29 Detroit Public Schools to close

[rjlj]

Here is the list released today of the Detroit Public Schools that will be closing. I am not sure how many are historic buildings but these are going to be the new playgrounds for the suburban urban destroyers and income for the many twitching independent contractors if they are not properly secured. No to mention, an acute boon to Tony Soave’s scrap yard business.

Closing schools as copied from www.detnews.com:
Barbour
Joyce
Brewer
Chadsey
Munger
Cleveland
Clinton
Cody 9th Grade
Coolidge
Henderson Lower
Courtis
Detroit Open
Guyton
Stark
Houghton
Lodge
J.R. King
Macomb
Elmdale
Marshall
Northwest Early Childhood Center
Richard
Mark Twain
Winterhalter
Birney
Building closes and program relocates:
Marcus Garvey to Butzel
Fisher Magnet to Heilmann
Finney High School to McNair Middle School
Stephens to Blackwell Institute and Holmes
Program closes and building is repurposed :
McNair to Clark and

[Gistok]

I just caught the tail end of the announcement, but I did hear something about Jared W. Finney High School will be rebuilt..... did I hear right?

With the exception of the old part of the school [[former grade school) and Cannon Recreation Center... most of Finney was built since the 1960's.

What gives?

[ForeverDetroit]

Detroit has way too many schools. I'm glad that a substantial amount are shutting down.

[casscorridor]

Detroit has way too many schools. I'm glad that a substantial amount are shutting down.

you are glad? why are you glad?

detroit doesn't have too many schools, detroit has too little money and resources

if anything, detroit as too few schools. many classrooms are intensely overcrowded. distance to travel to school is also getting further and further away for many students.

a vision for a good detroit would be keeping schools open, and reopening closed schools. and having small intimate classrooms that are condusive to learning. in our current situation we are left with overcrowded, militarized schools that no student has any desire to attend. hope has been all but lost. lets reclaim what is left of it.

[ForeverDetroit]

you are glad? why are you glad?

detroit doesn't have too many schools, detroit has too little money and resources

if anything, detroit as too few schools. many classrooms are intensely overcrowded. distance to travel to school is also getting further and further away for many students.

a vision for a good detroit would be keeping schools open, and reopening closed schools. and having small intimate classrooms that are condusive to learning. in our current situation we are left with overcrowded, militarized schools that no student has any desire to attend. hope has been all but lost. lets reclaim what is left of it.

Detroit has an infrastructure built to support roughly 1.2 million more than it does. The public education system is a part of that infrastructure. It only follows that there are too many schools. Travel distances to schools are large today because there are schools were built around neighborhoods that are almost vacant. Shutting those schools down is a good thing, especially if they underperform.

I really don't think DPS is particularly overcrowded. The people at the top just don't have the students best interests in mind. It's that simple. The money and resources are there. People just don't care.

Hopefully, these schools will be shut down and give way to well-run charter schools.

[noenaim]

Hopefully, these schools will be shut down and give way to well-run charter schools.[/QUOTE]

I have sad news for you there is no such thing s a "well-run charter" school.

Well maybe few are "well-run", but most charter schools are equal to or much much much worse than DPS schools.

[DetroitTeacher]

My classes are overcrowded. DPS just doesn't manage itself properly so that students are dispersed to the proper schools. They allow students to attend ANY school and when they are kicked out of one or are failing, they school hop [[hoping to reset their grades... which never works because they do the same stuff in the new school). We don't have enough teachers in certain subjects thus the overcrowding. Some classes have 10 kids, others have 60. DPS just needs to rearrange its infrastructure so that the kids' best interests are at heart, instead of it all being about the money.

[casscorridor]

Detroit has an infrastructure built to support roughly 1.2 million more than it does. The public education system is a part of that infrastructure. It only follows that there are too many schools. Travel distances to schools are large today because there are schools were built around neighborhoods that are almost vacant. Shutting those schools down is a good thing, especially if they underperform.

I really don't think DPS is particularly overcrowded. The people at the top just don't have the students best interests in mind. It's that simple. The money and resources are there. People just don't care.

Hopefully, these schools will be shut down and give way to well-run charter schools.

That is really sad that you hope these schools will shut down and give way to charter schools. It is also a contridiction in your logic, because you say there is no need for these schools because there aren't enough people. But if that was true, why would they close and be replaced by charter schools? So why wouldn't you hope that DPS schools improve instead of giving up at advocating the privitization of our education system?

