Rachel Vitti (Linkedin photo)
A controversy was brewing and Rachel Vitti, wife of Detroit schools Superindent Nikolai Vitti, decided to quash it.
Rachel Vitti has resigned as a director of Beyond Basics, a nonprofit group that the district contracted with to tutor the most academically challenged high school students, Chalkbeat Detroit reports. She resigned July 11 after two years at the Southfield-based group.
Her ties to her husband were disclosed before the board approved a multi-million dollar contract a year ago, Chalkbeat reports. Some of the contract was paid with federal Covid relief dollars.
Chalkbeat reports:
But several Detroit residents, some with ties to another tutoring organization that has sought work with the district, have criticized the contract in recent meetings, and the controversy has put the superintendent and the district on the defensive.
“It was clear that the conversation regarding my employment at Beyond Basics was becoming a distraction to the literacy reform effort,” said Rachel Vitti in a statement provided to Chalkbeat Friday afternoon. She added: “The results of my most recent accomplishments are evident, and I look forward to continuing my professional work in the literacy effort.”
