Education
Rep. John Fizgerald, D-Wyoming

Legislation would require state-funded defibrillators at high school athletic events

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DEFIBRILLATORS: Pending legislation would require all public and charter schools to have cardiac emergency plans and all coaching staff to be trained to use computerized defibrillators called automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. A Detroit high school basketball player died of cardiac arrest. Sponsors include lawmakers from Detroit and Wyoming. Supporters include the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Detroit Lions, state Education Department and Michigan State Medical Society. For news and sports sections. By Sophia Ceru. FOR DETROIT, GREENVILLE, WKTV AND ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
University of Michigan Assistant Professor Derek Van Berke researches how cities can plan for a possible influx of climate change migrants.

Are Great Lakes cities ready for climate migrants?

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CLIMATE MIGRANTS: Michigan and other Great Lakes states may become destinations for climate migrants from other parts of the country beset with rising sea levels, drought, extreme weather and other adverse consequences of climate change. A U-M expert, whose team expects to work with Grand Rapids, Duluth and Buffalo to implement urban planning strategies,. By Kayla Nelsen. FOR MARQUETTE, IRON MOUNTAIN, GREENVILLE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS AND ALL POINTS.

Diversity Issues

State ramps up dental exams for kindergarteners 

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DENTAL: For the 2024-25 school year, the Department of Health and Human Services plans to expand statewide a pilot program that gives free dental examinations to children entering kindergarten. The Whitmer administration proposes to spend $4 million next year, but advocates say that’s not enough. The Michigan Oral Health Coalition, Michigan Association for Local Public Health and Michigan Dental Association explain. Includes references to Petoskey, Detroit and Grand Traverse, Chippewa, Oakland, Ottawa, Marquette, Leelanau, Mason, Emmet and Cheboygan counties. By Theo Scheer. FOR PETOSKEY, DETROIT, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY, CHEBOYGAN, SAULT STE. MARIE, LUDINGTON, HARBOR SPRINGS AND ALL POINTS.

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.

Business & Economy
Salaries of the presidents of four private colleges in Michigan.

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.