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Good teachers can be hard to find and even harder to keep, especially in districts with limited funding and high needs. 

But a recent report from Detroit PEER researchers at Wayne State University’s College of Education found that Detroit Public Schools Community District has a teacher retention rate above the national average. 

To learn more about the report’s findings, Metro Producer Cary Junior II spoke to its lead author, Bianca Burch.

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, also joined The Metro to discuss changes the district is making to retain teachers. She also spoke about the unique and untold challenges teachers currently face.

View the full report at detroitpeer.org.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More stories from The Metro on Monday, April 28, 2025:

• Political analysts say Canada’s federal election is the most important in decades
• New MOCAD exhibit to highlight contributions of Black tech innovators
• Detroit Councilwoman Santiago-Romero is suing to get back on August primary ballot

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

Donate today »

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Rochester Christian University and Pepperdine University will use a $400,000 grant  to help rural church congregations to grow.

The money will help RCU identify, recruit and partner with Church of Christ congregations in the Great Lakes region.

Teams of  ministers and lay leaders will learn how to support small congregations through professional, networking and spiritual development. The curriculum includes sessions taught by Keith Huey, grant program director.

Pepperdine is one of 20 U.S. organizations receiving grants through the initiative.

“Ministers are tired, concerned about long-term congregational vitality, and convinced that the future of most congregations will include a significant reliance on volunteers to teach, preach and engage in other practices of ministry,” said Naomi Walters, dean of RCU’s theology and ministry school, who will oversee the initiative.  “The grant activities are structured to equip persons other than the minister to share in the work that has traditionally been assigned to the minister.”

The Lilly Endowment is a private philanthropic organization founded in 1937 and headquartered in Indianapolis. The three-year project will begin in August.

For more information, email churchrelations@rcu.edu.

By HOLLY RAMER

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Nineteen states that refused to comply with a Trump administration directive aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools went a step further Friday, filing a federal lawsuit challenging what they consider an illegal threat to cut federal funding.

The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts by Democratic attorneys general seeks to block the Department of Education from withholding money based on its April 3 directive ordering states to certify their compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” States also were told to gather signatures from local school systems certifying their compliance by April 24.

Instead, the plaintiffs informed the government that they stand by their prior certifications of compliance with the law but refuse to abandon policies that promote equal access to education.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legal efforts that help students feel safe, supported and respected. The Trump administration’s threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

The new lawsuit comes a day after judges in three states ruled against the Trump administration in separate but related cases.

A Maryland judge postponed the effective date of a Feb. 14 memo in which the education department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race. A judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction against the April certification letter. And in New Hampshire, a judge ruled that the department can not enforce either document against the plaintiffs in that case, which includes one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions.

All three lawsuits argue that the guidance limits academic freedom and is so vague that it leaves schools and educators in limbo about what they may do, such as whether voluntary student groups for minority students are still allowed.

The new lawsuit accuses the administration of imperiling more than $13.8 billion, including money used to serve students with disabilities.

“Plaintiffs are left with an impossible choice: either certify compliance with an ambiguous and unconstitutional federal directive — threatening to chill polices, programs and speech – or risk losing indispensable funds that serve their most vulnerable student populations,” the lawsuit states.

In addition to Campbell, the plaintiffs are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The education department did not respond to a request for comment Friday. President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has warned of potential funding cuts if states do not return the certification forms.

In a Tuesday interview on the Fox Business Network, McMahon said that states that refuse to sign could “risk some defunding in their districts.” The purpose of the form is “to make sure there’s no discrimination that’s happening in any of the schools,” she said.

There are more women attending college in the U.S. than men, enrollment data shows. 

And more women have college degrees today than men of the same age. Research shows the more education a person gets, the lower their chances are of living in poverty.

Today on The Metro, we’re having a conversation on why boys are struggling with two people who are working to help Black boys find success right here in Detroit — Black Male Educators Alliance Founder Curtis Lewis and Bottom Line Executive Director Danielle North.

We’re looking at this approach through the Black lens because while all boys are struggling, Black boys are falling behind the most. 

We also asked listeners:

“Why do you think boys aren’t going to college at the same rate?”

