Detroit schools are moving from classrooms to all remote learning on Monday, WWJ's Vickie Thomas reported, with a note going out from Supt. Nikolai Vitti to parents early this morning.
"That was my strongest recommendation to begin with," school board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo told Thomas of the district that has 50,000 students and 1,900 teachers.
While most districts in metro Detroit are mix of in-person and remote learning -- or fully remote -- Vitti held steadfast to the in-person plan in the early fall, saying that Detroit kids needed to go to school. He even stood firm when some Detroiters tried to physically stop buses from making their rounds.
"If you know our families, and you know our kids, you know that if it's safe, then we have to offer face-to-face because we knew that's what our children needed," Vitti told the freep in August. "That's what a public school system is about — meeting parents where they're at, regardless of ZIP code or educational background. And it's about equitable access." He added that if cases spiked, the district would reconsider.
Since then, cases have spiked across the state with Michigan reporting another 6,008 coronavirus cases yesterday, bringing the state total to 229,000. Another 44 people died from COVID-19 yesterday, bringing Michigan's total death count to 7,700.
It's unknown how many Detroit students have contracted coronavirus or how many of those cases originated in class, but Thomas reported the school closure is due to increasing numbers. Vitti indicated that if the rate of infection approached the 5–7 percent threshold, the district would consider discontinuing face to face instruction in schools.
The city infection rate was nearly 5 percent last week and has been increasing this week.
"The District relied on science and the data to reopen schools for in person learning this summer and fall and relied on the same criterium to decide that it was no longer safe for our students and employees to work in an in person school environment. Without a vaccine, we will remain accountable to that 5-7 percent infection rate," said Nikolai Vitti, Superintendent, DPSCD. "I am remarkably proud of District staff, principals and school level staff who have stayed faithful to our COVID-19 safety strategies. This has allowed us to keep schools open for in person learning and access to our learning centers with a limited number of outbreaks as compared to other districts and schools throughout the state. Despite the reality of COVID-19, we have been able to keep employees and students safe and serve them directly if their families needed that level of support. As we have been doing throughout this pandemic, we will continue to adjust to serve our students and families by expanding direct technology support for families while also continuing to feed students."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is set to discuss the latest on coronavirus at 2 p.m. Thursday. WWJ's Tim Skubick reports that some believe she will call for stricter rules at restaurants and bars, but another full shutdown across the state is unlikely.
