Detroit school leaders, pastors call for students to return to in-person learning

[MichMan]

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the news conference that about 7,000 students are attending in-person. Roughly 49,000 total students are enrolled in the district. Teachers in Detroit still have the option to teach from home, so some in-person students are in learning centers, where they log into virtual classes.

But few have shown up regularly to either virtual or in-person classes this year, according to Vitti.

The superintendent said about 65% of Detroit Public Schools students are now considered chronically absent, meaning they've missed 18 or more days of school, an increase from 54% last school year. Many students disengaged from virtual school, failing to log in.

"Student achievement has plummeted, literacy, mathematics, science, all of those wonderful things that make a child happy," Vaughn said.

Now, the school district is trying to reengage students. Vitti said the district will do whatever it takes to get students back, including knocking on doors.

The largest district in the state is preparing to hold what school leaders are calling a summer learning experience, with the goal of enrolling 10,000 of its 49,000 students, Vitti said. About 5,000 are enrolled now.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2021/05/27/detroit-schools-baptist-pastors/7468166002/