On March 24, the MSU Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center held a de-stress, cow-petting event for the community.
Business & Economy
Schools adapt to free meals for all students
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SCHOOL MEALS: School districts are adapting to the mandate to offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students, regardless of income. The state is paying for the initiative. They say hungry students don’t learn well, and that students who can’t afford to pay for meals feel stigmatized. We talk to school lunch experts in Marquette, Oakland County and Traverse City. By Alex Walters. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, DETROIT, MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.
Education
MacDonald Middle School invests in restorative justice practices and reduces suspensions
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Restorative justice is not always widely used in a traditional classroom setting. However, MacDonald Middle School has seen significant improvements among its students since adopting this system. Restorative justice is an alternative to punishment and a more peaceful discipline approach used to repair harm that has been done, according to MacDonald Principal, Amy Martin.
“Restorative justice looks at all parties involved and gives the opportunity for all parties in the conflict to have a voice and to be heard,” Martin said. “Then we have to come to an agreement on how to peacefully coexist in the same place.”
Martin has been at MacDonald for nine years and said restorative practices were implemented at the school in 2000. She said the administration has encountered some system issues along the way.
“We didn’t really have a balance between restorative practices and traditional consequences for students,” Martin said.
East Lansing
Restorative Justice is on The Rise in Michigan Schools
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When it comes to school discipline in the United States, punishments such as detention, suspension and even expulsion are nothing new – but in recent years, proponents of restorative justice have become hopeful that for the most part, they may soon be left in the past. Restorative practices – which Michigan schools have been required to consider as disciplinary alternatives since the signing of Gov. Rick Snyder’s restorative justice law in 2016 – focus primarily on overall harm reduction, and encourage schools to consider the full context of a situation when deciding on disciplinary measures. “It’s an approach to addressing conflict and misconduct that focuses on healing the harm rather than punishment, and that values accountability over exclusion,” said MacDonald Middle School Assistant Principal John Atkinson, who spoke about his school’s use of restorative justice at an East Lansing School Board meeting on Jan 22. “Rather than relying on just punishment, restorative justice expects those who cause injuries to make things right.”
Source: MacDonal Middle School
However, when it comes to how these amends can be brought about, schools have found that there is no one right answer. “It looks different everywhere, and I think that’s because a lot of schools have been shifting more towards restorative practices in general,” said Adam Brandt, an assistant principal at Eaton Rapids Middle School.
Education
“That should horrify everybody in this community”: Lead found in water, dust particles in Okemos Public Schools
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Parents and teachers expressed their concerns over the recent lead discovery found in several classrooms at Okemos Public Montessori at Central, an elementary school within the Okemos Public School District. Repeated testing found lead in both the drinking water and dust particles in various classrooms across OPM, and on Jan. 22 several teachers, parents, and community members spoke at the biweekly meeting of the Okemos Board of Education. A two-part test first took place on Oct. 19 and Nov.
Education
College students volunteer at Michigan Association of Students Councils to support high schoolers
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The Michigan Association of Student Councils and Honor Societies (MASC/MAHS) is a leadership organization throughout the state of Michigan that creates a community where college and high school students can come together and support one another.
Business & Economy
Pay for private college presidents on the rise, including in Michigan
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PRIVATE PRESIDENTS: How well paid are the presidents of Michigan’s largest private colleges and universities with annual budgets of $100 million or more? We look at Hope, Hillsdale, University of Detroit Mercy and the Homer Stryker School of Medicine at Western Michigan University. They made between $1,137,144 and $306,993 in 2021, according to a new analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Story also references Baker College with its five campuses. We talk to a U-D Mercy faculty leader, the Hope student body president and a national expert. By Alex Walters. FOR HOLLAND, HILLSDALE, DETROIT, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CADILLAC AND ALL POINTS.
Business & Economy
Universities return to mostly in-person recruiting for jobs
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ON-CAMPUS RECRUITMENT: In the aftermath of the pandemic, more recruiters are making on-campus visits for interviews and job fairs. Grand Valley and Saginaw Valley are among the campuses rolling out the red carpet for them. By Anish Topowala. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, MIDLAND, CORP!, GREENVILLE, HOLLAND, WKTV AND ALL POINTS
Arts & Entertainment
More small businesses embrace artificial intelligence
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SMALL BUSINESS: About one-quarter of small businesses surveyed in the state use AI for tasks such as marketing, data analysis and business operations. MSU and Central Michigan experts point out ethical issues.We hear from a company in Hancock that provides services to Michigan Tech and Grand Valley State, an Ann Arbor company that helps clients reduce food waste and the Small Business Association. For news and business sections. By Theo Scheer. FOR IRON MOUNTAIN, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, CORP!, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, DETROIT, CADILLAC, CLARE COUNTY, CRAWFORD COUNTY AND ALL POINTS.
Education
Admission guarantee for students with 3.0 GPA boosts applications to public universities
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GUARANTEED ADMISSION: Ten of Michigan’s 15 public universities now admit any in-state student graduating high school with a 3.0 or higher GPA, a change intended to make the application process easier that is already credited with an increase in applications at some campuses. The Michigan Assured Admission Pact, or MAAP is part of an effort to raise enrollments. We see the impact at Oakland and Wayne State and hear from the Michigan Association of State Universities. Opting out of the program are U-M, MSU, Grand Valley, Western and Michigan Tech. By Owen McCarthy. FOR DETROIT, BIG RAPIDS, IRON MOUNTAIN, SAULT STE. MARIE, MIDLAND, GREENVILLE, BAY MILLS, ST. IGNACE, HOLLAND AND ALL POINTS.
Education
Proposed homeschooling registration sparks protests
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HOME SCHOOL SAFETY: A state Education Department proposal to require homeschooling parents to register their children is sparking protests. The department says the change is intended to protect the safety of those students, but homeschool advocates counter that it’s a ploy to funnel more state aid to public schools and an intrusion on family privacy. We hear from homeschool promoters, including two from Grand Traverse County, and lawmakers from Plymouth and Livonia. By Liz Nass. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.