Please join the COVID313 Virtual Town Hall for Families and Students every Thursday starting at noon, featuring experts talking about coronavirus, education and school updates, accessing basic needs, and keeping your family healthy.

You can watch live through the Detroit Public Television Facebook Page.

Detroit charter schools cope with the next COVID wave

December 10, 2020 – Rajeshri Bhatia works with the Grand Valley State University Charter School office, consulting with some Detroit schools.

At the latest COVID313 Virtual Town Hall meeting Bhatia said some schools will delay in school classes for at least a week into the new year.

“We have to be flexible,” Bhatia said, “We can only plan so much for so much time in advance and we still have to be ready to be nimble when needed.”

Bhatia urges students and families to use the holiday break to disconnect and regroup to start the new year.

“The only constant is going to be change,” she said, “It’s likely we’re going to be in the state we are now for at least a month or two.”

A recent report said enrollment is down by 53,000 students statewide, or ‘missing’, including an estimated 5% in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Bhatia said for the schools she works with the majority of the students have been reached. She said phone calls and home visits have been made to find students.

Lead in our water? Hear some solutions at the COVID313 Virtual Town Hall.

If you have an older house, lead pipes could be a health risk.

There could be lead in the service lines leading into your house.

Lead was not banned in those pipes until 1988, according to Elin Betanzo of Safe Water Engineering, a firm working to improve access to safe drinking water.

Betanzo, along with Jen Read who directs The Water Center at the University of Michigan and environmental scientist Dr. Rita Loch-Caruso with the University of Michigan explained how to reduce lead exposure in the latest COVID313 Virtual Town Hall.
Higher than normal lead levels recently found in Ferndale triggered an alert where city council member Lauren Mikulski told the town hall free water filters and educational materials have been distributed to residents there.

Dr. Loch-Caruso recommends not drinking hot water from the tap as contaminants may linger in the hot water tank.