Chalkbeat

DPSCD board addresses funding gaps between sports teams

2026-08-28T16:33:43+00:00

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The Detroit school district spends more than $300,000 a year on high school athletics, but one school board member wants more investment in younger athletes and girls’ sports.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti gave an update on the athletics program for Detroit Public Schools Community District during a board committee meeting Wednesday. Out of the $4.82 million spent annually on sports, $340,441 is allocated to high school athletics and $112,000 goes to K-8 sports.

When the budget is broken down, $1.4 million is allocated for coaching pay, $1.1 million for contracted coaches that do not work for the district full-time and $691,295 for transportation. Other associated costs include paying DPSCD and non-DPSCD game-day staff and officials, and security and police support.

But there are gaps when it comes to funding and how much each sports team receives, especially between K-8 and high school sports, said board President LaTrice McClendon.

As a mother of a student athlete in the district, she’s noticed that some K-8 teams don’t have enough uniforms for everyone.

“There are several things missing,” she said. “There’s not enough shorts, not enough jerseys and a lack of a refresh happening at a lot of our schools. I really encourage you guys to do a survey and do an inventory, especially in basketball on the K-8 level, because these students are invested and they deserve to have good-looking uniforms.”

Some of the K-8 offerings include boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, track and field, and flag football. Meanwhile, the district high schools have sports like boys and girls golf, tennis and swimming, competitive cheer, and wrestling.

Beginning this school year, all teams district-wide will receive new uniforms every four years, instead of having to wait between four and six years, Vitti said. Additionally, after Labor Day, the district plans to distribute a survey in grades K-12 to determine what students’ interests are based on courses that are available, including enrichment programming. The survey will help identify gaps at individual schools, Vitti said.

McClendon also wants to see a budget increase for K-8 sports, which receive $200 per team. Meanwhile, high school varsity football is allotted $3,000 per team while junior varsity football receives $2,000 per team. All other varsity high school teams receive $1,000 each and junior varsity teams receive $535.

The allotments pay for things such as uniforms and required game attire, Vitti said.

“We at central office fund first aid supplies, training and practice equipment, team warm-ups and we repair or replace a damaged uniform,” he said.

McClendon called the budget for K-8 sports “terrible,” saying the district could do better.

“Two hundred dollars does not go a long way and a lot of the coaches have to come out of their pocket to pay for equipment for our children because we are not giving them more money,” she said. “Athletics can give our students college scholarships and give them a well-rounded experience as far as relationships and playing on a team.”

McClendon added that the district should level the playing field and have all of the high school varsity teams receive $3,000 for both boys’ and girls’ sports.

“Girls’ athletics is on the come-up, and so, we should be investing as much in female sports as we are investing in male sports,” she said.

Vitti said the budget for the football teams is significantly more because supplying the equipment is more expensive. He added that when teams need more equipment and supplies beyond the basics the district provides, coaches can talk to the school principal or the athletic director about the gaps that need to be filled.

“The district provides the standard items, not the extras,” Vitti said. “The extras come through the school budget or through fundraising.”

Board member Steven Bland asked if money from the DPSCD Foundation can be used to help cover the funding gaps. Vitti said the board sets the priorities for the foundation, so athletics could become one of those priorities. However, he isn’t sure if he wants the foundation to focus on athletics.

“My recommendation would be to focus on the larger costs that are more prohibitive — let the foundation focus on those,” Vitti said.

DPSCD board members seek easier access to games

In addition to gaps in funding, McClendon and board secretary Monique Bryant brought up the inconsistencies in ticketing for sports games. McClendon thought tickets for DPSCD students and the elderly were free, but mentioned she’s had to buy tickets for her children and grandparents.

According to the athletics page on the DPSCD website, tickets are $6 for high school varsity sports games, $4 for junior varsity games and $11 for varsity championships. Students 12 years old and younger accompanied by a paying adult are free. K-8 sports games and championships are $3, and children under 8 years old accompanied by paying adults are free. People can buy tickets online through the GoFan app.

Vitti said the policy was inconsistent in the past, but DPSCD students should be able to attend games for free at all schools this year.

“We should have a unified policy and an expectation for students and for our seniors,” Bryant said.

Vitti said that there will be two entrances at games — one for students and one for the general population. Students will have to show their ID or another form of verification to prove they’re part of the district. Students can also pull up PowerSchool on their phone to show they are enrolled, Vitti said.

“We probably need to get clarification on the ticketing process in a separate meeting,” McClendon said. “Maybe we can have some follow-up emails about that.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit school district to hold parents accountable for too many unexcused early sign-outs

2026-08-27T23:12:05+00:00

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This year, the Detroit district is sending a stronger message to parents that their children must remain in class the entire school day.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District wants to curb unexcused early sign-outs, defined by administrators as instances in which parents pick up their children before the school day ends without documentation showing it is necessary, such as a doctor’s appointment.

Starting this school year, parents who repeatedly unnecessarily take their kids out of school early will have to attend meetings and sign attendance contracts.

“Principals and teachers have repeatedly asked Central Office to establish clearer guidelines for stronger and more uniformed communication and accountability for this challenge, so they are not constantly at odds with parents regarding early pickups,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email.

Sign-outs disrupt learning for students who leave early and their peers, Vitti said. When a student is signed out early, teachers may be notified with phone calls to their classroom or announcements over school speaker systems. Sometimes administrators have to abandon other work to get students, and security officers must screen all adults who enter schools for pickups.

Some of the most common documented reasons for early sign-outs in the district are the same that cause chronic absenteeism: parents and students’ inflexible work schedules, inadequate childcare, poor health, a lack of access to reliable transportation, and unsafe routes to school.

“To be clear, parents should always work with the school about safety concerns so intervention can occur between students and families,” Vitti said.

But some parents don’t give an explanation, while others tell the staff they simply don’t like waiting in the pickup line, Vitti said.

DPSCD’s new policy

The district’s previous policy only discouraged early sign-outs.

Early pickups may now happen only on “rare occurrences” and require documentation, such as proof of an appointment, the newly adopted policy says. Early releases outside of documented emergencies are now prohibited within the final 30 minutes of the school day. A typical elementary and middle school day lasts around seven hours.

Students will also be marked absent from class if they miss more than half of the instructional period.

The policy mandates parent meetings when students have three or more unexcused early sign-outs in a quarter. During the meetings, administrators will discuss the impact of the early departures and what instruction the students have missed. School staff will determine the issues causing students to leave before the final bell and connect families with additional resources.

Parents will have to sign attendance contracts — formal agreements to follow attendance policies — if their children have six or more unexcused early departures in a quarter. Parents will be asked to agree that their child will check in and -out with an attendance agent or other staff member.

“If the family does not comply with the contract, and continues to miss periods of the school day, then those absences continue to add up and contribute to the overall chronic absenteeism numbers for the student,” Vitti said.

There already are consequences for students who miss too many days, such as making them return to their neighborhood schools, referring them to the Wayne County Prosecutor support program, or requiring them to repeat their current grade.

First day of school comes with excitement, bittersweet feelings

2026-08-24T22:01:46+00:00

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Jasmine Ng had mixed feelings about starting her junior year Monday morning at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. She was excited to arrive with all her siblings — her little sister, who’s at Stoney Creek, too, and her little brother, who’s starting at Hart Middle School, right across the street.

“Usually it’s just me and my sister. Today, it was, ‘Yay let’s go to school together for the first time since COVID,’” Ng said.

But amid the first day excitement, Ng was also thinking about the SAT season looming in the distance. She said she’s not looking forward to taking those tests her junior year, when many kids start the college application process.

Jasmine Ng, a junior at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, recites the Pledge of Allegiance on her first day of school on Aug. 24, 2026.

Miles away in Detroit, as students at East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney returned to school Monday morning, staff made sure the teens were amped up and ready to take on the day. A DJ played Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It,” as school leaders and community members clapped and cheered on students as they entered the building for the annual “clap-in.”

“Good morning!” the crowd exclaimed as a girl with long braids waved shyly as she passed by. “Happy first day!”

Monday marked the first day of school in some suburban school districts and the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Students returned with excitement and jitters as they entered freshly cleaned schools, greeted their new teachers, and reconnected with their friends. Across metro Detroit, the 2026-27 school year will have a lot in store for students, teachers, and school leaders. Three months from now, voters will elect a new governor who will have the power to push for dramatic changes to address poor test scores.

Students will have to become accustomed to new state rules that restrict the use of wireless devices such as cell phones during instruction, and gym classes that will now have to include a fitness test. On the plus side, the state once again will provide free school meals to public school students, regardless of income. And high school juniors, some of whom are preparing for college admissions essays, will have one fewer to write with the elimination of the SAT essay exam they usually would take in the spring as part of the Michigan Merit Exam.

In Detroit, city and school leaders are expanding efforts to curb chronic absenteeism. The city will continue to provide free bus service to all Detroit students through the Detroit Department of Transportation and is launching a new program offering rideshare service to students at four high schools. DPSCD is expanding its program that pays high school students for perfect attendance, adding middle school students this school year. And the district is expanding a program that provides yellow school bus service at high schools with particularly high rates of chronic absenteeism.

Here’s what the first day looked like in multiple schools:

State’s new policy forces teens to ‘disconnect from our cell phones’

At East English Village, senior Ortez Matthews said he’s ready to begin his final year. He’s taking two advanced placement classes, an honors class, and some career and technical education courses on top of extracurriculars like student council, coaching baseball and serving on Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield’s youth cabinet.

Students file in to East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney on Aug. 24, 2026, the first day of school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

He said he doesn’t mind putting his cell phone away for most of the day to comply with the state’s new student policy restricting the use of wireless devices during instruction.

“I do think that our generation, Gen Z, do need to disconnect from our cell phones for some time because when we were growing up, we always had them. School is somewhere to start because at home, we can do whatever we want.”

The clap-in that greeted students was organized by school staff and the DPSCD Foundation. Kerrie Mitchell Campbell-Mabins, president and CEO of the foundation, said she wanted to make sure students felt loved and supported.

“This is a representation of what they can expect all year, that the community is going to be out to support them and to make sure that they have everything that they need,” Campbell-Mabins said.

Vitti emphasizes good attendance in school visits

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti visited several schools across the district Monday. He fielded questions from students that touched on a variety of topics, including when they would get paid for perfect attendance, why they have to wear uniforms, and whether he likes Jordan basketball shoes.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District talks to students at the School at Marygrove on the first day back to school on Aug. 24, 2026 in Detroit.

Sixth graders at Carstens Elementary-Middle School on the city’s east side shared highlights of their summer breaks: a trip to Cedar Point, dinner at Red Lobster, and lots of swimming.

In a seventh grade classroom at Nolan Elementary-Middle School on the north side of Detroit, some students expressed their dislike of the new cell phone policy requiring them to put their devices away until the end of the day.

“I bet if I come back around December and I ask you to compare this year versus last year, you’ll say you’re more focused on what happens in the classroom because you don’t have your phone,” Vitti said to the kids.

At Southwest Detroit’s Bennett Elementary School, Vitti reminded a class of third graders about the importance of coming to school every day.

Principal Melissa Villarreal helped translate the message into Spanish.

“What do I tell you every Monday?” Villarreal said. “We have to be here because when we’re not, it gets really hard to reach your goals, right?”

A cold start to the first day of school

At Stoney Creek High in Rochester Hills, school buses rounded the traffic circle, dropping kids off in the 50-something degree weather that Principal Brian Shelson said was the coldest first day in the school’s history.

Many older students with driver’s licenses opted to drive to school. Addison Fogler, a senior from Rochester who spent the summer up north with her family, got together with friends last night to decorate their cars in a school-wide senior tradition.

“We wrote like Seniors 2027, lots of dots and hearts,” she said.

Monday morning she picked up some of her best friends and they listened to songs mixing nostalgia with excitement, to match the feeling of finally arriving for the final year of high school.

“‘Ribs’ by Lorde, ‘Where’d Time Go?’ All the classics,” she said.

Mobolaji Akinbiyi, a junior at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, talks about his first day back to school on Aug. 24, 2026.

Mobolaji Akimbiyi, a Stoney Creek junior, is planning to take the SAT in two weeks. He used the summer to study, in addition to resting, doing AP language homework, and watching the World Cup with his dad. He’s most excited for AP Physics.

Like Ng, Akimbiyi has mixed feelings about the first day — a combination of excitement, apprehension, and a bit of relief to be back in routine after a languid few months.

“Summer kind of dragged on,” he said.

A final first day at a Detroit school set to close

A slow trickle of a couple dozen students with shiny see-through plastic backpacks gathered in front of the door at Detroit’s Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School on the city’s north end. They waited patiently as teachers decked out in blue greeted them.

Though the group assembled for the clap-in was small, spirits were high as upbeat music and staff cheers welcomed the children inside.

“Welcome back, welcome back,” staff cheered as they danced with excitement.

The school, which had around 170 students in 2025-26, is set to close at the end of June due to low enrollment and high costs. Its closure follows that of four other DPSCD schools last year.

Evan Pringle, who will start ninth grade at Oak Park High School Tuesday, met up with his brothers outside of Marshall around 8:30 a.m. He attended Marshall from preschool through eighth grade.

“I’m sad,” he said of the school’s impending closure. “But, I already knew it was gonna happen because they’ve been saying that since I was in like fifth grade.”

Chalkbeat Detroit Bureau Chief Lori Higgins contributed to this report.

Beki San Martin is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at RSanMartin@freepress.com.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Parent engagement and more resources to get kids to school: What to expect this school year in Detroit

2026-08-14T22:45:42+00:00

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The coming school year will be an important one for addressing the transportation challenges that make it difficult for so many Detroit students to get to school.

City officials on Friday announced a new ride share service pilot and a new initiative to help students feel safe on routes to school.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is expanding yellow school bus service to students at two more high schools with high rates of chronic absenteeism.

Together, these efforts reflect city and school officials’ focus on targeting the systemic issues students in the city face that contribute to lower academic performance and poor attendance in both district and charter schools. Parents, in particular, may be closely watching whether investments are paying off for their children. In recent weeks, DPSCD has faced increased criticism and questions about everything from test scores to how the district is spending its money.

Among the parents is Tanecia Wilson, whose child attends the Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School. She wants the district to share more details about its budget.

“We’re just looking for transparency,” she said during the Aug. 11 DPSCD board meeting.

The 2026-27 school year begins Aug. 24 in DPSCD and many of the city’s charter schools.

Below is more information on transportation efforts and other things to expect this school year.

The city will invest more in student transportation

Starting this school year, Detroit Department of Transportation employees will help students taking city buses get to school safely.

Chanel Hampton, senior director of Youth and Education for Mayor Mary Sheffield’s office, said after a Friday press conference announcing the program that safety concerns from parents and students prompted the initiative.

The city began providing free bus service to all Detroit students in April. Sheffield announced the free service will continue with a $1 million state grant.

“We will have about 50 to 100 individuals who are city employees every single day who will now be extra vigilant and looking out to ensure the safety of young people during those to and from school commute times,” Hampton said.

Current DDOT employees will get additional training to monitor student safety, according to the city. They will be placed at bus stops, transit centers, and will be on buses with high student ridership. In some cases, Hampton said the safety “ambassadors” will walk students from bus stops to their schools.

The city will also run a $500,000 ride share pilot for around 150 students from Pershing, Denby, and Osborn high schools, as well as East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, from Aug. 24 through mid-October.

Hampton said the city chose neighborhood high schools with higher rates of chronic absenteeism. The short pilot window is due to funding constraints, Hampton said.

“The hope is that we learn, we see what works, and we can absolutely then bring in more funds to scale this to be a … school year-round effort, but we need to see what works.,” said Hampton.

DPSCD’s board membership will change

The district’s board may see a lot of changes this year, as five of seven seats will be up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election.

There are 34 people running. Only two – Steve Bland, Jr. and Bessie Lee Harris – are incumbents. Both Bland and Harris have been on the board for less than a year. They were appointed to fill open seats last year.

The board’s leaders, Chair LaTrice McClendon and vice chair Corletta Vaughn, will not seek reelection.

After the recent death of member Iris Taylor, the board must also appoint a new member ahead of the election.

The board has the power to hire and fire the district’s superintendent and makes decisions that shape district policy, curriculum, and funding.

DPSCD will add more initiatives to boost attendance

Though the district has made a lot of progress in reducing chronic absenteeism in recent years, the rate of DPSCD students missing 10% or more of the school year (or about 18 days in a 180-day school year) was 60.9% in 2024-25.

The district will roll out a few more strategies to help get kids to school this year.

DPSCD will expand a pilot program that transported some general education high school students on yellow buses to Henry Ford High School and East English Village last year. Pershing and Cody high schools will join the program this school year.

The perfect attendance incentive, which the district says helped reduce high school absenteeism, will return and expand to include middle schoolers this year. They will be paid $50 each a week for perfect attendance during winter and early spring.

More focus on career pathways for high schoolers

DPSCD will roll out its high school redesign this fall. Ninth graders at the district’s 11 neighborhood high schools will explore career pathways during a seminar class, which will help them choose the dual enrollment, career and technical education, or advanced placement courses they want to take through graduation..

There will be smaller class sizes and more wraparound supports, including additional tutoring opportunities during the school day for ninth graders who are behind in literacy, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the August board meeting.

“The goal is to reduce the number of credits that they’re behind, so by 11th and 12th grade they can take more career and college courses,” Vitti said.

The district is hiring seven more high school counselors this year, making the ratio one counselor for every 250 students.

Fewer costs, more communication for parents, DPSCD says

This year, parents should not be asked to provide classroom supplies and materials, according to the district, because DPSCD increased funding for supplies by $4.5 million, Vitti said at the Friday press conference.

After receiving complaints on a range of issues this summer, Vitti promised at a community meeting the district would improve parent engagement and communication.

McClendon, the board chair, said during the August board meeting that she asked for principals of district schools to hold regular town halls to answer parent questions.

In addition to those meetings, DPSCD is planning two town halls focused on special education in the district. The dates of the meetings have not been posted.

Another school will close

Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School on Detroit’s west side is slated to close after this school year as part of an accelerated phase-out plan. Four other DPSCD elementary-middle schools closed in June.

Barack Obama Leadership Academy will not reopen for the 2026-27 school year. The fate of one of Michigan’s oldest charter schools was announced on its website this summer.

Another well-established Detroit charter, Old Redford Academy, closed at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board to fill vacant seat of late member Iris Taylor ahead of November election

2026-08-12T16:38:31+00:00

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The Detroit school board will begin interviewing applicants as early as next week to fill a seat left open after the recent death of member Iris Taylor.

Though the seat will be up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election, the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board is required by state law to make an appointment within 30 days. If the deadline is not met, the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency’s board will be required to fill the seat.

The DPSCD board voted Tuesday night to interview two candidates for the seat – the person they select will serve through the end of 2026. To streamline the process, the board chose to interview the runner up from the 2024 election, Sherisse Butler, as well as the next highest scoring applicant from the process to make two appointments in 2025. That person’s name has not been made public, and the board didn’t mention Butler’s name during the meeting.

The board will score the two on written responses and interviews. A third-party law firm will tally the scores and then the board will vote on the appointment of the person with the highest score.

LaTrice McClendon, chair of the board, said at Tuesday’s meeting neither of the applicants are running in the November election.

Board members Steve Bland Jr. and Bessie Harris were chosen by the board to fill last year’s open seats. They are both running in November.

McClendon suggested the interviews to fill the current opening because Bland and Harris were not on the board to participate during the previous process.

Although the board did not name Butler as one of the potential applicants Tuesday, she was the fourth highest vote-getter in the 2024 election, after board members Monique Bryant and Ida Simmons Short, as well as former board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

Butler was senior vice president and executive director of City Year Detroit, a nonprofit that DPSCD contracts with to provide tutoring and mentoring to students. She said in an email Thursday that she left the position earlier this month.

Butler didn’t respond to questions about whether she would interview for the board seat.

Butler also applied to fill a vacant seat on the board last year but withdrew her application before the selection process was complete.

The dates of the upcoming interviews have not yet been publicly posted.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Aug. 13, 2026: This story was updated to say Butler recently left her position at City Year.

Need free school supplies? Here’s how Detroit parents can get back-to-school gear for their kids.

2026-08-07T16:30:14+00:00

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One thing we know about Detroit: During back-to-school season, people go all out to make sure the city’s youth can return to the classroom with the supplies they need and, in some cases, a fresh hairstyle and cut.

Organizations across the city are offering free backpacks and school supplies at events throughout August. Below, we’ve compiled a list of as many as we could find to make the school shopping experience easier for families.

Nearly all of these events offer free school supplies. Many also offer other free resources such as haircuts, hairstyling, wellness checkups, dental cleanings, eye screenings, and uniforms. And don’t forget the fun activities, from bounce houses and crafts to face painting and books. Most events also provide free food.

If you plan to go, here are a few things parents should remember:

Go early. Some of these events have a limited number of backpacks and supplies, so if you go later in the day, you may miss out.
Click the links to see whether registration is required. You don’t want to get to an event and find out you need to sign up in advance.
Some events require your children to be present. So make sure you bring the kiddos; there are plenty of fun activities at these events.
Events are in Detroit unless otherwise noted.