Adelia in Detroit said: “There are a couple of discussions about this matter centered around Black boys and men, and their traumas inflicted upon them through centuries and years. And even as recent as days and months, centered around white domination and supremacy…and so that’s the root that has to be kind of rooted out and try to capture it and heal our young men, and our grown young men and our grown older men of color in America.” 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today. Donate today »

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By RODRIQUE NGOWI and BEN FINLEY

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — University professors and students led protests on campuses across the U.S. on Thursday against what they say are broad attacks on higher education, including massive cuts to funding, the expulsion of international students and the stifling of free speech about the war in Gaza.

Demonstrations were held at schools including Harvard, where President Donald Trump’s administration says it will freeze $2.2 billion in grants and contracts and is threatening to revoke the university’s ability to host international students.

Rochelle Sun, a graduate student at Harvard’s Department of Government, said she came to stick up for international students because they’re integral to the school’s mission of pushing “the boundaries of human knowledge.”

“The whole point of me having this education here and for pursuing research at Harvard is to be among the best scholars that exist in the world,” Sun said after the protest in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “And so if they’re not going to be around me, then I’m not going to be able to achieve my goals of being here, either.”

Sun held a sign that read: “I should be writing my dissertation, but I keep having to fight this stupid fascism.”

Nancy Krieger, a professor of social epidemiology in Harvard’s School of Public Health, spoke to the crowd about cuts to programs that are crucial to medical discoveries and monitoring the health of the population.

“We are doing our work to make a better world in which all living on this planet can equitably thrive,” she said.

Krieger said her grant from the National Institutes of Health was terminated in late February because it studied discrimination in health, the kind of research that likely won’t be funded by companies or philanthropies.

“We need to have that money going towards research and academic work and the training and teaching of the next generation that can protect the public’s health,” Krieger said to cheers.

Federal funding targeted

A growing list of higher education institutions have had federal funding targeted by the government in order to comply with the Trump administration’s political agenda. The series of threats — and subsequent pauses in funding — to some of the top U.S. universities have become an unprecedented tool for the administration to exert influence on college campuses.

Trump vowed to pursue these federal cuts on the campaign trail last year, saying he would focus on schools that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.”

Republican officials have also heavily scrutinized universities where Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year, while several Ivy League presidents testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations.

Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel’s actions in the war.

The U.S. government has used its immigration enforcement powers to crack down on international students and scholars who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or criticized Israel over its military action in Gaza. Some have been taken into custody or deported. Others fled the U.S. after learning their visas had been revoked.

‘You cannot appease a tyrant’

Thursday’s protest at Harvard comes just a few days after it became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.

Meanwhile, roughly 450 people showed up for a protest at the University of California-Berkeley, where emeritus professor and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich spoke out against placating Trump.

“You cannot appease a tyrant,” said Reich, who served in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet. “Columbia University tried to appease a tyrant. It didn’t work.”

Columbia University in New York initially agreed to several demands from the Trump administration. But its acting president took a more defiant tone in a campus message Monday, saying some of the demands “are not subject to negotiation.”

About 150 protesters rallied at Columbia, which had been the scene of huge pro-Palestinian protests last year. They gathered on a plaza outside a building that houses federal offices, holding signs emblazoned with slogans including “stop the war on universities” and “censorship is the weapon of fascists.”

The protests were organized by the Coalition for Action in Higher Education, which includes groups such as Higher Education Labor United and the American Federation of Teachers.

Kelly Benjamin, a spokesperson for American Association of University Professors, said in a phone call that the Trump administration’s goal of eviscerating academia is fundamentally anti-American.

“College campuses have historically been the places where these kind of conversations, these kind of robust debates and dissent take place in the United States,” Benjamin said. “It’s healthy for democracy. And they’re trying to destroy all of that in order to enact their vision and agenda.”

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press journalists Noah Berger in Berkeley, California, and Joseph B. Frederick in New York contributed to this report.

By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA and THALIA BEATY

For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating “exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes” in order to continue acting in the public interest.

President Donald Trump is looking to challenge that designation, complaining that colleges and universities are “indoctrinating” their students with “radical left” ideas, rather than educating them. And he has decided to start with the 388-year-old Harvard University, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions of learning and the first college founded in the American colonies.