As other posters have noted, although DPS is severely messed up, there are many problems that are NOT unique to Detroit. Public Schools everywhere are suffering. The solution is NOT privitization. We need to dramtically transform how education works in Detroit and the entire country, and charter schools should NOT be part of this equasion.

I have one idea, why not stop funding schools proportional to property tax? I'm tired of Northville, Novi, and Bloomfield Hills having the best, most well funded schools while Detroit suffers. We need proportional funding based on number of students and need, rather than how much those students parents are worth.

Another idea... lets pay students a small wage to go to school if they pass, and promise them a 4-year schollarship to any public state university when they graduate. That will be motivation to stay in school, when many students give up thinking that their chances of going to college and lifiting themselves out of poverty is slim to none. This would give hope to thousands of students.

[OriginalG313]

In regards to charter schools, this analysis is from the Free Press on 5/10/09.

FREE PRESS ANALYSIS

Michigan charter schools fall short

Most don't live up to their promises


http://www.freep.com/article/2009051...ols+fall+short

-----------
So, 29 schools will close this year. Bobb has said there will probably be more closings next year. So, what about the neighborhoods? And, what will happen to all of the closed buildings? Has Bobb said? We know DPS does not do a very good job of maintaining the buildings. Sure, we'll have a smaller school district. But, what about the city as a whole? Take a ride through the Chadsey-Munger area. Those schools are located on Martin near I-94. This is the area where the 6th precinct was once located. It looks nearly deserted. Now, there will be 2 more empty structures the remaining residents will have to deal with. And, a couple of weeks ago Fox2 News reported the residents are dealing with a suspected arsonist. With the school closures and foreclosures what will the neighborhoods look like in the next few years? Will families want to move into the city?

[firstandten]

That is really sad that you hope these schools will shut down and give way to charter schools. It is also a contridiction in your logic, because you say there is no need for these schools because there aren't enough people. But if that was true, why would they close and be replaced by charter schools? So why wouldn't you hope that DPS schools improve instead of giving up at advocating the privitization of our education system?.

We need to be consistant in our terms per this discussion. Charter schools are public schools and don't represent the privitization of our education system. We'll leave that to the Country Day's and U of D HS of the world

As other posters have noted, although DPS is severely messed up, there are many problems that are NOT unique to Detroit. Public Schools everywhere are suffering. The solution is NOT privitization. We need to dramtically transform how education works in Detroit and the entire country, and charter schools should NOT be part of this equasion. .

I think charter schools should have a role [[competition and choice basicially) but not the driving force behind the change of the educational picture in Detroit.
As some articles have already stated very few charter schools are even better than the DPS schools they are trying to replace.

I have one idea, why not stop funding schools proportional to property tax? I'm tired of Northville, Novi, and Bloomfield Hills having the best, most well funded schools while Detroit suffers. We need proportional funding based on number of students and need, rather than how much those students parents are worth..

I've heard that argument many times, good luck making that happen

Another idea... lets pay students a small wage to go to school if they pass, and promise them a 4-year schollarship to any public state university when they graduate. That will be motivation to stay in school, when many students give up thinking that their chances of going to college and lifiting themselves out of poverty is slim to none. This would give hope to thousands of students.

This is an idea I've been hearing more about. I don't have an opinion yet on the wages but I would like to see something like the K-zoo promise done here. On of the by-products of that program is that people moved to the city and drove housing values up just to have there kids go to that school district.

[zincfinger]

I have one idea, why not stop funding schools proportional to property tax? I'm tired of Northville, Novi, and Bloomfield Hills having the best, most well funded schools while Detroit suffers. We need proportional funding based on number of students and need, rather than how much those students parents are worth.

I think this would harm the city more than it would help in the long term. What you're proposing is basically to make people that don't live in Detroit pay for Detroit Public Schools. That would probably result in increased funding for DPS in the short-term [[although I'm not so sure it would result in improved education within DPS). But in the long term it would just cause people to leave the areas where you're making them pay for your schools. And those people are already paying substantial Wayne County taxes - most of which goes to Detroit - today. When they leave, Detroit suffers.

Another idea... lets pay students a small wage to go to school if they pass, and promise them a 4-year schollarship to any public state university when they graduate. That will be motivation to stay in school, when many students give up thinking that their chances of going to college and lifiting themselves out of poverty is slim to none. This would give hope to thousands of students.

The problem is, who's going to pay for that? For the scholarships alone, you could be talking a billion dollars per year. I have a hard time seeing where that money's going to come from. Do you want to squeeze that out of the suburbs too? If the mandatory DPS financing didn't kill the suburbs, I'm pretty sure that would.

