(WXYZ) — The doors will open at Detroit schools on Monday morning for the first day of school. Detroit Public Schools Community District is one of a growing number of school districts choosing an earlier start.
The district received a waiver from the Michigan Department of Education to go against the 2005 Michigan law that the tourism industry backed, requiring schools to begin the school year no earlier than the Tuesday after Labor Day.
“Starting a week earlier was a change that you had proposed, that you had requested. And do you feel like that was the right decision?" I asked DPSCD Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti.
“I do. We haven't done it yet, but I think it will be the right decision. We've been trying to do it now, as you mentioned, for a couple of years. And, you know, traditions are hard to break. But ultimately, you know, most schools now are starting a week earlier," Vitti said.
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According to Vitti, there were a couple of main reasons behind the big change. One, he said it will give the district an extra week to recruit students before the crucial October count day, one of two county days when Michigan schools record their enrollment to receive state funding.
Number two? He hopes it will reduce absenteeism at the end of the school year because the district will no longer be teaching up until the last week of June.
”Obviously, the weather just gets warmer late in the month. And with us only having 20% of our buildings with air conditioning, it ended up leading to half days, half-day heat days, which also caused the student absenteeism, chronic absenteeism," Vitti said.
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Vitti is well-aware that not everyone is going to like the change, but he's hoping they'll eventually come to appreciate it.
”Although there might be some people with some negative feelings about starting earlier, I think by the time we start getting in the spring and people recognize that we're getting out on June 9th, that will balance starting earlier," Vitti said.
So, increasing enrollment is one of the big goals of starting the school year a week earlier, because of the enrollment hit the district took during the height of the pandemic.
Vitti said the 2019-2020 school year had the highest enrollment in well over two decades. It was 50,503 students for that year.
After the pandemic in the 2020-2021 school year, the district lost nearly 2,000 students, with enrollment in the school information system prior to seniors graduations dropping to 48,542.
Most of those students who left were in kindergarten through second grade.
Last year, enrollment dropped again to 47,738.
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I asked Vitti for his fall enrollment prediction, and he believes the district will see a bit of a rebound with enrollment up to about 49,500, only about 1,000 or so down from where the district was before the pandemic.
The overriding message to kids is to come to school and attend in-person.
He said the district's super achievement data last year in literacy and math showed a huge difference between those children who attended regularly against those who were chronically absent.
He also said a student survey on whether students feel "loved, challenged and prepared" revealed a similar gap when you look at kids who "were more commonly at school" compared to those who were absent.
Vitti said it's also going to feel a little more normal as there are four big COVID-19 management changes for the district.
No face masks required, no social distancing, no COVID-19 testing and no quarantining or close-contacting.
