Education Week - March 22, 2017 - 9

Plan to Shut Detroit's Failing Schools Reveals Lack of Options
By David Eggert &
Corey Williams, Associated Press
Detroit

Long frustrated by failed efforts
to turn around Michigan's worst
public schools, top Republican officials in the state decided it was
time for a drastic measure: shut
down 38 schools that were ranked
continually in the bottom 5 percent
statewide and shift their students to
better options elsewhere.
It's not a new idea. School closings have been ordered in get-tough
initiatives in other places in recent
years, such as New York City and
Denver, to get students into higherquality environments.
But instead of a solution, Michigan's move has triggered panic by
suggesting sending thousands of
inner-city children 40 to 50 miles
away. And officials find themselves
in a quandary again about the
sheer scale of the state's education
dilemma, especially in Detroit.

Lack of Transportation
After notifying parents in January of schools that could be closed
this summer, Gov. Rick Snyder's
administration discovered that the
superior schools that supposedly
could absorb the 18,000 displaced
students mostly don't exist-at
least, not anywhere nearby. Children at 25 schools in Detroit were

directed to schools that in some
cases were closer to the Ohio border than to Detroit.
Unlike districts in rural states
where schools can be far apart,
Detroit doesn't have buses for high
school students. And many low-income parents don't have cars. Students typically use mass transit.
"Right now I have no clue. I'm in
a puzzle like everybody else," said
Roquesha O'Neal, whose two children attend Osborn High School on
the city's east side. "We're just waiting for the state to tell us what's the
next move."
Natasha Baker, the state's school
reform officer, who informed parents
of the proposed school closures, said
the students shouldn't stay where
they are.
"It's important for kids to have
access to college, careers, and jobs
once they leave high school. They
can't do that if they're struggling
with reading and math," she said.
State officials are pondering
what to do, but it appears most, if
not all, of the closings won't happen anytime soon. School superintendents will get more chances
for improvement, and the GOP-led
legislature will consider how to revise a seven-year-old school law to
provide a more realistic blueprint
for turnarounds here.
Education reform initiatives
across the nation often use a series
of steps for upgrading poor schools,

We haven't heard
anybody explain a
good path of where
these kids are going
to go to get a better
education than the
one they're
getting now."
STATE SEN. PHIL PAVLOV

from requiring a steady uptick in
test scores, to replacing principals
and teachers, to closing schools in
the most extreme cases.
Detroit's school district has been
under state oversight for the past
eight years. Last year, lawmakers
approved a $617 million bailout to
deal with its enormous debt.
But fixing the academics has
been harder. Unlike other cities where ailing schools may be
a local bus ride away from better
ones, Detroit's options are few and
far between. Only five of the city's
97 public schools, and 14 of the 56
charter schools, rank above the
bottom 25 percent statewide.
Students were directed to Monroe,
40 miles southwest of Detroit, and
northern Oakland County, about an
hour drive away, "simply because we
found more choice," said Baker. "If
we only use one or two miles," she
added, "I can't in many cases find a
quality option for a parent."

No Options Nearby
In the districts listed as options,
officials are rattled by the prospect
of an exodus of Detroit students
heading their way.
"Right now, we don't have the
seats," said Ryan McLeod, the
school superintendent in Eastpointe, a city just north of Detroit
that has one of its own schools on
the state closure list. "Our practice

as a district has been to right-size
our staff based on what our enrollment looks like."
Families attending Detroit's Osborn High, which has about 680
students, found only one school
anywhere nearby that wasn't also
on the closing list.
However, that school, East
English Village, "is over capacity. There is literally not a school
within two miles that students
could attend," said Jack Elsey, the
chief schools officer for Michigan's
education turnaround authority.
State Sen. Phil Pavlov, a Republican who chairs the Senate's
education committee, said the
school turnaround law should be
scrapped in favor of something
more workable.
"We haven't heard anybody explain a good path of where these
kids are going to go to get a better
education than the one they're getting now," he said.
O'Neal said she and other Osborn parents are starting to become more involved in the school
and should be given more time to
improve it.
"We can turn it around," she said.
"When we have parent engagement, we do turn schools around."
Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All
rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.

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