On Tuesday, he targeted Harvard University in a post on his social media site, questioning whether it should remain tax-exempt “if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”

Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, means that these institutions do not pay certain kinds of taxes and that their donors receive a tax deduction when they make gifts. The rules they have to follow to maintain that status are set out in the tax code. We spoke with attorneys who specialize in nonprofit law and freedom of speech to try to answer questions about this challenge.

Does a university’s curriculum affect its charitable status?

In general, no. Colleges and universities have broad leeway to design the education they provide.

Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the U.S. Supreme Court has laid out four essential freedoms for colleges and universities — what to teach, how to teach it, who their students are and who their professors are.

“That’s the irreducible core of academic freedom and it is constitutionally protected in this country,” she said, adding the government cannot threaten funding cuts or revoking a school’s tax status as punishment for its views or what the school teaches.

The First Amendment also protects the rights of other nonprofits to pursue their charitable missions under freedom of assembly, Lakier said, even if those missions are odious or the government does not like them.

Can the president ask the IRS to revoke a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status?

No, he is not supposed to, according to two nonprofit tax attorneys who wrote about a previous call from Trump to revoke the nonprofit status of colleges and universities.

In 1998, Congress passed a law that forbade federal officials from telling the IRS to investigate any taxpayer in an effort to increase trust in tax enforcement.

The attorneys, Ellen Aprill and Samuel Brunson, also pointed to legislation that forbade the IRS “from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons,” after a controversy over how it treated Tea Party groups in 2013.

How does a nonprofit get and keep its tax-exempt status?

The IRS recognizes multiple reasons for a nonprofit to to be exempt from paying many kinds of taxes, including pursuing charitable, religious or educational missions among many other examples. The statute specifically names sports competitions, preventing cruelty to children or animals and defending human or civil rights as exempt purposes.

Nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status for things like improperly paying its directors, endorsing a political candidate or operating a business unrelated to its charitable mission.

In short, tax attorneys say nonprofits must operate “exclusively for charitable purposes,” which is a different standard than what the president referred to as, “acting in the public interest.”

Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said, “Long history and precedent suggest that Harvard and institutions of higher education are operating for educational purposes, which are considered charitable,” under the tax code.

He said it would be exceedingly difficult to make a case that a college or university was not operating for charitable purposes under current law. However, Edward McCaffery, who teaches tax policy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, warned there is precedent for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of colleges that the government could lean on.

“I think to dismiss it out of hand as over-the-top bluster and that the administration has no power to unilaterally pursue it, I think that’s naive,” McCaffery said. “This could happen.”

Has the IRS ever stripped a college of its tax-exempt status before?

Yes. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the IRS could deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, a private Christian university that banned interracial dating and marriage on campus, and Goldsboro Christian Schools, which employed racially discriminatory admissions policies.

The court found the IRS had some discretion to determine whether an organization seeking tax-exempt status met standards of “charity,” meaning that it “must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to established public policy.”

Nonetheless, McCaffery said, “The ability of the IRS just to come in and deny tax exemption, it better be a very clear, long-standing, deeply held public policy, and not political preferences for certain kinds of positions, attitudes and voting patterns.”

How can the IRS revoke a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status?

Usually, the IRS would open an audit, where it gathers evidence that a nonprofit is not operating exclusively for charitable purposes.

“The IRS would have to send to Harvard a proposed revocation of its status,” Hackney said. “At that point, Harvard would have many different means to talk with the IRS about why they believed they were within the law,” including suing.

However, Hackney said the U.S. Department of Treasury could implement new regulations, for example, stating that operating a diversity, equity and inclusion program is not consistent with charitable purposes. Such a change would usually take years to make and would run counter to decades of precedent, Hackney said.

“I am skeptical this effort will be successful,” he said. “If it were, this would be the most dramatic change of charitable law in my lifetime and I would say in the history of our charitable law.”

This story has been updated to reflect that Harvard University is 388 years old. A previous version stated it is 488 years old.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Pontiac schools are moving ahead with plans to  reshape the district for the future.

At an April 14 special meeting, Interim Superintendent Kimberly Leverette walked the board through a plan for how students and programs will be relocated as part of Phase I.

