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It was a nippy August morning outside Richards Middle School in Fraser, but the arrival of the fall-like chill didn’t stop the back-to-school fashion show on the first day.
Girls wore their jean shorts, tinsel glittering in hair, and boys donned their basketball shorts artfully paired with socks and sandals. Several clutched Alani Nu energy drinks as they hurried to the school gymnasium for a quick introductory assembly.
For half of the students sitting in the gym, the eighth graders, middle school is the last stop on the way to high school. And for the seventh graders, it’s the next stop after elementary school.
For the 30 minutes before the assembly started, the gym was a cacophony of student voices. In the tweenager stage of their lives, the middle-schoolers lived up to some of the stereotypes of their age: Boys and girls mostly sat in separate groups. Moms kissed stoic kids outside of school. Braces abounded. Someone shouted, “I have a boyfriend!” to teachers.
But eighth-grader Elijah, 12, excited for his first algebra class, said middle school is not all awkward or challenging.
“It’s not as hard as some people say,” he said.
These scenes of excitement and jitters played out across metro Detroit as students returned for the first day of school. But the first day also was clouded with concern as an ongoing impasse among lawmakers over the state budget has meant school district leaders are still uncertain about how their schools will be funded.
Michigan lawmakers have been unable to agree to a budget, with the House and Senate both far apart in their proposals for funding schools. As a result, some school district leaders have made staffing cuts, according to a recent survey of school officials.
The impasse is happening during a school year for which there is a growing chorus of people calling for change. High rates of chronic absenteeism and lackluster student performance on state and national exams, have led to renewed criticism of the state’s school system. Even Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, during an address earlier this year, said low literacy rates are “not acceptable.”
Meanwhile, fears about how Trump administration actions, from promised cuts to federal education funding to increased immigration enforcement, have further fueled uncertainty.
The crackdown was on the minds of some students filing into Western International High School in southwest Detroit Monday. In May, a junior at the school, Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, was detained by immigration officials. In June, he was deported to his native Colombia.
Natalia Quinomez, a junior, stood in front of the school about thirty minutes before the first bell rang as she looked for a friend. Her mind was also on Maykol.
“He was about to graduate, which makes it really sad,” said Natalia. “Like, he was so close, but he was detained.”
Natalia said people in her community don’t feel safe as federal immigration crackdowns continue in the city. The school, the student said, also could have done more to make her and others feel supported after Maykol’s arrest.
At the Southwest Detroit school Monday morning, students were greeted by a staff member on a bullhorn as they filed into the building.
“Good morning, good morning, good morning,” he said. “It’s going to be a great year.”
Lily Altavena is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at laltavena@freepress.com.
Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org
