Michigan increasingly requires schools to apply for grants to fund special programs like career tech. That may disadvantage small schools, where superintendents complete applications between plowing school and substitute teaching.
Ron French
Ron reports on a variety of subjects across the state. Ron came to Bridge in 2011 from The Detroit News, where he was a project reporter. Born and raised in Indiana, Ron graduated from Purdue University. He reported for newspapers across Indiana before moving to Michigan in 1995. Ron lives in Okemos, and like the true Michigander he’s become, he now has a family cabin Up North. You can reach him at rfrench@bridgemi.com or 517-214-3636.
Posted inTalent & Education
Up North Michigan, schools struggle between pull of home and promise of college
Students’ stark choice in northern Michigan: Go to college and never come back — or stay with smaller paychecks. That’s put school districts in a conundrum about how best to educate them.
Posted inMichigan Government
Tears, anger at Michigan hearing on bungled tribal boarding school report
More than 40 years after Michigan’s last tribal boarding school closed, the state is still struggling to come to grips with the practice that devastated generations of Native American families.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan tribal school survivors recount ‘hell on Earth,’ rapes, beatings
Bridge has obtained a tribal boarding school study the state put on a shelf. The $1.1 million report recounts horrific tales of abuse at schools intended to assimilate native children.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan tribal boarding school report sought apology. Instead, it was shelved
Bridge obtained a copy of the 300-page report into treatment at Michigan’s tribal boarding schools that was squelched by state officials. Among other recommendations, authors sought an apology and money to teach what was lost.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan spent $1.1M probing tribal boarding schools, then buried the results
The author of a report into treatment at state Native American schools is accusing Michigan of trying to ‘whitewash’ history. Tribes are worried nothing will come of the inquiry.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan gets low marks for traffic safety laws in national report
Traffic deaths have jumped since the pandemic nationally, and even more so in Michigan.
Posted inTalent & Education
Rural Michigan broadband access to jump with $920M in fed funding
There are 22 counties — mostly in northern Michigan or the Upper Peninsula — where under 60% of homes have broadband access.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Suicides plague Michigan farms. Michigan just ended money to help
Generational pride and everyday despair coexist on Michigan’s 44,000 farms, fueling a suicide rate five times the state average. In this year’s budget, Michigan ended funding for counseling some credit with saving lives.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Suicide rate highest in northern Michigan: services are scarce, guns plentiful
More people die by suicide than in car crashes or homicides. Deaths are rising, and rural areas have higher rates because of isolation and access to care and firearms.