These events rely on donations of money and school supplies from the public to serve more students. If you click the links for each listing, you may find contact information showing how you can still donate.

Monday, Aug. 24, is the first day of school for the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Michigan’s first official day of school is Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Below are some upcoming events. Know of others that aren’t on our list? Email us at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Sunday, Aug. 2

LAMA Detroit Backpack Giveaway

Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Clark Park, 4301 W. Vernor Highway, at Clark and Vernor

Wednesday, Aug. 5

Back-to-School Rally

Time: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Where: Racquet Up Detroit, 6530 Outer Drive West

What: The event includes free school supplies, including backpacks, as well as family activities, a bounce house, raffles, and free Kona Ice. Organized by Racquet Up Detroit.

Tuesday, Aug. 11

Back-to-School Supplies Giveaway

Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: 4733 Conner St.

What: The event includes free backpacks, school supplies, and healthy snacks, as well as resources for families. Organized by Wayne County MDHHS.

Friday, Aug. 14

Back-to-School Market

Time: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: 22735 Fenkell St.

What: There will be bike giveaways for youth who live in the Brightmoor neighborhood, as well as free wellness checkups provided by Michigan State University nursing students. Local artisan and cottage food vendors will be on hand, along with community resource organizations. Organized by the Brightmoor Artisans Collective.

Back-to-School Bash

Time: Noon to 4 p.m.

Where: Kemeny Recreation Center, 2260 S. Fort St.

What: The event will feature free backpacks and school supplies. Children must be present to receive them. There will also be bounce houses, music, lunch, and crafts.

Saturday, Aug. 15

Peace Over Pistols Back2School Event

Time: Noon to 4 p.m.

Where: 10700 W. Seven Mile Road

What: The event includes free backpacks and food. Organized by Chanira Roundtree and Busy Bee Here to Help.

Reading in Ramsay Park + Back-to-School Supplies and Backpack Giveaway

Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Ramsay Park, 14800 Longacre St., between Grand River Avenue and Ray Monnier Street

What: The event features free books, backpacks, and school supplies. Organized by the Grandmont Community Association Youth and Education Committee.

Tuesday, Aug. 18

Back-to-School Drop-In Party at the Library

Time: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Where: Detroit Public Library Chase Branch, 17731 W. Seven Mile Road

What: Free school supplies and backpacks will be available, in addition to video game competitions, crafts, games, and snacks.

Thursday, Aug. 20

Back-to-School Resource Party

Time: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Joseph Walker Williams Recreation Center, 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd.

What: The event includes free backpacks and school supplies, bounce houses, video gaming trucks, hygiene kits, face painting, community resources, diapers, and food. There will also be free haircuts and hairstyling, but advanced registration is required.

Saturday, Aug. 22

Impact Detroit Youth Community Hub’s Back-to-School Event

Time: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: SAY Detroit Play Center, 19320 Van Dyke Ave.

What: The event features free backpacks and school supplies, food and refreshments, a petting zoo, bounce houses, fun activities for youth, and community resources. Organized by Impact Detroit Youth Community Hub.

Backpack Giveaway at the Co-op

Time: Noon to 6 p.m.

Where: Detroit People’s Food Co-op, 8324 Woodward Ave.

What: The event will feature free school supplies, including backpacks, folders, notebooks, pencils, and loose-leaf paper, as well as free school uniforms and wellness and hygiene products. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op, the organizer, is still seeking donations so it can serve 150 students.

Back-to-School Bash

Time: Noon to 4 p.m.

Where: Made with Love Donuts, 9837 Reeck Rd, Allen Park

What: The event features free backpacks and school supplies, health screenings and physicals by Monarch Urgent Care, face painting, balloons, and donut decorating. Children must be present. Organized by Made With Love Donuts.

Sunday, Aug. 23

Back-to-School Community Resource Fair

Time: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Ave.

What: The event features free backpacks and school supplies, a children’s clothing swap, free books, a hands-on craft table, community resources, and local organizations that support youth and families. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit with partners Birdie’s Bookmobile, Brilliant Detroit, MFWAR House, and MSUFCU.

Tuesday, Aug. 25

Back-to-School Supplies Giveaway

Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Hamtramck Woody Plaza, 12140 Joseph Campau St., Hamtramck

What: The event includes free backpacks, school supplies, and healthy snacks, as well as resources for families. Organized by Wayne County MDHHS.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district addresses school cleanliness, special education, and more in community meeting

2026-08-06T23:03:08+00:00

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The superintendent of Detroit’s school district is vowing to improve public meeting notifications, be more engaged with parents, and host a forum to address special education concerns after being peppered with questions at a pair of virtual and in-person engagement meetings.

Dozens of parents and community members attended meetings on Monday and Wednesday, voicing concerns about a range of issues, from the cleanliness of schools and the district’s lack of communication and transparency to difficulty receiving special education services for their children.

While DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti did answer questions from the audience during Wednesday’s meeting, he and Deputy Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson mainly focused on discussing the district’s procurement and contracting process and breaking down contracts with three custodial companies.

The format was similar to the district’s first meeting with community members on Monday. More than 700 people joined that virtual meeting, with more than 100 questions and comments logged.

Machion Jackson, the deputy superintendent of operations for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, speaks during a community meeting Aug. 7 at Renaissance High School in Detroit.

DPSCD officials decided to hold the community conversations after content creator Brandi McGill posted a series of viral videos last month calling out the district. Known as “Brandi Thee Millennial Manager” on social media, McGill has racked up thousands of views for her videos on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok criticizing DPSCD for poor cleanliness in its buildings and for contracting work to out-of-state companies. But parents who attended Wednesday’s meeting largely used the opportunity to ask district leaders about other issues.

In multiple videos, McGill alluded to the possibility of unethical practices in the district’s contracting, though she did not make specific allegations or offer evidence of malfeasance or impropriety.

At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Vitti said he welcomes the community criticism of DPSCD, noting the district has many areas it needs to improve upon. The superintendent promised he will be more engaged and that the district will do better with communication and follow-ups with parents and community members.

“Believe it or not, I do try to listen always,” he said. “Even in the sharpest criticism, there’s a truth in reflecting, owning the wrong, and trying to improve systems and processes. Keep engaging, keep holding me and the district accountable.”

Here are some other questions BridgeDetroit heard audience members ask Vitti throughout the meeting:

These responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: What are you doing for the special needs community? How are you helping the parents?

Vitti: When I walked into this district … we had over 200 special needs teacher vacancies. You can’t serve children without certified teachers. The first step was trying to staff ESE (Exceptional Student Education) teachers. We changed the name from special ed (to ESE) because it’s a negative connotation that I think goes with that. That was step one — try to get the department fully staffed. Then, try to train everyone to be more compliant with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) and implement those IEPs.

ESE is one of the areas where we still have a lot to improve. What do we have to do better? We have to process initial evaluations on time, implement IEPs, provide services like OT (occupational therapy), PT (physical therapy), and speech. Accountability in schools, where principals, lead teachers, and teachers are held more accountable in implementing the IEP.

We made changes at the central office for leadership. We have a new team that started this summer, so there’s fresh ideas, fresh ownership of the problems, and understanding that what we’re doing has to change and improve. Those are all examples of how that can trickle down to making improvements across the district. I’m committing to a separate community meeting on special needs, so all parents can understand where we’ve been, what our challenges are, and what our plans are.

Q: Why can’t parents receive notifications and robocalls about district meetings more in advance instead of the day before or the day of?

Vitti: We put all the school board meetings and the committee meetings on our website. We do the robotexts the day of because it gets people’s attention. We get a lot of criticism that we’re sending out too many robocalls and too many texts. To your point, we’ll do it in advance and try to tell everyone when the next meeting is, not the day before or the day out. Point taken. We can develop a separate calendar just for school board meetings, and that can be easier for parents to see.

Q: What are the district’s goals for its students?

Vitti: Our goal is that all students are showing at least one year of growth in their academic level. One year of growth in reading and math is what the minimal expectation is. The more aggressive and visionary goal is that all students are at grade level. More importantly, all students graduate in four years. The larger goal is that we’re graduating children who can get into college and not take remedial classes, and/or get a job with a livable wage. That our children go into society and they’re active citizens; that they’re confident, they’re comfortable talking in front of people, and they feel empowered to engage in our society at a high level.

Q: Who is being held accountable for issues in DPSCD?

Vitti: We’re all accountable. Yes, I’m the leader of the day-to-day operations of the district. It’s easy to put it on me, and I own the responsibility. I don’t run away from it. But a superintendent alone cannot be solely responsible. Everyone has to be responsible, and that’s got to trickle down to the entire organization, from the principal to the teacher, to the parents. It has to be a collective ownership. But I can stand here and say I’m accountable because every day I’m trying to make this district better — changing things, removing personnel, adding personnel. So it’s easy for me to say I’m accountable, but it would be naive to say or to even accept it’s only about the superintendent.

Q: Vetal Elementary School was one of the highlighted schools that was supposed to be reactivated in the facility master plan. It was supposed to start back in the winter, and it’s almost September. Are there any updates being done with that site, and how will communication be better in the future so people won’t continue to complain about things like that?

Jackson: Obviously, it takes far longer to build new schools than it takes to reactivate schools, and so we had to move forward with those schools first. Vetal is in our Series Five of the facility master plan. We moved it back slightly (the project is estimated to be completed in the fall of 2028) because we needed to make sure that we opened the (new) schools on time. The design and development work has not yet commenced because we’re going through the procurement process with the architect and engineering firm. However, we do have an owner’s representative that has been procured, and that is working with us on the planning of that site.

Vitti: The plans are on the (DPSCD) website. But there might be an opportunity to do another round of neighborhood (engagement) about the status of the Series Five and Series Six projects.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit voters OK crucial tax levy that supports the city school district

2026-08-05T14:17:41+00:00

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A measure that will allow the Detroit school district to collect the revenue it needs to operate had an easy victory, with voters overwhelmingly saying yes.

About $120 million in operating funds – which may be used for items such as classroom programming, supplies, and staff salaries – was at stake.

Of the 97,205 people who voted, 81% of them OK’d the proposal, according to updated results Wayne County posted Wednesday morning.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat Wednesday that the passage of the millage is a “major accomplishment” for the district.

“It has been difficult to explain three millage proposals over six years due to state decisions and the complexities of managing and transitioning from DPS to DPSCD,” Vitti said. “The vote’s overwhelming support inspires all of us to continue the hard but rewarding work of constantly improving the district for the children we all deeply believe in.”

LaTrice McClendon, chair of the district’s board, said voters’ support was an investment in students’ futures.

“As a parent, I want the same things every family wants — that our children learn in safe schools, are inspired by great teachers, have opportunities in the arts, athletics, technology, and career programs, and graduate prepared to pursue whatever dreams they choose,” McClendon told Chalkbeat.

City residents have approved previous operating millages — which is what this tax is — for Detroit Public Schools, the entity that used to run schools but exists now solely to collect tax revenue to pay off old debt. A court decision earlier this year said DPS must cease collecting an operating millage, because the debt will be fully paid off in September. That meant the Detroit Public Schools Community District needed to ask voters to approve its own millage.

DPSCD was created in 2016 as part of a legislative initiative to address mounting debt in DPS. The new district had a debt-free start to handle day-to-day school administration, with the state covering its operating costs, while DPS stayed intact to pay off operating and capital debt.

The $120 million the millage will collect is a fraction of the district’s overall $1.1 billion budget. But, the revenue is critical to the school system. Vitti said during a community engagement meeting Monday that the estimated revenue generated by the tax levy would constitute $2,400 of the $10,300 per-pupil the district receives from the state.

Among those casting a yes vote for the millage Tuesday morning was Shawn Womack, 54, a semitruck driver.

“I just think that every one of the schools needs help,” Womack said.

Christine Crawford, a clinical social worker, voted yes for similar reasons.

“If we don’t have our schools running right and the kids getting what they need as far as extra support, we’re just going to be digging our hole deeper,” Crawford said. “We can’t do it just by having billionaires handing out things.”

Some people voted based on misconceptions. A couple of voters said they voted no because they believed the operating millage would increase their taxes. It won’t. Another said they thought the district’s request for the proposal is an indication of misspending. It isn’t. Another voter said he voted no because he didn’t understand the millage.

Brian Jourdan, 68, a retired auto mechanic, voted against the millage.

“I’m a victim of Detroit Public Schools, and I didn’t get a very good education,” he said. “For my 12th grade, my family moved to the Arlington County, Virginia, school district. I wasn’t prepared. I really had to work to get my high school diploma.”

The district needed to pass an operating millage by July 2027. If Tuesday’s proposal failed the district likely would have come back to voters in November.

While anyone who is registered to vote could have voted on the tax, it only applies to commercial property, rental property, and vacation property. It won’t affect primary homeowners.

BridgeDetroit’s Bryce Huffman and Micah Walker contributed to this report.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district responds to influx of questions after critical posts from content creator

2026-08-04T10:00:01+00:00

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The Detroit district held a virtual town hall Monday to respond to an influx of questions from the public after a content creator posted a series of viral videos calling out the school system.

The videos, which reach Brandi McGill’s hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, criticized the Detroit Public Schools Community District for poor cleanliness in its buildings as well as contracting work from outside companies.

More than 700 people joined the hour-and-a-half-long session, a district official said, with more than 100 questions and comments logged.

Many of the comments called for better oversight of school maintenance and janitorial services and for the district to make contract information more accessible to the public. Some anonymous users complained about mice in buildings and shortages of janitorial supplies. Others expressed frustration about difficulty getting in touch with school and administrative staff.

“All teachers, parents and staff should be given the budget for the current school year and the budget from the previous school year,” an attendee wrote. “If this district wants us to trust them then we need to know where the money is going.”

DPSCD gives budget presentations each year, but it requires a public information request to provide full line-item lists of expenditures and revenue.

Other anonymous comments defended the district. One chided the content creator for “misinforming the public and inciting uproar.”

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the meeting the district has made a lot of progress, but acknowledged that there is “a lot of improvement that needs to happen.”

In her first video about DPSCD, McGill, known as Brandi Thee Millennial Manager on multiple social media platforms, called out the district after she tried to enroll her son at Denby High School. She raised concerns about the administrative staff’s poor communication with her, the building’s condition, and the programming the school offered.

In a statement last week, Vitti acknowledged that there were “viral posts made about the district” and said DPSCD “does intend to respond legally to defend itself” against “baseless information.”

The statement did not name McGill or her social media posts. Vitti also did not mention her by name at Monday’s meeting.

The superintendent described the district’s procedures for accepting proposals from contractors, including its policy prohibiting conflicts of interest for the school board and staff.

At a board committee meeting last week, Vitti said the district would prefer not to use contracted services if possible.

The district has made progress in replacing contractors with full-time employees since emergency management ended about a decade ago, said Vitti. During the period of emergency management — when a series of state-appointed emergency managers controlled the district from 2009 to 2016 — Vitti said the former Detroit Public School contracted out many more school operations, such as extracurricular and after-school instruction.

In some areas, such as janitorial work, DPSCD has had difficulty filling vacancies in recent years, he added.

Deputy Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson said in 2018 the district tried to hire its own janitors to service 10 schools. However, DPSCD could only find enough staff for five schools.

McGill told Chalkbeat she doesn’t believe the district contracting services is inherently negative. She understands that it may have been necessary to contract in the past, but wants the district to try hiring its own janitors again. Doing so could produce higher quality work and better wages for custodians, she added.

At several meetings earlier this year, the board discussed improving cleanliness in schools. LaTrice McClendon, chair of the board, said at last week’s meeting discussions around hiring more in-house custodial staff began around that time.

“I wasn’t aware they were doing that before the meeting last Wednesday,” said McGill. “I already made my videos. I’m glad the board saw there is an issue and the need to address it.”

DPSCD will hold an in-person meeting to cover the same topics from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Renaissance High School.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Iris Taylor, leader in Detroit healthcare and DPSCD board member, dies at 74

2026-07-31T01:14:15+00:00

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Iris Taylor, a champion for quality education and healthcare in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, died Thursday at 74.

Taylor’s death comes a week after she filed to run for reelection on the school board.

Taylor wanted to run one last time to continue the work she’s done over the years and to bring stability to the board, friend and former board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo told BridgeDetroit.

Taylor was treasurer for the DPSCD board, the former nursing director for the City of Detroit, and a longtime nurse and health care administrator for the Detroit Medical Center.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and board President LaTrice McClendon said Taylor was a driving force in the district’s progress.

“Her guidance shaped decisions that will benefit generations of Detroit students, and her presence at the board table will be greatly missed,” the joint statement said.

McClendon said all members are deeply saddened by the loss.

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield also released a statement, saying the city “lost one of its most dedicated and impactful servant leaders.”

“A Detroiter through-and-through her entire life, Dr. Taylor’s 45-year career in the health field undoubtedly helped to improve and to save countless Detroiters’ lives,” she said. “Her impact as a member and past president of the Detroit Public Schools Community District board also cannot be understated. She was a true leader and a steady hand that helped make the great progress being made by the district and by its students possible.”

Former Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement that Detroit has “suffered a great loss.”

“She has been my close friend for more than 20 years,” said Duggan, the former president and CEO of DMC. “She made an enormous impact in helping save the Detroit Medical Center, rebuilding the Detroit Public Schools after their return to an elected School Board, and improving the lives of Detroiters in her leadership in the Detroit Health Department.”

Taylor took the reins of the first elected DPSCD board in 2017 as president.

When Taylor was sworn in, she said it was the new board’s job to prove it was trustworthy and transparent.

DPSCD school board member Iris Taylor, shown here during the June 2019 graduation at Cody High School, passed away a week after she filed to run for reelection.

Taylor lost reelection in 2020 but won again in 2022. She also served as board chair of the DPSCD Foundation beginning in 2024 and was integral in the return of Davis Aerospace Technical High School to Detroit City Airport.

“Throughout her remarkable career, she brought together leaders across healthcare, education, philanthropy, government, and business because she believed lasting change happens when communities unite around a shared purpose,” the DPSCD Foundation said in an Instagram post honoring Taylor.

Gay-Dagnogo, who served on the school board with Taylor until Gay-Dagnogo became the city’s ombudsman last year, was shocked to hear of Taylor’s passing. She last saw her on July 7 at an event hosted by former board member Angelique Peterson Mayberry.

Taylor and Gay-Dagnogo both received distinguished alumni awards from Wayne State University in May.

“We talked about going out to brunch,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “She was getting ready to go out of town for a gospel music workshop. It’s a little melancholy thinking just how fleeting life can be.”

A leader in healthcare

A product of Detroit Public Schools, Taylor graduated from Central High School. Taylor later graduated from Wayne State, earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing in 1974 and 1978, according to the university. She received her doctorate in 1996.

Taylor began her career in 1975 as a head staff nurse at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center. She was eventually promoted into leadership roles, becoming DMC’s chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care in 1999. Taylor was appointed president of Harper Hospital and Hutzel Women’s Hospital before leading Detroit Receiving in 2004. In 2010, she became chief business officer for DMC, but would return as president of Detroit Receiving before her retirement from the medical center in 2015.

Ramona Benkert met Taylor in the late 1990s when she was a nurse practitioner at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Benkert, who’s now the dean of the Wayne State College of Nursing, said Taylor was a mentor and a “motivating leader.”

“She was the true embodiment of a servant leader,” she said. “It wasn’t about her. It was about improving systems of care, improving healthcare and improving public education in the city. It’s always been about service for Dr. Taylor. It’s hard to find that in a leader to be able to do all those things for the community as well as improve the lives of so many people.”

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duggan appointed Taylor as director of nursing for the Detroit Health Department. The position had been vacant since 2019. In her role, Taylor was responsible for being the city’s lead public health nurse, overseeing clinical operations and public outreach.

An advocate for health hubs

Taylor encouraged DPSCD to open Health Hubs across the district. The hubs have distributed food and resources to families thousands of times and helped reduce chronic absenteeism since opening in 2023, according to the district.

Gay-Dagnogo said the hubs project was Taylor’s “baby,” and that she wanted to ensure children in the district receive quality health care. Being prepared and having strategic plans for her goals were Taylor’s strengths on the school board, Gay-Dagnogo said.

“How are we going to get from A to B to C? That is something that is often missed in people that have a vision,” she said. “They don’t think through strategically, ‘What are the steps to get there?’”

Thirty-four people are running for five open seats on the board for the November election.

Taylor was one of three incumbents running to reclaim seats on the DPSCD board in the Nov. 3 election. Last week, two other current board leaders, McClendon, who chairs the board, and vice chair Corletta Vaughn, were disqualified from the ballot.

Gay-Dagnogo said she’s glad she got to be in the presence of Taylor’s genius and see her generosity as a servant of Detroit.

“I wish that her story of the accomplishments and the impact that she had at DMC and the cohort of nurses that she helped to mentor could have been heightened and shared while she was among us,” she said. “But I am glad that our alma mater honored us both this past May, and we got a chance to celebrate that together. She will sorely be missed.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Here are the 35 people running for the Detroit school board

2026-07-22T14:18:17+00:00

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Three incumbents, multiple former school board members, and several people who have run before are among a crowded field of 35 people running for five open seats on the Detroit school board.

