Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Order Suspending Face-to-Face Learning at K-12 Schools for Remainder of School Year
Executive Order sets guidelines for remote learning, ensures teachers, school employees will be paid for remainder of school year
LANSING, Mich. — Governor Gretchen Whitmer today signed Executive Order 2020-35, which orders all K-12 school buildings to close for the remainder of the school year — unless restrictions are lifted — and ensures continuing of learning by setting guidelines for remote learning. District facilities may be used by public school employees and contractors for the purposes of facilitating learning at a distance while also practicing social distancing.
“My number one priority right now is protecting Michigan families from the spread of COVID-19. For the sake of our students, their families, and the more than 100,000 teachers and staff in our state, I have made the difficult decision to close our school facilities for the remainder of the school year,” Governor Whitmer said. “As a parent, I understand the challenge closing schools creates for parents and guardians across the state, which is why we are setting guidelines for schools to continue remote learning and ensuring parents have resources to continue their children’s education from the safety of their homes. There is no video chat or homework packet that can replace the value of a highly trained, experienced teacher working with students in a classroom, but we must continue to provide equitable educational opportunities for students during this public health crisis.”
The Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and the Michigan Council of Charter School Authorizers are currently developing a Continuity of Learning Plan template application for schools to utilize in order to create their localized plan. The application will be made available by April 3. District plans will need to detail how districts will provide opportunities for students to learn remotely and how schools will manage and monitor their progress. It will also provide information on how parents and guardians can learn more about the local plan. Each district must have its plan approved by their regional intermediate school district before being implemented. Public school academies must have their plans approved by their authorizer. Districts can also partner with one another to create joint plans.
Every district’s plan will be different and will reflect what’s best and feasible for their community. A plan can include learning by any number of modes of instruction delivery, including a hybrid approach. However they are designed, districts must ensure their plans are appropriate, equitable and accessible for students and families.
If the plan relies on some online instruction, the district should ensure every student who needs it has access to an appropriate device with an ability to connect to the internet. Students and families will not be penalized if they are unable to participate in their alternate learning plan.
Schools should continue to provide mental health care services for students, to the extent possible, and should be ready and willing to help efforts to establish disaster relief childcare centers. School districts will also continue to provide meals for families who need them during the COVID-19 crisis. If any schools have unused personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies or other materials, they are allowed and encouraged to donate them to organizations that could put them to use.
School districts will have the flexibility to adopt a balanced calendar for the 2019-2020 school year and/or to begin the 2020-2021 school year before Labor Day without having to seek additional approval. Teachers and school employees will be paid for the remainder of the school year. Student teachers will still be able to get a temporary certification and current teachers will still be able to get their certifications renewed, even if they can’t meet all the requirements due to COVID-19.
All Michigan high school seniors will be given the opportunity to graduate this year so that they may make a successful postsecondary transition. Additionally, all standardized tests previously scheduled for the remainder of the school year, including the M-STEP and the SAT, will be canceled. There will be a date in October for rising high school seniors to take the SAT and for other high school students to take the PSAT.
Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
Governor Whitmer Signs “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order
Governor directs all non-critical businesses to temporarily close, all Michiganders to stay home or six feet away from others during COVID-19 crisis
LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order (EO 2020-21), directing all Michigan businesses and operations to temporarily suspend in-person operations that are not necessary to sustain or protect life. The order also directs Michiganders to stay in their homes unless they’re a part of that critical infrastructure workforce, engaged in an outdoor activity, or performing tasks necessary to the health and safety of themselves or their family, like going to the hospital or grocery store.
Effective at 12:01 am on March 24, 2020, for at least the next three weeks, individuals may only leave their home or place of residence under very limited circumstances, and they must adhere to social distancing measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when they do so, including remaining at least six feet from people from outside the individual’s household to the extent feasible under the circumstances.
“In just 13 days, we’ve gone from 0 to over 1,000 COVID-19 cases,” said Governor Whitmer. “This is an unprecedented crisis that requires all of us working together to protect our families and our communities. The most effective way we can slow down the virus is to stay home. I know this will be hard, but it will be temporary. If we all come together, get serious, and do our part by staying home, we can stay safe and save lives.”
“Taking aggressive action to protect our communities is the most important thing we can do to mitigate further spread of COVID-19,” said Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. “If we do this now, we can make sure our hospitals and healthcare workers are prepared to take care of the sickest people. It is crucial that people do the right thing by staying home and staying safe.”