“This plan is about what we can provide for the whole child,” Leverette told the board. “The rigor and academic outcomes that we want for all kids is absolutely possible. The way we have been doing it is not working. We must do something different.”

An earlier proposal to shift all International Technology Academy students grades 7-12 into Pontiac Middle School and High School was changed.

According to the district, the technology academy is “a specialized school program within the district that emphasizes STEM education and diverse learning experiences, and preparing students to become global citizens.” It serves K-12 students.

Students from the technology academy will now merge with students from International Language Academy and all classes will be located in the Whitmer Human Resource Center.

The language academy is a dual-language K-5 elementary program within the district.

According to the presentation, the combined program, to be called the “ITA at WHRC”, will have 438 students, including 50 kindergarteners. The number could be  expanded in the future based on space in the Whitmer building.

The PEACE Academy, which offers pre-school and before/after school care programs, will relocate to the Whitmer building from Frost Elementary.

PEACE will have 20 classrooms in the south wing of the building and their own secure entrance.

Six classrooms will relocate to Herrington Elementary and four special education classrooms will move from Whitmer to Rogers Elementary and Herrington.

The PEACE would also shift from four days a week of instruction to five days and expand classroom sizes from 16 to 18 students.

The estimated cost of moving the PEACE program, located at 723 Cottage, to the Whitmer building is $788,555.

The current PEACE building would be emptied  and its future use to be determined. The district would save $172,000 annually by closing the building.

The plan, which takes effect this fall, could be voted on at the board’s April 28 meeting.

There will be a public forum on the Phase I plan from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on April 24 at the Pontiac High School auditorium.

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Several education bills have passed in the Michigan House including one to eliminate the fee to apply for a teaching certificate and renewal.

Last week three bills passed, one of which was sponsored by state Rep. Mark Tisdel (R-55th District Rochester and Rochester Hills), eliminating hundreds of dollars in fees for teachers on everything from teaching certificate applications and renewals to new endorsements and permits.

Fees are usually $160 for the initial application and then $100 to renew every five years, or $210 for an out-of-state teacher to become a teacher in Michigan. There are other fees for more advanced certificates.

Those fees would be eliminated.

“In an age where schools are struggling to keep our best teachers on the job, nickel and diming our educators every year can no longer be an option,” Tisdel said in a statement after the bill passed. “We need to make it as easy as possible to start a career in education and stop punishing teachers for staying in that important job for the long-term.”

Another bill co-sponsored by Tisdel, allows teachers to fill critical vacancies when they have subject area expertise.

“Many schools that can’t fill specific areas will wait until next year to hire someone, and teachers who want to teach a new subject often have to go through a lengthy process instead of simply adding a new subject area endorsement to their license,” said Tisdel. “If a social studies teacher has a background in literature and wants to step in and teach English, they should be able to do so when it makes sense.”

House Bill 4153 co-sponsored by Tisdel, Tom Kuhn (R-57th District Troy and Madison Heights) and others addressed hiring local experts to teach specific classes, like asking software engineers to offer courses in computer science and bringing in retired statisticians to teach statistics.

“The private sector is laying people off and wouldn’t it be great to give them a path to coming into a classroom and continuing to show their knowledge and skills to the next generation of students?” said Tisdel.

Other bills under consideration in the House include:

House Bill 4156: Overhauling the Michigan Merit Curriculum system by allowing students to pursue paths that match their talents and interests. Alternatives include:

Allowing two out of four math credits to be replaced by career technical education or college dual enrollment classes;
Adding computer science classes to the list of courses that count toward science, math and art credit requirements;
Including coding classes as options to fill foreign language requirements;
requiring a class in personal finance and offering multiple options for electives, like business mathematics, agribusiness and computer science.
House Bill 4154: Adding trade school options to dual enrollment.

House Bill 4148: Changing the state Board of Education election process, so board members are nominated at the local level to represent their communities.

House Bills 4155 and 4159: Creating and publishing a list of proven curriculum options and resources for teachers, giving educators access to a vast array of resources in line with the highest state and national standards. In 2022 alone, elementary teachers used 444 different language arts curriculum resources statewide.

House Bill 4147: Boosting teacher pay and hiring more teachers by helping schools spend less on overhead.

