By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Elementary and middle school students in Dearborn Heights District 7 will be returning to face-to-face learning while high schoolers remain in virtual learning.
The change will impact only families who selected to have their students in face-to-face learning and not the virtual learners at the elementary and middle school levels.
Students and teachers returned to their buildings Dec. 10 with masks required. Athletics will remain suspended through Dec. 20.
High schoolers remain in online classes until winter break Dec. 19 due to the Michigan Department Health and Human Services extending their epidemic order by 12 days on Dec. 7. The MDHHS first issued a three-week epidemic order Nov. 15 in an effort to curb rapidly rising COVID-19 infection rates.
According to the press release, “The additional 12 days will allow the department to determine the full impact of the Thanksgiving holiday on the spread of COVID-19 across Michigan.”
During a special virtual meeting Dec. 9, the school board voted 6-1 in favor of making the change in the district’s fall 2020 re-entry plan with Trustee Latanya Gather voting no.
Supt. Jennifer Mast said most students are coming back to in-person learning and that parents can change their student’s learning plan at the end of the semester in January.
“We do have some families who have opted to keep their children home for the last seven days and they have all contacted their building principals,” she said. “The building principals and teachers are working with them to continue a virtual learning environment up until the break even though they were in a face-to-face classroom.”
The school board unanimously approved the district’s fall 2020 re-entry plan, as required every 30 days, with the added virtual classes change last month after the MDHHS’s initial epidemic order was released.
Only high schoolers were required to switch to virtual learning only, but Mast made the recommendation that all grade levels needed to stay home for the three weeks because it was the best and safest option for all students and staff.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])