Education

The Detroit school district reached a deal to open buildings on Sept. 8. In-person instruction will be capped at 20 students per classroom. Teachers can get extra pay, and kids and staff will have their temperature checked each day. The deal came a week after members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers authorized a strike over coronavirus safety. The Detroit Public Schools Community District is the largest in Michigan with roughly 50,000 students. Despite the agreement with the union, some teachers don't want to return to face-to-face instruction.

A federal judge in California blocked a federal rule that Michigan and seven other states said would unlawfully allow too much pandemic relief aid to be diverted from K-12 public schools to private ones.

Judge James Donato ruled late Wednesday. It came days after a different federal judge issued a similar injunction in a lawsuit filed by Washington state.

A school in western Michigan is taking learning outdoors as a way to help keep students and teachers safe from the coronavirus.

Holland Christian elementary-level teachers went through a training course on outdoor education this week with the Outdoor Discovery Center, The Holland Sentinel reported Friday.

But that wasn’t totally new to Holland Christian, which has had a Forest School that placed kindergarten and first grade classrooms in an outdoor setting.

Notre Dame and Michigan State universities became the latest colleges to move classes online because of the coronavirus on Tuesday as colleges struggle to contain outbreaks and students continue to congregate in large groups without masks or social distancing.

The decisions came the same day a third school in the 17-member University of North Carolina system reported a COVID-19 cluster in off-campus housing.

Michigan legislators gave final approval Monday to bills that would provide flexibility for K-12 schools as they prepare to open amid the coronavirus pandemic, waiving physical attendance and minimum instruction requirements to allow for remote classes.

Michigan legislators have given final approval to bills that would provide flexibility for K-12 schools as they prepare to open amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will sign the legislation to waive physical attendance and minimum instruction requirements to allow for remote classes. The legislation would give districts and charter schools the option to choose in-person instruction, online or a hybrid based on consulting with local health departments.