“These bills are not tied together, but there is a common element to all of them aimed at making the education process easier,” said Tisdel. “They are to clear as many obstacles and fences out of the way as possible and make life a little easier for the teachers.”

“The other bills in the education package are still working their way through committee or on the floor, but haven’t come up for final passage yet,” said House Republican Senior Communications Advisor Jeremiah Ward.

Tisdel also presented two bills last year that could be voted on later in the spring.

The first bill amends the Revised School Code to require public and nonpublic schools to implement a mobile panic alert system beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

The bill requires the system to ensure real-time coordination between schools, 911, law enforcement, and first responders; and must directly integrate with local public safety answering point infrastructure to transmit 911 calls and mobile activations with continued two-way communication between 911 and the school.

The bill is a variation on Alyssa’s Law, named after 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in a 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The second bill would ban or restrict smartphones in schools throughout the state.

Tisdel estimated that only 27 out of 538 public school districts in the state currently have some form of cell phone ban or restrictions in place and is looking to create legislation to cover all schools statewide. Armada schools in Macomb County implemented a new cell phone policy last month.

Although cell phone bans have been passed in seven different states, including Ohio, Indiana and Minnesota, Tisdel said he worked with other legislators and experts over two years to create the language for the bill rather than duplicate the policies implemented in those states.

“We started from scratch. I targeted it off of what some of the school districts have already had some experience with and established a minimum baseline and then in the legislation school districts are allowed to be more strict or add additional guardrails if they so choose,” said Tisdel.

Timing, dedication and passion all played a role in four teachers being named as Oakland County Teachers of the Year.

Earlier this week all four were surprised by Oakland ISD Superintendent Ken Gutman with their awards.

They were among the 65 teachers from 22 school districts nominated for the award.

For the 2025 awards there was a new category for Early Childhood teachers along with elementary, middle/junior high, and high school teachers.

Leah Lynady was the first recipient of the Early Childhood teacher of the year for her work at the Lamphere Early Childhood Center.

Lynady has been an early childhood teacher for over 25 years. She came to Lamphere three years ago after spending five years in the Berkley school district.

She admitted she was not looking to change districts, but after being contacted by Lamphere Early Childhood Center Director Nicole Crousore, Lynady accepted her offer before the end of her first interview.

“It was not something I was looking to do, but it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made,” said Lynady. “The timing just worked and they have supported everything I have wanted to do since coming here. It is an amazing atmosphere in this district.”

Crousore, who has been in the district for over 20 years and is in her third year as director, said Lynady is the first teacher she has ever hired after only one interview, but has not regretted the decision.“Having Leah here is not about the educator she is, it is about the person she is and what she brings to the table,” said Crousore. “She has changed the culture of this program since coming here. She was exactly the kind of person we were looking for.”

“In addition to her work with students, Leah plays a vital role in connecting parents to valuable resources and ensuring families have access to everyday necessities,” the district said in a statement after Lynady received her award. “She even started a care closet to provide essential items to those in need.”

Lynady said she has found a home at Lamphere and is looking forward to finishing her career there.

“This is the best possible place anyone could dream of working,” she said. “I’ll be here until I retire, I’m sure of it.”

Lynady was not the only Lamphere teacher honored with an award.

Edmonson Elementary third grade teacher Sarah Vrabel also received a surprise visit from Gutman and was honored as the elementary teacher of the year.

Vrabel has been in the district for 14 years and has been teaching third grade at Edmonson for nine years.  She was a teacher in Arizona for four years before coming to Lamphere.

She has taught kindergarten, first and second graders in the past, but loves what third graders have to offer.

“Third grade is such a great grade level. They are at that age where they are still just sponges and they love learning and want to please you, but they have an independence to them as well,” said Vrabel. “I will retire as a third grade teacher if they let me.”

Vrabel said one of her goals is to continue the type of teaching she has tried to implement since students returned to the classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on having students socializing, interacting and collaborating in the classroom rather than the solitude of at-home virtual learning.

“When we came back into the classroom, the kids needed joy and they needed to be engaged and make them want to be at school,” she said. “So that has really been my mission these past few years. Doing things like wearing funny outfits or turning my class into a courtroom and letting the kids debate with each other. Just fun ways to keep them entertained, but still working on keeping high educational standards.”

