The state House and Senate Education committees met Wednesday to discuss reopening plans for schools this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but an important perspective was left out of the conversation — teachers.

Conversations on safe reopening plans, and if in-person learning is a possibility at all this fall, are happening at federal, state and local levels. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, President Donald Trump and the Michigan legislative Republicans have all released their own plans. GOP plans stress the need for in-person learning, while Whitmer said school buildings shouldn’t open in geographic regions where COVID-19 caseloads are too high.
Susan J. Demas graphic

Invited to speak at the hearing were representatives from a national school choice group, a charter school management company, the Michigan Association of School Psychologists, Michigan Association of School Social Workers, Michigan School Counselors Association, the medical director for the Flint Community Schools Wellness Program and three superintendents from the Upper Peninsula.

“The one group of people that we have not heard from today are teachers,” state Rep. Darrin Camilleri (D-Brownstown Twp.), a former teacher, said near the end of the meeting. “As we talk about reopening, I hope that we are also centering the experience of the educators who we are expecting to do the work. Because by us saying that they have to open, we also need a workforce that is going to be there, be able to be safe, work with our students, make sure that they feel uplifted, that they are growing and learning at the same time and that our educators are empowered to do the work safely.”

https://www.michiganadvance.com/2020/07/15/michigan-teachers-not-invited-to-legislative-hearing-on-reopening-schools/