It’s the largest number of candidates to run for the board since 2016, the year the Detroit Public Schools Community District was created and more than 60 people vied for seats on the new board.

Incumbent board members Steve Bland, Jr., Bessie Lee Harris, and Iris Taylor are running to reclaim their seats on the seven member board in the Nov. 3 election. Two other incumbents, board chair LaTrice McClendon and vice chair Corletta Vaughn, were disqualified from the ballot. McClendon had already decided not to run for reelection, while Vaughn chose not to run on Tuesday.

Two incumbents, Bland and Harris, were appointed to seats in 2025 to fill out the terms of board members who stepped down.

With five open seats and 35 candidates, the November election has the potential to change the direction of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, something Superintendent Nikolai Vitti acknowledged in a statement to Chalkbeat Wednesday.

“We all know that the November 2026 election would be a watershed for the District. We will either move forward with greater progress and momentum or backwards,” Vitti said.

“Our progress has been built by a strong majority-led School Board that believes and implements the difficult but proven standard that the School Board governs the District and holds a Superintendent accountable to manage and lead the District day to day,” Vitti said. “School Board challenges in DPS are well documented prior to the establishment of DPSCD. The District cannot afford to go backwards.”

There are a number of other familiar names on the ballot. Georgia Lemmons and LaMar Lemmons, who are married, previously served on the DPSCD board. LaMar Lemmons also served on the board for Detroit Public Schools. Other former board members include Tawanna Simpson.

Also on the ballot are candidates who have previously run unsuccessfully for the board, including Nicole Conaway, Tabrian Joe, and Aliya Moore.

Here’s a full list of candidates, provided by the Detroit clerk’s office:

Natalie La’Vonne Bien-Aime
Steve Bland, Jr.
Michelle Rene’ Broughton
Katrina Lanise Brown
Cidney Julia-Angela Calloway
Bobby Lee Christian
Nicole Marie Conaway
Vilma Valeria Escamilla-Durán
Daniel Franklin Ferguson, III
Duane Larry Grisby, Jr.
Bessie Lee Harris
David Dwayne Harris, II
Henrietta Ivey
Christopher Allen Hubbard
Ijazz Johnnay Jackson
Tabrian Chas Joe
Shinese DeCarol Johnson
Theodore Rhett Jones
Georgia Mae Lemmons
LaMar Demetri Lemmons
Clement Ogden Lett
Phillip E. Lloyd, II
Aliya Rebekah Moore
Darious Lamar Morris
Liana Stern Mulholland
Tyshea Elaine Pope
Danetta Lynese Simpson
Tawanna Simpson
Jameel Montgomery Smith
Calesther J. Smith-Arnold
Iris Alice Taylor
Shawn Vaughn
Terry Eugene Whitfield
Elizabeth Ann Williams
Theresa Arleen Williams

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

July 28, 2026: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Vilma Valeria Escamilla-Durán and Natalie La’Vonne Bien-Aime, whose names were misspelled in a list of candidates provided by the city.

Detroit school board’s chair and vice chair will not seek reelection in November

2026-07-22T01:01:48+00:00

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Two leaders of the Detroit school board will not be on the Nov. 3 ballot, creating the potential for a major shake-up in the governing body’s future direction.

LaTrice McClendon, who chairs the Detroit Public Schools Community District board, and Corletta Vaughn, the board’s vice chair, were both listed as disqualified on a list of candidates city officials provided Chalkbeat shortly after the filing deadline Tuesday.

Vaughn was disqualified because of late fees owed to Wayne County, city officials told Chalkbeat.

McClendon said she was disqualified because of a late fee her campaign team missed in December 2025. That late fee was paid last week. McClendon said she’d received notice that she could refile until 4 p.m. Tuesday.

But by then she had already changed her mind about running for reelection, opting instead to prioritize family.

“I’m going to miss it because I’ve worked hard,” she said of her time on the board since being elected in 2022. “But you have to know when to move on.”

Five of the seven board seats are up for grabs in the election. In addition to McClendon and Vaughn, the terms of Iris Taylor, Steve Bland Jr., and Bessie Harris will end this year.

Bland, Harris, and Taylor filed for candidacy, city records show.

Vaughn, first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022, told Chalkbeat Tuesday she made a last-minute decision that she wouldn’t run this time. A county filing from July 13 showed that Vaughn owed $950.

“I sometimes think maybe those things are signs to not keep going,” she said of the filing issue.

Political consultant Mario Morrow said paperwork issues and unpaid fees that invalidate candidacies are common in Michigan elections.

“Either you mess up or you have a campaign team or people who are running the organization of your campaign who dropped the ball,” he said. “That’s why you have to be on top of this stuff day and night. Signatures, financial reporting errors — anything can happen.”

Morrow said McClendon’s and Vaughn’s absence from the race could be problematic for Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s administrative agenda.

“You’re losing two allies,” Morrow said. “It’s going to be a major power shift which will change the direction of the Detroit Public Schools Community District over the next four years.”

Vitti did not respond to a request for comment.

The board has the power to hire and fire the district’s superintendent. It also makes decisions that shape district policy, curriculum, and funding.

McClendon, a parent of three children enrolled in DPSCD, said she is proud of holding the district accountable and pushing for transparency. She was elected board chair in January.

McClendon is director of the Knight Foundation’s Detroit program. She previously was a market executive for Huntington Bank.

Vaughn, a bishop and senior pastor of Holy Ghost Cathedral Church, said she is pleased with her work expanding faith-based partnerships in the district. She said she advocated to streamline services for children experiencing homelessness, as well as for the creation of the district’s Health Hubs.

Vaughn started her career as a nurse, wrote a book, and had a stint on reality TV.

This story has been corrected to make it clear that Board Chair LaTrice McClendon paid late election fees last week and could have filed to run to reclaim her seat, but decided against another reelection campaign.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Christine Ferretti is the managing editor for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at cferretti@bridgedetroit.com.

DPSCD board approves new teacher contract that includes pay raises, AI policy

2026-07-15T02:12:03+00:00

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The Detroit school board approved a new two-year contract for teachers Tuesday that increases their salaries, includes new language on AI use, and gives more money for teachers to participate in professional development.

More than 5,000 people belong to the Detroit Federation of Teachers, including teachers, paraprofessionals, academic interventionists, and psychologists, among other school staff. The new contract covers the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.

The board also approved a contract for the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees. The two-year contract includes a 3% pay raise for fiscal years 2027 and 2028, along with a $2,000 annual retention bonus and a $1,500 longevity bonus for those with experience of 10 years or more.

The board approval comes after DFT and the Detroit Public Schools Community District reached a tentative agreement on June 18. It was the earliest the two groups had approved an agreement since 1994, according to the document. DFT membership ratified the contract on June 25, with the previous union contract expiring June 30.

Many of the highlights in the tentative agreement remain in the final version, such as the annual 3.7% raise teachers and ancillary staff with a master’s degree receive. The top annual salary possible for teachers with a master’s degree would be $96,500 in 2026-27 and $100,100 in 2027-28. The maximum in the previous contract is $93,000 a year.

All union members would advance one step in the pay scale each year of the contract, except those in alternative certification programs. The starting annual salary would be $57,400 for those with bachelor’s degrees, compared to $55,000 in the previous contract.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the meeting the salaries for beginning teachers are the highest in the region.

“This is critical because we’re seeing our veteran teachers retire, and for us to be competitive for beginning teachers and early year teachers, this number is important,” he said.

Substitute teachers would get a 3% raise in 2026-27 and 2027-28, and subs who cover an absence on a Monday or Friday will receive additional compensation. This is due to the district having difficulty in retaining subs on those days, Vitti said.

General education prekindergarten through fifth grade homeroom teachers would not have more than six students diagnosed with autism or emotional impairment in their classrooms. Teachers would get stipends of up to $4,000 a year based on the number of students with the diagnoses in their classrooms.

One thing that will remain the same in the new contract is healthcare coverage for union members. The district will maintain or increase overall health care cost contribution up to the 80% threshold, with the intention to maintain current plan options and providers if competitive.

“As a district, we cannot serve our students at the highest level if we’re not fully staffed, and to be fully staffed, we have to have a combination of a retention strategy and a recruitment strategy,” Vitti said. “And as we continue to improve wages and salaries for our teachers and beyond, we continue to be fully staffed across the district in most areas. And this is also leading to student achievement and improvement in overall student attendance.”

What else is new in the contract?

The contract also includes new language on artificial intelligence, with DPSCD and DFT committed to ensuring that “AI technology is used safely, effectively and equitably in the classroom,” the document states. This means AI should not replace a teacher’s professional judgement but can be used for instructional support purposes, like lesson planning or drafting communications.

AI cannot be used for tasks such as student grading or assessment decisions, individualized education program determinations, or student discipline decisions.

In addition, the district must maintain and publish a list of all approved AI tools at the beginning of the school year and provide ongoing professional development on AI to union members. The training would include responsible and ethical use, data privacy protections, and identifying bias and inaccuracies.

The language for “teacher leader” is changing, with educators in that role now being referred to as “lead leacher,” so that all positions across core content areas share more consistent duties, according to the contract. Lead teacher roles will be available in literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies for grades K-12.

Responsibilities for a lead teacher include mentoring new or student teachers, facilitating professional development during staff meetings, and providing information to colleagues. They will receive an annual $3,000 stipend in addition to their regular salary.

As for professional development, DFT members will receive $35.25 per hour for participating in workshops, up from $23.82 in the previous contract. Meanwhile, the DFT consultant, director, and facilitator rate will be $65.56 an hour.

Other contract highlights include:

The voluntary transfer window for teachers shifts from March-May to April-June, with added protections for involuntarily transferred teachers and union building reps.
Teachers taking maternity or paternity leave can earn back sick days in the years following their leave if they remain employed with the district.
Personal religious observances are now an allowable use of personal business absences.

Michelle Awesome, a speech pathologist at the Jerry L. White Center, said she’s happy overall about the contract. She likes the new policy on maternity and paternity leave. In addition to sick days earned back, eligible employees are allowed up to 12 weeks of protected time off. Employees become eligible for leave after one year of service and 1,250 hours worked in the past 12 months, says the contract.

“I only took five weeks off after I had my son, so I’m happy the younger people get to have a little more time with their kids,” Awesome said.

However, she doesn’t agree with the new bonus system for speech and language pathologists when they exceed their maximum caseload. According to the agreement, caseloads should not exceed more than 60 students. When caseloads do go over, pathologists will receive supplemental pay. Pathologists can earn from $250 per quarter if they have between one and five students over their caseload, to up to $1,000 per quarter if they have 16 or more students exceeding their caseload.

“Basically, they’re offering us a bonus for more than what the state guidelines are,” Awesome said. “I’m not doing it. I’m not getting more than 60 because my kids need a lot more attention.”

The 2025 guidelines for the Michigan Speech Language Hearing Association states that the maximum caseload for pathologists is 60, but should be adjusted based on factors like the severity of the student’s disability and time for diagnostics, IEP meetings, and travel.

“I don’t think that what the contract has for SLPs (speech and language pathologists) is comparable to other ancillary professions in terms of workload expectation,” Awesome said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit students canvass to ask voters to support Proposal S

2026-07-14T10:00:00+00:00

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Shadiya Begum, 16, waited patiently on a Corktown porch in the blistering heat Wednesday afternoon.

She decided it was time to move on after a couple of minutes. She left a pamphlet that read, “Vote yes on Proposal S!” and a handwritten note before soldiering on to the next door.

Begum said she and her Cass Technical High School peers will be directly affected if Detroit voters reject Proposal S, a measure on the Aug. 4 primary ballot. The proposal would authorize an operating millage — a tax levy on businesses and rental property owners – for the Detroit Public Schools Community District. If the millage is not approved by July 1, 2027, administrators say there will be a deficit of $111 million the following school year.

“I think the most important thing is getting people aware because a lot of people may support the bill or whatever we’re doing, but they don’t know about it,” Begum said.

Around 80 volunteers with the local education equity nonprofit 482Forward have canvassed so far to garner voter support for the millage. With less than a month to go until the election, the group’s goal is to knock on 4,000 doors and make 150,000 phone calls.

Before heading out Wednesday, students, teachers, parents, and community members went over the basics of the millage at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation building on Trumbull Street. Juanita Zuniga, youth lead organizer for 482Forward, asked if they knew why they were canvassing.

“So we can get better funding for our schools,” one student answered.

Parent volunteer Amy Dent wanted clarification on a question many voters still have: “Are we asking the community for more money?”

No, said Lindsey Matson, deputy director of youth organizing for 482Forward. Voters are only being asked to allow a different entity to collect the 18-mill tax business owners are already paying, she explained.

Until now, Detroit Public Schools – a separate entity from DPSCD that exists only to collect tax revenue and pay off the district’s historic debt – has collected the operating millage. Now that the debt is set to be paid off in September, the state told DPSCD it must begin collecting its own operating millage.

The state has given DPSCD funding to fill the gap in operating revenue since the district was created in 2016. This year’s state budget eliminates those dollars.

Another key point to educate voters on, Matson said, is that every Michigan school district is required to levy 18 mills. Districts that fail to pass an operating millage would receive less funding from the state.

Matson said most of the people she’s met while canvassing haven’t asked detailed questions about why the millage is needed now or the history of the debt. Most voters the group encountered were supportive once told the funding goes to support schools.

DPSCD administrators expressed concerns this measure may be harder to explain, given the city last passed a millage in 2024. Earlier this year, the district hired a public affairs firm for $1.4 million to help educate voters about the 2026 proposal.

Still, there’s slightly more pushback and confusion than usual, Matson said.

“I think people are frustrated with the state of schools sometimes, and so they are like, ‘Oh, why do they need any more money?’” she said. “My answer is you can be frustrated, but I don’t think less money is going to help, you know.”

Ultimately, less funding would hurt students, Matson added.

As canvassers trickled back into the Trumbull Street building Wednesday afternoon, they exchanged anecdotes from the field. Many doors went unanswered. Most residents that did come to the door supported the proposal. Only one was somewhat argumentative.

Begum said she’ll be out canvassing again whenever she can. She hopes hearing directly from a student will resonate with voters, she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

What Detroiters should know about the proposed school operating millage on the Aug. 4 ballot

2026-07-13T10:00:00+00:00

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If you’re a Detroiter heading to the polls for the Aug. 4 primary, or someone voting early, you’re likely asking yourself one big question: Why are we voting on another school operating millage?

The answer is a bit complicated. Yes, in 2024, Detroiters easily approved an operating millage renewal — the technical term for a tax levy on some real estate — for Detroit Public Schools. That’s the entity that used to educate students in the city, but since 2016 has only existed to collect tax revenue and pay off old debt.

But a lot has changed in the last two years. The Detroit Public Schools Community District must now seek its own operating millage for two key reasons:

The DPS millage will be done paying off old operating debt in September and must cease collecting operating tax revenue.
The operating revenue the state has been providing to DPSCD since state lawmakers created the district in 2016 will be eliminated, per the budget lawmakers approved July 3.

That means DPSCD must collect its own operating revenue, through a millage every Michigan district is required to levy.

There’s a lot at stake if voters reject the millage — more than $100 million in annual operating revenue for Detroit’s schools.

Below, we answer some important questions about the millage,. Have a question you don’t see answered? Reach out to us at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org.

What is this millage for?

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is seeking an 18-mill operating millage, which equates to an $18 tax for every $1,000 of taxable value, for 20 years that will provide revenue for general operating expenses that can range from classroom programming and supplies to staff salaries. It can’t be used for capital projects.

Who’s affected by this millage?

Anyone can vote on the proposal, as long as they’re registered. But the operating millage is levied on commercial property, rental property, and vacation property. It doesn’t affect primary homeowners. So, if you own and live in your own home, this vote doesn’t affect you.

So what’s the difference between Detroit Public Schools and the Detroit Public Schools Community District? And why is there a change in which of them will collect operating revenue?

DPS was the district that for years educated students and operated schools. But DPS debt had grown over time, and most of it accumulated when the state controlled the district. That cut into the amount of money for classrooms.

To avoid what many thought was looming bankruptcy, lawmakers created DPSCD in 2016 as a separate district. Lawmakers transferred control of schools from DPS to DPSCD, and the new district benefitted from a fresh, debt-free start. DPS remained intact solely to collect revenue from millages. That revenue goes toward paying off the lingering DPS operating debt. (A separate debt millage is paying off capital debt and debt to the state’s revolving loan program.)

Meanwhile, because operating revenue was going to pay off debt, the state beginning in 2016 provided what DPSCD would have received from a millage.

But the state budget approved Friday eliminates $124 million for operating costs the state would have provided to DPSCD next year. It assumes the district will receive those funds from a millage.

Lawmakers made that move because rising Detroit property values mean the debt will be paid off much earlier than planned. DPSCD officials wanted to keep the DPS operating millage revenue flowing to help pay off the rest of the old debt. But the Michigan Department of Treasury said that’s prohibited by state law, and a lawsuit brought by the district ended with the courts siding with the state.

How much money would be generated by this millage?

The millage would generate about $112 million during the 2026-27 school year. DPSCD’s total budget for the coming school year is around $1.1 billion. State and federal funding provides the rest.

Are operating millages required?

Yes, traditional school districts are required to levy an $18 tax for every $1,000 of taxable value to generate operating revenue. DPSCD was an exception during its first 10 years.

Charter schools do not have millages and do not receive millage revenue, except in the case of a countywide school millage.

Why is this vote being held now?

The Aug. 4 primary is the first opportunity for DPSCD to put the proposal on the ballot since the district lost its battle with Michigan Treasury officials in court. If it doesn’t pass next month, the district can revive it during subsequent elections, with the first opportunity being the Nov. 3 general election.

The district could also opt to hold a special election, but that would be costly.

What happens if voters reject the proposal?

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that if voters don’t approve the tax levy by July 1, 2027, the district would face a deficit of $111 million for the 2027-28 school year.

What is unclear is whether the state’s elimination of the operating revenue for the district for the 2026-27 school year will also lead to a shortfall. Vitti said the only way for the district to get its full $10,300 in per-student funding allotted to it by the state “would be to force the tax collections from DPS to DPSCD.” There is no other source of funding the district could tap to fill that gap, he said.

What if tax collections fall below 100%?

Approving the measure is one thing. Taxpayers still must pay their tax bills for the district to collect the projected revenue.

The state has provided DPSCD with 100% of what a millage would have generated. That may not be the case when the district has to rely on actual millage revenue. If property owners don’t pay their bills, less revenue will be generated. The ballot language says revenue generated would be $112 million; Vitti said that assumes a 92% collection rate.

Vitti said he has raised this issue with legislators. It is something that could affect every school district in the state.

“This makes no sense to me from an operating point of view, that you would put a school district in jeopardy of not having as much revenue as they should because of local property tax collection,” Vitti said during a May school board committee meeting. “This is 2026; we shouldn’t be funding school districts like this.”

How will tax incentives affect how much money the district receives for operating purposes?

Vitti said city incentives designed to boost economic development but which reduce tax revenue wouldn’t affect how much operating revenue the district receives, as long as the collection rate is 100%, because the state reimburses the abatements on the operating millage.

In a 2021 Detroit News opinion piece, the authors noted that communities “can offload the cost of their economic development deals onto taxpayers and schoolkids statewide. As a result, these deals receive less public scrutiny, because the state will make up most of the difference anyway.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district releases 2026-27 calendar

2026-07-02T15:04:19+00:00

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The Detroit district has released its 2026-27 school year calendar, with an Aug. 24 start date for students.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board approved the calendar last month, shortly before the district reached a tentative agreement with the teachers union. The calendar includes 175 student attendance days, with five additional days for professional development for staff, which reaches the state’s 180-day school year minimum. Michigan law allows the professional development hours to count toward instruction, even though students are not present on those days.

The calendar does not include observance of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday expected to fall on March 10. Last school year, students, teachers, and community members spoke at multiple board meetings to ask the district to not hold class on the holiday.

Although the holiday counts as an excused absence, Muslim students said they sometimes have to make up tests and assignments after missing the day. They also miss out on receiving a weekly perfect attendance incentive the district offers from January through March.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said the holiday hasn’t been on past calendars due to pushback during union negotiations over adjusting other breaks or extending the school year.

Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins told Chalkbeat the union did not ask for the holiday to be observed in 2027 because of a lack of membership support.

Here are some key dates in the calendar:

Fall count day will be Oct. 7. The day is crucial for the district because the number of students in attendance helps determine how much state funding schools receive. Spring count day will be Feb. 10.
Thanksgiving break begins Nov. 25, with classes resuming Nov. 30.
Winter break starts Dec. 21. Students will return to school Jan. 4.
Midwinter break starts Feb. 15. Class starts again Feb. 22.
Spring break will be March 26 through April 2, with students returning April 5.
The last day of school is June 7. The following week will include four make-up days in case of emergency cancellations.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD adds five new schools to list of buildings with low enrollment, high costs

2026-06-30T18:40:02+00:00

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Five new schools have been added to a list of buildings the Detroit school district is monitoring for possible consolidation or closure due to challenges like high operating expenses, low enrollment, and underutilization.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti presented an annual report on the district’s small schools during a school board committee meeting on June 24. The report examines the program and operating expenses the 19 schools carry and how they surpass the revenue received through state and federal funding and grants.

