April 3, 2020

Dear Families and Students,

I hope this message finds you and your family healthy in these difficult times. As you may have heard, the Governor suspended school for the rest of the school year. However, learning will still take place for DPSCD students. Beginning Tuesday, April 14^th, after Spring Break, the district will release new learning materials and assignments for grades PreK-12 in the subjects of reading, math, science and social studies. The materials and assignments will come from the materials students were already using this year. Our teachers will be reaching out to you and students that week to support their learning. This will be done through phone calls and online interaction tools. We will also print the learning materials for you and will provide additional information to you about pick up locations if you do not have a reliable device or internet access at home or just prefer printed materials.

Teachers will provide feedback on the learning materials and it is likely that extra credit will be given to students or students will have an opportunity to raise their pending 3^rd quarter grades based on the materials. We are working on graduation and promotion requirements for all students. Our goal is to not punish students for the shutdown due to COVID-19. Instead, if your student was on the path to graduate or move to the next grade before school closed then they will graduate or be promoted. Again, more information about this will be shared shortly.

Right now we can assume prom and graduation ceremonies will be delayed until the late summer or early fall. We are attempting to fully pay for prom and graduation ceremonies as a district, which would allow us to refund families and students for senior fees. We commit to using the fees or fully reimbursing you for the fees that are not needed or used. We will provide more information about this in the upcoming weeks.

We are also working on a plan to provide all DPSCD parents with a learning tablet and internet access by early/late May. We are working on a way to allow families to notify us if this is not needed. This will make online and home learning easily during the rest of the year. The tablets will also be useful in the future as we move more information online for you to access to support your child’s education.

Lastly, many students have asked to enter schools to pick up belongings or turn in books. This will not happen until after the Governor removes the “stay at home” order. We will have a plan to visit schools once this order ends.

Please stay healthy and encourage your students to continue learning during this time!

Nikolai P. Vitti, EdD

Superintendent

Detroit Public Schools Community District