Dean Elizabeth Moje speaks on Detroit Today as Michigan K-12 schools prepare to return to in-person instruction
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has publicly encouraged Michigan schools to offer all K-12 students the option of returning to classrooms by March 1. Dean Elizabeth Moje joined Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to discuss the return to in-person teaching and learning.
“We all want children back in school,” said Moje. “I think this pandemic has shown just how important schools are. But… we want children and teachers back safely… We need to get teachers vaccinated immediately.”
Moje said that many teachers are in the dark about when they’ll be able to get vaccinated. “I’m hearing from teachers across Southeast Michigan that some have gotten their first dose and others haven’t heard a thing,” she said.
Furthermore, Moje pointed to the additional measures that will still be required to keep school spaces safe since children and their parents still won’t be vaccinated even if children are. This effort requires sufficient resources.
Moje believes that many districts never fully settled into one model or another since the pandemic disrupted education in spring 2020. Districts have been working consistently toward the goal of getting students back into schools although many obstacles remain, particularly inadequate funding.
The ways individual school districts take the governor’s guidance will vary drastically, depending on what’s best for their specific communities and student populations. As Moje pointed out, education systems in Michigan tend to be locally-managed.
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