The presentation was similar to one he gave last year outlining potential solutions that include merging schools, stepping up enrollment efforts, reconfiguring grades served, and investing in marketing.

The five schools added to the list for the 2025-26 school year include Palmer Park Prep Academy, Pasteur Elementary School, Gardner Elementary School, Chrysler Elementary School, and Thurgood Marshall Elementary, which is closing at the end of next school year.

Schools that were previously on the list but were removed include Mark Twain School for Scholars and four schools that closed earlier this month that the district identified for phase out in 2022: Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School.

The 18 other schools on this year’s list are not slated to close at this time, Vitti said.

“The schools on this list, all by varying degrees, the district supplements their budget based on the number of students enrolled at the school and the cost of running that school,” he said.

Below is a list of the schools on the list, not including those already being phased out:

Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 61
Utilization rate: 5%
Revenue: $1,441,707
Expenses: $3,050,786
Cost per student: $50,013
Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
Potential solution: Reconsider bringing back sixth, seventh, and eighth grades since enrollment dropped when Frederick Douglass turned into a high school. Another option is moving the school within a high school building and operating it as a program within a school.

Davis Aerospace Technical High School at Golightly

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 112
Utilization rate: 15%
Revenue: $1,828,078
Expenses: $2,963,458
Cost per student: $26,459
Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
Potential solution: Monitor enrollment improvement closely and explore possibility of expanding course offerings to non-Davis students in a CTC model after relocation to City Airport if enrollment does not significantly improve.

DPSCD Virtual School

Grades: K-12
Enrollment: 196
Utilization rate: n/a
Revenue: $2,248,592
Expenses: $3,719,368
Cost per student: $18,976
Comparison school cost per student: $10,525
Potential solution: The district has expanded admission requirements to increase enrollment for special student circumstances.

Detroit International Academy for Young Women

Grades: K-12
Enrollment: 228
Utilization rate: 33%
Revenue: $3,817,804
Expenses: $4,742,678
Cost per student: $20,801
Comparison school cost per student: $10,525
Potential solution: Explore moving school and transition to a program within a larger high school building. Use the current DIA building (which was renovated) for Davison Elementary-Middle School.

Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 178
Utilization rate: 35%
Revenue: $2,830,968
Expenses: $3,518,370
Cost per student: $19,766
Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
Potential solution: Consider moving the program to an existing high school building as a program, or moving DIA and the Frederick Douglass Academy to the building.

Palmer Park Prep Academy

Grades: Pre-K-8
Enrollment: 359
Utilization rate: 61%
Revenue: $6,426,493
Expenses: $7,486,621
Cost per student: $20,854
Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
Potential solution: The district is adding two additional Montessori classrooms for the 2026-27 school year and expects enrollment to rebound as lower-grade Montessori students matriculate to middle school.

Detroit Lions Academy

Grades: 6-12
Enrollment: 388
Utilization rate: 83%
Revenue: $6,432,088
Expenses: $7,582,328
Cost per student: $19,542
Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
Potential solution: “Because the demand and need for alternative education settings are high, and because students at the school need smaller, supportive learning environments, continue to fund at current levels,” the report states.

Osborn High School

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 392
Utilization rate: 42%
Revenue: $5,756,220
Expenses: $6,819,521
Cost per student: $17,397
Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
Potential solution: Continue to provide prioritized enrollment support with a focus on ninth grade recruitment. The district may also consider the phaseout of Osborn after the new Pershing building opens.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School

Grades: 1-8
Enrollment: 178
Utilization rate: 25%
Revenue: $3,774,262
Expenses: $4,187,111
Cost per student: $23,523
Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
Potential solution: School is phasing out and will close at the end of the 2026-27 school year with the new Paul Robeson Malcolm X building opening.

Pasteur Elementary School

Grades: Pre-K-6
Enrollment: 234
Utilization rate: 43%
Revenue: $4,289,113
Expenses: $4,736,304
Cost per student: $20,241
Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
Potential solution: Provide school with prioritized enrollment support, including a “Summer on the Block” event for current and potential families with door-to-door canvassing prior to the event in the surrounding communities.

Carstens Academy of Aquatic Science

Grades: Pre-K-8
Enrollment: 295
Utilization rate: 43%
Revenue: $5,060,494
Expenses: $5,555,271
Cost per student: $18,831
Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
Potential solution: The school will move into a new facility as part of the district’s facility master plan, which will reduce operating costs and increase enrollment.

Northwestern High School

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 284
Utilization rate: 31%
Revenue: $4,526,557
Expenses: $5,002,007
Cost per student: $17,613
Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
Potential solution: Consider a smaller and more modern building as a K-12 on the existing campus to emerge with Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy through a new district bond.

Pershing High School

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 444
Utilization rate: 22%
Revenue: $6,367,128
Expenses: $7,051,324
Cost per student: $15,881
Comparison school cost per student: $12,691
Potential solution: The school’s new building will increase enrollment and will have fewer seats and reduced costs, the report states.

Edison Elementary School (Montessori)

Grades: Pre-K-5
Enrollment: 289
Utilization rate: 88%
Revenue: $4,925,889
Expenses: $5,276,909
Cost per student: $18,259
Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
Potential solution: Phasing out of Montessori education will increase seat access to neighborhood students in addition to Pre-K expanding from one classroom to two, with a total of 36 seats, according to the report.

Edmonson Elementary (Montessori)

Grades: Pre-K-8
Enrollment: 307
Utilization rate: 63%
Revenue: $4,802,073
Expenses: $5,005,375
Cost per student: $16,304
Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
Potential solution: “As of May 2026, there are 215 new 1st choice applications submitted for Edmonson. Edmonson will be fully funded with 42 additional students,” the report states.

Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy

Grades: K-8
Enrollment: 268
Utilization rate: 74%
Revenue: $4,541,908
Expenses: $4,738,660
Cost per student: $17,682
Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
Potential solution: “The school is currently operating out of the former CMA, while a new building is constructed. When the school relocates back to its new building it should return to a balanced funding model,” the report says.

Detroit School of Arts

Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 553
Utilization rate: 39%
Revenue: $7,431,525
Expenses: $7,850,424
Cost per student: $14,196
Comparison school cost per student: $11,832
Potential solution: DPSCD has continued to develop and expand the K-8 performing arts pathway schools, leading to annual increases in enrollment
at DSA. This will continue with the new K-8 Southwest performing arts school. The school needs to enroll 20 additional students to break even with expenses, the report says.

Gardner Elementary School

Grades: K-5
Enrollment: 211
Utilization rate: 55%
Revenue: $3,712,772
Expenses: $3,822,624
Cost per student: $18,117
Comparison school cost per student: $13,705
Potential solution: Provide school with prioritized enrollment support, including a “Summer on the Block” event for current and potential families with door-to-door canvassing prior to the event in the surrounding communities.

Chrysler Elementary School

Grades: K-5
Enrollment: 142
Utilization rate: 76%
Revenue: $2,535,488
Expenses: $2,593,725
Cost per student: $18,266
Comparison school cost per student: $14,886
Potential solution: “The small deficit was caused by increases in personnel costs due to teacher salary increases and the adjustment to MPSERS (Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System) reimbursements,” the report states.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit school district loses court appeal against state over paying debt with operating tax revenue

2026-06-29T22:53:48+00:00

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The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision against the Detroit school district in its battle over collecting operating tax revenue.

Unless appealed again, the ruling means the Detroit Public Schools Community District will have to rely on voter approval on a ballot measure that would allow the district to collect its own operating millage for the first time. Until now, Detroit Public Schools – which now exists only to take in tax revenue and pay off old debt – collected the operating millage and DPSCD received other state funds to pay for daily operations.

Because voters renewed the levy in 2024, district officials have said voters may be confused about why another ballot measure is needed.

The August proposal would not create a new tax. Instead, it would allow DPSCD, rather than DPS, to collect the existing tax.

Judges Michael J. Riordan, Daniel S. Korobkin, and Philip P. Mariani last week issued a ruling siding with the Michigan Department of Treasury. The case centered on whether DPS could continue collecting operating tax revenue to pay off capital debt ahead of schedule.

In their ruling, the Court of Appeals judges agreed with the lower court, writing that DPS “cannot continue to levy the operating tax” once it pays off operating debt.

District officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It is unclear whether DPSCD will appeal.

Ron Leix, deputy public information officer for the Treasury Department, told Chalkbeat in an email that the department remains “committed to working with the district to support a strong education for Detroit’s students.”

If the district’s ballot measure does not receive voter approval by July 1, 2027, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said DPSCD would face a $120 million deficit the following school year.

DPSCD’s fight with the state over use of tax dollars

Lawmakers created DPSCD in 2016 to take over day-to-day school operations while DPS remained responsible for collecting taxes to pay off its $3.2 billion debt.

Under that agreement, DPSCD did not receive local tax revenue. Instead, it received state funding from the 1998 Tobacco Settlement Fund.

Revenue from DPS’ operating millage is close to paying off a $150 million emergency loan the district received in 2016 because rising property values generated more revenue than expected.

DPSCD officials wanted DPS to continue collecting the operating tax revenue – even after the emergency loan is paid off – to accelerate the payment of the district’s $1.3 billion capital debt and $355 million in state School Loan Revolving Fund debt. Those debts are currently paid through a separate millage. District officials argued the change would save taxpayers $326 million in interest.

But the Treasury Department rejected the request, saying state law does not permit operating millages to pay nonoperating debt.

After legislation that would have allowed the change failed, DPSCD sued the state.

In March, a Court of Claims judge ruled against DPSCD, finding that current state law does not permit the district’s request. The final order also said DPS will continue collecting debt millages until its capital and revolving fund debt is paid off, which is expected around 2040.

DPSCD will rely on voters and property rates for operating costs

DPSCD began preparing to collect its own operating millage before the Court of Appeals decision.

Vitti previously said the lower courts’ decision was not ideal because it would require the district to explain that the existing 18-mill levy is not a new or higher tax.

The tax applies only to non-homestead properties, such as rentals and businesses. It is not placed on homeowners.

If the measure fails in August, the district plans to place it on the November ballot. If it fails again, officials estimate a special election in May 2027 would cost between $1 million and $2 million.

In March, the school board approved a $1.4 million contract with a public affairs firm to educate voters on the millage ahead of the August election.

The change also means DPSCD’s operating budget will rely on local property tax revenue for the first time. If rates fall in the future, the district would receive less local funding. In the past, the district received a set amount of state funding for its operating costs.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Housing, groceries, and medical needs: Detroit’s Health Hubs helping to get kids to school

2026-06-29T10:00:00+00:00

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Upbeat on-hold music blared from Jerrica Mickens’ cellphone for nearly 50 minutes as she searched on her laptop for affordable housing for a parent in Detroit.

Mickens was on a three-way call with a mother and a legal aide hotline the morning of April 21 in her Central High School office. As the two waited for a representative to answer questions about the mother’s landlord troubles, Mickens asked what else her family needed. Did they want to pick up a box of groceries for the month? Did the kids need new clothes? Did anyone in the family need mental health services?

Mickens is one of nine “navigators” whose job is getting to know school communities and discerning their needs. They play a critical role in the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s 10 Health Hubs. Since launching in 2023, the hubs have contributed to improved attendance in the district and helped thousands of families, officials say.

DPSCD Health Hub navigator Jerrica Mickens poses for a photo.

Mickens’ time and care is often a lifeline for parents in survival mode. Sometimes, she said, families just need someone to listen.

“My passion is serving people,” said Mickens. “So if that’s what a person needs, then I’m gonna be here for that.”

The navigators lead parents through a complex web of district resources, social services, and nonprofit assistance they may not otherwise know how to access. Their offices serve as a one-stop-shop to triage the root causes that keep students from regularly attending school, such as poor health, unstable housing, and food insecurity.

At the hubs, students are connected with vision and hearing screenings, as well as medical, dental, and mental health care. The centers connect families with housing, utility assistance, and legal services. The school community can stop in for food and hygiene product distribution.

From July 1, 2023, through June 14, the hubs served families 19,200 times and more than 1,100 referrals were made.

“We know that for students to show up ready to learn and focus on their academics, their basic health and well-being needs must be met first,” said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “Schools are the natural, trusted, and most convenient hub for families to access these vital resources.”

DPSCD's 10 Health Hubs are distribution centers for hygiene products and food, as well as onsight health centers.

Prolonged absenteeism has long been a problem for Detroit schools due to systemic socioeconomic barriers, which in turn severely hinders students’ learning.

Michigan students are considered chronically absent when they miss 18 days or more in a 180-day school year.

Nearly 61% of the district’s students were chronically absent in 2024-25. Though the rate was considerably higher than the statewide average of 28%, DPSCD has outpaced the rest of Michigan in reducing absenteeism since the COVID-19 pandemic.

District officials attribute the improvement to many long-term efforts – like creating a culture of improving attendance among leaders, hiring more counselors to address mental health needs, and student incentives – but they believe the hubs are a key piece.

Students get lunch inside Osborn High School’s Health Hub.

Overall, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate decreased by 5.2 percentage points last year compared to 2022-23, the last year before the hubs opened. Academic performance has also improved, with third-grade reading proficiency and graduation rates reaching historic highs last year.

“K-12 students who accessed the Health Hubs during the 2024–25 school year had better average daily attendance and lower rates of chronic absenteeism than students who did not access the Hubs,” said Vitti, though he didn’t provide detailed numbers.

Jaiden Mabins' house burned down when he was a 10th grader at Osborn High School. Health Hub navigator Jerrica Mickens helped his mom find new housing close to the school.

Jaiden Mabins, who recently graduated from Osborn High School, said his attendance improved and his postsecondary plans were affected by Mickens’ work as a navigator at his school.

In 10th grade, Mabin’s home burned down, which meant moving in with his sister near 10 Mile – a considerable distance from his school on the east side of Detroit. The limited transportation options forced him to stay home many days, he said.

“Ms. Jerrica, she helped us find a new place, still close in the neighborhood for school,” said Mabins.

The navigator gave him new clothes, school supplies, and a laptop. When it came time to think about his post-high school options, she helped him fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Addressing Detroit families’ needs beyond the school day

At 11:50 a.m. at Central High School, 17-year-old Jeremy McKinney was led by a school employee through Mickens’ office door, held open by two stacked boxes of canned green beans overflowing from the hub’s food distribution pantry.

McKinney squinted when he introduced himself, struggling to see. His glasses had been stolen. The navigator got him on the waiting list to get a new pair from a nonprofit that regularly visits the school.

Around 185 pairs of glasses have been given to kids in the district since the hubs opened, according to DPSCD.

As Mickens got back to packing boxes of groceries for scheduled pick-ups, she paused periodically to answer calls from parents.

Jerrica Mickens updates case files at her desk at Central High School.

“Oh Lord Jesus, I hope I can help her,” she said of a mother whose house flooded. Once a new place was secured, Mickens said she knew an organization that would build new beds for the kids. She could also help them get gas cards to get to school and some clothing.

While DPSCD has always tried to fill gaps for students with attendance agents and wraparound services, district officials say the hubs streamline the process. Navigators have the time for deeper conversations with families and take detailed notes on their case files. They can also better track how the children are served by outside organizations beyond the initial referral.

All of the hubs are strategically placed so every school has a location within 3 miles.

Mickens is currently responsible for 10 feeder schools in addition to Central and Durfee Elementary-Middle School. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she travels to the other schools to get to know parent outreach coordinators, principals, and social workers who relay family needs.

There are currently hubs in 10 DPSCD schools – Central, Denby, Henry Ford, Marygrove, Martin Luther King Jr., Mumford, Osborn, Southeastern, and Western International high schools, as well as East English Village Prep Academy.

There will also be hubs at the new Cody and Pershing high schools when they open for the 2027-28 school year. There are plans for a Detroit Lions Academy location, though an opening date has not been set.

A sign outside of a DPSCD Health Hub provides information for students.

It costs around $500,000 a year to operate each hub, said Vitti. But because most of the expenses are covered by donations from community partners, the actual cost for DPSCD is around $172,000 a year per hub, he added.

Coordinated school health plan models in New York City’s school system and the Oakland Unified School District served as models for the district. Those districts reportedly saw improvements in attendance and academic achievement, as well as lower rates of student discipline.

A third-party evaluator is currently examining how the hubs affect DPSCD student attendance. It is expected to be complete in the fall.

Later that day at Central, Mickens grabbed two tuna snack packs and a chocolate milk for a teen boy in between classes.

The navigator asked if he’d filled out the dental exam permission slip she gave him days before. No, he said, because he wouldn’t be at the school for long.

She consoled the student after learning the reason he had to leave. “No judgment,” she said.

Mickens said she understands some of the challenges the students she serves face. She dropped out when she was a ninth grader at Central years ago.

“A lot of it was because of the disconnect of social services that I needed,” she said. “ I have a heart to not let kids go through what I have.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teachers’ union approves tentative 2-year contract with school district

2026-06-24T23:17:22+00:00

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The Detroit teachers union voted to approve a tentative agreement with the school district that would give new bonuses to attendance agents, career and technical education teachers, and staff certified to teach English language learners, union officials confirmed Wednesday.

Many of the Detroit Federation of Teachers’ bargaining priorities made it into the proposal, including higher wages for all members and additional workplace protections, a copy of the tentative agreement obtained by Chalkbeat shows. The contract covers the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.

“This contract is important for the Detroit Federation of Teachers, and for all of the other unions here in the district,” said union president Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins at a Wednesday press conference. She added the DFT’s contract wins could serve as an example for other unions in the city and the state.

More than 80% of the 2,600 members who participated in the vote approved the contract this week, said Wilson-Lumpkins.

More than 5,000 people belong to the DFT. Union membership includes teachers, paraprofessionals, academic interventionists, and psychologists, among other school staff.

The school board must approve the contract before it is final. The union has not publicly released a copy of the tentative agreement.

The current union contract expires June 30.

School board president LaTrice McClendon praised the union and the district for moving the agreement forward. The board is focused on ensuring higher pay for educators and meaningful professional development, she added.

“Our teachers are the foundation of that progress, and we are proud to support them,” she told Chalkbeat in an email.

District administrators did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the tentative agreement.

Here are some key highlights of what is new in the tentative agreement:

All union members would advance one step in the pay scale each year of the contract, except those in alternative certification programs. The starting annual salary would be $57,400 for those with bachelor’s degrees. It is $55,000 a year in the current contract.
The agreement includes a 7.49% increase to the maximum salary for teachers and credentialed ancillary staff, such as counselors, speech language pathologists, psychologists, and other positions. The top annual salary possible for teachers with a master’s degree would be $96,500 in 2026-27 and $100,100 in 2027-28. The maximum in the current contract is $93,000 a year.
Substitute teachers would get a 3% raise in 2026-27 and 2027-28.
Attendance agents would get performance bonuses of up to $2,000 annually for decreasing chronic absenteeism rates in their schools.
General education prekindergarten through fifth grade homeroom teachers would not have more than six students diagnosed with autism or emotional impairment in their classrooms. Teachers would get stipends of up to $4,000 a year based on the number of students with the diagnoses in their classrooms.
Ancillary staff with an endorsement in English as a second language or bilingual education or those asked to serve a school with a student population of 50% or more English learners would get a one-time $5,000 retention bonus. The current contract only provides the bonus to teachers with the certification.
Members in career and technical education programs would get bonuses of up to $2,000 annually based on the percentage of their students who earn credentials or licenses in their fields of study.
Building administrators would have to notify employees of any potential threats to physical safety or threats to staff and students, such as lockdowns, disease outbreaks, and major facility issues.
If schools close or merge, the district would have to make “all reasonable efforts” to transfer staff to the new neighborhood school students are assigned to.
Employees would still get up to 12 weeks of maternity and paternity leave through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. However, the new agreement would return six weeks of leave to the employees after their parental leave.

The agreement would also keep current bonuses for special education teachers and staff who evaluate students, those who remain in the district for 15 or more years, as well as retention pay for full- and part-time staff.

The agreement does not include language asking DPSCD to reinforce its commitment to its status as a sanctuary district for immigrant students, as union president Wilson-Lumpkins said the union would seek in a new contract earlier this year.

Kelsey Wiley, a teacher at Cass Technical High School, said she is disappointed the contract does not include mandatory Know Your Rights training for staff on interacting with immigration enforcement. Members were told months ago the language would be in the contract, she added.

“It’s unfortunate and it’s a complete misstep on the union’s end,” said Wiley.

Wilson-Lumpkins said the state and national teachers unions the DFT belongs to have issued “very strong resolutions” that express support for immigrant students and their educators. The DFT has held forums and provided Know Your Rights information.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board adopts $1.1 billion budget that prioritizes security, reducing chronic absenteeism

2026-06-16T23:54:59+00:00

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The Detroit district school board voted Tuesday night to adopt a $1.1 billion budget for the 2026-27 school year that prioritizes attendance efforts, mentorship for students, and school security.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District budget also raises pay for all employees, adds nine more school counselors, hires about 12 more assistant principals, and gives teachers funding for classroom supplies so that families don’t have to bear the cost.

