning. Chalkbeat highlighted Silver as part of its regular How I Teach column, in part because the educator had been named a Michigan Collaborative Teacher Leader. Silver talked about the need for school libraries, and the challenges she has faced teaching students who are still struggling to rebound academically from the pandemic.

Detroit student who fought for ‘right to literacy’ is still in the fight

We obligate children to go to schools, but we don’t obligate schools to teach.
Jamarria Hall

Jamarria Hall was the lead plaintiff in the historic lawsuit that claimed state officials had deprived Detroit students of a right to literacy.

Jamarria Hall was the face of the historic 2016 “right to read” lawsuit that argued state officials failed to provide a basic reading education when they oversaw the Detroit school district between 2009 and 2016 under emergency management. Hall was a high school student when that lawsuit was filed, and became the lead plaintiff. Now 23, he told Chalkbeat in this interview that he sees the $94 million the state allocated this year to the district — part of a 2021 settlement of the case — as a way for young people to have a say in their future.

Michigan’s History Teacher of the Year helps educators combat racist myths

The world is such a fascinating place. Each student has passion and curiosity inside them, and I am so honored whenever I can play a small part in igniting these things.
Matt Vriesman

Teacher Matt Vriesman was named Michigan History Teacher of the Year.

In 2020, as the nation was undergoing a racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd, an administrator asked social studies teacher Matt Vriesman to share resources with other teachers. Vriesman had already adapted his own classroom lessons after realizing that state standards don’t always provide an accurate view of race, slavery, and injustice. That request turned into something bigger than his East Kentwood High School building. Vriesman, whom Chalkbeat featured in a How I Teach piece after he was named Michigan History Teacher of the Year, created a website that provides antiracism resources for Advanced Placement teachers across the nation. This work is important to Vriesman, who teaches at one of the most diverse schools in the state. “We are always looking for new ways to bring in the knowledge and experience of our students into the classroom,” he said. “It makes world history so much more ‘real’ for students.”

Michigan’s top teacher wants more focus on mental health, learning recovery

Many children are dealing with mental health issues themselves or dealing with the mental health issue of a parent or caregiver. In Michigan, we need to put as much time, resources, and funding into meeting the students’ mental needs as we do their physical and educational needs.
Candice Jackson

Detroit educator Candice Jackson was named Michigan Teacher of the Year.

Soon after being named Michigan’s Teacher of the Year, Candice Jackson used her new platform to push for schools to address the academic and mental health needs that have lingered as schools attempt to help students recover from the pandemic. Williams, the first Detroit district teacher to be recognized as the state’s top teacher since the 2006-07 school year, told Chalkbeat that students need counseling services and social-emotional learning programs to get back on track. That will pay off academically, she said, because stronger mental health “enhances academic performance, supports overall well-being, enables early interventions, and has short-term and long-term positive outcomes for students.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district staff raise concerns about shortages and delays in special education evaluations

2023-12-13T22:05:44+00:00

Heavy caseloads and staff shortages are leaving some Detroit students still waiting to be evaluated for special education services, multiple school employees and advocates said during a school board meeting Tuesday.

Their concerns, particularly comments about students whose lack of services had been brought to the board before but remain unresolved, prompted board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo to demand the district fix the problem and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to say he would more actively hold staff accountable for addressing the complaints.

The issues underscore the challenges facing the Detroit Public Schools Community District and its efforts to serve some of the most vulnerable children. Nearly 14% of the population in the district are students with disabilities, and like many school districts across the nation, the Detroit district struggles to hire qualified special education staff. Most of its academic vacancies are in the special education department (called the exceptional student education department in the Detroit district).

Board members heard from a speech language pathologist who said that as of Nov. 30, 73 students needed her support, but she described herself as powerless because “there are not enough of us.”

She urged the district to “do anything you can to recruit and retain excellent speech pathologists,” and noted that children with speech challenges “have a right to communicate to their God-given potential.”

The board heard from other ancillary staff (including speech pathologists, social workers, and occupational therapists) who said delays in providing an Individualized Education Program, which federal law requires for students with disabilities, is a problem in the district.

Parent and advocate Melissa Redman, a frequent speaker at board meetings and critic of the district, said the parent of a child whose delays she had previously brought to the board is still waiting for an IEP.

“It’s been a month,” Redman said.”She still hasn’t heard anything.”

The delays are putting pressure on existing staff, said Janice Smith, a district social worker. That’s difficult given their job duties have expanded since COVID, as there’s been concern about the mental health challenges of students. She said staff feel overworked and undervalued.

“School social workers give out hearty hugs and high fives while also providing grief counseling to students, families, and staff,” Smith said.

Vitti, after hearing from the public, responded to the comments, saying “I’m actually discouraged by the number of examples that were named tonight from ESE ancillary staff of the lack of follow up.”

He said he would begin to regularly attend monthly meetings between ancillary staff and central office staff. He said he would also make sure staff respond to concerns raised by staff in writing to him

One thing that was unclear Tuesday is just how widespread the district’s issue with IEP delays are. Federal law requires that schools convene an IEP team within 30 days of a parent request to determine eligibility for their child.

“Without a doubt, we will not be in compliance with IEPs if we’re not fully staffed,” Vitti said.

That will be a tough problem to solve. He said the district has vacancies of 18 social workers, 34 speech language pathologists, and 10 occupational therapists.

Gay-Dagnogo said she’s received ongoing complaints for months about the IEP process.

“This is a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen,” she said.

Vitti said the district will need to dramatically increase salaries.

“We’re competing with not only surrounding school districts that aren’t dealing with the larger concentration of students (with disabilities), but we’re also competing with private companies,” Vitti said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach Lori at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

How Detroit roads risk the safety of the city’s youngest commuters

2023-12-06T22:12:14+00:00

Arlyssa Heard lived only a short distance away from her son’s school when he attended The School at Marygrove on the city’s west side. Her son’s commute by bike was less than 2 miles, but she was always worried about his safety.

“Him just walking the streets as a young Black male can sometimes yield all kinds of complications and dangers, and he doesn’t even have to be doing anything,” Heard said.

Most Detroit kids don’t attend their neighborhood school, making most of them ineligible for Detroit Public Schools Community District-provided bus service.

That means more than 24,000 DPSCD students must commute to school by walking, biking, or car. Another 47,000 Detroit students attend charter schools that provide little or no school bus transportation.

Detroit students face many dangers on their route to school: crime, violence, stray dogs, and dark areas. However, parents, neighbors, the city, DPSCD, and the Detroit Police Department focus more on one issue: slowing down cars.

What makes a route to school safer?

Keeping students safe while commuting to school starts with keeping the streets and sidewalks safe. Detroit had 66 collisions between pedestrians and cars in 2022 where a minor was hit, and the collisions are becoming more severe. In 2017, 6.4% were fatal. Last year, that number rose to 10.1%.

DPSCD spokesperson Chrystal Wilson couldn’t confirm how many district students walk or bike to school.

The city is attempting to make the city’s widest — and consequently, fastest — streets safer for cars and pedestrians walking alongside them. One way is by narrowing the roads. The 2020 Livernois Streetscape Project decreased the boulevard by one lane on each side, added bike lanes, created a dedicated left-turn lane, and widened the sidewalks.

A 2022 “Streets for People: Detroit Comprehensive Safety Action Plan” report recommended the city build curb extensions, add pedestrian countdown timers, and paint crosswalks on major boulevards to improve safety, similar to the work done on Livernois near Seven Mile. Since then, the city has begun a streetscape project for Dexter Avenue, Rosa Parks Boulevard, and East and West Warren avenues.

But drivers are still driving fast, and it can have severe consequences. A person hit by a car going 35 mph is five times more likely to die than someone struck by a car traveling 20 mph.

It’s not just how fast cars are going that can make kids unsafe on the way to school — it’s whether drivers can see them.

Daylight is still the best lighting. Michigan’s short winter days force students to spend more of their commute under the night sky.

Heard works as an education advocate with 482Forward. She and the organization are both pushing for a later start time, in part to keep kids safer on the way to school. Some DPSCD schools start as early as 7:30 a.m.

How DPSCD is addressing the problem

Even though it’s fairly obvious what kinds of things put kids getting to and from school in danger, it’s not as clear how to fix them.

For the last few years, the city and DPSCD have partnered with an organization called Michigan Safe Routes to School to help. The organization creates an action plan and helps find grants to implement changes.

SRTS Program Coordinator Adam Jenks said the program focuses on temporary or permanent speed bumps on residential streets, bike lane barriers, and long-term initiatives to narrow roadways.

“Our angle is to engage with the community,” Jenks said. “Get the parents, the staff, the faculty involved with going out and engaging with their students in the neighborhood, providing extra supervision at critical points where there might be higher incidences of speeding and things of that nature.”

In a SRTS survey sent to students and parents at the beginning of this school year, Jenks said responding parents were most concerned about the speed and amount of traffic.

Violence, crime and the presence (or lack thereof) of crossing guards also came up often. The survey data is not available to the public.

Wide roads and fast cars

Despite efforts to make streets safer for young pedestrians, the threats aren’t decreasing quickly enough. Students will be unsafe on their route to school until traffic slows down on those streets.

Tinu Usoro enrolled her oldest child at Joy Preparatory Academy for kindergarten. The school was within walking distance, but Usoro said it still felt unsafe to walk to school. Joy Prep is a few blocks south of the M-10 freeway and east of Livernois, two wide, fast-moving roadways.

There’s a lot of traffic in Detroit, both on freeways and city streets. Cars traveling at high speeds often fail to stop at stop signs or yield at intersections. The Southeast Michigan Councils of Governments found more than 80 intersections with a disproportionate number of pedestrian crashes within the city. Crashes at these intersections happen more frequently and are typically more severe.

Many of these locations coincide with Detroit Public Schools Community District schools.

The city implemented speed bumps to help address the problem, but they can only be installed on city-owned neighborhood streets.

There are many streets in the city that it doesn’t own, and that’s where many accidents happen. More than a third of all vehicle accidents involving a death or incapacitating injury occurred on just 3% of Detroit’s streets. These dangerous streets make up the “High Injury Network,” and 60% are owned by either Wayne County or the State of Michigan.

Crossing guards and the Detroit Police Department

A valuable part of SRTS’ action plan is advocating for crossing guards. The program can fund training and supplies for crossing guards at any school, but hiring those guards is at the city’s discretion.

Jenks said crossing guards are essential to a city’s safe transportation plan and are often “underappreciated.” Parents and students agree.

Research shows that crossing guards help reduce pedestrian accidents at crosswalks.

“During heavy traffic times at certain intersections, children don’t have the maturity to negotiate that traffic from one location to another,” said Sgt. Curtis Perry, who is part of the DPD Traffic Safety Unit. “We try to put crossing guards at those locations.”

Usoro transferred her kids to University Prep partially because of the crossing guards at the school, which makes the route to school feel safer. She said there are two crossing guards on University Prep’s campus during commute times.

The Traffic Safety Unit can hire as many crossing guards as they want, but Officer Eric Brown said intersections need a large amount of traffic combined with many students who cross that intersection to get to school to get a crossing guard. There are currently more than 50 crossing guards in the city. Forty-five DPSCD schools out of 110 have official crossing guards. This doesn’t include schools that use volunteer crossing guards.

Brown said they wait for the community to tell them where crossing guards are needed before they hire more. You can reach the Traffic Safety Unit at 313-596-1457.

What parents and students can do

It’s often up to parents and students to fill the gaps and ensure students get to school safely. Usoro said the community should work to keep sidewalks clean and avoid littering. Heard said neighbors can and should form watch clubs to supervise students while they commute to school.

Teaching students the proper way to cross the street and the safest route to their school is good practice. Children who bike to school should learn how to change bike tires, treat minor scrapes, and lock their bikes. Students should also memorize emergency numbers and learn places they can go if they need immediate help.

The city recommends that parents register their children’s bikes. People can learn more about the city’s streetscapes project on the Detroit Department of Public Works website.

SaMya Overall is a reporter for Outlier Media. You can reach her at samya@outliermedia.org.

Former Cass Tech teachers secretly rescued LeRoy Foster art before the old building was destroyed

2023-11-21T18:58:07+00:00

A thick haze hung in the air of the old Cass Technical High School as a mask-clad Senghor Reid crept through its forgotten hallways. Extension cords ran from room to room as squatters made the abandoned building home, sucking out the last bits of electricity and warmth left within its walls. Reid, along with fellow art teachers William Tyus, Mindy Mitchell, and others, had broken into the school to save student artwork and supplies before the building was to be demolished. One of them donned a hazmat suit. The air quality was so poor the place looked like a steam room.

The crew braved the dark building for only about 30 minutes, but when they came across LeRoy Foster’s “Renaissance City” — a large-scale painting that had been displayed in the cafeteria — they knew they had to save it, too. They rolled the painting up, got the hell out of there, and stored it on top of a cabinet at the new Cass Tech erected next door. They didn’t tell anyone aside from other teachers about breaking into the building and rescuing Foster’s painting.

That was back in 2006, shortly after the former Cass Tech closed in 2005. As far as most Detroiters and legions of former “Technicians” were concerned, “Renaissance City” had been lost in the rubble when the old building was torn down.

“It was a smash and grab kind of thing,” Reid tells Metro Times, recalling they had a short window of opportunity to rescue the artwork before the building came down. “We kept it safe and there was a plan for us to one day raise enough money to have the piece restored but, you know, that kind of got put on the back burner, and life went on. We were just excited that we saved it knowing one day something will happen and we’ll be able to maybe put it up in the new building somewhere.”

“Renaissance City” sat secretly tucked away in Cass Tech’s drawing studio for 17 years. It’s finally on display again as part of a retrospective of Foster’s work at Cranbrook Art Museum called “LeRoy Foster: Solo Show.” The show runs in tandem with a group exhibition of contemporary Black Detroit artists, including Reid, titled “Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit.” Both shows opened on Oct. 28 and were curated by Mario Moore, whose work also appears in “Skilled Labor,” and Cranbrook Art Museum chief curator Laura Mott.

Mott calls both exhibits and the way they came together an exercise in “Detroit divinity.” While she and Moore were doing research for the LeRoy Foster show, Reid told them how he and his fellow teachers had saved “Renaissance City,” which depicts Detroit’s revival after the 1967 Rebellion.

“We went down to the (Detroit Public Library Douglass Branch) because LeRoy has a huge mural there. They have a packet of information on him and what they have for (‘Renaissance City’) is that it had been destroyed,” Mott says. “But Senghor had mentioned to Mario like, ‘You know, we saved that mural.’ … It had been rolled up for, I don’t know, 16 years, and no one had seen it. So Mario went and unrolled it with the current students, which was great, but it had sustained some damage.”

Mott asked Rochelle Riley, director of arts and culture for the City of Detroit, to help with the $7,000 restoration, and her office obliged. In 2022, Detroit’s Office of Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneurship co-sponsored a monthlong exhibit of queer artists during Pride month called “Mighty Real/Queer Detroit” in which Foster was prominently featured. It took over 17 venues across the city with work by over 150 LGBTQ+ artists and sparked a renewed interest in Foster’s work.

Foster was a prominent painter in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s and is often referred to as “The Michelangelo of Detroit.” Despite his talent and notoriety within the Detroit arts community, his work didn’t receive the recognition it deserved while he was still alive, and this is the first solo show of his work in a museum. During his heyday, Foster also performed as drag queen Martini Marti.

“All of the things that we’re doing now with support, and money, and collectors, LeRoy Foster was doing 70 years ago with none of that,” Reid says. “He was doing it out of the sheer will and determination of his character. He had collectors, but he didn’t have a gallery, Cranbrook, or the DIA showing his work in the ’40s and ’50s … There are forces who did not necessarily want to see this show happen and did not want the mural to be preserved, and so I’m just happy that there’s a large institution that stepped in trying to do something to support the legacy of one of the most important Black artists that Detroit has ever seen.”

In “Skilled Labor: Black Realism in Detroit,” we see Detroit’s contemporary Black artists receive their due praise while they’re still around. The show features 20 of Detroit’s best Black artists across generations from scene veterans like Hubert Massey and Richard Lewis to young painters like Bakpak Durden, Jonathan Harris, Ijania Cortez, and Cailyn Dawson.

It also features work by Christopher Batten, Taurus Burns, Cydney Camp, Conrad Egyir, Sydney G. James, Gregory Johnson, Sabrina Nelson, Patrick Quarm, Joshua Rainer, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Rashaun Rucker, and Tylonn J. Sawyer.

It’s the best showcase of Detroit’s Black excellence in one place we’ve seen in years, like the city’s own Rock & Roll Art Hall of Fame, with LeRoy Foster standing watch as a guardian ancestor.

The museum feels full of life, like the artists are standing right there beside us when we visit, and they are — in the form of self-portraits and “anti-portraits” wherein the artist is portrayed turned slightly (or entirely) away from the viewer. In Cydney Camp’s work she often appears with her back turned, a distorted figure seen yet unknown. It’s as if the artists want us to see them, to acknowledge their presence and humanity, but not to trespass on their autonomy.

In a book published for the exhibit, the artists discuss the idea of “anti-portraits” at length. In one section Bakpak said, “I don’t consider the gaze at all. In fact, I’m never making eye contact. I’m never looking. It’s not voyeurism. It’s more like a viewer entering into a world. There becomes a level of compassion with the story that’s being told instead of there being a separation between you and what you’re viewing. You may not understand fully my experience in this temporal world, but I’m offering you the opportunity and my consent to explore.”

Everywhere you look in the “Skilled Labor” and LeRoy Foster show, you see connections. Richard Lewis is one of Moore’s early mentors. Sydney G. James is a mentor to Ijania Cortez and Bakpak Durden. James, Christopher Batten, Moore, and several others graduated from Cass Tech (and so did I), and Reid used to teach there.

When I run into Batten at the museum, he tells me he vividly remembers seeing “Renaissance City” in the old school’s cafeteria when he was a student from 1996 to 2000. His cousin also had a print of Foster’s “Madonna and Child” drawing at his barber shop, which is part of the Cranbrook show.

“He had that print in his booth, and I remember when I saw that at 5 years old, it just blew my mind,” he tells Metro Times. “I credit that image as one of the things that made me want to be an artist.”

This is the first time he’s seen “Madonna and Child” again since his childhood.

“When I was a kid, I just couldn’t fathom a human being able to do something like that because I was drawing my Ninja Turtles and all that stuff thinking I’m doing something,” he says laughing. “It’s like, you know when people try to say aliens helped build the pyramids? I’m like, aliens must have helped that guy draw that. I just couldn’t believe it. It was just instantly a symbol of artistic excellence.”

Reid says many of Detroit’s Black figurative painters owe Foster a great deal of gratitude for influencing their style, even if they don’t know it.

“In my generation and the generation of artists before me, we knew LeRoy Foster’s work, but LeRoy Foster as a person was still kind of this enigma,” he says. “But I feel like it gave us strength to know that there was this artist who was doing his thing 30, 40 years ago. So many artists, especially figurative and realist painters in Detroit, really built the ‘Detroit style’ on the foundation that he helped build because after him you have artists like John (Onye Lockard) and Carl Owens who followed him in wanting to create black heroic figures in art.”

He adds, “In the ’60s and ’70s you had artists like my mom (Shirley Woodson and Allie McGhee and artists coming out of the Black Arts Movement. But before them, LeRoy Foster was the biggest name of a Black artist in Detroit.”

Batten agrees, saying, “I think it’s fair to say that even on an unconscious level, he’s one of my influences, so to be in the same space as him, I’m just humbled. I’ve never seen as much of his work in the same place.”

“Skilled Labor” and “LeRoy Foster: Solo Show” are part of Cranbrook Art Museum’s fall season, which also includes Carl Toth’s “Reordering Fictions” and Ash Arder’s “Flesh Tones.”

When the LeRoy Foster show closes in March of 2024, “Renaissance City” will be given back to Cass Tech, and Mott hopes the school decides to put it back on display to inspire future generations of Detroit artists.

Randiah Camille Green is a reporter for Detroit Metro Times. You can reach her at randiah@metrotimes.com.

Detroit district fires Moses Field principal accused of covering up abuse allegations

2023-11-15T23:35:18+00:00

The Detroit school board fired the principal of Moses Field Center after the district found that he failed to properly investigate and report incidents of alleged abuse at the school for students with special education needs.

Derrick Graves, a longtime Detroit Public Schools Community District employee, lied about his failure to report the incidents to authorities and provided contradictory statements about when he learned of the abuse allegations, according to a district investigation report.

Graves was one of three district employees fired during Tuesday’s school board meeting. The only board member to oppose his termination was Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

The others fired were a Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School paraprofessional, identified in board documents by the initials “DC,” who allegedly brought a loaded gun onto district grounds; and Northwestern High School security guard Antar Otis, who was accused of assaulting a student.

A seventh-grade teacher at Ronald Brown Academy, identified only by the initials “RL,” accused of being verbally and physically abusive to students, was suspended for 30 days without pay.

Graves is the second Moses Field employee fired by the district over the abuse allegations, which surfaced earlier this year and have led to a lawsuit against the district.

Felicia Perkins, a paraprofessional, was fired in June and arraigned in Wayne County Court in May on charges of fourth-degree child abuse, and assault and battery. She is accused of leading a 12-year-old boy “by his neck to the main office,” where she “swatted” him and “snatched an item from his hand,” according to a district report.

Days later, the report said, she swatted another student, “aggressively pulling the arm and chair (of the student) in response to him holding a shoe in her direction.”

Another Moses Field paraprofessional was also investigated for alleged abuse, but a review by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office found insufficient evidence to bring charges in that case.

Dash Sadiku, a Detroit Federation of Teachers building representative and physical education teacher at Moses Field, spoke in support of Graves at the board meeting, with five staff members surrounding her. She asked that Graves be reinstated, saying he is an exceptional leader who has served the district for 27 years. Sadiku mentioned the Moses Field parents who have filed a lawsuit against DPSCD alleging that it covered up acts of child abuse.

“They have not only tarnished the reputation of our staff and the legacy of our school, but are now threatening our careers and our livelihoods,” Sadiku said. “We, the collective staff at Moses Field, have sought support from the senior DPSCD administration on numerous occasions throughout the year, pleading for intervention and resolution to the accusations and threats we faced. Instead of protecting us from harassment, today we find ourselves without our trusted leader, Mr. Graves, who has been unfairly targeted.”

Ronald Brown Academy teacher admitted assaulting student

The school board suspended teacher “RL” at Ronald Brown Academy after Principal Deanna Hunt and Dean of Culture LaMar Tyler received complaints from his students in February, saying that the teacher was fat-shaming them and making comments about their genitalia. In addition, 45 students submitted written statements alleging RL made inappropriate comments like, “Your (expletive) is too big to be doing certain things,” the class is “ugly and won’t be nothing,” and that the class was “slow.”

In March, DPSCD claims a physical incident occurred, with RL grabbing, hitting, and pushing a student.

Three parents, including the parent of the child who was allegedly hit, submitted written complaints, saying RL was rude, immature, and disrespectful in meetings they had with him to discuss their children.

During RL’s investigatory interview, he admitted to grabbing and hitting the male student, saying that was the only student he assaulted. The teacher also admitted that he regularly used inappropriate language when engaging with students, although he denied that he called the class stupid. After the investigatory interview, RL provided a written statement apologizing for his conduct, saying he “made a mistake” and it “would not happen again.”

Thurgood Marshall educator brought weapon on district property

According to the district report, “DC” from Thurgood Marshall admitted to having a loaded firearm on district property. The firearm had 15 rounds, including one round in the chamber, as well as an additional magazine loaded with 12 live rounds. DC said she was carrying the gun unknowingly and brought it on district property by accident. She also failed to report the incident to the school administration before it was discovered.

Confrontation escalated at Northwestern

The action against Otis, the security guard, involved an Oct. 4 confrontation with a 17-year-old Northwestern student that escalated in the hallway. In a video of the incident, the student is seen struggling as Otis pinned him to the floor.

During a news conference last month, the student, who asked to not be identified, said he had a brief confrontation with the security guard in September over wearing a hoodie in school. He said that he believed the situation was resolved after a fist bump, but that it escalated after the guard made threatening comments.

According to the district report, Otis had his arm around the back of the teen’s neck and his arm in a hold, even when Dean of Culture Eric Gaston attempted to break up the fight. Otis said that he did this to avoid being assaulted further. The guard also told investigators that two other students were attempting to punch him while he was pinning down the 17-year-old, but security footage shows them trying to pull Otis off of the student.

The guard bent the teen’s arm and wrist backward three times before standing up and releasing him. The student said he sustained injuries to his mouth, arm, and wrist.

His family filed a $15 million lawsuit against DPSCD, accusing the district of negligence, assault, and emotional distress. The security guard was “immediately removed and placed on administrative leave” following the incident, according to a statement from DPSCD spokeswoman Chrystal Wilson.

“The district does not tolerate abuse of students and will take necessary disciplinary action, including termination after its investigation is complete and all of the facts regarding the incident are determined,” Wilson said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit board members consider ambitious approach for student literacy growth

2023-11-07T20:40:30+00:00

With $94 million earmarked for the Detroit school district to improve student reading levels in the next three years, district board members are eager to see that money spent toward ambitious ideas to grow literacy awareness across the city.

At a retreat for the Detroit Public Schools Community District school board on Tuesday, members discussed using the funds for staffing, professional development, and community engagement.

“I want us to do something that is life-changing and very innovative,” said board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, who suggested the district could create a “citywide campaign to help remove the stigma of illiteracy for adults” or partnerships with maternal health programs and early childhood centers to help educate families about literacy before their children arrive to the district.

“We got one shot at it,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “Impacting the children that get to us at K-3 is not enough.”

Board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry agreed that the district should adopt an innovative approach, suggesting that some of the funds could go toward training high schoolers to teach basic reading to younger students.

Improving reading skills among Detroit schoolchildren has been a large concern for school officials, families, and community advocates over the past several decades. Reading scores for Detroit students have ranked among the lowest in the nation over the past decade and a half.

In 2016, Detroit students filed a lawsuit against the state of Michigan, claiming they were denied access to a basic reading education while DPSCD was under emergency management between 2009 and 2016. A 2020 settlement in the case called for the creation of two Detroit-based education task forces and reserved $94 million in state money for DPSCD to support evidence-based literacy interventions.

Those dollars must be spent by the fall of 2027, but not before DPSCD officials and the full board hear community input. Tuesday’s retreat was the first time the board discussed this in a public forum and came after six community meetings held by the Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force, one of the two groups created by the settlement.

Those meetings, which took place between August and October, invited families, educators, and community members to give input about the ways DPSCD can improve student literacy levels using the settlement dollars.

As part of its broader literacy instruction plan, DPSCD has already prioritized teaching grade-level assignments and materials regardless of a student’s reading proficiency, small-group instruction, and targeted intervention for students significantly below grade level. The settlement restricts how the money can be spent, but it could go toward hiring support staff, reducing student-to-teacher ratios, and increasing classroom materials, among other strategies.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said he could support new solutions such as a citywide awareness campaign or offering at-home, one-to-one literacy support for students via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

However, some board members were cautious about investing those dollars without addressing one of the district’s primary challenges: getting kids to school.

“When we talk about a citywide campaign around literacy, it feels like it should be a citywide campaign around attendance, and why it matters,” said board member Sonya Mays, who noted that district data has shown students who regularly attend school perform better on standardized tests.

“I always feel like that’s the elephant in the room when we’re coming up with these strategies,” Mays said. “One of the things that I walk away from that data saying to myself is the things that we’re doing are working if you’re coming to class.”

Detroit has had a decades-long issue with ensuring students come to school consistently. The district’s chronic absenteeism rate, in which students miss 10% or more of the school year, was 66% last school year but was as high as 77% in the 2021-22 school year, and upwards of 50% pre-pandemic.

Vitti said it could be possible to include messaging around student absenteeism in a literacy campaign, but cautioned that the settlement is restrictive about what the district can spend its money on.

“The things that go the longest distance with addressing chronic absenteeism, we couldn’t use this money for,” he said.

Without reinventing the wheel, Vitti added, the district could best use the settlement funds to improve on its current practices, such as hiring more academic interventionists, offering stipends for educators and parents to participate in professional development training and school-based literacy programs, and expanding after-school and online tutoring.

“You don’t always want to go chasing the shiny new thing,” he said. “There is a certain way to teach children how to read and that’s about training. It’s about refinement. It’s about producing the numbers so you can go deeper with the intervention process.”

The district’s current academic intervention strategy prioritizes students in grades three through five, Vitti said, but the settlement funds could help the district target early elementary students in kindergarten through second grade.

With all of its meetings completed, the Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force plans to present its final recommendations to the school board by the last week of November.

According to Vitti, community members largely spoke in favor of early elementary reading interventions, smaller class sizes, culturally responsive library books, tutoring, and parent engagement around literacy.

Following Tuesday’s retreat, DPSCD officials will have more opportunities to gather community input on how to spend the settlement funds through public engagement sessions set to take place later this month and in December.

By next year, board members will begin to discuss recommendations in the academic and finance committees, before final recommendations will be made to the board by the February or March school board meeting, Vitti added.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Vitti gives update on the state of DPSCD schools

2023-10-20T14:59:51+00:00

Detroit Public Schools Community District has come far since its days of emergency management, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in his State of the Schools address Tuesday evening.

In the wide-ranging speech, Vitti touched on ways DPSCD has improved since he took on the top job in 2017: The district has re-established Parent–Teacher Associations (PTAs) at every school in an effort to get more parents involved in their students’ education. Students have improved their M-STEP, PSAT, and SAT scores in literacy and math. And DPSCD created a newcomer program for immigrant students at Western International High School.

“Our work as a superintendent/board team was to rebuild the district and the way that it would function and how it would operate before emergency management, but also think to the future and be transformative to modernize the school district so that it can actually lead to change for children,” he said. “And we did that by starting with a plan.”

Vitti also noted that the district has increased teacher salaries, invested in art and music classes after they were cut under emergency management, and created a facility master plan to rebuild and reopen aging school buildings.

An invitation-only crowd of teachers, students, parents, and community members filled the auditorium at Renaissance High School. When promoting State of the Schools, the district sent out emails to the school community, asking recipients to RSVP on Eventbrite. An edited video of the event will be available at a later date, a district spokeswoman said.

Vitti touts improvements in attendance

In his speech, Vitti addressed the struggles DPSCD has faced over the years is chronic absenteeism. During the 2021-22 school year, 77% of students were chronically absent at a time when COVID-19 cases in Michigan reached their peak. But even before the pandemic caused a spike in absenteeism in school districts across the country, students in the Detroit district and charter schools were missing school at crisis numbers.

Vitti noted the many barriers students face to get to school, such as poverty, crime, and health problems such as asthma. However, he said the district is starting to improve its attendance rates.

During the 2022-23 school year, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was 68%. While it is better than the previous year’s rate, the percentage is still above pre-pandemic levels. Vitti attributed that to school attendance agents, counselors, principals, and teachers engaging with students and getting parents involved with schools.

One school he highlighted was Pulaski Elementary-Middle School, which saw a 36.5 percentage point decrease in chronic absenteeism and 10 percentage point increase in daily attendance.

“Beyond Pulaski, there are multiple people in this room that have urged students to come to school when they’re tired. They have urged families to do their best to get kids to school,” Vitti said. “There are people in the audience that even in the snow, in negative 10 degree weather, still visited homes to get the kids to school.”

Students show improvement on standardized tests

Vitti also talked about student achievement and the efforts the district is making to get students to perform at grade level and ready for college.

For students in grades 3-7, 2023 English language arts and math M-STEP proficiency results improved at 13% and 9.1%, while the 2022 results were at 10.9% and 6.2%. PSAT and SAT scores also improved. For eighth graders, the percentage of students who were proficient in reading and writing on the PSAT increased to 24% in 2023, while those proficient in math rose to 8.6%. This is compared to 10.9% proficiency in reading and writing and 6.2% proficiency in math the previous year. For high schoolers taking the SAT ,reading and writing proficiency levels increased to 32.9% and math to 11.7%. In 2022, those percentages were 26.9% and 8%, respectively.

However, Vitti said the district’s goal is for students to rise above single-digit performances on the standardized tests.

“We still have work to do since the pandemic, but we’ve definitely improved,” Vitti said. “If we look at our literacy data, you can see that 75% of schools improved at or above grade level performance the year after the baseline year.”

District plans to renovate school facilities

Facilities were also on Vitti’s agenda. He brought up a 2018 review of school buildings, which found that 50% were considered deficient and only 7% were considered in good condition.

But DPSCD is planning to improve the state of its buildings with its $700 million facility master plan, which includes rebuilding, reopening, or demolishing certain schools. The plan calls for rebuilding the following schools: Cody High School, Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy, Pershing High School, Carstens Academy, and Phoenix, a building that closed in 2016. Meanwhile, a handful of school buildings, including Ann Arbor Trail, Sampson Webber, and Clark, would close, but not immediately. The district would phase out enrollment in those schools, eliminating a grade each year until the buildings are empty.

Vitti showed a rendering of Pershing to give the audience a sneak peek of what to expect from the plan.

A rendering of the plan to rebuild Pershing High School in the Detroit school district was shared with the audience at a state of the schools event Wednesday.

“We love our advanced schools, we love our application schools, but we have to invest in our neighborhood high schools,” he said. “In building a new Pershing and Cody, we believe it keeps people in the city, they keep people in the public school system and there’s a legacy that has continued from previous years.”

Tramena O’Neil, a parent outreach coordinator at Southeastern High School, said the points that stood out to her during the address were improvements in student achievement and how parents, students, and school staff are working together to improve the district.

“DPSCD is a good district and if we continue to work together, it can be a great district,” she said. “If we can have more parental involvement, we wouldn’t have too many incidents in certain schools. For me, he (Vitti) is doing a fair job so far.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit student who fought for ‘right to literacy’ is still in the fight

2023-10-31T13:15:02+00:00

For four years, Jamarria Hall rode the city bus 13 miles from his home on the west side of Detroit to Osborn High School on the east side, a nearly two-hour trip along Seven Mile Road.

He spent the time looking out the window and meditating on the state of his hometown, as the bus passed block after block of dilapidated houses and shuttered buildings.

Hall recalls the bus rides and his time at Osborn, one of the city’s lowest-performing schools, as “a waste of time.” Students were forced to learn in buildings in bad condition, with poorly qualified teachers and a shortage of textbooks. He remembers often seeing rodents crawling on the floor and having to teach class himself when regular teachers were absent.

His high school years would not be a waste, though. At age 16, Hall became the lead student plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the state of Michigan, Gary B. v. Snyder, claiming that state officials had failed to provide Detroit students a basic reading education when they oversaw the Detroit school district between 2009 and 2016 under emergency management.

“Joining the lawsuit really gave me an outlet to be able to kind of tell our story,” Hall told Chalkbeat in an interview. “It felt like we had no control over the conditions and ecosystem that we were living in.”

A 2020 settlement in the so-called right-to-literacy, or “right to read” case called for the creation of two Detroit-based education task forces and earmarked $94 million in state money for the Detroit Public Schools Community District to support evidence-based literacy interventions.

Now, after years of delays, that money is finally in the school aid budget and headed to Detroit. And the two task forces have invited the community to weigh in on how best to spend it to improve reading education in the city.

The task remains huge: Reading scores among Detroit students have ranked among the lowest in the nation over the past decade and a half. In fourth- and eighth-grade reading, the Detroit district’s test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress rank near the bottom statewide and nationwide.

Hall, now 23 years old, is a public speaker and social entrepreneur focusing on education activism. And he remains connected to the effort he helped start. Most recently, he’s participated in those task force meetings about where the lawsuit money should go.

Hall spoke to Chalkbeat about how he got involved in the lawsuit, his vision for the future of Detroit education, and how he would like to see the settlement funds spent.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Before you joined the lawsuit, how did you feel about attending school?

By the time I got to Osborn, school was easy. Like too easy. We never got homework. The classwork we were doing was work that I had done in prior years.

Detroit right to read lead plaintiff Jamarria Hall, stands beside Osborn High School college advisor Andrea Jackson and attorneys for the lawsuit in 2016.

I only attended school and thrived academically because I knew I had to for sports. I knew if I wanted to be the best athlete, I had to be the best student-athlete. I really used those four years of high school to train and build a resume academically and athletically so that I could get into a Division I school, hopefully on a scholarship.

That was my objective, but to be honest, I felt like school was a waste of time. If I didn’t have basketball practice, most of the time, I wouldn’t go to school. Because it was like, I know the work. I can make it up in a snap of a finger. I know I’m not missing anything academically. And then the other thing that I’m truly passionate about — basketball — is not going on today. So why am I getting on the bus for an hour and 45 minutes to go to school?

Was there any other school you could have attended? Or was Osborn the only option?

If I wanted to go to the top schools, I could have.

I went to a charter middle school. So our feeder schools were (examination high schools) Cass Tech, Renaissance, and King. All of my classmates from middle school, that’s where they went. It was more an athletic choice (for me) than an academic choice.

What was going on in your life at that moment when you were chosen to be a plaintiff? What changed for you once you were a part of the lawsuit?

I bounced around to a couple of different states with different family members throughout middle school, so now in high school having stability, I was still kind of unstable.

Even though I had stability, I didn’t want to lean on it, because I wasn’t comfortable with it. And that wasn’t just in my home, or my family. It was just me as a young adult trying to find myself as a young man. I found the lawsuit, or it found me.

James Baldwin has an amazing quote. He says: “As one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”

Being able to connect with (attorney Mark Rosenbaum) and being able to just tell my perspective on the educational atmosphere at that time … was great. Just talking to somebody who also understood that these things were wrong, sharing that made me feel heard and seen.

Why did you think the lawsuit was so important at the time?

It was presented to me that we were going to go after a minimum requirement for quality education as a constitutional right. That sounded amazing, and for me, it was really simple. We obligate children to go to schools, but we don’t obligate schools to teach.

But to be honest, I never thought past what was that minimum requirement. So that’s when the conversation started to happen about what would that look like. And that’s how it came up to be reading.

I didn’t care too much about reading. I could read, but I never thought too much of it until it kept being brought up within the lawsuit, and then I started to see the relevance of it.

If you can’t read, then you can’t do simple things such as fill out a job application, vote or be a part of the democratic process. This plays a part in unemployment. This played a part in society’s impacts and problems that were going on at that time.

What is motivating you to stay involved in this cause?

Figuring out the solution. What are we going to do to make sure that this doesn’t happen again? That’s the most important part because we have seen a lot of lawsuits where those same issues play out in different facets, because the people who were defendants in the case are now the same people who provide solutions for the community.

I want to change education. If you look at the last century, education has not changed at all. The classrooms, the way we teach, the building foundations, the one teacher to 30 students in a class — all these things have not changed at all. Our students are actually worse off than our ancestors were when they were segregated. In the age of artificial intelligence, our students are nowhere near as proficient as we need to be.

What role do you think students should play in deciding how the district spends the settlement money?

This class action lawsuit wasn’t just for current students. It was for the students before us. And the students after that.

They need to at least be at the table. I attended four of the six task force community meetings, and the other two, I had representatives go in a team. There were no students.

We have to be a part of the conversation, and we have to understand the conversation that we’re being a part of. A lot of people still don’t even understand the importance of the lawsuit, what happened, and what we were fighting for.

We have to focus on young people and find out how to get them engaged and involved in their own education. Some of that money should go to employ these students, especially when we have teacher deficits and teacher shortages. We need to use this as a precedent to create a student-to-teacher pipeline that is sustainable.

There’s a program I like called the Young People’s Project, where students are paid as organizers within their community, teaching math to younger students. We know a lot of students have the option between providing for their families or going to school. A program like that would bring both of those options together.

How prepared did you feel for college? What was that feeling like when you were in your first college seminar? What have you struggled with in college?

I definitely felt prepared — until I got there. “If I have the highest SAT score in my school, I’m second in my class, if I’m going and not being proficient, then nobody is” was kind of the mindset that I had within my mind.

I wound up going to a community college and taking remedial classes. So I was thinking, “If I went to university, how far would I have been behind if I’m already behind at a community college?”

It was really just a huge reality shock. I always felt like, “OK, after I get out of Osborn, I know I can turn it back on.” But when a professor asked me for a 500-word essay, it made me realize that in the past four years, I hadn’t even written anything remotely close to that. I haven’t had to work that hard or actually challenge my mind at that point.

How do you feel about your education journey now, versus when you were experiencing those initial challenges with community college?

I think it was all for a reason. Times have changed drastically to where we no longer feel like we only can get an education in school. There are so many different outlets out there now to not only get certified education, but to get experience. And experience is one of the best forms of education, especially for someone such as myself, and someone from poverty.

My world has been opened up from the Algebra Project, from Earn Your Leisure, from multiple connections to different organizations.

Jamarria Hall. “We obligate children to go to schools,” says the 23-year-old social entrepreneur, “but we don’t obligate schools to teach.”

I’m really trying to set a precedent for young people, because a lot of young people when they see me feel like I have it all figured out. But I’m still very connected and close-rooted to the grassroots. I don’t have a doctorate. I don’t have a bachelor’s degree. I don’t even have an associate’s degree. But I have qualifications that can get me there.

So understanding and letting them know that there isn’t one route to success, that was important for me, because I used to believe that the only way I was going to be successful was if I took this certain specific route, because that’s how it was taught to me my whole life.

You mentioned culturally relevant curriculums. What do you think could actually work for Detroit students that hasn’t been tried before? What do you think culturally responsive lessons would look like and mean for students here?

It would be a very unique and different approach. A lot of our students know about things that they shouldn’t know about but don’t know about things that they should know about. So when we say those students know about all the lyrics to rap songs, but can’t read a book, or can’t read on grade level, how can I bring that rap song into the classroom to help this student be or get more proficient on their grade level?

Even if that means letting them do a performance, create lyrics, or do some type of engagement. Maybe even a process where they act as producers, or they are directors. So now these students are getting experience being judges and hosts, doing these different things that they are having fun with, but they all have a script that they have to read. Now this is a component where they’re actually learning but they’re having fun at the same time.

What is your message to the next generation of student activists?

You already have the power. Power is not something that you obtain solely through education. It’s once you understand who you are and what you are.

I always tell them: You are the future, but you are also the present. So don’t just think you can lollygag around. Always think about, how can I make a change? How can I be productive? How can I make an advancement for society, not only for myself and my family but for others also?

I push a lot of social entrepreneurship on students because a lot of young people are becoming entrepreneurs, but they aren’t familiar with social entrepreneurship. So even students who often do nonprofit work, just letting them know that being woke doesn’t mean being broke. So make sure that you’ve taken care of yourself or your family, and making the most of the knowledge that you already have by just being yourself — a young person.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district’s transfer policy may be changed to reduce classroom disruption

2023-10-19T15:31:35+00:00

Detroit school district officials are proposing to standardize the transfer process for students and families looking to switch between district schools during the school year.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said the new policy guidance would help address possible disruptions to classroom learning if students consider leaving a school in the middle of the year, either because they are moving or dissatisfied with their current school.

“What we’re trying to do is just create better guidelines overall to encourage families to transfer students at the beginning of quarters and beginning of semesters,” Vitti said at a DPSCD school board policy committee meeting Tuesday. “This will help teachers with just managing their classrooms. It’ll help principals and administrators create the right climate and culture.”

He added: “It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t let students come and transfer at certain times if they’re new to the neighborhood, or there’s something unique happening in the family.”

The policy committee agreed to advance the policy draft to the next school board meeting on Nov. 14 for a first reading by the full board. All district policies must be reviewed by the board twice before they can be voted on.

Frequent school transfers have been a recurring problem in Michigan school districts, where state policy allows families to easily switch schools during the school year. Detroit families told Chalkbeat, Bridge Michigan and Outlier Media in a 2018 investigation on student mobility that they moved their children in part because of academic struggles, issues with school discipline, family moves, and new job opportunities.

About 11% of DPSCD students move between district schools in an average school year, according to Vitti. Roughly 30% move to different school districts.

In recent months, DPSCD officials have considered policies on administrative transfers, in which school officials initiate the move. In July, school board members approved an update to the district’s code of conduct that gives school officials more leeway to transfer students for misbehavior. The following month, the policy committee reviewed a proposal that would let officials at application schools request a student transfer to a neighborhood school if the student missed too many days and previous outreach efforts didn’t work.

The policy introduced at Tuesday’s meeting, however, is not intended to be punitive. Rather, it’s meant to improve communication with families about how and when to go through with a transfer. If it is approved, DPSCD officials would begin to notify families of the preferred transfer window via letters and phone calls. The policy does not specify how far in advance a student or their family should notify school officials about a transfer.

