Latest news with #Vitti
Daily Mirror
04-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Home Bargains' 'flattering' £15 dress looks 'just like' £295 designer version
The Home Bargains dress could easily be mistaken for a much more expensive version Home Bargains is selling a new dress that could easily be mistaken for a much more expensive version. The budget retailer is well known for selling cheaper alternatives for luxury products - and now there might be a new favourite on shelves. The Originals Ladies Tie Waist Maxi Dress from Home Bargains is priced at £15. It looks strikingly similar to a style by luxury brand Agnes B, but without the larger price tag. The dresses share a number of similarities, both featuring matching silhouettes, short sleeves and a tie waist. They also both have side pockets. However, there are also some differences, including that the belt on the designer dress is slightly thicker. The rounded neck is wider on the more expensive dress too, and the Home Bargains dress is only available in a dark grey shade, while the designer option is black. Home Bargains' product description reads: "Elevate your casual wardrobe with the Originals Ladies Tie Waist Maxi Dress! This stylish piece boasts a flattering tie waist, handy pockets, and is available in sizes 8 to 20." The retailer added: "Step up your casual style with the Originals Ladies Tie Waist Maxi Dress! Designed for both comfort and elegance, this short-sleeve dress features a flattering tie waist detail that adds a stylish touch while enhancing your shape. "Plus, it comes with pockets, because who doesn't love a dress with pockets? Perfect for everyday wear, this effortlessly chic maxi dress is available in sizes 8 to 20, making it a must-have wardrobe staple!" The designer description reads: "The Robe Vitti is an an elegant dress crafted from a cotton mix for a sophisticated and understated look." While the Home Bargains Originals Ladies Tie Waist Maxi Dress is priced at £15, the Agnes B black Vitti dress comes in at £295. This means shoppers could save around £280 by opting for the cheaper alternative. The Home Bargains dress is available in a number of sizes, including 8-10, 10-12, 12-14 and 14-16. It is currently sold out in 18-20.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Detroit schools superintendent: Trump 'is not supportive of our children'
In a virtual event this week with over 1,000 attendees — many of whom were apparently Detroit school district employees — Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said President Donald Trump's administration is "not supportive of our children" and said employees who voted for Trump "have to reconcile that" with their day-to-day jobs. "There's certainly DPSCD employees that voted for Trump," Vitti, who leads the largest district in the state, said at the budget update. "I really think you have to reconcile that with your day-to-day job and the children that you support, because this current president and this administration is not supportive of our children and our communities based on their budget, and budget defines your priorities." More: Michigan school leaders run through 'what ifs' as Trump tries to gut education department Vitti spent an hour explaining how federal funding cuts and how the president's proposed elimination of the U.S. Department of Education and other administration priorities could possibly trickle down to Detroit Public Schools Community District, which serves more than 49,000 students. If Congress scales back federal education funding, and Title I funding for schools that serve economically disadvantaged students in particular, Vitti said the district may experience "hurt and pain." Only Congress can eliminate the federal department, but Trump's administration can weaken the department. Congress also hasn't indicated any cuts to Title I or other education funding such as money for services for students with disabilities, but many education advocates fear lawmakers will alter or partially cut those streams of funding in pursuit of major federal budget cuts. Vitti added later that the direction the federal government has taken under Trump is "defunding the future of the most disadvantaged children in this country." "I'm never going to tell you who to vote for," he said. "I'm going to tell you what I've always told you: You do your homework. " The superintendent called for employees to "feel free" to advocate to local, state and federal officials to rally around public education amid so many proposed federal changes. "This is no longer a drill," he said. "We have to stop thinking, 'Oh it's rhetoric; it's just an executive order.'... This is real, folks. ... We cannot wait, we cannot hope. We cannot pray alone to think that we're going to get through this without changing direction and advocating for something different and something better." While 10% of state education funding is federal, about 32% of federal funding constitutes the Detroit public schools budget, Vitti said, which is because the district has a weak local tax base and a larger population of vulnerable students than many districts in the state. Vitti said he is particularly concerned that Congress, in service of cutting $2 trillion from the budget, could eliminate portions of Title I funding, funding for teacher training, funding for English Learners, funding for programs that help low-income students improve learning experiences, Medicaid funding that helps students with disabilities, and funding for school lunch programs. In Detroit, $124 million in Title I funding for the 2024-25 school year went to paying academic interventionists, funding for assistant principals, funding for literacy programs, and more purposes. If Congress cut 25% of Title I funding, the superintendent said, Detroit would see $30 million gone. Vitti, stressing that no idea has been finalized, discussed several strategies district officials have thought up to address any potential budget cuts, including: accelerating the closure of schools that the district had already planned to close, reducing discretionary funds for purposes such as professional development and STEM programs, freezing hiring for vacant roles, delaying technology upgrades and eliminating commercial property insurance coverage. "Myself and the board is already thinking about ways to keep people employed, mainly protect school staffing, protect student programming so reform can continue despite these cuts for the next year or two," he said. Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit schools superintendent: Trump 'not supportive of our children'
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ahead of setting school budgets, Michigan education leaders brace for federal cuts