The budget includes $13.9 million for efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism, which is defined as a student missing 10% or more of days in a school year. The money will pay for attendance agents, financial incentives for middle and high school students who have perfect attendance, wraparound services, and yellow bus service pilots for students at four high schools.

Chronic absenteeism has long been an issue in Detroit. DPSCD has outpaced the rest of the state in reducing chronic absenteeism since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, 60.9% of DPSCD students were chronically absent in 2024-25.

The budget keeps DPSCD’s current programming and staffing without any major changes and is based on predicted 3% enrollment growth, or about 1,478 more students. The district estimates a $12.9 million increase in state funding and will spend the final $31.4 million allocation of the literacy lawsuit settlement funds.

However, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last month that after the next school year, the district will face financial uncertainty.

After the $94.4 million settlement runs out, the district will have to make tough decisions about which programs and staff it can afford to keep.

DPSCD will also begin relying on a voter-approved property tax to cover operating costs, meaning if rates fall, the district will receive less money. There is also ambiguity about the fate of federal dollars and whether future state funding will continue to include the same weighted funding levels for students from impoverished families.

In the long term, DPSCD will need to consider phasing out more small and underutilized schools to reduce costs, Vitti said.

The district sped up the closures of four small schools at the end of this school year to save funds. Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle will close earlier than expected for the same reason at the end of 2026-27.

Once specific state grants end, the district also needs to prepare to cut some mental health supports, nurses, or security guards hired this school year, administrators said.

Earlier this year, DPSCD received a surplus of $10.3 million in one-time state mental health and school safety funds.

Some of those dollars went toward hiring more school resource officers, guards, and piloting upgraded security checkpoints after two incidents involving students bringing weapons to classrooms.

Michigan districts are required to adopt annual budgets by June 30, though state allocations may change. The district will make a budget amendment in the late fall to reflect any changes in state funding.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

As demolition nears, protective barriers at Detroit’s Cooley High vandalized

2026-06-15T20:51:52+00:00

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Detroit’s public school district is stepping up security at soon-to-be demolished Cooley High School after weekend vandals breached the property and caused damage.

In a statement released Sunday night, Detroit Public Schools Community District spokeswoman Chrystal Wilson said intruders broke down a large section of the fence protecting the building and a covering protecting the entrance of the long-vacant school was destroyed.

Vandals knocked down the covering that protected the entrance to Cooley High School in Detroit.

Fencing around the site went up in recent days as salvage work began at the building, expected to be torn down this summer. The weekend damage has since been repaired and DPSCD will now have 24-hour security coverage at Cooley until demolition activities are complete, Wilson said.

“The former Cooley High School building remains closed to the public, and unauthorized entry is prohibited,” Wilson said. “The district continues to prioritize the safety of the surrounding community and will work closely with law enforcement and demolition partners to secure the site throughout the demolition process. Violators of the building risk their own safety by entering the grounds and building and will be prosecuted if apprehended.”

Wilson said Detroit Police have been alerted about the situation. Police spokesperson Jasmin Barmore told BridgeDetroit Monday that the department does not have any arrest reports from the incident.

The weekend vandalism comes days after a pair of community meetings were held by the district to answer questions and gather feedback from residents and alumni, many upset, over a future sports complex that will be built on the site. DPSCD confirmed earlier this month that Cooley would be demolished this summer after sitting vacant for more than 15 years. Cooley closed its doors in 2010.

“Due to years of public outcry regarding safety, arson attacks and blight tickets, the building will be demolished,” DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said.

Vitti has said that the district will preserve architectural features from Cooley, like bricks, terra cotta medallions, the entry archways, and the bell from the tower of the building.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Community voices concern, support for Cooley demolition in public meeting

2026-06-12T18:35:11+00:00

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A week after facing backlash from alumni and community members over the upcoming demolition of the historic Cooley High School, the Detroit school district is giving more insight into why the long-vacant building is being razed and the sports complex that will be built in its place.

The Cooley sports complex will come to fruition in multiple phases, Detroit Public Schools Community District Assistant Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson said Wednesday. The first, which is set to be completed Sept. 30, includes demolishing the building and resurfacing the walking track and natural turf field. The second phase is set to be completed in fall 2028 and will consist of an artificial turf field, a track, additional parking, and a practice area for shot put and discus.

The complex also has a phase three with an indoor complex, but the district needs more funding to complete that part of the project, Jackson said.

“We’re showing phase three as a concept, but this is not funded,” she said.

Dozens of Cooley alumni and community members gathered Wednesday inside the Renaissance High School auditorium to hear more about the project, many voicing opposition to the demolition and how they felt there was little community engagement about the complex and the razing. A virtual meeting was also held Thursday for alumni and community members who couldn’t attend the in-person meeting or who live out of state.

Salvage work at Cooley began in recent days with the installation of fencing to secure the property, said DPSCD spokeswoman Chrystal Wilson.

Cooley alum Leonard Reid said Wednesday evening that he heard the news about the demolition on social media and wondered why TV news wasn’t reporting anything about it.

“It’s ridiculous that we have to find out on social media about this plan,” he said.

Demolition of Cooley, which closed in 2010, is expected to get underway this summer. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told BridgeDetroit earlier this month that the decision was informed by community complaints regarding blight and crime.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Assistant Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson speaks during a community meeting on the demolition of Cooley High School.

Jackson noted during Wednesday’s meeting that she received numerous complaints from residents and businesses who live near Cooley about the condition of the building and its future. There have been fires, illegal dumping, prostitution, and a fatal assault occurred behind the school in 2018.

The Cooley sports complex, which was announced last year, will use $15 million from the state for the planning, design, and construction of the outdoor football field and outdoor track, green space, and updated parking lots.

Another $15 million was allocated for the project in February as part of a $79 million one-time investment from the DPSCD board to advance priority projects outlined in the district’s facility master plan, according to a news release.

In addition, the DPSCD Foundation is actively fundraising for the project, Wilson said.

The complex will mainly serve as the home for sports teams at nearby Cody High School, but will also be open to the community and to district partners like the Pop Warner youth football program and Detroit Police Athletic League, Jackson said.

Vitti said the field that Cody students use now is owned by the city, and attempts to buy the land has been unsuccessful. Members of the Cody and Denby football teams were in attendance Wednesday, donning their green and yellow jerseys.

Shortly after receiving the $15 million state grant, Jackson said, the district began hosting community engagement meetings. The meetings were held at a DPSCD school, a church across the street from Cooley, a Detroit City Council meeting, and then a virtual meeting in March.

The project initially included plans to preserve a part of Cooley for a locker room, weight room, community gathering space, and dedication to Cooley alumni.

However, preserving the historic front facade would have cost an additional $2 million, Vitti told BridgeDetroit. Architects and district officials have been unable to explore much of the school’s interior because it’s unsafe, Jackson said.

“The last time I was in the building, I was right on the edge of the auditorium, and … there was a gaping hole,” Jackson said.

Vitti has said that the district will preserve some architectural features from Cooley, like bricks, terra cotta medallions, the entry archways, and the bell from the tower of the building.

Those Cooley touches will be added during phase two, Jackson said Wednesday. Many of the bricks will be cleaned and given away to alumni, but others may be used to rebuild something else on the site. In addition, the bell towers could be placed on the corners of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street or at Hubbell and Fenkell.

Community members weigh in

Chet Pitts, a 2001 Cooley alum, said Cooley is a place of many memories.

He told BridgeDetroit that the teachers there made an impact in his life, like English teacher Charlotte Smith. He even met his wife, Sarah Pitts, at Cooley.

Pitts was sad to see Cooley close and is disappointed about the impending demolition. He believes the district is diminishing the feelings of other Cooley alumni and the overall community. Pitts created a petition to save Cooley. As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had 1,087 signatures.

“The thing is, when they erase our history, you lose identity, you lose culture, you lose memories,” he said at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Maura Cady-Rye talked about her attempts to save the old Hudson’s building in downtown Detroit before it was demolished in 1998. Her grandparents used to live a few blocks away from Cooley on Ardmore, and Cady-Rye grew up nearby in Rosedale Park.

Cady-Rye, who now lives in Ypsilanti, said Cooley is also historic and asked the district to reconsider saving a portion of the building.

“I’m not asking to take little bits and pieces off of it and put it someplace else,” she said. “Let’s save the front of the building while you guys are tearing down the rest of it. Let’s save the front portion to say, ‘This is a historic building,’ because buildings don’t get built that way anymore. Keep everybody happy. Why can’t you guys do that?”

Grace Moore said she understands that the district will move forward with the sports complex, but asked how Cooley alumni like herself will be represented in the project.

“How can we get a part, and how can you guarantee us that our flag, our championships, the history of Cooley will still be there?” Moore said.

Meanwhile, Rafeal Peterson is eager for change. He said it’s unfair to residents to continue letting the Cooley building stay vacant. As a 1988 Cooley graduate and a former basketball coach at the school, Peterson will keep those memories with him but agrees that it’s time for a new chapter.

“It’s my old school, but hey, it’s not a family member, it’s a building,” he said. “It’s bittersweet, but I’m not gonna be crying about it. It’s a good opportunity for Cody and anybody who uses it.”

Editor’s note: June 12, 2026: This story was updated to reflect the total cost of the project and the sources of funding.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit district to address concerns over demolishing Cooley High School at community meeting

2026-06-08T19:23:51+00:00

June 10, 2026: This story has been updated to reflect that the in-person meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. today.

June 9, 2026: This story has been updated to reflect the location of the public meeting changed to Renaissance High School and a virtual option was added.

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After community and alumni outcries, the Detroit district will hold a public meeting this week to address concerns about its planned tear-down of the historic Cooley High School.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, will field questions and complaints at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Renaissance High School at 6565 Outer Dr. W. The public may also attend a virtual meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Vitti said in a statement on Sunday he will detail the district’s commitments to “honor Cooley’s history through the new athletic complex.”

“The hope is that the District can also find ways to partner with alumni and community on future projects at the new athletics complex,” he said.

DPSCD last held community meetings about its plans for the 1928 building in March. At that time, the plans for the full tear-down were shared, according to district officials.

The school closed in 2010. It is now one of Detroit’s largest vacant public school buildings.

After decades left unoccupied, DPSCD announced in 2025 it would turn the site into a $25 million sports complex. The original plans were to keep the building’s main facade. Part of the building would serve as a locker room, weight room, community gathering space, and dedication to alumni. The cost and timeline to complete the preservation made the district change its original plans, Vitti said.

The state gave the district $15 million for the new complex. Those dollars must be used by DPSCD by Sept. 30.

The preservation the district originally intended for the building was not feasible under the timeline of the state grant, Vitti said.

“The District understands that the demolition of an historic high school such as Cooley can be an emotional moment for alumni and the community,” the superintendent said. “We are sensitive to this fact and this is why we are preserving bricks, the bell towers, terra cotta medallions, and entry archways.”

Bricks from the building will be saved to give to alumni, Vitti added, and artifacts will be incorporated into the new complex.

A football field, outdoor track, and green space will be housed in the new complex. The remaining $10 million to complete the project was provided by philanthropic funds raised by the DPSCD Foundation. It is expected to be complete by 2028.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

How Detroit parents are searching for new schools amid uncertainty, closures

2026-06-05T14:44:29+00:00

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For Takiyah Pearson, the Barack Obama Leadership Academy has been an idyllic place to send her children, with its Afro-centric curriculum and family atmosphere.

But the charter school could close after this year, leaving her and other parents in a conundrum: Search for new schools now or take a wait-and-see approach that, if the school does close, could put them behind other parents also on the hunt.

“I am waiting every day,” Pearson said. “I want to know what’s going on now. I don’t want to wait until the last minute and find out they’re closing. It’s already stressful and very disheartening to know that this is even happening.”

As this school year comes to a close, some parents in Detroit are trying to find new schools for their children, navigating a complicated selection process that is often based on word of mouth and requires parents to learn about the plethora of educational options in the city. Parents and students also are grieving the loss of their current schools.

In addition to the uncertainty surrounding the Barack Obama Leadership Academy, which needs a new charter authorizer to stay open, four schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District are set to close at the end of the school year. Students’ last day is Friday.

Those schools include Ann Arbor Trail Magnet Academy, Greenfield-Union Elementary-Middle School, Catherine C. Blackwell Institute, and J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy. A fifth school, Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School, is slated for closure at the end of the 2026-27 school year.

The district first announced in 2022 that it would begin “phasing out” the schools, which meant not enrolling new students and eliminating grades over time. District officials decided last year, as part of the district’s budget, to accelerate the timeline, citing the high cost of maintaining buildings with so few students.

Despite the advance notice these parents had, some are still weighing next steps for their children, whether that means enrolling them in the schools the district reassigned them to or finding new schools.

Marcus Langston is raising two granddaughters who were enrolled at Ann Arbor Trail, one an eighth grader who is moving on to Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School and a fifth grader who is currently on a waitlist at the School at Marygrove.

Langston said he’s interested in Marygrove because it’s not too far from his home in Rosedale Park and he likes its extracurricular activities, including sports teams, arts clubs, and robotics. He also has heard positive things about the support available to students, such as counseling and mental health services.

“I just heard it’s a good school with a lot of programs,” he said.

In the past, school closures in Detroit were traumatic

This year’s school closures mark the first time in more than a decade that this many schools have shut down in one year but is far short of the days when dozens of schools in Detroit would close each year.

Between 2000 and 2016, around 200 district schools closed because of low enrollment and budget deficits. During most of that time period, the district was under some form of state control.

Many of the decisions were made by emergency managers at the end of the school year, with little to no warning.

The closures were unsettling because of how attached students, staff, and families were to their schools, said Helena Lazo, the co-founder of education nonprofit 482Forward and a former Detroit district teacher and principal.

But it was a “complex situation,” she said, pointing to dramatic drops in the district’s enrollment over the years. In 2000, for instance, the district enrolled more than 160,000 students, compared to nearly 50,000 now. (The district has 72,000 available seats.)

School closures had some damaging consequences, as some parents fled the district and sent their children to one of the many charter schools in the city, or enrolled them in suburban school districts through Michigan’s Schools of Choice law.

Today, half of the school-age children in the city don’t attend district schools. Meanwhile, years of school closures left the city littered with vacant, abandoned school buildings. (The district has vowed to demolish the four schools that are closing.)

Concerns about enrollment persist, but under the current administration, the approach to closure decisions has been different. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in 2019 that he didn’t want to “replicate the sins” of district leaders who abruptly closed schools without listening to the community.

“Ten years ago, school closures happened a lot more frequently, and they would just lock the door and be like, ‘Good luck to you,’” said Maria Montoya, a Detroit parent and education consultant who has worked with schools in Michigan and nationwide on issues such as enrollment. “You might not even get any of your child’s things back. But what’s evolved for this is the fact that they’re telling people, ‘This is how you’ll get your placement and you will have this transportation.’”

Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School is one of four schools in the Detroit school district that are closing.

Lazo said she appreciated how the district handled this year’s school closures, especially that families were sent letters regarding the accelerated timeline, and students will have transportation to their new assigned school next year. But she thinks more engagement with families was needed.

“There’s always room for improvement,” she said.

Families grieve loss of closed schools

Trying to navigate the complicated process of finding a new school is difficult enough. But when schools close, many of those involved — children, parents, staff — go through a grieving process, Montoya said.

“Even if you’ve only been there (at a school) for one year or if you’ve been there for three, four years, there’s some sort of grieving process,” she said.

Tiffany Walls, whose daughter, a fifth grader, has attended the Obama charter since kindergarten, is still shocked that the school might close. Her father also went there, when it was called Timbuktu Academy of Science and Technology (the school name changed in 2020).

Even as her own life shifted — she lived for some time in Pontiac, then moved to Detroit’s west side — she kept driving her daughter to the school.

“I was dedicated to keeping her in some stability,” she said. “Although I moved, I didn’t want to keep switching schools with her.”

She isn’t sure what to do about her daughter’s placement for next year.

“I’m a part of this community, and just to take that away would be devastating, not only to me but to her too,” she said.

Cha-Rhonda Edgerson, CEO of the charter school, said school officials are trying to secure a new authorizer. She said they are under review with one, but it could be mid-August before that authorizer makes a decision.

“We are pushing forward and hopeful,” she said.

Because parents are grieving, they may wait until July or August to select a new school for their children, Montoya said, but families should create a plan as soon as possible.

Adero Jenkins is among the parents who haven’t made a decision yet.

When her daughter Amara was in first grade, Jenkins enrolled her in Ann Arbor Trail, a school she attended in the late 1990s when it was solely a middle school. With the school’s closure, Jenkins is disappointed that her daughter, now in sixth grade, won’t graduate from Ann Arbor Trail like she did.

Extracurricular options are an important factor in the decision – Amara played volleyball and did theater at Ann Arbor Trail, and she wants her to continue those activities.

Jenkins said she is expecting some recommendations from the district’s enrollment team. Wherever she goes, Jenkins told Amara to keep an “open mind.”

“Hopefully it’ll be a smooth transition,” she said.

Chalkbeat bureau chief Lori Higgins and reporter Hannah Dellinger contributed to this report.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Laurie Mermet is a freelance reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit.

Are you a Detroit parent looking for a new school? Read these tips on how to make the best choice.

2026-06-05T14:00:59+00:00

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For a parent, choosing a school for their child can be difficult no matter where they live. But in Detroit, the city’s dizzying array of options can leave parents struggling to figure out the best one.

This year, more parents are looking for schools than usual, with the closure of four schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and the uncertain future of the Barack Obama Leadership Academy, which could shut down if it doesn’t find a new charter authorizer.

Some parents will send their children to the closest neighborhood school assigned by the district. Others told reporters at Chalkbeat and BridgeDetroit that they are still weighing their options.

Those parents won’t be the only ones searching for new schools, however. Detroit has constant churn as parents new to the district look for the best options, and existing parents consider new schools because they’re either dissatisfied with where they are, or they just want a school that is a better fit for their children. Just last week alone, multiple parents who are moving into the city posted in a Facebook group for DPSCD parents seeking feedback from others.

Searching for schools in Detroit can be complicated. There is no centralized source of information on both DPSCD and charter schools, said Maria Montoya, a Detroit parent and consultant who has worked with students, families, and administrators in Michigan and nationally on education issues, including enrollment.

The Detroit district has a school locator, as well as a guide to each school in the district, information about district services and programming, and a school-by-school listing that includes QR codes to take readers directly to school websites. The Community Education Commission guide to Detroit schools has a link to a school locator, but it takes viewers to the DPSCD website and has no information about the city’s many charter schools.

“There isn’t a place that you can go that says, ‘okay, here’s all the preschools, here’s all the elementary schools, here’s all the middle schools, no matter who runs them,’ and so … you become an expert on your own, and it’s like you have to figure them out, you know, you’re just kind of going word of mouth, you’re going with, you know, whatever research you can find,” Montoya said.

To help parents navigate this process now and anytime during the year, Chalkbeat Detroit pored over what’s available from various sources, compiling the best tips for parents. The tips below come from interviews with experts, current and past guides produced by the Community Education Commission, the DPSCD guide for picking the perfect school, a guide for parents in Kent County who are exploring enrolling their children in a district outside their boundaries, and other sources.

Step 1: Interview yourself to understand your education priorities for your child

Before parents even begin a school search, they need to ask themselves some key questions so they can determine what their priorities are in a school, Montoya said. Answers to the questions can help a parent decide where to begin their search.

Before beginning a school search, parents should ask themselves questions to determine what their priorities are in a new school.

Some of those questions include:

What does my child need in a new school?
What are their interests?
What specific academic needs need to be considered when choosing a school?
Does the school location need to be near my home or work? Does it need to be near a relative’s home?
Is there a specific type of staff or curriculum I’m looking for? For instance, do I want a school that is focused on the arts, or language, or something else?
For students entering high school, do I want a school that will give my child access to advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes?

Step 2: Finding schools

The first thing to know is the landscape in which you’re searching. Detroit has a little over 100 schools run by DPSCD and about 80 charter school districts.

DPSCD has a number of schools that require either an application to enroll or an exam. Parents interested in these schools, some of which are highly sought after, should become familiar with application deadlines and testing dates. You can learn more here.

There may be no centralized way to find information about all public schools in the city, but there are some options.

On this DPSCD School Locator, you can type in your address and find what schools are nearby. You can also type in an intersection near where you live, or in an area of the city you’d prefer to find a school.

On this Michigan Department of Education map of public school academies (the formal name for charter schools), you can search for all charter schools in Detroit and they’ll show up on a map. Or, as with the DPSCD locator, you can type in an address or intersection and find which charter schools are nearby.

Step 3: Time to research schools

Once you have a list of schools you’re interested in, you will want to explore such metrics as how students perform academically, attendance rates, and staffing.

Researching schools is an important part of the school selection process.

MI School Data is Michigan’s official portal for education data. It’s easy to get lost in all of the information, but there is one spot designed especially for parents: the Parent Dashboard for School Transparency. Parents can search for schools and, when they find what they’re looking for, they’ll find a host of information, including data showing how well students perform academically compared to the rest of the state and similar districts, as well as how much improvement students have demonstrated.