The policy would also not interfere with transfers to application or exam schools. Students who wish to transfer to those schools typically must do so during a specific application window.

The proposed language was recommended by board members ahead of Tuesday’s policy meeting. Board members Misha Stallworth West and Iris Taylor both said they had received complaints from parents that there was unclear communication about student transfers.

The transfer policy would overlap with the district’s current policies on school enrollment, transportation, and administrative transfers. According to those policies, students can be denied a transfer to a requested school based on enrollment capacity or program restrictions. Families are also responsible for bringing their students to and from a new school if they aren’t eligible for a school bus ride.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Improving literacy post-pandemic: This Detroit teacher shares what works in her fifth grade classroom

2023-10-17T23:45:44+00:00

As the daughter of a former librarian, Anna Mayotte has long been passionate about literacy. So a job teaching kids to love reading was a natural fit.

As a fifth grade English language arts and social studies teacher at Gardner Elementary School in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Mayotte improves literacy skills in her classroom by meeting with students in small breakout groups for part of the day. She gets them excited about the books they study by reading aloud in a theatrical, exaggerated manner. She also makes sure to keep her classroom library stocked and connect kids with the kinds of stories they enjoy reading and reflect their own identities. Mayotte engages her students in the literature they explore by connecting the pages to their lived experiences.

When the class reads “Esperanza Rising,” by Pam Muñoz Ryan, for example, her students learn about the racism poor immigrant farm workers faced after World War II. The kids then discuss the racism they have experienced in their own communities, as Gardner Elementary serves a predominantly Black student body. They talk about the threats to basic human rights described in the literature and the parallels they see playing out around the world today.

Anna Mayotte, a fifth grade English teacher at Gardner Elementary school, says she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.

“Before we begin the book, I ask them why they think it’s important to study human rights,” Mayotte said. “I always go back to the fact that if we don’t know what our rights are, we don’t know when they are being violated and when to stand up for ourselves.”

(Books like “Esperanza Rising” have been challenged in school libraries and curriculum for years, with conservative lawmakers arguing that texts dealing with race and racism aren’t appropriate for young readers).

Mayotte, recently selected for the Education Trust-Midwest Michigan Teacher Leadership Collaborative, said reading literature that covers those topics gets students thinking and “practicing that muscle of empathy.”

“I absolutely think it’s beneficial and I would say it’s necessary because these things are happening to kids in all age groups,” she said. “If it’s happening to them, it’s something we should be talking about.”

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

There wasn’t one specific moment. I am one of those teachers who has always known they want to teach. From a young age, I’ve had a love for learning and children and knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of students. Growing up, school was my home away from home and some of my favorite memories from childhood happened within the school building. It’s where I made lifelong friends, and the experiences I had in school shaped me into who I am today.

How do you get to know your students?

I try to find out little things about them like what they enjoy doing in their free time. But the best relationship building comes from the casual conversations we have while eating breakfast together, in the hallway, or at dismissal. Many of our students are newcomers to the country, so I also try to get to know their home culture and learn some words in their native language to connect with them. Students appreciate when you take the time to make those connections and even though they may seem small, they can make a huge difference in how welcome a student feels at school.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach. Where did the idea come from?

While I can’t take credit for it, our first English language arts module of fifth grade is my favorite. While reading “Esperanza Rising,” we make connections to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We talk about what human rights are and how this document was written post-World War II. Even though the writers of this declaration set out to ensure that those atrocities never happened again, we discuss how people still have their rights threatened today. Students find examples of human rights being defied in the novel and then write to raise awareness about how people are still experiencing this hardship in today’s world. My students absolutely love the book, and I love seeing them practice empathy while also working toward the goal of becoming proficient writers.

What object would you be helpless without during the school day?

I’d be helpless without my wireless slideshow clicker. I’m constantly moving throughout my classroom to check for understanding during a lesson, so I use the laser on the end to draw students’ focus to different anchor charts or a specific part of the text that we’re reading. It allows me to keep the lesson moving without having to stand in one spot.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on inside your class?

The lasting impacts of COVID on our community and classroom cannot be understated. Many of our students and families are still dealing with the trauma of the pandemic and that’s resulted in a mental health crisis. We also have students entering fifth grade without essential foundational skills from previous grades. I have to be a lot more strategic in my instruction to make sure all my students are learning at grade level and get the interventions they need. There’s a huge push to bolster research-backed literacy instruction in the early grades, especially coming out of the pandemic. I am part of the 2023-2024 Education Trust-Midwest and Teach Plus Michigan Teacher Leadership Collaborative, which empowers educators to advocate for policy changes that will positively impact students. One of the things my colleagues and I are advocating for is ensuring that training in early reading intervention is provided to all Michigan educators to help close this gap made worse by the pandemic.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

During the pandemic, we conducted daily wellness checks on our students and families. These very quickly transitioned from just checking in to see how everyone was doing to hearing about illness, loss, and food and housing insecurities and then trying to locate resources to help. It reminded me that being an educator and part of a school community is so much more than just what happens inside the classroom, and for many of our families our schools are a lifeline. We offer wraparound services and resources on which so many in our community depend. It kind of expanded my perspective from just thinking about the students that I serve to include the families and the community.

What part of your job is most difficult?

I think the most challenging part of teaching is meeting all the individual needs of my students. I have many students and they all come to school with different academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. I plan individualized instruction and after teaching the whole group, I meet with students in small groups to teach the skills in which they need more practice. Sometimes I use this time to just talk with students about how things are going and provide emotional support. Students thrive during these moments, and I’ve seen a lot of students make progress. Unfortunately, meeting every single student’s needs is impossible and even though I try to do everything I can to make sure they are getting what they need from me, it can be overwhelming and disheartening when those needs are not met.

What was your biggest misconception that you initially brought to teaching?

When I came into teaching I believed that I was going to be able to make big changes to the education system. I didn’t have a full understanding of how the system worked nor did I understand just how many stakeholders there are in the world of education. There are so many people who are situated within a school or district, all working toward the same end goal of student success, but in different ways. It can be really hard to navigate that within the classroom, but I work hard to advocate for my students and the changes that I know will have a positive impact on their lives.

Recommend a book that has helped you be a better teacher, and why.

“The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text” by Nancy Lewis Hennessy has really changed my perspective on reading instruction. It translates the research on each dimension of skilled reading into useful practice. So much of the literature on the science of reading focuses on word recognition, which is helpful. But for the upper grades, a lot of our focus is on reading comprehension. This book discusses how to align comprehension instruction with that same science of reading research. One of the most helpful things about this book was that it shifted my thinking of comprehension taking place at the text level to how understanding at the sentence level is how students derive meaning from the whole text.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about teaching?

Prioritize your responsibilities. Teachers have so many things on their plate and there’s no way to get everything done. Take a look at your to-do list and identify what items will have the biggest impact in your classroom. For me, that’s carefully planning out instruction and providing meaningful feedback on student work. My advice: complete those tasks and then leave work at work. Rest and enjoy your family at home so you can show up for your students the next day.

Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 education. Contact Hannah at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit students indulge their curiosity about nature in place-based lesson at Belle Isle

2023-10-16T20:13:23+00:00

As dozens of koi swam around a pond, a group of Detroit elementary and middle school students let out a chorus of oohs and aahs. Up close, the carp were dazzling — some with orange and white patterns, others painted yellow and with black spots.

Peeking over the metal railing along the koi pond, the students peppered their instructor with questions.

“What do they eat?”

“How long do they live for?”

“How do fish get pregnant?”

Kids can get awfully curious in the presence of nature. And that was the point of this exercise on a cloudy October morning, far away from the classroom.

The students were taking part in a weeklong lesson at Detroit’s Belle Isle Aquarium and Nature Center designed to help them investigate the natural wonders at the city park.

Koi swim in a pond at the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Detroit’s Belle Isle.

At a time when school leaders are grappling with the academic and emotional repercussions of the pandemic and waning engagement in the classroom, more educators are embracing immersive place-based learning as a way to capture the interests and curiosity of their students.

The case for nature- and place-based learning is growing, with more research arguing that such opportunities can provide students with a host of positive outcomes, such as increased motivation, improved critical thinking, and stronger student-teacher relationships.

In Detroit, former Michigan Teacher of the Year June Teisan has been working with the Detroit Public Schools Community District over the past year to provide students with hearing disabilities the opportunity to visit and explore Belle Isle, a vast island park that many young Detroit residents consider inhospitable or inaccessible.

Every day over the past two weeks, students in grades 1-8 from Detroit’s Bunche Preparatory Academy were bused to Belle Isle for the field trips.

“So many of us just take for granted having access to nature, and the mental and physical health benefits of understanding the outdoors,” said Teisan, a retired teacher and founder of the nonprofit InnovatED (313).

“Not everybody’s going to love bugs like I did, or not everybody’s going to enjoy reading a book here and there,” Teisan said. “But connecting with (students) and understanding more about them and saying, ‘How can I meet the needs, the interests and the passions that you bring with you?’ is important.”

The field trips take inspiration from the Big Lesson, a similar program started by fellow Teacher of the Year Margaret Holtschlag that serves students across mid-Michigan.

InnovatED (313) founder June Teisan (middle) speaks to a group of students at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit as a sign-language interpreter translates her questions.

Outside learning piques student curiosity

That day at Belle Isle, students armed with a magnifying glass, a plastic spoon, and a pipette began to inspect Petri dishes full of water collected from the nearby marina. Almost immediately, they discovered mayflies and dragonflies.

“This is what ducks and fish are digging for. This is what they eat,” said Amy Emmert, director of education at the Belle Isle Conservatory and the instructor for the week’s lessons.

The lesson was exciting for eighth grader Husam Alnsiwi, who hopes to one day become a scientist.

“I know there’s writing involved, but I want to study chemistry and learn about real things and experimenting,” he said.

The students are accompanied by a classroom teacher and a group of sign-language interpreters. Teachers say the weeklong lesson is an important opportunity to expose students to what’s available in their own community and include them in activities that often are not tailored to their needs.

“Our teachers have said that this helps them,” Teisan said. “When kids are this excited, you can more easily say, ‘Now let’s write some of these words together. Let’s compose sentences about what our experience was.’’’

Teisan balanced trips with test prep

Teisan, who describes herself as “the kid who laid on her stomach and on the sidewalk looking at ants and chewing on bubblegum,” turned her early curiosities into a lifelong commitment to increasing youth interest in the sciences.

“I had the best job because I had the most toys,” she said of her 27-year tenure as a science teacher in Harper Woods, a city on the northeast border of Detroit.

In her role as an educator, she bridged the gaps between her students and the surrounding community, whether conducting history lessons inside the Detroit Institute of Arts or accompanying experts from the Audubon Society for bird-watching expeditions.

“Teachers are the ones I think who can build those connections when we’re not so busy doing standardized test prep,” Teisan said. “I caught a lot of flak from some administrators because I was not as into test prep, but what I was into is connecting with students and making learning engaging and tied to more of their interests.”

Detroit elementary and middle school students pose for a picture in between science lessons at Belle Isle Aquarium.

Later that day, students got out their black-and-white journals and began to take notes on the creatures they saw at the aquarium, sitting down in front of the animal of their choice to draw a picture and write down their observations.

With hundreds of species to pick from, Husam chose to write about the clownfish and blue hippo tang, a pair made famous by the lead characters in the Pixar film “Finding Nemo.”

“I imagined I was one of them. I feel like I’m really popular,” he said. “I’m in the movies, so you know who I am.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board approves demolition deal for closed Foch Middle School

2023-10-13T02:16:59+00:00

A vacant former middle school on Detroit’s east side will come down in December after the school board voted Tuesday to approve the demolition.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District board approved a $2.6 million contract with Detroit-based Adamo Group to raze Foch Middle School on Fairview. The demolition will make way for an expansion at Southeastern High School, which is adjacent to the property. Construction of the annex is expected to begin next fall, and the Foch demolition is scheduled during the district’s winter break between Dec. 26 and Jan. 7, according to documents from the district.

The demolition is part of the district’s $700 million facility master plan to renovate, rebuild, reopen, or tear down its aging school buildings.

Foch Middle School, in the East Village neighborhood, was built in 1924 and served the community for nearly 80 years before it closed in 2004. While Foch is in overall good condition, the building has some water damage, vandalism, and scrapping, according to a 2021 Detroit Historic Vacant School Property Study. Rehabbing the school would have cost $20.8 million, far more than demolishing it, district officials have said.

Six of the seven board members supported the demolition contract, with Sherry Gay-Dagnogo opposing it. During a school board finance committee meeting last month where the contract was first recommended for approval, Gay-Dagnogo questioned why a Black-owned contracting company was not considered for the project.

Vitti told BridgeDetroit earlier this month that Adamo was selected because it was the lowest responsible bidder, which is a practice required by state law. He also said that Assistant Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson and her team have been engaging with Black-owned, Detroit-based companies and that the district may work with them on future projects.

Vitti said during the finance meeting that Foch was “run-down and “not worth the investment to renovate.” The district recommended that the building be torn down to allow for the construction of a new building to provide career technical education for Southeastern students.

However, some community members who live near the school said they wanted to see the Foch building repurposed into a child care facility, apartments, or a daytime shelter for the homeless.

“We need to preserve history, and we don’t do that,” Delores Orr, the president of the Cadillac Boulevard Block Club and an alumna of Foch, said this month. “It’s so beautiful. I don’t know how they have the heart to tear it down.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit special ed aides call for increased hourly pay

2023-10-11T15:40:40+00:00

Special education aides and paraeducators in the Detroit school district are calling for higher hourly wages as demanding workloads, staff vacancies, and inflation amid the pandemic have taxed support staff.

Members of Local 345 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees came to Tuesday’s school board meeting to criticize the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s offers in its current negotiations with the union.

“Despite the love and passion that we all share for our students, our wages remain mediocre,” said Sheila Wilson, a special ed paraeducator at Moses Field Center. “On any given day we perform multiple roles, from being a security guard to a substitute teacher. We desperately need a raise to support ourselves and our families.”

The board on Tuesday approved contracts with other employee unions representing security officers, office employees, and school administrators. District officials also reported improvements in the number of students enrolled in college courses, and encouraging enrollment trends following Count Day last week.

Special ed aides call for increased wages

In 2021, AFSCME and DPSCD agreed to a two-year deal that increased hourly wages to roughly $15 to $17.66 for the union’s district employees, who include trainable aides, custodians, bus attendants, and food service workers. Special ed aides currently make $16 an hour.

Michelle Lee, president of AFSCME Local 345, said union members “expect the recognition of our sacrifices and dedication. However, all the district can offer us is a mere 3% to 5% increase.”

“When the world faced the daunting challenges of the COVID pandemic, it was the members of Local 345 that stepped up,” Lee said. “We put our lives and our family’s lives on the line.”

DPSCD and other Michigan school districts have struggled to recruit and retain school employees in light of statewide staffing challenges and budget cuts. In recent years, the district has hosted monthly hiring fairs for hard-to-staff positions such as security guards, cafeteria workers, and bus attendants. This past spring, the district moved to cut and consolidate hundreds of positions due to enrollment losses and the loss of federal pandemic aid.

The district has about 20 special ed paraeducator vacancies, according to Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. The district employs roughly 400 special ed paraprofessionals and aides.

DPSCD’s negotiations with AFSCME come on the heels of a one-year contract the board approved with the Detroit Federation of Teachers in September. The contract raised pay for senior teachers by 6% and provided retention bonuses to all members. In recent years, the district has prioritized improving teacher salaries to compete with neighboring districts.

In the past several weeks, the board also approved contracts with other unions for hourly employees.

AFSCME members “deserve a fair contract, or the district will continue to shed staff,” said DFT Vice President Jason Posey, and AFSCME members’ duties will fall on the shoulders of DFT members.

Crystal Lee, a DPSCD special ed teacher, said that when she was a paraprofessional at Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency 25 years ago, she made $14.51 an hour, only a dollar less than what district employees currently earn.

“That is not a livable wage for no one,” Crystal Lee said.

Vitti said the district remains committed to increasing salaries and wages for teachers and support staff. Hourly wages for special ed aides, he added, have improved from $13 at the beginning of his tenure in 2017.

Vitti did not say what the district’s current offer for special ed paraprofessionals and aides is, but said it is above Michigan’s livable wage. That would be $16.27 for an adult with no children according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator.

“That offer is there and could possibly increase,” he said. Another bargaining session between AFSCME and DPSCD officials will take place Wednesday.

More DPSCD students flock to college-level classes

College-level course enrollment in DPSCD is back to pre-pandemic levels, following a sharp increase in the number of students seeking credit recovery over the past several years.

Fifty-five percent of high school students are currently enrolled in college and career-prep courses this year, the same percentage as the 2018-19 school year. During the 2021-22 school year, only 39% of students were enrolled.

“We’re starting to make inroads in the damage that was created by the pandemic when students were losing credit,” said Vitti.

The number of DPSCD high school students enrolled in credit recovery programs jumped from 2,742 in 2019-20 to 4,901 the following year. By 2021-22, credit recovery enrollment was 7,480, over half of the roughly 14,000 high school students the district enrolls each year.

School districts have long used credit recovery programs to give students another chance to earn course credits. However, the numbers increased in Detroit and around the country as schools tried to recover from pandemic-related disruptions that left many students off track for graduation due to failing grades, absences, and challenges with online learning.

“As we have more students catch up and (get to) where they should be as far as credits by grade level, then we opened the schedule up for more dual enrollment, more advanced placement, more international baccalaureate classes, more JROTC and general elective classes,” Vitti said.

District enrollment trend looks positive following Count Day

DPSCD student enrollment is projected to be up from this time last year, Vitti said.

The district reported that it has 47,843 students, roughly 350 more than last October. DPSCD schools, however, are still struggling to keep students. The district’s re-enrollment rate has remained roughly 70% since before the pandemic.

“We’re bringing in new students to the district, the lower grades and ninth grade in particular, which is again positive,” Vitti said. “What’s happening, though, is we’re not retaining students that are already in the district from year to year.”

That’s primarily due to the “high transiency rates of our families just moving around the city and out of the city,” he added, as well as competition with city charters and neighboring school districts.

Despite that, Detroit-area charters have consistently reported greater enrollment losses than DPSCD in recent years.

Vitti said he will give a more detailed account of the district’s enrollment trends at the November board meeting.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Demolition of former Foch Middle School would make way for Southeastern H.S. expansion

2023-10-06T20:04:36+00:00

After sitting vacant for nearly 20 years, the former Foch Middle School on Detroit’s east side may soon see the wrecking ball, district leaders say.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is nearing a contract with Detroit-based Adamo Group to demolish the school, which closed in 2004. The demolition would make way for an expansion at Southeastern High School, which is adjacent to the property, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a school board finance committee meeting last week. Construction of the annex is expected to begin next fall.

The demolition of the nearly century-old Foch is part of the district’s $700 million facility master plan to renovate, rebuild, reopen, or tear down its aging school buildings. The goal is to have every DPSCD building in good condition by 2040, and newly renovated preschool/K-8 and high schools in each neighborhood boundary.

“It is very much run-down … . It’s not worth the investment to renovate, and instead, the recommendation is to demolish this building in order to allow the construction of a new building on the property for career technical education that will be accessed by the Southeastern students,” Vitti said.

In an email to BridgeDetroit, Vitti said environmental work will begin on the building next month if the contract is approved, with the demolition to follow. Adamo Group would receive $2.6 million for the project, according to documents from the district.

The proposed contract for the demolition vendor was approved by both the finance and academic committees, he said, and will be on the agenda for the general school board meeting Tuesday. If the board doesn’t approve it, then the administration could present it to the board for reconsideration or seek new bids.

Foch is on a list of schools that will be demolished or sold, which also includes Post, Biddle, Poe, Van Zile and Carrie/Law. Meanwhile, schools like Cody High School, Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy, Pershing High School, Carstens Elementary School, and Phoenix, which closed in 2016, will be rebuilt.

Foch served East Village community for nearly 80 years

Foch Middle School, in the East Village neighborhood, was built in 1924 at a time when Detroit Public Schools’ enrollment and the city’s population were growing rapidly. Detroit’s population increased from 285,704 in 1900 to 1.57 million by 1930, as immigrants from around the world came to the city to work in the automotive industry, according to a report from property data company Regrid.

The sprawling, three-story, 117,058-square-foot building had an auditorium, library, two gyms, and a four-lane swimming pool.

The school was named after Ferdinand Foch, a French military leader who served as commander of the Allied armies during World War I and received a warm welcome from Detoiters during his visit to the city in 1921. To celebrate Foch’s opening the following year, the French government gifted the school community a bust of the marshal along with a French flag, according to a 1925 article in the Detroit Free Press. When Foch died in 1929, the school held a memorial service in his honor.

From the start, Foch students were achieving great things. In 1927, student Hulda Fornell was selected to participate in a national spelling bee in Washington D.C. Later that year, 14-year-old Foch student Donald Reese won first place in an intermediate-school track decathlon at Belle Isle.

East Village resident Delores Orr, 75, attended Foch in the early 1960s and remembers walking the 13 blocks to get to and from school each day, learning how to swim in the school pool, and taking home-economics classes.

“In our cooking class, we learned how to make stuffed bell peppers, and that was really different, because I came from a Southern family, and we had soul food all the time,” Orr said.

“And we had a sewing class,” she added. “The first thing I made was an apron, and my grandmother had the old-fashioned Singer sewing machine, so I sewed right along with her. It was exciting to be able to go home and sit at the sewing machine with my grandmother and make my school project.”

Orr even remembers what she wore on graduation day.

“Foch colors, if I’m not mistaken, were red and white, so I wore a white dress and then it had red trim around the waist,” she said.

Orr also experienced young love at Foch. She dated classmate Irvin Johnson, who would later become the father of her daughter, Tiffany.

Orr looks back on her time at Foch with fondness.

“I can’t say that I had a bad experience at Foch at all,” she said.

After the district reached a peak of nearly 300,000 students in 1966, Foch’s enrollment and enrollment in the district overall began to decline. Families were steadily leaving DPS for schools in the suburbs. By 1982, DPS student enrollment fell below 200,000.

During the 2002-03 school year, Foch only had 406 students enrolled. The school closed its doors the following year.

While Foch is in overall good condition, the building has some water damage, vandalism and scrapping, according to a 2021 Detroit Historic Vacant School Property Study. Rehabbing the school would cost $20.8 million, far more than demolishing it.

Foch building should be repurposed, community says

Orr, who is now the president of the Cadillac Boulevard Block Club and vice president of the East Village Association, is disappointed about the expected demolition of Foch. She believes the building can be repurposed into apartments or a child care facility.

“We need to preserve history, and we don’t do that,” she said. “It’s so beautiful. I don’t know how they have the heart to tear it down.”

Gloria Jackson agreed. The East Side resident and administrative clerk for the Eastside Community Network said she would like to see the school reopen as a daytime shelter for the homeless.

“Abandoned buildings can be used for other purposes,” Jackson said. “It’s not a good feeling seeing any educational building sitting vacant.”

Some board members questioned the contract award to Adamo Group, asking why a Black-owned contracting company wasn’t considered. Vitti told BridgeDetroit that Adamo was selected because it was the lowest responsible bidder, which is a practice required by state law.

Vitti said that Assistant Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson and her team have been engaging with Black-owned, Detroit-based companies.

“Unfortunately, as of this bid, they have more work than they can address, and they did not feel comfortable bidding for this particular demo work based on our timeline,” Vitti said. “But they are indicating that they do plan to bid on future demolition projects.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit schools are struggling with enrollment. Here’s what they’re doing about it.

2023-09-21T17:05:41+00:00

As students returned to the classroom this fall, early data from Detroit’s public schools showed another enrollment decline — a consistent trend for the last three years.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said this month that about 51,600 K-12 students were enrolled in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, a decline from about 52,300 enrolled at the same time last year, and roughly 53,000 at the start of 2021-22.

The exodus of students during and since the pandemic underscores the need for the district’s continued focus on strategies to boost enrollment such as marketing campaigns, back-to-school fairs, and neighborhood canvassing.

Detroit’s charter schools are also working to recruit new students after seeing their enrollment decline. Grand Valley State University, which authorizes over 25 charter schools in Detroit, including networks such as University Prep and Covenant Schools, has reported a drop of roughly 800 students in its city charters since the pandemic began, according to a university spokesperson. That’s nearly a quarter of their enrollment: In the 2018-19 school year, the university’s charters had about 31,000 students.

District’s enrollment strategies are a mix of old and new

During a summer school board meeting, Vitti laid out district efforts to increase enrollment. During the height of COVID-19, DPSCD lost 3,000 students. But with federal relief aid, the district expanded outreach, home visits, and door-to-door canvassing strategies using staff and parent volunteers. Those efforts resulted in a gain of 1,000 students.

Vitti said the primary strategy DPSCD is implementing is its new pre-kindergarten expansion, which will add 17 pre-K classrooms at 12 schools across the city this school year, including Barton Elementary, Garvey Academy, and Nolan Elementary-Middle School. While the district does not offer transportation for pre-K, families can arrange to have their children ride the bus with an older sibling who is eligible for transportation, Vitti said.

During a June board meeting, the superintendent said the district will annually monitor its preschool expansion “over the next three to four years” to determine whether actual enrollment numbers match projections, and whether it sees high reenrollment rates from pre-K to kindergarten. DPSCD’s K-12 enrollment is projected to remain constant next year, according to Vitti, with a potential bump of 335 pre-kindergarten students.

Vitti told BridgeDetroit this month that the district is already seeing growing demand for pre-K classrooms.

“As they move into kindergarten, most DPSCD pre-K families choose to continue their education in the district,” he said. “We’ve also seen that students who participate in our pre-K programs perform better academically. This year, students who were enrolled in our pre-K classes scored higher on math and reading tests in kindergarten than those who did not participate in our pre-K programs. By expanding our pre-K programs, we can engage more families early, find them a home in the district, and help them to build foundational academic and social-emotional skills that support them through their K-12 journey.”

Other methods include continuing with radio, TV, and billboard marketing campaigns as well as canvassing schools with low enrollment, Vitti said.

DPSCD also hosted Back-to-School Expos at dozens of schools, with most offering enrollment opportunities, school tours, food, and games.

Wanda Walker was among the caregivers who attended an expo at Marion Law Academy last month, a K-8 school on Detroit’s east side.

Walker’s 4-year-old great-grandson Noah Walker is a kindergartner at the school, while her 12-year-old granddaughter Autumn Walker recently started seventh grade.

While her grandchildren could have gone to a charter school or a school outside the city, Walker said having Marion Law located across the street from her house makes it convenient.

Detroit’s roughly 100,000 public-school students are widely dispersed across a mix of charters, traditional neighborhood schools, and application schools, with nearly 50% of children attending charter schools. Students from the city are also attending neighboring school districts through Schools of Choice of programs.

Walker said she’s active in the school community as a member of the parent-teacher association and has gotten to know the teachers and families at the school.

“Being a part of the community, I feel like I’m giving back,” said Walker, who is the primary caregiver for her grandchildren.

Major cities nationwide see decline in school enrollment

As of the end of 2022-23, DPSCD had a little more than 48,000 students — down from 51,000 before the pandemic.

Cities across the country, including New York, Chicago, and Denver, have lost enrollment in their public schools, too. This decline may well continue and even accelerate in coming years because of demographic trends, Chalkbeat has reported.

Between the middle of 2020 and 2021, large urban areas experienced a 3.7% decline in the number of children under age 5 and a 1.1% dip in the number of children 5 to 17 years old, according to a 2022 report from the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan public policy organization.

Each year, DPSCD officials share enrollment and attendance data from the first couple weeks of the new school year. These numbers provide an early gauge of enrollment patterns ahead of Michigan’s two official Count Days, in October and February, when the number of students attending school is tallied for the purposes of allocating state funding.

Enrollment numbers can fluctuate over the course of the year as families move into and out of the city, or send their children to different schools, even after initially enrolling in DPSCD. The district’s K-12 enrollment of about 48,000 at the end of last year was about 4,000 below the figure of the start of the year.

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau found Detroit lost roughly 8,000 residents from 2021 to 2022 — a figure Mayor Mike Duggan has publicly contested, suggesting the city’s population has been undercounted.

The city’s population decline and decrease in school enrollment affected DPSCD’s budget for this school year, which saw more than 300 job cuts for central office positions and support staff including deans, assistant principals, college transition advisers, school culture facilitators, and kindergarten paraeducators. However, most people in those support staff jobs were able to transfer to a different position in the district.

Vitti said budget cuts were necessary due to many challenges the district is facing in addition to enrollment, such as the end of federal COVID relief funding, increases in employee salaries, health care costs, and inflation.

Canvassers worked through the summer

DPSCD is also targeting schools with low enrollment, such as Carstens Academy of Aquatic Science, Nolan Elementary-Middle School, Mark Twain School for Scholars, and Detroit International Academy for Young Women. The district’s Office of Family and Community Engagement has been leading the canvassing efforts. FACE Assistant Superintendent Sharlonda Buckman said canvassing was a key strategy during the pandemic and one that the department continues to use.

“For us, it’s about maintaining relationships with our families over the summer, giving new families an opportunity to court us, and take a look at all the programs and services that we have to offer and know about the schools in their neighborhoods,” she said.

FACE mainly does canvassing through its annual Summer on the Block series, which has been happening for the last six years, Buckman said. Trained canvassers — DPSCD parents, alumni, partners and neighborhood leaders — host community events at schools to connect students and their families to information throughout the summer and school year. The canvassers go door to door within a 5-mile radius of the host school and are paid $25 an hour over the summer, Buckman said.

FACE also invites agencies to its events to assist families with non-school-related topics such as job opportunities, household resources, and tax information.

This summer, FACE hosted 10 Summer on the Block events and had around 20 canvassers. The department also organized the district’s Kindergarten Boot Camp from June to August. The four-week camps prepare children and parents for kindergarten.

By the end of summer, the district enrolled 5,000 new students, which was 500 more new students than DPSCD had enrolled at the same time last year, Vitti said.

But FACE isn’t all about recruiting new students, Buckman said.

“It’s also about retention,” she said. “It’s about helping our families that we have over the summer with resources. There are a number of families already in that school that we also want to engage with over that summer period.”

Incentivizing staff members to recruit potential families could be a strategy to increase DPSCD enrollment, Vitti said during a July board meeting. Incentives could include bonuses for principals, assistant principals, and teachers if select schools meet a certain percentage of new students, or individual staff members could receive a bonus for recruiting a parent or a student to the district.

“In years past, we have considered different incentives for staff to reach out to families and try to increase enrollment, so that’s something that would have to be bargained,” he said during the meeting, referring to agreements with labor groups. “The best way to increase enrollment is at the school level and so, I think incentivizing at the school level would help in that area.”

However, the incentive plans won’t happen anytime soon, Vitti told BridgeDetroit in an email. He said he doesn’t see it being implemented this school year — at least not for the fall.

Detroit charters find barbecues, word of mouth effective

BridgeDetroit and Chalkbeat Detroit contacted several charter schools in the city, but only one, Detroit Innovation Academy, responded to questions about enrollment.

Principal Marina Hanna said 356 students are enrolled for this school year. That’s a little lower than the 375 students the K-8 school had before the pandemic, but Hanna said the school is enrolling new students daily.

“After COVID, we’ve maintained steady at around 350, and that’s typically because a lot of families now are choosing virtual options,” she said.

The small, West Side school is recruiting new students by hosting events, such as a recent back-to-school barbecue. Hanna said the event gave her a chance to invite academy partners and community members out to tour the school and meet the staff.

Detroit Innovation also attends community events such as the family fun day hosted by the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance. The school also is working on expanding its social media presence.

But the most effective strategy Hanna has seen has been simple word of mouth.

“Word of mouth is honestly huge for us,” she said. “We’ve built a strong reputation in our community and with our families, so they often refer their friends and their neighbors to join our DIA family.”

Chalkbeat reporter Ethan Bakuli contributed to this story.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Correction: September 25, 2023: This story has been updated to correct the number of student enrollees city charters authorized by Grand Valley State University lost since the pandemic began.

DPSCD labor contracts with pay increases win board approval

2023-09-13T15:09:28+00:00

Collective bargaining agreements between the Detroit school district and its employee unions for 2023-24 won approval Tuesday from the school board.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers, the Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals, the Teamsters union, as well as nonunion staff such as security guards, principals, and central office administrators, all reached agreements with the Detroit Public Schools Community District in late August and early September.

The one-year deal ratified by DFT members in August raises pay for senior teachers by 6% and provides retention bonuses to all members.

“Our most veteran teachers deserve the increase,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at Tuesday’s school board meeting, adding: “And they deserve even more than that. But we also have to get more competitive … . We’re losing mid-career teachers, and we have to pick up in that area as well.”

He said he’s optimistic that next year’s contract can provide more competitive salaries and incentives to attract teachers to DPSCD.

School districts across Michigan have had to contend with challenges in recruiting and retaining employees in recent years, and DPSCD in particular faces competition with surrounding and suburban districts that can pay enough to lure away DPSCD educators.

Among the other school employee unions, Teamsters Local 214 members and paraeducators received 5% wage increases, as well as retention and seniority bonuses. Nonunion staff get a 4% salary increase and a holiday bonus.

Wages for food service workers, among the hardest-to-staff positions, rise 17% from $15 an hour to $17.55, an increase that the district said would help with recruiting and retention.

Some union members complained during the meeting that the bargaining process wasn’t open enough to input from rank-and-file members.

Bargaining processes are intentionally held behind closed doors, Vitti said.

“There are times when there are questions that are asked, and we may answer them at a high level, but we try to always respect the bargaining process,” he said.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Stay updated on the Detroit public schools board with Chalkbeat texts

2023-09-12T22:25:06+00:00

Want to stay up to date on the latest news from the Detroit school board while also having a way to text your school board questions to Chalkbeat’s journalists? Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s texting service.

Each month, Ethan Bakuli, who writes about DPSCD for us, sifts through agendas and documents, attends board meetings, and interviews Detroit leaders, attendees, and others before and after the meetings. He reports the decisions made by the school board, and tells the stories of the people who will be affected by those decisions.

And with our texting service, you’ll stay in the loop on the latest Detroit school board news, regardless of whether you’re able to attend board meetings.

Here’s how it works:

Sign up by texting SCHOOL to 313-385-4796 or enter your phone number into the box below.

Once you sign up, you’ll get a reminder text before each meeting, as well as a text after the meeting to tell you the news, and a text on occasion when there is additional important Detroit school board news.

Plus, the texts are a direct line to Chalkbeat Detroit, so if you have questions you don’t see the answers to, you can text back and ask us.

This is one more way our team works to inform the community, spark conversation, and inspire you to take action. Our team wants to hold district officials accountable for doing right by their students while also sharing what’s important to students, parents, and teachers.

The Detroit school district hosts its monthly virtual board meetings at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, and you can find the monthly schedule here.

Detroit school district enrollment figures dip as year begins

2023-09-11T22:28:57+00:00

Early attendance and enrollment data show a steady decline in the number of students in the Detroit school district, adding to pandemic-related enrollment losses.

About 51,600 K-12 students were enrolled in the Detroit Public Schools Community District as of Friday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at a school board academic committee meeting Monday. That’s down from about 52,300 at this time last year, and roughly 53,000 students at the start of the 2021-22 school year, according to district reports.

Of the 51,600 enrollees, roughly 88%, or just over 45,000 students, had attended school for at least one day; a year earlier, that figure was 47,000, or about 90%.

“As of right now, I’m not concerned by these numbers,” Vitti told committee members Monday, noting that two early dismissals last week for extreme heat affected the 2023-24 attendance numbers.

“I think this week will give a better indicator of where we are,” he said.

The school year began Aug. 28.

Enrollment numbers can fluctuate over the course of the year as families move into and out of the city, or send their children to different schools, even after initially enrolling in DPSCD. At the end of last school year, K-12 enrollment was 48,000, well below the figure of the start of the year, and down about 2,000 students from before the pandemic.

Improving student attendance and enrollment has been a major priority for officials in DPSCD and districts across Michigan, especially in recent years given the pandemic’s impact. The district used part of its federal COVID relief aid to expand its family outreach and door-to-door canvassing initiatives.

But as that aid dries up, DPSCD plans to spend less money this year on enrollment strategies. Instead, it will use a smaller budget to market specific schools with available seats and promote the district through school employees and families.

DPSCD’s average daily attendance and chronic absenteeism figures improved last year, inching toward pre-pandemic figures.

In 2022-23, the district’s average daily attendance rate was 81.6%, up from 76% the year before, compared with 83.1% before the pandemic. The chronic absenteeism rate was 68% at the end of the last school year, down from 77% the year before.

But that still means more than two-thirds of DPSCD students missed 10% or more of the school year.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit public schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti speaks on budget cuts, academic recovery

2023-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

As federal COVID relief dollars for education begin to run out, school systems across the country are facing a jolt to their finances. But the Detroit Public Schools Community District has fared better than many in limiting the impact of the funding loss.

The district hasn’t been immune to cuts: Hundreds of positions were eliminated, the community has criticized district decisions, and parents remain concerned about the loss of some programs. But it deliberately focused most of the $1.27 billion it received from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, on one-time costs — rather than recurring budget items that can’t be sustained without federal aid.

That strategy will save the district from a so-called funding cliff that many other school leaders may soon face when the federal dollars run out in September 2024, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an interview with Chalkbeat.

Vitti talked about what he thinks the district did right and his recommendations for other school leaders.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was the district’s strategy as you planned for the loss of the federal COVID relief money? What did you prioritize?

One thing that I’ve tried to do as superintendent is be disciplined with finances. … I always think about recurring revenue with recurring expenditures, and one-time revenue with one-time expenditures.

Boards, in particular, can be very vulnerable to spending one-time funding in a recurring way. Because of the concentrated poverty that our families face, you look at our outdated infrastructure, salaries that are not fully competitive, the wraparound services that our kids need — and all of that was magnified and exacerbated because of the pandemic.

So the normal challenges that we have as a district linked to concentrated poverty, linked to historic racism, you see that money and it’s like, “Wow, we can solve a lot of our problems,” because we’ve been talking about the need for revenue, because our kids need more than the average student.

When we paid for things that needed more people, we tried to rely on contracted services rather than increasing employment.

One focus of the dollars was let’s fill the revenue gap because of the loss of enrollment. Right when the pandemic hit and the first year we came back, we were down about 3,000 students. We’ve picked up some since.

(We kept everyone employed) that normally would have been laid off. You know, let’s not close schools, let’s not cut programming — that’s the last thing we want to do during the middle of the pandemic.

We funded things that were very specific to COVID, like masks, temperature check machines, ventilation systems, COVID testing, moving to smaller class sizes in order to have social distancing, the virtual school, nurses in every school, expanding mental health in all schools — we did all of that through contracted services, or it was one-time. There were things we did that weren’t linked to contracted services like expanding summer school.

About half of the dollars went to fund facilities, which was a clear one-time expense, one-time need, and an enormous gap in our district, which is that we have a $2 billion infrastructure problem with no revenue to solve.

There is a way to use the money to, for example, increase salaries, but you have to do it through bonuses if you’re going to be responsible. If you link it to salary increases, you’re going to hit a cliff.

Was getting kids back into classrooms in person with things like smaller class sizes, masks, hazard pay for teachers, and upgrading HVAC systems a focus to improve academic outcomes in the long run?

I think if we go back to the pandemic, the greatest sense of urgency I had was to get kids back in school, without a doubt. That literally kept me up at night and led to my own mental health issues. I did deal with mental health issues, because I didn’t feel like we were serving children the way they needed to be served. … Our children in particular needed in-person learning in order to continue to show the improvement we were definitely showing before the pandemic. I knew every day they were at home, we were getting farther behind.

2021-22 was the first year that everyone tested on M-STEP, and we really saw the impact of the pandemic that year. But in 2021-22, DPSCD showed less learning loss on average than the state of Michigan and less learning loss than city charter schools. That showed me that having this urgency of getting back in person and keeping schools open in that 2020-21 year was important (along with) fully implementing our curriculum online.

Which cuts were the most difficult to make, and which programs do you wish could continue but had to end due to the end of ESSER funding?

I never want to be the superintendent that has to reduce staff to get to a number, because I understand that there’s a human being behind it, and that human being is connected to a family. It’s never easy for me.

The next hardest decision probably came to not having summer school at the scale that we had before.

We heard from some parents and students that the loss of college transition advisers is disappointing. Do you wish the district could keep those positions?

What we said was, we have to protect direct impact on student achievement, so we definitely protected the classroom. We didn’t increase class sizes. We definitely have invested in our academic interventionists and even expanded them.

When looking at the college transition advisers, there’s no question they had an impact on children — no doubt about that — but not a direct impact on student achievement.

What we tried to do was convince college transition advisers to go into the On the Rise Academy program and become counselors, because that was something we could see expanding in future years, maybe with more (state money for at-risk students).

Did you anticipate the amount of criticism from the community you received about the cuts? Has it been difficult to communicate to the community that the end of some of the programs and resources funded by ESSER was due to the federal relief money expiring?

Detroit children have great need, and the school system in and of itself does not provide the resources that children deserve to be competitive with their peers in more affluent neighborhoods and school districts. That’s not a function of an incompetent, corrupt school board or superintendent. It’s the nature of how the schools are funded.

Although Gov. Whitmer has made strides in narrowing the gap between wealthy districts and DPSCD, the gap is still there. We not are not even equal yet. We are definitely not equitable.

People are very passionate about what we should be doing for our children. And there’s a sense of anger because our families know our children are capable.

What do you think other districts need to consider as they get to the point DPSCD reached last school year with the remainder of ESSER money being earmarked? What should they prioritize as those dollars run out?

My recommendation is to communicate often, frequently, and honestly about the advantages and disadvantages of the funding, and be upfront about how you’re spending the money.

DPSCD had less learning loss than our counterparts. And as we move into the 2023-24 school year, undoubtedly we’re narrowing the gap in performance, which means not only did we use the money effectively, we used it efficiently.

Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 education. Contact Hannah at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

How the Detroit school district is addressing students’ mental health needs

2023-09-05T21:33:20+00:00

Nearly 49,000 students returned to classrooms in the Detroit Public Schools Community District last week, with their backpacks and notebooks. Some of them are also carrying burdens that affect their mental health and time in school.

In Michigan, nearly 17% of Michigan teens ages 12-17 reported having a serious depressive episode in 2021, according to a recent study by Mental Health America. On top of this, a 2022 report showed that about 3% of children under 18 don’t have health insurance.

About 6% of Michigan children have private health insurance that doesn’t cover behavioral health services. This leaves schools to figure out how to deal with students’ mental health concerns.

Outlier Media spoke with DPSCD Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather about the district’s plans to support students’ mental health needs.

This interview was condensed for length and clarity.

What are some of the most common mental health issues for students?

We assess issues that we’re seeing with students through the universal wellness screener. All of our students in kindergarten through 12th grade take it in the fall. Students who are classified as tier two, that means they would benefit from small group counseling sessions to dig deeper into processing what’s going on. In tier three, (it) really means a more intense intervention is needed, probably individual counseling.

“Over half of our students said that a loved one has died in the last eight months, and almost a third of our students had an overnight hospital stay for themselves or a family member.” — Alycia Meriweather, deputy superintendent, Detroit Public Schools Community District

So interestingly, (in kids being) sad and mad as well as worried, there was actually a slight decrease last year. But you’re still looking at pretty much over half of the students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Feeling scared: That’s about 42% of our young people.

How many of our students in grades six to 12 are experiencing trauma, depression or anxiety? There was a slight drop in both depression and anxiety year-to-year. But still, you’re looking at about a quarter of sixth to 12th graders experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety.

When you’re looking at the national trend and the DPSCD trend, (it) was pretty interesting. From 2019 to 2021, depression symptoms increased by five percentage points nationally, but decreased by 10 percentage points in DPSCD. We think we made a very significant and intentional investment in behavioral health in the district with our COVID-19 funding, and then post-COVID funding. We believe the fact that the district is decreasing in depression is a result of us increasing our support.

Alycia Meriweather is a deputy superintendent in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

What’s the root of these problems?

When you look at trauma exposure … over half of our students said that a loved one has died in the last eight months, and almost a third of our students had an overnight hospital stay for themselves or a family member.

What is the student-to-counselor ratio? Do you think it’s sufficient for addressing the mental health patterns above?

For kindergarten through eighth grade, it’s one counselor per 500 students. For high school, it’s one counselor per 400 students. If you ask me “Do we have enough resources to address all the needs that young people have?” I’m always going to tell you that we need more.

