K-12 SCHOOLS

For the second year in a row, vehicles from Ford Motor Co. took two of the three North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.

Wayne, Oakland and Washtenaw counties are keeping their K-12 school mask mandates in place, but it’s a mixed bag across the rest of the state.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s team and its legislative counterparts have come to a budget agreement before the Oct. 1 deadline.

Oakland County said the increase in cases is the reason it’s mandating masks at all K-12 schools. It’s decision not everyone is happy with.

A4 spoke with the Washtenaw County Health Department to understand how COVID is impacting the county.

DETROIT – On Tuesday, the K-12 Alliance of Michigan -- representing hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and schools -- held a roundtable to give a glimpse of issues facing students, teachers and learning. READ: Michigan leaders say schools need $1 billion to recover from COVID financial tollAdREAD: Michigan GOP: No aid for K-12 schools unless Whitmer cedes power to ban in-person learning, sports“I would say to Republicans to find a different bargaining chip, education is not it,” said Kevin Miller with St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency. READ: With districts fully integrated in remote learning will Michigan schools declare a snow day? Ad“One way is to get kids, particularly minority and low-poverty kids, do tutoring throughout the summer and school, and pay them. So, both they get a professional experience and they get a positive relationship, and they contribute to helping with this learning loss,” DeVault said.

The Biden administration's guidelines for reopening schools includes recommendations for phased reopening based on rates of community transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The main tenets of the latest guidance mirror the CDC guidance issued in 2020 under the Trump administration. The Education Department published a handbook of "practical application" to supplement the CDC guidelines. But many schools have already reopened ahead of the CDC guidance and additional federal funding for mitigation measures. High school students are not currently included in Mr. Biden's reopening goal.

This phased approach for reopening provides recommendations for types of instruction for K-12 schools, broken down into four color-coded "zones" – full in-person, hybrid, reduced attendance and virtual-only. Blue and Yellow Zones are recommended to allow for a reopening with full in-person learning, with as much social distancing as possible. If schools put these mitigation measures in place, access to vaccinations should not be a precondition for reopening schools, the draft guidance says, which is in line with recent statements by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Color-coded "zones" will also be applied to these extracurriculars, according to the draft guidance. The White House and CDC so far have declined to comment on the draft guidelines.

ANN ARBOR – In her most recent message to the Ann Arbor Public Schools community, Superintendent Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift announced on Friday that the school district is focused on returning to in-person learning as soon as possible. However, she said that reopening the schools is dependent on several key factors in order to return safely. Swift said AAPS has also acquired enough PPE for its staff to use once in-person learning begins. According to the announcement, the youngest students and students with the greatest needs will be the first to return to school. “As a result of their work, there is promise in this rapidly emerging testing process.”AAPS has not yet named a date for the return of in-person learning.

Gretchen Whitmer announced on Friday her push for Michigan public schools to resume in-person learning by March 1. Whitmer encourages Michigan public schools to reopen for in-person learning by March 1Ibrahim has two kids in elementary in the Farmington Public Schools. Kids need their education... Our children are the future.”Like other parents, David Phillips, who has two kids in school in Fraser, knows that kids are better in school. And I think we’re putting our kids in harm’s way,” he said.

Leaders from across Michigan believe school districts will require $1 billion in state and federal support in order to recover from the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the onset of the pandemic, schools, teachers and students have been forced to adjust to an ever-changing learning landscape. Michigan schools have had to apply various learning models and implement health and safety protocols in an effort to prevent students and staff from catching or spread COVID. School leaders are worried that there could be tens of thousands of students who fell all the way through the cracks because of the pandemic. Leaders say Thursday, however, that that’s only a small fraction of what they’ll need moving forward.

OXFORD, Mich. – In-person learning at Oxford Middle School has been canceled for the remainder of the week as a precautionary measure due to rising COVID-19 cases among the community. Officials announced Tuesday that students at Oxford Middle School will switch to remote learning for Oct. 7-9 as the district works with the county health department to confirm positive COVID-19 cases. “Rather than risking potential additional exposures in the interim, we are choosing to temporarily close Oxford Middle School for the remainder of the week. Oxford Middle School students are expected to engage in virtual learning for the remainder of the week. Students can return to school for in-person learning on Tuesday, Oct. 13, following an already-scheduled break on Monday, officials said.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan schools are now required to notify the public about any probable or confirmed cases of COVID-19 within 24 hours under a new emergency order. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) director Robert Gordon issued an emergency order Tuesday that will requires K-12 schools to publicly disclose any probable or confirmed virus cases on their website within 24 hours of learning of the cases. The MDHHS says local health departments will continue to conduct contact tracing and directly communicate with individuals who may have been exposed in addition to the schools' required public notices. Tuesday’s order comes just after the MDHHS issued a new order Monday requiring face masks, restricting gathering sizes and limiting some businesses following the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling against Gov. Monday’s emergency order maintains some of Whitmer’s orders that have been deemed invalid by the state Supreme Court’s decision.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan has a budget in place for 2021 that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. The coronavirus originally had the state making dire budget predictions that there would be a more than $1 billion hole to fill. Road funding gets the full $600 million expected and some programs, which were axed in the last budget like Pure Michigan, are being funded again. An item that is being cut at a $12 million saving is the Detroit Re-Entry Center, which does prisoner programming. The Michigan Department of Corrections is also slimming down administration for a $2.5 million saving.

DETROIT Back to school anxiety has taken on a whole new meaning for the 2020-21 school year. Whether your kids are heading back to the classroom -- or back home in front of a computer -- this will be a school year like no other. RELATED: Heres what Michigan school districts have planned for the fall amid the pandemicA survey of 12,000 U.S. parents by Deloitte finds 66% are anxious about sending their children back to school this fall. Licensed Therapist Jody Baumstein said no matter what decision you make about school, talk to your children about it openly. Therapists encourage parents to also keep an open dialogue with their children because feelings can change.

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. Dozens of parents gathered Sunday to protest the Grosse Pointe Public School systems back-to-school plan. The district made the decision to have all students start with remote learning. While parents of Detroit students have protested against in-person school classes, Grosse Pointe parents rallied for the opposite. Grosse Pointe school officials said theyre planning to get back into the classroom when its safe, but that wasnt good enough for parents. While they noted what some parents wanted ultimately, the district said they just didnt feel it was safe to return to class.

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. Another Michigan school district has decided to begin the upcoming school year entirely online amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Grosse Pointe Public School System Superintendent Gary Niehaus announced Friday that the district will start the school year with remote learning only, with a plan to gradually reintroduce students to in-person learning. Officials say a task force developed plans for in-person learning, virtual learning and a hybrid of both options -- which has been required by Michigan Gov. Niehaus said Friday that the districts intention is to transition to a hybrid or traditional in-person learning model, but only once it is safe to do so amid the pandemic. As the district moves to begin the school year fully online, officials say staff will still have access to child care, school buildings and learning materials.

Gretchen Whitmer made an announcement this morning closing all K-12 schools for the rest of the year. Every districts plan will be different and will reflect whats best and feasible for their community. School districts will also continue to provide meals for families who need them during the COVID-19 crisis. School districts will have the flexibility to adopt a balanced calendar for the 2019-2020 school year and/or to begin the 2020-2021 school year before Labor Day without having to seek additional approval. There will be a date in October for rising high school seniors to take the SAT and for other high school students to take the PSAT.