Some other things you’ll want to be aware of: Not all schools follow the same schedule for opening up enrollment. Call the school office or check their websites to know the best time to enroll.

Step 4: Diving deep on possible schools

These 10 questions come courtesy of the Kent Intermediate School District in West Michigan. It’s designed for parents considering enrolling their children in districts outside their boundaries through Michigan’s Schools of Choice law:

Does the school and the community match your expectations? Are buildings presentable? Are teachers and students friendly?
What special services does the school offer? Does it offer the special needs or gifted and talented programming your child might require? Do the extracurricular and athletic offerings match your child’s interests?
Does the curriculum meet state and national standards? Does the curriculum help prepare children for the realities of the working world and the diverse people they will meet? Does the district offer special programming focused in areas of interest to your child?
How does the school integrate technology into the classroom? Is technology integrated into the curriculum? Does the school have a well-equipped media center?
How does the school communicate with families? Do the opportunities for parent involvement meet your needs and desires? Are parents involved in their children’s education?
What is the student-teacher ratio? Will your child get the attention he or she needs to succeed? Are students actively engaged in their education? Is there a sufficient mix of teaching and self-guided instruction to engage your child?
Will school or self-provided transportation meet your child’s needs? Will transportation capabilities allow your child to participate in the before- or after-school activities that meet his or her needs and interests?
Will there be consistency in the curriculum, the staff, and in your child’s friends from year to year?
How does the school handle disciplinary matters? What is the parent’s involvement in disciplinary matters?
What is the school doing to meet demands for improved student achievement? Are parents, teachers, and administrators actively involved in efforts to ensure curriculum and technology are current and appropriate for student needs?

Step 5: Visiting a school, talking to the principal

The following tips on visiting schools come from the Community Education Commission, and provide guidance on what to look for as you’re touring a school, and what questions to ask. Visiting a school is ideal, but it isn’t always possible.

A key part of the school selection process is talking to the principal and school employees to get a sense of whether it's a good fit for your child.

What to look for:

Does the school feel welcoming?
Is the building neat and clean? Do things appear to be in good working order?
Do you feel comfortable with the security measures in place? Does the location seem safe?
How are adults interacting with students?
What are students doing? Do they look interested and engaged?
What technology is available in libraries or classrooms?

Here are questions you should ask:

How are you working to make sure every child is learning and making progress?
How does the school support students who have academic, behavioral/emotional, or social difficulties? How will the school support my student’s needs?
What activities are available to students beyond the classroom?
How experienced are the teachers? How often do teachers get training?
How are parents involved in making decisions at the school?
What kind of homework will my student have?
How does this school keep students safe? What are the school’s discipline policies?
How would you describe the school culture?
How does the school communicate with parents? How often can I expect to hear from the school?
How does this school prepare students for college? For careers? (for high schools)
How does your counselor help students choose classes and make decisions about college, careers, and life after high school? (for high schools)

Step 6: Knowing what documents you need to enroll

Every school and district may have a different set of requirements. But here’s what kind of documents DPSCD requires for parents to enroll.

Parent/Guardian photo ID
Student’s birth certificate or birth record
Student’s immunization record or waiver
Student’s most recent transcript or report cards
Two forms of proof of address

This DPSCD flyer has more details about what’s required, as well as what counts as proof of address.

Step 7: Not a step, just more recommendations

Here are some additional tips from Montoya:

Some schools may already be full and offer only waitlists, but many are still looking to fill seats until Michigan’s school count day on Oct. 7. Families shouldn’t fear that being on a waitlist means their student will not get offered a seat because some students are waitlisted at multiple schools.
Some parents don’t need to see a school in action to feel comfortable enrolling their child. But others find seeing a building and classrooms critical. Most schools host summer enrollment events where families can explore classrooms, meet staff and connect with others to ask questions.
If there’s a school you have a particular interest in, give them a call and ask about upcoming events, any newsletters you might sign up to receive, or start to follow them on social media to receive any news about events they might have in the works or ways to connect with their team over the summer.
While events, lawn signs, and billboards in Detroit aim to attract families, word of mouth remains the main influence on where families choose to send their children. This approach is second only to a school’s reputation within the community. However, families need to understand the school’s current reality, as staff, academics, and culture can change. While seeking advice from your network is helpful, also ensure you have a clear picture of your child’s potential experience at the school.
If a parent finds that the school isn’t working well for their child or family, they should not feel stuck. Start by talking to the school staff to see if issues can be resolved. If nothing works, remember you don’t have to stay at a school that isn’t the right fit. However, Montoya advises families to avoid pulling their child out without having a new placement lined up, as this can cause them to miss important academic milestones.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Nearly 84% of Detroit district high schoolers were paid for attendance this year

2026-06-03T20:07:48+00:00

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Nearly 84% of Detroit district high schoolers were paid for coming to school this year, with far more students in neighborhood schools receiving the payout.

Roughly 12,800 Detroit Public School Community District students received at least one $100 Visa gift card for showing up to each class every school day in five-day cycles from Jan. 5 through March 20, according to the district. The district has 15,247 students enrolled across 26 high schools in the district. Students could earn up to $1,000 total.

The chronic absenteeism rate for the district’s high schoolers decreased by 10 percentage points this school year compared to 2023-24, before the incentive began. This year’s rate was 54% by the end of April compared to 64% in 2023-24, according to DPSCD.

The program began last year as part of the district’s ongoing campaign to curb chronic absenteeism, which is defined as a student missing 10% or more of days in a school year. That’s 18 days of instruction in a typical 180-day school year.

Schools in Detroit and other communities like it have long struggled with kids missing too much school due to systemic issues, such as poverty. Though DPSCD had a chronic absenteeism rate of 60.9% in 2024-25, the district has outpaced the rest of the state in reducing rates since the COVID pandemic.

More students were eligible for the attendance incentive this year in part because eligibility was calculated in one-week cycles, Superintendent Nikoali Vitti said at an April board committee meeting. Last year, students had to have perfect attendance in two-week cycles to receive the money.

DPSCD data shows the incentive reached far more students attending neighborhood high schools, compared to last year when the majority who received the money went to students at application or exam schools.

“That was something that was a challenge last year that definitely improved this year,” Vitti said.

For example, only 16% of students at Pershing High School got the incentive at least once in 2024-25. More than 62% of the school did in 2025-26.

Data shows the program largely supported students who already had good attendance, however, and those who were at risk of becoming chronically absent.

“It’s still not at scale getting at those students that are dramatically absent,” said Vitti.

DPSCD defines dramatic chronic absence as missing 45 days or more of school.

The district’s data tracks with what studies on attendance incentives suggest: Such programs do not address demotivating factors like unsafe routes to school.

Still, Vitti said the incentive has been a success overall in improving high school attendance.

“I think it’s also creating greater advocacy among their students themselves,” he said, adding that students are making sure their attendance data is correct and following up with their teachers, principals, and the superintendent.

The district recommended the program expand to include middle school students next school year in a budget proposal presented to the board last month. If the board votes to adopt the idea, students in grades 6-8 would get $50 for each week of perfect attendance January through March.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD moving forward with plan to demolish historic Cooley High School building

2026-06-01T21:41:13+00:00

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A year after Detroit school district officials announced plans to preserve a portion of the long-vacant Cooley High School building while demolishing the rest, the district is moving ahead with plans for a full demolition.

The historic school building, which opened in 1928, will be razed this summer, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti confirmed to BridgeDetroit. He didn’t give an exact date for the demolition.

“Due to years of public outcry regarding safety, arson attacks and blight tickets, the building will be demolished,” Vitti said in an email. “Our last round of community engagement in the area about our plans for the building and land discussed the full demolition of the building.”

The news was first reported by HistoricDetroit.

Despite Cooley being razed, plans for a sports complex on the school site will move forward, Vitti said. He expects the $25 million project to be completed by 2028.

The Cooley sports complex will include a football field, outdoor track, and green space. DPSCD will use $15 million from the state for the planning, design, and construction for the outdoor football field track as well as the green space and updated parking lots. The DPSCD Foundation raised the remaining $10 million.

The project initially included plans to preserve a part of the building for a locker room, weight room, community gathering space, and dedication to Cooley alumni. It’s unclear whether that part of the plan will still come to fruition.

“Despite our initial intentions, once we started to understand specific costs for the actual project, the cost and timeline to preserve part of the building prevented our initial strategies,” Vitti said. “This was communicated during our last round of community engagement.”

Preserving the historic front façade would have cost an additional $2 million, Vitti said.

But Vitti told BridgeDetroit that the district will preserve some architectural features, like bricks, terra cotta medallions, the entry archways and the bell from the tower of the building.

“These will then be used to honor the history of Cooley through the athletic complex,” he said.

Located at 15055 Hubbell Ave. on the city’s northwest side, Cooley became one of Detroit’s most storied high schools and was known for its Mediterranean Revival architectural style. The former high school is one of the largest empty public schools in Detroit, according to city documents.

The school closed in 2010. The following year, Cooley was listed under the National Register of Historic Places.

Ann Boucher remembers the grandness of the Cooley building, including its marble staircases. She taught English at the high school from 1970 to 1977, when there were at least 3,000 students walking the halls, Boucher said. She’s disappointed to hear the building is being demolished.

“I would like to have seen it turned into condos or apartments or something like that,” Boucher said. “It was a huge building, so to see it being destroyed is really sad.”

News of the demolition comes after development plans in recent years stalled for Cooley. In 2023, DPSCD rejected nonprofit Life Remodeled’s proposal to turn Cooley into a community hub. The organization, which aims to revitalize neighborhoods with the help and cooperation of neighborhood organizations, was planning to house various nonprofits at Cooley, including a pediatric mental health center, vocational college, and after-school programs.

Life Remodeled made two offers to the district: $1 million in cash, which included the school’s 5.7 acres of athletic property, and $500,000 in cash, with the assurance of an eventual $1 million donation to DPSCD, should it wish to build an athletic complex on its own, former CEO Chris Lambert wrote in a letter at the time to area residents, Cooley alumni, and community partners. The district rejected both proposals.

Vitti at the time said the Life Remodeled proposal raised concerns among some board members over whether the district was underpricing the property, and how future owners would use the site, specifically a football field that was to be gifted to a junior college. Vitti at the time noted that plans for the field weren’t explicitly stated in the proposal.

Life Remodeled CEO Diallo Smith said in a statement last year that the organization has a strong partnership with DPSCD and they are excited for the students and the residents who will benefit from the new sports complex.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Longtime Detroit principal not returning to his school after disciplinary incidents, DPSCD says

2026-05-29T19:08:49+00:00

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A longtime Detroit public school principal who has faced misconduct allegations in the past won’t be returning to his leadership position in the fall.

Jeffery Robinson, principal at Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, will no longer lead the K-8 Afrocentric school due to “several disciplinary incidents and performance concerns,” Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti confirmed to BridgeDetroit. Robinson is currently serving a 30-day suspension without pay that was approved by the school board earlier this month.

When his suspension is over, Robinson will be reassigned to a different school as a principal on special assignment working under the direction of another principal, Vitti said. The district will decide which school Robinson will be assigned to when his suspension is completed.

Reginald Kirkland, the former principal of Carleton Elementary School, has been selected as the new principal of PRMX and was already introduced to staff and families, Vitti added.

BridgeDetroit reached out to Robinson, who said via text message that he cannot comment on his current status with DPSCD and that any comment made will be done through his attorney.

The attorney, Anthony Adams, said the educator is “reviewing his options” regarding legal action against the district. Adams, of Marine Adams Law PC in Grosse Pointe Farms, wants to help get Robinson’s job back, despite the district already selecting Kirkland as his successor.

Adams added that DPSCD administrators didn’t give Robinson a clear reason why he was suspended.

“We requested a copy of his personnel file, so that we can examine for ourselves what’s in it, and once we get that, then we’ll pursue whatever options we have available.”

Robinson is shocked and disappointed about his involuntary transfer to another school, Adams said.

“We’re talking about a man who’s been leading that school for a long time, who has long-standing relationships with generations of students who have walked through the doors and benefited from his guidance and wisdom as an administrator in the district,” he said. “He’s a man who’s mentored numerous administrators in the district.”

Adams’ and Robinson’s next steps are waiting for the personnel file to be delivered, and the attorney is sending the district a preservation letter to preserve all physical and electronic information pertaining to Robinson.

“We’re looking for information on his employment with the district, memos that have been written by administrators concerning Dr. Robinson, video tape, whatever they have to preserve so that in the event there is a multimillion dollar lawsuit, that information will be available for the public to see,” Adams said.

Robinson has faced disciplinary action before. Last year, the educator was placed on administrative leave for more than a month amid allegations of misconduct. Robinson was under investigation after a staff member saw him drag a female student by her legs down the hallway. The staff member said the student seemed disturbed by the incident, according to a district report detailing the incident.

During his investigatory interview, Robinson admitted to grabbing the student by her legs and dragging her into the hallway, but said it was done in a “playful” way, the report noted. A district representative then asked Robinson what he thought his actions would convey to the school’s staff and students, according to the document. The principal stated that people would see it as “being silly with the seventh-grade girls,” but added that he could see his actions were unprofessional.

Robinson is an expert in African-centered education in DPSCD and one of the original staff members of Malcolm X Academy, the first public African-centered school in the country, according to the school’s website. Robinson taught math and computer science for 18 years and has received several awards, including the Milken Family Foundation’s Milken Educator Award in 2001 and the Wayne County RESA Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2003, according to the school’s website.

Robinson took on the principal’s role after Paul Robeson Academy and Malcolm X Academy, once separate schools with a focus on African-centered education, combined. A former teacher at Malcolm X, Robinson has led the combined school for more than 15 years.

Principal’s absence causes confusion

Tahmyya Johnson, vice president of PRMX’s Parent Teacher Association, said parents have been given few details since Robinson was suspended. She has not received any emails or letters from school administrators or the district about Robinson’s absence or his reassignment.

“We don’t know what’s happening,” Johnson said. “Dr. Vitti or anybody has not provided us any information on why he was removed, nothing.”

She only found out about the school’s new principal last week when a counselor posted in the digital platform Class Dojo that Kirkland was doing a virtual meet-and-greet on May 22. Johnson and some other parents attempted to join the meeting, but said the Zoom link wasn’t working.

“We expressed in the comments that we weren’t able to join, and they (the school) said that an in-person meet-and-greet would be established, but that was it,” Johnson said. “We haven’t heard anything else.”

Johnson became a part of the PRMX community when she enrolled her son in pre-K a few years ago. He is now about to complete his second grade year.

Johnson initially had a tough time choosing a school for her son and had talked to several DPSCD principals. But when she talked to Robinson, he was friendly and personable, she said.

“He wanted to have a one-on-one meeting with me and tell me more about the school, and that stood out to me as a first-time parent trying to navigate public school,” Johnson said. “He didn’t make me feel like he was too busy to talk to me.”

Johnson likes the family-friendly environment of PRMX and said that Robinson has a rapport with the students and knows them by name. She’s unsure if she will bring her son back to the school next year.

“It almost feels as if they (the district) don’t want us there,” Johnson said. “Once the new school is up, they want new children, new teachers, new leadership. That’s exactly what it’s starting to feel like.”

Reginald Kirkland is the new principal

According to the PRMX website, Kirkland has served students in urban communities for more than 28 years as both a teacher and administrator. In addition to Carleton, he was principal at Bates Academy and the now-demolished Hanneman Elementary.

Kirkland also has experience working in higher education, serving as a district and school improvement facilitator at Michigan State University and as director of K-12 relations at Henry Ford College.

He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a doctorate in educational leadership, both from Eastern Michigan University. In addition, Kirkland has a graduate degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Principal a topic of discussion at school board meeting

A community member and two PRMX staff members spoke against and in favor of Robinson during the public comment period at a school board meeting earlier this month.

One woman spoke out against Robinson, saying he is responsible for his situation because he “lacks discipline and moral integrity.”

Meanwhile, a teacher who has been at the school for nine years said Robinson has been supportive in her teaching efforts. She talked about PRMX’s move into another location and the challenges it created as a new building is being built on the old school site.

“We have moved from our previous location to a new location, and with the move, there’s always going to be some transition,” the teacher said. “It is my hope that Dr. Robinson is able to lead us back to our old location because we were very successful.”

Attendance agent Kirk Peterson also showed support for the principal, asking the board to look at the academy’s performance under Robinson’s leadership.

“We need to keep Dr. Robinson where he’s at so he can continue to guide our children in the proper direction,” Peterson said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Proposed Detroit district budget prioritizes pay boosts, but Vitti warns of uncertainty ahead

2026-05-22T10:00:00+00:00

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The Detroit school board is on track to approve a budget for the next school year that increases pay for all employees, expands initiatives aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism, hires more counselors, and increases funding for teacher supplies so families aren’t expected to contribute.

Detroit Public Schools Community District board members got a preview of what is proposed in the $1.1 billion budget for the 2026-27 school year. The board will vote on it next month.

The budget anticipates a 1% enrollment increase. Currently there are 49,134 students. The budget was built conservatively with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget proposal, plus proposals from the Michigan House and the Michigan Senate, in mind.

“Everything is funded as it was last year,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said. “There’s not going to be any major changes.”

Vitti warned of uncertainty beyond the next school year, citing the district’s rising costs and inequitable funding from the state. The $94 million the district received from the settlement of a literacy lawsuit ends after the next fiscal year, leaving questions about how DPSCD can maintain the initiatives that money funded. Also a concern is the district must soon revert to a traditional funding model that relies on operating millage revenue to cover its operating costs. If collection rates falter, that would affect how much money the district receives.

Here are some of the key highlights of the budget proposal. Dollar amounts weren’t included in the budget materials.

While the district is in the middle of negotiations with all of its employee unions, Vitti said the budget will fund salary increases and onetime bonuses for staff.
The district will expand a pilot program that provided yellow school bus transportation beginning this school year for some students at Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney. Pershing High School and Cody High School will join the program, which seeks to improve attendance, for the 2026-27 school year.
The district would hire seven additional high school counselors, which would mean the district would have a ratio of one counselor for every 250 students. That is the ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association. Michigan schools had one counselor for every 565 students during the 2024-25 school year.
Middle school students would be included in an attendance incentive program that this year paid high school students $100 a week for each week they had perfect attendance. The middle school students would earn $50 for each perfect attendance week during the program. The program ran from January to March this school year.
The district would increase funding for teacher supplies and materials and establish a minimum supply needed for all schools. The intent is to fully fund supplies and materials. Vitti said the board has made it clear “that families should not be required to give extra supplies to individual teachers or classrooms.”

Board President LaTrice McClendon asked Vitti what it would take to follow the city of Detroit’s lead and establish a minimum wage of $21.45 an hour in the district. Vitti replied that the district had done an analysis and would share the amount with the board, but he noted that it “exceeded what we thought we could afford in the next two years.”

The enrollment projection prompted discussion among board members. McClendon said she’d like to see the district shoot for an enrollment increase of 3% to 4%. Vitti said the 1% goal is consistent with how enrollment is trending statewide.

“We need to think bigger, because we have kids who want to come back, and I don’t think folks realize all that we offer,” McClendon said. “I mean, we’re doing a lot of amazing things. We have work to do. I’m not saying we don’t, but we are making strides.”

Board member Bessie Harris urged the district to promote neighborhood schools.

“We see the Cass and the Renaissance and the Kings and the Southeastern and the Palmer Park, but we don’t see the Thirkells, we don’t see the Spains. We need to brag about our neighborhood schools, not just the application and test-in schools, but get down to the nitty gritty, because in every school is something they can highlight.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD to close Thurgood Marshall school next year, district confirms

2026-05-15T17:02:10+00:00

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As the Detroit school district prepares to close four schools next month as part of its accelerated phase-out plan, another school in the district will be closing sooner than expected.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School on the city’s west side is closing at the end of next school year, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti confirmed to BridgeDetroit on May 8. Those students will transfer to the new Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy building that is slated to open in the fall of 2027.

There are more than 350 students enrolled at Marshall, according to the school’s website.

Marshall and four other schools – Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School – have been on DPSCD’s list of phase-out buildings since 2022 due to low enrollment and high operation costs. The district initially planned to stop enrolling new students at the schools, phasing out grades over time to minimize disruption to families. But during last year’s budget cycle, the district’s board voted to accelerate the closure of Ann Arbor Trail, Blackwell Institute, Clark, and Greenfield Union, as well as Marshall, to save between $10-$19 million.

The four schools are closing at the end of the school year on June 5.

During a school board meeting on Tuesday, Vitti further explained that the plan changed due to budgetary concerns like inflation and the need to increase salaries for district employees. The closing of the schools are part of the district’s $700 million facility master plan.

“We were paying almost $20,000 to $25,000 a student to keep those schools open,” Vitti said. “Meanwhile, we had significant threats from the federal government regarding cuts under the Trump administration, but we also had rising inflationary costs for everything. Whether you’re talking about heating buildings, cleaning buildings, curriculum, technology, buses; everything is going up in cost.”

Vitti gives updates on other school closures

Vitti also gave updates on the phase-out schools that haven’t been discussed in previous meetings, such as the district planning to demolish all five buildings within the next two years to prevent blight.