We often talk about equitable funding versus equal funding. When you give everyone the same amount of money, in per pupil allocation, you’re not really looking at whether certain students may need more, whether that’s for English language learners, students in poverty or students who are experiencing trauma. I’m always going to argue that our students need and deserve additional resources.

What’s the connection between the prevalence of physical violence and mental health in schools? What are the counselors’ roles in mediating these issues?

I cannot say that we’ve seen a direct correlation between students who have been identified (as needing mental-health services) … that refuse and (students who commit) code infractions (fighting, bullying, violence). What I can say is that when students who have untreated behavioral health issues do not receive support and intervention, they find other ways of dealing with those feelings. Some people internalize. Some people lash out.

If a student is bullying, or they were fighting, that would be written up. But the new code of conduct was just adopted by the board a couple of weeks ago. With the new code of conduct, we’ve been much more intentional about including, even on the first instance, (whether) the child is referred for a school social worker or school counselor.

There is a consequence for these actions, but you’re also indicating (they) need some support here.

When does DPSCD start to refer to other entities?

When we get to a point where a student is threatening harm to themselves or others. We do a threat assessment to determine if the threat is feasible: Does the student have the means to carry out the threat? And when a student is threatening harm to themselves, and it’s at a crisis point, it’s determined that they need immediate care. I would say when you get to a point of the threat assessment, proving that additional intervention is needed, that’s where it escalates to additional intervention and support beyond the school.

We actually have a confidential two-way communication system with Children’s Hospital that was developed in the last two years. We have the ability to refer students to the emergency department to let them know that this child is coming. Children’s Hospital has the ability to (tell) us confidentially that the child did come to the emergency room, and that they received treatment there. That did not exist before. We would have a threat assessment, and we would refer the child to additional support or the emergency department, but we never knew what happened unless the child or the parent would tell us.

How long do students have to wait, typically, to meet with counselors?

If a student needs services and their parent has given consent, we, to my knowledge, have not had a case where they could not receive service.

One of the barriers is that if a parent does not consent. Any child under the age 14 must have parental consent for small group counseling or individual counseling. If a parent refuses to sign the consent, we cannot render clinical services. If you’re 14 and up, you can give self-consent for a certain number of sessions. But after, you must have parental consent. I am aware of students who have been referred but do not have parental consent to commence services.

Due to the strain on the system overall — social workers, counselors, they’re in high demand. The school system has school counselor(s) and school social worker(s) also. So we’ve got multiple resources in play. So a student should not go without speaking to someone.

Where can DPSCD’s counseling services be improved, and how is the district working on this?

I think one of the biggest ways is really helping families, students and staff all understand the importance of behavioral health, and the importance of mental health services. One of our biggest barriers is that there’s still somewhat a stigma about getting behavioral health services. We continue to try to make sure that we’re communicating messages to families and students that just like you have to keep your physical body healthy, you need to keep your mental health in good shape also.

That’s not just when you had a traumatic experience, although that can heighten issues. In just living life, you have to know how to regulate your emotions, how to respond when things don’t go your way, and how to resolve conflict. The universal wellness screener is an important piece of our whole process, because we’re identifying (students) and referring them. That connection with the family after the referral happens is one of the places that we need to continue to improve on. That is a critical conversation, where you can convince the family that we want to help support your child.

I pride myself in being a good listener, but I am not a clinician. We have highly qualified clinicians who are being paid to help your child and so “let us help you” is the thing that I think we need to continue to figure out ways to communicate.

SaMya Overall is a reporter for Outlier Media. You can reach her at samya@outliermedia.org.

Detroit students show slight gains on Michigan’s standardized test

2023-09-01T17:56:32+00:00

Detroit students across charter and traditional public schools performed slightly better on Michigan’s standardized test this spring than a year ago, a reassuring sign for school officials eager to see academic achievement recover after the pandemic.

But local results remained well below the statewide numbers in math and reading, a gap that community advocates said highlights the need to redress historical disinvestment in Detroit education.

The results also spotlight the challenges the Detroit Public Schools Community District faces now that it has run through its federal COVID relief funding. The district received $1.27 billion in aid, and that money has helped pay for academic recovery work such as expanded tutoring, summer school, and after-school programming. Only some of those initiatives will continue when the federal aid runs out.

Results of the 2023 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, known as M-STEP, were released Thursday.

In reading, DPSCD students made small improvements across grade levels, in most cases exceeding pre-pandemic results. In third grade, 12.4% of DPSCD students scored proficient or higher in 2022-23, compared with just 9% the previous year, and 11.9% in 2018-19. Fifth grade reading results remain below pre-pandemic levels, but improved a bit from last year.

On math tests, DPSCD students improved on last year’s results, and topped pre-pandemic results in fourth and sixth grades.

Wide as they are, the gaps in performance between DPSCD and the state appear to be narrowing, particularly among Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students, who are moving toward the statewide average faster than those demographics across the whole state.

“We are not surprised by this improvement,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said. “The significant investments made in our staffing, curriculum, professional development, and school student resources over the years are reflected in these results. We have more work to do, and I want our community to know that the formula we have at DPSCD is working. Results do not lie.”

The results, however, cannot mask how much progress needs to be made to bring Detroit students in line with surrounding districts. Statewide, 43.9% of students scored proficient or higher in reading, and 35% did so in math.

Among charter schools in Detroit, results were mixed.

Detroit Edison Public School Academy saw year-to-year gains in both math and reading, but was still below 2019 results. Math results for grades 4 through 7 declined, while third grade saw an increase.

Detroit Enterprise Academy surged above its pre-pandemic results in math: The biggest gain was for seventh grade, where 32.9% of students were proficient in math, compared with 15.3% in 2019. However, reading results in many grades lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.

At Detroit Innovation Academy, fourth and seventh graders made improvements in math, with proficiency rates of 6.8% and 11.1%, respectively. Reading results for grades 3 through 6 were all below 2019 results.

Local education advocates said that despite the improvements, the 2023 results signal that more investment is needed to close gaps in Detroit and accelerate the recovery from the pandemic.

“I think we should be grateful that these scores were not lower, said Christine Bell, executive director of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, adding that “it’s criminal that before the pandemic less than 50% of our kids were reading at grade level.”

Peri Stone-Palmquist, executive director of the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan, said Thursday’s results were a call for state legislators to pass literacy bills and “invest more deeply in equity, high quality tutoring, and special education supports.”

Education Trust-Midwest, an education research and advocacy organization, said the results pointed to “persistent opportunity gaps for our most underserved students, including Black and Latino students, students with disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds.”

There is more money coming, even with the loss of federal COVID relief aid, which districts have a year left to spend.

Michigan’s new school aid budget includes funding for early literacy and expansion of pre-K programming, and increased funding for special education students and at-risk students.

Districts can also apply for a share of a new $150 million state program to fund tutoring and other academic support initiatives. The funding is based on how many students are considered to not be proficient on statewide assessments.

Among the measures DPSCD has budgeted for is the placement of academic interventionists at select schools. Those educators will work closely with students struggling in reading and math, and are funded in part by a $20 million donation DPSCD received from billionaire MacKenzie Scott last fall. Individual schools also had the option going into this school year of using their Title I dollars to fund after-school tutoring.

The biggest boost for DPSCD will be the $94.4 million it received from the state to settle a 2016 lawsuit that claimed the state denied Detroit schoolchildren proper instruction in reading. The funds are dedicated to programs that support literacy.

Vitti has said he would like to use the money to hire more interventionists, increase literacy support for high school students, and expand teacher training on how to help students who are several grades below reading level.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

How this Detroit attendance agent connects with families to get kids in school

2023-09-01T12:00:00+00:00

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Effie Harris can’t walk down a hallway at Gompers Elementary-Middle School without having to stop several times for a hug, a high five, or a promise of a crayon drawing.

Her pauses have to be quick, though. She has places to go and students to see.

By 8:04 on a cold February morning, she had already been at school for an hour, greeting students at a side entrance for middle school latecomers. After a quick stop in her office to drop off her coat and sanitize her hands, she began her morning rounds.

First stop: Room A115.

“I was just checking to see if she was here,” Harris called out. The teacher inside knew who Harris was talking about: a struggling second-grader who was absent as often as present. On that day, the child was present.

The spot checks only begin to explain the expansive role Harris plays as Gompers’ attendance agent. Unlike the stereotypical truant officers of yore, who might round up troubled youth and drag them back to school, Harris must often serve as investigator to find out why children aren’t coming to school, visiting homes and keeping track of data on barriers to attendance. She is a counselor who listens to families and helps them find resources they need to get their kids to school.

She is the school’s spirit leader for good attendance, showing up in classrooms with prizes — pencil cases, Hot Wheels cars, bubbles — for students who make it two weeks without missing a day. She plans pizza parties for classes with the best attendance, and helps teachers plan fun activities that children won’t want to miss.

And sometimes, she must play bad cop, warning parents of children who are severely chronically absent that they could face legal or financial consequences.

Effie Harris, the attendance agent at Gompers Elementary-Middle School in Detroit, talks to students during her morning rounds when she visits classes.

After the stop in A115, Harris moved on toward another classroom, greeting everyone in the halls as she breezed past — by name if she knew it, or if she didn’t, with a “Mornin’, sunshine!” or a “Good morning, sweetie!” One elementary school child wrapped her arms around Harris’s legs, and soon she was surrounded by others who wanted her attention, too.

Harris’s goals that day were to check in with nearly two dozen middle school students who were approaching 18 absences, attend a school leadership meeting, call a few parents of chronically absent children, fill in for an absent teacher as a lunchroom monitor, and make a banner reminding kids to show up on Feb. 8 — one of two “count days” during the year when attendance is used to determine how much state funding a school gets.

She walked around the school with a large binder that she uses to track absences and excuses, and interactions with families. Every month, she must provide a report to the district.

“I’ve never been able to get through the volume of work that I’ve wanted to,” she said.

Why aren’t Brightmoor students getting to school?

When a parent shows up, Harris drops everything to listen.

A day earlier, she said, an exasperated mother showed up in her office to tearfully explain why her three children had each missed about 20 days.

“I said, ‘I’m going to get you a tissue, and I’m going to get me a box, because I might be crying, too, today.’”

Harris had reached out to the mother before and even tried to make home visits, but no one ever answered the door. This time was different.

“When she came in, she was at a breaking point,” Harris said. “It was a different conversation. It didn’t seem like she was on the defense. It seemed like she was open” to explaining her struggles and working on a plan.

“We want to find out the whys to offer solutions, to find out how can we help,” Harris said. “That’s the big thing. It’s not doing anybody any good just to stir things up and not to have a solution.”

A portrait of attendance agent Effie Harris at Samuel Gompers Elementary-Middle School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Friday, February 3, 2023. Emily Elconin for Chalkbeat

Gompers serves some of the neediest children in Detroit, a city challenged by high levels of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, and crime. Most live in Brightmoor, a 4-square-mile area that’s impoverished even by Detroit standards. It’s the kind of neighborhood where 1 out of 5 homes is abandoned, and a local diner has 3-inch bulletproof glass separating the serving counter from the dining room.

Some parents keep their children home from school for fear of what they may encounter on the way, especially in winter when it’s still dark out. School starts at 7:30 a.m.

“I can’t blame them,” Harris said. “Parents don’t want to walk them to bus stops in dangerous areas. … I tell the parents, you guys have to get them to the bus stop. This is just your reality. You’ve got to do that.”

About a third of Gompers’ 838 students come from other neighborhoods. Those students have their own attendance challenges. When the family car breaks down, they stop showing up.

Other students don’t come to school because they have to babysit younger siblings while parents work, or they live part-time with another parent in a different area. One mother last year kept her three children home because they were in hiding from her abusive partner.

Harris listens with an empathetic ear as parents explain the barriers standing between their child and the classroom — whether it’s homelessness, lack of clothing or transportation, bullying at school, inability to get up on time, or child care challenges.

Then she steps in. Sometimes she calls parents who’ve overslept to wake them up. Other times, she picks up children from their homes and drives them to school herself.

“We want to make sure we actually have practical solutions, and the other side of that is that parents have to be willing to follow those recommendations,” Harris said in an interview in her office.

A few minutes later she was on the phone with a parent whose three children hadn’t shown up to school.

The oldest child had a sore throat. She had a 9:15 a.m. doctors appointment, the mom said. But it was already 9:07, and they were still home. Harris began to wonder.

“Bring in documentation after she has her doctor visit, OK?” Harris asked.

The mother didn’t answer. She hung up on Harris.

It didn’t seem to bother her.

“Something more is going on,” Harris said, noting that she’d talk to the oldest child when she returned to school. “Elementary kids, I say, ‘OK, where were you?’ and then they’ll start to tell me.”

“It takes time to investigate, to find out what’s going on,” Harris told Chalkbeat in a later interview. “Sometimes it takes time for them to even warm up to you to talk about what’s going on.”

For now, there were other children to check up on.

Personal outreach to students: ‘I’m glad you’re here’

Harris headed upstairs and asked the teacher in Room A230 if she could have a word with a student. A few moments later, a boy emerged from the room.

“Good morning,” she said to him. “I’m glad you’re here. You doing OK?”

After a moment, she sent him back to class.

Next she headed to the classroom next door to check on his brother, who spoke quietly and rubbed his face on the sleeve of his hoodie.

Hours later, she was still thinking about him.

“He really looked tired,” she said, and the last time she saw the brothers they also looked exhausted. “But lately they have been here. They have been here, so that’s good.”

Before the start of last school year, Gompers Principal Akeya Murphy moved the attendance agent’s office into the main office, as a way to highlight the importance of student attendance to families as they walked into the building.

A sign that reads attendance matter behind the curtain in the lunchroom at Samuel Gompers Elementary-Middle School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Friday, February 3, 2023. Emily Elconin for Chalkbeat

Once the school day begins, though, Harris doesn’t spend much time in her office.

“I like moving around in the building, going to the kids,” she said. “I like seeing them. I like interacting with them.”

Her next stop took her to the other end of the building. On the way she ran into a middle school student and greeted her by name.

“How many times am I going to see you next week?” Harris asks.

“I really don’t know,” the girl says.

“What do you mean you don’t know? What’s wrong?” she asks. “I want to see you every day.”

“OK. All right,” the girl responded, as if she meant it.

Help is on the way from the district

Being an attendance officer is a tough job in a district where year after year, more than half the students are chronically absent.

Harris’ role got even more challenging during the pandemic, when Gompers and many schools nationwide experienced a surge in chronic absenteeism. There have been days over the years when the sheer number of students who needed to be reached has been overwhelming.

“I had to get past that,” Harris said. “So many need to be helped. You can’t do everything. You can’t make it to everybody.”

Attendance agent Effie Harris holds a binder with protocols for attendance intervention plans at Samuel Gompers Elementary-Middle School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Friday, February 3, 2023. Emily Elconin for Chalkbeat

Harris is getting more help this school year. A new district strategy involves assigning a second attendance agent to schools like Gompers with high rates of chronic absenteeism.

Harris empathizes with the families who are struggling. But she wants them to understand the consequences of their children not attending school.

“At the end of the day, this is who’s being hurt, and it’s your child. At the end of the day, this is who’s not being given the opportunity they deserve.”

Getting that message across successfully is one of the rewards of a tough job, she said. Take Gloria Vanhoosier, whose three children are “smart as a whip” but were absent for nearly half of the 2021-22 school year. After repeated calls home, Harris convinced Vanhoosier to come in for a talk about her struggles at home, and the importance of bringing the kids to school.

By the end of 2022-23, the children were doing much better with attendance. They still missed days, but not nearly as much as they had the year before. More importantly, they were doing better at school.

“Gloria is a fighter. And now we’re seeing the results. We’re seeing the benefits. She’s the one who sat in my office one time and said, ‘I tell my kids … it’s OK to struggle, but it’s not OK to give up.’ You are absolutely right. Because we all have struggles. We just don’t want to give up.”

Vanhoosier told Chalkbeat that talking to Harris was like talking to a therapist. Hearing that, Harris was full of emotion.

“Oh, I love it!” she said.

Tracie Mauriello covered state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. Reach the team at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

New school year and new challenges on the first day of class in metro Detroit

2023-08-28T15:52:01+00:00

Brooklyn Anderson’s first day of third grade on Monday at Pleasantview Elementary School in Eastpointe began somberly, consumed by nerves over a new school. Then a classmate shared crayons with the 8-year-old, and giggled with her over a shared affection for late-night fruity cereal.

And near the end of the day, Brooklyn declared, “I love this school.”

In Detroit, adults who lined up on opposite sides of a sidewalk clapped, and a brass band played as students entered Fisher Magnet Academy. And in Southfield, one elementary school started the year in a different building as their old digs get renovated.

As the new school year began in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and others across Michigan, students are facing familiar challenges — with the promise of fresh solutions.

The 2023-24 year marks the fourth full school year since the pandemic started, and offers the state’s public schools an opportunity to recalibrate academic recovery programs, tackle mental health issues, and address longstanding problems, some of which began long before the pandemic.

The problems include chronic absenteeism, food insecurity, and sustained learning loss following the pandemic. State leaders have attempted to address some of those issues through a budget designed to send more money to schools that serve the most vulnerable students. This is also the first year the state has sent enough funding for every student, regardless of income, to receive free breakfast and lunch.

Over the summer, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised a more fierce approach to education at the state level in announcing a new education agency, called MiLEAP. Whitmer said she hopes the new department — the creation of which has drawn opposition from some members of the Michigan State Board of Education — bridges the gaps in the state’s approach to public education, from the very early years of learning to the later years in school.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gives high-fives to first-grade students after stopping in their classroom during a visit to Forest Park Elementary in Eastpointe on Monday.

It was Whitmer herself who declared the first school day finished over the PA during a visit to Forest Park Elementary School in Eastpointe, after a few minutes of high-fiving some of the school’s learners and delivering a box of Dunkin’ donuts for staff.

“I hope you all had a great day,” she said. “This is going to be a fun school year, and I hope you make friends, learn new things, and make some great memories.”

Frederick Douglass Academy, Detroit

Anthony Buford made a dash for the doors of his new school building.

“I’ve been expecting this for like two years,” Anthony said, heading into his senior year at Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men.

The 2023-24 school year marks a fresh start for Douglass students and staff after a decade and a half at their old school building. Their new school is the formerly vacant Northern High School building, about 3 miles north of the old location near Midtown Detroit.

For students, a new year in a new building marks a chance to leave another lasting impact.

“I have a good feeling,” James Coleman, a senior at Douglass, said of the new space. “Hopefully the new building will be more vibrant.”

The reactivation of the old Northern High School is part of the district’s $700 million facility master plan, which used COVID relief dollars to rebuild, renovate, and reactivate current and former school buildings across the city.

As part of the design process, Douglass students were able to contribute to their vision of the new building, which will include a renovated gymnasium, a new room dedicated to the school’s program in geographic information systems, and a change to the school’s colors, from classic orange and green to black and gray.

With construction still underway, students made their way in through the building’s back entrance. By the double doors was school administrator Ayanna Morales-Henderson, who greeted returning students with open arms and fist bumps.

“Welcome to Frederick Douglass,” Morales-Henderson exclaimed to a group of underclassmen dressed in pressed white shirts and black slacks.

Top of Anthony’s mind is winning a state championship with either the school’s basketball or track team. Douglass Academy won its first state championship in basketball in 2021, his freshman year.

For much of last school year, discussion at Douglass revolved around a potential name change, envisioned to attract more students and veer away from the building’s past reputation as an alternative high school to a STEAM-focused school, a learning approach that incorporates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

“I feel like the name should have stayed Fred D in the first place,” Anthony said. “Regardless of whether or not our name is built around being an alternative school or not, we’re changing that reputation now.”

Pleasantview Elementary School, Eastpointe

In Eastpointe, third grade teacher Elizabeth Bur directed her new crop of third graders throughout the first hour of the morning to hang up their coats and backpacks (tie-dye backpacks are popular this year), start coloring name tags, and unpack fresh supplies.

Setting a routine is foundational for Pleasantview students, both Bur and Principal Falicia Moreland-Trice said. The principal said she wants to work with parents and students to improve student attendance. About 71% of Pleasantview students missed 10% or more of the 2021-22 school year, according to the most recent data available from the state.

Principal Falicia Moreland-Trice gets a hug from Nyla Overall during the first day of school at Pleasantview Elementary School in Eastpointe on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023.

Moreland-Trice said she called more meetings with parents last year to help improve attendance, having them line up in front of the school, file into classrooms, and put their things away, so they would know their children’s routines.

“The kids that come every day, they’re less likely to have behavior issues because … they know the expectations,” Moreland-Trice said.

The first day is all about “shaking the nerves and setting expectations” for new students, many of whom she greeted with a hug as they stepped off the school bus at 7:45 a.m.

Routine helps easily distracted third graders focus on learning rather than where to hang their coat or throw away trash from breakfast, Bur said. And this year they have a big task ahead of them: Bur wants her students to learn to be strong writers before they have to write an essay for the state M-STEP assessment. Researchers often cite third grade as a milestone grade in both writing and reading.

Some in Bur’s classroom were already starting to read messages their teacher left for them stapled on brown paper bags filled with candy and a few school supplies, welcoming them to third grade, and proclaiming, “I am so glad you are here!” Adrianna Ydrogo, eating apples and wearing both a T-shirt and pants with an apple design, was among those whisper-reading the message on the bags.

Her mother, Natalie Banfield, and father, Christopher Allen, were at school to see Adrianna off. The couple also has a kindergartner and a sixth grader.

“I’m just excited about seeing them grow,” Allen said, before he watched his daughter walk into school.

Barton Elementary School, Detroit

Rosa Glover-Adams was all smiles Monday morning as she welcomed a stream of children coming through the blue double doors of Barton Elementary School in Detroit.

“Did you have a good summer?” she asked a group of students as she held the door open for them, yellow pom-pom in hand.

The school principal then made her way around the building, popping into classrooms to check on teachers and stopping in the halls to hug a student or give them “Bear Bucks,” a school-only currency kids can use to buy school merchandise.

Glover-Adams said she’s excited to have her students back in the building again, especially as Barton continues to expand. This year, the school added preschool and sixth grade, turning Barton into an elementary and middle school.

“I’m excited about being able to keep my sixth graders here with me, because I want to continue to watch them grow as they prepare for high school,” she said.

In addition to the expansion, Glover-Adams is welcoming back a full school and staff. Barton, which has close to 160 students, had 60 additional students enroll this year. All of the core and elective positions have been filled, with the principal hiring four new teachers this year.

One of Glover-Adams’ goals for the year is increasing student reading and math levels. She said students made progress last year, and she wants to continue moving upward.

“That is the plan in process: to continue what we’ve been doing so that our kids can become better readers and mathematicians,” Glover-Adams said.

One of the teachers the principal checked in on during her walk-through was Nicole Washington. The former third grade teacher is now one of the new sixth grade educators. Washington started the morning by having a “grand opening” for her classroom, complete with balloons, rose petals and a ribbon cutting.

She then had her 12 students get to know each other with an icebreaker scavenger hunt and bingo game. Washington, who taught middle school at Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School, said she’s ready to get back in her “middle school groove.” She wanted to make sure her students feel welcomed.

“I want them to know this is a safe and comfortable environment,” she said. “And I want them to get used to sharing and knowing that they matter, that their feelings matter.”

Ta’Lani Fritts, 12, said she’s glad to be reunited with Washington since she was a coach for Academic Games, where students compete in games of math, English, social studies, and logic.

“She’s nice and she teaches math,” Fritts said of Washington.

Also there to welcome students on their first day was DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. He said he made Barton his first stop due to the school becoming another option for West Side parents to take their kids. Barton reopened in 2019 to relieve overcrowding at Mackenzie and Gompers elementary schools.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement and student achievement at Barton, and we’re including a preschool here, which is also part of our new initiatives for the district,” he said. “And obviously, I think we’re going to have a great year there and a lot of demand in the classroom.”

Detroit Public School Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, left, and Angelique Peterson-Mayberry, the president of the Detroit school board, speak with a class at Bethune Elementary-Middle School on the first day of school on Monday.

Vitti, who visited multiple schools Monday, said one of his goals for the new school year is to improve student achievement, particularly in math and literacy. He said the district is above pre-pandemic levels in literacy and saw growth in literacy and math at the high school levels for the SAT.

Another goal is continuing to work on reducing chronic absenteeism numbers. During the 2022-23 school year, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was 68% — down from 77% the previous year, but still above pre-pandemic levels.

“We’ve been talking a lot that if our students only miss nine days or less, they’re three to five times more likely to be at and above their level for reading and math and to be college ready,” Vitti said.

Adler Elementary School, Southfield

Adler Elementary School staff enthusiastically greeted students with “Welcome Back to School” signs and flags, pom-poms, and cheers as they entered a building they weren’t familiar with, the recently updated Eisenhower Elementary School building.

Eisenhower will be a temporary home for Adler students as that school is updated this year, as part of a Southfield Public Schools bond approved by voters in November. Principal Alma Deane said Eisenhower will be a home for a different school each year, as renovation efforts are carried out across various buildings.

Fourth grader Bryce Williams, 8, is recorded by his mother while being welcomed to his first day of school at Eisenhower Elementary School in Southfield on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023.

When students return to the Adler building, they will return to a new heating and cooling system, enhanced security features, new windows, and various other infrastructure upgrades.

“We’re just excited about being in a new building, and we’re welcoming the transition back,” said Monique Jackson, a resource teacher at Adler Elementary School. We’re most excited about having air conditioning; it can be a disruption to learning when kids are so hot.”

Walking in with his parents, 8-year-old Brendan Yopp said he was excited to start fourth grade but was nervous about meeting his new teacher.

“Everybody is making the transition to a new building, but it’s still the same Adler family with all the same teachers and the principal. It’s very similar to their previous school but we’re just kind of getting adjusted,” his father, Brian Yopp, said. “This year, we’re going to keep working on the basics — reading and math — but also making friends and having positive experiences as he’s becoming a young man.”

Honey Pressley said her 6-year-old daughter, Harley, was at the top of her class last year. While the family had a lot of fun attending festivals, fairs, cookouts, and picnics this summer, they also made time for reading at the library.

Harley, now in first grade, said her favorite book is “Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus.”

Fisher Magnet Academy

A crowd of community leaders, neighborhood service organizations, and educators lined up at the main entrance of Fisher Magnet Academy armed with free backpacks and applause to welcome students back to school, with the Gabriel Hall Brass Brand providing the soundtrack.

The “clap in” was organized by Justin Kimpson, senior director of the Ford Resource and Engagement Center, and was sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. Fund.

“This is our sixth annual clap in,” Kimpson said.

“We’re just happy to support the kids every year and provide them with school supplies, backpacks, and words of encouragement.”

Among the community leaders present was longtime activist Sandra Turner-Handy, president of the Denby Neighborhood Alliance. She said it’s very important that young people recognize their community is their support system.

“We are determined for them to get the educational learning that they need to be successful in life,” Turner-Handy said.

The event came as a surprise to some students.

“It was just awesome to see them and their eyes light up while so many people came out just to welcome them back to school,” Turner-Handy said.

The engagement center opened adjacent to Fisher Magnet Upper Academy inside Detroit’s Heilman Recreation Center in 2017.

Lily Altavena is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering educational equity. You can reach her at laltavena@freepress.com.

Orlando Bailey is the engagement director for BridgeDetroit. You can reach him at obailey@bridgedetroit.com

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Nour Rahal is a breaking news reporter for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at nrahal@freepress.com.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit students are heading back to school. Here’s what you need to know.

2023-08-25T19:51:24+00:00

Monday marks new beginnings as nearly 49,000 students in the Detroit school district return to class.

Classes will start just a few days after members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers ratified a new one-year contract deal that provides pay raises and bonuses for members.

The year begins with big questions about how Detroit will manage its enrollment challenges and protect students from the impact of budget cuts.

The new year also marks a stepped-up campaign against chronic absenteeism, as the district plans new health hubs to help kids attend school regularly and reassigns attendance agents to maximize their impact.

Here is what you need to know about some key issues facing in the district:

How will budget cuts affect students?

Detroit district officials made some strategic, but painful and controversial, cuts in the spring to balance the budget and account for enrollment losses and the depletion of federal COVID relief money.

The cuts have already hit hard, as summer school was scaled down significantly, leaving parents who wanted summer learning for their children scrambling for other options.

The big question for this school year is how the cuts will affect student learning. We already know that high school students will feel the cuts with the elimination of college transition advisers, whose job was to help students with the transition from high school to college or careers. Without that help, students may struggle to evaluate their postsecondary options and navigate the college selection process.

The district also eliminated several hundred administrative positions, including assistant principals, deans, and school culture facilitators in some schools. Some staff were able to switch to other positions in the district.

Enrollment challenges continue in Detroit

Nearly 49,000 students are enrolled in the Detroit district, down from nearly 51,000 before the pandemic.

Enrollment declines in Michigan schools can be dire financially. Schools are funded on a per-pupil basis, so the loss of each student in Detroit means about $9,600 less funding this school year.

For the last few years, the district was able to use federal COVID relief money to fill in gaps created by the enrollment loss. But that money is no longer available.

The question this school year is whether the district will see enough growth to stabilize its enrollment. Vitti shared some promising news at a recent school board meeting: As of Aug. 4, more than 2,500 new students had enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, compared with 1,626 at this time last year.

But he has also faced questions from the community and some board members about whether the district is doing enough, and whether its strategy to target preschool enrollment growth will work.

New chronic absenteeism strategies in place

The chronic absenteeism rate was 68% at the end of the last school year. That’s better than the 77% rate from the year before, but the rate of students missing a significant number of days is still high.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 18 or more days in a school year.

This school year, the district is employing new strategies, and getting tougher on chronically absent students.

The district has shifted many of its attendance agents who were assigned to individual schools to work in the central office to provide districtwide attendance outreach. Schools with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism will retain their agents; some will receive an additional agent.

Meanwhile, the district is considering a new policy that would force chronically absent students enrolled in a school outside their neighborhood to attend a school closer to their home. Vitti has also proposed a policy that would force students who missed more than 50% of the school year to repeat a grade.

Lawsuit settlement means more literacy help for students

Michigan lawmakers approved a budget that provided the Detroit district with $94.4 million to settle a 2016 lawsuit over the quality of reading instruction. The suit alleged the state was complicit in poor education outcomes for students while the district was under the control of state-appointed emergency managers.

The lawsuit was settled in 2020, with the stipulation that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would propose the $94.4 million. It took three years to get it through the Legislature.

The district now has additional resources to address longstanding challenges with literacy. DPSCD officials have already shared proposals to use the money to hire academic interventionists to provide one-on-one support to students struggling with reading.

The Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force was created after the settlement agreement was signed and includes representation from teachers, district administrators, students, support staff, and the community. It is tasked with holding a series of community meetings to get input from the public on how the money should be spent and with developing recommendations to the district based on the input. Those recommendations are due by June 30.

The group held its first community meeting Monday.

Student and families to get help at health hubs

The district will open five health hubs at high schools this school year. The hubs are designed to provide students and families with the medical resources and services they need to ensure that students attend school regularly.

Twelve health hubs in total will open in the district over a three years.

Funding comes from a $2.76 million grant from the Ballmer Group and a combined $1.8 million from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Children’s Foundation. (The Kellogg and Kresge foundations are Chalkbeat funders.)

School leaders have increased flexibility to suspend students

School leaders in the Detroit district have broader authority to deal with discipline problems thanks to a change in the district’s code of conduct.

Under revisions approved by the school board, deans and principals have greater flexibility to impose out-of-school suspensions, and could suspend a student after just the first instance of fighting. It marks a sharp reversal from less punitive policies the district adopted just five years ago.

The changes have drawn criticism from some students and advocates who fear school officials will use suspensions in place of other interventions and strategies.

But they are in line with what’s been happening across the country as lawmakers make it easier to kick disruptive students out of school. The pivot toward stricter discipline reflects growing concerns about student behavior and school violence.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach Lori at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teachers union members approve one-year contract with district

2023-08-25T18:00:57+00:00

Members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers voted overwhelmingly to ratify a one-year deal with the Detroit Public Schools Community District that raises pay for senior teachers by 6% and provides retention bonuses to all members.

About a third of the teachers union’s 4,300 members voted on the contract for 2023-24. The official tally from the union was 1,121 in favor, or 73%, and 406 voting no. The deal will be retroactive to July 1, when the previous contract period ended.

The deal was reached on Aug. 20, hours before an extension on the previous contract was set to expire. Voting on ratification began Monday evening and ended at noon Friday.

“We’re making ground,” DFT President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins told Chalkbeat Friday after the vote. “We’re making a huge step forward in the right direction. We’re excited to see increases for all DFT bargaining unit members. And we are back at the table in the spring.”

The deal initially met opposition from some members who argued that the contract provided only minimal gains and that members weren’t sufficiently involved in the negotiations.

What’s in the contract?

Under the new contract, teachers at the top of the pay scale will earn a base salary of roughly $74,000 this school year, a 6% increase from their previous contract, according to a copy of the deal obtained by Chalkbeat Wednesday.

The agreement includes no pay raise for the lower levels of the pay ladder, but all of those teachers will move up a step, which means their pay will go up roughly 2.4%.

“Attention must be paid to the maximum salary in order to retain our members,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “Once they reach the end, you should expect to be recognized for your loyalty and experience that you have achieved by remaining with the district.”

Roughly 65% of the union’s bargaining unit members are on the top level of the pay scale, she added.

In addition to teachers at the top of the scale, academic interventionists are set to receive a 6% salary increase. DPSCD officials intend to use part of a philanthropic donation from billionaire MacKenzie Scott to hire 73 academic interventionists to work one-on-one or in small groups with students at select schools who need math or reading intervention.

Bonuses negotiated under the previous contract will return, including a $4,500 longevity bonus for teachers with more than 15 years of service, a $2,000 retention bonus for all members, and a $2,000 bonus for members at the top step.

Other carryovers from the previous contract include a $15,000 bonus for special education teachers, on top of last year’s.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teachers at top salary tier would receive pay boost under tentative contract agreement

2023-08-24T00:42:02+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

Teachers at the top of the pay scale could earn a base salary of roughly $74,000 this school year, a 6% increase, under a tentative agreement this week between the Detroit Public Schools Community District and its main teachers union.

The agreement includes no pay increase for the lower levels of the scale, but all of those teachers would move up a step, which means their pay would go up roughly 2.4%. And if the agreement is ratified, the district would give all teachers a retention bonus, as well as extra pay for hard-to-staff positions and veteran employees.

The tentative agreement with the Detroit Federation of Teachers was reached Sunday evening, hours before an extension to a previous contract ended, and a week before the Aug. 28 start of school for DPSCD students. Monday was the first day of school for staff.

Voting on the proposed contract began Monday night following a presentation to DFT members. Voting was initially set to end on Thursday, but has been extended to noon Friday because of an email delivery issue, according to DFT president Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins.

The school district and union were keeping the terms confidential pending ratification, according to a union statement, but Chalkbeat obtained a copy of the contract terms.

In addition to teachers at the top of the scale, academic interventionists are set to receive a 6% salary increase. DPSCD officials intend to use part of a philanthropic donation from billionaire MacKenzie Scott to hire 73 academic interventionists at select schools to work one-on-one or in small groups with students who need math or reading intervention.

Other carryovers from the previous contract include a $15,000 bonus for special education teachers, on top of last year’s.

District officials had said they would prioritize pay increases and bonuses as they finalized a $1.138 billion budget for the new school year that had to account for the expiration of federal COVID relief aid.

The budget cut and consolidated roughly 300 positions, including jobs in the district’s central office, as well as school-level positions such as school culture facilitators, college transition advisers, kindergarten paraprofessionals, deans, and assistant principals.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has argued for years that Detroit teachers should be among the highest-paid educators in the state, and has made increasing pay a priority — especially for new teachers. The last contract set a $51,000 starting salary for teachers.

During this year’s negotiations, Wilson-Lumpkins said it was important to raise pay for members at the top of the salary schedule.

Some teachers weren’t happy with the results.

“I’m a little bit frustrated,” said Julie Hughes, an English teacher at Western International High School and a DFT member. Hughes voted no on the agreement, arguing that many had called for a 20% salary increase for all members, as well as significant changes to the district’s leave policy.

“After almost a year of negotiations this is what they come back with — 6% and some bonuses? … We wanted multiple things to be addressed.”

She added: “We were expecting something other than our old contract.”

Yolanda King, a 20-year district teacher and an organizing fellow with the teachers union, voted yes.

“We’re obviously not where we should be, but I feel that they fought and they got the most fair contract that they could get at this time,” said King. “We’ve gained every year since we’ve come out of emergency management. It looks good and it feels good to see the increases every year.”

The union and district agreed to work toward a new salary schedule to be implemented in 2024-25.

Negotiations for the next contract are set to start this fall. Among the likely discussion points are the newly restored collective-bargaining rights for teachers. Under legislation enacted this summer, teachers can once again bargain on issues such as performance evaluations, staff reductions, teacher placements, discipline, and classroom observations.

“Actually being able to have some say so in the evaluation is a very big deal for teachers in the state of Michigan,” King said. “That’s some of the things that have affected all of us.”

Here are some highlights of the tentative contract:

All DFT members at the top of the pay scale would receive a 6% salary increase in 2023-24. That would mean a member at the top who has a bachelor’s degree would earn a base salary of $73,922, while one with a master’s degree would earn $86,000.
Academic interventionists would also receive a 6% salary increase, to $42,883 from $40,456.
Members on all other levels of the salary schedule would advance one step, earning them higher salaries. On average, employees can expect a 2.4% salary increase when they move up a step, excluding the step to the top tier.
All retirees who returned to work for the district would be placed at the top step of their pay scale after confirmation of their years of experience. They would also be eligible to receive the same bonuses and benefits as other DFT members in their position.
Special education teachers in some of the hardest-to-staff disciplines would receive a $15,000 bonus.
Teachers with 15 or more years of service with the district would receive a one-time $4,500 longevity payment. DFT members not on the teachers’ salary schedule, but with the same length of service, would receive $2,000.
DFT members who are nurses, therapists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, pathologists, and consultants would receive a $2,000 bonus.
All union members, including long-term substitutes, would receive a retention bonus of $2,000. Day-to-day substitutes would receive a $1,000 bonus.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Correction: August 24, 2023: This story has been updated to correct the type of financial reward special education teachers would receive under the tentative agreement reached by the Detroit Federation of Teachers and the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Detroit school literacy task force hosts first community meeting

2023-08-23T18:12:47+00:00

Semira Watkins says her 14-year-old daughter, Zaamilah Watkins, who is going into the ninth grade at Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine, dislikes reading and has trouble connecting with her English assignments.

“She shies away from it, because it’s something that doesn’t interest her,” the Detroit public schools parent said. “I know my baby girl has asked questions on different things, and she’s made to feel ‘less than.’ I don’t think they (the teachers) are as patient as they should be.”

The story was among those shared Monday during the first community meeting with the Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force. At least 20 educators, parents, and community members filled a room at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corp. in Corktown to talk about ways the Detroit Public Schools Community District can improve student literacy levels.

The meeting comes almost two months after the announcement that the district will receive $94.4 million from a settlement in a 2016 lawsuit that claimed the state denied Detroit schoolchildren access to literacy. The funds were included in the $21.5 billion K-12 school aid budget that the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed in June, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approving the budget last month.

The federal case settled in 2020 dates back to when the Detroit school district was under state oversight. The plaintiffs were seven Detroit public school students who alleged they were denied the opportunity to have a quality education because of poor building conditions, a shortage of textbooks and other learning materials, and poorly qualified teachers.

The lawsuit called out Michigan’s deployment of emergency managers to control the city’s public schools between 2009 and 2016. Those managers created conditions so awful, the plaintiffs alleged, that students were denied their constitutional right to a basic reading education.

Task force member Cassie Williams, who also is the executive director of K-12 literacy for DPSCD’s Office of English Language Arts and Literacy, gave an update Monday on the settlement funds, saying the money can now be used, but only for literacy-related programs. Those programs include multisensory training and certification for teachers; increasing the number of academic interventionists; and hiring certified teachers as full-time reading interventionists to work with struggling readers one-on-one and in small groups.

The goal of the task force is to provide community recommendations on how the funds should be used. The team must hold five other public meetings, including virtual meetings.

The task force was created out of the settlement, along with the Detroit Education Policy Committee. The group is charged with conducting annual evaluations of Detroit literacy and providing state-level policy recommendations to Whitmer. The task force will also provide recommendations to the DPSCD school board, but the board does not have to accept them.

“This is a really good start. Everybody is coming with ideas and good questions, but we want to just make sure we get as many people from across the city as possible,” Williams told BridgeDetroit.

DPSCD’s reading levels seeing growth

During the meeting, Williams provided an overview of DPSCD’s reading levels for the 2022-23 school year. Numbers slightly improved for the district’s end-of-year assessment results for grades K-8.

During the fall of 2022, only 5.4% of students were reading at grade level. Meanwhile, the share of students reading three levels or more below grade level was at 36%.

Numbers improved this spring: Students reading at grade level increased to 13.5%, while 24.7% of students were reading three levels below grade level.

The numbers are similar to the spring of 2022, when 12.9% of students were reading at grade level and 26.1% were reading three levels below grade level.

The district’s goal is for students to move up at least one grade level a school year, even if they aren’t reading at grade level, Williams said.

“We see some growth in specific grade levels, but it’s not enough,” she said.

Teams discuss possible solutions for DPSCD’s literacy problem

During the meeting, attendees broke into small groups to talk about ideas and recommendations for the literacy lawsuit funds.

The district’s literacy intervention curriculum leader, Gabrielle Johnson, led one discussion with Mary Beth Lohman, a co-director of girls programming for the Mercy Education Project, as well as Watkins and two other community members. They talked about solutions such as having a better ratio between students and teachers and more hands-on activities.

Lohman said a majority of the students who participate in programs at her workplace come from families that don’t make reading a priority. A rewards system, Lohman said, can help kids become more engaged with reading.

“We try to offer a monthly book club where they can bring in their book reports and earn a pizza party or an ice cream party,” she said. “We try to add as much fun as we can to it, but it’s difficult.”

Jackie Thomason, the district director for state Sen. Mary Cavanaugh, D-Redford Township, said allowing students to pick the books they want to read could be another solution.

“I know back when I was in school, something that helped a lot was getting to choose the genre of book,” she said. “Then you’re more engaged.”

Later, Johnson brought up having a support system with parents when kids are outside of school.

“We also talked a lot about community engagement and parent support, maybe a parent academy for supporting students at home with reading,” she said.

As for Watkins, she will continue to encourage Zaamilah to read in hopes that she improves and develops confidence in her abilities.

“I would love for her to improve and develop that confidence whenever she sits down and gets a book,” she said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

It’s a new school year in Michigan. What’s the biggest issue at your school?

2023-08-23T12:00:00+00:00

Over the next few weeks, students in school districts and charter schools across Michigan will return to the classroom for the 2023-24 school year. Some have already started.

At Chalkbeat Detroit, our team of reporters and editors began preparing for the new school year weeks ago, with discussions about our reporting and engagement priorities.

Our work isn’t done though. We need input from our readers, because you are often the eyes and ears that help us ensure that our reporting is relevant and captures the voices of those who have the most at stake in decisions made at the district and state levels.

We’ll continue to home in on chronic absenteeism, which is a problem not just in Detroit — where many district and charter schools have high rates of students missing school — but also across Michigan.

Last school year, we reported on how persistent transportation woes have fueled absenteeism. We also took a look at a Michigan law that punishes poor parents for their children’s absenteeism by withholding public assistance. Recently, we shared some promising news: The chronic absenteeism rate in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, which soared to around 77% at the height of the pandemic, declined during the last school year. And soon, we’ll provide an inside look at one school’s quest to reduce its high chronic absenteeism rate.

The Chalkbeat Detroit team is ready to hear what education issues are important to our readers. Our Detroit-based team, clockwise from far left, are Hannah Dellinger, K-12 reporter; Emiliana Sandoval, managing editor for style and standards; Ethan Bakuli, Detroit schools reporter; Elaine Cromie, photo editor; Krishnan Anantharaman, story editor; and Lori Higgins, bureau chief.

We’ll also be keeping an eye on how students are affected as federal COVID relief dries up in school districts across the country. We’ve already covered how that has played out in DPSCD, which made painful budget cuts in the spring. We’ll also be monitoring continued efforts to help students recover from the pandemic.

Please take a few minutes to take the survey below and share your thoughts on what you’re most interested in, what questions you have, and what topics need more coverage. Your feedback is invaluable to us.

This isn’t your only opportunity to reach out. You can contact the bureau anytime at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org.