As the U.S. Department of Education's future is uncertain, school leaders across Michigan are pondering an intimidating reality as they plan next school year's budget: What if a portion — or all — of the state's annual federal funding goes away? Michigan receives roughly $2 billion in federal education funding annually. Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, held a budget update on Wednesday. Vitti, in the virtual meeting with over 1,000 attendees, said his district, the largest in the state, disproportionately relies on federal funding, compared with other districts in the state. "You can imagine the hurt and pain that we will experience by losing federal funds," he said. Adding later that the direction the federal government has taken under President Donald Trump is "defunding the future of the most disadvantaged children in this country." "This is no longer a drill," he said. "We have to stop thinking, 'Oh it's rhetoric; it's just an executive order.'... This is real, folks. ... We cannot wait, we cannot hope. We cannot pray alone to think that we're going to get through this without changing direction and advocating for something different and something better." The U.S. Department of Education's workforce has already been about cut in half, with cuts to some grant and research programs. Federal education funding makes up about 9% of the state's education budget, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy. No concrete cuts to federal funding have been put forward and even if Congress eliminated the federal education department, funding wouldn't automatically be cut. But speculation over what could be cut has proliferated. A federal budget resolution approved Friday does not lay out many specific streams of education funding, Education Week reported, prompting even more speculation about what could be slashed by Congress. School budgets have to be completed by June 30. And a lot could happen between now and then. But already, administrators have started to use the word "cut" — hopefully, judiciously, Vitti said, if federal cuts happen. "What I don't want to do is go to a world where many of you lived once where everyone gets a pink slip saying we don't know if your job is there next year," he said. Novi Community School District Superintendent Ben Mainka said he is preparing for both the best- and worst-case scenarios as budget uncertainty looms. "We're kind of operating under the auspices of, let's be prepared, but let's also not do something rash and reduce programming or something like that ahead of hearing any information about actual cuts," Mainka said. In Wayne County alone, schools receive $421 per student in federal Title I funding, which is meant to help schools that educate a disproportionate amount of students from low-income homes. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which allocates money for services for students with disabilities, is federal law. Michigan schools received about $460 million in federal funding for special education in 2024, about 15% of the funding for special education services, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy. State funding remains the largest source of education funding. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's proposed budget includes a 4.1% increase to the foundation allowance for Michigan students, raising it to $10,000 per pupil, up from $9,608. But whether Whitmer's proposed budget will be passed as-is is up to lawmakers, who will likely agree on their own proposals before passing a budget, expected sometime in the summer. While 10% of state education funding is federal, about 32% of federal funding constitutes Detroit Public Schools budget, Vitti said, which is because the district has a weak local tax base and a larger population of vulnerable students than many districts in the state. Vitti said he is particularly concerned that Congress, in service of cutting $2 trillion from the budget, could eliminate portions of Title I funding, funding for teacher training, funding for English Learners, funding for programs that help low-income students improve learning experiences, Medicaid funding that helps students with disabilities, and funding for school lunch programs. In Detroit, $124 million in Title I funding for the 2024-25 school year went to paying academic interventionists, funding for assistant principals, funding for literacy programs, and more purposes. If Congress cut 25% of Title I funding, the superintendent said, Detroit would see $30 million gone. Vitti, stressing that no idea has been finalized, discussed several strategies district officials have thought up to address any potential budget cuts, including: accelerating the closure of schools that district had already planned to close, reducing discretionary funds for purposes such as professional development and STEM programs, freezing hiring for vacant roles, delaying technology upgrades and eliminating commercial property insurance coverage. "Myself and the board is already thinking about ways to keep people employed, mainly protect school staffing, protect student programming so reform can continue despite these cuts for the next year or two," he said. In Warren on Wednesday, educators, parents and students held school "walk-ins" to protest recent cuts to the federal education department. Robert Callender, a chemistry teacher and president of the Warren Education Association, wrote in a news release that federal education funding is critical to educating vulnerable students in particular. 'Dismantling the Department of Education would be devastating for local students with special needs and students from lower-income families, as our schools rely on federal resources to support special education programs, tutoring, school meals and more,' Callender wrote in a news release. 'This would cause permanent harm to Warren students, who need and deserve more support — not less.' Education leaders also stressed that federal funding for students with disabilities has never been fully funded: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act promised to fund 40% of special education funding, but has largely hovered around the 15% mark, according to the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association. Many districts, even with state special education funding, have to dip into general education funding to cover special education expenses. "We're seeing a significant amount of challenges that relates to costs" of special education services, Mainka said. "Because, obviously, to support our children in the way that they need to be supported — and we're adamant that they get that support — it costs a lot of money." Wendy Zdeb, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, wrote in an email response to questions from the Detroit Free Press that part of the frustration among education leaders is the pace at which the federal government is making cuts. "Compounding this is the lack of communication from the federal government," she wrote. "It seems as though cuts are happening so quickly in other departments of the government and schools need time to react to these things. It is pretty unnerving to just be watching the headlines learning about what is happening at the same time as the public." Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan education leaders brace for federal cuts amid speculation
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Detroit District Offered Gift Cards For Perfect Attendance. 4,936 Kids Earned It
