LMich
Jan 16, 2007, 12:23 AM
DPS's problems passed the point of no return years and years ago, and I don't see anything saving the district, not a competent board being elected. Nothing.
http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20070115&Category=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=701150362&Ref=V2Q=100&MaxW=500
David Coates / The Detroit News
Students who leave Detroit schools for other districts -- such as Clintondale, shown here -- take along $7,500 in state cash.
51,000 opt out of Detroit schools
Nearly a third of students attend charter or suburban schools
January 15, 2007
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
Nearly a third of Detroit's students -- or about 51,000 -- are attending charter schools and suburban public districts, causing enrollment and budgets at other districts to surge while Detroit Public Schools shrinks.
About 5,000 Detroit residents left for other schools this fall alone, according to recently released enrollment records, a continuation of declines that have ravaged district funding but resulted in more options for students.
More than 25 districts in Metro Detroit had enrollment swings of more than 130 students last fall alone, according to a Detroit News analysis of enrollment changes between September 2005 and September 2006. That's either a $1 million drop or $1 million bump in state aid. It could mean hiring teachers -- or laying them off.
Nowhere was the drop as significant -- or critical -- as in Detroit, and it comes with ramifications for the far-flung suburbs as well as the state's largest district.
"At some point, the system just will not be viable," said Jeffrey Mirel, a professor of education and history at the University of Michigan who has studied the Detroit schools.
Once one of the largest districts in the country, Detroit is no longer among the 20 most populous. And with the flight of each child, the district watches another $7,500 walk away. All told, the state is spending nearly $380 million a year to educate Detroit children elsewhere.
The 5,000 additional students who went to charters and other public schools last fall represent only a fraction of the roughly 12,600 fewer students in the district, which has seen enrollment drop by more than 10,000 a year for several years.
The loss of students, blamed in part on fewer school-age children in the city, has forced the district to schedule the closure of 52 schools.
And the diaspora of Detroit schoolchildren is likely to widen. District projections suggest it may continue to lose 10,000 students a year, dimming prospects for a turnaround.
Parents are choosing charter schools in the city and far beyond, along with public districts in Warren, Clinton Township, Ecorse and Oak Park as they demand better opportunities for their children.
Leda Reed has three kids at Charlotte Forten Academy, a nontraditional school for at-risk youth on the west side. She said she's unlikely to switch to Detroit's public schools.
"Not if they don't do anything about running the schools," she said.
Those feelings were echoed as recently as Friday by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who told the Detroit Economic Club that he feared that a crisis of leadership in the schools threatened hopes for an economic rebound.
Declines likely to continue
Enrollment is likely to continue to fall for districts statewide, because graduating classes are larger than incoming kindergarten classes, said Mary Ann Cleary, associate director for the Michigan House Fiscal Agency. The agency predicted the state would have 7,000 fewer students last fall. The final number: 15,000 fewer. That will mean $65 million less for districts and charters than expected, she said.
Advocates of choice say the students are being served by the many options they have.
"Parents are expecting quality schools, and it's incumbent upon all of us to provide those schools," said Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies.
State money has followed the Fleming family of west Detroit to several schools. Victolyn and Berris Fleming have enrolled their children in charter and public schools, always with an eye on quality.
Their eldest daughter, Sherene, graduated from Detroit Renaissance and the University of Michigan; her younger brother, Berris Jr., is at Renaissance now. Their sister, Sheleeann, is at Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn.
"They push the student to do more," Victolyn Fleming, an operating room nurse. "I don't believe in being average."
The current market-driven environment suits Harun Rashid just fine. Principal at Frontier International Academy, a charter school in Hamtramck, Rashid added a ninth grade this year -- and filled it immediately. The school grew by 25 percent to 300 students last fall and cannot accommodate all who want to attend.
Combined with scholarship money available for private schools, the choices are numerous and welcomed.
"Everybody should be competing for quality, not numbers," Rashid said.
