DETROIT – When the pandemic first hit in March and students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) students were sent home, third grade master math teacher Voncile Campbell didn’t want her students feeling isolated. She has been battling a brain tumor, called an atypical meningioma. READ: Detroit teacher goes viral with nightly bedtime stories videos“My vision started fading on me again and I knew something was wrong,” Campbell said. It’s a change to the contract between the district and Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT). Fellow teachers started up a GoFundMe to help her financially through the gap.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on parents, students and teachers. There are concerns about teachers getting burned out, and the affect could be felt for years. “Our teachers are working twice as hard,” Gutman said. MORE: Tracking coronavirus cases, outbreaks in Michigan schoolsNatalie Ford teaches remotely in the Berkley School District. “People aren’t going into teaching,” Gutman said.

DETROIT Students and teachers at the Detroit Public Schools Community District made it through the first day of fall classes. READ: Checking in with parents, students as fall semester begins for Detroit public schoolsIt was a stormy morning, but with the help of umbrella concierge service at Bow Elementary and Middle School in Detroit, students arrived to class. Math teacher Voncile Campbell started her day remotely. Of her 36 registered students in her first hour only five showed up online. The school is also a learning center, with no in-person instruction but parents can leave their children to be supervised while they do remote learning.

DETROIT The Detroit Public Schools Community District is scrambling to finish the final preparations for whats sure to be an unusual fall semester. Right now, while all school buildings will be open, some will not be schools, but learning centers. For parents who need to work, their children will be sent to learning centers. Cass Tech and Renaissance are among the high schools that will be learning centers. Its possible in the next week or two that learning centers could be returned to face-to-face classrooms, depending on the mix of willing teachers and willing parents to reenter buildings.