If you are having trouble viewing this form, go here.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief at Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit attendance proposal would kick students out of their chosen school for high absenteeism

2023-08-22T15:07:05+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

Detroit students enrolled in schools outside their neighborhood could be sent back to their local school if they miss too many days, under a policy proposal from district officials aimed at tackling chronic absenteeism.

The policy would allow schools to seek district approval to transfer a student to their designated feeder pattern school — the one they would be assigned to based on where they live — but only after school officials took a series of steps to communicate with the student’s family about the absences.

“The transfer would only occur for the following year — not (during) the current school year,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat.

As of 2022, only about 55% of Detroit Public Schools Community District students attended their assigned neighborhood school, Vitti said.

The proposal was shared with board members at a school board policy/ad hoc committee meeting Monday. The committee agreed to advance the draft policy to the next school board meeting on Sept. 12 for a first reading by the full board. All district policies must be reviewed by the board twice before they can be voted on.

DPSCD follows a protocol to notify parents or caregivers of a student’s absences. The first contact is recommended to be completed by a teacher for the first two days a student is absent. After every third unexcused absence — the third, sixth, ninth, and so on — a school’s attendance agent can use any of several intervention strategies, including home visits, daily check-ins, parent conferences, and contact with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

Vitti said that with the proposed policy, schools would warn families about the possibility of a transfer if their student’s attendance does not improve, and could request a transfer for a student who ends the school year having been chronically absent, which typically means missing more than 18 days, or 10%, of the school year.

“We would ensure that there were not extenuating circumstances the student or family was dealing with,” such as an illness or death, Vitti wrote to Chalkbeat. “We would also consider the student’s previous attendance at the school, grades, and behavior record. All of this would be reviewed by the District before a transfer was implemented.”

The move is one of several steps DPSCD is taking to address its outsize rate of chronic absenteeism. During the 2022-23 school year, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was 68% — down from 77% the previous year, but still above pre-pandemic levels.

Before the pandemic, DPSCD had committed to a multipronged reform effort to reduce absenteeism, including offering wraparound services for students, hiring attendance agents, and partnering with community organizations.

By the end of 2018-19, in part because of those efforts, chronic absenteeism fell to 62%, from 70% in 2017-18.

The policy proposal, Vitti said, could curb some of the transportation challenges that contribute to student absenteeism.

“On the one hand, principals of neighborhood schools have asked for greater accountability for student attendance,” he said. “They also notice families are placing additional burden on themselves by not attending the school closest to their residence. This creates a greater transportation burden than walking to school or using a District bus route.”

Vitti told board members in July that the district had planned to impose punitive measures several years ago, but held off because of the pandemic. Along with the transfer rule, Vitti said he would propose a policy that would require students to repeat a grade if they miss too much school.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teachers union reaches agreement with school district

2023-08-21T02:35:06+00:00

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The Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Detroit Federation of Teachers union reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement for the 2023-24 school year just hours before the current contract was set to expire, the union announced Sunday night.

The school district and union are keeping the terms confidential until DFT members have reviewed and ratified the agreement, according to the union statement.

Teachers are expected to report to work on Monday, and the first day of school for students is Aug. 28.

The announcement arrived the same day the DFT’s two-year contract expired. The union’s 2021 to 2023 contract was originally set to expire on June 30, but both parties agreed to a contract extension that lasted until Sunday.

It’s unclear how long the new agreement between the union and the district will last. A DFT building representative who spoke on background with Chalkbeat said that the district and the union might agree to a one-year agreement. The teachers union may have made that decision in order to negotiate under the restored teacher bargaining rights signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this summer. Those laws will go into effect in 2024.

Wage increases for DFT members were central to the monthslong bargaining talks.

“We in Detroit work against what seems to be insurmountable circumstances every day, yet we make miracles happen,” Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, DFT president, told Chalkbeat after a district school board meeting on Aug. 8. “We deserve the highest increase ever. One that raises our maximum salary out of last place in the Metro Detroit area.”

In 2021, DFT and DPSCD agreed to a 4% salary increase for veteran teachers, as well as increasing the starting salary for new teachers to $51,000. The maximum salary for a veteran teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $69,000.

In neighboring Dearborn and Grosse Pointe school districts, union members with a bachelor’s degree who were at the top of the pay scale received upwards of $76,000 in recent contracts. In the Birmingham school district, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree who is at the top of the pay scale received over $80,000 in their 2021-23 contract.

Voting begins tonight and will continue until Thursday at noon.

Monday morning, hours before union members will meet to learn the details of the agreement, a group of members rallied outside the Fisher Building to protest what they said was a lack of member involvement in the negotiations. The protest was not sanctioned by the union, Wilson-Lumpkins said.

“We haven’t had a clue about what’s in the tentative agreement,” said Frances Curtis, an educator at Renaissance High School. “You don’t direct people to go to work, to go to a meeting, and you haven’t even shown us our contract.”

Steve Conn, a former DFT president, said he was skeptical that the union and district agreed to a contract “anywhere near where they deserve.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teachers union members call for salary increases as new school year nears

2023-08-09T02:34:14+00:00

With just weeks to go before school starts, members of the Detroit school district’s main teachers union are calling for salary increases that would make their pay more competitive with wealthier neighboring school districts.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers has been negotiating with Detroit Public Schools Community District officials for months over a new contract heading into the 2023-24 school year, which begins Aug. 28 for students. Teacher pay has been a key area of discussion as DPSCD, like other Michigan school districts, struggles to retain teachers, address staff burnout and reduce the number of vacancies.

“We deserve a competitive contract,” said Crystal Lee, a teacher at Charles R. Drew Transitional Center and one of several DFT members who spoke at a school board meeting Tuesday. “This is the district’s opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to providing quality and consistent services for the schoolchildren of Detroit.”

“We are looking at what other districts are paying their educators,” Lee said. “We recognize Detroit is far behind, but we are waiting for a competitive wage just like neighboring districts.”

DFT Executive Vice President Jason Posey told board members that time is running short with the school year starting in just a few weeks. “Families are deciding where to send their students,” Posey said. “Our members are being offered positions by surrounding districts with better salaries.”

DFT President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins said that DPSCD should have more money available now thanks to a settlement with the state in a literacy lawsuit that will provide $94 million to the district to support literacy programs.

The union members’ appeals come after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that largely restored Michigan teacher bargaining rights stripped away over the past decade, as well as bills to support teacher recruitment and retention across the state.

DPSCD estimates it has about 50 teacher vacancies going into the new school year, mostly for special education teachers.

DFT members currently have a starting salary of more than $51,000. The union’s more than 4,000 members include teachers and master teachers, as well as support staff such as academic interventionists, attendance agents, school counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

DFT’s last contract was approved in September 2021, and provided 4% salary increases across the board for teachers, as well as additional annual raises for veteran and special ed teachers. That contract was slated to expire on June 30, but union and district officials agreed to a contract extension that lasts until Aug. 20.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at Tuesday’s meeting that he’s confident that an agreement will be reached before school starts. Vitti has made increasing staff salaries a critical budget priority for the next school year, even as the district cut its budget to account for the loss of federal COVID relief funding.

“DFT and the district want the same thing, which is to continually increase the salary of our teachers,” Vitti said. “I think we’ve made strides in the past couple of weeks in particular, and I think we will both compromise to raise teachers salaries at a rate that we have yet to do as a district … while not relying on one-time money to do that.”

Vitti also shared updates on the district’s alternative teacher certification program.

The district’s On the Rise Academy, which helps DPSCD employees gain teacher certification, continues to expand its enrollment in its third year. An estimated 122 fellows are in the program, spread out across 45 schools, Vitti said, primarily elementary schools, where there’s a great need.

In other business, the board approved a contract extension for Beyond Basics, which provides tutoring services in reading, and signed off on changes to the student code of conduct that make it easier for school officials to suspend students.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Correction: August 14, 2023: This story has been updated to correct the end of the Detroit Federation of Teachers’ latest contract with the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Michigan girls pushed for schools to inform students about sexual assault. Now it will be state law.

2023-08-01T14:15:00+00:00

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Lydia Maciel never learned the definitions of consent or sexual violence as a student at Western International High School in southwest Detroit.

Nor did many of the more than 100 students she and a group of her peers surveyed in the Detroit school district during their time as the inaugural fellowship class of Girls Making Change in 2016.

The high school juniors and seniors, all girls and young women of color from Detroit tasked with finding a project to address social issues in their community, found that many of the kids they talked to also didn’t know where they could find help or resources for sexual assault survivors.

So, the group pushed for legislation that would require public schools to provide definitions of sexual violence and consent, as well as resources to help survivors — information that advocates say can be life-saving. It took five years, but their idea, born out of personal and peer experience, will soon become a reality when a new law goes into effect next school year.

Such early conversations about consent that destigmatize shame for survivors may help prevent violence, researchers say.

“We were shocked that a majority of students didn’t know what consent was or what it looked like,” said Maciel, now 25 and a graduate of Wayne State University.

As a survivor of sexual assault herself, Maciel wanted better for students who will go through the Michigan public education system after her.

Senate Bill 66, approved by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on July 11, will require all public school districts and charter schools as well as intermediate school districts to provide age-appropriate material explaining what constitutes sexual assault and harassment to sixth through 12th graders. The material must also include explanations of consent — defined as an agreement to participate in sexual activities — and let students know that sexual violence is not the victim’s fault. The information must also list resources available to survivors and the actions they can take.

The Michigan Department of Education has until June 1, 2024 to develop the material in consultation with experts and advocates, including the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board and the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.

School systems can decide how to distribute the information. It must include contact information for the district’s Title IX coordinator and its policies on sexual harassment and assault, including the fact that retaliation and harassment against those who disclose abuse is prohibited.

The information must remain accessible to middle and high school students and their parents in student handbooks and district websites.

Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, school systems will be encouraged to train all educators and staff who come into contact with students on how to respond to disclosures of sexual violence. The training, which would take place at least every five years, would be provided as professional development through nonprofits that receive funding from the state’s domestic and sexual violence prevention and treatment board or the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Education can help prevent violence, experts say

Maciel said many students who answered the group’s survey said they had experienced sexual violence or had friends who did and did not know where to find help.

Others described situations that constituted sexual assault and did not have an understanding that the interactions were not consensual, she said.

“These girls didn’t want these things to happen to them, but they didn’t know it was assault,” said Maciel.

Adolescents are at higher risk of sexual assault than any other group, research shows, and about 1 in 9 girls and 1 in 20 boys experience sexual abuse or assault before they turn 18.

Lydia Maciel poses for a portrait at Riverside Park on Friday, July 28, 2023 in Detroit, Mich.

More recently, numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior survey suggest an uptick in cases of abuse of high school girls. In 2019, an estimated 850,000 girls in high school reported being raped. In 2021, that number jumped to more than 1 million.

Research also indicates such estimates are often likely undercounts, especially when based on criminal reports.

Such abuse can have negative mental and physical health impacts on survivors, including causing poor educational outcomes.

While many researchers and advocates say educating kids in K-12 about consent may prevent sexual violence, experts say more research is needed to determine its effectiveness because few public school districts in the nation provide such lessons as part of a comprehensive sex education curriculum.

By 2019, the 74 reported, 24 states had mandated sex education in schools. Of those, nine required curricula include the concept of communicating sexual consent.

Amanda Barratt, senior program director at the Michigan Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, said the impact of conversations around sexual violence that foster an understanding of consent should never be underestimated.

“If we are having these conversations that dismantle the shame of survivors and shifts it to the people causing harm, that absolutely changes how people are going to hold others accountable and that is what helps prevent violence,” she said.

Many advocates say talking to kids as early as possible in age-appropriate language about consent sets the foundation for deeper conversations about sex in middle and high school.

“That actually builds something much more longstanding and can last an entire lifetime,” said Barratt.

‘Consent isn’t really talked about’

Juanita Zuniga, also part of the Girls Making Change group and now a 24-year-old graduate of Detroit Cristo Rey High School and Kalamazoo College, said the sex education she received in private Catholic high school was similar to what she heard Detroit public school students describe learning in class.

“Consent isn’t really talked about,” she said. “It’s more ‘don’t have sex and you won’t have a baby and nothing bad will happen to you.’”

That type of language without the context of assault and rape not being the fault of victims can be harmful, said Zuniga.

“That type of rhetoric does perpetuate guilt, especially when you’re young and so impressionable,” she said. “It contributes to youth not wanting to speak up about abuse and being silenced.”

Barb Flis, founder of Parent Action for Healthy Kids, a Michigan nonprofit that aims to teach youth about sexual health, said the state’s existing laws do not allow for universal comprehensive sex education. Additionally, parents may opt their children out of all sex education.

“The best practice in an ideal world would be teaching early and often in a comprehensive way,” she said. “I think this is a good step in the right direction. But, we have to understand that handing out a brochure or providing information is not going to take care of the whole issue.”

Law took five years to become reality

State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who introduced the legislation, said it was strategically written to reach as many students as possible. Requiring districts to provide the information to all kids enrolled in grades 6 through 12 will mean the information will be received by more middle and high schoolers than if it were only included in sex education curriculum.

“This actually is an opportunity to reach all students, which is very powerful,” said Barratt.

Chang, who created the Girls Making Change program as a newly elected state house representative, first introduced the legislation in 2018 after around 500 women and girls came forward to say they were sexually abused by Michigan State University team physician and Olympic trainer Larry Nassar.

“I think for us, it’s really about how do we effectively make an impact for kids and prevent future sexual assault,” said Chang. “It’s very clear that it has to start with education.”

The new law was introduced as part of a bipartisan package each legislative term beginning in 2018.

Maciel is grateful the bill will now become law, but said it’s hard for her to understand why it took five years to pass.

“I want this to open eyes for politicians here in Michigan to see how long this took,” she said. “It could have been helping students the moment it was introduced. It should have been passed and we shouldn’t have waited this long.”

Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 education. Contact Hannah at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school officials announce new partners for health hub expansion

2023-08-08T21:54:19+00:00

Editor’s note: This story was updated Tuesday, August 8 to disclose the Kellogg and Kresge foundations as financial sponsors of Chalkbeat.

Three regional foundations will help fund the Detroit school district’s new series of school-based health hubs, designed to provide students and families with timely and convenient access to medical services.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Children’s Foundation will provide the Detroit Public Schools Community District with a combined $1.8 million to develop 12 health hubs in neighborhood schools across the city, district officials announced Monday at a news conference at Detroit’s East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney. (The Kellogg and Kresge foundations are supporters of Chalkbeat.)

The newly announced donations are in addition to the $2.76 million already earmarked from the Ballmer Group. Earlier this month, DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti announced at a community meeting on mental health and school safety that the health hubs would begin in the 2023-24 school year.

In addition to East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, the first health hubs will be launched at Southeastern High School, Osborn High School, Central High School/Durfee Elementary-Middle School, and Western International High School/Maybury Elementary School.

The remaining hubs will be launched in the next two school years.

At Monday’s news conference, Vitti heralded the health hubs as an “innovation” that will help the district in addressing chronic absenteeism, in which students have missed 10% of the school year, or 18 days.

In the 2021-22 school year, DPSCD recorded a 77% rate of chronic absenteeism, up from 63% before the pandemic, largely stemming from COVID quarantine and close-contact guidance the district observed that year. The district’s rate dropped to 68% this past school year; a positive direction, Vitti said, but still short of the district’s goal.

The health hubs, he added, will provide students and families within a three-mile radius of the site direct access to physical, mental, and dental health services that might otherwise impact a student’s attendance record.

“We had to move to a place of problem-solving, we can’t just accept these numbers,” Vitti said. “

“We believe resources can be provided best, most efficiently, with less bureaucracy, with less red tape in our schools because that’s where our children are at, and often that’s where our families are most comfortable.

“Our data is very clear: when students are absent less than nine times throughout the school year, they’re anywhere from three to five times more likely to be at grade-level performance in reading and math or to be college ready at the high school level.”

Andrew Stein, president of the Children’s Foundation, echoed the superintendent’s remarks.

“We know firsthand the need for the holistic suite of supports that the health hubs are providing,” Stein said. “And in particular, the critical role that a school nurse plays in really any school-based health strategy. The data is clear on the role nurses play in attending the physical and emotional health of students.”

The Children’s Foundation’s investment will support the creation of the health hub at Central High School, as well as funding school nurses at Central and four other DPSCD schools.

The Kresge donation will help fund the 12 health hubs, as well as establish a health hub at the School of Marygrove. Meanwhile, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will support oral health services at all the health hubs and launch a districtwide oral health clinic in northwest Detroit.

The first five school health hubs will be phased into buildings during the school year. Each site will have a designated full-time coordinator who will assist students, families, and community members with accessing services. The hubs also will partner with local health care providers Ascension, Henry Ford Health, and the Institute for Population Health to staff the physical and behavioral health services at each location.

The coordinator will also work in tandem with school-based or districtwide attendance agents, to refer students and families to the health hub after phone calls home determine what barriers are preventing a student from coming to school.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit schools seek contract extension with Beyond Basics to improve reading skills

2023-07-28T21:57:22+00:00

Detroit school officials are seeking to extend a contract next year with local tutoring nonprofit Beyond Basics to provide continued help for district students far behind in reading skills.

At a school board finance committee meeting Friday, Detroit Public Schools Community District superintendent Nikolai Vitti introduced a contract extension for Beyond Basics for the 2023-24 school year. The Southfield-based tutoring nonprofit would receive $3.3 million to provide one-on-one or small group literacy instruction to students at eight district schools.

In recent years, DPSCD has used philanthropic dollars, COVID relief funding, and money from a literacy lawsuit settlement to expand Beyond Basics’ tutoring across district high schools and elementary schools.

The Beyond Basics program aims to improve students’ reading level by two grades in an average of six weeks. Its reading instruction partially utilizes Orton-Gillingham, a multi-sensory, structured approach that tends to work for students with dyslexia, and emphasizes phonics-based instruction. The program uses paid, trained tutors to work with students during the school day.

In both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, the district reported that students who participated in Beyond Basics saw, on average, more than one-and-a-half year’s worth of reading growth.

The contract extension proposal comes as the district seeks to provide targeted intervention for students multiple grades behind reading level.

DPSCD students performed slightly below pre-pandemic measures on M-STEP, Michigan’s standardized test during the 2021-22 school year. (M-STEP results from the 2022-23 school year are expected to be released in September.) In English, 9% of third grade students scored at or above proficiency, compared with 11.9% in 2019.

But the district’s declines in reading proficiency also reflect broader state and national trends. The percentage of Michigan third graders a year or more behind in reading went up 20% in the 2021-22 school year, according to an annual report from Michigan State University’’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative on the number of students eligible for retention.

Beyond Basics is one of several interventions DPSCD uses to improve literacy. The district’s literacy plan also includes hiring full-time academic interventionists, professional development on Orton-Gillingham instruction, and the district’s Let’s Read program, which connects adult volunteer tutors with early-grade students to help them improve their reading comprehension.

Current and upcoming windfalls of cash also will help DPSCD address the literacy needs of its students. Michigan’s K-12 school aid budget for the upcoming school year allocated $94.4 million from the state’s literacy lawsuit settlement to the district. And DPSCD officials intend to use part of a philanthropic donation from billionaire MacKenzie Scott to hire 73 academic interventionists at select schools in 2023-24.

At Friday’s meeting, Vitti also introduced a $720,000 contract renewal with Brainspring to provide tutoring for virtual school students and professional development. The company has worked with the district since 2019.

The Beyond Basics and Brainspring contracts will go before the full board on Aug. 8.

This past school year, Beyond Basics tutored 589 students across high schools and K-8 schools, according to a district report shared at the committee meeting. That’s down from the 2021-22 school year, when roughly 620 students participated in the program.

The program has faced some public controversy in the past year. Last July, Rachel Vitti, a longtime literacy advocate and the wife of Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, resigned as a director of Beyond Basics. Her departure followed a Chalkbeat story that reported on the district’s contract with the tutoring service.

In the 2023-24 school year, Beyond Basics will work in eight schools, all of which participated in the program this past school year. The district will fund the program with its own grant funds at these schools

Brewer Academy
Bunche Preparatory Academy
Fisher Magnet Academy
Henderson Academy
Marion Law Academy
Mason Academy
Priest Elementary-Middle School
Thirkell Elementary-Middle School

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district’s discipline proposal would give schools more power to suspend students

2023-07-21T22:38:48+00:00

Editor’s note: This story was updated Friday, July 21 to include a statement from Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

Detroit school district leaders want to give school administrators more leeway to suspend or transfer students amid growing concerns about student misbehavior.

Under a stricter student code of conduct Detroit Public Schools Community District officials are proposing, deans and principals would have greater flexibility to impose out-of-school suspensions, and could suspend a student after just the first instance of fighting.

The proposed changes, which Superintendent Nikolai Vitti outlined for school board members at recent committee meetings, would mark a sharp reversal from less punitive policies the district adopted just five years ago, when Vitti and the school board raised concerns that the code of conduct was too ambiguous and that student discipline varied from school to school.

Vitti said the latest proposals were intended to give school administrators more authority to deal swiftly with behavioral problems in their buildings. The changes were supposed to go before the school board at its July 11 meeting, but were removed from the agenda. The district did not respond to questions about whether it planned to introduce the proposal later or make changes to it.

The proposed revisions come at a time when lawmakers across the country have moved to make it easier to kick disruptive students out of school, a pivot toward stricter discipline that reflects growing concerns about student behavior and school violence.

But some students and advocates view the potential changes as a step in the wrong direction, suggesting that the new policy language would embolden teachers and school administrators to suspend students in lieu of other interventions and strategies.

Already, some students say, administrators are short-circuiting district policies and state laws that were designed to reduce punishments and emphasize communication and engagement with students.

“We already overuse these punishments and penalties,” said Janiala Young, an incoming sophomore at Renaissance High School.

“It sometimes just feels like they don’t want to help us,” she added. “They want to control us.”

District responds to administrators’ complaints

In 2018, the DPSCD school board approved changes to the code of conduct aimed at bringing more consistency to discipline policies across the district, so that students at different schools would not face different consequences for the same infractions. At the time, Vitti advocated less punitive actions against students, suggesting that schools give students more room to make mistakes.

Those changes emphasized progressive discipline practices, which require school leaders to consider options such as conflict resolution, student conferences, and peer mediation before meting out punishment.

But since then, Vitti said, some school administrators have complained that they had to wait as long as six to eight weeks before they could suspend a student out of school, keeping students with behavioral issues in the building for a long time.

Vitti said the new proposals “will empower school leaders to make more decisions and have more discretion around using possible out of school suspension strategies.”

“Progressive discipline approach will still be embedded in the code of conduct,” he added, and school officials can still opt to use “in-school suspension or detention-like strategies during the school day.”

In cases of fights, or the use or possession of drugs and alcohol, though, students could be immediately referred to an out-of-school suspension.

State law requires Michigan schools to consider seven factors for most suspensions and expulsions, including a student’s age, disciplinary history, disability status, and the seriousness of the violation. The law also says school leaders should consider whether lesser interventions or restorative practices are better suited to address the student’s behavior.

Under restorative practices, students are encouraged to talk through harmful behavior and conflict through circles or conferences overseen by a trained adult facilitator. Some experts encourage the use of those progressive strategies to reduce suspensions.

Shantinette Lowe, a rising senior at Cody High School, said she wants school officials to be more deliberate about considering the seven factors before resorting to suspensions or transfers.

She recalled her experience in 2022, when she and a peer got into a physical fight at school. She alleges that despite district policy and state law that favored restorative practices, she was suspended without any attempted intervention from teachers or administrators.

“Before I got suspended, I didn’t know that there was a process … so when I found out my suspension could have been prevented, I was upset,” Shantinette told Chalkbeat in late May.

In an emailed response to Chalkbeat Friday, Vitti said both students were initially sent home to defuse the situation and prevent a conflict from escalating at school.

“Cody administration attempted to schedule a restorative meeting with both students and parents, but Shantinette’s mother refused to meet with the other parent,” he said. “Therefore, a restorative meeting took place between both students without their parents so they could return to school.”

School officials then staggered the students’ return to school, with Shantinette returning a few days before the other student.

Shantinette said she’s concerned that in the long term, overusing suspensions and transfers could push students to drop out of school and risk getting into trouble with the criminal justice system.

Students, advocates call for more restorative practices

Vitti said the district annually reviews its code of conduct with representatives from “various stakeholders,” including students, parents, community members, nonprofits, school administrators, and teachers.

Feedback from those groups led to language in the revised code that says “staff should consider student age and grade when assigning consequences” and “avoid assigning any form of suspension to K-2 students.”

Peri Stone-Palmquist, executive director of the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan, said it was encouraging that the district added that language but said she worries that “other places in the code actually send a message that automatic suspension is the recommendation.”

Under the proposed changes, for example, students who fail to follow instructions could be suspended out of school for up to two days on their fourth referral.

“For a student with a history of trauma or a disability, more support may need to be pushed in for that teacher and student to get to the root of the problem,” Stone-Palmquist said. The district should also consider a student’s housing status, and should provide “clear due process rights spelled out for virtual, alternative or administrative transfers,” she said

Detroit Heals Detroit co-founder Sirrita Darby said it is troubling that the district drew up this new language when it’s already moved to reduce the number of deans and school culture facilitators in recent budget cuts. The people in those roles are best positioned to understand student behavior and work directly with them to solve problems, she said.

Through her organization, Darby has focused on the impact of trauma on students both inside and outside the classroom, advocating for the use of restorative practices in place of suspensions.

“Writing referrals is not a benign act at all, but we do it like it is,” Darby said. “We need people to build relationships with students so they want to change behavior.”

Shantinette says she would like to see more collaboration between students and district officials to ensure that school leaders abide by state law when issuing punishment. Otherwise, she worries, the district may be pushing kids further away from school.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district’s absenteeism rates declined after COVID quarantine rules ended

2023-07-12T12:00:00+00:00

The easing of COVID safety protocols helped the Detroit school district record a significant decrease in its chronic absenteeism rate this past school year, officials said, an encouraging sign for a district that has one of the highest rates in the nation.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District had seen its rate of chronic absenteeism jump to 77% in the previous year, when unvaccinated students who had possible COVID exposure were required to isolate for seven to 10 days. In October 2021, the district had more than 400 students a week in quarantine.

But this past school year, the percentage of students who were chronically absent — meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year, or 18 days — dropped to 68%, a decline DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti attributes to the end of districtwide quarantine and close-contact guidance. School administrators and educators were instead able to “focus on teaching and learning and intervention,” he said.

“Beyond anything, it was really getting back to the reform this year,” Vitti said at a school board academic committee meeting Monday. The district had projected a “two- to three-percentage point” improvement in its chronic absenteeism rate, he added.

“Our principals have become more comfortable being accountable to improving student attendance, and that meant more problem solving with families and with students, incentivizing improved attendance,” Vitti said.

Before the pandemic, DPSCD had committed to a multi-pronged reform effort to reduce absenteeism, including offering wraparound services for students, hiring attendance agents, and partnering with community organizations.

By the end of 2018-19, in part because of those efforts, chronic absenteeism fell to 62%, from 70% in 2017-18.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said she has heard some school principals complain that they have limited strategies and staff to address absenteeism.

“When there are vacancies with staff, it depends (solely) on the attendance agent at that location,” Peterson-Mayberry said. “Sometimes the schools feel strapped, because they feel like they can’t make children come to school.”

Vitti said he’s heard similar concerns over the years.

“A lot of our teachers, attendance agents mainly, will say: ‘What is the recourse after I do a home visit? After I make a phone call?’” he said.

For the coming school year, Vitti said Tuesday, the district may consider adding punitive measures to address absenteeism. In a preview at a finance committee meeting last month, Vitti said he would propose new policies that would penalize students who missed more than 50% of the school year, either requiring them to repeat the grade or, in the case of students who attend schools outside their neighborhood, assigning them back to their neighborhood school.

Vitti said the district had planned to institute the penalties years ago, but held off because of the pandemic. “Now that we are back and functioning on a reform agenda, I think that it’s time to do some things that we planned on doing,” he said.

Meanwhile, DPSCD plans to retain its attendance agent positions, with 20 of those agents shifting to its central office to provide districtwide attendance outreach. The remaining attendance agents will be placed in schools with the highest concentrations of poverty and chronically absent students.

The district is also set to launch 12 school-based health hubs in the next three years to provide medical resources and services that families would need to keep students attending school regularly.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Life Remodeled brings its community hub vision to the Denby High neighborhood

2023-07-11T23:41:12+00:00

Months after a local nonprofit’s proposal to turn the former Cooley High School into a community hub was rejected by the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the organization has found another home for its project on the city’s east side.

Life Remodeled announced during a Tuesday news conference that it’s acquiring the Winans Academy of Performing Arts and turning the 7.55-acre site into a neighborhood opportunity hub for the Denby community. The organization repurposes vacant school buildings to revitalize neighborhoods with the help and cooperation of community groups.

The news comes after the DPSCD school board rejected multiple offers from Life Remodeled for the Cooley building in March amid concerns over the proposed sale price and sufficient commitments for the buildings and land. Life Remodeled planned to house various nonprofits at the Cooley site, including a pediatric mental health center, vocational college, and after school programs.

“This is huge for Whittier and for the Denby (Neighborhood) Alliance,” Kenzie Current, a business liaison for the city’s District 4, said during a Tuesday building tour. “It’s a lot of great things coming this way, and I’m excited to have been a part of such a passionate community and business community.”

Life Remodeled COO Diallo Smith responded by recalling an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together.”

Winans Academy, a K-8 charter school, closed its doors after this past school year, said Brandi Haggins, vice president of opportunity hubs for Life Remodeled. Residents like Sandra Turner-Handy, the president of the Denby Neighborhood Alliance, are excited to see the building’s new chapter. She talked during the news conference about the nonprofit’s previous projects in Denby. In 2016, the organization worked with Denby High School students to enhance Skinner Park, and volunteers removed blight on 303 blocks and boarded up 362 vacant houses.

“Together we will bring a new asset to our community that is going to benefit residents no matter what age, and that is what we need in this community in order to keep transforming and moving forward,” Turner-Handy said.

Life Remodeled CEO Chris Lambert said Turner-Handy was the first person he met in the neighborhood in 2016, and he was quickly impressed by her work in Denby. However, he noticed she wasn’t doing the work alone and that she had a team behind her.

“This was a community that was united, that had its stuff together, that had incredible leaders all throughout a four-and-a-half square-mile area,” Lambert said. “One of the greatest strengths you have going for you in this community is the Denby Neighborhood Alliance that has been alive and well.”

Lambert then referenced the failed Cooley deal, saying he was devastated when plans didn’t work out.

“I told our team, ‘It’s probably going to take about a year before something like that materializes because real estate deals like this, they don’t happen that quickly,’” he said. “And when Pastor (Marvin) Winans reached out and told me the address of this location, immediately, my heart started beating before I even saw what the building looked like because of the address, because of the Denby community.”

From school building to community hub

The building, located at 9740 McKinney Street, has served the Denby community for decades. The space was the former home of Dominican High School and was in operation from 1940 to 2005. Winans, a pastor and gospel artist, then moved into the site and founded the academy.

After the deal with DPSCD fell through, Winans reached out to Life Remodeled about repurposing the academy building, Haggins told BridgeDetroit. The organization then purchased the school. Haggins did not disclose the amount.

The neighborhood hub will be similar to the organization’s Durfee Innovation Society on the west side, offering after school programs, community resources and health services. Haggins said Life Remodeled will continue the tradition of the Winans Academy by providing arts and culture programming.

“As we talk to the community, we’re reaching out to different partners to try to recruit them into the building,” she said. “So, we want to make sure that we’re bringing in what the community actually wants to see.”

Haggins said while the academy kept the building in good condition, Life Remodeled is planning to renovate and add its style to the building. There is no opening date for the hub yet, but Life Remodeled plans to have the facility reach near full capacity by the end of 2025. The building is more than 87,000 square feet, and at least 50,000 square feet is expected to be leased by nonprofit partners.

Haggins is a lifelong westsider with family on the east side and said she’s excited that Life Remodeled will have locations on both sides of Detroit.

“To me, the more places we are, the more the community can get served,” she said.

Endless possibilities

One of the residents in attendance for the news conference was Norma Danzie. The 69-year-old is a member of the Denby alliance and has lived in the community for 25 years. Danzie said she worked with Life Remodeled in 2016 and is glad to have them back in the neighborhood.

“When they were at Durfee, they remodeled and did all kinds of things with that building,” she said. “The kids in this neighborhood really need a place that’s close. We don’t have a recreation center in this immediate area, and I’m hoping that there’ll be chances for them to get into different activities and keep them busy and occupied.”

Alonzo Marable, 56, has also worked with Life Remodeled before, volunteering with cleanup projects in Denby, Osborn, Durfee, and Cody Rogue. Marable, who now lives in Rosedale Park, grew up in the neighborhood, graduating from Denby High and opening his business, Ultimate Party Supply and Rental, on Whittier Avenue.

Marable hopes the new hub will bring the community back to the way it used to be when he was a child.

“I’ve seen the work that they’ve done, and I believe in them,” he said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit’s $94 million ‘right to read’ lawsuit settlement is finally coming through for DPSCD

2023-07-07T19:37:10+00:00

It has been more than three years since Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised the Detroit school district $94.4 million to settle a 2016 lawsuit alleging that the state denied the city’s schoolchildren a basic education by failing to teach them to read.

Now that money is finally on its way to Detroit.

The funds were included in the $21.5 billion K-12 school aid budget that the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed last month and Whitmer is expected to sign.

Under the settlement terms, negotiated in 2020, the money will go toward increasing reading instruction and support for students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District to address longstanding challenges with literacy. DPSCD officials have already shared proposals to use the money to hire academic interventionists to provide one-on-one support to students struggling with reading.

“Every child in Michigan deserves access to a quality public education regardless of their ZIP code,” Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for Whitmer, said in a statement. “Governor Whitmer has worked to reverse decades of disinvestment in our state’s K-12 schools by securing more funding in every aspect of a child’s education to ensure that they have what they need to be successful.

Here’s a look at how the legal case arose, what the settlement provides, and how the district is preparing to spend the money.

Settlement grew out of ‘right to read’ lawsuit

The federal case settled in 2020 is called Gary B. v. Whitmer, but it dates back to the period when the Detroit school district was under state oversight during Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration, and was originally filed as Gary B. v. Snyder.

The plaintiffs were seven Detroit public school students who alleged that they were denied the opportunity to have a quality education because of poor building conditions, a shortage of textbooks and other learning materials, and poorly qualified teachers.

In the 136-page lawsuit, students describe learning in classes of 50 or more children, inadequate education for English language learners, and rodents and cockroaches in classrooms.

The lawsuit specifically called out Michigan’s deployment of emergency managers to control the city’s public schools between 2009 and 2016. Those managers created conditions so awful, the plaintiffs alleged, that students were denied what they claimed was their constitutional right to a basic reading education.

Reading scores among Detroit students have ranked among the lowest in the nation over the past decade and a half. In fourth- and eighth-grade reading, the Detroit district’s test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have ranked near the bottom statewide and nationwide.

The lawsuit sought to establish a constitutional right to literacy for all students, but the plaintiffs agreed to a settlement in 2020 and dropped their bid to establish that right. The settlement awarded some money to each of the plaintiffs and to the district, and required the governor to propose legislation to provide more money to the district to support literacy efforts. The legislation failed to clear the Republican-led Legislature in 2021 and 2022, but it passed this year under Democratic leadership.

The legislation requires the district to spend the $94.4 million by Sept. 30, 2027.

The settlement money is small but significant

Community members, school officials, and education experts welcomed the settlement, though some argued that the $94.4 million earmarked for Detroit’s literacy initiatives is a small sum in relation to the needs that the lawsuit cited, which spanned everything from textbooks to school buildings. A 2018 audit estimated that the district’s building repair needs alone would grow to $1.2 billion by 2023.

But the district has been able to tap its share of federal COVID relief aid to address building needs and fund a $700 million facility plan. And the settlement money will help the district free up money in its general fund for other priorities, such as retaining contracted nurses, offering one-time staff bonuses to help reduce teacher turnover, and sustaining summer school and after-school programming that had been funded by COVID relief aid.

“More than $94.4 million is needed to get things back where they belong, but it is a monumental victory for a struggle that certainly did not start with this lawsuit,” said Mark Rosenbaum, the lead attorney for the right-to-read lawsuit.

Molly Sweeney, director of organizing for Detroit education advocacy group 482Forward, applauded the Legislature’s approval of the funding, saying that “this is hard-earned money for the community.”

482Forward was among the community groups that advocated for the settlement agreement.

“This is community money, and this should have community input,” Sweeney said. “We should be able to have a say in how it’s spent.”

Two task forces will address Detroit education challenges

In addition to providing money for the district — an initial $2.7 million and the $94.4 million from the legislation — the settlement requires the Michigan Department of Education to provide guidance to schools on the best practices for K-12 literacy education.

The settlement also promised the creation of two task forces to address literacy and educational challenges in Detroit, the Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force and the Detroit Education Policy Committee.

The literacy equity task force is charged with conducting annual evaluations of Detroit literacy and providing state-level policy recommendations to the governor. It will convene a series of town hall meetings over the next year and provide recommendations to the DPSCD school board on how the funds should be used.

The educational policy committee will make recommendations to the governor about Detroit’s education system. Its work will be overseen by the Community Education Commission, a nonprofit created by Mayor Mike Duggan in 2018 to address barriers to accessing quality schools in Detroit.

The district has early plans for how to use the money

Anticipating lawmakers’ approval of the settlement funding, DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has already outlined some early strategies on how the district plans to spend the money.

“We are awaiting the recommendations from the Literacy Task Force on how to use the funds,” Vitti said in an email. “We will certainly consider their recommendations but are not required to abide by them.”

Among the district’s top priorities: hiring more academic interventionists, increasing literacy support for high school students, and expanding teacher training on how to help students who are several grades below reading level.

The settlement requires that the district spend its money on programs that follow evidence-based literacy strategies. But it allows for spending on a range of initiatives that could support student learning, such as reducing class sizes for K-3 students, upgrading school facilities, and providing students with more reading materials.

Under Vitti, DPSCD has prioritized staff training on Orton-Gillingham, a multisensory teaching method typically used for students with dyslexia or other reading challenges, as well as hiring academic interventionists to work one-on-one or in small groups with students struggling to read and with English language learners.

Even after the settlement money is spent, Vitti said, the district would continue to find different funding sources to fund academic interventionists, a position he considers “a centerpiece of our literacy support.”

Literacy task force has begun working

The settlement requires 15 members to be assigned to the Detroit Literacy Equity Task Force:

Two DPSCD representatives selected by the superintendent and approved by the board
Two teachers selected by the Detroit Federation of Teachers
One paraprofessional selected by the Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals
Three DPSCD students
Three DPSCD parents or caregivers
Two Detroit community members
Two literacy experts selected by the task force’s DFT, DFP and DPSCD members

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and co-chair of the task force, says the group began meeting privately as early as 2022 for exploratory discussions about what to do with the money.

“In our initial meetings, we discussed possibilities in terms of supplemental resources, technologies, adaptive equipment, books,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “Ninety-four million dollars seems like a lot of money, but it is not. We definitely want to improve facilities, improve materials, improve training, and once you do all those things for 50,000 students I think $94 million will be well spent.”

The task force is required to host six public meetings before April 30, 2024, to get community input on how the money should be spent. Then by June 30, the group will need to submit recommendations to the DPSCD school board.

The recommendations “are not mandatory, but nobody expects a tug of war on this,” said Rosenbaum. “The school board and Superintendent Vitti have been responsive to the community.”

In approving the settlement, Michigan Senate lawmakers included a clause that requires the district to explain how it intends to use community input to guide its spending.

DPSCD is required to host at least one community meeting to discuss its spending plan, Vitti said, and district officials will introduce the plan to the school board’s academic and finance committees before it comes up for a full board vote.

But he added that the district would like to move fast to allocate the money once it’s released to DPSCD.

“The School Board would likely approve use of the literacy lawsuit funding by the first (2023-24) budget amendment, which takes place after the fall count period” in October, Vitti said.

“We want to start using the funds as soon as possible, so we are eager to consider the recommendations from the Task Force.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Michigan education budget contains some smaller-ticket items that could have big impact

2023-07-05T16:53:19+00:00

The most notable winners in Michigan’s $21.5 billion budget for K-12 schools will be the state’s neediest students, English language learners, children in high-poverty schools, and special education students.

But with smaller amounts, the budget also delivers money to benefit teachers, Detroit schools and other local districts, campus infrastructure, community-based advocacy efforts, regional education nonprofits, and rural districts. Those less-noticed budget items could have a significant impact on education across the state.

Here’s a closer look at the smaller-ticket budget items that are expected to have huge payoffs.

Money aimed at tackling the statewide teacher shortage

While a shortage of teaching applicants is a national issue, Greg Nyen, superintendent of the Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Services Agency in the Upper Peninsula, said the scarcity of educators is acute in Michigan.

“About 10 years ago, 23,000 teachers or potential teachers were in educational preparatory programs across the state,” he said. “Last year, there were under 15,000. Only about 20% end up completing their certification.”

As part of an effort to address the shortage, a number of districts will receive a total of $76.4 million to support Talent Together, a partnership among 48 school systems and nine universities that widens pathways for aspiring teachers.

“So often, when new teachers start, they don’t feel successful,” said Jack Elsey, founder of the nonprofit Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative. “Over half quit in the first year.”

The new collaborative aims to tackle barriers for prospective teachers, Elsey said, including paying for their training, offering paid apprenticeships in the classroom, and mentoring them while they are in those programs.

Districts will also be granted a total of $50 million to expand support for new teachers, school counselors, and administrators, including mentor stipends and professional development.

And the budget allocates $63.8 million to districts to increase pay for educators.

“Elevating salaries and making this career an attractive one once again makes the financial burden lighter and makes it feel like it’s worth the effort,” said Elsey.

Financial awards for teachers who have national board certification will be funded with $4 million. Eligible teachers in districts that apply for the funds will receive $4,000 and an additional $6,000 if they work in Title I schools, which have large concentrations of students from low-income households.

Paula Herbart, president of the Michigan Education Association teachers union, called the funding a proactive step in recruiting and retaining quality educators.

“It’s critical that we keep great educators on the job and attract talented people into this noble profession, and this budget agreement provides our schools with much-needed resources to help accomplish these goals,” she said in a statement.

Detroit community initiatives get support

The budget provides $6 million for a local or intermediate district to use on services from Get On And Learn, or GOAL Line, a program that transports students from northwest Detroit schools to free after-school programs. The nonprofit began in 2018 as an effort to get students to school and decrease absenteeism. But after listening to parent feedback, the group ended morning transportation and focused solely on after-school bus rides. In November, the organization’s waitlist was bigger than its enrollment due to financial constraints.
The budget will give $3 million to local districts to distribute to Detroit Parent Network, a nonprofit that works to engage parents in their kids’ education. Those dollars will help cover the cost of training for parents, health resources, support groups, civic engagement programs, and advocacy to families. The nonprofit also offers a literacy program in English and Spanish as well as workforce development.
The Legislature voted to give $2 million to the nonprofit group Brilliant Detroit for neighborhood-based tutoring and noninstructional services for children ages 3 to 12. The group transforms underused housing into neighborhood centers focused on early childhood development and kindergarten readiness.

Novi, Hamtramck and other district initiatives win funding

Novi Community School District will receive $1 million to support a wellness center that will offer onsite mental health support for students outside the regular school day, a medical clinic that will provide basic care to students with and without insurance, and a building wing for staff to destress and exercise. The center will also use the funds to offer onsite, after-school tutoring for students who can’t afford private instruction and will create a hub for families to access other health resources.
The budget allocates $2 million to Hamtramck Public Schools to hire accelerated-learning coaches for all eight of its schools. The coaches will lead targeted tutoring efforts in the district; work with teachers to model lesson plans and co-teach; and identify gaps in instruction. The money will also provide professional development for the coaches on data analysis, among other areas.
The budget provides $100,000 to a district to support the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan’s statewide helpline for families in “educational crisis.”
Dearborn City School District will receive $250,000 to support a cybersecurity certificate program.

Construction projects get a boost

The Detroit Public Schools Community District will get $6.5 million for essential structural improvements and renovations for Coleman A. Young Elementary and another $5 million for needed updates to its Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School building.
Beecher Community School District near Flint will receive $2.5 million to fund the construction of a new high school to match money already raised through donations.
Waverly Community Schools in Lansing is set to get $3 million to build a new high school auditorium.
The budget provides $500,000 to Eastpointe Community Schools to build a new swimming pool.