District aims to stop loss
School choice has been a fact in Michigan for more than a decade. Getting most of the attention are the dozens of charters in Metro Detroit that enroll more than 42,000 Detroit schoolchildren. A number of districts in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties also allow in students from other districts.
But although Detroit predicts continued losses, officials say they may be able to stanch the flow. "We're not going to sit on our hands," said Detroit schools spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo.
Instead, the district is mounting an aggressive campaign to show off what it believes are quality schools, including Renaissance and Cass Tech, and others, like Davis Aerospace Technical High School.
The district is making that pitch as it manages a massive restructuring. Meanwhile, the drop in enrollment will eat away at the district's financial resources.
"There's no question that it hurts. That's why we have to redouble our efforts to tell our story," Oguntoyinbo said.
In some districts like Ferndale and Clintondale, Detroit students predominantly attend alternative education centers, in buildings that are separate from the traditional schools. The money from those students goes into the general fund and helps pay for both the alternative program and the district's overall operations.
Students bring cash, concerns
The Detroit students have brought cash and, in some cases, concerns.
In the Clintondale district, residents' complaints about teens dropping trash prompted administrators to use a van to shuttle Detroit students from their bus stop on Gratiot to the alternative education building just 300 yards into the Clinton Township neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Oak Park is glad to have 1,400 Detroit students -- and the more than $10 million they bring. In the fall, as the 16-day DPS teachers strike simmered, Detroit students were invited to come to Oak Park.
Roughly 800 Detroit students did, joining the 600 from Detroit already attending the district in southern Oakland County. The infusion of students -- they represent a third of the entire enrollment -- and cash allowed the public school district to rebound from a two-year drop in enrollment.
"I'm telling you, it's a new day in Oak Park," said Allyson Abrams, president of the school board.
Mirel, the U-M professor, said DPS's chances of luring them back hinge upon the district returning to its past, back in the early 20th century when it was a model of quality. But that will require the district to improve if it intends to avoid a slow, painful vanishing act.
"The only way it will change is if DPS offers a better educational product," he said.
You can reach Mike Wilkinson at (313) 222-2563 or mwilkinson@detnews.com.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070115/SCHOOLS/701150362
http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20070115&Category=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=701150362&Ref=V2Q=100&MaxW=500
David Coates / The Detroit News
Students who leave Detroit schools for other districts -- such as Clintondale, shown here -- take along $7,500 in state cash.
51,000 opt out of Detroit schools
Nearly a third of students attend charter or suburban schools
January 15, 2007
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
Nearly a third of Detroit's students -- or about 51,000 -- are attending charter schools and suburban public districts, causing enrollment and budgets at other districts to surge while Detroit Public Schools shrinks.
About 5,000 Detroit residents left for other schools this fall alone, according to recently released enrollment records, a continuation of declines that have ravaged district funding but resulted in more options for students.
More than 25 districts in Metro Detroit had enrollment swings of more than 130 students last fall alone, according to a Detroit News analysis of enrollment changes between September 2005 and September 2006. That's either a $1 million drop or $1 million bump in state aid. It could mean hiring teachers -- or laying them off.
Nowhere was the drop as significant -- or critical -- as in Detroit, and it comes with ramifications for the far-flung suburbs as well as the state's largest district.
"At some point, the system just will not be viable," said Jeffrey Mirel, a professor of education and history at the University of Michigan who has studied the Detroit schools.
Once one of the largest districts in the country, Detroit is no longer among the 20 most populous. And with the flight of each child, the district watches another $7,500 walk away. All told, the state is spending nearly $380 million a year to educate Detroit children elsewhere.
The 5,000 additional students who went to charters and other public schools last fall represent only a fraction of the roughly 12,600 fewer students in the district, which has seen enrollment drop by more than 10,000 a year for several years.
The loss of students, blamed in part on fewer school-age children in the city, has forced the district to schedule the closure of 52 schools.
And the diaspora of Detroit schoolchildren is likely to widen. District projections suggest it may continue to lose 10,000 students a year, dimming prospects for a turnaround.
