Dearborn Public Schools To Begin Blended Learning March 1

DEARBORN, MI — Dearborn Public Schools learning labs will restart next week and the first students will begin blended learning on March 1, with students returning in waves over a three-week period, district officials announced Tuesday.

The announcement was made after the city of Dearborn met the COVID measures set by the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education in the early part of the pandemic.

“We have been preparing for months to reopen schools and are so glad we are finally able to get students back into our classrooms,” Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said Tuesday. “Getting vaccinations for our staff is also wonderful news to help ensure their safety as we move toward returning all our students to face-to-face learning. We know that in-school learning is the best environment for most students.

"However, COVID is not gone," he continued. "We need the community to continue to be vigilant about wearing masks and doing their part to control the spread of the virus so we can keep our students in school.”

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Face-to-face learning labs for special education students who are part of the Act 18 program will start on Tuesday, officials said Tuesday. Learning Labs for other students will begin later that same week. Most staff will report to their buildings starting Tuesday.

The second week after learning labs start, schools will begin to reopen to all students for blended learning in which students will be in school two days a week - either on Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday - and will work from home the other days, according to the district. Wednesdays will be live online classes for all students.

Dearborn Public Schools Reopening Plan

March 1 — Students return for blended learning, including students in kindergarten, first, second, sixth and ninth grades.

March 8 — Additional students can return to school for blended learning, including preschool, third, fourth, fifth, seventh and 10th grades.

March 15 — The rest of the students can return for blended learning, including eighth, 11th and 12th grades.

Dearborn Public Schools was able to arrange COVID vaccinations for all staff who want them on Thursday and Friday, officials said. Thursday will now be asynchronous for all students in order to allow teachers time to be vaccinated. Friday through Monday were already days off for the district for a mid-winter break. Students will now have a half-day of school on Tuesday and teachers will use the other half of the day to prepare to return to teaching students face-to-face.

The district earlier canceled the remaining late starts to allow for this half-day.

Related: Dearborn Schools To Discuss Return To Classroom Saturday

In October, the Dearborn Schools Board of Education set two COVID measures for when the district would return to in-school learning.

The district said Dearborn was required to improve to at least a D grade on the COVID risk matrix put out by the Wayne County Health Department and the positivity rate for Wayne County, outside of Detroit, needed to be at 5 percent or less on the weekly county report.

The community improved to an adequate grade in mid-January and maintained it on the newest report issued on Monday. The community met its second measure on the report released Monday evening, falling to 5 percent even for last week.

Maleyko said that after schools are open, the decision about possibly returning to an all remote-learning model would be made by the administration.

Read More:

• Michigan Reports Lowest Coronavirus Increase Since September
• Meijer Looking To Expand COVID-19 Vaccinations In Michigan
• 4 New Coronavirus Outbreaks Reported In Wayne County Schools