[firstandten]

[quote=casscorridor;18926]you are glad? why are you glad?

detroit doesn't have too many schools, detroit has too little money and resources

if anything, detroit as too few schools. many classrooms are intensely overcrowded. distance to travel to school is also getting further and further away for many students.

a vision for a good detroit would be keeping schools open, and reopening closed schools. and having small intimate classrooms that are condusive to learning. in our current situation we are left with overcrowded, militarized schools that no student has any desire to attend. hope has been all but lost. lets reclaim what is left of it.[quote]

Thats a vision I think everyone wants to see over time. The question is how to get to that vision in a way that makes economic sense. I think you need to close many of the schools that are at least 50 years old [[ which are most), cost too much to heat and maintain and set up for a 150,000 student district and build smaller state of the art schools. We need to get rid of the militarized schools as you stated and move to a education model thats more in line with the needs of the 21st century not the late 19th and 20th century. However to do this takes a plan and process that city leaders need to follow. What Bobb is doing is just the beginning of the process.

[rjk]

Does anyone know how many high schools DPS will have after these closings?

[maxx]

Debbie Stabenow led the movement to detach school funding from the property tax.

[zincfinger]

Debbie Stabenow led the movement to detach school funding from the property tax.

And I think the fact that public school funding was already significantly detached from property taxes raises a couple of interesting questions: i) did it improve the caliber of DPS and/or other relatively low property tax districts, and ii) if not, is that because we didn't go far enough in our detachment, or because funding wasn't the fundamental problem in the first place?

[maxx]

And I think the fact that public school funding was already significantly detached from property taxes raises a couple of interesting questions: i) did it improve the caliber of DPS and/or other relatively low property tax districts, and ii) if not, is that because we didn't go far enough in our detachment, or because funding wasn't the fundamental problem in the first place?

The question is how was the money spent? Does anyone know? Does anyone know what happened to the No Child Left Behind monies?

[Danny]

When Detroit's population under 800,000. There must be over 60,000 DPS students left. Those EVIL charter schools are winning.

[mwilbert]

I wouldn't necessarily expect that. First, what I meant was increased funding, not funding. I thought that was implicit. Second, it depends upon the funding being used in an intelligent way, something clearly beyond the management of the DPS. Third, it depends upon other things not deteriorating, but in fact the demographics of the DPS population have been getting steadily worse for 50 years and teaching in the DPS has become less attractive [[more jobs in other districts, harder jobs in DPS) over that time. Fourth, there still doesn't seem to be enough money, although whether that is because there actually isn't enough money or because it is misspent is hard to say. If you have chair with one leg, it needs more legs, but adding one isn't going to help much.

But I don't think we actually disagree much about this, unless you think that the DPS was not underfunded previously. The problems of the Detroit schools and their students cannot be solved by money alone, unless you have enough money to put everyone in boarding schools when they turn three. The problem of educating a disadvantaged population like the one the DPS serves is not solved, at least not at a large scale.

[zincfinger]

But I don't think we actually disagree much about this, unless you think that the DPS was not underfunded previously. The problems of the Detroit schools and their students cannot be solved by money alone, unless you have enough money to put everyone in boarding schools when they turn three. The problem of educating a disadvantaged population like the one the DPS serves is not solved, at least not at a large scale.

We don't disagree, and frankly, I'm in no position to disagree. I don't know that much about DPS, and so I'm asking sincere questions to gauge opinion from those who do know something about it.

That being said, I do have a bit of a personal bias/opinion that school funding is generally not the distinguishing factor between schools that work well and those that don't. But I know next to nothing about DPS budgets specifically.

[Rocko]

Final decisions regarding DPS closures and changes 2010-2012:
http://download.gannett.edgesuite.ne...losurelist.pdf

[[Very helpful) Detroit News map: DPS maps turnaround with building closures, charter conversions:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...aps-turnaround

Detroit News Article:
DPS does the math on school closure

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...school-closure

[DetroitTeacher]

That first link is from last year. It is not the current closings.

[maxx]

Detroit teacher:
What is a literacy coach?