Programs for rural and ‘isolated’ districts benefit

The budget provides $11.6 million in special weighted funding for instructional costs in rural and isolated districts.
A new rural-educator credentialing hub pilot program will get $15 million in startup funding. The program will provide free support to educators for credentialing and course fees. According to many administrators and a recent report, rural schools face unique challenges in attracting teachers.
The state created a school transportation fund and will deposit $350 million this fiscal year, $125 million of which will be spent by districts in the 2023-24 school year. The funds will likely benefit rural schools the most, which on average spend $200 more per pupil on transportation than nonrural districts.
Grosse Ile Township Schools will get $500,000 because students must cross a bridge to travel to their campuses, and the school system has not gotten funding under an existing allocation for isolated districts.

Other items

Districts including DPSCD will be awarded a total of $1 million to purchase tampons or menstrual pads to distribute free to students in school bathrooms.
Districts will receive $125 million total in grants to buy less-polluting buses.
More than $6 million in a new one-time pot of money will go to partnership schools which will be used to improve attendance, increase graduation rates, and reduce class sizes, among other targeted initiatives. Partnership schools are low-performing schools that operate under support agreements with the state to improve their operations.
Covenant House Michigan, a religious nonprofit that mostly serves students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in Detroit and Grand Rapids, will receive $1 million to support its residential education program. The organization offers shelter, educational and vocational programs, and support for survivors of human trafficking.

Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 education. Contact Hannah at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Correction: July 5, 2023: A previous version of this story said a number of districts would receive a total of $10 million to support Talent Together. That number did not include money to support the organization’s Grow Your Own program, which will receive an additional $66.4 million.

More school-based health centers are on the way in the Detroit school district

2023-07-05T11:00:00+00:00

The Detroit school district is set to launch new school-based health centers in the next three years to provide students and families medical resources and services they need to attend school regularly.

District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti shared details about the “health hubs” during a recent virtual public meeting on mental health and public safety.

“We want to try to address as many of the challenges that get in the way of students attending school every day, and just generally better support our parents who are facing extreme levels of poverty,” Vitti said at the June 21 meeting.

An intake person at each health hub will field questions and direct patients to dental, medical, and mental health services.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District will receive $2.76 million from the Ballmer Group to help launch 12 health hubs in high schools. The philanthropic corporation was established by former Microsoft CEO, current NBA team owner, and metro Detroit native Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie.

Vitti has said a dedicated hub in school buildings would help address chronic absenteeism — when students miss 10% or more of the school year. In the 2021-22 school year, Detroit’s chronic absenteeism rate was 79%.

The health hubs will differ from the school-based health centers that are already in place at 16 DPSCD schools, according to Vitti. In addition to providing physical and behavioral health services, health hubs also will provide dental services, vision and hearing screenings, and other health-related services.

They will be open to students at that school, family and community members, and K-12 students from surrounding schools.

Soon the health hubs also will include “parent resource centers” that provide legal services, eviction help, energy bill assistance, and access to winter coats, toiletries, and transportation to families in need, Vitti said.

At a school board committee meeting in January, Vitti cited health hubs as “our greatest need outside of the [school] budget, and the best use of philanthropic dollars.”

Ballmer’s charity previously has given to Michigan’s largest school district. In 2019, it donated $5.9 million to DPSCD to help launch its student data portal.

School health clinics envisioned as ‘hub of the community’

School-based health centers have been in Michigan since the 1980s, but the outbreak of COVID and increasing concerns around student mental health have increased their relevance across the state.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services funds over 230 school-based or school-linked health care programs. In the $21.5 billion K-12 budget for the fiscal year 2024, Michigan lawmakers allocated $33 million for school-based health centers, as well as an extra $45 million for facility upgrades of current centers.

But there has been pushback in some Michigan communities. The Grosse Pointe Public School System board in January tabled plans to create a school based health center, citing concern over potential legal and financial problems tied to the project. And a proposal to place a health clinic inside Oxford High School was canceled when a health care provider learned that a majority of community members did not support the proposal, noting a lack of trust with school officials and concerns about the cost of funding a clinic.

Typically, school-based health centers involve an agreement between local health care providers, such as a hospital system, a school district, and the state. All three parties share the costs.

Ascension, Henry Ford Health, and Institute for Population Health will be among the local health care providers running the health hubs, Vitti said. Those organizations will completely staff the physical and behavioral health services provided at each location.

Providing health care at neighborhood schools could be an invaluable resource, some Detroiters said.

Franklin Hugle, a junior at Cody High School, said he believes health hubs could be more convenient for students required to take physicals to participate in sports. Under the district’s plan, Cody would become a health hub for families and students in the northwestern part of the city.

Parent Shante Tyus, whose kids attend Cody, said she thinks a health hub would be helpful for children suffering from minor illnesses or those in need of early screenings for major diseases. As a teenager, Tyus’s older sister discovered she had Crohn’s disease, which caused her to miss multiple days of school. Early testing may help families and school officials in determining how to accommodate students with chronic health conditions.

Cody “is the hub of the community,” Principal Jason Solomon said. The school conducted eye exams earlier this year and provided glasses to about 125 students. Expanding those opportunities for medical care, Solomon said, would give kids and their families more reasons to come to school.

The first five health clinics are set to launch in the next school year, including the School at Marygrove, which will operate a health hub through the school’s P-20 partnership. The remaining seven schools are targeted for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.

In selecting the 12 schools, Vitti said, the district ensured that every student would be within 3 miles of a hub.

The 12 health hub are proposed for:

Central High School/Durfee Elementary-Middle School
East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney
Southeastern High School
Western International High School/Maybury Elementary School
The School At Marygrove*
Cody High School
Denby High School
Henry Ford High School
Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School
Mumford High School
Northwestern High School
Osborn High School
Pershing High School

* Marygrove will run its health hub in partnership with an outside organization and is not included in the 12-school total.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Michigan schools will see big funding gains for neediest students under budget deal

2023-06-29T00:07:36+00:00

Michigan lawmakers approved a $21.5 billion K-12 budget Wednesday that includes a significant funding increase for students considered to be at risk of not meeting educational goals.

It’s the first K-12 budget since Democrats took full control of the Legislature this year, and reflects an aggressive approach to addressing significant learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among the state’s most vulnerable students.

Under the budget, districts will receive more money in the upcoming school year for economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, and students who receive special education, according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis of Senate Bill 173.

The budget also funds free school meals for all students, expands eligibility for the state’s pre-K program, and increases per pupil funding for tutoring.

In separate higher education budgets that total $2.8 billion, the state’s public universities and community colleges will receive 5% increases in operating funds.

The House and Senate voted on the budgets along party lines late Wednesday as they worked to beat a July 1 budget deadline.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressed satisfaction late in the afternoon, tweeting that the budget deal was “done.” After the Legislature’s vote, her office sent a press release in which State Superintendent Michael Rice said, “This is another outstanding budget, one that again works hard on funding adequacy and equity.”

Republican Sen. Thomas Albert, of Lowell, opposed the state education budget and said in a speech ahead of his no vote that both the school aid and general budget “simply spends too much money and it is not sustainable.”

But Republican Sen. Jon Bumstead, of North Muskegon, who served on the conference committee for the school budget, voted for the Democratic-led package.

He said ahead of his yes vote that “no budget is perfect,” but that the budget deal on schools reflects several Republican priorities.

“And just as Republicans did for many years in the majority, this budget makes a record investment in our schools,” he said.

Supporters say budget addresses ‘past wrongs’

More than half of Michigan students are considered economically disadvantaged. Advocates say the additional funding will help the state better support school districts and their students.

“This year’s school aid budget represents a giant step toward righting past wrongs and ensuring that all Michigan students have access to an excellent public school education,” said Alice Thompson, of the NAACP Detroit branch, who co-chairs a coalition that advocates for school funding reform.

“The unprecedented funding for students with the greatest needs, particularly those living in concentrated poverty, will be tremendously important to address the wide and unfair opportunity gaps that exist for students who are most underserved, especially Michigan’s Black and Latino students,” Thompson said.

The budget includes a 5% increase in the school “foundation allowance,” which is the base amount schools receive per student from the state. School districts will receive $9,608 for each student in the 2023-24 school year, an increase of $458.

The same increase will not be available to online schools, which will continue to receive $9,150 per student. Democrats and teachers unions have long argued that online schools require less money from the state because they don’t pay for buildings, transportation, sports, or other extracurriculars as traditional public schools do.

Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, a charter industry group, said online students deserve equal funding.

“Students in online schools include many of the most vulnerable students in the state, many of whom are minority students, LGBTQ students, children living in poverty, and students facing medical challenges,” Quisenberry said. “It would make no sense to fund students differently. That’s not who we are as a state. While we’ve made great progress, we’re not there yet. All kids deserve equal funding, and we will continue to advocate for that principle.”

Funding for ‘at risk’ students uses new calculation

The education budget sets aside $952 million in additional payments for districts with students deemed “at risk.” That’s an increase of more than $200 million over what was set aside in this year’s budget, which provided schools with 11.5% more funding for each eligible student.

Under the new budget, schools will receive at-risk student funding using an “opportunity index” that considers a district’s concentration of poverty, based on the number of economically disadvantaged students, which could mean an index boost of up to 15.3% for some schools.

Democratic lawmakers said they hope to one day raise at-risk student funding far higher.

“As we’ve seen from study after study from those in the field and education researchers, we need to get to higher levels of reimbursement for at-risk students,” Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, told Bridge Michigan. “And so we want to put a target in this budget to have at least 35% reimbursement be a goal for us in Michigan.”

Thompson and other education advocates in the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity coalition have urged policymakers to adopt a funding structure that aligns more closely with Massachusetts, which revamped its education funding in 2019 to provide more for low-income students.

Massachusetts and Michigan have similarly large achievement gaps between low-income and more affluent students on standardized tests. But low-income students in Massachusetts scored 11 points higher in fourth grade reading last year than Michigan’s low-income students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The gap was even wider among Black students, with those in Massachusetts testing 17 points higher.

Under the new budget, school districts will receive 100% of base funding for students who receive special education, rather than 75% provided under the current budget. There is also more funding for English language learners.

“The budget finalized today represents a solid investment in schools for the upcoming year but, more importantly, represents an investment in students for years to come,” said Bob McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance, which represents more than 100 Michigan school districts. “Funding for special education, at-risk students, and universal meal programs will give more students additional opportunities to succeed both in and out of the classroom.”

Longtime community activist Helen Moore, who has championed literacy programs in Detroit schools and currently volunteers tutoring third graders at Detroit Public Schools Community District’s Barton Elementary School, said it will take more money than the Legislature is able to give in the upcoming school year to reverse years of underfunding.

“How do you make up for all the money that was taken from children who have been neglected and treated like slaves?” she asked. “There is no answer for it. There’s not enough money to do it.”

The budget includes $94.4 million for DPSCD as a result of a literacy lawsuit settled in 2020. The settlement required Whitmer to propose the funding, but she needed legislative approval for the funds to be awarded.

The budget prohibits the district from using the funding to supplant existing literacy programs and requires the school district to create a task force and spend funds in a way that aligns with the literacy settlement.

Isabel Lohman is an education reporter for Bridge Michigan. You can reach her at ilohman@bridgemi.com

Hannah Dellinger is an education reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit’s Bates Academy cuts ‘premier’ music program and transfers beloved teacher

2023-06-26T10:44:29+00:00

On the last day of school, Kay Thomas was all smiles.

The departing Bates Academy music teacher recorded videos with her eighth grade students, sharing what they love about their favorite instructor.

“You’re fun, energetic and you’ve just always been there for all of your students,” said a student named Niara. “You got that nice, feisty attitude that makes your classes really fun. I really love you, Ms. Thomas.”

“This is my kid! C’mon, boo!” Thomas told her, enveloping the student in a hug.

Another student, Ghaige, talked about learning how to play the recorder, piano, clarinet, and violin under Thomas’ instruction.

“Ms. Thomas has been the best teacher I’ve ever had,” said Ghaige, whose last name, along with Niara’s, is not being used since they are underage. “I’ve learned how to read so many different types of music. … And Ms. Thomas has a heart where she’s going to teach you no matter what. You could be one of the worst kids in the building, and she would still help you out. She’ll defend anybody for any reason when possible.”

“Except I won’t share my food,” Thomas said to the camera, laughing.

Behind the smiles and jokes, Thomas — the school’s lone band, orchestra, and piano teacher — was masking her sadness and frustration. She had spent the last two months fighting for her job at Bates, a K-8 school on Detroit’s northwest side.

Thomas said Principal David Bailey notified her April 12 that she would be leaving Bates at the end of the school year and transferring to another school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, leaving Bates without a music program.

Music vs. art: District says it’s about budgets and tradeoffs

Thomas said she believes she’s being reassigned over too many absences throughout the year, absences that she said are protected under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which affords employees unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons. Thomas said she takes FMLA time each year to care for her 10-year-old son with disabilities, but needed to take a six-week leave earlier this year for her own health reasons.

Thomas said Bailey canceled multiple concerts and performances, including Bates’ participation in An Evening of Fine Arts, where more than 200 DPSCD middle and high school students perform at the Fox Theatre.

“Why would you take away a program that’s highly successful?” Thomas said. “We’re one of the premier schools.”

DPSCD officials said Thomas is being transferred because Bates will have three fewer teaching positions than last year due to districtwide enrollment losses and the end of federal COVID relief funding.

Enrollment at Bates Academy was 755 during the 2022-23 school year, which is up from 729 the year before, but still down from pre-pandemic levels.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told BridgeDetroit in an interview last month that schools have the choice to fund either an art or a music teacher. In the past, Bates had two music teachers and an art teacher. For the upcoming school year, there will be two art teachers and no music teachers.

“So principal Bailey, in looking at the school-based budget and the master schedule and the programming, decided to fund an additional art or music teacher, but not the third. That was his decision and we support that,” district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson told BridgeDetroit. “As a district, we’re not in a position to fund a music and art program at every school, so anything in addition to art or music is really a school-based function.”

Bailey referred all questions regarding Thomas’ reassignment and the school’s music program to Wilson. Wilson did not answer other questions about Thomas’ transfer and whether her absences were a factor.

Thomas doesn’t know yet which school she will be going to.

Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown, a former music accompanist for DPSCD, said Thomas works well with her students and prepares them for high schools with top music programs like Renaissance and Cass Tech and the Detroit School of Arts. While Stearnes-Brown is retired, she has assisted Thomas with orchestra and band classes for about 10 years.

“There aren’t many middle schools that have music programs, and the ones that do have music programs can’t meet the standards that her program is meeting,” she said. “She really knows what she’s doing, she can relate to the children, and they like playing in her classroom.”

Popular music program started to shrink

Thomas worked in the district for 22 years, including 15 years at Bates. The school’s music program became a popular elective for students, she said. At one point, Thomas was working with almost 200 children.

She said her students also earned state recognition, receiving top ratings earlier this year at the band and orchestra festival for the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association.

Some of Thomas’ former students have become professional musicians, like violinist Candice “Pretty Stringz” Smith.

But in the past couple years, things started to change. Thomas said Bailey stopped promoting the music program, which resulted in fewer students signing up for classes. For the 2022-23 school year, Thomas had only about 50 students in grades 6-8. She then began focusing on the elementary students by teaching them piano to prepare them for middle school band.

Another change this year was combining band, orchestra, and piano into one class, which gave Thomas only 15 minutes to teach each section in a 50-minute class.

After Thomas was notified of her transfer, Bailey canceled 18 concerts and events involving the music program for the rest of the school year. Thomas said the band also was not allowed to perform at the eighth grade graduation this month.

“That did a disservice to the students, the parents, and myself,” she said.

Rights group joins campaign to save music at Bates

Since learning of her transfer, Thomas said she’s tried everything she can think of to keep her job at Bates. She filed a grievance with the Detroit Federation of Teachers and reached out to the civil rights organization By Any Means Necessary for help. She hasn’t received any updates from the union, but BAMN held a rally outside Bates last month and advocated for Thomas at a recent school board meeting.

Kate Stenvig, a BAMN organizer, said the organization is supporting Thomas because arts education is usually one of the first departments affected when DPSCD makes budget cuts. She said she saw that when the district was under emergency management from 2009-16, with several schools not having any arts programming.

“Ms. Thomas’ program is really extraordinary,” she said. “It’s just a great example of what public education should be and the opportunities that students should have to develop their creativity. We’ve been in a big fight in Detroit to defend those programs.”

Parent LaWanda Dickens also praised Thomas and her program. Her daughters Jasmine and Natalie took private piano and violin lessons with Thomas back in 2008 when they were 8 and 5 years old. They later attended Bates and participated in the music program.

Dickens, who now lives in Mississippi, said what she appreciated most about Thomas’ teaching was her knowledge transfer approach.

“It was more than just my girls sitting within four walls,” she said. “She actually taught them to apply what she was teaching them in their lives outside of class. So she motivated them to want to practice and play their instruments even when she wasn’t around.”

While Jasmine eventually lost interest in playing music, Natalie, now 20, still plays the piano or violin, Dickens said.

Dickens said she hopes that Thomas can continue to teach music at Bates, calling her an innovative thinker and a mentor for students.

“She gets personally involved and I think that’s important at the middle school level,” she said. “As a teacher myself, I think that middle school is the most susceptible years of your life. The thing about her is, she makes them feel comfortable enough to come in and they can be informal with her; they can laugh, they can joke, but at the same time, she commands respect, so they know when to get serious and cut the joking out. I’ve never seen her having to yell at them. … She’s just an exceptional teacher. It’s like a natural gift to her. Everybody can’t do that.”

Thomas also received support from the school community, with parents and students creating a petition to keep her at Bates. Thomas said the petition received about 400 signatures.

Thomas said that no matter where she’s teaching next year, she’ll make sure it’s one of the premier schools for music. Despite the situation, she said, she’ll stay in the district due to her seniority and her dedication to kids in the city.

“My students know no matter what, I got them,” she said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit district, school officials were slow to act on Moses Field abuse incidents, parents allege

2023-06-23T01:42:15+00:00

A group of parents of students with special education needs claim that Detroit school district officials and administrators attempted to cover up incidents of abuse in school involving their children earlier this year.

The parents are accusing the district and administrators at Moses Field School of “not reporting substantiated incidents of abuse to Children’s Protective Services, failing to immediately remove the abusers from the school, allowing students to suffer for months, and withholding information from parents,” according to a press release from Southfield-based Spectrum Legal Services shared on Wednesday. They said they’re planning to sue the district and school officials.

Three of the four parents spoke at a news conference Thursday, alongside Spectrum lawyers, who are representing the parents.

Tanisha Floyd, mother of a 12-year-old student at Moses Field, said she received a call from a district investigator only in early June, stating that her daughter had been “one of those children that had been left in a restraint chair for hours, neglected and abused” earlier in the year.

Restraint chairs are typically used to help students with certain disabilities with sitting upright. But state law prohibits restraining children with any type of device.

“I was super furious, because no one told me anything,” Floyd said. “I’m just hearing about this. This was (an investigation) that was going on in February of this year. It was just heart-dropping to even hear about it, because my child is nonverbal and doesn’t walk on her own, so she needs help with everything.”

Tanisha Floyd, a parent in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, speaks during a press conference held on June 22, 2023. Floyd said she was only recently notified about a child-abuse investigation that was happening in February.

Allegations of child abuse at Moses Field, one of the district’s centers for students with special education needs, surfaced publicly in April following a report by news outlet Detroit Native Sun.

At the time of the report, Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, told Chalkbeat that district officials learned of the allegations in January and quickly moved to place two paraeducators accused of abuse on administrative leave pending an investigation.

In an emailed statement Thursday, district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said that the district investigation “revealed improper conduct by both employees, one of which is facing criminal charges; both employees are no longer employed by the District.”

“At this point, there is no evidence that school or Central Office administration failed to report abuse against children at the school,” Wilson said. “The District is prepared to defend itself through facts in Court, if necessary.”

Last week, the DPSCD school board voted to fire one of the two paraeducators, Felicia Perkins. Perkins, who is facing criminal charges, allegedly “grabbed a 12-year-old boy by the back of the neck, choked him, and pulled him out of the cafeteria while holding the back of his neck” in January, according to a spokesperson from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office.

Tina Gross, who identified herself as the mother of that 12-year-old boy, said that she only heard about the incident two days later, when Principal Derrick Graves told her that her son had been “grabbed up by the collar.” She said she understood the full details of the situation only after she received a letter notifying her that she had to appear in court on July 18 as a witness.

Spectrum attorney Michael Fortner, who is part of the team representing the parents, said that the parents are calling for the firing of Graves and other administrators and staff at Moses Field who were involved in or aware of the abuse. Both Gross and Floyd claim that Graves failed to properly notify them about the incidents and that in both cases he dismissed media reports about the alleged abuse. Chalkbeat attempted to reach Graves via email ahead of publication.

Michigan’s child protection law requires school administrators to report any suspicions of child abuse or neglect to the state’s Children’s Protective Services program.

“We’ve got some very serious allegations going on that need to be investigated not only by the police but by the school board, and there needs to be some accountability,” said Fortner. “The school board needs to show up and explain what they’re doing so that this doesn’t continue to happen under the Vitti administration.”

DPSCD school board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry referred Chalkbeat to the district’s statement Thursday afternoon.

Fortner said he expects the lawsuit to be filed by early next week.

All of the parents who spoke Thursday said they would not send their child back to Moses Field. Floyd said she would like to see justice for all the children affected and a change in school leadership.

Fighting back tears, she added that in the past several months she had noticed her daughter act out emotionally.

“In the morning, she would cry, saying that she didn’t want to go to school, she just wanted to stay home,” Floyd said. “Looking back on all the information that I’m getting now, (my daughter) was acting out because she was scared. She wanted somebody to be there to help her. So I am very upset that they didn’t do what they were supposed to do.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district gets better at identifying homeless students, but study points to big undercount

2023-06-21T21:49:00+00:00

Recent efforts by the Detroit school district are helping officials identify more homeless students who would otherwise miss out on crucial support services guaranteed under federal law, a new research study found.

Roughly 5% of the district’s students were identified as homeless last school year, compared with around 1% nearly a decade ago.

But the researchers, from Wayne State University’s Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research, found that schools in Detroit continue to significantly undercount the number of students experiencing homelessness, as well as other forms of housing instability. Their conclusions are based on data from the Detroit Public Schools Community District and charter schools in the city, as well as interviews with families experiencing housing instability.

The researchers estimated that as many as 16% of the roughly 100,000 K-12 students in Detroit experienced homelessness or housing instability during the 2021-22 school year, with roughly three-fourths of those students not being identified as homeless by their school during that time frame.

That gap is critical, because it points to potential underutilization of support services available to those students. Under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless students are entitled to several services and protections, including transportation to and from school, academic support, the right to remain in the school they attended at the time they lost their permanent housing, and the right to enroll in a school even if they lack proper documents.

Homeless students are more likely to be chronically absent, drop out of school, and be suspended or expelled from school. So ensuring students can get access to McKinney-Vento services can have long-term effects on their academic wellbeing, experts say.

Federal law defines homelessness narrowly

Detroit had about 10,000 homeless people before the pandemic, according to a report from the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, with roughly 20% identified as children under the age of 18.

This month, Detroit city officials launched a new office to help residents facing displacement find housing options, part of a $203 million affordable housing plan announced last year by Mayor Mike Duggan’ administration.

Nationally, the identification of homeless students declined during the pandemic as school district liaisons found it harder to reach and provide resources to homeless students.

The Wayne State study outlines several barriers students experiencing homelessness may face, including lack of awareness about available resources, parents’ reluctance to discuss housing challenges with school staff, and a lack of follow-through when parents do disclose their housing status.

The federal definition of homelessness also complicates the task of getting support to students. To qualify for services under McKinney-Vento, students must meet certain criteria that distinguish homeless students from those who are housing insecure. Homeless students are defined by the statute as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,” whereas the housing insecure category can be broadly defined and include those who may have been evicted at some point before shortly finding housing.

The Wayne State report notes that while 16% of students in Detroit may have experienced housing insecurity or homelessness in 2021-22, only about 11% may have qualified for services under McKinney-Vento.

To increase the identification of students facing housing instability, the researchers recommend that Detroit schools strengthen relationships with parents and improve communication about the availability of services.

DPSCD expands its efforts, but runs into hurdles

DPSCD, for its part, has increased its efforts to identify homeless students in recent years by adding full-time staff to its homeless student office, adding a residency questionnaire with its student enrollment form, and publicizing information about available services through designated staff and resource rooms at individual schools.

These efforts are likely the reason DPSCD has been able to identify a greater share of its homeless students than Detroit’s charter schools, the study said. DPSCD identified about 29% of its students who experienced housing difficulties, the researchers estimated, compared with only 16% for the charter schools.

This school year, DPSCD identified over 2,200 students as homeless, compared with 765 in 2018-19, according to Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

“We’ve definitely increased our numbers (of homeless students), because we’ve done a better job of engaging families and creating more awareness about the opportunity to be identified as homeless,” Vitti said at a school board committee meeting this spring. “But it’s natural to know that there’s a stigma that comes with that, and some parents are not comfortable.”

“We have done a better job over the years of identifying, but I would agree it’s still undercounted,” he said.

Vitti also pointed to the added hurdles families may face: A student or family member has to apply for McKinney-Vento services and be reviewed by a DPSCD staff member to be identified as homeless before they can qualify for support.

Those hurdles are compounded by a student’s “willingness to admit to homelessness,” Vitti said, as well as the limited resources available.

Despite recent budget cuts that have affected many of the district’s central office employees, Vitti said DPSCD will continue to staff its districtwide Office of Homeless and Foster Care by using grant dollars to hire contracted staff, as well as emphasize “relationship building, awareness and additional training for staff” and school liaisons.

Principals annually select a school staff member to identify and provide support services to students facing housing insecurity. Those staff will continue to receive monthly training on the inner workings of McKinney-Vento, mandated reporting, and available resources.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district approves 2023-24 school calendar without Eid al-Fitr holiday

2023-06-16T21:13:12+00:00

The first day of classes in the Detroit school district will be Monday, Aug. 28, according to the 2023-24 academic calendar approved by the school board Tuesday. Teachers are expected to report a week before that, and the last day of school is June 7, 2024.

It’s the second straight year that the Detroit Public Schools Community District will start classes before Labor Day.

The calendar omits an observance of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which occurs during the middle of the second week of April in 2024. The district began recognizing Eid as a school holiday in 2021-22 following a student-led campaign. In 2022-23, the district calendar didn’t include Eid al-Fitr, because the holiday began on a Friday evening.

For the coming year, the district and its unions “found it difficult” to add another holiday without extending the school year deeper into June, “which historically has caused higher rates of student absences and safety issues,” district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said in an email.

Wilson said employees also did not want to shorten their other weeklong breaks.

“However, the District is strengthening policy to ensure that any student who is absent due to a religious holiday not recognized as a day off on the District calendar will be excused and additional time granted to fulfill academic assignments missed,” Wilson said.

A 2005 Michigan law championed by the tourism industry barred schools from starting before Labor Day unless they received permission from the Michigan Department of Education. Many districts have done so, but legislation introduced in the Michigan House would repeal the law altogether.

A DPSCD report noted that the early school start “yielded improvement in student attendance and student achievement through increased professional development for staff.” The academic calendar requires district staff to participate in six professional development days spread throughout the school year.

The recommended calendar for next year was approved by DPSCD’s employee unions. Under Michigan law, school districts can set the starting date of their school year without union approval, but other aspects of the calendar are subject to collective bargaining.

Here are some things to know about the calendar:

The Friday before the Labor Day weekend is a day off for students. State law requires that schools not be in session that day.
Fall count day falls on Wednesday, Oct. 4, while spring count day is on Wednesday, Feb. 7. State education funding to Michigan public schools is based largely on student attendance on those days.
Thanksgiving break starts on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Classes resume on Monday, Nov. 27.
Winter break runs from Monday, Dec. 25, through Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Classes resume on Jan. 8
Mid-winter break falls during the week of Feb. 19.
Spring break is the week of March 25, and includes Good Friday on March 29.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Michigan’s top teacher wants more focus on mental health, learning recovery

2023-06-15T18:40:41+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free monthly newsletter How I Teach to get inspiration, news, and advice for — and from — educators.

Like most teachers across the country, Candice Jackson has intensely felt the impact the pandemic has had on the academic and mental well-being of her third grade students.

Gaps in learning, she noted, “are still readily apparent,” and mental health concerns “are an overlooked issue in the classroom.”

These are issues Jackson, who was named Michigan Teacher of the Year during a surprise announcement last month, says are crucial to resolve. She will have a big platform to push for improvement as the state’s top teacher, representing teachers at State Board of Education monthly meetings and presenting on her learnings.

Jackson said students need counseling services and social-emotional learning programs to get back on track.

“This would involve increasing access to and funding for mental health services, reducing stigma, and providing adequate training to educators on how to recognize and respond to mental health concerns,” she said.

That work would pay off academically as well, she said, because stronger mental health “enhances academic performance, supports overall well-being, enables early interventions, and has short-term and long-term positive outcomes for students.”

Jackson teaches at Mann Learning Community in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and is the first district teacher to win the state honor since the 2006-07 school year. She will now represent Michigan in the National Teacher of the Year contest. Jackson spoke recently with Chalkbeat.

Candice Jackson is Michigan’s Teacher of the Year for 2023-24.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How and when did you decide to become a teacher?

I was an accounting major going into college. Freshman year, I was involved in a program where I was teaching basic accounting and economic principles to children in the community. I immediately loved the interaction with the children and their eagerness to learn the subject area. After I wrestled with the fact that I would make far less money teaching, switching majors was a no-brainer.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

I am a math teacher, and I love teaching any math lesson that inspires that “Eureka” moment — that moment when students connect the dots and discover the learning. For third graders, it usually happens early in the year when they realize that multiplication is all about making equal groups.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on inside your classroom (or your school)?

The effects of COVID are still very real and affect the classroom even in 2023. I am wrapping up my first uninterrupted school year since 2018-19. The gaps in learning are still readily apparent. My current third-grade students missed those informative years. Years where they learn not only basic skills but how to “do school” — how to walk in a line, how to hold a pencil, how to take turns, etc.

What will it take for students to catch up, not just in Detroit but across Michigan?

Schools need to provide targeted and intensive support to students who have fallen behind. This could involve additional tutoring, small-group instruction, or personalized learning plans to help them catch up on missed concepts. DPSCD has done a great job of this by using academic interventionists to provide targeted intervention. Schools also could consider creating extended learning opportunities such as summer programs, after-school programs, or weekend classes to provide extra instructional time. These programs can focus on essential skills and concepts to bridge the gaps in learning.

Schools also need to engage parents and the wider community in supporting students’ educational recovery. This school year, my school, Mann Learning Community, offered several make-and-take parent engagement events [projects that the family “makes” at the event and then “takes” home as a tool to support essential learning skills], which encouraged parental involvement and provided resources for at-home learning.

How do you approach news events in your classroom? Please provide an example.

Luckily, the average third grader is not keeping up with current events. I tend to leave hard conversations for the parents. But sometimes a conversation needs to be had. Most recently, with the school shooting at Michigan State University, the children had questions about school safety, and I had a candid conversation with them about the incident, including the fact that one of the victims was a former student at another DPSCD school I had taught at. I was able to show them a video I had saved of her from when she was their age.

Tell us about your own experience with school and how it affects your work today.

I grew up in Macomb County, and I had very few teachers that looked like me. My third grade teacher Mrs. Harrington was African American, and she was the epitome of grace, poise, and sophistication. Unfortunately, that was one of the few encounters I had with a teacher that looked like me. That made me want to be what I did not have. Only 7.3% of Michigan’s teaching force is African American, and it is so important for children to see people that look like them in these positions.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and how have you put it into practice?

My first year teaching the principal told me, “Every parent is sending their absolute best to this school. That child who seems unlovable, unruly, and out of control, is the entire world to someone.” Keeping this in mind has helped ground my thinking when dealing with a hard-to-manage child and when communicating with parents. It helps me be less judgmental and more understanding of the story of the children that I teach. You never know what a child or a parent is dealing with, and under the circumstances, this may be their best.

What’s one thing you’ve read that has made you a better educator?

“The Growth Mindset Playbook: A Teacher’s Guide to Promoting Student Success,” by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley was a game changer. When teachers make an adaptive change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, student growth is limitless. It is the difference between a child saying, “I can’t do this,” and a child saying, “I can’t do this yet.”

What new issues arose at your school and in your classroom during the 2022-23 school year? How did you address them?

Many children are dealing with mental health issues themselves or dealing with the mental health issue of a parent or caregiver. In Michigan, we need to put as much time, resources, and funding into meeting the students’ mental needs as we do their physical and educational needs. Increasing the number of mental health care professionals in education would be a great start.

How do you take care of yourself when you’re not at work?

Self-care is of utmost importance. I like the quote, “You cannot pour from an empty cup.” Having a work-life balance is important, and carving out time to do things that make you happy is essential. For me, that looks like travel, exercise, and yoga. I especially like hot yoga; if working out in 104 degrees does not make you connect with yourself, I don’t know what will.

What are some of the biggest issues facing the teaching profession right now? What do you want Michigan residents to know about what it’s like to be a teacher today?

One challenge facing education right now is the loss of COVID relief funds given to help mitigate learning loss. Schools must decide which initiatives to throw away and which to keep. Many fear this will lead to loss of traction in many areas.

I would like residents, lawmakers, parents, and stakeholders to understand the delicate balance that is involved in teaching. As educators, we must weave together many pieces to put on the show that is teaching. There is art and science to teaching. Our challenge this next year will be to take the reduced number of pieces we are given, “live” those pieces out, and weave them with best practices to produce productive and thoughtful little people.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district fires Moses Field paraeducator accused of child abuse

2023-06-15T18:00:10+00:00

The Detroit school board voted Tuesday to fire a special education paraprofessional accused of assaulting a student earlier this year at Moses Field School.

Felicia Perkins, who is facing criminal charges, allegedly “grabbed a 12-year-old boy by the back of the neck, choked him, and pulled him out of the cafeteria while holding the back of his neck” in January, according to a spokesperson from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office.

Perkins was one of five employees in the Detroit Public Schools Community District who were fired during Tuesday’s school board meeting. Others included a substitute teacher accused of assaulting a student, and another teacher accused of bringing a loaded gun into a school.

Perkins’ termination came after a monthslong investigation into abuse allegations at Moses Field, one of the district’s centers for students with special education needs.

A district investigation report on Perkins’ case said she allegedly led the 12-year-old “by his neck to the main office,” where she “swatted” him and “snatched an item from his hand.”

Perkins claimed the student threatened “to have several family members attack her,” the report said. In a separate incident a few days earlier, Perkins allegedly swatted another student, “aggressively pulling the arm and chair (of the student) in response to him holding a shoe in her direction,” the report said.

Perkins was arraigned May 22 on charges of fourth-degree child abuse, and assault and battery. A pretrial conference is scheduled for July 18.

Another Moses Field paraprofessional was also investigated for alleged abuse, but a spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office said an arrest warrant was denied because of “insufficient evidence to charge in that case” following a review by an assistant prosecutor. That employee was not among the ones the board fired Tuesday.

Fight with student leads to charges

The board also fired Ashley Garrett, a substitute teacher at Turning Point Academy Day Treatment Center, a school for students with severe emotional impairments, over a verbal and physical altercation with a 13-year-old student on March 21. Security cameras captured the teacher throwing several punches at the student.

Despite staff attempts to separate the two, the teacher continued to make statements such as “I’m getting my lick back,” and “going to get him,” according to a district report. Garrett, who was charged with third-degree child abuse, was identified only by initials in the report, but a Wayne County Prosecutor’s spokesperson confirmed her identity.

The incident happened after the teacher received counseling from Turning Point principal Natasha McGhee about her “use of profanity when engaging with students.”

High school teacher charged with having weapon on school grounds

Board members fired Cody High School math teacher William Howard, who was accused of having a loaded handgun in school in April.

The incident was described in a district investigative report and a news release from the prosecutor’s office. Howard admitted to district investigators that he had been in possession of a loaded weapon, the report said, adding that Detroit police confirmed that the gun was registered to Howard, and that it fell out of his knapsack onto the floor.

The district’s report cited Howard for violating its ethics standards by having a gun on school grounds and failing to report it to administrators.

In early May, Howard was arraigned and charged with one count of carrying a concealed weapon and one count of possession of a weapon in a “Weapons-Free School Zone.”

“I revere educators. Their jobs are among the hardest in today’s times,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a news release after the charges were announced. “But we simply cannot ignore the alleged conduct in this case.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board approves 2023-24 budget that cuts over 300 jobs

2023-06-14T03:08:49+00:00

The Detroit school board approved a $1.138 billion budget for the coming academic year that cuts spending by roughly $300 million from last year, accounting for a pandemic-fueled enrollment decline and the depletion of federal COVID relief aid.

Tuesday’s 6-1 vote came amid dissent from district staff, parents, and community members over the budget cuts, and concludes a monthslong public discourse over the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s proposal to eliminate over 300 positions to help stabilize its finances. The cuts largely affect central office administrators, but also target school-based employees such as deans, assistant principals, college transition advisers, school culture facilitators, and kindergarten paraeducators.

“What you see before us today, is the best thinking on the very tough decision that we’re in with the loss in enrollment,” said board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry.

The lone no vote came from board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

“To say that we’ve balanced the budget … but have we balanced true academic achievement? I’m not so sure that this budget does that,” Gay-Dagnogo said ahead of the vote.

The budget is expected to cut roughly $36 million in recurring salary and benefit costs, according to a budget presentation.

Vitti says fewer than 25 employees face layoff

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti was talking with school board members about the budget cuts at least as far back as February, making it clear that the district would have to make hard decisions because of the lack of federal COVID relief aid, a decline in student enrollment, and increases in employee salaries, health care costs, and inflation. In some cases, the district scaled back its initially proposed cuts, for example, sparing school attendance agents.

In early May, Vitti received approval from the school board to send layoff notices to all targeted employees.

The cutbacks have drawn sharp criticism from affected staff as well as students, parents, and community members concerned about the potential short- and long-term effects on students and other educators.

On Tuesday, Vitti said that without a more equitable formula for state school funding, DPSCD will have to consider tough tradeoffs year after year.

Michigan’s system allocates school funding on a per-pupil basis, but still allows for disparities in spending between poorer and wealthier districts. Recent studies have called for changing the system to address those disparities and better account for the needs of students, and the Michigan Legislature is considering measures that would help bridge the gap.

“We are not equally and equitably funded to provide everything that our children deserve, but I do think the board and I try to do the best with the resources we have,” said Vitti.

“This is not a new problem. This is a decades-long problem,” he added. “I hope all the energy that is directed toward me and the board is also directed toward the governor and the Legislature.”

Under the district’s budget proposal, two-thirds of the affected staff members had the chance to apply for other district jobs, at equal or similar wages. Vitti estimated that fewer than 25 employees could face a layoff by the end of the month if they don’t accept the district’s offer. The majority of targeted employees had their positions funded by their individual school, moved to another district job, resigned, or accepted a severance package, he added.

“By the time we get to the end of June, there may be five people that have not actively taken a severance or selected another position,” Vitti said, noting that DPSCD officials had negotiated with the district’s teachers union for a specific severance amount.

But some public commenters on Tuesday pushed back against his explanation.

“Many have accepted the positions, but it is by force and not by choice,” said Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

“My fear tonight is that in August, when our children return, schools will be so understaffed, we will see our schoolchildren, our parents, our teachers, counselors, and many other positions and possibly stakeholders make choices with their feet to leave.”

Han Langsdorf, a day-to-day substitute teacher for the district, noted that one of the positions offered to support staff whose jobs were cut was day-to-day sub, which does not provide benefits.

“These layoffs did not need to happen,” said Langsdorf, who was sitting with a small group of DFT members near the front of the auditorium. “They caused a lot of stress, and educators do not get the respect they deserve.”

Han Langsdorf, a substitute teacher in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, speaks against proposed budget cuts at a school board meeting on June 13, 2023.

Marcus Walton, a DFT executive board member and teacher at the Jerry L. White Center, a high school for students with disabilities, said the support staff targeted in the budget cuts are the people students need the most.

“You elected officials, you’re going to value our children as much as we value them,” he said. “That’s why I stayed here after 30 years, because I care about the students. So, am I tired? Hell yeah, but I’m not going to give up.”

District faces rising costs as COVID aid runs out

Employee salaries and utilities costs are expected to rise by 5% next year, according to the district’s budget projections. Individual schools will continue to have after-school math and literacy tutoring, mental health support, field trips, and school-based intervention. But the district will no longer allocate funding toward expanded summer school and a nurse in every school building.

DPSCD has already spent or allocated the $1.27 billion in COVID funding it received to help students recover from the pandemic, with about $700 million earmarked for a multiyear plan to rebuild, renovate and phase out school buildings across the city.

The end of that funding stream will hit the district hard, because one of its main remaining sources of revenue is state aid based on enrollment. The district currently has about 48,000 students, down from 50,400 students before the pandemic. That decline of roughly 2,000 students equates to roughly $20 million in lost enrollment-based funding.

DPSCD officials, however, are anticipating a windfall from Lansing. School aid budgets under discussion in the Legislature would provide the district with an increase in per-pupil funding of more than $450, and a separate appropriation of $94.4 million to settle a 2016 “right to read” lawsuit against the state.

Vitti said those dollars could help the district bring back some of its COVID-funded initiatives, and place security guards at smaller schools.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit, where she covers arts, culture, and education. Contact Micah at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit families will have fewer summer school options this year as district scales back programs

2023-06-08T22:13:45+00:00

Detroit parent Cazar Baird likes her kids to have something to do during the summer. In the past, she searched for dance programs or church-sponsored basketball clinics to keep her three children busy.

When she found out last year that the Detroit school district was offering expanded summer programming at her youngest son’s school, she quickly took advantage.

It has been the best way to “keep him sharp and active” over the summer months, Baird said. And unlike other summer camps around the city, it has been free.

But as her son neared the end of third grade at Gompers Elementary-Middle School this week, Baird was still figuring out where to send him this summer.

That’s because the Detroit Public Schools Community District no longer plans to have the robust summer learning programs it offered to district families over the past two years, using COVID relief aid from the federal government. It’s pivoting back to a narrower range of offerings: course recovery for missed or failed classes to students in grades 8-12, a transition program for incoming kindergarteners, and some limited activities in partnership with local recreation centers and public libraries.

DPSCD was among the many Michigan school districts that used COVID relief aid to beef up their summer programming, offering anything from credit recovery to camps focused on robotics, sports, and culinary arts. The expanded options came at the right time for students struggling with the academic impact of the pandemic and parents struggling with child care. Many parents and students have been looking for extra study time, fun activities, and opportunities to make up credits.

DPSCD spent a combined $21 million on programs over the past two summers, and its Summer Learning Experiences program was spotlighted by the White House in a tour by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and first lady Jill Biden of summer school programs funded by COVID relief aid.

But by the end of this school year, DPSCD will have spent or allocated the $1.27 billion it received in COVID funding, and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said it would be tough to justify continued investment in expanded summer school.

The summer programs helped keep some students engaged, he said, but they were not nearly as successful as officials hoped.

“There isn’t concrete evidence that summer school leads to raising student achievement in the aggregate, because many students do not attend summer school,” Vitti told families and community members at a virtual community meeting Monday.

When the district had COVID relief money to spend, Vitti said, more than 40,000 K-8 students were eligible to attend. But only 900 signed up, and barely a third of them actually attended.

“And summer school is only for four to five weeks,” he said. “So you really can’t make up a whole year over the summer. It’s great to offer it, but it’s not directly linked to student achievement as a district.”

That’s not to say the money was a waste. The summer programming “allowed families and students to overcome their fears of returning to school in person,” Vitti said, and “provided families and students with a safe and reliable child care option during the summer.”

That’s something Baird appreciated about the district’s summer programming.

“Some parents can’t afford a lot of these summer camp programs, because they have more than one child to provide for,” she said.

“Most of these programs are weekly or biweekly, but it’s still per child, and like $200 or $240, or $180, and that’s a lot of money.”

Other districts are continuing with their extensive summer learning plans, using what’s left of the money they received under the federal aid programs, known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER.

Ypsilanti Community Schools has already registered 1,280 students — about a third of its total enrollment — for its Grizzly Learning Camp, according to district spokesperson Leslie Davis. The district is spending about $1.5 million on summer school, using ESSER dollars and state funds. The program offers a mix of robotics and sports instruction, as well as credit recovery classes for students who need them.

