New Detroit Schools To Open Next Year
Michigan Future, an arm of about four area foundations, is planning to fund four new Detroit charter and DPS High Schools that will open in fall of 2011.
The new schools enter into an area that has seen many neighborhood schools, such as Redford, Cooley, and Mackenzie, close in the past several years.
President of Michigan Future Lou Glazier announced the four grants totaling nearly three million dollars, which he hopes can be part of an effort to improve education in Detroit.
"It's about making sure that every child in Detroit has an opportunity to go to a quality high school," Glazier said.
Among the new schools are two charter schools Jalen Rose Leadership Academy and the Cornerstone Health High School. There are also two DPS schools, Doctor Benjamin Carson School of Science and Medicine and the Diplomas Now Detroit High School.
As far as specific goals for the new schools, the emphasis is not only on graduation rate and college admissions.
"(The commitment on the part of the schools) is at least 85% of the students who enter the school will graduate high school, 85% will go to college, and 85% will earn a college degree. This program is about college success -- not going to college, but finishing college," he explained.
To achieve these standards, each school will limit enrollment to 500 students.
DPS financial manager Robert Bobb who has closed dozens of schools, also won Michigan future grant to open a new high school. Bobb believes in the importance of Detroit Public Schools raising the bar to keep up with competition.
Rev. Nicholas Hood believes that in the face of many closing schools, the new schools are crucially important.
"The better job we can do of retaining students within the city, the better job we will do at stabilizing the neighborhoods," he said.
Hood sees the schools as a way to empower the city in the long run, and many other residents hope that these changes will steps toward improving education and stability in Detroit.
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