Yellow bus service will remain for the students affected by the phase-outs, Vitti added. Kids will continue to be picked up from their same bus routes, but instead of going to Ann Arbor Trail, Blackwell, Clark, or Greenfield Union, the buses will transport them to the assigned schools, he said.

During the meeting, board member Ida Short asked about the demolition of Greenfield Union, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Vitti said the school would have cost too much to repair, as it would have required a $24 million investment to get Greenfield Union back to the condition it was when it first opened in 1916. While an older building on the campus will be demolished, a newer addition will remain open. DPSCD is looking at using the building as a testing site for its special education department, a site for parent engagement, or for central office staff, Vitti said.

“If we see a rebound in residential rates, then we will preserve the building with people in it, and we can always build a new building on that campus,” he said.

Meanwhile, board secretary Monique Bryant asked if minimal repairs are still being handled for the phase-out schools. Vitti said that repairs would only be addressed if they disrupted day-to-day operations at the schools.

“Let’s say there was a gaping hole in a roof and water was coming down and it was in a classroom that couldn’t be moved. We would just invest in patching up the roof,” he said.

In regard to engagement, board president LaTrice McClendon asked what the district has done recently to notify parents and the school community about the school closures.

When the phase-outs at the five schools began, district officials had meetings with parents and staff members, Vitti said. When the board decided to accelerate the phase-outs around this time last year, the district had meetings with staff members. Families also received letters about the accelerated phase-outs last year and in February, Vitti said.

District spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said families at Marshall were notified about the news around the same time as the other schools.

Students at Ann Arbor Trail, Blackwell Institute, Clark, and Greenfield are assigned to their nearby neighborhood schools for the fall, which are Dixon Educational Learning Academy, Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School at Howe, Hamilton Elementary-Middle School, and Nolan Elementary-Middle School, respectively.

Bryant also asked if students and parents have been given opportunities to visit the assigned schools. DPSCD officials called parents in March to invite them to visit the assigned schools or to talk about sending their children to another DPSCD school, Vitti said.

“And we’re having multiple weekend events at the new boundary schools in June and July so that families can become comfortable, meet the staff, meet other families and students,” he said.

Former state representative and DPSCD board member LaMar Lemmons spoke out against the school closures during public comment.

“The impact of school closings goes far beyond the students, but it impacts the home values, it impacts the quality of life,” he said. “I ask that you reconsider.”

Former DPSCD central office administrator Theodore Jones also opposes the school closures. He said when a school closes, neighborhood safety is put at risk, a community anchor is lost, and the neighborhood is weakened. He asked the board if all alternatives for the schools have been explored, such as public and private partnerships.

“Have we reached out to home-based child care operators in the area and offered them a chance to run a classroom or two that would both bring in new revenue as well as a pathway to rebuild enrollment over the long-term?”

Later in the meeting, Vitti responded to Jones, saying many philanthropic organizations are not interested in funding facilities because they believe that’s the responsibility of districts and local taxpayers.

“Even if those funds were available, the question is, ‘How do we address 72,000 seats with 50,000 children?’ We can hypothetically invest in buildings that are being phased out, but to what end?”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit made buses free for students, but getting to and from school is still hard

2026-05-14T20:42:55+00:00

This story was originally published by Outlier Media.

Detroit buses are now free to all of the city’s K-12 students, which means 10th grader Jessica Horton has a free pass to a long wait outside a liquor store after school.

It’d be a quick trip home if her parents could leave work to pick her up. Instead, Horton stands around with dozens of other students outside a liquor-lotto joint on the city’s eastside, hoping a bus will get her home in under an hour.

“We get out of school at 3:20 p.m. but we don’t get a bus until 3:55,” Horton said. “We’d have to get out of class before the bell” to make the 3:27 p.m. bus.

The city’s bus schedules are often woefully misaligned with school schedules. Pair that with a system-wide afternoon on-time rate that hovers near 70%, and it’s clear that Detroit Department of Transportation buses — effectively the primary public transit option for many high schoolers — have serious drawbacks.

Mayor Mary Sheffield took office with a promise to focus on the city’s youngest residents, and her administration quickly applied that lens to public transit. In April, the city launched a pilot program making bus rides free for students. Robert Cramer, executive director of transit for the city, said a conversation with students at Cody High School also pushed the department to improve its bus-tracking system.

Meanwhile, students still face long waits and poorly timed routes.

Consider Southeastern High School, where Horton is a student. The first bus scheduled to arrive at one of the closest stops arrives just minutes after school lets out. Most don’t make it in time, but a handful of students run out of class to catch it. Earlier this month, Outlier Media waited with a group of students for 30 minutes for the next bus.

Two students rush to catch the bus.

Cramer acknowledged the scheduling issues and said many of them could be fixed with simple changes. He hopes improvements will be in place by the time school starts next year.

“It takes a little bit of time … but if these are adjustments that we can make to reflect [the mayor’s] extra emphasis on educational outcomes and supporting students and their families, this should be a slam dunk.”

He said potential changes include schedule tweaks and assigning additional or larger buses to routes frequented by students.

Students are less likely to attend school consistently when they lack reliable transportation, research shows. Chronic absenteeism disrupts student learning.

A recent pilot program that provided yellow bus service to students at two Detroit high schools showed top district officials that better transit options at neighborhood schools would improve attendance rates.

Bus routes don’t match school schedules

Detroit high schoolers, like their peers in many major U.S. cities, have long relied on public transit to get to school.

But taking a bus to school got harder as the city careened toward bankruptcy in the 2010s. As the bus system shrank, Cramer said, routes and schedules that once favored students were left by the wayside.

An Outlier Media review of bus routes found that more than 40% of high schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District are served by buses that run infrequently or at times that poorly match school schedules. (See more about our methodology at the bottom of the story.)

And timing isn’t the only issue.

In the case of Southeastern students, dozens often crowd together waiting for the bus — more than a single city bus can handle.

“If they see a whole bunch of kids, they won’t stop for the ones that can’t fit,” said Aaron West, a 9th grader at Southeastern.

Problems can multiply when students need to transfer buses, which is common because many Detroit students attend high school far from home.

Transfers are often poorly timed, consigning students to long waits for a second or third bus.

“If they have to transfer, almost half the time they miss it, and then they have to call an Uber if they want to be on time,” said Lindsey Matson, deputy director of youth organizing at 482Forward, an education advocacy group.

“And they don’t have Uber money.”

How we reported this story

The findings in this story came from an Outlier Media analysis comparing Detroit city bus schedules to high school bell schedules in Detroit. Outlier used ChatGPT to generate a Python script for the analysis. See the code here.

The analysis included 23 Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) high schools. To simplify the analysis, charter schools were excluded, along with schools that may offer transportation or that operate on irregular schedules, such as career and technical education schools and the Jerry L. White Center.

We used publicly available location data for schools and city bus stops to calculate the four stops closest to each school. Schools are frequently served by more than one bus route, and each route has one stop for each direction of travel. Most schools had at least four stops within a quarter mile.

We collected bus schedule data through a DDOT API. We gathered bell schedules for each school from the DPSCD website.

We considered bus and school schedules to be misaligned if students had to wait at least 30 minutes before or after school: a conservative measure of inconvenience by public transit standards.

We excluded buses that arrived fewer than six minutes (the typical walk time from stops to schools in our analysis) before the first bell or after the last bell.

At eight of the 23 schools we analyzed, buses were scheduled to arrive 30 minutes or more before the first bell — or just a few minutes before the bell, with a long gap since the earlier bus. At seven other schools, students would have to wait at least 30 minutes after the last bell for the first available bus.The analysis does not account for the fact that DDOT buses are frequently late, which makes getting to school by bus even more of a challenge.

Koby Levin is a reporter for Outlier Media. You can reach him at koby@outliermedia.org.

If your child’s Detroit school is closing in June, we want to hear from you.

2026-05-06T21:40:52+00:00

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If you have a student at a Detroit school that will be closing soon, we want to hear from you! BridgeDetroit and Chalkbeat Detroit are partnering to document this challenging time for parents, students, and district staff.

Detroit Public Schools Community District is accelerating the timeline for closing J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School, to save between $10 million and $19 million. In addition, Barack Obama Leadership Academy — a charter school — will also close if school leaders are unable to find a new authorizer to oversee the school. DPSCD, the current authorizer, has opted not to renew the school’s contract. .

What we need from you: If you have a student going to one of these schools, please take this brief survey and share your information with us so reporters from Chalkbeat or Bridge can reach out to talk to you!

Know someone else who is impacted? Please share the survey with them too!

Chalkbeat Detroit and BridgeDetroit reporters are looking to talk to parents whose children's school is closing in Detroit. Scan the QR Code to access the survey.

Detroiters have seen mass school closures over the years due to declining population, the state’s emergency management of the district, and enrollment lost to neighboring charters and suburban districts. Since 2000, more than 200 school buildings have closed in the city.

During last year’s budget cycle, the district’s board voted to accelerate the closure of these four schools to save between $10 million and $19 million. The board also voted to speed up the planned phase-out of Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School, though there are no plans for it to close this school year. This district has not said when Marshall will close.

The under-utilized buildings cost the district more money to operate than the revenue each brings in, officials said. The threat of federal funding cuts, demands for higher teacher pay, and inflation were all considered when district officials recommended closing the schools earlier.

Formerly known as Timbuktu Academy, the Obama school offers African-centric education to about 300 students in grades K-5. The school has been open since 1997 and is one of the oldest charters in Michigan.

The Detroit school board cited concerns over the school’s budget and transparency, as well as its teacher licensure rate. Some board members also commented on the school’s poor academic performance.

If the school can’t find a new authorizer, it will be forced to close. The school’s current contract ends June 30.

Lauren Abdel-Razzaq is the executive director at BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at lrazzaq@bridgedetroit.com.

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Lawsuit filed on behalf of DPSCD students seeks equitable funding for the district

2026-05-05T21:57:32+00:00

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A new lawsuit makes some familiar and some new claims that the state of Michigan has shortchanged students in the Detroit school district.

The lawsuit, filed in April in state court, seeks to require the state to increase funding to the Detroit Public Schools Community District and to eliminate debt incurred by the city’s school system while it was under state control.

Troy attorney Gerard Mantese filed the lawsuit on behalf of a parent of two DPSCD students and other “similarly situated students.” The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, names as defendants Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko, and members of the State Board of Education.

The State Board met in closed session Tuesday morning to receive legal guidance about the lawsuit. When members returned to open session, the board voted to direct Pamela Pugh, the board chair, to seek guidance and advice from the Michigan Attorney General’s office.

Some of the claims in the lawsuit are similar to a “right to read” lawsuit filed against the state in 2016 that alleged the state denied Detroit district students an education because of poor building conditions, poor academic conditions, lack of materials, and use of uncertified teachers. The lawsuit was settled with the state in 2020, and the district eventually received $94.4 million from the state to support literacy efforts.

The new lawsuit makes similar claims about building and academic conditions in the district. But it also makes newer arguments that funding for DPSCD is inequitable compared to other districts in the state.

“The State holds out public education as the great equalizer, a mandatory contract between the government and its youngest citizens: attend, and you will be given the tools to succeed,” the lawsuit says. “Yet, for DPSCD students, this is a broken promise. They are forced to rely on a system that the State itself helped to break, that it supervised during the running up of a huge debt, and that it now maintains as a source of ongoing constitutional injury.”

The Detroit district receives $10,050 per student from the state as its base amount of pupil funding. A majority of school districts, as well as charter schools, also receive that amount. But some districts — many of them in wealthier communities — receive more. When the current funding system was created in the mid-1990s those districts were allowed to continue spending at a higher level, with voter approval.

DPSCD’s total revenues do increase substantially with federal funding, but those dollars have less flexibility in how they can be spent.

“DPSCD needs more funding to even have a chance at providing an equal education to students in Detroit public schools,” the lawsuit says.

The state has been targeted in the lawsuits because it had some form of control over Detroit Public Schools — which was the district that educated students until 2016 — from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2006 through 2016. In 2016, because of crushing debt in DPS, a legislative initiative led to the creation of DPSCD to educate students. DPS remains to collect tax revenue to pay off legacy debt.

Mantese’s legal specialty is corporate law, but he has handled civil rights cases. He told Chalkbeat Tuesday that over the years, while providing volunteer legal work in Detroit, he’s heard from many parents who’ve complained about poor school building conditions.

“There’s unacceptably hot conditions, sometimes freezing temperatures, mold issues, bathrooms that don’t work — a whole host of facility issues that just makes it very difficult to have an environment that provides for a good education,” Mantese said.

DPSCD has invested heavily in its facilities in the last decade, dedicating about $700 million of its federal pandemic relief funding as part of its facility master plan. But that only addresses a fraction of the district’s $2.1 billion infrastructure needs.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has for years pushed for equitable funding and made similar arguments as those cited in the current lawsuit. A spokesperson said Vitti “does support the underlying argument made in the lawsuit.”

“Michigan’s K-12 funding formula continues to fund students unequally,” Chrystal Wilson, spokesperson for the district, said in a statement. “Governor Whitmer and recent legislatures have narrowed the gap over the years to address the inequality, but it still exists. At the same time, little has been done to support lower income districts to address facility issues. This is not fair to our students or staff.”

The lawsuit includes an affidavit from Jeremy Vidito, DPSCD’s chief financial officer, in which he says the inequities in funding “have a direct and substantial impact on the ability of DPSCD to provide safe, modern, and equitable learning environments for its students.”

“They also create long-term structural disadvantages that impair the District’s operational capacity and financial stability,” he wrote.

School districts are barred in state law from using state funding to sue the state. Mantese said district officials played no role in the crafting of the lawsuit, and he reached out to Vitti when a draft of the lawsuit was done. He is not being paid by anyone for his legal services.

LaMar Lemmons, who served on the boards for Detroit Public Schools and DPSCD, has long pushed for the district itself to sue the state. He had not read the lawsuit but described it as “not only necessary but long overdue.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district: Yellow bus pilot improved attendance for Henry Ford High School students

2026-05-04T21:05:51+00:00

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The Detroit district began the school year with a $600,000 experiment: Would yellow bus service for high schoolers improve attendance?

As the school year wraps up, the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s data suggests it can – with caveats. A pilot program offering yellow bus service at two high schools – Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney – produced different results.

The data indicates the pilot reduced chronic absenteeism for students who live near Henry Ford and frequently rode the bus, administrators said during a board committee meeting last week. The results were inconclusive for East English students, because few students participated, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at the meeting.

“As we think about the budget process, I’m comfortable in saying that yellow bus services in a neighborhood school where there’s a larger concentration of students who live in the neighborhood can reduce chronic absences,” said Vitti.

The bus rides were only available to students who lived within the feeder pattern of the two high schools.

This likely reduced the number of riders at East English Village, Vitti said, because a smaller percentage of its students live near the school.

Board Chair LaTrice McClendon said during the meeting the district should also continue to search for transportation fixes for students on the east side, where population density is lower.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t still need to provide buses,” she said. “We need to think outside of the box.”

The district spent around $600,000 to run four buses twice a day at each of the schools for the entire school year, according to DPSCD. A total of 102 Henry Ford students rode the buses through April 2. Only 29 did at East English Village.

Ridership increased significantly at Henry Ford in the winter months, as the district expected. In November, an average of 15 students rode the bus every day.

Both schools had higher chronic absenteeism rates in the 2024-25 school year than the DPSCD average – 82% at Henry Ford and 77% at East English Village. The district’s overall rate was 60.9%.

Students are considered to be chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of days in a school year, or roughly 18 days of instruction in a typical 180-day school year.

City buses are the main mode of transportation for most Detroit high schoolers because DPSCD does not provide yellow bus service to most. Though city bus rides are now free for all Detroit students, service remains unreliable. Some students say it takes them hours to travel to school due to inconsistent schedules and inconvenient routes. Others report feeling unsafe while they wait at bus stops.

Yellow bus pilot results varied at the two schools

Most high school principals in the district want yellow buses for their students, Vitti said during last week’s committee meeting.

“I feel that the Henry Ford pilot can tell us that it’s worth exploring,” Vitti said. “I would not scale at every high school, but it is something to explore maybe at certain schools.”

The 59 Henry Ford students who rode buses more than 10 times reduced their chronic absenteeism by 8.5 percentage points so far in 2025-26 compared to the year before, according to DPSCD. The change represented the biggest reduction in chronic absenteeism of all student groups across ten neighborhood high schools, administrators said.

The 43 Henry Ford students who rode between one and nine times reduced chronic absenteeism by 7 percentage points, according to DPSCD.

The remaining 263 Henry Ford students who were in the boundary for bus pickup but did not ride at all increased their chronic absenteeism rates by 3.8 percentage points, the district said.

Another 141 students at Henry Ford were not eligible for rides because they lived too far away, DPSCD data shows. They represented about 27% of students at the school.

More than 300 East English Village students who were eligible for rides at the school never participated. Another 266, or 55% of students at the school, did not qualify for rides.

Only 18 East English students rode buses more than 10 times. Eleven rode between one and 9 times.

Board member Monique Bryant, who rode along on the buses with McClendon a couple of times, said during the meeting many of the East English Village stops were not in areas “conducive for students to walk.”

“We saw an overwhelming number of students being dropped off, or they were in vehicles waiting in those areas that were too dark, where there were abandoned houses,” she said.

Both Bryant and McClendon had concerns about the district’s data collection around bus riders, saying there were likely more students participating than were captured.

In order to continue the pilot or expand it to other schools, a majority of board members must approve the plans. The district has not made any formal proposals to do so.

Budget discussions for the 2026-27 school year will begin at next month’s committee meeting. The board must approve a budget by the end of June.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

DPCSD: Savings from mayor’s free student bus passes could fund after-school programs at three sites

2026-05-01T10:00:01+00:00

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Mayor Mary Sheffield wants the Detroit Public Schools Community District to use the money it previously spent on city bus passes to expand after-school programs.

But the money freed up in March when Sheffield made bus fare free for all Detroit students would only allow the district to add high-quality after-school programs at three pre-kindergarten through eighth grade schools, administrators said this week.

The mayor’s Ride to Rise program will save roughly $700,000 for DPSCD, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the district’s April board meeting. It would cost $200,000 annually at each school to run programs serving around 120 students, five days a week, with a ratio of 15 kids to one staff member, Vitti said during a board committee meeting Wednesday.

The last time DPSCD explored the idea of paying for after-school programming at each of its K-8 schools was before the COVID pandemic. Vitti said Wednesday that the cost was too high for the district.

“We were looking at $20 million, and that’s why we walked away,” he said.

After the mayor asked DPSCD to consider using the free bus fare money for new out-of-school programs, Vitti said the district did an analysis to determine options with the greatest potential impact.

The district mapped out the current availability of after-school programs and identified schools with high rates of chronic absenteeism and lower enrollment since 2020, said Vitti.

The three schools selected — Ronald Brown Academy and Bow and Marquette elementary-middle schools — were chosen as sites that future investments would likely pay off, Vitti said.

The presentation was the first breakdown of how the district might allocate the funds and was not an official recommendation to the board, which has the final say. It will begin discussing the budget for the next school year at next month’s committee meeting and must approve a budget by the end of June.

Sheffield has made access to after-school enrichment one of her key priorities to improve education and outcomes for youth in the city. Her goal is for there to be a program within a 2-mile radius of every Detroit school. She also proposed $2.2 million in the city’s budget for such programs — an increase of 120% from 2025.

Many families in Detroit and southeast Michigan want their kids to have access to after-school programs, but only about 1 in 5 students do, according to a 2025 survey.

Years of research show after-school programming benefits school attendance, student behavior, and academic performance.

In Detroit, chronic absenteeism is high and academic performance lags behind statewide averages because of systemic barriers.

At the state level, legislators have also increased funds for before and after-school programs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recommended increasing the grants to $135 million in the next budget. The state education budget has not yet been approved. The grants are awarded to specific after-school program providers.

Every DPSCD school offers after-school tutoring in literacy and math at the K-8 levels and SAT preparation for high schoolers.

But tutoring does not offer the kind of enrichment, social activities, sports, or social emotional development after-school programming does. Those activities give students opportunities to explore robotics, music, visual arts, and more. Providers say the programs help leverage kids’ interests into academic success.

Some DPSCD schools use their budgets to pay for their own programs, but the district does not allocate specific dollars to pay for them, Vitti said. Organizations also use philanthropic or state grants to offer programs at district schools.

Board Chair LaTrice McClendon asked officials during Wednesday’s meeting to put a call out to community organizations and nonprofits that may be able to provide programming at DPSCD schools.

Vitti agreed, but cautioned there are not many providers in the city with the funding or capacity to expand.

“We did dig into this during the pandemic, and it was disappointing. When you try to ensure for quality and the right number of staff-student ratio and the background to actually do it, there aren’t that many providers,” he said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district says it will not renew Barack Obama Leadership Academy’s charter despite protests

2026-04-30T01:19:21+00:00

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Dozens of Barack Obama Leadership Academy students chanted “Save our school!” in the rain Wednesday afternoon from the sidewalk in front of the Fisher Building in Detroit’s New Center.