Southfield Public Schools has spent roughly $465,000 in COVID relief money between last year and this year to bolster its summer programming, emphasizing math and literacy instruction for students who have fallen behind, and providing field trips as well as electives in STEM, yoga, and physical education.

In Detroit, the scaling back of summer school comes amid discussions about broader budget cuts the district wants to make to account for the depletion of federal COVID aid and declining enrollment.

Vitti said DPSCD would need roughly $8 million to continue offering the same academic and extracurricular summer programs to K-8 students that it provided through Summer Learning Experiences.

Some relief could come from Lansing, where the Legislature is getting set to take up a school aid budget that may provide another infusion of money for DPSCD. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s school aid budget proposal recommends appropriating $94.4 million to the district to settle a 2016 “right to read” lawsuit against the state.

While the settlement money is strictly limited to supporting the district’s literacy plan, Vitti said, the extra funding would allow the district to reallocate other dollars toward bringing back other ESSER-funded initiatives such as expanding after school and summer programming, and placing contracted nurses in every school.

In the meantime, DPSCD is still looking to provide some summer programming for its families. The district’s Office of Family and Community Engagement is partnering with the Detroit Public Library to offer summer reading activities from July 10 to Aug. 4, with limited registration.

DPSCD is also expanding its Kindergarten Boot Camp, a four-week program designed to help students and families transition from preschool to kindergarten. The two sessions will operate from June 20 through July 14, and July 10 through Aug. 4.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Merit-based pay clause for Detroit teachers would be eased under Senate bill

2023-06-06T23:42:18+00:00

Performance evaluations would no longer be the deciding factor in salary increases for newly hired employees in the Detroit school district, under proposed legislation that seeks to remove a distinction between recent and earlier hires and make the criteria uniform across Michigan.

A bill introduced in the state Senate last month would remove provisions in the Revised School Code that say all teachers and staff in the Detroit Public Schools Community District hired after September 2019 must have their compensation based primarily on job performance, rather than seniority or educational credentials.

Supporters of the bill say that removing the language would make it easier for the Detroit Federation of Teachers to bargain for all of its members — newer hires and veterans — equally, and bring Detroit’s district in line with all other districts in the state.

For those districts, the Revised School Code says job performance should be considered a “significant” factor in determining staff pay, but doesn’t specify “primary” factor.

“This bill simply seeks to address an inconsistency in the law, where all educators across the state are able to collectively bargain certain topics except for, right now, educators in the Detroit Public Schools Community District,” said state Sen. Stephanie Chang, the bill’s sponsor, at a Senate Education Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The proposed change “doesn’t necessarily lessen, or de-emphasize in any way, performance,” said Chang, a Democrat from Detroit. “It simply just is saying we’ve got to consider other factors.”

The current law effectively says that for teachers hired after Sept. 1, 2019, DPSCD may not use the length of service or achievement of an advanced degree as a factor in determining their pay, except for teachers with a secondary-level teaching certificate or an advanced degree in elementary education.

The stricter language referring to Detroit’s district was added by a then-Republican-led Legislature in a 2016 package of bills that sought to address the debt crisis facing Detroit Public Schools, and ultimately created the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Teachers union leaders opposed the bills at the time.

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the current law sets a different standard for new hires compared with those hired before September 2019, regardless of how much experience they have.

For the earlier hires, “the union negotiated salary schedule is based upon time,” she said. “We do have some merit-based compensation, however moving on the salary scale is not dependent on merit.”

But some lawmakers say student academic performance and teacher effectiveness should remain a priority in districts like Detroit that have long struggled academically.

“When disadvantaged students are less likely to be taught by highly effective teachers, why should the teacher’s ability to ensure adequate student academic growth not be the No. 1, the primary factor, in determining the teacher’s effectiveness?” asked Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Republican from Holly, during the committee hearing.

Teachers unions and other opponents of the current law argue that current measures of teacher job performance rely too heavily on student scores on standardized tests. Their Democratic allies in the Legislature are working on bills to delink student scores from teacher evaluations.

Wilson-Lumpkins told Chalkbeat that the current provision has become a “deterrent” for current and prospective district teachers.

“This legislation is not only causing educators to choose other districts, but it is causing the new hires who have come in and learned about this legislation on the back end … to consider leaving,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “And the children in Detroit deserve to have quality education the same as all the children across the state of Michigan.”

Nastassia Szpaichler, a middle school special ed teacher at DPSCD, said in a statement read to the Senate Education Committee that she found out about the Revised School Code provision only after she was hired.

The performance-based evaluation puts undue stress on new hires, she said.

“When I was hired fresh out of college, Detroit was offering me the highest pay for first year teachers at $51,071,” Szpaichler said.

“What I did learn was that my compensation would not be based on my years of experience that I gained, which is what literally every other district does, but based on my job performance and my job accomplishments,” she said. “This truly was frightening to me.”

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti did not respond to a request for comment about the Senate bill, but he has previously argued that Detroit teachers should be among the highest-paid educators in the state, and he has made increasing pay a priority — especially for newly hired teachers. Their starting salary of roughly $51,000 is now among the highest in the region.

The DFT is currently negotiating a new contract with the district, Wilson-Lumpkins said, with a focus on its union members affected by the district’s budget cuts, including kindergarten paraprofessionals, school culture facilitators, and college transition advisers.

The last contract negotiations, ahead of the 2021-22 school year, resulted in an annual 4% salary increase across the board for Detroit educators, with additional raises for veteran and special education teachers.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit’s School at Marygrove honors its inaugural graduating class

2023-06-02T00:40:41+00:00

Dana Odums recalls the fanfare and excitement that kicked off her freshman year of high school. TV cameras, blue and yellow pom poms, and the cheers and applause of their new teachers greeted her and her classmates at the door of Detroit’s new School at Marygrove.

Four years later, she got to relieve some of that pageantry as she walked across the stage with 95 of her classmates at the Music Hall Center for Performing Arts.

For the seniors at Wednesday’s graduation, the ceremony was more than pomp and circumstance. It was a milestone in Detroit’s education history.

In 2019, those students and their families took a chance and enrolled at an experimental high school in northwest Detroit. Eighty-seven of those original students were among the graduates who received diplomas Wednesday. Nine others had enrolled in the school in between its founding year and graduation.

The visible joy of the students was shared by their family and friends, who delivered roaring applause as each student stepped onto the stage, decked in their royal blue caps and gowns. Some adorned their caps with goodbye messages, flowers, and motivational quotes.

Hundreds of people came out to celebrate the inaugural graduating class, including Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Bolden, who gave the commencement speech.

Marygrove senior Raijuan Lenoir marveled at the significance of the event.

“It feels kind of weird,” Lenoir said. “One hundred years from now, we’re still going to be the first students to ever graduate from this school.”

Parent Eddie Fleming said the ceremony “means everything” to him and his daughter, Sha’Cari Fleming-Brown, who transferred to Marygrove in her junior year. Despite being accepted into Cass Tech and Renaissance, she chose Marygrove for its project-based learning.

“I told her it’s going to be a challenge, but one day you could be one of those plaques on the wall in the future … a forefather,” Fleming said.

Located on the 53-acre Marygrove College campus, The School at Marygrove was conceived as part of an ambitious “cradle to career” program to serve students from preschool through graduate school.

“We envisioned a place where education would transcend traditional boundaries,” said Michael Chrzan, the founding math teacher at Marygrove. “We set out on a journey to create a safe haven of learning, a place where critical thinking and community-mindedness would flourish.”

In 2021, the Marygrove Early Education Center opened to the public. Last fall, the School at Marygrove launched its elementary school for kindergarten through second grade. The school will eventually expand to a K-8 school.

The initiative is a joint effort of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (which runs the academic operations of the School at Marygrove), Starfish Family Services, and the Kresge Foundation.

Kresge is a Chalkbeat funder. See a list of our supporters here.

A partnership with the University of Michigan also created a teacher incubator program in 2020 that trains teachers, similar to residencies for medical doctors.

As a high school, the School at Marygrove was designed with a project-based curriculum that emphasizes engineering and social justice. What began as a single hallway of classrooms in the Gothic-inspired building has grown year by year. The school enrolled roughly 350 students in grades 9-12 for the 2022-23 school year, its first year with all four high school grades.

For Odums and her father, who heard a radio ad for The School at Marygrove four years ago, the promise of a new school, complete with smaller classes and access to educational resources from the University of Michigan, was too good to pass up.

“It was just a perfect storm,” she recalls.

Since its founding, the School at Marygrove has afforded students an unusual amount of influence over their education. Students had input on the setup and design of their classrooms, conducted tests of the drinking water in their building, and hosted virtual wellness days for students during the pandemic.

After the deadly school shootings in Oxford, Michigan, and Uvalde, Texas, Marygrove students and staff staged sickouts and walkouts to call attention to the building’s safety concerns.

But much of the school’s early history was eclipsed by the COVID pandemic, which shifted students to remote learning. From there, students had to adapt to the technological and social-emotional challenges of learning at home.

“It really went downhill with COVID,” Odums said. “We were a new school. We didn’t even get our foot on the ground.”

As class valedictorian, Odums dedicated her speech to the trials and triumphs her classmates experienced, emphasizing their perseverance and hard work, as well as the tight bond shared by many of the inaugural Class of 2023.

“It was definitely different,” coming back into the building for the 2021-22 school year, Odums told Chalkbeat. “I don’t think those connections we had in our ninth grade year were still the same initially. The expectations of ourselves were different, and we really had to shift gears and move way faster. We were really playing catch-up.”

Dana Odums, Class of 2023 valedictorian for the School at Marygrove addresses fellow graduates on May 31, 2023. Odums is the first valedictorian in the school’s history.

The school’s staff and students have also navigated a revolving door in leadership: Marygrove’s founding and second principals left within the first few months of the building’s opening. This year, the high school welcomed its fifth principal.

As the newest examination high school, Marygrove is still a long way from competing academically with Cass Tech and Renaissance high schools, Odums said. But she’s optimistic about the school’s reputation and legacy.

“Just to see the school expand while we grow is definitely monumental,” Odums said.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district’s budget cuts bring back memories of past fiscal crises

2023-05-22T17:12:34+00:00

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As Reianna Willis looks ahead to starting her senior year in high school in the fall, the thought of losing her college adviser frightens her.

College advisers and guidance counselors, Reianna said, are the people who provide teenagers with the extra motivation they need to stay on track in school. But her school, East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, stands to lose these professionals, along with other support staff and administrators, as the Detroit school district trims its budget to align with declining revenue.

“If there were cuts at my school I feel as if our students would be lost,” she said, adding that students would miss out on critical relationships with staff members. Cutting advisers may improve the budget picture, Reainna said, “but it will worsen our students.”

Nikolai Vitti, the superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, has tried to reassure community members that the cuts he’s advocating will help ensure the district’s financial stability over the long term. “The staffing reductions are less than a financial necessity but more of a necessary strategic decision to sustain and protect our improvement,” he said.

But for some families and district employees, the latest round of cuts have provoked anxiety, rekindling memories of the deep, devastating cuts the district made during past fiscal crises and the era of state control. Those cuts, including the closure of nearly 200 schools between 2000 and 2015, only ended up compounding the district’s financial problems, leading to plummeting enrollment, an exodus of staff, and even larger deficits and debt.

The fears have surfaced in gatherings of the district’s Executive Youth Council of student leaders, and in the monthly school board meetings, where students, parents and employees of the district have come forward to warn officials against cutting professionals who are seen as critical to students’ success and the district’s goals.

What prompted DPSCD’s proposed budget cuts?

The specter of a return to spiraling cuts is especially worrisome in a district that has achieved six years of relative financial stability after it returned to local control in 2017, thanks to a state legislative initiative that granted the district a fresh start.

The state-appointed emergency managers who ran the district in the past relied on “deep spending cuts (including staffing and teacher salaries), long-term debt to cover annual budget deficits, and delaying required payments,” said a 2019 report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan detailing the district’s roughly 20-year span of state oversight.

But they had “virtually no success tackling the underlying structural deficit,” the report said.

After 2017, until the pandemic struck, DPSCD began to see rising enrollment and balanced budgets — enough progress that the Detroit Financial Review Commission released DPSCD from state oversight in late 2020, a milestone in the district’s quest to control its budget and finances.

Then, in the midst of the pandemic, the federal government came through with $1.27 billion in aid for the district, buoying its revenue for three years. The added funds made it possible to hire more contracted staff; expand after-school, summer school, and tutoring programs; and take care of long-overdue construction and renovation projects.

But moving into the 2023-24 school year, Vitti said, the district will have to balance its budget relying on recurring revenues, and not one-time federal funding. It will also have to account for the impact of inflation, which has cooled over the past year but remains above historical levels. So instead of being able to fund all of its priorities, and then some, DPSCD will have to pick the ones that it can afford and that will make the biggest impact in the classroom.

“Managing the finances of a steep, long-running enrollment decline is hard enough,” said Bruce Baker, a professor at the University of Miami who focuses on public education financing. But the steep cut in federal funding, coupled with higher costs for maintenance and supplies, compounds that challenge.

In assessing the tradeoffs, DPSCD has chosen to prioritize raising teacher salaries in order to recruit and retain staff and avoid the huge teacher vacancies that it experienced during emergency management.

To satisfy that need, Vitti’s proposed budget would eliminate or shift roughly 300 school and central office positions, including the counselors and college advisers at Reianna’s school. It would also create a $4.2 million budget surplus to address district emergencies, enrollment shifts or other unexpected spending throughout the school year.

“I do not foresee the need to close or consolidate schools in the future for budget reasons,” Vitti said.

Vitti said he believes the district can stick to its priorities and continue to offer what it has promised families in spite of the staffing reductions, and without a hit to enrollment. School principals can choose to fund those positions using Title I money, he noted, and college transition advisers, kindergarten paraprofessionals, and school culture facilitators will have the option to stay with the district in a different role that might be understaffed, such as building substitute, security guard, cafeteria worker, or pre-K paraprofessional. An increase in state per-pupil funding could also help protect some jobs.

On the other hand, if the salary increases go ahead without the staff cuts, the district projects it would swing to an annual deficit and drain its unrestricted funds. And persistent deficits could trigger a return of financial scrutiny from the state.

“If you don’t want us to go back into emergency management or financial review every week, then let us make the necessary budget adjustments so that there’s long term durability and consistent continuity in our district,” said DPSCD board member Corletta Vaughn.

Lisa Card, a DPSCD parent and 20-year veteran educator, said the latest proposed budget cuts reflect a familiar pattern. Initially an art teacher, she went back to school for a master’s in special education when it was clear to her that the district under emergency management was going to cut student programming, including art and music programs.

“We go through these cycles often, and when something is wrong with the budget, it’s always like they go through cutting staff,” Card said. “But I don’t think that that’s the solution.”

Financial goals hang on enrollment numbers

District officials recognize that they can’t merely cut their way to financial stability. The district’s financial strength depends on its ability to rebuild enrollment, which is not even a third of what it was in 2000.

In the past, the district has employed aggressive marketing campaigns in a bid to shore up enrollment and avoid closing school buildings, laying off teachers, and cutting academic programming and support services.

Those campaigns took on increased significance in the wake of the pandemic, during which the district lost 3,000 students. Using its federal COVID relief aid, DPSCD expanded its outreach, home visits and door-to-door canvassing strategies using staff and parent volunteers.

Those tactics enabled the district to bring in 1,000 students, Vitti said.

“Clearly, we are doing something right,” he said.

But there’s still a lot of ground to make up. And now, DPSCD plans to spend less on enrollment strategies. Instead, it will use a smaller budget to market specific schools with available seats and continue to emphasize canvassing through school employees and families. The district is looking to increase enrollment over time by expanding pre-kindergarten programs across the city. As part of its $700 million facility master plan, the district will house those programs at four vacant or underutilized school buildings.

DPSCD’s K-12 enrollment is projected to remain at 48,000 students next year, with a potential bump of 335 pre-kindergarten students, according to Vitti.

Without big enrollment gains, to avoid further budget cuts, Vitti said, the district would have to see an annual increase in per-pupil funding, as well as more equitable state and local school funding. School aid budgets moving through the state Legislature would provide those increases.

“I think we will continue to improve our enrollment but not completely rebound in overall enrollment since the pandemic overnight,” Vitti said.

Vaughn, the school board member, said she thinks the district needs to be more aggressive with its marketing campaign.

“Budgetarily, we’re going in whatever direction the population is going to go,” she said. “If we don’t increase the population, we’ll be right back here next year.”

How will budget cuts affect long-term reforms?

Another key question is how the cuts will affect the district’s progress on its long-term academic goals, which were also thrown off by the pandemic and the shift to online learning. Federal COVID relief aid provided only temporary support, funding tutoring, summer school, and reduced class sizes.

One of Vitti’s long-term reform plans in his first year as superintendent was to hire master teachers to support and coach teachers in math and literacy. He also envisioned having one guidance counselor, college adviser, school culture facilitator, and attendance agent per school.

The aim was to offer broader academic programming and support services that families would otherwise have to leave the district for.

With those positions now threatened, the district says it will look to spread out college advising and school culture and climate work to other school administrators and staff. Guidance counselors for example will take on more work with FAFSA and college applications, while grant funding from the Michigan College Access Network will help ensure that five DPSCD high schools and one career and technical education center can participate in regional college access events.

But some students are skeptical the expanded roles for other educators will provide the same quality and relationship students have with their teachers.

“I truly believe that this would affect students — mostly ninth and 12th graders — because they guide you into the steps right before college,” said De’Loni Perry, a senior at Osborn High School. “It’s not only their help just guiding us but also for the fact that they actually teach us and show us the steps on how to prepare for life after high school. That’s the biggest step you take and most important.”

Asked about that risk, Vitti said: “I do value and understand the relationships that students have with the staff at their school. This is not easy. However, I am confident that the outcomes that matter most for students districtwide will continue to improve with these changes.”

Jaquitta Nelson, a parent and school volunteer at Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy, worries that budget cuts will place further pressure on staff members who are already overwhelmed.

Paul Robeson/Malcolm X, according to DPSCD budget documents, could go without its school culture facilitator, dean, and a paraprofessional next school year.

This year alone, Nelson said she’s seen at least four teachers and school administrators at her son’s school retire, some citing burnout. Now she’s bracing for the impact of the district’s cuts on the school.

“How can we help them going forward?” Nelson said.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit superintendent could use state proposed budget to save some dean jobs

2023-05-17T22:35:33+00:00

With pending budget proposals that could significantly increase per-pupil funding for school districts, Detroit school officials are considering how any money could limit threatened cuts to school administrators.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told board members and the public Tuesday that if the Michigan Legislature adopts a final education budget that is more than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget, the district could provide its smaller schools with deans.

The school board would have to finalize how it would use those funds.

Last week, the Michigan House and Senate both passed school budgets that would increase per-pupil funding to $9,516 and $9,700, respectively, up from the current $9,150 per student. All proposals also would increase funding for at-risk students.

The district has budgeted based on Whitmer’s proposal for $9,608 per pupil, according to budget documents.

Although that is an increase over this year, the district faces a shortfall because costs are rising faster than revenue. DPSCD’s budget will shrink because of declining enrollment and the end of federal COVID relief aid.

The district proposes to reduce spending by eliminating deans of culture, assistant principals, school culture facilitators, college transition advisers, and kindergarten paraprofessionals.

Daniella Borum, a college transition adviser at Detroit School of Arts, said she’s worried the district’s proposal would not only jeopardize her position, but create more security issues, potentially leaving not enough staff members to monitor the halls. The proposal allocates the school one security guard next year, along with an assistant principal, and a counselor.

“That’s not enough for a six-story building,” she said.

The district already has offered its deans severance packages and transfers, Vitti said. The district’s restructuring plan proposes reducing school administrators, particularly at smaller schools.

That would leave about 35 schools without deans next school year, although most of those schools would have an assistant principal. Each school is expected to have at least one security guard. With more funding, smaller schools might be able to hire an additional guard.

Before the Tuesday meeting, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals gathered in front of Western International High School to rally against the proposed school budget cuts.

Over 60 district staff members and students spoke during public comment to denounce the cuts, stressing the toll they would take on students and remaining school employees.

“We are already struggling to provide for the needs that these students have,” said Jordan Weinstein, an early career teacher. She said her school could lose their school culture facilitator and attendance agent next year.

“They are worrying about not having a job next year, and the children are worrying about not having those people in our lives. We can not do restorative justice by ourselves as teachers and also be teachers, we have to have a building full of people to support that or we are just recreating the same old same old.”

Leeajhanae Wright, a senior at Henry Ford High School, said any staffing reductions at neighborhood high schools would have repercussions for students who already feel like they receive fewer resources than their peers at application and exam schools around the district.

“We don’t have a support system like the ones that they get,” she said. “We don’t have people at home. The only people we really have are the people inside the school building.”

The district’s restructuring plan seeks to create parity between small and large schools.

“Smaller schools obviously have fewer students, and application and exam schools need to consistently apply the higher standards that are offered to them for student attendance, behavior, and academic performance to address students that are requiring a disproportionate amount of resources,” Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email. “Students requiring that level of engagement will have more resources at neighborhood schools.”

School principals can decide whether to allocate a portion of their federal Title I funding to keep their school culture facilitators, paraeducators and college transition advisers, Vitti noted, and staff whose positions are eliminated can shift to alternative positions. Other schools will leave it up to displaced employees to decide whether to take another job in the district.

The district’s teachers union criticized the proposal.

“Every year Governor Whitmer has increased the per pupil funding which offsets any loss the district would have experienced,” said Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, during public comment. “The district knew it wanted to reduce numbers in certain areas….They continued to hire as recently as this school year knowing full well that they intended to reduce and eliminate positions. The problems are numerous now.”

Others questioned why the district would not consider using either its $37.5 million rainy-day fund or an unrestricted $62 million surplus to pay for support staff next year.

Vitti said the board can choose to tap those funds, but they generally are intended for emergencies or one-time funding, and not for recurring expenses.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit students contract bacterial infection in recent batch of illnesses, officials say

2023-05-08T18:20:11+00:00

A recent spread of student illnesses that forced Detroit’s Marcus Garvey Academy to close last week may be partially traced to the bacterial infection haemophilus influenzae, according to Detroit school district and health officials.

The school reopened to students and staff Monday as parents expressed concerns about their children’s safety and district transparency about student illnesses. As Garvey students trickled into the building, staff met them at the door to offer masks and perform temperature checks.

Last week, the district reported that the school had “experienced an unusually high rate of flu-like symptoms including student fevers, and vomiting” among its early grade students. Garvey was subsequently closed Wednesday for the remainder of the week as district custodial staff cleaned and disinfected the entire building.

DPSCD notified the public earlier last week that Jimari Wililams, a kindergarten student from Marcus Garvey Academy, had died. A medical examiner had not yet determined the cause of death, district officials said.

In a follow-up statement on Monday, Chrystal Wilson, spokesperson for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said the school had at least three confirmed cases of haemophilus influenzae, a bacterial infection that can contribute to other illnesses such as ear infections, pneumonia, and meningitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection typically affects children under 5, elderly people, or those who are immunocompromised.

The CDC recommends that children under the age of 5 get multiple shots of the haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine.

“We are asking parents to actively monitor their children’s health and ensure that students stay home if they have flu-like symptoms,” said Wilson. “As always, we need to ensure that students are fully vaccinated with all of the state’s immunization requirements to attend school.”

A nurse is on site at Garvey to monitor student health and assist students, staff, and families if students feel ill while at school, she said.

Students, staff return to Garvey amid ongoing health concerns

Garvey students are encouraged to wear masks for the coming weeks, school officials said. Mask-wearing is not mandatory because the school does not currently have COVID protocols, said Garvey Principal Wakeita Winston, who spoke Friday during a virtual informational meeting for Garvey families and staff recorded by local TV station WXYZ.

“We have put our thermometers back at the doors so we can screen children as they come into the building,” Winston said, “because sometimes a child may feel okay but they may have a (high) temperature.”

In Friday’s virtual session, Detroit Health Department Medical Director Claudia Richardson told families and staff that some children appeared to have contracted haemophilus influenzae. The department is recommending preventive medication for students with confirmed cases as well as symptomatic children, household members of students with cases, and staff members.

Garvey families with sick children are urged to visit their medical provider, Richardson added. Students who do not have a primary care doctor can receive the preventive medication at an Ascension health clinic located inside of Garvey Academy. Starting Monday, health department letters will be available at the school’s main office to grant permission for doctors to provide affected students and staff with the medication.

Winston stressed that the school will be “cautious as we go through the next couple of weeks.” Staff, she added, will be around the building to remind students to wash and sanitize their hands properly.

From her car parked across from Garvey on Monday, parent Erica Thompson watched hesitantly as her daughters entered the building.

“I’m a little nervous, they almost didn’t come today,” Thompson said. “But they assured us that they sanitized the building. The thing is we don’t even really know what was the cause of the illness.”

Thompson’s reminder to her kids: “I told them to keep their hands sanitized and to just keep their masks on at all times.”

Both Thompson and Mia Bynem, a parent of three children at Garvey, are hoping district and school officials can provide better communication to parents moving forward.

As early as last Monday, Bynem said, one of her children’s teachers suggested she not send her kids to school. News had already spread among staff about students showing flu-like symptoms far in advance of the school officially closing the building.

That stressed out Bynem, whose youngest child is in preschool at Garvey and has asthma. Anything more serious than the common cold could potentially weaken his immune system.

“Why are we just now being notified?” Bynem said. “It’s not fair to do things last minute.”

In Friday’s virtual information session, Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather told parents the district has provided updates to families via robocalls.

“We believe stopping the transmission, cleaning, and then monitoring are our paths forward here,” said Meriweather on Friday. As early as May 1, Meriweather said, the district had received several reports of pre-K and kindergarten students who were not feeling well.

“We have 106 schools and right now we’re fortunate to have a nurse in every school,” she said. “Every day there are students across our district who have illnesses or don’t feel well, those reports come in through the nurses.”

The health department said in a news release on May 3 that its officials are working closely with DPSCD and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services “to monitor and trace all reported illnesses among students at that location.”

The department urged parents of children ages 4 to 7 to seek medical care promptly if their child experiences fever, headache, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Mysterious illness at Detroit elementary school sickens students, prompts school closure

2023-05-04T17:41:08+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

Flu-like illnesses among a number of students at Marcus Garvey Academy prompted school administrators to shut down the school until Monday so the building can be cleaned and parents can monitor their children’s symptoms.

A district official said one student at the school, a kindergartener, has died. But it’s unclear whether the death is connected to the mysterious illness.

“At this time, the medical examiner has not determined the cause of death,” Chrystal Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said in a statement.

Wilson said that this week, “the school has experienced an unusually high rate of flu-like symptoms including student fevers, and vomiting, namely at the early grade levels.

“We have been actively communicating with the Detroit Health Department about these cases and we have mutually agreed that the best course of action right now is to close the school until Monday,” Wilson said.

The health department said in a news release Wednesday night that its officials are working closely with DPSCD and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services “to monitor and trace all reported illnesses among students at that location.

“We do not yet have confirmation on the cause of the illness, and will share that information with Detroiters once that information has been confirmed,” the health department’s statement said.

The department urged parents of children ages 4-7 to seek medical care promptly if their child experiences fever, headache, lethargy, nausea/vomiting, or abdominal pain.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district teacher named Michigan Teacher of the Year

2023-05-04T17:05:11+00:00

Candice Jackson, a third grade teacher at Mann Learning Community in Detroit, was named Michigan Teacher of the Year Thursday.

Jackson is the first teacher from the Detroit Public Schools Community District to receive the state’s highest teaching honor since the 2006-07 school year. She learned she was selected during a surprise visit to Mann by State Superintendent Michael Rice.

“Congratulations to Ms. Jackson, who represents all of the terrific teachers that we have in every corner of Michigan,” Rice said in a news release. “The Michigan Teacher of the Year is an important advocate and ally for teachers and students. We appreciate greatly and will benefit from Ms. Jackson and her experiences as we work to improve Michigan public education.”

As Jackson walked into the lunchroom Thursday afternoon, she was met with a roar of applause and cheers from Mann students and staff.

“I am just humbled and amazed to be here,” she said. “I hope that I don’t let you guys down, and way to go, Mann Learning Community.”

The Michigan Department of Education recognizes the state’s top teacher each year for their dedication to the teaching profession, commitment to students, and track record in teaching. The selection process begins with nominations from students, staff, and community members.

Third grade students at Detroit’s Mann Learning Community cheer on their teacher Candice Jackson as she is named Michigan Teacher of the Year.

In April, the MDE announced the 10 regional teachers of the year. The top teacher is chosen from the regional selections.

“This is such a beautiful and important day for us as a district and for you Mann Learning Community,” said DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “There are thousands of teachers in Michigan, and we have the proud distinction of having the best teacher in Michigan right here.”

Mann principal Lakeisha Simpson beamed with pride as she watched Jackson accept the honor. The two of them have known each other for the past 15 years and came up in the Detroit school district together as novice teachers. She said Jackson’s soft demeanor and pride for her work have served as inspiration to other teachers.

“She does everything with excellence,” Simpson said. “She brings a wealth of expertise in being a practitioner. She’s able to share her research. And by her still being in the classroom, she’s able to go back and say, ‘Hey, I tried this with my students. So I know that it works,’ or, ‘Hey, let’s try to work through this.’”

Back at her classroom, the excitement and cheers continued as Jackson and Rice fielded questions from students. “I have the largest class in the building,” Jackson said of her 34-student classroom. “The largest and the best.”

A few desks away from Jackson, third grader Nylah Brown drew a picture of a big red heart as a gift for her teacher, writing at the top, “I love you. You are the best teacher so we love you Mrs. Jackson.”

“I love Mann Learning Community, because we learn the Mann Way,” Nylah said.

“What’s the Mann way?” asked Rice.

“I’ll be respectful, I’ll be responsible, and I’ll be safe,” she said.

The best advice Jackson has received as an educator is to “connect to the children and connect to the parents before you connect to the curriculum,” she said. “The children do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

The Michigan Teacher of the Year spends a year speaking for teachers from across the state and has a non-voting seat at State Board of Education meetings.

Here are the other Michigan regional teachers of the year:

Gina Pepin, a reading teacher at Lemmer Elementary in Escanaba Area Public Schools.
Brandi Clark, a mathematics teacher at Kalkaska Middle School in Kalkaska Public Schools.
Stephanie Nielsen, a kindergarten teacher at Shawmut Hills Academy in Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Bridgit Sova, a special education teacher at H.H. Dow High School in Midland Public Schools.
Jennifer Senkmajer, a fourth grade teacher at Yale Elementary School in Yale Public Schools.
Nicole Minor, a mathematics teacher at Lansing Eastern High School in Lansing School District.
Jaime Hilaski, a mathematics teacher at Schoolcraft Junior-Senior High School in Schoolcraft Community Schools.
Lori Richert, a second and third grade teacher at Childs Elementary in Lincoln Consolidated Schools.
Vanessa Robert, a kindergarten teacher at Canton Charter Academy in Canton.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district attendance agents would keep their jobs next school year under new budget plan

2023-05-04T04:00:15+00:00

School attendance agents would be spared from layoffs under a proposed budget shared by Detroit school district officials at a special board meeting Wednesday.

As recently as March, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that as many as 20 attendance agent positions could be cut as the district aims to balance its budget and retool its strategy to address persistently high rates of chronic absenteeism, which threaten to undermine the district’s reform and pandemic recovery efforts.

But as of now, Vitti said Wednesday, “all attendance agents are funded” in the budget outline for the coming school year.

Last school year, 77% of DPSCD students were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year, or 18 days. Attendance agents have been a key part of the district’s strategy to address that problem.

The district currently employs about 90 attendance agents, assigned to individual schools across the city. But last fall, district officials began to reconsider their allocation of one agent per school.

The new budget recommendations come as the district tries to rein in its spending on staff to deal with impact of pandemic-related enrollment declines, the end of federal COVID relief aid, and its commitments to raise teacher salaries and curtail employee health care premiums. In the past month, the district sent out letters notifying hundreds of support staff that their positions could be cut or consolidated heading into next year.

Roughly 150 district employees — school culture facilitators, kindergarten paraeducators, and college transition advisers — could be laid off or transferred to different positions.

Wednesday’s special meeting was the first time board members have met formally to discuss budget proposals since a Feb. 18 public meeting at the DPSCD Public Safety Headquarters. But at that meeting, board members discussed the budget behind closed doors.

“We know that what we have in front of us is an attempt to address the priorities that were laid out by the board at the study session,” board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said Wednesday. “We talked about attendance. We talked about academic achievement. We talked about college graduation rates, and so I think what we see in front of us is an attempt to make sure those things are not compromised.”

In an over 50-page presentation to the board, the district described its current financial state as well as the details of its proposed $1.135 billion budget for 2023-24. Wednesday’s presentation also outlined options for school employees who face layoffs.

Some schools have decided to allocate a portion of their Title I funding to keep their school culture facilitators, paraeducators and college transition advisers, Vitti noted. At the other schools, it will be up to employees at schools to decide whether to take on a different role in the district.

Under the district’s proposal, those employees could still apply for other positions within the district at equal or similar wages. School culture facilitators and paraeducators could sign on as cafeteria workers, day-to-day substitutes, or special ed paraprofessionals, for example, while college transition advisers could become counselors or academic interventionists. In some cases, employees might have to pursue further education to qualify for the new positions.

“There is no reason why any individual in those three groups would not be employed next year,” Vitti said.

He said the district’s budget recommendations reflect positions that district officials believe will advance their long-term reform efforts.

But some educators and parents weren’t happy with the recommendations, which outline cuts that would fall heavily on smaller schools. For example, most schools with fewer than 300 students would no longer have their own attendance agents next year.

Taura Brown, a DPSCD parent, said her son attends a school that could lose its school culture facilitator because its student population is under 300 — below the district’s threshold for schools that would keep some of their support staff and administrators.

The culture facilitators “save a lot of lives,” Brown said. “Sometimes those culture facilitators — those Black men — are the only Black men these children encounter all day. There’s no father in their home. They’re suffering through abject poverty and they are coming to school where they are being encouraged and … made sure to feel loved, challenged, and prepared.”

Daniel Butts, a school culture facilitator at Nichols Elementary-Middle School said many of the staff, parents, and students call him “the glue that helps keep our school together.”

“They need me there, not as a security guard, not as someone wiping tables, but someone that will sit in a circle with them and tell them in spite of their mistake to try again.”

Detroit high school teacher Gavin Buckley warned against laying off or reassigning critical support staff.

“People that are going to get transferred into positions that are significantly worse will leave this district … will leave my students lacking in my school, and we’re already short-staffed.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Cellphone towers on school grounds worry some Detroit parents

2023-05-02T22:40:51+00:00

Some Detroit parents and community members are pushing district officials and school board members to remove dozens of cellphone towers placed on school grounds, claiming that the radio waves emanating from the antennas could have unforeseen health effects on children and staff.

The health risks are not scientifically proven, but concern over cell towers at schools has bubbled up in districts both locally and nationally. The superintendent of Wyandotte Public Schools resigned in early April following backlash from numerous parents over the lease of a T-Mobile 5G tower at a district elementary school.

In Detroit, where many residents live with a legacy of utility, infrastructure, and economic development projects that have proceeded with limited public input, the school district is under growing pressure to respond to public concerns while it considers whether to keep the towers or give up the revenue that comes with them.

“I’m shaking because I’m so angry,” parent Karla Mitchell said during a Detroit Public Schools Community District school board meeting on April 18. “I find you to be grossly negligent in the installation of cell towers at the Detroit public schools. I wasn’t notified. I just found out (recently), and my son has been sitting in the school for two years.”

DPSCD currently has 29 cell towers placed on school grounds and buildings across the city, according to Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, with multi-year lease agreements signed with telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile and Crown Castle. They provide revenue for the district, and more seamless voice and data connectivity across the city.

Some of those agreements predate Vitti’s tenure, having been approved by emergency managers dating back to 2014, he said at the April board meeting.

“I have no knowledge that there is concrete evidence that the cell towers harm children or staff,” Vitti said.

Serious health effects on humans aren’t proven

Amid rising demand for high-speed cellular data connections, telecommunications providers have sought to place more cellphone towers and antennas in both residential and commercial areas to increase the capacity of their wireless networks. (Technologies like 5G require more antennas, because their high-frequency waves don’t travel as far.) Placing them on school buildings or on school grounds gives providers a way to add connections in residential areas without encountering aesthetic objections from neighbors.

But the health-related complaints are growing, even though the science isn’t clear on whether there is a real health risk.

The antennas atop cell towers work by emitting radiofrequency waves that transmit data signals. Those waves can cause biological effects, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates cellphone companies and technology. But they are unlikely to cause serious health hazards to humans, the agency says.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says that “no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies.”

The American Cancer Society states that currently there is no strong evidence that exposure to radiofrequency waves from cell phone towers causes any noticeable health effects.

But it adds: “This does not mean that the RF waves from cell phone towers have been proven to be absolutely safe. Most expert organizations agree that more research is needed to help clarify this, especially for any possible long-term effects.”

FCC is urged to take a closer look

Indeed, some of the new complaints reflect concerns that the research on the health effects is not complete, updated, or conclusive.

Some independent scientists and medical experts wonder about the potential health risks that radiofrequency waves or electromagnetic radiation can pose to children even at low levels. Others point out that the FCC’s regulations for safe levels of exposure to wireless radiation from towers and cellphones have not been updated since 1996.

In a 2013 letter to the FCC, the American Academy of Pediatrics wrote that the agency’s exposure limits “do not account for the unique vulnerability and use patterns specific to pregnant women and children.”

“This is a child — as well as a teacher and staff — health issue,” said Theodora Scarato, executive director of nonprofit Environmental Health Trust, who spoke at the April 18 school board meeting.

In 2021, a U.S. Appeals Court judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit by Scarato’s organization against the FCC, finding in part that the commission failed “to provide a reasoned explanation for brushing off record evidence addressing non-cancer-related health effects arising from the impact of (radiofrequency) radiation on children.” In its ruling, the judge ordered the FCC to “address the impacts of RF radiation on children.”

“The FCC was ordered to address those issues and more and it’s been nearly two years. And they have not responded,” Scarato said. The FCC did not reply to a request for comment.

District faces a decision on towers

School board member Misha Stallworth West said during an April 26 committee meeting that misinformation may be feeding public concern about cell towers. Toward the beginning of the COVID pandemic, a conspiracy theory emerged on social media linking the health effects of COVID-19 to the placement of 5G wireless towers across the globe in 2019 and 2020. The World Health Organization quickly dismissed the theory in April 2020.

“We’re in the era of misinformation, and the experience that everyone had with COVID I think, rightfully put a lot of folks on edge, especially in Black communities,” she said.

As a solution, Stallworth West suggested the district update its website to provide parents and community members with links to accurate information.

Vitti said that in the coming weeks he will provide board members with options on how to proceed with the cell towers. “The board can decide what path they want to take with renewing, or discontinuing and dealing with the legal challenges and financial challenges of discontinuing,” he said.

In 2014, while the district was under emergency management, 15 cell towers were placed on school properties. Those contracts, according to Vitti, have a no termination clause, locking the district into a 55-year agreement to keep those towers until 2067. The district could be liable to pay back the $6.8 million received at that time if the deal is terminated.

Since those initial lease agreements in 2014, the district placed an additional 14 towers under short-term leases, Vitti said. The newer leases provide the district with roughly $2,000 a month for each tower. Some of that revenue, he added, has helped cover meals for district staff and family events.

But many parents are still concerned that the district’s lease agreements with telecommunication companies circumvented community input.

“Why are we risking our children’s health for revenue?” said parent Tiffany Williams.

“You all couldn’t come up with anything else different, to come up with another plan. The implementation of these towers has great health concerns pertaining to our children’s safety.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Student use of artificial intelligence software stirs discussion in Michigan school districts

2023-04-27T22:48:45+00:00

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is updating its technology use policies to address concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence tools on student learning.

An early draft of the revised language says that the use of artificial intelligence and natural language processing software tools “without the express permission/consent of a teacher is considered to undermine the learning and problem-solving skills that are essential to a student’s academic success and that the staff is tasked to develop in each student.”

Unauthorized student use of such tools is a “form of plagiarism,” according to the draft language, which appears in the staff technology use policy but applies to students.

Newly powerful artificial intelligence software has generated a wave of publicity in recent months, for creating a photorealistic illustration of Pope Francis in a puffy white coat, for example, or composing fake pop songs purportedly by Drake and The Weeknd.

It has also stirred debate among school officials and educators about the impact, and risks, in the classroom. One tool — ChatGPT — can write essays and solve mathematical equations based on a user’s prompts, and across Michigan, educators are looking at the potential for misuse.

“It’s really relevant to what’s happening to the district,” DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said of the policy at a school board committee meeting Wednesday. “There’s a lot of conversation about tools that students now have access to that are sort of changing the landscape of writing and essays and classroom assignments.”

The DPSCD policy draft language doesn’t ban the use of programs like ChatGPT outright. Rather, it says that students can use these tools to conduct research, analyze data, translate texts in different languages, and correct grammatical mistakes, as long as they have teacher permission.

Ausha Mia, a senior at Detroit’s Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, said she hasn’t used or learned about ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools, but she would favor the district setting restrictions on how students use that technology.

She considers plagiarism to be the No. 1 problem at MLK, with some of her teachers deducting points from every student’s grades if other students are found to have cheated on an assignment. In other cases, they’ve just thrown away students’ papers.

MLK robotics teacher Carrie Russell said that her students have not caught on to ChatGPT, but that “it’s only a matter of time” before they do. Many are already savvy with other AI-powered apps such as Photomath and WolframAlpha, Russell said.

Meanwhile, districts in New York City and Los Angeles have gone further, blocking student access to ChatGPT on district computers and networks, while other districts continue to weigh the pros and cons of the technology.

In Michigan, educators are considering how artificial intelligence tools might be used to enhance teaching. In the Hemlock School District, three school administrators recently published a book titled “43 Ways to Be Less Lame as an Educator” about improving teaching with the assistance of ChatGPT. Hemlock Superintendent Don Killingbeck said the district is already planning to share tips and tools regarding artificial intelligence with its educators in a district professional development session this fall.

Dearborn Public Schools is “still evaluating the benefits, risks and implications of AI software such as ChatGPT,” said district spokesperson David Mustonen, adding that the issue has been “a topic of discussion at several meetings involving our principals, instructional leaders and information technology staff.”

Tom Lietz, an associate director with the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, is optimistic about how AI can be used in the classroom. Commonplace learning tools, he said, such as Khan Academy are already incorporating AI software into their study guides.

“What’s really exciting about AI tools is the possibility for AI to provide real opportunities for student support,” Lietz said. “I think the big fear is, this is either going to replace teachers, or it’s going to make cheating rampant. And I think both of those are understandable concerns. But as time has proved, teachers and people are smarter and can adapt to it.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD layoff notices, buyouts draw complaints at April school board meeting

2023-04-21T01:10:11+00:00

Paraeducator Valerie Puriefoy-Hamlet has worn many hats in her three decades working for Detroit’s public school district.

“I am not only a (paraeducator), I’m a custodian. I’m a noon hour aide. I am the teacher,” Pureifoy-Hamlet, who works at John R. King Academic and Performing Arts Academy, said at a school board meeting Tuesday. “Why? Because when a teacher is out, I’m the one there with the kids.”

So she was upset when she saw her peers in the Detroit Public Schools Community District receive notices that their positions may not be available next fall, and wondered whether even she would stick around for the rest of the year.

“Do I want to stay with DPSCD?” she said. “I just feel like we are not appreciated as people in these positions.”

Some members of the school board said they were also upset about the way the district was handling the dismissal of employees as it draws closer to approving a budget for the 2023-24 school year. They questioned the district’s strategy of rolling out notifications, citing the potential disruption to the school year if staff left the district early. And a few claimed that they hadn’t approved of the notices being sent out.

“We have people that are parting and leaving the district before we even vote” on the budget, said board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo. “We did not approve this. We’re not going to have people to go into these schools, because it’s going to create a domino effect.”

Over 50 district employees, parents and students showed up to Tuesday’s meeting to denounce the district’s proposed budget cuts going into next school year. Those who spoke stressed their worry for their careers and schools if the board moves to eliminate several support staff positions to save money.

“If you get rid of them, my babies will be affected,” said Davonne Abbott, a parent of students at Spain Elementary-Middle School.

“If you all need signatures from the parents, I will go out there and do that. Because I really really do believe that there’s another way,” Abbott said. “We got to find it.”

