Michigan is making some tough decisions about what school will look like in the fall. | Santi Vedrí/Unsplash
Michigan is making some tough decisions about what school will look like in the fall. | Santi Vedrí/Unsplash
Michigan's public school system will be facing a new set of challenges when the fall semester begins, and it cannot overcome these hurdles without federal aid, PRNewswire reported.
In a recent webinar entitled “COVID-19 and Michigan Public Schools: What Do We Need to Get Schools Back in Session This Fall?” experts shared their opinions on the matter.
Flint’s Mayor, Sheldon Neeley, said that the schools in his area were in dire need of help on the technology front, as they seek to continue to provide education for communities of color, who have been particularly hard-hit by the virus.
"This is a very serious virus that's stricken our country, our society and also our state. But communities of color, like the city of Flint, which I represent, has been stricken heavily with this,” Neeley said, according to PRNewswire.
The executive director of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, Chris Wigent, said that connectivity issues abound in the state, which will be a definite challenge as classes may need to be held online in the fall.
“A survey was run right after we had the closing of schools, and the survey found that approximately one-third of the children in the state, 500,000, either did not have a device or did not have internet access,” Wigent told PRNewswire.
At this time, the Michigan Public School System already has to deal with $700 per-student funding decreases, making the challenges of coronavirus even more pronounced.
"Right now, we can make the decision that we're actually going to invest in kids or… we can make the decision that we can make our kids bear the brunt of this," Jared Burkhart, executive director of Michigan’s chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told PRNewswire.
While the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act did provide some integral funding, which was needed to help keep schools afloat nationwide, only $13.5 billion out of the total $2.2 trillion from the package was directed to K-12 schools, PRNewswire reports.
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