On Jan. 13, the Pontiac public school district posted on its Facebook page that it closed classes until Jan. 18 due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
And three days later, while classrooms were shuttered, the district congratulated its high school wrestling team for its performance in a tournament in Imlay City.
Many school districts in Michigan had determined it was safe for extracurricular activities to continue in January during an increase in COVID cases. Spectators as well as athletes were allowed at at those events, even though students could not go into classrooms to learn.
Efforts to replace in-person instruction with remote internet connections have contributed to poor mental and physical health and learning delays among students, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The effects have been most severely felt among children from lower income households. Yet school districts in the state continue to close their classrooms, citing outbreaks of the latest coronavirus variant.
Mt. Pleasant Public Schools announced it would close classrooms Jan. 13 through Jan. 30, reopening them Jan. 31. But its boys high school basketball team played a game Jan. 22, according to ABC News 12. Many fans were in attendance, with some not wearing face masks or practicing social distancing.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District originally announced it would close classrooms from Jan. 4 to Jan. 14, according to Click On Detroit. It later extended the closure and did not reopen classrooms until Jan. 31, according to the district’s Facebook page. While classrooms were closed, however, the district advertised a Public School League Game of the Week on Jan. 21. The district included a video of the game. It showed many fans in the stands, as well as cheerleaders and coaches, not wearing masks. The video also showed players in close contact with each other not wearing masks.
School district officials from Mt. Pleasant, Pontiac and Detroit did not respond to requests for comment about why they determined it was safe enough to hold sporting events but still shutter classrooms.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.