This article was originally published in Chalkbeat. Nearly 5,000 Detroit high school students have earned at least one $200 incentive for perfect attendance since early January. High school students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District can earn $200 gift cards for each two-week period in which they have perfect attendance, from Jan. 6 through March 21. There have been two cycles so far for which students have received the gift cards and, in addition to the 4,936 students who had perfect attendance in at least one of two-week periods, 2,028 have had perfect attendance in both cycles, according to data Superintendent Nikolai Vitti shared with Chalkbeat this week. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The attendance incentive is aimed at improving attendance in the district, where two-thirds of nearly 49,999 students were considered chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year. The incentive is among a number of efforts the district has employed over the years to create an attendance-going culture among students. The district has invested heavily into attendance agents to improve attendance and this school year announced that students with extremely high rates of chronic absenteeism will be held back a grade at the K-8 level and required to repeat classes at the high school level. The number of students earning the perfect attendance incentive is a fraction of the nearly 15,000 high school students in the district, leading one school board member to question last week whether the incentive is working. But Vitti said he is encouraged that the program is getting more high school students to class and resulting in a small decrease in the chronic absenteeism rate for high school students. He said the district and board will have to evaluate the program's success at the end of the school year. Related Chronic absenteeism has been one of the district's biggest challenges for years. The chronic absenteeism rate has declined, from a high of nearly 80% at the height of the pandemic, when quarantining rules meant many students missed school because of COVID exposure. But last school year's much lower chronic absenteeism rate of 66% still means it is difficult to have consistency in the classroom and improve academic achievement. Students in Michigan are chronically absent when they miss 10%, or 18 days in a 180-day school year. Statewide, 30% of students are considered chronically absent, compared to 23% nationally. A recent education scorecard cited the state's rate as being a factor in students' slow academic recovery from the pandemic. Here are some of the highlights of the students who've received the incentive so far:: 3,473 students had perfect attendance during the first cycle. 3,492 students had perfect attendance during the second cycle. About 10% already had perfect attendance. About 4% were considered chronically absent at the time the incentive began. About 16% had missed 10% of the school year at the time the incentive began. About 25% had missed 5-10% of the school year. About 44% had missed 5% or fewer days in the school year. At a Detroit school board meeting last week, Vitti said the statistic showing that just 10% of the students who earned the incentive already had perfect attendance is an indication that 'this is not just rewarding those that have already been going to school.' Board member Monique Bryant questioned what school leaders are doing to promote the incentive to students who haven't earned it. Bryant suggested that data Vitti shared at the meeting showing that chronic absenteeism is down by 5 percentage points for high school students since the incentive began is an illustration that most students aren't rising to the goal of the incentive. Vitti responded that it depends on how you look at the data. 'Right now, chronic absenteeism at the high school levels improved by five percentage points,' Vitti said. 'That means that 700 high school students are not chronically absent where they were last year. I'd also say that at least on the 97th day, our chronic absenteeism at the high school levels is the lowest it's been since the pandemic.' The question for board members to decide at the end of the school year is whether the incentive 'is the right investment with other challenges that we have districtwide,' Vitti said. 'But I think the data is suggesting it's working for many students … but not all.' Board member Ida Simmons Short urged the district to survey students to learn more about what is preventing them from coming to school. The causes of chronic absenteeism are numerous and include physical and mental health reasons, lack of transportation,and lack of affordable housing. Most of them tie back to poverty. Vitti specifically cited transportation, because half of the students in the district don't attend their neighborhood school and the district doesn't provide school bus transportation for high school students, who must take city buses to get to school. 'Sometimes they're unreliable, they're late, they're too far away from where the child lives,' Vitti said. Vitti said traditional school bus transportation for high school students 'was decimated' under emergency management and it could cost between $50 million and $100 million to bring that level of transportation back. Another factor, Vitti said, is that for some students, school isn't relevant. Middle and high school students, in particular, 'struggle to understand, 'why am I going to school every day? How is this connected to what I'm going to I need to know for life.'' Mi'Kah West, a Cass Technical High School student who serves as a student representative on the board, said that when talking to other members of the District Executive Youth Council last week, many said students overall are excited about the incentive. One thing that stuck out, she said, was council members saying they heard students in the hallways or on social media saying they were coming to school because they want the money. 'And, while we don't want to just say we want to come to school for the money,' West said, 'I think it's important to see that students … may have stayed home because they don't want to come to school, but they're willing to come to school now.' Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@ Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
USA Today
28-01-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Michigan State football in pursuit of 4-star in-state Big Ten commit
Michigan State football has made their presence known with how they are recruiting the state of Michigan, making the state's best a priority. One of the state's best, Marcello Vitti, is receiving praise from the Spartans coaching staff. Vitti, a 4-star from Dearborn, attending Divine Child, is currently committed to Iowa. He received an in-home visit from the Spartans coaching staff, which he raved about to the 247Sports staff. The Spartans have re-entered the recruitment following the new hire of Junior Adams. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner
