Sarah Lenhoff, associate professor and researcher for the College of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, quoted in Chalkbeat, “What we’re watching as Detroit district students return to school”
Chalkbeat Detroit, Bridge, 8/29
What we’re watching as Detroit district students return to school
By Lori Higgins, Ethan Bakuli and Grace Tucker
The Detroit Public Schools Community District reopened classrooms to students Monday morning for another year of learning amid a pandemic. This will be a critical year for efforts to address enrollment losses, chronic absenteeism, and facilities. The year will also feature a school board election in which a majority of the seats are up for grabs. Wayne State researcher Sarah Lenhoff told Chalkbeat recently that the district’s plans to beef up its attendance teams is a start, but she believes fixing chronic absenteeism will require coordinating with city agencies to address employment, health, transportation, and housing inequalities. “When Detroit’s kids don’t make it to school,” Lenhoff said, “it really speaks to the need for the city to invest more in employment, invest more in stabilized housing, (and) make sure that families have the food and health care that they need, so that they can give their children what they want to give them…to get them in school.”