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To prosper, Michigan must be a more educated place. Bridge will explore the challenges in education and identify policies and initiatives that address them.
With no state mandate, local Michigan superintendents are being forced to make tough decisions on whether to require face masks to protect against COVID this fall. The debate is dividing communities like Eaton Rapids.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who said she would “follow the science” on pandemic policy, is apparently not following the advice of her chief medical officer on school face mask mandates.
Check out the latest on rules set by colleges across the state as they prepare to start their fall semesters while the COVID-19 Delta variant spreads, mostly among the unvaccinated.
Michigan schools are investing heavily in summer school to accelerate learning. They are hiring reading, math and behavioral specialists (and a few drones) as students transition back to classrooms.
The board, by a 6-2 vote, rejected a non-binding resolution by Republican members to prevent schools from requiring masks, COVID tests or quarantining unvaccinated students. One GOP member was in tears.
Decisions on whether masks will be required in classrooms this fall will be left up to local districts, despite CDC and state pleas for them to mask up.
Job seekers can make almost as much at McDonald’s as they can working as a special education paraprofessional, making the vital but sometimes stressful jobs a tough sell for Michigan school districts.
Colleges and universities had expected a normal return to campus this fall but the Delta variant of COVID-19 is scrambling their plans. Businesses like auto manufacturers also are adding mask mandates.
High school grads on the fence about going to college didn’t get much personal contact with advisors and college representatives last school year because of the pandemic. The result is predictable and sobering.
Citing the rise in coronavirus cases in parts of the country, U-M and Michigan State University will mandate proof of COVID vaccinations for all students, staff and faculty.
Unless masks are mandated by government authorities, it’s unlikely most Michigan school districts will require face masks in classrooms this fall, say school leaders.
Some Michigan school districts are opening full-time, online schools as an alternative to traditional classrooms, on the belief that not all families will want to return to school buildings this year.
Futures for Frontliners gave essential workers in the early months of the COVID pandemic a shot at free community college. Some are on campuses, but many more have yet to complete financial forms that would free them of tuition payments.
The state is pushing to get more residents to pursue a college degree. The pandemic appears to still be hobbling those efforts, particularly among poor and first-generation students.
Michigan families would have had access to $1,000 scholarships for outside-of-school tutoring to help elementary reading skills. School leaders questioned whether the scholarships would help students most in need, or those with the resources to find tutors.