Executive Order 2020-21 prohibits all businesses and operations from requiring workers to leave their homes, unless those workers are necessary to sustain or protect life or to conduct minimum basic operations. Businesses and operations are to designate the workers that meet those criteria, and must adopt social distancing practices and other mitigation measures to protect workers and patrons in the performance of that necessary in-person work.
Workers that are necessary to sustain or protect life include those in health care and public health, law enforcement and public safety, grocery store workers, and more. For a full list of these critical infrastructure workers, click the link to Executive Order 2020-21 at the bottom of this page.
Additionally, under Executive Order 2020-21, all public and private gatherings of any number of people occurring among persons outside a single household are temporarily prohibited. People may leave the house to perform for limited, necessary purposes, and may engage in outdoor activities like walking, hiking, running, cycling, or any other recreational activity, consistent with remaining at least six feet from people from outside a person’s household and with other restrictions imposed by prior executive orders.
Michigan is currently in the top five states in the nation in number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Several governors across the country have taken similar steps to protect their communities from the spread of COVID-19, including governors Mike DeWine (R-OH), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), Tom Wolf (D-PA), Gavin Newsom (D-CA), John Bel Edwards (D-LA), Phil Murphy (D-NJ), and Ned Lamont (D-CT).
Patients with confirmed infection have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
The best prevention for viruses, such as influenza, the common cold or COVID-19 is:
If you think you have symptoms of COVID-19, call your health care provider. If you do not have a health care provider, call the nearest hospital.
Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for 20 seconds. If not available, use hand sanitizer.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or upper sleeve when coughing or sneezing.
Avoid contact with people who are sick.
If you are sick, stay home, and avoid contact with others.
Stay at least 6 feet away from others when in a public setting.
Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
For those who have questions about the state’s actions to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, please call the COVID-19 Hotline at 1-888-535-6136 between 8AM - 5PM daily.
Michiganders can apply for unemployment benefits if they have left work or taken a leave of absence because of self-isolation or self-quarantine in response to elevated risk from COVID-19 due to being immunocompromised, displaying the symptoms of COVID-19, having contact in the last 14 days with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, the need to care for someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, or a family care responsibility as a result of a government directive. Those temporarily laid off from work should apply for unemployment benefits online at www.michigan.gov/UIA or 1-866-500-0017.
Governor Whitmer is working to ensure that children who rely on the food provided by schools will have the resources they need. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has developed an online map for families to find meals. Families can access the map at: https://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/
On March 19, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved the governor’s request for a statewide Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) declaration, opening the opportunity to small businesses to access low-interest loans from the SBA. The application for disaster loan assistance is available at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/
To view executive order 2020-21, click the link below:
EO 2020-21 Stay Home, Stay Safe.pdf
This press release will be translated and made available in Arabic and Spanish at www.michigan.gov/whitmer.
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163-521561--,00.html
OMPS Families,
I hope that you are all staying safe, healthy and enjoying the extra family time during these difficult circumstances. As you may already know, Governor Whitmer has just released an Executive Order, “Suspending Face-to-Face Learning at K-12 Schools for the Remainder of the School Year”. The Governor’s order requires all districts to work with their local ISD’s or Charter School Authorizers to develop a “Continuity of Learning Plan Template Application” to be submitted for approval to Grand Valley State University, our Charter School Authorizer. Once our plan is finalized I will be sharing the details with our OMPS families as we move forward through the rest of the school year.
OMPS Administration and Teachers will be coordinating our efforts with Grand Valley State University representatives on formal plans for the continuation of educational services for our students and families. In the meantime, I have asked our teachers to continue to support our students and families with resources and curriculum in the same fashion they have since this closure began. Students and parents should plan on hearing from their teachers once they return to work on Monday April 6th.
Finally, I would like to thank all of our teachers and support staff for their commitment to our students and families. Please tell our students that we miss them very much!! Remember, we will all get through this tough time together as a unified school community.
Best Wishes,
Rick Couturier
Head of School
Here are some informative websites for information on Health and the COVID-19:
You can subscribe here to receive updated information:
https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDHHS/subscriber/new?topic_id=MIDHHS_605
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163-521561--,00.html
Ways to help talk to your children for the Corvid-19:
https://www.brainpop.com/health/diseasesinjuriesandconditions/coronavirus/
For questions regarding the coronavirus itself, please contact the Grand Traverse County Health
Department at 231-995-6010. You can sign up for their alert bulletins here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Dh9I9XIwA_0iBPt3glYtIN8r36hxFPmtMWcdPPQkN7M/viewform?edit_requested=true
http://gtchd.org/2231/COVID-19-Novel-Coronavirus
CDC – Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID -19):
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
State of Michigan information:
