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Every year, Forest Hills Public Schools encourages students, staff and families to participate in its MLK Day Challenge. This year, participants were asked to respond to a prompt inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s belief that every voice matters.
"Many people around us might be struggling in ways we don't see," Schafer said. "Sometimes the hardest part is just noticing or asking for help. I know it is hard to get help sometimes because we think we can handle it on our own, but it can't always work out like that. Let's be the kind of school that listens, supports and acts, because no one should have to struggle alone."
Hundreds of Michigan school districts rejected school safety and mental health funding from the state after agreeing to new conditions for receiving the money.
Through presentations of musical talent, artwork, poetry and more, student leaders taught members of the community what student issues and themes are important to them.
Through video, poetry, art and music, the high-school students used multiple creative mediums to share the challenges and opportunities they’ve experienced at school with an audience of about 300 parents, school leaders and community members at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
In a reversal of roles, students took the lectern to teach educators lessons about the life of young people.
Nearly 28% of Michigan students were chronically absent during the 2024-25 school year, the third consecutive year the rate has dropped.
But the rate is still significantly higher than it was before the pandemic began, when 19.7% of students were chronically absent during the 2018-19 school year, according to data released Wednesday by the state Center for Educational Performance and Information.
The June 12 event brought together more than 60 attendees from 22 districts in six counties, representing four intermediate school districts. It is a direct result of the research and data collection by the Kent ISD’s Professional Learning Team 1.1.1 committee. One focus of Kent ISD’s strategic plan is student engagement, which has been part of the annual MI Student Voice perception survey.