Bridge Michigan will have interns this summer from Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Yale University.
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
Gov. Whitmer pitches financial incentives to recruit more Michigan teachers
Facing a crucial post-pandemic school year, Michigan leaders are exploring ways to bolster a dwindling teacher corps, from loan forgiveness programs to boosting starting pay.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan asked ex-teachers to return to school. In 3 weeks, 1,200 said yes.
With Michigan facing a widening teacher shortage, the state superintendent suggested a rule tweak with huge ramifications: waive the 150 hours of training ex-teachers are required to take to return to classrooms.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
$1 million lotteries and baseball for COVID shots? Not in Michigan
Other states are getting creative in efforts to get shots into the arms of the vaccine-hesitant. Michigan hasn’t done that so far, prompting debate about whether the state should do more to move the needle.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan school superintendents: mostly male, nearly all white
Michigan school superintendents are 95 percent white and less than 4 percent Black. And while teachers are 77 percent female, superintendents are 77 percent male. State leaders say it’s hard to find diverse candidates. Minority leaders see other factors at work.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
History, algebra … and Pfizer? Michigan high schools host vaccine clinics
Vaccinating Michigan teens and young adults will be key to lifting pandemic limits and reaching herd immunity. Health officials are scrambling to make COVID vaccines available to high school students, who are getting shots at far lower rates.
Posted inTalent & Education
Some Michigan schools allow students to say ‘no thanks’ to M-STEP tests
Michigan schools must offer the annual standardized test, but, because of the pandemic, not all students have to take it. That could make the results less useful than normal.
Posted inTalent & Education
In Ypsilanti, one bus driver’s COVID case closes school for 2,000 students
A dinner among drivers and pre-K staffers forced quarantines just as students were set to return to school. It’s the latest example of the frustrating, sometimes futile efforts to keep Michigan schools open.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Michigan hails Chauvin conviction as ‘a victory for Black and brown lives’
Many couldn’t watch. Others reminded themselves to breathe. When a former Minnesota police officer was convicted of George Floyd’s murder, they said they could exhale. For now.
Posted inTalent & Education
Survey: More than 8 in 10 Michigan teachers are fully vaccinated for COVID
Even with most teachers vaccinated, many Michigan schools are struggling to stay open because of outbreaks among students and COVID community spread.