What To Know And Where To Go In Southeast Michigan
This is your Daily Detroit News Byte podcast for Saturday, March 31, 2018. -The suburb of Warren is trying to create a downtown -A Detroit councilman is being sued -Local furniture maker Floyd is opening up a retail shop in Eastern Market -The State of Michigan adds 21 more schools to their possible closure list. Three, all charters, are in Detroit. -The Michigan …
Teachers and staff in Detroit’s main school district could soon have to tell their supervisors if they are supplementing their salaries with a side job. The school board’s policy committee last week approved a new policy that says the district “expects employees to disclose outside employment” and bars employees from working a second job while on any kind of leave. The …
More than two dozen struggling Detroit schools will likely be added to the state’s “partnership” program after posting years of rock-bottom test scores. That will bring to 50 the number of Detroit schools in the program, which requires schools to meet certain improvement targets or face consequences. Those consequences could include closure or a staff shake-up but, for …
Three months after taking on one of the most daunting tasks in American education, Nikolai Vitti was having a fit over pizza — $340,000 worth of pizza. Vitti, Detroit’s new school superintendent, had just discovered that the district had set aside that eye-popping sum of money last year to pay Domino’s Pizza for what he assumed were hundreds of thousands of slices for parties …
[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/dailydetroithappyhour/DD-23-Happy_hour_Schantz_mixdown.mp3" social_gplus="false" social_linkedin="true" social_email="true" twitter_username="TheDailyDetroit" ] Drew Schantz is the founder of Venture School, a nonprofit charter looking to get their doors open in the fall of next year. It's concept is a "micro charter" …
LaWanda Marshall and Candace Graham both teach pre-kindergarten at the Carver STEM Academy on Detroit’s west side. Both have colorful, toy-filled classrooms, computers for students to use and assistant teachers to help guide their four- and five-year olds as they learn and explore. But Marshall’s classroom has other things too — lots and lots of other things that regularly …
Detroit schools have been buzzing these last two weeks with what feels like a fresh start. A new superintendent — Nikolai Vitti — has landed in the city and started his job as the first new leader of what is officially a new district. He uses words like “transformation” and “vision” and “hope” to describe a future when Detroit schools will begin to address the intensive …
As Khali Sweeney travels to represent his beloved Downtown Boxing Gym, one thing always remains on his mind: That education is a keystone to moving Detroit forward. Actually, it’s the only thing Sweeney thinks about as he and Downtown Boxing Gym Executive Director Jessica Hauser move through the crowds on Mackinac Island. They’re here to listen to the conversations about …
The creation of a new school district last year gave Detroit schools a break from years of crippling debt, allowing the new district to report a healthy budget surplus going into its second year. It’s the first time since 2007 that the city’s main school district has ended the year with a surplus. But a report released this morning — just days after Superintendent Nikolai …
The Portal View is a shipping container repurposed to provide an education experience about the Great Lakes and the maritime industry's past and future. It opens to the public on May 22 (that's National Maritime Day) and is located right outside of the Port of Detroit, between Hart Plaza and the Renaissance Center. The container will be home to Great Lakes maritime …
Do you remember the story of the Dutch boy who stuck his finger in the dike to stop the leak and saved the town? That’s what three Dutch architecture students are doing in Detroit. They hope to put their finger in the dike and help Detroiters cut their energy costs and save more houses that might still have life from demolition. Bob Hendrikx, Dominik Lukkes, and Ronen Dan …
There is something special about listening to someone tell their story, and storytelling events have become pretty popular in the past few years. Every month The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers holds an evening of storytelling at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The next evening of storytelling is this Friday, March 17. The theme for the …
Parents, students and staff at the Fisher Upper Academy on Detroit’s east side gathered at the school last fall for an exciting announcement. The Ford Fund, the carmaker’s philanthropic arm, planned to spend $5 million on a new “resource and engagement center” inside the school. Parents were thrilled to learn that they and their neighbors would soon have access to services …
"If they don't fix the schools, the rest will be meaningless." - Erin Einhorn [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/dailydetroithappyhour/DD-5Happy-Hour-Chalkbeat_mixdown.mp3" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_email="true" ] Subscribe to the Daily Detroit Happy Hour podcast for free on iTunes Detroit's schools seem to be …
Ed. Note: With all the polarization out there on the internet, we thought we'd find a summary that highlights what could actually happen with the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, a wealthy Michigander who also has wielded her influence on education policy in Michigan as well as Detroit, as the new Secretary of Education. Thanks to Chalkbeat, who we regularly feature on our site, …
Michigan education officials’ aggressive school closure plan faces a major challenge: It’s unlikely that most students displaced by closures will end up in substantially better schools. That’s because there are few schools in struggling cities like Detroit that have test scores significantly higher than the schools facing closure. The 38 schools — including 25 in Detroit — …
Michigan schools waiting anxiously for word on whether they’ll be shut down next year will have to wait a little longer. State officials initially planned to release their annual state rankings, which will be used to decide which schools will be forced to close, by the end of this month. Now, they’re saying the rankings — and any closure decisions — won’t come until at least …
On paper, the Michigan Technical Academy looks exactly like the kind of school state officials are planning to shut down. The charter school in northwest Detroit has posted test scores in the bottom 1 percent in the state in recent years, and fewer than 5 percent of fourth-graders passed last year’s state math exam. The scores mean the school could be shuttered under a …
A new lawsuit says Michigan is trampling the right of Detroit children to learn to read. The lawyers behind the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, say it is the first of its kind in the nation — and that its outcome could have national implications. “It’s a national scandal the number of children in major school districts who cannot read, write or have critical …
On Tuesday, the slick and mobile Ideas Box was unveiled at the central branch of the Detroit Public Library. The project, created by the nonprofit Libraries Without Borders in partnership with the renowned French designer Philippe Starck, the Alexander Soros Foundation, and the Pierre Bellon Foundation, has created a portable media center and digital classroom that can be …
Education is crucial to the future of the city of Detroit. With that in mind, City Year Detroit is an organization primarily focused on bridging the gap between students of Detroit Public Schools and their staff members. Understanding what students really need and want to get out of their school will help the students' ability to continue to higher education after high …
Detroit being Detroit, there are almost always challenges. However, the Youth Transit Alliance is one of the ones trying to break the cycle of despair in the D for our children. If you don't know the YTA, this program is important in that it connects children in the city to after school programs. You've heard us go on and on about how there are some huge gaps. 39% of …
Free Comic Book Day (FBCD) is right around the corner, which means comic book stores around the country are getting ready to celebrate. The annual event will be on Saturday, May 6 this year. For those of you looking for a place to pick up your free comic book I suggest heading over to the …
