School confessional: ‘We don’t have the funding to keep our school safe and clean'

The following is a response to our call for people to share thoughts and concerns about Michigan schools returning to in-person learning this fall.

“I teach in a 90-year-old school that was built for 600 students, but has 1,000. We don’t have the funding to keep our school safe and clean under normal circumstances. How will we keep it clean enough to prevent viral transmission? We say that students need school for mental health reasons. Normally, that is true. But if we return, students may have to deal with teachers, friends, parents and siblings dying from COVID. Children often blame themselves in these situations. That kind of trauma will create mental health issues for decades. I wish we would all start online, and work to find the best ways to reopen on the schedule best for our districts.”

-- Anonymous

View more: School Confessionals

School confessionals: Share your thoughts, concerns about return to in-person learning

Michigan school districts, colleges and universities are working to prepare for a return to in-person classes this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In-person classes were stopped in March when the virus swept through Michigan. On June 30, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revealed her plan to help schools across the state return to in-person learning this fall. The “MI Safe Schools Return to School Roadmap” is a 63-page document that outlines coronavirus (COVID-19) safety protocols for each phase of Whitmer’s reopening plan.

The governor’s order requires each school district to adopt a COVID-19 plan that lays out how it will protect students and educators across the various phases of the Michigan Safe Start Plan. Whitmer’s roadmap is to be used as a guide.

This has everyone -- parents, teachers and students -- wondering whether this is a good idea, how well it can be accomplished, how safe everyone can be kept, and what exactly the best to do this will be.

Please share your thoughts and concerns about returning to in-person learning this fall -- we want to hear from you:

Related:

• Here’s what Michigan school districts have planned for the fall amid the pandemic
• A look at how Oakland University is preparing campus for fall return amid pandemic
• What the new school year will look like for Detroit public schools
• A look at how Eastern Michigan University is preparing campus for fall return amid pandemic
• Return to School section