- Hi, I'm Christy McDonald, and here's what's coming up this week on "One Detroit."

It's our "One Detroit" education town hall, where are school's headed almost a year into COVID.

Students share their struggles with online and hybrid school.

Superintendents across Southeast Michigan explain their decision-making, and teachers reveal how they're working to meet the needs of kids across the board.

It's all ahead this week on "One Detroit."

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(upbeat music) - Hi there, and welcome to "One Detroit."

I'm Christy McDonald.

Thanks so much for being with me.

Each week you can watch "One Detroit" right here on Detroit Public Television, but we also expand our conversations with town halls and community meetings off the air.

It's part of our effort to connect you with the issues that matter most to your families and your neighborhoods and really bring a broader understanding to our viewers at home as well.

So about two weeks ago, we had a "One Detroit" education town hall, and this show is dedicated to that conversation.

It was an hour long Zoom town hall where we heard from teachers, superintendents and students.

We had a lot of parents in the audience as well asking questions from state testing to funding to better online learning.

Education during COVID has been difficult for everyone involved.

And we'll start with the kids who are adjusting every day to learning in a time of COVID.

Here are our local students that are a part of the PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs, sharing with us the challenges of online school.

- One thing, we're going into like the building like before COVID, you were able to like put like home things behind you and just focus like on your work 'cause you're like, you know, in the building.

You're in the environment of students and teachers.

I feel like for me, I didn't really have a designated area to do my work or to do my classes.

So it was just weird, not weird, but it was, it didn't feel like school.

And a lot of like distractions at home.

If I had a choice, I don't think I would choose to do virtual learning.

- Virtual learning is great and all, and the teachers are doing a great job of adjusting and helping their students learn, but nothing beats in-person learning.

We've been doing face-to-face for about a week now with majority of our first semester being virtual.

When we had virtual learning, that was, that was the worst, but frankly, at least for me, I'd felt like giving up in classes, and some of them I did.

- I don't really do well online.

My grades slip when I do online because I feel like school's an option when I'm at home.

And so I procrastinate, and then I don't do my work and then my grades drop.

But when I'm actually in school, I do all my work, and I get good grades.

- Going from online to back in-person was really hard for me because I was behind online.

It's a lot harder to stay focused online, but being in person actually is way better than online.

- Some of my friends, they like so far behind because COVID threw them off.

Nobody knew this would happen, so they like like confused on online work, but you know, they trying.

- For me, I ask a lot of questions, and I rely on teachers to be there for me.

And it was hard for me because I would have to text them, you know, wait for their response, and I'm over here, you know, stressing about it.

- In currently all in person school.

We did switch to online at one point, but now we are back in person.

My social life has actually changed a lot.

I don't really talk to my friends as much because we don't see each other.

There's not a lot of social time for us to talk at school anymore.

We do have lunch together, but it's very distant and not the same as it used to be.

- I'm doing hybrid, so that means that I go to school just a few times.

And then I do online for the rest of my classes.

There are no afterschool activities right now unless you are literally by yourself just practicing alone because we're not allowed to.

- Sports got canceled, pushed back.

We wear a mask all the time.

You can't take 'em off.

- I've been trying to be more careful, you know, wearing a mask literally everywhere, but sometimes you'd still get it.

- I'm most worried about getting my family sick and then that kind of spreading to more people.

- So you have to take a lot of extra precautions.

We have to wear masks constantly.

And there's always that threat of being switched again to online like we just were, so online school was definitely different because it was still school.

So it was different than last year's online school because it was still school.

So we still had to wake up in time, and we still had assignments that were due.

Whereas last year it was credit, no credit.

So last year we didn't necessarily have to wake up for every single Zoom, but this year it was important that we did because it all counted.

I'm kind of just looking forward to the end of the year because I know that I won't have to wear a mask as much because I won't be in school all day.

- Going back to lockdown would probably be the worst thing to happen to me.

That's not something that I'm looking forward to, but what I am looking forward to is getting out of this.

You know, it's looking pretty good right now.

We're here right now.

So I would consider that a win.

- As each student learns in their own way, the teachers have to meet them where they are.

Here's my conversation with Jeanie Wilson, a middle school teacher at Ann Arbor Steam at Northside, Dorothea Williams, an ELA teacher at Cass Tech in Detroit, and Beth Freedman, a Spanish teacher at Summit Academy North High School.

Okay.

Jeanie, so tell me what is a typical day like for you?

