with Detroit School Superintendent, Dr.

Nikolai Vitti.

- You're somebody who has said unequivocally that the best situation for kids in our district in Detroit is for them to be in school all the time.

Of course, we can't necessarily mandate that at this point.

But tell me how close you think we're gonna be able to get, even as we see this recent surge in COVID-19 cases?

- I, you know, I think most of us would agree the best situation for our students, our students in Detroit, is in person.

There's just a relationship connection there that you can build into trust, you know, reteaching small group instruction because a lot of our students are below where they should be.

But obviously any time the infection rates are too high, then we have to suspend it.

And I think over the last year and a half we've done that.

So we've been about equity and equity of access.

Meaning if private schools are open and suburban school districts are open, so should we.

But being very cautious and listening to medical experts when the infection rates are too high and not moving forward with in-person learning.

Now, I'm very excited about the fall.

You know, I am worried about the rising infection rates.

They're not as high in the city, you know, in Michigan, as they are, let's say in the south right now.

But at the same time, I'm excited and optimistic for a couple of reasons.

One, our teachers are back across the district.

So every school, every classroom, every subject area, our teachers will be back in person.

That was an agreement that we made with Detroit Federation of Teachers.

I'm also excited because we have additional funding.

And so for the first time in over 20 years, as a teacher, principal, chief academic officer, superintendent, always in large urban school districts, I feel like for at least two years, we have equitable amount of resources to address some of the wrap-around challenges that we have with our students and families.

So we're gonna be able to go much deeper with mental-health support in the fall with tier-two, tier-three intervention.

That means small group one-on-one.

We're gonna have a nurse at every one of our buildings.

Every teacher vacancy is filled.

And we've hired over 100 more teachers to reduce class size.

We're gonna be able to offer afterschool programming in every school this fall and for the next two years.

We're adding vans, district vans, to pick up students if they miss the initial bus.

So, you know, this year for us is a year of recovery.

We have to make up on learning loss.

We gotta get kids back and learning in the regular process.

And so that's our focus, but I feel like we can do this now in a much harder space in time, but with the resources to actually do that.

So, and the last reason why I'm optimistic and excited is that our families are ready to send their children back.

So, you know, right now our polling looks at 80 to 95% of parents are ready to send their children back to school.

I think our number, or our percentage of students that want virtual school, will always be higher than suburban districts and rural districts.

And we have a separate virtual school for that.

And, you know, from a COVID perspective, we're always going to be more conservative, if you will, about the safety strategies.

And we've always been aligned to the CDC, always been aligned to state guidelines.

So all of our students, employees, vaccinated or not will wear a mask.

We're gonna do the deep cleaning, three-feet of social distance.

And I think the big difference in DPSCD will be testing.

All of our employees, all of our students will test, vaccinated or not.

So, you know, we can identify asymptomatic cases.

We can identify outbreaks that have not been identified.

And we can talk about an infection rate beyond the city rate or even the county rate.

The state rate based on actual infection rates at individual schools and districts.

- You've been able to fill all the vacancies in our schools.

I mean, I've been around Detroit for four decades, five decades now, that has always been one of our big, sort of, speed bumps is the idea that we can't attract enough teachers to get the ratios we want in classrooms and make sure that we're fully staffed.

Talk about the difference that you think that makes.

- I've said it countless times, if we don't have a certified teacher in a classroom, we can't even talk about getting to high quality.

You can have a great person who cares about the kids.

You know, a long-term sub, someone with the degree, they need to be certified, they need to be trained.

And then we can start building capacity.

But you can't even get off the finish line if you're not at that point.

And I remember when I started as superintendent, and I started to talk at that point with the HR team, and the conversation was, "We'll never be fully staffed in Detroit," you know.

Right when you told me that I realized, you know, wrong approach, wrong expectations, we gotta move in a different direction with just how you think about your job.

So, you know, part of the work was honestly revamping HR with people that believed that we should, and had to be fully staffed.

But then it was, you know, pay matters.

And, you know, we can talk about climate and culture and support, and all of that does play a role, but ultimately it is about paying people a competitive wage.

So we've gone from, you know, about 36, 38,000, to 51,000 for beginning-teacher salaries.

And it wasn't only beginning teachers, but this is what it was, we were able to recruit from Detroit charter schools and from suburban school districts, many of those teachers who grew up in Detroit and left, that was a major difference.

And we've been able to retain our veteran teachers.

You know, I think it's one recruiting, it's pay, and then once we get 'em in, I do think people feel more supported when they get to their school, with stronger principals, more principal training.

And, you know, I'm also excited that we're building our own bench.

And so we're taking academic intervention as paraeducators, people that have four-year degrees that aren't certified, using master teachers that have been in a system to train them in the classroom.

So we're actually thinking ahead also in building a bench so this can be sustainable.

As we know, our most veteran teachers will probably start to retire in the next three to four years.

So we'll be well positioned to actually build our own.

People that know our kids, been in the classroom, know the challenges and the opportunities.

And it's a very diverse group, and I'm excited about that.

We're, you know, by memory, I think 90% of the candidates that we're building to become teachers are of color.

And there are many black men in that cohort as well.

And that's the other part of being intentional about, you know, matching the needs of our students with our teachers.

- I want to ask you about the money coming from the Federal Government.

An unprecedented amount of money, both to the city and to the school district.

And what you want to do with that money.

And what difference you think that's gonna make for our kids?

- This is how we're going to expand mental-health support throughout the district.

We expanded summer school this past summer and the upcoming summer.

We're also hiring teachers in surplus.

So we're fully staffed on the teacher side of staffing.

While we're hiring more teachers to reduce class size, to maintain social distancing.

And to anticipate the retirements that are gonna come in the next couple of years.

We're using the money for home visits, which has been very successful.

In addition to that, we're gonna be able to continue to go one-to-one with our laptops, internet access.

Probably one of the greatest long-standing issues we have in DPSCD is our facilities.

So about 600 to 800 million of that 1.2 billion that we're going to receive, is going to attack our facility issue.

Now, with this funding, we don't have to go to the taxpayers.

We don't have to raise taxes, and we can put a major dent in our facility.

So by January, we'll have a 20-year facility plan, which will be like a blueprint, a set of recommendations on how to deal with buildings like Pershing, Osborn, and Cody that need substantial work.

But you know, which, the size of the school is not needed, the number of seats.

- Right.

- So, we're gonna engage the community by feeder pattern.

Should we renovate?

Shall we build new buildings, do we consolidate?

And the whole conversation is not, how we take away, but how do we give back something better?

And not to replicate what I call the sins of emergency management in the past, truly engage people, know that there is a finite amount of money, but how do we best use it?

And then take that back to the school board and then create a 20-year facility plan and start making major investments in our facility.

So we get to a point where all of our schools have air conditioning, you know, reliable HVAC systems, roofs, masonry work, fencing around parking lots, upgraded IT, but it's gonna take us, you know, about two to five years to get to that full implementation.

But by the end of this school year we will have a 20-year facility plan with funding connected to it.