South Lyon parents push for full-time in-person learning

Gov. Whitmer encourages school districts to resume face-to-face learning by March 1

SOUTH LYON, Mich. – Parents in South Lyon are urging their district to go back to full-time in-person learning.

Earlier this month, Gov. Gretchen Whtimer encouraged schools to reopen in-person learning by March 1.

“I feel like we’ve been left out the dark as parents. No one’s talking to us, no one is telling us anything. We were begging for answers, begging for anything,” said parent Courtney Andrew-Shevitz.

Andrew-Shevitz said she and her family built a home in South Lyon 11 years ago because of the South Lyon school district. However, she and her husband became so frustrated, that they moved their two youngest kids to the Brighton district where in-person learning is full time.

READ: High schoolers in Utica Community Schools return to class amid pandemic

READ: Metro Detroit schools torn on Whitmer’s goal to return to in-person learning March 1

“They’re learning. The teachers are happy, they’re involved. I couldn’t be happier,” Andrew-Shevitz said. “It was going to be a one and done for us, and now I’m not sure it’s going to be because my kids are thriving, they’re happy, they want to stay too.”

South Lyon parent Chris Campo led a protest in August get kids back in the classroom.

“You don’t need to invent the wheel, it’s already going,” Campo said. “There’s already schools that have implemented some type of a process that the kids are in school and ones that may be need to be quarantined, they’ve worked those issues out.”

Parents said the longer remote learning goes, the more their kids are suffering.

“I feel like they’re rotting in their bedrooms. I feel like the bedroom learning is lonely, they’ve lost their confidence. They don’t have any social skills,” Campo said.

You can watch the full report in the video above.

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About the Authors:

Jason anchors Local 4's 5:30 p.m. newscast. He joined WDIV in January 2015 as a general assignment reporter and has a Journalism degree from Michigan State University.

DeJanay Booth joined WDIV as a web producer in July 2020. She previously worked as a news reporter in New Mexico before moving back to Michigan.