I heard about the closing of Paul Robeson/ Malcolm X today on Need to Know. They devoted a segment to the school and students' first time attempt at a city planning competition.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know...e-future/8813/

[DetroitTeacher]

It's a bit hard to describe, really. Basically, what I do is to go into teachers' rooms and show them how to teach a strategy [[there are very specific strategies the kids can use for reading and writing). There is a whole process to this before I actually get to the teacher's room. First, there is the workshop on the strategy, then there is a demo lesson [[which is where I hijack a teacher's room and teach a lesson), then there is the co-plan and co-teaching [[the teacher and I do it together, in tandem), and then the teacher should practice on their own after which I go in and do an observation and provide feedback. I guess it's pretty much what the old Department Chairpersons did. I haven't actually been able to do any of this because I still have classes [[which is where I really want to be, anyway).

I'm not so sure how well this is going to work, since teachers SHOULD already know how to teach the strategy. I'm sure it would work well with teachers who need some extra coaching [[new teachers). The coaching positions went to the most senior teachers [[in Math, ELA, and Technology) in the school. That person was me for the ELA [[I have more seniority than everyone else in my dept, combined). They haven't sent anyone to replace me in the classroom so I really can't implement the coaching role for which I've been trained.

Detroit teacher:
What is a literacy coach?

I heard about the closing of Paul Robeson/ Malcolm X today on Need to Know. They devoted a segment to the school and students' first time attempt at a city planning competition.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know...e-future/8813/

[Rocko]

April 24. 2011 3:12PM
DPS schools slated for closure prepare to plead their cases

Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

Detroit — Sit-ins, neighborhood marches with megaphones and YouTube video pleas are all being launched to block school closures and charter conversions across Detroit Public Schools.

Teachers, students and administrators say they are out to stop the dismantling of DPS as the clock ticks down on plans to "rightsize" the district by closing eight schools and turning over as many as 45 schools to charter operators in the next two years.

Starting at 4 p.m. Monday, staff from six schools set to close in June will get the opportunity to make their case for saving their buildings at a School Presentation Meeting before DPS Emergency Manager Robert Bobb.

Veteran teacher Christine Abood will be at her school's meeting on May 3. Carleton Elementary School is on this year's closure list, despite the fact that Abood says her classrooms and others have been bulging at the seams for years.

For the last five years, she has had 40 students in her first-grade class. Now the number is closer to 25, but it should be under according to the teacher's contract, she said.

"At our school, the rationale of low enrollment was shocking to the community," Abood said. "We have always been a jewel, an exceptional school in the community. We're known for our teachers. We have people walking in from Harper Woods and Eastpointe to come here."

To make a case to save the school, near Interstate 94 and Moross, Abood and others marched through the neighborhood two weeks ago.

"People didn't know and they said, why? It's not boarded up here," Abood said. "It's a stable working-class community. Kids walk to school."

Bobb has said closing specific schools has been the hardest decision as he tries to erase a $327 million deficit and bring the state's largest school district out of financial emergency. The number of students attending DPS in 2000 was 168,000.
Today it's about 73,000. DPS projections for 2016 say it will drop to about 50,000.
At Carleton, enrollment today is 495 but by 2016 it's expected to drop to 200 students, DPS says.

A two-minute video posted April 16 on YouTube.com by a school library employee shows students from Dossin Elementary School using Smartboard technology and footage of Bobb telling the community last year that Dossin was a "high-performing" school and was being taken off the 2010 closure list.

With Eminem's "Lose Yourself" — the song in Chrysler's "Imported From Detroit" ad — in the background, the video shows children from the school cheering as Bobb tells them he won't close their school and the commercial's narrator saying, "This is our story."

This year, the school is being considered for a charter school or closure because of what DPS says are its high operational costs and declining enrollment.

Students from Catherine Ferguson Academy, a DPS school for pregnant girls and teen mothers, staged a sit-in April 15 to protest its closure. The school is being offered to a charter operator for takeover. If no one comes forward, it will close and its 220 students will be sent to neighboring schools. It has a school presentation meeting May 3.

DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said every school has a 20-minute presentation to make their case to stay open.

"There's a certain 'roll up our sleeves and work on solutions together' between Bobb, his team and the community," Wasko said.

jchambers@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110424/...#ixzz1KTw5foWI

[DetroitTeacher]

Dossin was set to close at the end of last year, too. They made an AMAZING video [[different from this year) and presented it at the rally with Bobb. They need to keep Dossin open, they are doing too many great things with the kids and the kids are really excited to learn. Kids like those at Dossin make my job much easier when they get to high school. They also need to keep Catherine Fergeson open. There are many reasons why those girls may drop out of school but the lack of a place to go that offers day care shouldn't be one of those reasons. I also love the fact that, as a graduation requirement, each young lady MUST be accepted to at least one college. I think it's a fabulous school with a great curriculum [[the farming) and an awesome support system for young mothers.