DETROIT – Summer school is already underway in one Metro Detroit suburb.
Administrators admit this is a dress rehearsal for what might be possible in the fall for in person learning.
There are only 300 students in summer school at Novi High School and administrators as much as students are taking notes this year.
While students are learning calculous, administrators are learning what works and what doesn’t in this perfect microcosm that has produced an ideal control group to gauge safe learning protocols for fall in person learning.
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 68,295 as of Friday, including 6,039 deaths, state officials report.
DETAILS: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 68,295; Death toll now at 6,039
And what they have learned is there are ways to keep students safe, while learning in person, even with a virus that is unchecked and not well understood.
But these are also highly motivated students who want to be in school in the summer, a general population of students with lots of different viewpoints, home experiences and attitudes towards safety will complicate things exponentially.
They have also learned what’s not sustainable, social distancing easy with 300 students not possible with more that a thousand.
Masks, older students will wear them and can be easily policed with 300 students far more difficult with more than a thousand.
But today is the end of the first week of in-person summer school. It’s gone well. The real test, 10 to 14 days, to make certain that everything this district has worked so hard on to put safety measures in place, works, by not having an incident of COVID-19.