Paraeducators like Puriefoy-Hamlet are among the school employees facing job losses as the district curtails spending to deal with declining enrollment and the end of federal COVID relief aid. In recent weeks, the district sent out letters notifying paraprofessionals, college transition advisers, and school culture facilitators that their positions could be cut or consolidated.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that alongside the layoff notices, the district offered buyouts to about 50 school administrators — primarily deans and assistant principals. About 20 of them accepted offers to leave their positions before the end of the school year. Those notices and packages, Vitti added, were only “provided to individuals whose positions in the proposed budget are not funded.”

“I had to start engaging employees and unions about those changes, and that’s what I’ve been doing for several months,” he said.

Vitti said that district officials will go back to the employees who accepted buyouts to see if they’d be willing to stay until the last day of school. But he rebutted the complaints from board members, saying they had largely given him the go-ahead at their Feb. 18 school board retreat to send out notices and buyout packages.

Board members heard from many of the affected employees Tuesday, but the discussion also reflected public concern about how the proposed cuts would affect student achievement.

Lauren Hatten, a student representative and a senior at Cass Technical High School, said she and other high school student leaders were increasingly concerned about how the district would “keep our head above water” as funding dried up.

“Are we pushing for more money from the state government?” Hatten asked Vitti. “Detroit students are unique, and we need unique funding and resources to allow us to be evened out with our suburban peers.”

Henry Ford High School senior Cornell Young credited his college transition adviser with helping him realize college was an option, and encouraging him to research schools and apply for scholarships. He now plans to study mechanical engineering and culinary arts this fall.

“My CTA made me realize that I can do more than work in a warehouse or automotive plant, and I will achieve more than a high school diploma,” Young said. He and a classmate shared a petition signed by Henry Ford seniors supporting their adviser.

“You gave us CTAs to help us. It worked, but now you’re taking it away,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Vitti said the state’s school funding formula “has gotten better” in recent years “but it is still not equal and definitely not equitable.” He said DPSCD students concerned about funding cuts should advocate to Michigan legislators for a more equitable school funding formula.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district fires Pasteur Elementary administrator accused of choking a student

2023-04-20T20:35:44+00:00

The Detroit Public Schools Community District board voted Tuesday to fire Ramond Pilgrim, an assistant principal at Pasteur Elementary School whom the district accused of choking a student in September.

The board also voted to demote another Pasteur administrator and suspend her for a month without pay, because she didn’t report the incident for months after she was told about it.

Meanwhile, a teacher from Carstens Academy of Aquatic Science who was facing a termination vote over allegations that she assaulted a 11-year old student with special needs, opted to resign prior to Tuesday’s board meeting, DPSCD spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said.

The board also heard concerns about alleged abuse of students at Moses Field School at the hands of two paraprofessionals, as reported by a community newspaper.

District reports detail student assault

The two Pasteur employees were identified only by initials in documents accompanying the meeting agenda, and Wilson declined to share their names on Wednesday, citing privacy concerns.

But Pilgrim identified himself Tuesday when he spoke in his own behalf during the board meeting’s public comment period, before the board went into a closed session to discuss the termination recommendations.

Pilgrim choked the student and threw them into a chair, breaking it in the process, a report from the district’s investigation said, citing witness statements and video footage. The incident occurred in the auditorium of the K-6 school.

During the district’s investigation, the report added, Pilgrim said that he “acted out of self defense,” claiming that the student had “threatened his life” and that “he thought the student was going to attack him when he stood up from his seat.” He also claimed that the seat was already broken before the incident, the report said.

District officials rejected these claims, stating that the video evidence showed that the student did not walk toward Pilgrim, and that the chair was not broken until Pilgrim assaulted the student.

Pilgrim said at the board meeting that the student was given behavioral and emotional support from other school employees after the incident. He also said he communicated directly with the student’s family to inform them of the incident.

Anthony Adams, a former Detroit deputy mayor and school board president, spoke at Tuesday’s meeting in support of Pilgrim, saying the investigators’ findings weren’t consistent with the video footage.

“This was a man who’s worked with this student who’s tried to help him out, trying to make sure that he is in a positive learning environment,” Adams said. “And now he’s been, I almost say, railroaded with an investigative report that is completely inconsistent with the facts.”

The district’s investigation report said the other administrator was notified of the altercation in November and did not report the incident until January of this year, claiming it was an “oversight.” The administrator later stated that after watching the video, she believed Pilgrim acted in self-defense.

In the incident at Carstens Academy of Aquatic Sciences near the start of the school year, a teacher identified only as “CV” in a district report “lunged at, chased, grabbed, tumbled to the floor with, and tussled with an 11-yr-old student with disabilities throughout the school and onto the school bus,” said the report, which was deleted from the board’s published agenda.

The teacher proceeded to “physically engage the student until the student exited the bus,” after which the bus driver reported the incident to their own supervisor. A police report filed by the student’s parents said the student was found to have scratches.

During the district’s investigation, CV claimed that the student initiated the “playful banter,” and that she was unaware that the student had special needs, even though she had previously taught the student.

Paraprofessionals at special education center placed on leave

At Moses Field, one of the district’s centers for students with special needs, two paraprofessionals are on administrative leave over allegations they abused children who had cognitive impairments. Among the allegations detailed in the Detroit Native Sun’s report, which cited surveillance video: One of the paraprofessionals dragged a student down a hallway by his ankles, and weeks later whipped him with a ruler.

Aliya Moore, a district parent, said at Tuesday’s meeting that she was troubled by the allegations. She said she had heard about them from a teacher at Moses Field, and promptly called into the Michigan Abuse Line.

In an email to Chalkbeat, DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that district officials learned of the allegations in January.

“At that time, we immediately removed one paraprofessional and then another one when additional allegations surfaced,” Vitti said. Both employees are on administrative leave while an investigation is ongoing, he added, and families of students who were allegedly abused have been informed by the school leaders.

“These instances do not appear consistent with a lack of training or understanding of restraint, but abuse,” he said. “The School Board and I have been very clear that child abuse has no place in our school district and when the evidence clearly shows that children have been hit or abused the employee discipline is typically termination.”

An arrest warrant for one of the paraprofessionals was denied, according to a spokesperson from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, citing “insufficient evidence to charge in that case” following a review of the incident by an assistant prosecutor.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit students may lose foreign travel opportunities as budgets tighten

2023-04-12T22:29:10+00:00

With only two years of high school Japanese, Elize Smith was nervous about introducing herself to students in an algebra class in Tokyo this past February.

But over the next several days, between trips to historic shrines and villages, home stays with local families, and cooking classes, Elize and her seven classmates from Renaissance High School got the chance to practice their language skills and experience some of Japan’s historical and cultural landmarks as part of a school-organized trip.

“This is my first time really going somewhere and experiencing something new,” said Elize, a 16-year-old sophomore at Renaissance.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District had committed to expanding such opportunities for high school students to travel abroad and to restoring extracurricular programs that were largely stripped away under emergency management. The school board is set to approve funding for trips to France and Spain this summer.

But heading into the next school year, the district is talking about stripping away those programs as it prepares for the end of federal COVID relief funding, and international travel may be out of reach again for many students.

“Without COVID funding,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said, “it is difficult to justify District funding for international student trips when we are reducing school and district positions.”

In recent years, before COVID halted a lot of student travel, DPSCD helped fund international student trips by dipping into its general fund and using federal Title IV dollars.

In 2019, the district sponsored 54 students to travel to Italy. The students represented high schools from across the city, including application schools Renaissance and Cass Technical High School, as well as neighborhood schools such as Mumford and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney.

The district funding “ensured students from neighborhood schools participated where the concentration of low-income students is higher and these experiences are less likely to occur,” Vitti said.

Renaissance High School students Raven Reno (back left) and Ezra Keelen (front right) talk to students at a high school in Japan about a traditional game called hanetsuki.

DPSCD’s Department of World Languages counted on these international trips to help increase enrollment in its honors and advanced world language courses, according to a recent report.

This school year, the district tapped its share of federal COVID funds to fill in budget gaps resulting from inflation and lower enrollment. But now the COVID aid is running out, and it will all have been earmarked or spent by the start of next school year. The resulting budget adjustments will mean that fewer students have access to special programs like international travel.

Vitti said that before he became superintendent in 2017, students could participate in school- or district-sponsored international travel, but those trips would typically be funded by wealthier families or through private donations and fund-raising.

For example, marching bands from Detroit’s Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School traveled to Beijing to perform at the 2008 Summer Olympics and to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics. In both instances, students raised funds to cover the travel and lodging costs.

Outside of those trips, most schools didn’t have the resources to send their students abroad, Vitti said, so only students whose families could afford overseas travel or find other means would get the chance.

Ezra Keelen, a junior at Renaissance High School who traveled to Japan with Elize, said more students deserve the opportunity he and his classmates had to travel. Their weeklong trip to Japan was paid for by the Kakehashi Project, a cultural exchange program funded by the Japanese government.

“I definitely think it’s something that more students should be able to experience, because we learned a lot from that trip,” Ezra said. “And it made us want to continue to learn Japanese.”

Elize said she became interested in studying Japanese after growing fond of popular anime television shows such as “My Hero Academia” and “Attack on Titan” at the beginning of the pandemic.

She’s already thinking about going back to Japan, and possibly teaching English there after college, based on a suggestion from her teacher.

“We can be tourists anytime,” said Katharine Davis, Japanese language and culture instructor at Renaissance High School. “We can go to any country and see the sights and eat the food and shop the shops. But interacting with people is really what makes these experiences special, and especially for kids this age.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit Renaissance H.S. chess team captures a top prize at national competition

2023-04-04T19:30:35+00:00

The road to a national chess prize began in the fifth grade for Karrington Cobb, a senior at Detroit’s Renaissance High School whose team helped cement its legacy during a competition over the weekend.

She was an elementary student leaving school one day when she saw a signup table for a chess club. Enamored, Karrington begged her mother to let her join. It was then she met “Coach Robert,” who seven years later would lead Karrington and 12 other Renaissance students to the big prize.

“It’s great that I can go out like this with my team,” Karrington said Monday afternoon in an interview over Zoom, as her team stood around her in the background holding up their giant trophy. The students, still euphoric a day after the competition ended, spoke during a break in Ohio from their trip back to Detroit from Washington.

It was the first national win for the Renaissance team at the U.S. Chess Federation National High School Championship, where they finished above 67 other teams competing in the “under 800” category. That number is based on a team’s chess rating, with 100 being the beginning level and 3,000 being the top rating, said Daniel Lucas, spokesman for the chess federation.The overall national champion was from The Dalton School, a private school in New York.

Several other teams from the Detroit Public Schools Community District — Bates Academy, Cass Technical High School, and The School at Marygrove — also competed.

It was 2014 when the last district team, Chrysler Elementary School, won its category at the competition. In recent years, though, the district has invested resources and money in chess.

Renaissance coach Robert Taliaferro, who was inducted into the Detroit City Chess Club’s Harold Steen Hall of Fame in 2021, said he’s noticed an upswing in participation among Detroit students. It’s becoming more noticeable on the national stage.

“Usually it’s New York and California that have the big teams. Now, we’re bringing them,” Taliaferro said.

That’s partly due to the adults who give their time as adults and instructors. But it’s also due to the support from the district.

The number of teams and clubs in the district has grown from fewer than 20 in 2018 to 38 today. And the district now pays for the top three district teams, determined through city contests, to go to the national championship. Previously, teams had to fund their own way to the competition.

“That’s the only way they got here,” said LaRhonda Warren-McCann, director of the Metro Detroit Scholastic Chess League and a district employee.

Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti tweeted Monday: “What an accomplishment for the players, coaches, families, and school! We have been rebuilding K-8 chess programs throughout the District so this means so much!!!”

In 2019, he told Chalkbeat that chess is also providing a perfect outlet for the kind of skills some students already possess.

“So many of our students are natural critical thinkers,” Vitti said then. “They are constantly having to strategically think through their daily lives to overcome challenges and barriers.”

Corey Boyce, a Renaissance sophomore on the team, began playing the game when he was in elementary school, because it was something his brother was interested in. But the game became more than just an opportunity to bond with his sibling. He said so much of what he learns in chess is about strategy.

“Chess is a great hobby to get into,” Corey said. “It’s not just a game. It teaches you life. When you look at things from a different angle … it just helps you navigate life.”

The students competed in seven rounds of competition over three days before they won in their division. It was grueling, tiring work, Corey said, but it was worth it.

“You got to keep going, and keep winning,” Corey said. “You have to have the right mindset to keep going and push forward to be the best chess players we can be.”

The Renaissance team includes 25 students, 13 of whom competed in Washington. Eight of them are seniors.

To keep the momentum going, Taliaferro said, he’ll be getting the word out, recruiting students in the school lunchroom and elsewhere and “letting them know what we did.”

For seniors like Carrington, one of the best things about winning this year “is leaving them with this legacy.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Marygrove students’ advocacy spurs action on drinking water

2023-04-03T18:39:39+00:00

Asheley Ashittey remembers when the hydration stations scattered across Detroit’s The School at Marygrove wouldn’t stop blinking red.

It began in the fall of her sophomore year in 2021. The flashing lights that appeared atop the water fountains indicated that their filters needed to be replaced immediately.

Not long after the school year began, she went for a drink at a nearby station.

“I remember drinking out of the water fountains and having a metallic taste in my mouth,” Asheley said. Soon after, she stopped drinking water at school.

“At some points, I almost got dehydrated because I forgot to bring a water bottle and I couldn’t drink the water because I knew that I would get that metallic taste.”

Word quickly spread around the building, but the red lights continued to blink for over a year. Then this past November, Asheley’s earth science teacher recommended she and her 11th grade classmates test the water sources across the building as a class assignment. Equipped with multiple water testing kits, students in groups measured the water quality of the building’s eight stations.

What they found concerned them and prompted the Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Marygrove Conservancy, which operates the building, to act to ensure the safety of the water.

In a report shared with district and school officials ahead of the holiday break, students outlined their findings. Certain water fountains across the building had traces of lead, low water pressure, and a noticeable lack of consumable minerals such as fluoride and chlorine.

In the wake of their findings, students have aired their concerns with school, district, and city officials, advocating for increased testing, and routine inspection of water fountain filters and the building’s pipe infrastructure. Their advocacy and research prompted an immediate administrative response.

The results “were not necessary like imminent doom,” Amara Small, a Marygrove junior, said during a DPSCD school board meeting last month. But “they were not very good, and I feel like as a district, we have a higher standard for that.”

Amara, who is a student representative on the DPSCD school board, asked Superintendent Nikolai Vitti at the meeting to look into the water levels of Marygrove and other schools across the district.

“Students deserve to have safe water at the school that they are at,” she said. “Water is very important for education and living in general.”

Nationwide concern over school drinking water has risen over the past decade following news reports in places such as Flint and Benton Harbor, Michigan, dealing with concentrated levels of lead in water sources. In 2018, DPSCD found elevated levels of lead and copper in many of its schools. Through fundraising efforts over the next year, the district purchased and installed more than 500 water hydration stations. Those stations use filtered drinking water systems capable of removing lead.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends drinking water contain zero amounts of lead and no more than 1.3 mg/L of copper. Lead and copper exposure can lead to health problems ranging from stomach pain to brain damage. Both fluoride and chlorine are allowable in trace amounts due to their ability to prevent tooth decay and kill harmful bacteria.

Using three different water testing kits and checking for as many as 20 different minerals and contaminants, Marygrove students conducted multiple samples at each station.

The results show average lead levels of 1.7 parts per billion, well below the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion.

Fluoride levels averaged .024 milligrams per liter of drinking water, below the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended level of 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter.

DPSCD annually tests its hydration stations at all of its schools, Vitti said. The district additionally instructs custodians to regularly replace filters.

“We have not had concerns with high levels of lead or other concerns with the water,” Vitti said. “Districtwide, I feel confident that with the level of testing that we’re doing, we’re ensuring that the hydration stations are working.”

But the School at Marygrove building, which is operated by nonprofit Marygrove Conservancy, does not “use the water hydration stations that we had implemented at other schools throughout the district,” he said. While DPSCD runs academic programs at the school, facility maintenance is overseen by the Conservancy.

Since being informed of the issue, DPSCD has provided both water bottles as well as continued testing at the school. Ongoing construction to the Marygrove school building, Vitti added, may be influencing the water levels and could require regular water main flushing to remove any minerals or sediments.

“We applaud the scholars at the School at Marygrove who tested waterspouts during an end-of-semester class assignment,” according to a statement from the Marygrove Conservancy.

“We acted on their findings over the holiday break by flushing pipes and replacing the filters. Follow up testing revealed shortcomings in some fountains, which have been corrected while temporary drinking water stations were provided in the interim. We remain committed to providing safe drinking water for everyone on the Marygrove campus.”

After over a year of not drinking from the hydration stations, Asheley went back to filling her water bottle in early March.

“I do feel satisfied and sort of vindicated that our filters are finally being changed, even though it took like almost two years of actually noticing what’s going on with the water,” Asheley said.

“But at the same time, it’s not entirely over because we still need to maintain a level of not only accountability, but also ensuring that the district is playing its part not only at the school level, but also at the city and state level.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Credit recovery becomes key strategy for Detroit district’s graduation rate boost

2023-03-28T14:51:38+00:00

Justice McCalebb was nervous when he walked into his guidance counselor’s office at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School last November. The Detroit school district senior had fallen behind in his classes during the pandemic and needed to make up nine credits in math, English, science, and history — roughly two years’ worth of classes.

McCalebb hoped the counselor would offer a way to stay on track for graduation. But he didn’t expect to be pulled out of his school.

That’s what ended up happening. McCalebb was told he’d be moved to West Side Academy of Information Technology and Cyber Security — an alternative school in the district — within a matter of days in order to complete his credits.

To McCalebb, being pulled out of MLK and being sent to a new school didn’t seem like a fair solution.

“I feel like I could have completed it all if I stayed there,” he said.

McCalebb is one of a growing number of Detroit Public Schools Community District students who have been funneled to credit recovery courses after falling behind and finding themselves in danger of not graduating on time. In credit recovery, students take self-guided online courses, in which they view instructional videos and take multiple-choice question tests to pass.

The number of Detroit students taking credit recovery courses jumped during the pandemic, going from 2,742 high school students during the 2019-20 school year to peaking at 7,480 students last school year, about half of the roughly 14,000 high school students the district enrolls each year.

This year, 4,901 high school students in the district are enrolled in credit recovery – still nearly double the pre-pandemic numbers.

School districts have long tried to help students quickly earn course credits by using credit recovery programs. But the numbers have increased in Detroit and around the country as schools try to recover from pandemic-related disruptions that left many students off track for graduation due to failing grades, absences, and challenges with online learning.

Detroit district officials rapidly expanded offerings of credit recovery, encouraging students short on credits to make up courses during their regular class schedule, after school, and on weekends. So far that strategy has paid off: The district’s four-year graduation rate rose for the first time in nearly a decade.

“If students do not pass certain classes, then they cannot receive a high school diploma. Period,” said DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “We are changing the expectations, climate, and culture in our high schools by moving students on a clear path to graduate in four years.”

But while credit recovery appears to be improving graduation rates, some argue that it comes at the expense of face-to-face classroom time for students.

Students such as McCalebb who are sent to alternative schools are pulled away from close friends and school activities, which creates more disruption for already struggling students. If they are already behind grade level in core subjects, those students miss critical learning time. Experts say credit recovery alone doesn’t address the root causes of their academic challenges.

Graduation rate improvement hinges on credit recovery

As more students have enrolled in credit recovery programs, Detroit has seen an encouraging trend in its graduation rate.

In the 2021-22 school year, DPSCD’s four-year graduation rate rose to 71.1%, up from 64.5% in the previous school year. At this point last year, in the middle of pandemic disruptions, roughly 23% of high school students were on track to graduation. This year, that has improved to 56%.

“The improvement in graduation rates is a testament to our continued commitment to improve the high school experience for our students,” said Vitti in a recent news release.

“The course recovery work, especially as a product of the pandemic, has been grueling for staff and students but everyone refused to make excuses and our students benefited by graduating in four years.”

During the pandemic, Michigan’s high school graduation rate fell by 1.6 percentage points between 2020 and 2021, the first decline in years. In Detroit, graduation rates had been declining since 2015-16.

Detroit board members have called on the district in recent years to do more to address literacy levels and declining graduation rates.

““I am really outraged at the numbers,” board member Sonya Mays said last July during a school board meeting, referring to the 2019-20 school year. “We are still having hundreds of students leave this district without something as basic as a high school diploma, and I just find that really outrageous.”

Vitti has attributed that declining graduation rate in part to some of the city’s lowest-performing schools being reincorporated into the district in 2017, and more recently, the pandemic’s impact on student attendance.

As an increasing number of students failed to log in to online classes during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, the district used some of its COVID relief funding to offer teachers extra pay to teach additional courses during the day and to provide after-school courses to help students make up missed credit.

Credit recovery alone can’t help struggling students

As credit recovery programs have risen in popularity among school districts in the past decade, teachers and experts have raised concerns about potential drawbacks.

“It feels like the district is panicking after offering students ‘grace’ during the lockdown and virtual year, only to realize that the graduation rate was going to drop because kids didn’t have enough credits to actually graduate by state standards,” said Kelsey Wiley, an English teacher at Cass Technical High School.

The increased load of credit recovery, Wiley added, has hindered students from participating in after-school activities or being able to work after school.

In most cases, online credit recovery programs can be a “good model” for students who have already demonstrated a mastery of the curriculum material they missed, said Jordan Rickles, a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research, who studied credit recovery programs.

The programs can allow students who have fallen behind the chance to test out of certain units. But those programs alone can’t make up for the circumstances that may have made a student fail a class in the first place.

“It’s not that they just need to retake an algebra I class and they’re good to go,” Rickles said. “It’s that these students have been, for a multitude of possible reasons, disconnected from school, or their attendance rates are much lower than the average student.”

Carolyn Heinrich, a professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University, found in her research into credit recovery programs that students least prepared academically were more likely to be set back by or struggle with online remedial courses, particularly those far behind grade level in core subjects.

And graduation rates, Heinrich said, while an important gauge of school quality, don’t necessarily equate to readiness for life beyond high school.

“We’re not going to make online credit recovery go away because it’s inexpensive, it fills an important need, she said. “But if we can do it better, so the kids … don’t have to trade off learning for passing courses, that’s what we need to do.”

Creating credit recovery programs that are of high quality, Heinrich added, through the use of in-person instructors, small class sizes, and progress monitoring, is the challenge facing high schools.

Vitti maintained that “no student is falling through the cracks” and that a pathway to recovery is available for those who end up in a “credit hole.” During his tenure as superintendent, the district has emphasized providing wraparound services for academically struggling students.

Over the course of the pandemic, DPSCD began actively monitoring each student’s credit status once they entered high school, he said. High school principals, according to Vitti, are now equipped to spot early warning signs of struggling students following their first semester of ninth grade.

“Being behind a couple of credits or classes is recoverable and manageable if the student is willing to put in the extra work and sacrifice,” Vitti said. “Most of our high school students do this.”

But some students end up missing two or more years worth of credits by their junior or senior year and, “it becomes more difficult for the traditional high school to catch these students up.”

Students in that situation can transfer on their own or are switched by school officials to alternative schools, as McCalebb was, where they are enrolled full-time in credit recovery. West Side Academy – one of the district’s alternative high schools – saw the highest improvement in graduation rates across DPSCD in the 2021-22 school year, rising by 25 percentage points.

“The West Side graduation rate data speaks for itself as an effective strategy to catch students up with credit to ensure they graduate in four years or even graduate at all,” Vitti said.

Students make up courses at expense of classroom time, extracurriculars

At West Side Academy, where Justice McCalebb was sent in the fall of his senior year, students complete courses through Edgenuity, an online curriculum that uses pre-recorded videos to speed students through core lessons. While teachers are in the classroom for additional support, students progress through multiple-choice assessments at their own pace.

Several months after being transferred from King, McCalebb is still irked over the decision. He’s been told he won’t be able to return to that campus, because King operates on a semester schedule while West Side runs on a quarter schedule.

In his first month at the alternative school, McCalebb estimates he breezed through 10 classes – without, he says, actually learning much. Many of the assignments covered material he had already been taught at King.

McCalebb often thinks about the opportunities he’s missing out on at King — after-school programs such as Lyrical Crusaders, a club where students perform spoken word poetry and hip hop, and C² pipeline, a college and career readiness initiative offered through Wayne State University.

McCalebb, who was behind nine credits when he came to West Side, is now on track to graduate this spring. But the disappointment about the transfer looms large over his senior year.

“There’s absolutely nothing I like about West Side,” he said.

With high school almost in the rear-view mirror, McCalebb is weighing his post-graduate options. At first, he had considered a few local colleges. Now he has pivoted his attention toward enrolling in a trade school next year.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district is pressed for answers on how impending budget cuts will affect staffing

2023-03-24T21:50:05+00:00

Community members and union leaders are asking the Detroit school district for more clarity on how impending budget cuts will affect certain categories of district employees, as officials prepare for the end of federal COVID relief money.

Over 100 district positions may be cut or consolidated moving into the 2023-24 school year, including school support staff such as general ed kindergarten paraprofessionals, school culture facilitators, attendance agents, and college transition advisers. At a meeting of the school board finance committee Friday, the community groups pressed the district to prioritize student and family needs as it decides where to make cuts.

“We know that a lot of our paraprofessionals are really important for student relationships,” said Molly Sweeney, director of organizing for education advocacy group 482Forward. “So as we think about the budget process, if there are staff cuts, we want to be able to really justify that for what that impact is in our families and really stand with the community members.”

The Detroit Public Schools Community District received a total $1.3 billion in federal aid to help students recover from the pandemic. DPSCD will have spent most of the money by the end of this school year on initiatives such placing nurses in every school, increasing mental health resources and staff support, creating and expanding the DPSCD Virtual School, and after-school and summer school programming. And it has already committed $700 million to renovate and rebuild schools across the city.

The depletion of those funds will force the district to make some tough spending decisions for the coming year, because one of its main remaining sources of revenue is state aid based on enrollment. And DPSCD has seen its enrollment drop by about 2,000 students since the start of the public health crisis in 2020.

Discussions about next year’s budget are still ongoing, and the budget will not be finalized until board approval in June. But district officials are hoping to soften the impact of expected cuts on district employees and families by moving employees in positions that are expected to be phased out into roles with staffing shortages, such as pre-kindergarten paraprofessionals, substitute teachers, cafeteria aides, and academic interventionists.

“We want them to stay with us but move to another area,” said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

Principals across the district have received their proposed budgets and are working on determining their priorities.

Part of the discussion about staff reductions, Vitti added, has been to ensure equitable funding across the district, particularly for neighborhood high schools and large K-8 schools — schools that typically have higher rates of student absenteeism and lower achievement metrics. Those schools, he noted, will have “more flexibility this year with deciding what positions they want in their building.”

After spring break next week, Vitti said, the district intends to host engagement sessions for district employees and community members to go into “greater depth and talk about the recommended changes as we go into the budget adoption in June.”

One category of employees that will see adjustments from new district priorities is attendance agents, the employees assigned to help school administrators track down absent students and get them to class.

As many as 20 attendance agent positions may be cut from the district’s budget, according to Vitti, as the district retools its strategy to address chronic student absenteeism.

In the latest school year, 77% of DPSCD students were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year, or 18 days.

Attendance agents have been a key part of the district’s strategy to address the problem. The district currently employs roughly 89 attendance agents, assigned to individual schools across the city. But last fall, district officials began to reconsider their allocation of one attendance agent per school.

In the future, Vitti said, the district wants to prioritize its placement of attendance agents at schools with the highest number of chronically absent students. Another group of about 20 agents would operate districtwide to support schools with less absenteeism.

As with the other positions designated for cuts, current attendance agents will be able to transition into other high-need staff roles, Vitti said.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Southeastern HS resumes in-person classes after closure for flood damage repairs

2023-03-20T21:02:00+00:00

In-person classes have resumed at Detroit’s Southeastern High School, which closed in January because of significant water damage that forced the school to pivot to online learning.

Students and staff returned to their classrooms on Mar. 15, according to Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

The building had been closed for repairs since early January, when officials found that a pipe burst over winter break and waterlogged classrooms. Construction work continues on the school’s hallways, Vitti said, which need new tiling. That project is expected to be completed before the beginning of next school year.

The district last month considered moving Southeastern’s roughly 600 students temporarily to another DPSCD building, such as Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men near Midtown Detroit, or switching to a hybrid format.

But students, staff, and families who were surveyed said they preferred to continue with online learning until the repairs were done, Vitti told Detroit school board members during February’s monthly meeting.

Vitti said attendance remained high throughout the online learning period, with roughly 95% of students attending online classes.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Cooley High School sale is off as Detroit school board rejects nonprofit’s latest offer

2023-03-17T22:16:08+00:00

The Detroit Public Schools Community District has formally rejected offers by nonprofit Life Remodeled to acquire the vacant Cooley High School, setting back plans to rehabilitate the dilapidated building.

The decision comes over a year after the organization publicly bid to buy the former high school and redevelop it as a community hub over three years through an investment of $37.5 million.

“The District, through the School Board and Superintendent, rejected the latest Life Remodeled offer because it did not include commitments prior to the sale that the building and land would be used as the sale proposal outlines,” district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said in a statement Friday afternoon.

“The School Board is committed to ensuring that if the building and land were sold then the planned use occurs. Since the negotiations regarding the sale have concluded, the District will now move forward to explore alternative uses for the building and land.”

DPSCD was preparing to sell Cooley last fall to Life Remodeled for $400,000. But Superintendent Nikolai Vitti revoked his initial recommendation of the sale in November, citing opposition from some board members about whether the district was underpricing the property, and about how its future owners would use the site.

At the time, Vitti signaled that the two parties would begin renegotiating terms of their agreement. But according to Chris Lambert, founder and CEO of Life Remodeled, there was little negotiation in the following months.

“Despite fervent pleas from neighbors and alumni, the DPSCD Board, without a public vote or discussion, has denied our collective efforts to transform Cooley in the ways the community wishes,” Lambert said in a news release.

“As a result this formerly grand building will continue to be in a state of decay for the foreseeable future rather than becoming what you, the School Board’s constituents, have enthusiastically stated you want for it to become.”

Lambert said Life Remodeled made two final offers to the district on March 8: either $1 million for the school property, excluding the athletic fields, or $500,000, with the inclusion of a $1 million donation to the district.

The district rejected both offers. According to the Life Remodeled release, the district sought the addition of financial and construction benchmarks to indicate whether the nonprofit had secured enough donations to complete the project.

Lambert said that those guidelines would “handcuff Life Remodeled” and provide DPSCD “with too much discretion to either withhold its approval … or to claw back the property without due process.”

Back in November, Vitti said that those benchmarks would provide added security that the future of the site would be “aligned to the proposal and beneficial to the community of DPSCD.”

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, board members deliberated in a closed-door session over the negotiations between DPSCD and Life Remodeled, disclosing only after the session that the discussions were ongoing.

“We are still in active negotiations,” board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said at the meeting. “Our legal team has language to go back to the bidder so that it can be considered for acceptance.”

The board has been working to update new members elected last November on conversations surrounding Cooley’s sale, Peterson-Mayberry added.

Located in northwest Detroit, Cooley opened in 1928 and became one of the city’s most storied high schools, revered for its athletic programs as well as its Mediterranean Revival architectural style. In 2011, a year after the school closed, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2017, the building suffered severe damage from a fire in its auditorium.

In the past decade, neighborhood residents and alumni have called on the district to address the blight, either by selling or reopening the high school.

“I’m here today because Life Remodeled is the only group that has come to our community to say anything about doing anything with Cooley High School,” Sandra Sterling, a leader with the Calvary Community Association block club and longtime area resident, said after Vitti’s decision in November. “Do not carry this into another year.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit paraeducators, support staff protest potential job cuts

2023-03-15T17:30:48+00:00

Staff and parents upset about potential job cuts are pleading with Detroit Public Schools Community District officials to find other ways to address the budget gaps.

They brought their concerns to the Detroit school board Tuesday night. The district is weighing cutting more than 100 jobs, most of them central office employees as well as some school-based administrators and support staff.

The discussions are happening as the district prepares for the 2023-24 school year, when its nearly $1.3 billion in federal COVID relief funds will be depleted and it will no longer have that money to cushion the blow from losing about $20 million in state funding because of a large enrollment loss during the pandemic. The district has lost about 2,000 students, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Vitti said the district and principals will need to make tough choices to keep the budget balanced while prioritizing teacher salary increases, keeping classrooms safe from program cuts, and ensuring the district remains financially strong and doesn’t return to the financial chaos that ruled for many years in the city.

Parents and staff worry about the impact on students and staff if principals can’t find the money for school deans, assistant principals at small schools, paraprofessionals, school culture facilitators, and college transition advisors.

“It’s just shocking … scary to imagine losing these important people,” Kristen Egger, a parent of four children at Nichols Elementary School, told board members.

Donna Jackson, president of the Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals, said she’s disappointed the district isn’t prioritizing the employees she represents. Paraprofessionals provide academic assistance to students.

“These support staff continue to dedicate their lives filling the void for staff shortages and absences, covering classrooms and full time subbing,” Jackson said at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Both paraeducators and school culture facilitators were very instrumental for students and their families during the height of COVID, risking their lives to report to work in person while other staff remain home to do remote work.”

Most of the district’s federal COVID relief money will be spent by the beginning of the next fiscal year, with the rest earmarked for a massive facility plan to renovate and rebuild buildings. The money, which was aimed at helping schools and students recover from the pandemic, has helped the district avoid staff layoffs and weather the enrollment losses.

“None of this is final, but we are moving forward with changes,” Vitti said, explaining that district officials are still “going through the budget to solve that challenge and opportunity.”

He added: “When you look at the difficult decisions that have to be made, if we cut central office — which we are — the only where else to go is the classroom, and we’re trying to protect the classroom by not doing cuts there with programming and teachers.

“We’re going to have to continue to recruit teachers and retain teachers simply at the levels that we were before,” Vitti said. In order to do that, he said, the district will need to increase salaries.

Increasing teacher salaries has been a key strategy of Vitti’s since he arrived in 2017. Starting salaries have seen a boost, from roughly $36,000 to over $51,000 during the 2021-22 school year. That strategy has enabled the district to reduce teacher vacancies, down from over 200 at the start of the 2017-18 school year to 50 current vacancies.

District officials have already begun to meet with employee groups to explain the potential budget cuts and field comments and concerns, Vitti added. Principals will get their budgets Wednesday and have a month to decide what they will prioritize.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers came to the board meeting in a show of support for their school support staff and administrators.

“There should be some loyalty and support for those of us who stayed in the district during the dark days of emergency management so that our children could hold on to hope,” said Andrea Thompson, a college transition advisor who has worked in the district for over 25 years.

“Our children need college transition advisors to help them navigate through their processes of post-secondary education, whether it be college, skilled trades, military or even going into entrepreneurship.”

Next year’s budget will include cuts to the district’s summer school, after-school programming, and the end of COVID testing. The district used COVID funding to place contracted nurses in every school building. Vitti said that while officials believe they can fund districtwide mental health services, nurses may only be available in “at least three fourths of our schools.”

Budget discussions prompt early buyout talks

As part of the district’s budget decisions, Vitti said, some hourly employees have been told they may have to shift roles to fulfill school staffing needs.

“Our goal is trying to move as many hourly employees in particular, and even administrators with certification in open positions if they’re willing to do that,” Vitti said.

Whether or not employees will choose to move onto those new positions has opened discussion surrounding the possibility of severance packages for school-based employees. In response to a question from board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, Vitti shared the district’s current position regarding buyouts.

“We really have not dealt with severance for hourly employees in particular,” he said. “This is new territory for the district. We’ll work with the union leader for that group, if they’re willing to move forward with these efforts.”

The district can’t offer a severance or engage a severance without the approval of a union leader, Vitti added.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter at Chalkbeat Detroit covering education in Detroit. You can reach Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district budget cuts may target school deans, assistant principals, as COVID aid dries up

2023-03-06T19:55:49+00:00

Funds for school deans, assistant principals, central office staff, and summer school programs are at risk of being cut as Detroit school district officials consider how to balance their budget when federal COVID relief money dries up.

That’s the outlook for the district based on priorities that Superintendent Nikolai Vitti outlined during a school board finance committee meeting Friday morning. The priorities reflected discussions the full board held during an hours-long closed-door meeting on Feb. 18.

“Based on the board retreat, the priorities moving forward with available funds are contracted nurses, full time social workers, and academic interventionists,” Vitti said Friday.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District received a total $1.3 billion in federal aid that was designed to help students recover from the pandemic. The loss of that funding will hit the district hard, because one of its main remaining sources of revenue is state aid based on enrollment. And DPSCD has seen its enrollment drop by about 2,000 students since the start of the public health crisis.

DPSCD will have spent most of the federal money by the end of this school year on initiatives such placing nurses in every school, increasing mental health resources and staff support, creating and expanding the DPSCD Virtual School, and after-school and summer school programming. And it has already committed $700 million to renovate and rebuild schools across the city.

As many as 100 staff members have already been told their positions, paid for in part using federal COVID aid, may be cut or consolidated by the end of the school year.

After this year, the funding cuts will hit “school based administrators, deans, assistant principals and central office administrators,” Vitti said. However, he noted that individual principals could tap their discretionary budgets to cover some of these positions.

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the effects of dwindling COVID relief dollars will come up in contract negotiations for all of the unions connected to the district.

“As we build momentum in our contract talks, we understand that there will be some shifts made due to the loss of COVID funding,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “Our concern as the union is how to maintain all of our members, because the services are still needed.”

“We don’t want to put our members, and our students most importantly, in a situation where there have been deep cuts unnecessarily or prematurely,” she said.

Parent liaisons should be here to stay

Detroit schools will have access to federal funding through Title I, a program that provides additional money for schools with high numbers or high percentages of low-income students.

Vitti said individual schools will have to rely on Title I dollars to fund parent liaison positions next school year.

Parent liaisons, or parent outreach coordinators, have been key to the district’s efforts to connect with and engage parents and families across the city. Hired as part time staff, these parents typically work with school staff to run parent programs and workshops, promote school-sponsored events, advertise parent-teacher conferences, and coordinate home visits for administrators.

During the pandemic, the district used some of its COVID dollars to pay district staff and parents to canvas neighborhoods as it prepared to return fully to in-person learning in the 2021-22 school year.

“There’ll be some dollars” for the neighborhood canvassing, Vitti said, “but not as much when we think about one-time COVID money. But the parent liaisons will be funded in individual schools.”

Detroit’s robust summer school may see drastic cuts

The Detroit district’s ambitious summer school offerings will likely see drastic reductions going into the summer. Vitti said the district intends to limit its program to students in grades 8 through 12 who need to complete credit recovery courses for core subjects such as English, math, science and social studies.

Over the past two years, DPSCD’s Summer Learning Experiences has offered a wide range of programs, from academic enrichment classes and STEM courses to recreational activities for students, funded with COVID relief aid.

DPSCD spent $10 million to expand Summer Learning Experiences in 2021 and $11 million to expand the program this past summer, bringing summer school enrollment to roughly 8,000 students. The program was recognized last year by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and first lady Jill Biden during a special visit at Detroit’s Schulze Academy for Technology and Arts.

This year, Vitti said, the district plans to offer summer school at five city high schools, and provide transportation. Individual high schools may offer bridge programs for eighth graders transitioning into ninth grade, but funding for those initiatives will have to come from individual school budgets.

Academic intervention reform remains a budget priority

The district has counted on academic interventionists for its larger reform efforts to provide intensive academic support for students performing below grade level in core subjects. Funding for these educators won’t go away.

Last fall, the district received a $20 million private donation from billionaire MacKenzie Scott. At the time, Vitti said the district planned to use that money to hire academic interventionists, and on Friday he said the district hopes to employ as many as 50 academic interventionists to work one-on-one or in small groups with students.

Those positions, according to Vitti, would primarily be located at specific K-8 schools that are large and “have more students … below grade level.”

Schools outside of those parameters, such as smaller K-5 and K-8 schools, will see a slight increase in their academic interventionist budget allocation. The overall number of academic interventionists at each of those schools, Vitti added, will depend on how many students are in each grade.

Michigan’s 4-year graduation rate up, but so is the dropout rate

2023-02-24T20:01:34+00:00

Michigan’s four-year high school graduation rate rebounded slightly last year after a pandemic-related decline, and the Detroit district recorded a big gain.

But that progress was tempered by an increase in the state’s dropout rate, which had declined the previous two years.

The state posted new graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2022 on Friday morning.

The graduation rate was 81.01%, a small increase from 80.47% for the Class of 2021. That’s still below the pre-pandemic rate of 81.41% in 2019.

The dropout rate for the Class of 2022 was 8.19%, up from 7.65% the year before. In 2019, it was 8.36%.

“Improving graduation rates, a return to pre-COVID rates in many cases, are positive signs that our schools are beginning to emerge from the adverse impacts of the pandemic,” said State Superintendent Michael Rice in a statement.

Rice noted that graduation rates for Black students rose more than any other racial/ethnic group, increasing 2.53 percentage points to the pre-pandemic level of 70.13%. Gaps remain between graduation rates for Black and hispanic students and students in other racial groups.

Michigan has seen a decade of mostly steady progress in its graduation rates — the four-year rate in 2012 was 74%. In 2020-21, the first full year of instruction after the start of the pandemic, the state lost ground for the first time in five years.

“We still have a long way to go to get kids back to where we need them to be following the most significant disruption to education that we’ve ever seen,” said Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, which represents 123 school districts.

The four-year graduation rate represents the portion of students who entered high school in 2018 and graduated in 2022. The state also calculates five- and six-year rates, recognizing that some students need more time to graduate. Dropouts are students who leave school permanently at any time in high school.

Michigan’s long-term gains in the graduation rate track with substantial improvements nationwide, a widely celebrated — and debated — trend of the last two decades.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District, for the first time in six years, saw a substantial increase. The district’s four-year graduation rate rose nearly seven percentage points to 71.1% in 2021-22, from 64.5% in 2020-21.

“The increase is certainly a reflection of the District’s improvement in data systems, early warning indicators, and monitoring of graduating cohorts by central office leaders, principals, and school based teams,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email Friday afternoon. “It is also a result of our course recovery efforts.”

DPSCD graduation rates had been declining since the 2015-16 school year. Vitti has attributed that decline in part to some of the city’s lowest-performing schools being reincorporated into the district in 2017, and more recently, the pandemic’s impact on student attendance.

Vitti last year described graduation data from 2020-21 as a baseline for the district moving forward, with an emphasis on providing course recovery as part of its efforts to get more students on track for graduation.

Koby Levin is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 schools and early childhood education. Contact Koby at klevin@chalkbeat.org.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Federal COVID relief aid to schools will dry up soon. Are districts ready?

2023-02-17T18:00:00+00:00

For the past couple of years, the Detroit Public Schools Community District has been able to tap its share of federal COVID relief aid to fund after-school enrichment programs that help students recover from learning lost during the pandemic.

But those funds will soon run out, and Detroit and other districts face some tough decisions about which programs and employees they can afford to keep once federal support is gone.

Detroit parent Aliya Moore said she is concerned that her daughter’s newly funded after-school debate team will be “snatched,” along with funding for new positions such as parent outreach coordinators.

“That’s my biggest fear,” said Moore, who is a frequent critic of the district. “Just going into (next) school year, and a lot of these people are not there.”

For districts, there’s an added challenge: Looming deadlines attached to the federal aid put them under time pressure to map out their spending and use up the remaining funds quickly and effectively, while also figuring out how they’ll manage without it.

What they’re eager to prevent is a so-called fiscal cliff, where a steep drop in funding forces sudden and severe budget cuts that could ripple throughout the school system.

Superintendents in Michigan are generally optimistic that their districts can avoid that scenario, especially given the prospect of increased state funding. But experts say it will take work.

“Districts need to plan now, so students don’t face chaos at the start of the 2024 school year with classrooms and teachers shuffled, programs abruptly dropped, demoralized staff, and leaders focusing on nothing but budget woes,” wrote Marguerite Roza, a professor at Georgetown University who studies school finance, in a recent article.

What is federal COVID aid?

Michigan hasn’t seen anything like this: more than $6 billion in federal funds aimed at helping students recover from the pandemic, by far the largest one-time federal investment in schools in state history. Most of it was distributed based on poverty levels in each district’s community. The Detroit district alone received $1.27 billion.

About this project

$6 billion.

That’s how much Michigan schools are receiving from the federal government to help students and staff recover from the pandemic.

But it isn’t entirely clear how this unprecedented amount of federal cash is being spent and whether it is having an impact.

