Stay updated on the Detroit public schools board with Chalkbeat texts

Adults in business clothes sit at long tables on an auditorium stage while an adult is facing them in the foreground.
A person speaks before the Detroit school board. The Detroit school district hosts its monthly board meetings at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. (Elaine Cromie / Chalkbeat)

Want to stay up to date on the latest news from the Detroit school board while also having a way to text your school board questions to Chalkbeat’s journalists? Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s texting service.

Each month, Hannah Dellinger, who writes about DPSCD for us, sifts through agendas and documents, attends board meetings, and interviews Detroit leaders, attendees, and others before and after the meetings. She reports the decisions made by the school board and tells the stories of the people who will be affected by those decisions.

And with our texting service, you’ll stay in the loop on the latest Detroit school board news, regardless of whether you’re able to attend board meetings.

Here’s how it works:

Sign up by texting SCHOOL to 313-385-4796 or enter your phone number into the box below.

Once you sign up, you’ll get a reminder text before each meeting, as well as a text after the meeting to tell you the news, and a text on occasion when there is additional important Detroit school board news.

Plus, the texts are a direct line to Chalkbeat Detroit, so if you have questions you don’t see the answers to, you can text back and ask us.

This is one more way our team works to inform the community, spark conversation, and inspire you to take action. Our team wants to hold district officials accountable for doing right by their students while also sharing what’s important to students, parents, and teachers.

The Detroit school district hosts its monthly board meetings at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, and you can find the monthly schedule here.

The Latest

The resignation of the Irvington Community Schools board chair — and the vote to remove a second member from the board — follows heightened criticism from students, parents, and staff over conflicts of interest in the charter network’s search for a new CEO.

Though the district is still behind statewide averages, it has shown consistent improvement over the course of 11 years.

A student is chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of their school days. The new data is bad news for the state’s goal to cut chronic absenteeism in half.

Dan Weisberg, the system’s second-in-command, and Deputy Chancellor Emma Vadehra, are stepping down. The pair were leading implementation of a new class size mandate.

Beech Grove is teaming up with the programs run by Stride/K12 to respond to growth in virtual enrollment.

State Superintendent Michael Rice said the Michigan Legislature must provide children with lower class sizes in high poverty K-3 classrooms, more in-person instructional time, and funding for more research-based early literacy materials.