And if you want me to pretend to be a student, I'll turn my camera so you can only see the top of my head.

I mean, is this essentially what you guys look at every day?

I know it is.

I see my kids' stuff.

- I see and hear all kinds of things, so.

(laughing) - I bet you do.

So tell us, what's a typical, are you lecturing the whole time?

Are there breakout rooms?

Projects?

How have you been able to do this for almost a year now?

- So I start my morning with my advisory group which is my home base, and I really try to work on building relationships with that group.

So, you know, it's a lot of dialogue with the kiddos and, you know, it's like by all means necessary they can contribute.

They can put things in the chat.

They can unmute and talk.

They can there's even like the annotate feature where they can write on my slides.

It's been really interesting to see the different ways kids wanna communicate their thinking.

And so that's how I start.

And then we have a block schedule.

So I will see one class for 90 minutes.

Then we have a half-hour break.

Usually I can touch base with some kids in that time.

I'm sending a lot of emails, texting parents, where is your kid?

And then we have another block.

- [Christy] Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

- And then we have lunch and then a third block.

So it's, it's a pretty long day.

Those blocks are 90 minutes long.

And there's a lot-- - How does that grab you?

Do you like the 90 minutes or is that, I mean, that's very different than a 50-minute class and then changing, and, you know, being able to get a new class in.

- I have taught in a block schedule school before, so I actually have not had too much trouble with that.

I really feel like I end up with time to connect with kids.

So the flow of class, you know, we have a discussion that's like on the computer, like a typed discussion, and then we have activities, and we, then we have some sort of writing project that we're doing or something.

And I'm able to go into breakout rooms and connect with kids and have a lot of one-on-one conversations or small group conversations with them.

So if they were shorter, I think it would be really hard to reach kids.

So it's been pretty good.

- Dorothea, what about you?

What's it like doing ELA for sophomores and juniors?

What's a typical day like for you?

- A typical day in my classroom, my virtual classroom, is we see half of our students on one day, and then the other half on another day.

And I should tell you, our students petitioned to have us change the schedule, and our superintendent agreed to it.

See our kids are pretty vocal, so they decided, and they looked at other school models and decided that they were very stressed out having to be online all day.

So I'll see three of my classes on one day, maybe two on another day.

We meet with all of our kids on Wednesday, and the afternoon is just for asynchronous time.

Anytime that we need to tutor students or connect with students.

But a typical day is I make a production out of attendance.

We spend, I spend 10 minutes, you know, listening to voices or encouraging them to turn on their cameras.

And it works out.

I'm finding that I get a much better response when I take a little bit of extra time, like you Jeanie, to really connect with the kids.

It's harder online of course.

It's harder to assess whether or not they're struggling because some of them are under the covers, right?

So it seems to, believe it or not, my students are fairly receptive to that.

And they're even more receptive because our superintendent agreed to allow them to change their schedule.

- Beth, give us the day in the life of you in terms of your classrooms and your kids and teaching Spanish.

- We start out every morning, we have an AB schedule.

So my periods, period one, I see half my students on A days and half on B.

So that's similar to Dorothea's schedule in that regard.

But on the days that I don't see my students, I still have a first, morning check-in.

So I do get to connect with all my students every day.

It's just a matter of who I see on which day.

And I've required them to keep their computers on.

With language, it's important for me to be able to see their faces and to see them speak.

So when, especially when we get into the breakout rooms, and I'm, like Jeanie said, using the breakout rooms, it makes it so much more personal, I think, to be able to touch base with those students.

- You know, we're also talking about learning loss.

We talked about it with the superintendents and Dr. Vitti, and Dorothea, let me ask you because it almost feels like it comes and it rests on your shoulders.

So you have to continue to do the output that you were usually doing a year before, you lost the spring, and now you're finding your way through this.

As from a teacher's perspective, what do you think about that and what are you working on?

- Well, you know, I struggle with this one because of course we want our children to do well, right?

We wanna narrow that achievement gap, but I think it's really important, at least, and I can only speak for my district.

You know, we have a lot of struggling children.

We have a lot of poverty.

I really believe that when the kids are better taken care of, when their psychosocial needs are cared for, they will bounce back.

They will, right, continue to improve.

So for me, I'm a little bit more flexible, right?

I have conversations with my students about how important it is for them to demonstrate progress.

However, that's not as, it's important, but I think their emotional needs, caring for their emotional needs are also important.

And helping them understand that when you're struggling, we're here, I'm here.

- Beth, you wanted to say?

