Dearborn Schools Nixing 4 Remaining Late Start Days On Schedule

DEARBORN, MI — Dearborn Public Schools is canceling the four remaining late start days scheduled for the school year and replacing them with a half-day on a Friday, but when that half-day will be scheduled remains undetermined, district officials said Wednesday.

The late starts scheduled for Feb. 10, March 10, April 21 and May 5 are canceled and students and staff will have regular school days on those days in whatever format the district is conducting class at that time, officials said.

Students will have a half-day of school on a Friday before the district restarts learning labs instead of the late start, officials said. The district does not yet know when that will be, however.

“In a typical year, late starts are a great tool to allow staff time to come together with their peers for team building and professional development,” Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said. “However, this is not a typical year, and teachers and administrators feel the time would be better used to help make a smoother transition to restarting in-school learning.”

The Dearborn Board of Education has set two measures for when the district will reopen schools, both of which are based on reports provided by the Wayne County Health Department.

The first requirement is that Dearborn improves to at least a D grade on the COVID risk matrix, which has already taken place. The second requirement cited by district officials is that Wayne County, outside of Detroit, falls to a 5 percent or lower positivity rate on a weekly report. The most recent report showed the county has fallen to a 6.2 percent positivity rate.

The district expects to tell school staff on a Tuesday and the public on a Wednesday when both conditions have been met. Officials said Wednesday the half-day would be that Friday to allow teachers to prepare to return to work in the school buildings.

Learning labs would restart the Monday after the announcement. Students would start returning to class in buildings for blended learning two weeks later.