Erik Meerschaert has been dedicating himself to creating new standards for his special education students at Lake Orion High School since coming to the district six years ago.

His efforts helped earn him high school teacher of the year.

Meerschaert came to Lake Orion after ten years of teaching at Eaton RESA in Eaton County.

He works with Cognitive Impairment (CI) special education students and has been working to help integrate them with other students at the high school through a unified sports program.

The program just completed their first season of basketball playing against other schools with the same type of program.

“It is a combination of general education and special education students, with three special education players on the court along with two general education peers,” Meerschaert explained. “We typically play between the junior varsity and varsity games.”

Meerschaert said the idea for the program began when he arrived at Lake Orion through an initiative created by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Oakland County schools. He has been working to build the program ever since and has even branched out to help create a unified robotics program as well.

“It started slowly, but now we have the basketball team, started competing in robotics this year and we hope to have a soccer team start playing next fall,” he said. “It has been a lot of work both inside and outside the district, but seeing what my students get out of it has been great to see.”

Last week the team played in an unforgettable final game of the season.

“We played in the middle of the school day in front of the entire student body which is about 2,300 students; probably the biggest crowd some of these kids will ever play in front of,” said Meerschaert. “It was a great experience and for a lot of our students that was the highlight of their season to be able to play that game in front of all of their peers and teachers at the school.”

He joins Orion Oaks Elementary teacher Norman Wright as Lake Orion recipients of the county honor. Wright was selected in 2024.

Huron Valley teacher Samantha Samuels was the final teacher to have a surprise visit to her Oak Valley Middle School classroom on Wednesday.

Samuels is a Music, Choir and Performing Arts teacher for grades 6-8 and is in her sixth year in the district. She had been teaching at various charter schools for the previous ten years.

She said interest in music and the arts has been growing over the last few years and enjoys nurturing interested students after they get “the bug” for music or performing.

“In past years I have had around 30 people in my musicals, but in the past two or three years I have had around 50 or 60 come out to be a part of the production,” she said. “Middle school is the best place for kids to explore that side of the music and performance avenue. They can learn or grow or they can decide it’s just not for them and move on.”

Samuels said the pandemic made an impact on the arts at Oak Valley and they are just now rekindling interest and getting students involved again.

“The pandemic really did a number on us and it has been a process trying to regrow our program and to spark that interest again and kids know it is safe to perform and get out of their shells,” she said.

Samuels still has former students in high school and college return and let her know the impact she has had on them.

“I absolutely love what I do. Being a music teacher is a sense of pride. It is now just what I do, it is who I am,” said Samuels. “I love those kids. The music classroom and the theater classroom is a family and these kids come back year after year. So many of them still reach out to me and stay connected.”

The award includes a $2,000 prize from the Oakland Schools Education Foundation to each winner and they will all be recognized at a special event on May 8.

By ZEKE MILLER and ANNIE MA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania over the participation of a transgender athlete in its swimming program, the White House said Wednesday.

The Ivy League school has been facing an Education Department investigation focusing on in its swimming program. That inquiry was announced last month immediately after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports.

But the federal money was suspended in a separate review of discretionary federal money going to universities, the White House said. The money that was paused came from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.

A Penn spokesperson said the school had not received any notification or details of the action.

“It is important to note, however, that Penn has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams,” spokesperson Ron Ozio said. “We have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions.”

The investigation opened by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights at Penn focuses on Lia Thomas, who swam on the school’s women’s team and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title in 2022.

The agency also opened reviews of San Jose State University volleyball and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By COLLIN BINKLEY

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted with huge cuts to its funding, Columbia University’s leaders face a grim decision: They can yield to the Trump administration’s demands over allegations of antisemitism — ceding extraordinary control to the federal government — or they can fight back, potentially risking even more debilitating cuts in an escalating clash.

However it responds, Columbia carries tremendous weight. It’s the first school to face such aggressive intervention from the Trump administration, but dozens of others have been put on notice they’re next if they defy the president’s orders on issues around pro-Palestinian activism, diversity programs or transgender women in girl’s sports.

