Credit Flickr user Frank Juarez / Creative Commons http://j.mp/1SPGCl0
The initial unaudited 2020 fall enrollment count is down by roughly 53,000 students from last fall s count for Michigan s K-12 school districts and public school academies.
State Superintendent Michael Rice announced the 3.7% decline Wednesday.
In a written statement, Rice estimated that about three quarters of the decline is due, in roughly equal shares, to fewer kindergartners, more homeschool kids, and an estimated public school population decrease based on an average annual decrease of 13,000 students over the last ten years. The remainder, approximately 13,000 students, is a significant concern, said Rice. Every child is important, Rice said. To lose even one is too many.
Children’s social and emotional learning another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic
Updated Dec 14, 2020;
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Students are struggling to learn geometry and world history in virtual school this year, but developing relationship skills and getting necessary mental health support away from peers and trained adults can be an even greater challenge.
Last year, Melissa Emery’s 15-year-old son was improving his social skills, making new friends and speaking up for himself in class. Today, the teenager with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is struggling not only with his schoolwork but also with the soft skills he was making headway on, his mother said.
Many Michigan parents chose home schooling during the pandemic. Will they return?
Updated Dec 14, 2020;
Posted Dec 13, 2020
Parents who opted to home school their children during the COVID-19 pandemic are weighing if and when they will return to their local public school districts once in-person classes are offered on a consistent basis. (MLive File Photo)
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Despite pulling her daughter out of virtual learning in favor of home schooling a month into the school year, Ashley Zimmerman still believes public education is good.
But, is Zimmerman ready to send her first-grader back to Ann Arbor Public Schools whenever the district deems it safe to return to in-person classes?