- Yeah, you had mentioned, Dorothea, about the psychosocial aspect of it.

I spent oh, a good 45 minutes today with a student just because she was so overwhelmed by the whole situation.

And it's, I believe that that's the most important thing for us as as educators is to understand that these are kids.

These are human beings, and their whole apple cart was disrupted.

And we need to be there for them first and foremost.

And if we show that outpouring, they will work.

- I think the most important thing is that we don't let this pressure for these expectations that some of which are a little bit made up rest on the shoulders of the children.

They should not be under so much pressure.

So we need to nurture them.

We need to coach them.

We need them on track and moving forward in their learning, but we do not need to put the stress of learning loss on the kids.

- [Dorothea] That's right.

- The big overarching decisions that are happening at districts are made by the superintendents and administration.

Each district has to cater to what their specific school community needs.

I checked in with Dr. Rich Machesky, Superintendent of Troy Schools, Mark Greathead, Superintendent at Woodhaven-Brownstown school district, Mike Devault, Superintendent at Macomb Intermediate School District, and Dr. Alesia Flye, Chief Academic Officer for Macomb ISD.

I'd like you each one of you to describe your district briefly, and as of this week, whether you're in seat, online, if there's a hybrid, what your school community has chosen and how many are opting to come back.

So if I could start with you Rich in Troy.

- Sure, absolutely.

So in Troy, we are, we're in our hybrid model right now which for us is five days at the elementary, and four days for all students wishing to take part in in-seat instruction at the secondary level.

So six - 12.

Approximately 60% of families in Troy have chosen to remain virtual, which means there are 40% total of about 40% of families choosing to be in seat.

About 50% of those at the elementary level, about 40% at the middle school, and about 30% at the high school level.

So we are fortunate to have those that wish to be in seat, in seat for a good portion of the week in Troy.

- Okay, Mark, give us an idea of what's happening in Woodhaven-Brownstown school district, what your situation is right now and what the community has decided in terms of opting in.

- Certainly, beginning in September, we offered our parents and our students a choice.

60% chose to come to school on a daily basis, grades K through 12.

40% chose to be fully remote.

And we've been able to do that successfully since, with the exception of the November pause when high school students were paused.

We also paused in-person education for grades K through eight as well.

Right before winter break and the weeks, the two weeks after winter break, we brought all of our students back in a every other day schedule, what we call our safe start to bring kids back gradually.

But right now for the last three weeks, we've had right back at that 60% in person every day and 40% remote we've offered our parents the opportunity to change their mind at the card marking breaks.

And each time we come to a transition, we get about 50/50.

You know, we get about an equal number that want to come in person as we do that want to transition to remote.

And one of the things that we think is unique about the program that we've offered is all of our students are being taught directly by Woodhaven-Brownstown school district teachers.

So even our remote students, we have a very limited class size.

We stick to it, and we do that so that they're transition back into the classroom can be as seamless as possible.

- You know, it's interesting to see the numbers, you know, flipped in the two districts that we're talking about which really just goes to the point that each district is making individual choices that services the people in their district and that's right for them.

And that's what's so difficult I think when you talk across the board change or across the board, you know, policies that you need to have in place that it is so individualized to different districts and different demographic areas.

Mike, let's talk about Macomb.

give us an overview county-wise about where you are in terms of in-seat, online, or a combination.

- Yeah, just for your listeners' information, we have 22 districts including the ISD here, within the county, about 130,000 students give or take.

So we have, if I can just start with the ISD with our special needs students, we've been in-person since September 8th, but with an option of parents to choose remote.

And then the other 21 districts, we're pretty much have all options on the table.

We've got some districts that have 15% remote and others at 50, but of the 22 districts, and just last past couple of weeks, Chippewa and Utica have have started their programs.

So the majority of our districts are in-person education options, and I think that we've learned a lot from it, and our parents appreciate it.

- And so Alesia, when we look at all of this, and we hear from different districts across the area, you know, we're getting some questions from people who are in our town hall right now.

Are superintendents or districts and ISD's sharing within the counties about what they're doing across the area, saying this is working for us.

This isn't working for us, and looking at a shared set of data?

- Absolutely, Christy.

One of the things that we've done since the school closure last spring, we meet, last spring we were almost meeting daily with our 21 superintendents throughout Macomb County to do exactly what you're describing.

And we've continued to meet.

Now, it's about weekly.

It's at least once a week, but if something surfaces, we meet even more frequently if we feel we come together, that we need to come together, and we're having those exact conversations.