“People in the academy around the country are looking to see what Columbia does here,” said Samuel Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan who served until December as general counsel for the Health and Human Services Department.

The Trump administration is acting quickly to make an example of Columbia as it demands stronger action against allegations of anti-Jewish bias on college campuses. On March 7, just 32 days after opening an investigation at Columbia, the Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other federal money. It threatened to cut billions more over the university’s handling of protests against the war in Gaza and allegations of antisemitism.

The threats escalated last week with a list of demands that Trump officials called a “precondition” for receiving federal money. It told the college to place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department into “academic receivership” and reorganize discipline processes, among other changes.

It gave Columbia until this week to comply.

Columbia hasn’t signaled its plans. Responding to the latest demands, interim President Katrina Armstrong promised the school “will stand by its values” but did not elaborate. School leaders previously pledged to work with the Trump administration to fight antisemitism.

Internally, Columbia faces pressure to fight back. Some faculty want it to resist demands they see as an assault on academic freedom, and some students are condemning its recent decision to expel some students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests last year.

Supporters of Israel and Trump administration officials have framed the protests at Columbia and other schools as antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” but people involved in the demonstrations reject that characterization. They say advocating for Palestinian human rights and territorial claims, or criticizing Israeli military action, isn’t antisemitic. Some Jewish students and groups have participated in the protests.

Some Jewish students at Columbia, though, have complained the protest rhetoric has gone beyond criticism of Israel’s policies, and led to a hostile environment in which Jewish students felt threatened.

Several law scholars said the school could make a strong case that Trump officials illegally pulled Columbia’s federal money.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid.

It appears at least some steps weren’t followed, Bagenstos said.

“There has been no express finding, there has been no record, there has been no opportunity for a hearing,” he said. “This is just dramatically in violation of the procedural requirements under Title VI.”

Seven professors at Columbia Law School issued their own legal analysis Saturday, finding that the Trump administration’s letter violates the Title VI standards along with First Amendment protections and due process rights, among other problems.

The government’s demands threaten “fundamental legal principles and the mission of colleges and universities across the country,” according to the analysis, posted online by David Pozen, a constitutional law professor.

Columbia has little precedent to draw upon as it weighs its next steps. Presidential administrations traditionally have taken a cooperative approach to get colleges to comply with federal law, favoring voluntary agreements over sanctions. But the Trump administration is taking an adversarial role, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating.

Kenneth Marcus, who led the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights during Trump’s first term, said the administration appears to be using its wide latitude over federal contracts to pressure Columbia, rather than limiting itself to the “cumbersome, bureaucratic, and relatively weak” Title VI process.

“The Trump administration is moving faster and punching harder than we’ve seen in the past, and that clearly is going to have a greater impact than prior administrations,” said Marcus, who now leads the Brandeis Center, a Jewish civil rights nonprofit.

Marcus called it a creative and novel strategy that hasn’t been tested in the courts, but he said Columbia is wise to take a cooperative stance.

“Columbia no doubt realizes that the initial $400 million problem can balloon into a multi-billion dollar disaster if they respond poorly,” he said.

The administration’s strategy is part of a hardline approach laid out in a March 7 memo placing antisemitism as a top priority for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Instead of ending cases with “toothless reform proposals,” it demands meaningful changes to campus policies with a “strong emphasis on compliance.”

One of the office’s new goals is to deter “would-be civil rights violators from engaging in this conduct in the first instance,” according to the memo, obtained by The Associated Press.

Columbia’s response will set an example for the rest of higher education but there are no easy options, said Rachel Moran, a law professor at Texas A&M University. It appears the Trump administration improperly cut the university’s funding, she said, but there’s no guarantee a judge would restore the aid amid a legal challenge. And Columbia has to consider other factors, including the possibility of future retaliation from the administration.

“It’s a very, very tough situation,” Moran said. “And Columbia really is in some ways exhibit A in this controversy.”

Bagenstos sees it as another attempt by the Trump administration to test legal boundaries and see what kind of pushback it gets.

“Columbia is one of the largest, most prominent, most well-resourced higher education institutions in the world. And they have a very strong case,” he said. “If they’re not pushing back, that is going to send a signal to the Trump administration and to the rest of the academy. There’s no doubt about that.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.