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Comerica Bank Partners with United Negro College Fund For
2020 UNCF Virtual Walk Roots. A3
Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 83 – No. 50 | August 19-25, 2020
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Wayne County Health Release Return to School Roadmap for School Districts By Alan Hunt Wayne County Public Health Division, the Detroit Health Department, and Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency (Wayne RESA) partnered to release the Return to School Roadmap for Wayne county school districts. The guidelines, published online, were created to aid Wayne county’s educational staff in more than 30 school districts, including DPSCD. The roadmap features COVID-19 screening tools, case scenarios with action steps, template communications if someone is exposed to the virus, and an appendix of other useful resources.
The plan states face coverings are required for staff and students: Staff The MI Safe Schools Roadmap requires that facial coverings must always be worn by staff while in school hallways and common areas in a school building except during meals. Bus drivers and other staff must also wear face coverings during school transportation. Homemade coverings must be washed daily. Disposable coverings must be discarded daily. Students All students in pre-K - 12 grade must wear facial coverings during school transportation and while in school hallways and common areas in a school building except during males. All students in grades K-5 must wear facial coverings unless students remain with their classes throughout the school day and do not come into close contact with students in another class. All students in grades 6-12 must wear facial coverings while in classrooms. Homemade coverings must be washed daily. Disposable coverings must be discarded daily. Small medical exceptions to these requirements have also been documented. Wayne County Public Health Officer, Carol Austerberry, says, “It is important that we work together with our schools as planning partners before kids return to the classrooms...This document provides a way forward for our education leaders and schools.”
WHAT’S INSIDE
Iris Taylor
Misha Stallworth
Sonya Mays
The Power of 3:
Taylor, Mays, Stallworth Unite On Slate For Re-Election To Detroit School Board By Donald James Special to the Chronicle
The Tuesday, Nov. 3 General Election is quickly approaching, which means Detroit voters will be tasked with choosing candidates for several local and other races. One of the most important local races centers on electing three school board members to serve and create policies for Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) for the next four years. With a crowded field of 15 candidates vying for three incumbent board members’ seats, the race, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic era of uncertainties, will be immeasurably vital for the District’s direction well into the future. The three winners will join four other board members already seated. Making a strong bid to reclaim their seats this November are incumbents Dr. Iris Taylor, Sonya Mays, and Misha Stallworth. The three board members have united to run as a slate. Taylor, Mays, and Stallworth feel that their contributions to the board since winning their respective seats in 2016 have been excellent. “For people who have been watching the school board over the past four years, they have seen tremendous change, progress, and reform,” said Sonya Mays, who serves as the board’s treasurer and oversees the finance committee. “The slate of Taylor, Stallworth, and Mays has significantly been responsible for the trajectory, along with the other four board members.” Mays points to the board’s accomplishments that have been significantly powered by the three incumbents. Mays cites three consecutive years of
a balanced budget, three years of clean audits, and stronger partnerships with the business community, resulting in District students receiving new laptops and tablets. Academically, Mays said that pre-pandemic, the entire District performed above the state average on the M-STEP achievement test, created to assess how well students are mastering state standards. In addition, chronic absenteeism rates are down by eight percentage points over the last two years. And music and performing arts programs, as of 2019, have been restored for students K thru 8th grades. Mays believes that Taylor, Stallworth, and herself, as a slate, represent three individuals whose professional relationships have paid enormous dividends for the District’s advancement. Misha Stallworth agrees. “Over the last four years of working together, we’ve come to really respect each other’s work and perspective for advancing the District,” said Stallworth, who chairs the board’s policy committee. “We present a balanced and holistic approach and have created a nice climate to make some really important contributions to DPSCD.” Dr. Iris Taylor, school board president, adds. “When you look at overall what we’ve accomplished, it starts back with the work that we did to get a superintendent,” said Taylor. “As a team, despite all the pressures, we were clear what the attributes were for the individual that we wanted. We knew we needed a superintendent, who had a heart for kids, experience in reform and transformation work, and experience in not just making plans, but implementing plans with good
results. Dr. Nikolai Vitti is that person.” As the District grapples with COVID19 and the impact, it will have on students, teachers, and staff, the slate of Taylor, Mays, and Stallworth realizes that as things evolve, strong and steady leadership at the board is needed. Board President Taylor fills the bill. “I was in healthcare for 40-plus years,” said Taylor. “I was president of Detroit Receiving Hospital, and for a while, president of Harper-Hutzel. As we have been struggling with reopening schools and what that process looks like, I have offered opportunities to formulate various activities and processes that I know is supportive of a positive and safe environment for our entire District.” All three women agree that now is not the time to change board membership with proven leadership qualities. The three believe they bring much to the table on behalf of creating policies and maintaining a stronger District: Taylor (organization and process management, consensus building, and a long-term health executive and trained nurse), Mays (a financial and fiscal responsibilities steward, real estate and facility management and improvement), and Stallworth (a skilled policymaker, trained social worker, and proven community organizer). “Some of our best collective achievements have been for the academic progress of our students,” said Stallworth. “While there’s still a long way to go, as of 2019, we outpaced the state average in growth, which is amazing based on what we had to go through in a period of reform.” Shortly after the three board members were seated in January of 2017, they,
See POWER
The Democratic National Convention Kicked Off Monday Night In Its First Completely Virtual Event By Darlene White
Detroit opens first ever black-owned Beauty Supply Boutique,
Former first lady, Michelle Obama closed out the night with an emotional plea to vote for Joe Biden: “If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it,” she said.
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Obama, who wore a necklace that spelled out “V-O-T-E,” gave an emotional plea for a return to “empathy.”
Bronzed N Glow
In Obama’s speech, she gave a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump.
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“He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head, (and) cannot meet this moment. He simply
mate would be Sen. Kamala Harris of California, making the former state attorney general the first Black woman and the first Asian American to run on a major party ticket. The family of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death sparked a national awakening on racial injustice, led a moment of silence Monday night in the early moments of the Democratic National Convention.
Michelle Obama cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”
scribe the coronavirus death toll in the country.
That last line, “It is what it is,” goes back to the president using those same words to de-
The virtual gathering came less than a week after Biden announced that his running
One of Floyd’s brothers, Philonise stood alongside another brother, Rodney, and praised the sweeping protests that followed their brother’s death. During
the
convention,
See CONVENTION page A2