The superintendents report the status of where they are in terms of their instructional delivery and talk about what's going well or things to consider as you transition.

Because as Superintendent Devault mentioned, with a county the size of Macomb County, we have a variety of options that are occurring, but each of our districts are, almost all of our districts do have at least an in-person option.

And what has been critical that we've heard from both Dr. Machesky and Mr. Gearhart as well, is that, that survey piece in terms of getting input from families and needing to be nimble and flexible because as we've navigated, you know, just as unknown territory with all of us regarding the pandemic, our goal is to best meet our students and families' needs and having their voice about, you know, where they are and their situations has been critical.

- Would you welcome, let me start with you, Rich, would you welcome, and we're getting this question coming in right now, centralized decision-making coming down from the state or do you believe that the autonomy that the districts have is in the best interest of what you're doing right now?

- What we've talked about in Oakland County, and we talked about this from the very beginning of the pandemic is what we really wanted to see from the state were more clear, was more clear guidance around what is considered safe and what is not.

What are those thresholds that we should be looking at as a community?

Because we're not health officers.

So if you could provide us thresholds that we should be considering as to when it's safe and when it may not be safe, that's all we would really want at the state level, and then allow us at the local level to make those decisions based upon the needs within our community.

- Mark, you know, I came up with a list of questions, and I could talk to you guys forever, but I keep seeing the word challenge on my list of questions.

Like, what are the challenges?

What are the challenges?

Let me ask you what has gone right during this entire process?

And then what has been your biggest challenge?

- Choice has been what's gone right.

That's enabled us to try to provide support that can best meet the needs of the students.

The students that we listened to earlier, hearing their anxiety just really hit me, and it only starts to scratch the surface.

So if I transition into challenges, challenges ahead for us, or challenges that we've experienced, and then the challenges ahead for us are having the resources and support that we need to address not just learning loss but also the social emotional impact that the pandemic has had on our students.

And that needs to start sooner rather than later.

- Well, let's get to the learning loss, there is a recent poll from Education Trust Midwest that came out.

85% of parents say state leaders should have a plan to address pandemic learning loss and make sure kids are back on grade level.

Alesia, let me go to you.

How extensive do you believe the learning loss is?

How can you measure it?

And what plans are you working on in Macomb with Mike to address this?

- Our local districts have the, you know, they have the opportunity, they've administered local assessments, and so they've had the opportunity to look at and see where some of the learning loss is occurring where some of the gaps are.

A little surprisingly and that emphasis is reflective in some reason nation national data that we saw as well, we see a larger gap in mathematics than in reading as we were digging into some of our data, but districts are already talking and beginning to put plans in place to address that.

In our County, we already offered a pretty robust, you know, summer learning opportunities for students, and we are, we've begun planning even earlier for that.

And so that students can have the opportunity just to catch up on some of the learning that has been disrupted this year.

- Rich, let me ask you, let's talk a little bit about safety and funding.

Do you believe that you have the funding necessary to make sure that your schools are safe when kids roll back in whenever the vaccine rollout gets up and going and we have more of the community vaccinated?

I think, I will give the state credit from the perspective of they have, they have attempted to make funds available as quickly as possible.

I think we continue to need, we will continue to need more funds for things such as hiring counselors, for social workers, individuals to address, to your point, the social/emotional wellbeing of the students within our community because that's gonna last well down.

I mean, PPE will go away.

Those components are gonna last well into years, several years down the road.

So I don't think there's enough funding with respect to making sure that we can retain individuals like that.

The other key is giving us flexibility, use the spending or the monies where we see fit.

Every community is different.

What Macomb may need, it may be different than what we need in some areas in Oakland.

So having the resources, but having the flexibility to utilize, spend those resources where we most need them is also extremely important.

- I also spoke at length separately with Dr. Vitti of Detroit Public Schools Community District.

You can see that conversation@onedetroitpbs.org, and that is going to do it for our "One Detroit" education town hall.

Make sure you stay with us for more stories we're following on schools during COVID I'll see you next week.

Take care.

You can find more@onedetroitpbs.org or subscribe to our social media channels and sign up for our "One Detroit" newsletter.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

- [Announcer] Support for this program provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV, the Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEfoundation.com to learn more.

- [Male Announcer] Business Leaders for Michigan, dedicated to making Michigan a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

AAA, Nissan Foundation, ally, Impact at Home, UAW Solidarity Forever, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)