Parents are choosing charter schools in the city and far beyond, along with public districts in Warren, Clinton Township, Ecorse and Oak Park as they demand better opportunities for their children.
Leda Reed has three kids at Charlotte Forten Academy, a nontraditional school for at-risk youth on the west side. She said she's unlikely to switch to Detroit's public schools.
"Not if they don't do anything about running the schools," she said.
Those feelings were echoed as recently as Friday by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who told the Detroit Economic Club that he feared that a crisis of leadership in the schools threatened hopes for an economic rebound.
Declines likely to continue
Enrollment is likely to continue to fall for districts statewide, because graduating classes are larger than incoming kindergarten classes, said Mary Ann Cleary, associate director for the Michigan House Fiscal Agency. The agency predicted the state would have 7,000 fewer students last fall. The final number: 15,000 fewer. That will mean $65 million less for districts and charters than expected, she said.
Advocates of choice say the students are being served by the many options they have.
"Parents are expecting quality schools, and it's incumbent upon all of us to provide those schools," said Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies.
State money has followed the Fleming family of west Detroit to several schools. Victolyn and Berris Fleming have enrolled their children in charter and public schools, always with an eye on quality.
Their eldest daughter, Sherene, graduated from Detroit Renaissance and the University of Michigan; her younger brother, Berris Jr., is at Renaissance now. Their sister, Sheleeann, is at Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn.
"They push the student to do more," Victolyn Fleming, an operating room nurse. "I don't believe in being average."
The current market-driven environment suits Harun Rashid just fine. Principal at Frontier International Academy, a charter school in Hamtramck, Rashid added a ninth grade this year -- and filled it immediately. The school grew by 25 percent to 300 students last fall and cannot accommodate all who want to attend.
Combined with scholarship money available for private schools, the choices are numerous and welcomed.
"Everybody should be competing for quality, not numbers," Rashid said.
District aims to stop loss
School choice has been a fact in Michigan for more than a decade. Getting most of the attention are the dozens of charters in Metro Detroit that enroll more than 42,000 Detroit schoolchildren. A number of districts in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties also allow in students from other districts.
But although Detroit predicts continued losses, officials say they may be able to stanch the flow. "We're not going to sit on our hands," said Detroit schools spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo.
Instead, the district is mounting an aggressive campaign to show off what it believes are quality schools, including Renaissance and Cass Tech, and others, like Davis Aerospace Technical High School.
The district is making that pitch as it manages a massive restructuring. Meanwhile, the drop in enrollment will eat away at the district's financial resources.
"There's no question that it hurts. That's why we have to redouble our efforts to tell our story," Oguntoyinbo said.
In some districts like Ferndale and Clintondale, Detroit students predominantly attend alternative education centers, in buildings that are separate from the traditional schools. The money from those students goes into the general fund and helps pay for both the alternative program and the district's overall operations.
Students bring cash, concerns
The Detroit students have brought cash and, in some cases, concerns.
In the Clintondale district, residents' complaints about teens dropping trash prompted administrators to use a van to shuttle Detroit students from their bus stop on Gratiot to the alternative education building just 300 yards into the Clinton Township neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Oak Park is glad to have 1,400 Detroit students -- and the more than $10 million they bring. In the fall, as the 16-day DPS teachers strike simmered, Detroit students were invited to come to Oak Park.
Roughly 800 Detroit students did, joining the 600 from Detroit already attending the district in southern Oakland County. The infusion of students -- they represent a third of the entire enrollment -- and cash allowed the public school district to rebound from a two-year drop in enrollment.
"I'm telling you, it's a new day in Oak Park," said Allyson Abrams, president of the school board.
Mirel, the U-M professor, said DPS's chances of luring them back hinge upon the district returning to its past, back in the early 20th century when it was a model of quality. But that will require the district to improve if it intends to avoid a slow, painful vanishing act.
"The only way it will change is if DPS offers a better educational product," he said.
You can reach Mike Wilkinson at (313) 222-2563 or mwilkinson@detnews.com.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070115/SCHOOLS/701150362
