Whitmer opposes making schools offer in-person classes

  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is unreceptive to Republican-passed legislation that would require public schools to offer in-person instruction to students in kindergarten through fifth grade amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic governor’s comments Tuesday came after several districts recently announced they will start the academic year solely with distance learning regardless of whether Whitmer moves the rest of Michigan into phase five of her reopening plan. The governor says parts of the House-approved plan now pending in the Senate have “merit,” but “other pieces are modeled after the DeVos plan to force schools to put kids back in the classroom."