Michigan administrators discuss how COVID-19 has affected their schools
The superintendents of Eastpointe and Grosse Pointe want students to remain learning in-person and not switch to virtual instruction.
For almost two years, schools have had to accommodate the ongoing needs of parents, teachers, students and the rest of its staff while simultaneously keeping everyone safe from a raging virus. While this has led to stints of virtual learning and temporary closures, it’s also meant losing more teachers amid an already-bad teacher shortage in Michigan. Recently, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wants school districts to end virtual learning, while noting that she will assist those districts in making a safe transition back to the classroom.
Every parent, every teacher, every kid I talk to is both tired of the pandemic as well as just tired of the different things we’ve all had to do.” —Jon Dean, superintendent of the Grosse Pointe school district
Listen: How local superintendents are handling COVID-19 in their respective school districts.
Guests
Jon Dean is the superintendent of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. Dean says the Grosse Pointe school district has remained in-person this year. “Every parent, every teacher, every kid I talk to is both tired of the pandemic as well as just tired of the different things we’ve all had to do,” he says.
Ryan McLeod is the superintendent of Eastpointe Community Schools. McLeod says political partisanship has bled into disagreements at local school board meetings. “For us, one of the things we’ve just made a commitment to doing all throughout this pandemic is following the guidance of our local health department,” he says.
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