Chalkbeat Detroit, the Detroit Free Press, and Bridge Michigan have teamed up to find out where the money is going, who is benefiting, and whether the money is helping students get back on track academically, emotionally, and socially.

Please share your thoughts — and tips — with reporters Koby Levin at klevin@chalkbeat.org, Lily Altavena at laltavena@freepress.org, and Isabel Lohman at ilohman@bridgemi.com.

Check out a few of the most recent stories from our series below:

Federal COVID relief aid to schools will dry up soon. Are districts ready?

Michigan school districts are flush with cash, but wary

COVID aid helps Michigan school districts plug deficits

How private schools are spending COVID relief cash

New MI ESSER tutoring programs have room to grow

Congress gave districts plenty of leeway on how they could spend the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief money, or ESSER funds. So far, they have used it for a wide array of projects, including summer school expansions, staff bonuses, air filtration improvements, building renovations, tutoring, and mental health programs.

But they’re on a tight schedule to spend it. The federal government wants the funds deployed quickly to accelerate the recovery from the pandemic. So districts have only until 2024 to get state approval for all their spending plans. Much of the spending itself must be complete by 2025, though districts may apply for extensions through 2026.

Districts aim to reduce spending without affecting the classroom

Having such a massive spending initiative roll out — and wrap up — so quickly was never going to be easy for Michigan districts. The state’s highest-poverty districts, which received by far the most funding per student, are taking the longest to spend the funds amid supply chain disruptions and a tight labor market.

Even districts that budgeted carefully and avoided long-term spending commitments that couldn’t be sustained without federal support will see disruptions from the loss of short-term programming that has been critical to the COVID recovery effort.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District, for instance, has notified as many as 100 staff members, including central office staff, master teachers, deans of culture, and attendance agents, that their positions paid for in part using federal COVID aid may be cut or consolidated by the end of the school year.

Neighboring Ecorse Public Schools will end a tutoring program designed to help students manage the effects of the pandemic.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district isn’t planning to make budget recommendations that would hurt student achievement. “However, at a high level, if hard decisions are not made, then we will not be able to fund some of the COVID initiatives that we believe are most important to students,” he said.

Detroit has moved relatively quickly to plan out and spend its COVID aid. Of the $1.27 billion DPSCD received, $700 million is already earmarked for an infrastructure program that will renovate and rebuild schools across the city. The rest has gone toward expanding programming and providing additional staff at individual schools, among other things.

Vitti said that although no decision has been made yet, “it will be difficult to fund nurses and expand after-school programming and summer school next year.”

The DPSCD school board will convene on Saturday for a retreat and its first in-depth conversation about the expiring funds. Board members have insisted that district leaders find a way to maintain expanded mental health programming, even if it was funded by COVID aid.

Moore, whose daughter is a seventh-grader at Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, plans to attend Saturday’s meeting to hear what COVID-funded initiatives board members intend to keep or cut. With pandemic recovery far from complete, she’s hoping the board will prioritize after-school programming and academic recovery programs moving into the 2023-24 school year.

“I don’t feel like at this time any school should be denied after-school opportunities,” she said.

Some districts have huge sums left to spend

For other districts, it’s the federal deadlines that are proving to be the bigger challenge.

The issue came into sharp relief last year when hundreds of superintendents nationwide asked the U.S. Department of Education to extend the deadlines, saying that supply chain and staffing problems were slowing spending. The department said no, barring a change to federal law. (In Virginia, lawmakers are seeking to ratchet up the pressure with a bill that would require districts to return unspent funding to the state this summer.)

In Michigan, some observers have argued that state lawmakers should withhold new investments from districts that still have enormous amounts of federal funding to spend.

As of January, Michigan districts had spent 30% of the third and largest round of federal funding. They still have $2.1 billion to spend — which is equivalent to 10% of all state education spending this year.

Detroit has spent 38% of its federal funds, but other districts that received very high levels of federal aid — roughly defined as more than $10,000 per pupil — have much more ground to make up.

Flint Community Schools has spent 12% of the third wave of COVID funds. Hamtramck Public Schools spent 14%, Eastpointe Community Schools spent 5%, and Pontiac City School District spent 7%.

Benton Harbor Area Schools hasn’t spent any of its funds.

A recent report from the Citizens Research Council, a Michigan think tank, linked the vast majority of the unspent funds to a handful of high-poverty communities.

The report warns that rapid spending won’t be easy given the staff shortages and supply chain problems that have plagued the pandemic-era economy.

It notes, too, that spending the money effectively will be even tougher on a tight timeline.

Flint Superintendent Kevelin Jones said his district will be able to spend the money on time, and that it has emphasized one-time investments to make it easier to manage the end of COVID funding. In 2021, the district used federal funds to pay teachers one-time bonuses of $22,500.

“From the beginning, the district understood that ESSER funds served as a one-time” funding source, he said in a statement, noting that the goal of its spending was still to create a lasting impact.

Strong state budget provides a backstop

The closest parallel to the challenges facing Michigan schools may be the 2011 expiration of federal funds linked to the Great Recession.

Many districts used those dollars to build new programs, hoping that the state would step in to continue them when federal dollars dried up. Instead, amid a disastrous economy, state leaders opted for a steep cut to school funding, leading to a brutal round of cutbacks in school programming.

Things look different this time around. The state budget is far stronger, bolstered by historically high sales tax revenues. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent budget proposal taps an estimated $4 billion school aid surplus to call for a second straight major increase in school funding. Democrats, fully empowered in Lansing for the first time in decades, say they are eager to support increased school spending.

While the federal COVID aid program is much larger than the Great Recession package was, experts say the boost in state funding this time will do much to smooth the transition away from pandemic-related funding and ease the risk of a fiscal cliff.

Westwood Community School District, set in a high-poverty suburb west of Detroit, avoided using COVID aid to pay salaries or hire staff. Superintendent Stiles Simmons said the district used the money instead to pay $1,000 bonuses to classroom aides and improve facilities. When it needed new staff to help students cope with the pandemic, it relied on new state funding to cover salaries.

When the funds expire, aides might miss their bonuses, Simmons said, and the district won’t be able to continue paying educators $60 an hour to teach summer school. But he said he’s more worried about the possibility of a recession or a change in political support for schools than the expiration of COVID funds.

“If things continue as they are at this point, it’s difficult to see the cliff, but just knowing how things ebb and flow … especially with the economy, we have to always be on the lookout,” he said.

Even with rising state funding, DPSCD school board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo said the coming budget adjustments for school districts warrant a reconsideration of the way Michigan funds schools, calling the current formula inequitable. Since the passage of Proposal A in 1994, Michigan school funding has been based on the number of students attending the district. In Detroit, a series of economic downturns and a decline in the city’s population eroded student enrollment.

“Now’s the time, because we have a Democratic majority, to revisit Proposal A,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “We’re not talking about taking away funds from other districts. We’re talking about equalizing the dollars.”

She added: “You can’t plug in short term money for long term positions in perpetuity, but we have to have a solution for how to make sure that we are not displacing (staff) that really care and want to serve our children properly.”

Koby Levin is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering K-12 schools and early childhood education. Contact Koby at klevin@chalkbeat.org.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

An update to Southeastern, a budget amendment, and more at Detroit’s February school board meeting

2023-02-10T00:14:21+00:00

Southeastern High School students will continue to get instruction online for the next month or so.

Heavy flooding during the winter break forced the building to close and instruction to shift online.

There had been some discussion about moving the roughly 600 Southeastern students to another building in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, such as Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men. But Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Detroit school board members during Tuesday’s monthly meeting that there was clear consensus from students, parents, and staff that online instruction could continue.

That feedback, coupled with the challenge of moving Southeastern students to an alternate site, influenced the decision to continue with remote learning.

The building is expected to reopen by mid-March or early April, Vitti added. The repair timeline is based on the extent of flood damage to the high school, as well as the availability of supplies needed to repair the building. Renovation work will continue into the summer, but classrooms will be usable before the school year ends.

The attendance rate has remained high, at about 90%, since the school pivoted to virtual learning on Jan. 12.

“Considering the possibility of hurting attendance and logistical changes, everyone thought it was best to stay online,” Vitti said. “I’m continuing to push for an earlier return” to Southeastern.”

In addition to giving the Southeastern update, the board renewed several contracts with curriculum providers at Tuesday’s meeting.

Board approves budget amendment

The board unanimously approved an amendment to this school year’s budget.

Typically, the board reviews and approves budget amendments after district leaders account for new revenue and expenses incurred since the budget was adopted in the previous fiscal year.

The district estimates a $79 million increase in revenue and a $44 million increase in expenditures.

Most of the additional revenue comes from an increase in state aid that was larger than what the district projected when the board adopted the budget in June. The district has also received more special-education revenue from the state and increased grant revenue.

The increased expenses include salaries and benefits, supplies, utility costs, and purchased services.

The budget amendment also accounts for an additional $287 million in federal COVID relief money that will go toward projects that are part of the district’s facility master plan.

Student representatives push for details on district’s post-COVID future

Student leaders on the board raised questions about the potential loss of vital school services funded with COVID relief dollars.

Student representatives Lauren Hatten, a senior at Cass Technical High School, and Amara Small, a junior at The School of Marygrove, were elected by members of the district’s Executive Youth Council and will serve for the remainder of the school year.

DPSCD received $1.3 billion of federal COVID relief aid through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund. Of that amount, the district has already earmarked $700 million for its facility master plan to repair and renovate school buildings.

The money has also gone toward contracting nurses, mental health support, tutoring and additional services such as after-school and summer school programming.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Vitti discussed the potential end of funding for after-school programs. The district has encouraged high schools to use their COVID dollars to hire teachers or vendors to work with students after school.

“What would have to be done to mitigate the fallout from that?” said Amara. “If we have to cut certain extracurriculars, that’s going to make it harder for students to be well rounded or competitive for college. If we have to cut mental health resources then that’s going to lead to students not being able to balance their mental health, especially students who can not afford or access things like a therapist outside of school.”

Lauren asked Vitti whether the district is mandating that funding be allocated for SAT/PSAT preparation.

Vitti said the district and board have already agreed on some services that need to be prioritized. Other services, he added, would have to be determined by the school board ahead of next year.

“After-school programs in general are something we have to take a closer look at,” Vitti said. “At some schools they are serving a high number of students, but at other schools … what are the costs? How many students are participating? Is the continued investment in those programs worth cutting other things?”

He added: “I don’t anticipate reducing mental health services as a district, at least from what I’ve heard from the school board. I think it should be a priority in the budget.”

Vittti told the board that while the district will see its COVID relief dollars tapering off next school year, “high schools should have enough dollars” through Title 1 funding to fund services such as after-school programs or SAT/PSAT preparation through their allocated school budget.

The board is set to hold a retreat on Feb. 18 to discuss its budget proposals for the 2023-24 school year, and weigh feedback from board members over what programs and services to keep or cut.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

New board members, a teacher reinstatement, and more at Detroit’s January school board meeting

2023-01-18T17:32:19+00:00

A Detroit school district teacher who was fired last year after challenging the district’s in-person work requirement for employees is expected to make a return to the classroom.

The Detroit school board voted 5-1 in April 2022 to fire Nicole Conaway, a science and math teacher in the Detroit Public Schools Community District for 16 years who fought to be able to teach from home due to a medical condition. Board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo cast the lone dissenting vote.

Conaway has been a vocal critic of the district for years, and has been actively involved in By Any Means Necessary, an activist group that has opposed face-to-face learning during the pandemic.

In November, the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission called for a reversal of Conaway’s termination. And on Tuesday, Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district planned to abide by the tenure commission’s decision.

“Ms. Conaway will be rehired, and we look forward to returning her to a high school assignment,” Vitti said.

Earlier, during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Conaway and other members of By Any Means Necessary called for her reinstatement as well as the firing of Vitti.

Vitti responded that his recommendation to the board to fire Conaway fell in line with the opinion of a federal judge, who denied Conaway’s request for a preliminary injunction to bar the district from requiring her to teach in person at the district’s virtual school.

“I stand by the recommendation I made and all the information I used,” Vitti said.

Here’s a look at other key developments out of the meeting:

Board welcomes new members, elects officers

Tuesday’s meeting was the first for newly elected board member LaTrice McClendon and marked a return for former board member Iris Taylor. They won two of the four seats in November’s school board election.

McClendon and Taylor were sworn in alongside reelected incumbents Angelique Peterson-Mayberry and Corletta Vaughn during an organizational meeting held before the regular board meeting. After the swearing-in ceremony, the board voted to choose officers.

Peterson-Mayberry and board member Sonya Mays were unanimously approved to return as president and treasurer, respectively. Misha Stallworth West was elected vice president, while Taylor was elected secretary.

Peterson-Mayberry said she was “excited to return to the reform work” the board has embarked on over the last six years.

“I want to make sure that we prioritize building stronger relationships and promise to remain focused as a team and illuminate our work and leadership,” she said.

Frederick Douglass name change may be delayed

The name change discussion at Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men may be put on hold until the school moves to a different building this fall, Vitti said.

The Detroit school board was initially set to vote to begin the renaming process for Douglass at its monthly meeting in December but opted to delay a decision until the matter could be discussed by individual committees in the new year.

During Tuesday’s public comment period, current and former Douglass parents spoke up about the potential name change. Those who favor a name change say it is part of a transformation designed to turn Frederick Douglass, one of Detroit’s longstanding alternative high schools, into a STEAM-focused school, a learning approach that incorporates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. But opponents suggest that a change would erase the school’s recent history.

Keonda Buford, president of the school’s parent-teacher association, said during the meeting that parent leaders are willing to compromise by keeping the Frederick Douglass name on the building until students transfer to the former Northern High School building for the 2023-24 school year.

Ethan Bakuli covers the Detroit Public Schools Community District. You can reach him at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit high school pivots to online learning following heavy flood damage

2023-01-10T21:50:57+00:00

Damage caused by heavy flooding over the winter break is sending students at Detroit’s Southeastern High School back to online learning for now.

The damage prompted the Detroit Public Schools Community District to close the building, near Mack Avenue and St. Jean, while it works to repair broken pipes and waterlogged classrooms. In the meantime, the school will shift to daily online learning, beginning Thursday, according to district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson.

Students can pick up laptops from the school on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for the shift. Grab and Go meals will be provided on a weekly basis.

The damage will “require extensive repairs and restoration and will take the District nearly two months to complete,” Wilson said in a statement.

Online learning is expected to continue “until an alternative building is identified for in-person or hybrid learning,” according to the school’s website.

While most of the school’s classrooms were damaged, the gymnasium was not as badly affected, Wilson said. The school’s athletic programs are expected to continue under a modified schedule.

The repairs at Southeastern come ahead of a planned renovation of the century-old building as part of the district’s facility master plan. The project, which would add a new wing dedicated to manufacturing and career and technical center programs, was slated to begin this fall.

School board members approved a plan last May to commit $700 million to a series of construction projects across the city, including the development of new schools; renovations and restorations of deteriorating buildings, and upgrades to air conditioning systems across the district.

This is at least the second time this school year that a DPSCD school has had to close for a building related issue. In November, Cody High School closed for two days after a person allegedly broke in and stole copper piping, temporarily damaging the school’s heating system.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit’s Frederick Douglass Academy looks to adopt a new identity. Will a name change help?

2023-01-05T18:39:21+00:00

In the main hallway of Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men is a mural portrait of the school’s namesake. The painting, bordered with the school’s orange and green colors, showcases the famed abolitionist and journalist in a stoic pose looking across the 31-year-old school.

In classrooms, students say, screensavers on computer monitors bear images of the fiery orator. Following daily morning announcements, students recite an affirmation inspired by Douglass’ values: manhood, altruism, courage, scholarship.

That sense of brotherhood and mentorship was part of what Kamar Graves, a 2016 graduate, loved about going to the all-boys school. By the time Graves graduated, he had become valedictorian of both his eighth and 12th grade classes and earned a full-ride academic scholarship to Michigan State University.

But now, school leaders want to remove the singular name of this school near Midtown Detroit — and rebrand it in honor of Ernest Everett Just, an African American biologist and educator who pioneered cell research and was a founding member of the historically Black Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

The name change, they say, is part of a transformation designed to take Frederick Douglass from being one of Detroit’s long-standing alternative high schools to a STEAM-focused school, a learning approach that incorporates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

“We want our students to have a name associated with the sciences,” said Douglass Principal Willie White.

Since taking leadership in 2018, White’s charge has been to revamp the school. But as Douglass staff meet with prospective students and parents, they repeatedly hear about the school’s poor reputation, not the robotics awards or science program.

White says the name change could help shift that perception.

“The stigma is that you shouldn’t want to go to alternative schools … that they are for bad boys,” White said. “We’re not a school for bad boys.”

The Detroit school board was initially set to approve the renaming process for Douglass at its monthly meeting in early December, but the board opted to delay a decision until the matter could be discussed by individual committees in the new year.

The proposal is the latest effort to rename a Detroit school this year, coming after three Detroit schools were earmarked for new or modified names: Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern (now Northwestern High School), Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine (renamed Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine) and East English Village Preparatory Academy (which added the phrase “at Finney” on the end).

The board actions resulted from recent efforts by district officials and community members to revisit naming decisions made — sometimes without community input — when the district was overseen by state-appointed emergency managers for much of the last two decades.

At Douglass, White is enthusiastic about the change. And some current students say it would mark a fresh chapter for the school.

“It’s a new name, a new building, new colors, new mascot,” said Douglass senior Naim Bellamy, “It’s going to be good to hopefully see the difference in everything.”

There are also plans to move the school to a different location, which Naim thinks may even attract new students.

But some alumni say the new name will erase a critical part of the school’s legacy.

“Detroiters are letting their history be washed out,” said Daivon Reeder, a 2012 graduate of Douglass, who opposes the alternative name.

The proposal to change the name of Frederick Douglass Academy comes amid larger national discussions of how to teach African American history and who should be honored with buildings, statues, and monuments.

It also raises questions about what it will mean for the school’s identity and legacy and whether a name change is enough to turn a school around.

Alumni remember school as ‘beacon of hope and light’

The origins of Frederick Douglass Academy go back several decades.

In the late 1980s, Detroit created the High School Development Center, an alternative high school that targeted ninth and 10th graders who were identified as struggling academically and behaviorally, according to a school statement.

Students were selected for the program by principals from some of the city’s major high schools, and could return back to their neighborhood school if they showed improved attendance and academic performance.

But in the midst of a rise in citywide school dropout rates, Detroit school officials proposed the creation of multiple all-male academies, which would be equipped with “specially trained teachers and curriculums emphasizing black achievements,” according to a 1991 New York Times article.

Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men grew out of that concern.

To some alumni, the name change discussion would undermine decades of success among Frederick Douglass students both academically and athletically.

Douglass’ small class sizes, strict dress code, devoted teaching staff, and plethora of extracurricular activities offered students an opportunity to excel and shine away from distractions at other larger high schools, they say. Those qualities, coupled with the building’s namesake, left a mark on students.

In Graves’ experience, the school’s environment quickly eliminated distractions, namely girls. While he had been an honor student prior to attending Douglass, Graves said his mother was concerned about her son’s reputation as a class clown and “ladies man” and thought the school’s courses and leadership could offer him a unique experience.

In Reeder’s case, the dedicated class time his ninth grade English teacher spent on reading Douglass’ autobiography expanded Reeder’s understanding of manhood as well as the significance the orator had in the Black community.

Douglass escaped from a Maryland plantation to become a staunch opponent of chattel slavery, a newspaper editor, and a U.S. diplomat. At Douglass Academy, his life and words are impressed upon students, most notably in the famous quote, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

Ryan Fielder, who graduated from Frederick Douglass in 2011, remembers the school went through a noticeable change when it first moved to the former Murray-Wright building in 2008. Under principal Berry Greer, the school transitioned from an alternative school curriculum to one that actively encouraged students to look toward higher education and beyond, Fielder said.

“What Frederick Douglass was trying to be was a beacon of hope and light, and also an educational opportunity for young Black men who, otherwise, probably would have just been sucked into the system some other type of way,” Fielder said.

Until the district regained local control in 2016, Douglass continued to accept students with behavioral issues, said White, the school principal. Since then, the district has redirected students with behavioral challenges to other schools. That’s given the school the opportunity to develop a new identity.

“Let’s just send all our behavioral boys to Douglass” is no longer a phrase used by other district principals, White said, but the school still fields multiple calls from parents in other district and charter schools inquiring about enrolling their recently expelled students.

An original proposal to change Douglass’ name was introduced in 2018.

Monique Bryant was president of Douglass’ parent-teacher association when the original proposal was introduced to the school board. She and other parents at the time opposed the name change.

“There was never a thought about changing it,” said Bryant, who feels district administrators failed to engage the school community in a timely and accessible manner.

The board ultimately dropped the proposal, citing a lack of support. This time around, the district says, parents, staff, and students seem to be behind a name change. White chalks that up to buy-in from current parents, with whom he’s made a concerted effort to collaborate with on the school’s new direction.

A new name “sets in motion a new legacy and an emphasis on science and technology,” said Keonda Buford, current president of Douglass’ PTA.

Renewed conversations over a name change began toward the beginning of the school year, Buford said, when White and other school administrators convened a meeting with the PTA where they suggested the school be renamed as Ernest Everett Just.

A video presentation was shared that detailed Just’s background and scientific contributions.

The parent group agreed that changing the name would be a good move, Buford said.

“I don’t think we would dishonor (Frederick Douglass) by not using the name, especially if we’re replacing it with another equally brilliant and excellent Black person,” Buford said.

“If we were changing it to someone that wasn’t Black, that didn’t have any type of contributions to science … that would be a different conversation.”

School leaders want a new name for a different time

Renaming the school after Just, a renowned scientist, would better market the school’s current science-oriented offerings to students and families across the city, White said. The school offers a program in geographic information systems and Advanced Placement courses, has an in-house weather station, and partners with Eastern Michigan University to offer dual enrollment classes.

With the school’s emphasis on a career pathway in GIS for students, White said, Just’s name better reflects the school’s long-term vision to encourage students to get into the sciences.

The name change discussion coincides with the district’s plan to renovate and rebuild school buildings across the city using federal COVID relief dollars. Douglass students are expected to move to the vacant Northern High School building at the start of 2023-24 school year. That move, according to DPSCD superintendent Nikolai Vitti, will be permanent until or if “enrollment dramatically improves” at the school.

Last school year, Douglass had 62 students enrolled, according to the school’s website. At its peak, the school enrolled roughly 300 students, in large part due to its requirement to accept expelled students from other schools.

As part of the district facility plan, students from three district alternative schools — Detroit Lions, Westside, and Legacy academies — will move into Douglass’s current location, which would become “a hub for alternative programming” in the district, according to Vitti.

A decision won’t happen until the new year, but it hasn’t deterred Douglass students from feeling optimistic about the school’s current plans.

For Naim Bellamy and other students, there’s little concern about the school’s identity drastically shifting.

“It’s still going to be a good school,” said 10th grader Dominic Hunt.

Jonathan Zook, another 10th grader, looks forward to the move. He first heard about the plans for a new building and a new school identity when he was a freshman.

“The name change wouldn’t really change anything,” Jonathan said, “as long as it’s still named after a Black figure who’s motivational.”

Now, he and other students are looking forward to learning more about Ernest Everett Just.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

A Detroit youth activist carries the torch for better student mental health services

2022-12-19T15:54:24+00:00

As a voice for Detroit students, Perriel Pace has been unafraid to call attention to important issues facing her peers — whether or not adults want to hear about them.

An 11th-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, Pace just completed a nearly one-year term as a student representative to the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s school board, where she pressed the district to address concerns such as student mental health, transportation challenges, and more.

Perriel got her introduction to activism through an art project, but she now works on behalf of a dozen youth-led organizations, including Detroit Heals Detroit, 482Forward, Young Voices Action Collective, and MIStudentsDream, and she advocates for causes including youth empowerment, immigration rights and restorative justice.

With her school board role complete, she spoke with Chalkbeat about how young people can get more involved in advocacy, as well as how she responds to criticism, and what the district can do to help students.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What or who got you into organizing and activism?

It is so random, but my art teacher, Ms. Loomis, who is also my godmother, we painted a mural one day, and a group of kids we were working with said (they’re) with an organization which focuses on transforming trauma into power. I decided to join them, and my career kind of took off from that, because they introduced me to all these other kinds of organizations doing great work. And the next thing I know I sit on 13 organizations.

Does it feel unique for you to be a student organizer or a youth advocate?

When I first started, I thought that I was literally the first … youth leader that I knew. So I kind of carried my title with so much pride. And then I got into these other organizations, these other spaces, and I’m like, “OK, there’s a lot more of us. So everything doesn’t have to be a burden on me.” In the past couple of years, I came across a lot of youth who are excellent leaders. And you know, it’s kind of nice that I don’t have to stand alone. But I do wish that more youth would get involved and be more aware of what’s going on.

What do you think would encourage more youth to get involved in causes?

I would say probably to get them to actually understand what’s happening. I feel like that will motivate more people to do something, especially youth.

What made you decide to join the school board as a student representative?

It was literally so random. We were in a DEYC (meeting), which is the District Executive Youth Council. And a lot of the adults there were just telling me like, “You’d make a good member on that team. You could represent for the district. You do so much in the community.” And I was just like “No, no, politics and stuff like that is not really my cup of tea.”

We had an election process and nobody really stepped up to the plate. So I said I’ll give it a shot. And surprisingly, I did win, but I won as an alternate (representative). So if the other original reps were absent, then I could come into play.

I was watching the student reps on the board, and I noticed they were kind of shy. And I told them, “You’re a student rep. It’s OK to be new to things, but you’re not just here for you. You’re not just representing yourself. You have to speak for everybody.” People saw that, and they bumped me up to one of the main student representatives.

What was that experience like on the school board?

I’m not gonna lie … school board meetings were kind of boring. I was there from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and just listened to (agenda item) numbers and numbers and numbers. It’s like, “Oh my goodness, I’m in school once again.”

Most of the time, I kind of zoned out. I felt like I was kind of there just so they could say we have a student rep on the board.

But then once I started telling them that I need to at least speak, to at least do something … (that) I don’t feel like just sitting there, then they started letting me talk on the mic.

Over time, I got a little bit more comfortable. But then the next thing I know, people started gunning for me in the public comment section.

What was it like when you spoke out at times during the school board meetings and received some criticism from community members?

I wasn’t fazed by it, honestly, because I’m used to being in this space where kids are not being seen or heard. The district staff was very supportive, but as (the public commenters) were talking and responding to me, I was writing down responses, and (the district staff) told me you can’t respond to those comments. That kind of made me frustrated, because I wanted to defend myself. I’m used to giving comebacks. It made me realize a little bit how to let things roll off my back.

But it got to the point where people started coming for me on social media. It was definitely a slightly traumatizing experience, and then to know that it’s grown adults doing it. To have an issue with there not being enough students’ voices being heard is one thing, but when you hear a student’s voice and you immediately antagonize them when they’re saying something you don’t want to hear, that doesn’t make any sense.

What were some of the issues that you brought directly to board members?

My very first concern I brought was about the student representatives, how they were not allowing us to speak really.

My second one was about mental health. How we need more SEL — social emotional learning — between students and teachers in order to better their relationship.

And my third concern was about transportation for students. What are y’all gonna do about the way that transportation is set up? Because for me personally, I get up at 5 in the morning just to get to school on time, and I still get to school late, and the city buses are disgusting. There are creepy men on there. It’s honestly scary, especially for me because I’ve been taking the bus since I was 12.

I talked to them about that, but they didn’t provide me with the answer I was looking for, that they will do something about it, such as contacting DDOT (Detroit Department of Transportation). They just left me on the cliff with that one. So I definitely want to follow up probably later on this school year.

Do you think students have enough of a voice in the district? What do you think would improve that?

I feel like we don’t have enough of a voice. I mean yes, we have the District Executive Youth Council, which meets once a month, but we have issues going on every day. I wish that it could be changed to at least biweekly meetings, where we can actively engage and work on these issues as they are happening.

The district is focused on issues like chronic absenteeism, enrollment, and academic achievement. What are students passionate about?

I don’t care what anybody else says. Our top priority should be student mental health. My attendance is low not because of my bus situation but just because I get up and I’m just like “I don’t want to come to school anymore.” Literally the third day of school, as I walked into the building, I said, “I should drop out,” because I literally didn’t feel motivated anymore to come to school.

I spoke to a few students yesterday who told me that they don’t want to do this anymore. School is mentally draining. It’s not engaging. It doesn’t feel like we’re happy anymore. It’s just work, work, work. We kind of had a crying moment there, because everything we shared was understandable. This is why our attendance is the way it is, because we mentally don’t want to be there. Mentally, we cannot have the capability of doing this work right now. We need a break. A mental break. We barely came out of this pandemic, and we’re barely out of it still.

To my knowledge, King (High School) does have SEL mental health stuff, but I don’t think a lot of people are made aware of it. Or it’s just not appealing in a way to students. I am planning a mental health week for King in January or February to make sure students are aware of what tools are available to them already.

It’s important to build one-on-one relationships with teachers, because even then if you don’t want to say something during class, you can speak with them after. You have someone to confide in.

What do you think would better support students struggling right now?

At my old school (Legacy Academy), we started each school year with SEL — social emotional learning. We did that for about two weeks, just so we could build that relationship with teachers. So we have that one-on-one relationship where at any moment, you can stop and go talk to them if you’re ever feeling down or anything like that.

But now I’m at King and you can’t do that. But it would be nice if we tried to get some of those things happening. We could really use this.

Why do you think students in Detroit feel so drained?

Everybody is going through something different. You’ve got to battle your work, and you’ve got to battle your personal life, and then just even with being in Detroit itself, you’re constantly watching over your shoulder because, again, every day is not promised, and Detroit is chaotic.

You’ve got a lot on your plate. How do you take care of yourself when you’re not constantly studying or organizing?

One thing that I love to do currently is ice skating. I usually just randomly tell folks, “You know what, I’m going to be unavailable for this week.” And I cancel everybody. Turn the phone off, turn off my emails, etc. And I’ll probably go hang out with my best friend, or go ice skating, or go to the movies. Or I love to crochet, so I will just binge watch a show on Hulu or Netflix and I will crochet.

Or I’ll just sleep my day away.

Correction: Dec. 20, 2022: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ms. Loomis, the art teacher and godmother to Perriel Pace whose art project led to Perriel’s student activism.

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

This Detroit art teacher loved animation as a kid. Now he’s inspiring his students with it.

2022-12-14T05:00:05+00:00

Illya Tolbert loved art so much growing up that he and his brother Yul would often race around their Detroit home searching for something — anything — they could draw on.

When he wasn’t finding inspiration at home, he was finding it in the classroom, learning from the art teachers who became his favorite instructors in Detroit Public Schools.

“There are lessons that I learned from my art teacher, back in the seventh grade that I’m now teaching, which I think is kind of cool,” said Tolbert. That teacher was Mary Kay Shelton, and the lessons Tolbert adapted for his own classrooms at Bates Academy include learning concepts such as linear perspective and optical illusions.

Over the course of an art teaching career that has spanned 26 years, Tolbert — Michigan’s middle school Art Educator of the Year for 2022 — has sought to inspire students with art forms such as painting, weaving, and animation.

“Me and my brother loved animation,” he said. “We used to make these little flip books at home and the process of making things move, to get that illusion of movement, it just intrigues me. I love it.”

Tolbert has decorated the walls of his classroom with his students’ pieces, but you would have to search to find his own artwork. He says he only has one piece hanging.

“Maybe it’s modesty. I don’t know,” Tolbert said. “I would rather show [the work of] a former student or a famous artist.”

Chalkbeat recently caught up with Tolbert to talk about art, his career, and the popular YouTube videos he created for his students during COVID closures.

The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How and when did you decide to become a teacher?

My art teachers were always like my favorite teachers. And I always considered going into art teaching. I had a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from Wayne State University, and I was out of school for a year or so when I said, ‘Let’s go back and do the thing I always wanted to do — become a teacher.’

What was drawing you to teach art?

I’ve always loved art. Me and my brother, we always drew cartoons. We made our own characters. As a kid, nothing was more fun than sitting down and drawing. I always remember what I learned in art when I went to Detroit Public Schools, and I feel like I could have learned so much more. I knew that my teachers in Detroit didn’t have all the materials and things, and I just always wanted to be able to give kids what I wanted as a student.

What is something you always wanted to learn in art classes as a student?

Animation. I teach animation now, and my classes are … obsessed with cartoons. I can teach it now because it’s so much easier. The technology is so much easier to teach now than it was back when I was a kid. I also like teaching painting. I feel like we didn’t paint enough when I was in school. And now, I probably paint every day in my classroom. Painting is what I do as an artist. I’ve just felt that kids in Detroit should have exposure to other things like that in art.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

I’m going to go with weaving. Every year I teach weaving on a cardboard loom. When I say we’re weaving, the class will applaud. The kids are happy. “We’re weaving!” When I first started teaching it, I was like, ‘Why is this so popular?’ I didn’t think the kids would like it that much. I also enjoy it. I learned weaving in school at Wayne State in a fibers class. It was stitching and sewing, and that was okay. But weaving, I just loved weaving, I was drawn to it. I think somewhere in my ancestry, one of my ancestors in Africa must have been a weaver.

How do you inspire your students?

I very rarely show them my own personal art, but I will show them what other students have done. My walls are covered with former students’ artwork. A lot of times they give you their work, and sometimes they just leave it, and I end up keeping it. When they discover I put their artwork on the wall, they get so excited. [The artwork] is a good way to show students what can be done. I like to have it intermixed — like, I have a Van Gogh that’s right next to one of my student’s art. I have an example of work done by Monet next to my student’s art. Just to show, hey, there’s this famous artist, and here’s an artist who used to go here.

You have a busy job, and this is a stressful time. How do you take care of yourself when you’re not at work?

I like to paint. I like to spend time with my wife. And I do enjoy playing computer games. Not so much your video system games, but strategy games, like SimCity, where you’re building a civilization — those kinds of games that take hours to play.

Tell me about the YouTube channel you created to help students learn remotely.

The way that I teach art is I always stay in front of the class and do the project with them.— especially elementary level, but even middle school. I’ll do it with them to show them step-by-step how it’s done. Or, with middle school, I’ll just sit there and do the project and say, ‘OK, now you do it.’ This was hard to do virtually. So I started making these movies. And they worked out really well to show them step-by-step how to do various projects. I mean, they were so popular, the kids would go straight to the video before I even started talking. I’d be like, ‘Wait, let me at least talk about it first.’

Detroit’s December school board meeting: What you may have missed

2022-12-07T22:42:09+00:00

Administrators in the Detroit school district will head into the winter break with a holiday bonus.

The school board on Tuesday approved a one-time bonus of $2,000 for principals, assistant principals and nonunion administrators, totaling over $2 million. The Detroit Public Schools Community District had previously negotiated bonuses with its unionized employees.

The $2,000 payment to nonunion employees had to wait until the district could determine its financial status following a fall student headcount for per-pupil funding, the district said in a report ahead of the meeting. The employees will receive their bonuses by Dec. 13.

“Detroit has some of the greatest principals, assistant principals, nonunion administrators and personnel, and they are to be celebrated,” said board Vice President Deborah Hunter-Harvill. Tuesday’s meeting was the last for Hunter-Harvill, who lost her re-election bid in November.

In addition to the bonus, the district approved a series of job terminations as well as policies to combat harassment and discrimination.

Here’s a look at other key developments out of the meeting:

Board defers vote on name change for district’s lone all-male school

The board opted to delay a decision on reopening the name change process at Frederick Douglass Academy For Young Men.

In recent years, district officials and community members have attempted to revisit naming decisions that were made when the district was overseen by state-appointed emergency managers, sometimes without community input.

The efforts have resulted in the board approving new or modified names at Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern (now Northwestern High School), Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine (renamed Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine) and East English Village Preparatory Academy (which added the phrase “at Finney”).

But for Frederick Douglass, the board tabled a vote on beginning a name change process. “I just continue to find school names to be something that should be a little lower on our priority list compared to all the other challenges that we’re facing in terms of supporting our students in their reading proficiency (and) math proficiency,” said board member Misha Stallworth West, who chairs the district’s policy ad-hoc committee.

Named for the writer and orator who fought for the abolition of slavery, Frederick Douglass Academy of Young Men enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is the only all-boys school in the district.

A proposal to change the school’s name was introduced in 2018 but dropped for lack of support.

Little information was shared about the rationale behind the latest renaming proposal, but board President Angelique Peterson-Mayberry suggested it has to do with projecting a new image for a school that had a “negative stigma” of being associated with at-risk students. It was unclear how the Douglas name fits in with the discussion about the stigma of the school.

A district report said parents, staff and students are behind a name change.

But a couple of Frederick Douglass Academy alumni showed up at Tuesday’s meeting to oppose a name change.

“I think the stigmatization of bad kids at Frederick Douglass has always been there,” said Daivon Reeder, an Army veteran and 2012 alum of Frederick Douglass Academy. “It’s something that I faced in 2012. It’s something the kids face now. But it’s something that we face as Black men. We face that every day in the world.”

Changing the name won’t change the stigma, Reeder said. “We need resources, we need community, we need funds to change that stigma.”

Community advocates continue to push for sale of Cooley High School

The fate of the shuttered Cooley High School was not on Tuesday’s school board agenda, but advocates of selling the dilapidated building raised the issue during the meeting’s public comment section.

Last month, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti revoked a recommendation to sell the vacant Cooley building to local nonprofit Life Remodeled for $400,000, opting instead to seek negotiations for better terms.

Vitti’s decision reflected concerns among some board members about whether the district was underpricing the property, and about how its future owners would use the site.

Life Remodeled had proposed redeveloping the property as a community hub over three years through an investment of $37.5 million. It would be similar to Durfee Innovation Society, a former district elementary school that is now a hub for nonprofits and entrepreneurs.

Residents of the neighborhood, along with Cooley alumni, have been calling on the district to address the building’s decaying condition, either by selling or reopening the high school.

“We as a community have spoken and voiced our concerns,” said Detroit resident Francis Rowland, who said at the board meeting that she has “lived behind Cooley school for many years.”

“We have said many things as to why that school building should be sold,” Rowland said. “For a safe community. To enhance the community and the young people. To have a better future, cleaner environment, and to believe in something more positive in the community.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

Social media threats against Detroit-area schools prompt warning from officials

2022-11-21T16:34:43+00:00

Makiah Quinn heard the rumors of a school threat the night before school. Across her social media feed earlier this month, classmates were sharing their fears about a student potentially coming to school armed.

“I was immediately afraid to go to school the next day,” said Makiah, a senior at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School. “It’s hard to tell when they are jokes and when they are serious. So it kind of made everybody nervous and reluctant.”

Threats of school violence have become more common on social media, especially since the deadly shootings at Uvalde Elementary School in Texas in May and at Oxford High School in Michigan a year ago this month. The spike has prompted state, school and law enforcement officials to warn of tough action against people caught making threats.

Many of the threats have proved to be hoaxes. But in a time of heightened awareness surrounding school safety and misinformation, they have increased anxiety and fear among students, staff and families.

Last week, multiple schools in the metro area — from Detroit to Ferndale and Hazel Park — reported instances of prank or copycat threats shared on social media. Some communities ordered lockdowns or early dismissals, while others, including the Detroit Public Schools Community District, held off, based on the credibility of the threats.

None of the threats reported at Detroit schools last week, including at Cass Tech, A.L. Holmes Academy of Blended Learning and Mumford High School were deemed credible, said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

“It doesn’t mean that we dismiss social media threats,” Vitti said during a Nov. 15 school board meeting. “Everyone of them are investigated, and everyone of them are reported to the school community where the threat is linked to.”

Not all threats are the same, Vitti cautioned, and district officials don’t always close schools in response. In many of the recent cases, students circulated hoax threats as a prank or in an attempt to have school dismissed early or canceled. “This year alone we would have closed countless schools on countless days if we were just closing school for every threat,” Vitti said.

While the threats are often not real, the potential consequences for students caught posting them are. They range from misdemeanor charges for threatening violence against school staff or students or “malicious use of a telecommunications device,” to felony charges of terrorism for bomb threats, according to a video shared last week by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

“Whether these are real threats made by those intent on doing harm or pranks made by kids trying to get a day off, they are real crimes with real consequences,” Nessel said in a statement accompanying the video.

The district has been able to identify most of the individuals behind social media threats over the past school year, using cybersecurity tools, Vitti said. “Nearly all of them were removed from their individual school, recommended for expulsion from the school district, which is about a year, and most of them were also arrested,” he said.

Vitti’s call to action for parents: Monitor children’s social media use.

“You have to monitor your children’s phones,” he said. “The parent is the adult, not the child. Having a phone is not a right, it’s a privilege.”

At a Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting last week, Police Chief James White stressed the seriousness of online threats. The Detroit Police Department regularly partners with DPSCD’s public safety officers when executing school lockdowns and investigating threats.

“When we see it, we can’t take it lightly,” White said. “This thing can haunt (kids) for the rest of their lives, and they can completely change the trajectory of an otherwise successful life by one silly posting on Facebook.”

Given a search warrant, White said, police departments can request access to user information from social media companies before making an arrest. White recommended that the city’s police commission host a forum to educate students on the real-life risks of posting online threats.

Students said school officials need to do more than combat threats to put students at ease.

“I don’t think that they can really prevent a student from making a threat,” said Amira Jones, a sophomore at Cass Tech. “But I do think (schools) need to work on their security, like actually use the metal detectors instead of just letting people walk through them. They need to actually pay attention to what’s going on.”

Amira said that from her classroom on the building’s sixth floor, she wondered how she’d be able to get out of school if something were to happen.

“I think the thing that worries me the most is just like, not knowing if it’s real or not,” Amira said. “I like to know if something’s actually going to happen or not. And I think not knowing was what made me start to overthink.”

Others wanted school officials to acknowledge students’ fears.

“If that many students felt unsafe, we should have just had that day off, just for the safety of everybody and just for the peace of mind as well,” said Makiah, the Cass Tech senior.

Some of her classmates used their class’s group chat to share messages, periodically warning others to “be careful” and “watch your back.” When word broke out among Cass Tech students that both Ferndale Middle School and High School had gone into lockdown, it only raised the anxiety.

“I was pretty nervous,” Makiah said. “I wasn’t even able to focus on schoolwork anyway, so there was no point in being there.”

Schools that were the targets of social media threats received increased police presence last week.

Vicki Hooks Green, an English teacher at Cass Tech, said that given the increase in security, she wasn’t personally concerned about the social media threat at her school.

“I think that the threats should be taken seriously, as in the kids should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for doing it, but I don’t think we should take it seriously to the point where we’re afraid,” Green said.

But she does worry about the time it takes away from the classroom. Even “if it’s five or six kids who don’t come because of the threat,” she said, that means “I have to accommodate those kids and whatever they miss.”

Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

MacKenzie Scott to give Detroit school district $20 million

2022-11-16T11:30:00+00:00

The Detroit school district will receive $20 million from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, money that will be used to support academic improvement efforts.

“The district intends to use the funds to raise student achievement by implementing its literacy and math intervention model at scale, especially targeting lower grade levels,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement.

The money will allow the district to hire more academic interventionists who will work one on one and in small groups with students. Vitti said the plan will be reviewed and discussed with the district’s school board in January.

The gift comes at a critical time in the district. Academic achievement, which had been falling short for years prior to the COVID pandemic, has deteriorated as students struggled with many months spent learning remotely. The district is using some of its federal COVID relief money to expand tutoring efforts to struggling students. But that money will run out soon, while the needs will remain.

Scott on Monday released a list of 343 organizations that had received recent gifts. She said the full amount totaled nearly $2 billion over the past seven months. Schools have been a big beneficiary: Chalkbeat reported that Scott has given $150 million to public school districts across the country.

New Paradigm for Education, which operates charter schools in the city, also received a gift — of about $2 million. The money will support academic offerings, as well as teacher and leader development.

“We are incredibly grateful to Ms. Scott for seeking us out for investment,” said Ralph Bland, founder and president of New Paradigm. “Our team works tirelessly to ensure that all of our scholars have access to an excellent education — and this gift is a true affirmation of that commitment and relentlessness.”

Several Detroit area youth institutions are also benefiting. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit received a gift, as did Friends of the Children Detroit, Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, and Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan. It was unclear how much those entities received.

Vitti said the gift from Scott “speaks to our improvement over the past five years as a district, especially through strategic planning tied to fiscal management.”

“We will ensure the funds are used to improve the performance of our students and address other challenges that impact the outcomes of our students,” he said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.