Article from the First Bell:
The district Learning Lab Committee, school nurses, and administrators met Tuesday and decided that in-person learning labs will be inactive as of Wednesday, Oct. 21 for an indefinite time frame. This comes after concerning news from the Wayne County Health Department. Virtual learning labs will continue, and teachers can voluntarily continue to offer in-school learning labs for those students who wish to take part.
Wayne County Health Department reported the seven-day average positivity rate has climbed to 4.6 percent as of Tuesday, Oct. 20 and may be headed even higher. (The report excludes Detroit.) In addition, the COVID-19 infection rate within Dearborn is also increasing. Over the last week, the district has also seen an increase in the number of staff and students who were exposed to COVID-19 in the community, not in our schools.
The decision to make in-school learning labs inactive (except for those who volunteer to come in) was made to maintain a safe school environment and to continue to keep our schools from becoming a source of COVID-19 spread.
There have been no outbreaks in the Dearborn Public Schools since September 25. In total since August 1, only three of 29 reported student and staff cases can be tied to spread within the schools. All other cases involving students or staff on school grounds, the person apparently contracted the virus outside of the school environment. In addition, a recent report on athletic participation from Dearborn High and Fordson shows there were a total of 694 student athletes taking part in more than 2,690 hours of contact since August and only 14 cases of COVID-19, all but one coming from outside the school.
For now, the district will continue with high school PSAT tests scheduled for next Tuesday (Oct. 27) and Thursday (Oct. 29). Ninth through 11th graders voluntarily signed up to take those tests to evaluate their learning, get targeted assistance through Khan Academy, and as practice for eventually taking the SAT college entrance exam.
The Dearborn Public Schools has set up a special COVID-19 web-page. Please visit
Click here for the Dearborn Schools COVID dashboard
Click here for the Wayne County infection and positivity rates
Click here for Wayne County COVID-19 weekly report for schools