The kids traveled from their school on the east side of Detroit in two yellow buses. They picketed with signs that said, “Our school is more than a building – it’s our community,” “Protect our place to learn,” and “My opinion counts.”

It was a last-ditch effort to convince the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board before its meeting that evening to authorize another one-year contract for the charter to operate.

But board members had already come to a final decision.

A majority of the board does not plan to authorize a new contract, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement released Wednesday morning. Vitti said he agreed with the board’s position, citing concerns about the school’s budget and transparency, as well as its teacher licensure rate. Some board members had previously signaled they would not approve a one-year contract due to the school’s poor academic performance, and the statement cleared up any uncertainty about the board’s position.

If the school can’t find a new authorizer, it will be forced to close. The school’s current contract ends June 30.

Cha-Rhonda Edgerson, CEO of the charter school, said the charter is seeking other authorizers in order to stay open, but called the board’s decision “deeply concerning.

“The most important thing is to protect the kids’ continuity of learning,” she said.

Obama charter supporters plead their case

At the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, board member Ida Short requested to change the agenda to discuss the charter’s future. She also asked to do the same to talk about four district schools set to close at the end of the school year.

Short did not explain the reasoning behind her request. She was absent from the March committee meeting in which the board opted not to advance a one-year contract renewal for the school to a vote.

But all four other present board members rejected Short’s proposal.

That decision did not deter the Obama school’s supporters from making their case later in the meeting.

Monique Philpot, the office manager at the charter school, said during public comment that the school offers resources and wraparound support for families and community members.

“I want to tug on your heartstrings,” she said. “Look at our beautiful students. There’s so much more that we give.”

Philpot was among a group of community members who came to the meeting to support the charter school. But the small conference room where the meeting was held has a capacity of 33 people, and most of the seats were occupied by district staff and contractors.

So Philpot and the others sat outside and waited to enter the conference room to address the board.

Some community members who came to speak in support of the charter complained the district changed the time and room of Wednesday’s committee meeting.

The meeting began at 1:30 p.m. but was originally scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. in a larger meeting room. DPSCD spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said the time was changed on the public board calendar on Monday.

DPSCD changed its recommendation for Barack Obama charter

Despite pleas from the school’s supporters, Detroit school officials have expressed several concerns about the school.

Last month, board members said the charter failed to adequately improve its academic performance after multiple warnings over the years. The majority of the four board members at the March 25 committee meeting chose not to put the contract to a vote.

Administrators in DPSCD’s Charter School Office originally recommended last month the board approve a three-year contract.

Vitti said Wednesday that he had changed the recommendation to a one-year contract to allow the charter time to transition to find a new authorizer.

But in Wednesday’s statement, Vitti said he reexamined the rubric the district used for his recommendation for a one-year renewal after a public outcry at the April board meeting. Supporters were upset the board did not include a vote on the one-year contract renewal on the meeting’s agenda.

After a closer look, Vitti said the charter breached its current contract because it submitted an annual audit late to the district and the state. He added the charter also did not maintain sufficient “transparency reporting” on its website.

“As a result, the reassessed rubric’s scoring would not meet the standard for reauthorization,” he said.

The superintendent said he also supported the board’s decision because the charter has an unsustainable budget and only 25% of its teachers are certified. The rest are either working as daily substitute teachers, or working with a permit issued to the school from the Michigan Department of Education while they work to complete certification, he said.

Bernard Parker, co-founder of the school, said the board’s decision will essentially force the school to shutter. Without a new contract from DPSCD, he said, the charter “will close our doors and be another blighted building in the community” on June 30, “and 300 students will have to seek other schools.”

But Vitti has said at multiple meetings that DPSCD’s decision to not reauthorize the charter does not close the school. The charter may seek other authorizers to continue operations, he said.

Edgerson said the charter has reached out to 11 other authorizers to seek a new contract. Nine said it was not possible to move forward with a contract by the end of June, she said.

Vitti countered that it’s possible for charter schools and authorizers to reach a contract within as few as 30 days. But he also acknowledged the district needed to be more transparent with charters.

“We have to do a better job in the future of directly communicating back to the charters and really explaining how we are evaluating you,” he said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Parents say Detroit schools fail to complete special ed evaluations on time. Here is what the data shows.

2026-04-28T10:00:01+00:00

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Many students in the Detroit school district are not receiving special education evaluations within the time frame required by state and federal law, according to data shared last week with the school board.

Of the 1,680 evaluation referrals the Detroit Public Schools Community District received from the start of the school year through March, 72 were not completed on time and 728 are still in process, the data shows.

The numbers, which were given to board members during a study session, underscore what advocates and parents have said for years: that some students in DPSCD and other districts across the state are missing out on crucial services due to delays in the process.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district has improved its number of on-time evaluations, but it needs to continue to establish a “no-excuse culture” around evaluation times.

“The standard is 100% ,” he said of the requirements of the law.

District officials pointed to some circumstances beyond their control to explain the numbers. Lohren Nzoma, assistant superintendent of the Division of Exceptional Student Education, said some of the delays are due to conflicting parent schedules, difficulty getting in touch with families, and students moving schools or homes frequently.

LaTrice McClendon, the board’s chair, asked district administrators for a breakdown of how many students with pending evaluations are moving frequently and how many cases are delayed because parents can’t be reached.

“How many are in school, and also, how long have they been in process?” she said, asking if students are waiting for “six months, a year, two years” to receive an individualized education program, or IEP, which maps out the educational needs, goals, programs, and services schools will provide students with disabilities.

District administrators did not have the information available at the meeting, but told board members they would follow up to provide it. If evaluations are not completed on time due to situations out of the district’s control, Vitti said those reasons need to be better documented at the school-level.

An initial evaluation is a comprehensive assessment conducted by a multidisciplinary team to determine whether a child is eligible for an IEP.

Initial evaluations may be requested by parents, school staff, or public agencies when a child displays signs of having a disability. If a district requests the evaluation, a parent must provide consent for it to move forward, according to the Michigan Department of Education. Districts must complete evaluations within 30 school days.

The law allows the timeline to extend beyond 30 days when parents agree in writing before the initial deadline.

As the number of students diagnosed with disabilities has increased in DPSCD and across the state, districts have struggled to hire enough staff to keep up with demand for evaluations. National staffing shortages and inadequate state funding for special education compound the problem, Vitti said.

“The fact is, in the state of Michigan, we are not appropriately funding [special education],” he said.

The district estimates that its special education costs this school year will total more than $214 million. Local, state, and federal grants will bring in around $179 million for special education. The district will have to use more than $34.9 million from its general funds to fill the gap.

Vitti attributed some of the district’s improvements to hiring more school psychologists and speech language pathologists earlier this school year.

Corletta Vaughn, vice chair of the board, said she hears from parents that the district does not follow up about pending evaluations for long periods of time.

“People are saying that, and what’s going to happen is we’re going to do better at communicating with our families,” Nzoma said.

Here is a breakdown of the district’s data on evaluations:

Administrators said they expect about 65% of the 728 pending initial evaluations to be done on time, while some others will get extensions.
Of the 811 complete initial evaluations this year, 637 were done on time and 102 were given permissible extensions.
Around 1,095 students who have already been identified as needing an IEP were not reevaluated on time this school year through March, up 16% from the same time in 2024.
There was a 48% decrease in the number of late annual IEP evaluations through March this year compared to the same time in 2024. Still, 249 were not completed on time.
Nearly 18% of the complaints parents filed against the district with the state stem from delayed responses to requests for initial evaluations. Another 7% of the complaints are from parents who say their children’s reevaluations were not done on time.

Changes to DPSCD’s special education system

This school year, the district revamped special education with centralized hubs at neighborhood schools. The change increased the number of self-contained classrooms from 174 to 185. Students with disabilities receive instruction and services in self-contained classrooms while they attend general education schools.

According to the district, the change streamlined administrative processes and led to stronger compliance in evaluations.

The district has reduced vacancies for special education staff from more than 100 in 2018 to as few as four at the start of the 2025-26 school year, according to DPSCD.

Recruitment and retention efforts, such as a $15,000 incentive to keep special education staff in the district, as well as programs for current staff to earn new certifications, have driven the change, Vitti said.

The main area the district still needs to improve, said Vitti, is customer service.

“We have to treat all parents better, but we have to be particularly more empathetic with our [special education] parents,” he said. “They are struggling more than the general ed students. They have more questions, they have more issues, they have more concerns.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Wayne County will consider new schooling options for its juvenile detention facility

2026-04-23T18:33:00+00:00

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The Detroit school district’s board approved a one-year contract with a charter school that operates in the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility, as the school’s future remains uncertain.

Board members signed off on the contract last week for Infinity Institute of Learning Strict Discipline Academy after district administrators said the school made enough progress to merit the extension. The one-year contract could also serve as a transition period as Wayne County officials consider other options for educating youth detained in the facility.

Mervat Jaafar, county spokesperson, told Chalkbeat last week the county is preparing to ask for proposals from other contractors and charter schools.

“The purpose is to ensure we secure the highest‑quality educational services for the youth in our care, supported by strong oversight, appropriate interventions, and programming aligned with their individual needs,” said Jaafar.

The charter’s current authorization contract ends June 30.

Infinity Institute of Learning Strict Discipline Academy went through a number of changes last year after the Michigan Department of Education found its management company did not evaluate students for special education services in the time required by the law.

A new management company, Infinite Pathways, overhauled the charter’s staff and brought the charter into compliance with special education requirements, according to the state. Zakia Gibson, CEO of Infinite Pathways, said during the board’s March committee meeting the charter has added transitional services for youth exiting the program.

“I think that we are needed,” she said. “I think that our students and our youth appreciate the services of continuing their education, even under these difficult and trying circumstances.”

The county may seek another one-year renewal with the current management company after this one to “provide the necessary transition period” and ensure there is no lapse in educational services, Jaafar said.

The detention facility has faced scrutiny in recent years for complaints of understaffing and overcrowding. In 2022, youth were left to mostly educate themselves for seven weeks when they were moved to a different facility because the charter was only authorized to operate in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Jaafar said the facility has not experienced overcrowding in more than three years.

“The facility has maintained adequate staffing and continues to strengthen staffing levels to support safe operations and high‑quality services,” she added.

Improvements to education in the Wayne County JDF

The charter in the Wayne County JDF, formerly Capstone Charter Academy, was first authorized in 2012, according to DPSCD. It is the only strict discipline academy in Detroit.

Strict discipline academies serve students referred by the court system, have been expelled or suspended from other schools, and those whose special education plans require it. They are intended for students who may otherwise not have an opportunity to be educated.

Michigan law requires that juvenile justice facilities make every effort to ensure the educational needs of the youth in their custody are met. Youth must be provided with appropriate educational services within five days of their arrival.

Schools in the facilities must also comply with special education laws, including providing immediate assessments if a child displays signs of a disability. Students, parents, and public agencies may request initial evaluations, which must be completed within 30 days.

Of the 102 students enrolled in Infinity Institute of Learning Strict Discipline Academy at the start of this school year, 39 had disabilities, state records show. The school serves youth as young as age 10.

The MDE issued a corrective action plan for the charter in February 2025, state documents obtained through public records requests show.

The charter’s students generally have a history of dropping out, previous incarceration, placement in other residential facilities, and short windows of enrollment in other schools, state records show. Students’ typically stay between one and 90 days, according to the state.

A “high percentage” of the students enrolled in the charter were either not evaluated for special education or given an individualized education program, or IEP, in the amount of time the law requires, according to state records. (Records didn’t give the specific percentage.)

The MDE also ordered the charter to train its staff on the revised special education procedures.

Last spring, after the MDE’s initial findings, the charter hired a new superintendent and created several new positions to address gaps in service, according to DPSCD.

A new special education coordinator changed the academic programming, created a new documentation process to ensure students received services, and created a plan to provide outstanding compensatory hours to make up for service and instructional time students did not previously get.

There has been a reduction in the number of compensatory hours owed to students, though there are still more for the charter to make up, DPSCD administrators said.

The charter also improved family engagement and communication, as well as coordination with the JDF, the district said.

The MDE found the charter in compliance in January and closed the corrective action plan.

Felecia Brimmage, superintendent of Infinity Institute, said during the March committee meeting that students are now engaged in their education.

“We are making sure that when youth are coming to us, not in compliance with their IEP, that we are changing that for them,” she said.

Charters are not the only option for educating kids in detention in the state.

For example, the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center contracts education services with L’Anse Creuse Public Schools, a traditional public school district.

DPSCD’s role with the Wayne County JDF is as an authorizer of the charter that operates within it. Michigan school districts, community colleges, and universities can authorize charters, which means they monitor schools’ compliance with state and federal education laws. They earn up to 3% of the state funding the charters receive.

The Detroit district currently serves as an authorizer for seven charters, including Infinity Institute.

In recent weeks, the DPSCD board began to discuss how it will navigate its relationship with charters. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said the standard for authorization is for charters to either meet or exceed the academic achievement of district schools or offer a unique service that DPSCD cannot.

Charter operators, like Infinite Pathways – also known as educational service providers – handle key aspects of daily operations, such as payroll and hiring teachers. In Michigan, most of those companies are for-profit.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district’s safety funding more than doubles after other Michigan schools reject it

2026-04-17T18:06:22+00:00

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The Detroit district’s state mental health and school safety grant funding has more than doubled after hundreds of other school systems rejected the money, Michigan Department of Education records show.

The district will receive an additional $10.3 million for the two-year grant period, on top of the $8 million the state originally allocated for Detroit schools.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is one of 512 districts to share in $321 million for mental health and safety after agreeing to new controversial conditions for the money by the end of last year. In order to get the grant funding, district and school leaders had to consent to disclosing information that would otherwise be legally protected if a school shooting or other mass casualty event occurs. They also had to agree to allow a comprehensive state investigation of such incidents.

DPSCD’s board voted to agree to the waiver in November in order to get its original $8 million allocation for 2025-26. At the time, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district “could not afford to walk away” from the funding, which it uses to contract mental health services at all schools and cover some security guard and officer salaries.

Some of the $10.3 million in additional funding Detroit received in February can cover expenses next school year, district administrators said.

The district did not respond to questions about how it will recommend spending the extra dollars. The board will vote to make the final decision on where the funding will be allocated. The board must approve a budget for next school year by June 30.

The state funding can be used by the district on mental health screening tools, firearm detection software, cameras, and mental health training for staff, among other purposes.

The state funding allocated by districts to pay the salaries of school resource officers and mental health support staff may carry over into 2026-27, according to state law.

School security has been top of mind for many Detroit parents this school year, following two incidents in which students brought weapons into classrooms.

After the incidents, DPSCD approved spending $1.7 million to hire 38 additional security guards. Another $490,000 was approved by the board to pay for a pilot of new metal detectors at seven schools.

The push to require school districts to sign waivers in exchange for the funding came after the 2021 Oxford High School shooting. Several districts’ challenge to the requirement is making its way through the courts.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

These 4 Detroit district schools are closing. What will happen to their students?

2026-04-16T21:00:58+00:00

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One yellow bus dropped off several students outside of J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy early Thursday in the Morningside neighborhood.

The kids filed into the school through a gothic arched doorway at the front of the large building on Detroit’s east side. The only sounds on the street were the muted chatter of a couple of kids who walked themselves to school and several cars stopping to drop off students. A staff member blew a single whistle to signal the start of school at 7:30 a.m.

Jaqueisha Loyd watched her three children go off to class. They all started kindergarten at Clark. The mother will need to find new schools for all of her kids after the school year ends June 5, when the school is set to permanently close and eventually be demolished.

Clark and three other schools have been on the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s list of phase-out buildings for four years, but district officials moved up the timeline in part because of budgetary concerns. That news, shared in letters in February, has brought complex feelings for some families and staff members.

Loyd said she wishes things were different. She values having a traditional public school in her neighborhood.

“I would love for it to stay open,” she said.

During last year’s budget cycle, the district’s board voted to accelerate the closure of Clark – along with Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School – to save $10 million-$19 million. The board also voted to speed up the planned phase-out of Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School, though there are no plans for it to close this school year. This district has not said when Marshall will close.

There was not a date set for the closures when the district’s board voted to phase them out in 2022, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email. The original plan was for each lower grade to be phased out and for grade levels with fewer than 10 students to be eliminated.

Staff at the closing schools will be reassigned to other positions in the district, Vitti said.

All four school buildings are set to be demolished, according to last year’s budget presentation. The district has not shared a timeline for demolition.

About 330 students total have been affected across the four schools. Their families should have received letters in February letting them know their new assigned neighborhood schools for the upcoming school year. Students, however, may attend any neighborhood school in the district they choose, though transportation isn’t guaranteed.

They may also opt for a DPSCD application or examination school, as well as choose to leave the district for a suburban district or charter school.

Nearly 25% of school-age children in Detroit attend a charter in the city, according to DPSCD data based on 5-Year American Community Survey estimates from 2023. Another 17% go to charters outside of Detroit and 10.6% are in traditional school districts in the suburbs. More than 39% attend DPSCD.

At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, DPSCD enrolled about 49,400 students, state records show. Enrollment fell significantly during the COVID pandemic, and the district has not yet fully recovered its numbers.

Here are details about the closing schools.

Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School at 7635 Chatham St. in northwest Detroit enrolled 51 students at the start of the school year, according to state data. There are 21 total staff members, including 10 teachers. The district estimates that it lost about $15,000 a student by running Ann Arbor Trail in the 2024-25 school year, according to a DPSD report. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Dixon Educational Learning Academy, about 1.4 miles away.
Catherine C. Blackwell Institute at 9330 Shoemaker St. on Detroit’s east side enrolled 61 students at the start of the school year. The school employs 21 total staff members, including 10 teachers. The school operated at a loss of about $8,000 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School at Howe, about 2.2 miles away.
J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy at 15755 Bremen St. enrolled 83 students at the start of the school year. The school employed 23 total staff members, including 10 teachers. It operated at a loss of around $3,000 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Hamilton Elementary-Middle School, about 1.7 miles away.
Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School at 420 W. 7 Mile Road on the north end of Detroit had 138 students at the beginning of the school year. There are 29 staff members, including 13 teachers. The school operated at a loss of about $2,506 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Nolan Elementary-Middle School, about 1.6 miles away.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district to accelerate closure of four small schools amid financial constraints

2026-04-15T21:31:00+00:00

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The Detroit school district will close four schools at the end of this school year, officials confirmed Wednesday.

All four schools – Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School – had previously been identified to be phased out in 2022 by the Detroit Public Schools Community District due to low enrollment and high operation costs.

District officials originally planned to stop enrolling new students at the schools, phasing out grades over time to minimize disruption to families. But Superintendent Nikolai Vitti indicated during Tuesday’s board meeting that the plan had changed because of budgetary concerns.

“When we looked at the budget and the threats at the federal level, increased inflation, need to continue to increase wages for all of our employees with an upcoming bargaining season, we said, ‘How do we maximize our costs and still help children?’” Vitti said. “And one way we did that was to accelerate the phase-out of the original phase-out schools.”

These 4 Detroit district schools are closing. What will happen to their students?

Vitti only mentioned one of the four schools during Tuesday’s meeting — Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School. DPSCD spokesperson Chrystal Wilson confirmed to Chalkbeat on Wednesday that four schools, including that one, will close at the end of June. The last day of the school year is June 5.

District officials did not immediately respond to questions about when families were notified of the accelerated school closures.

Rudaina Kainaya, a middle school science teacher at Greenfield, told Chalkbeat the school’s principal shared the news of the closure last month during a staff meeting. Staff were told they will be placed in other district positions, she added.

The board meeting Tuesday was marked by shouts of frustration from the crowd and a tense exchange between board members. Security circulated the auditorium at Renaissance High School to warn audience members to settle down. At one point, an officer appeared to ask a mother to leave but stopped at the direction of Board Chair LaTrice McClendon.

None of the schools were on the meeting agenda, but some of Greenfield’s teachers and parents showed up for the public comment portion of the meeting.

Kainaya, who spoke during public comment, said staff members at Greenfield were originally told the school would close one grade level at a time.

“Dr. Vitti said that even if we had 10 students left [per grade] at that time in 2022 and 2023, they would phase out that last year for those students as eighth graders,” she said.

Vitti said the district did stick to that promise for the higher grades at Greenfield and has given families time to move their children to other schools. He added that he was troubled by the public comment, because the closures have been discussed for several years.

“It’s disingenuous to come to the mic tonight and say we didn’t know the school was going to close,” he said.

But he acknowledged that the accelerated closure plan is new.

Mass school closures in the district – both before and after the state’s period of emergency management – enraged many families over the years and prompted some to abandon the school system.

In 2019, Vitti told Chalkbeat the district would not “replicate the sins of the past,” and he would take a different approach to closures than previous administrations.

“We would phase schools out and phase grade levels out rather than abruptly closing schools,” he said. “But part of this process has to be rightsizing the district. We have too many open seats.”

There are 15 other schools the district says cost more to keep open than the revenue they generate, according to a 2025 report.

“This is a districtwide challenge that is not going away,” Vitti said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Former board member LaMar Lemmons, and others who spoke during public comment, said school closures are a reflection of the district’s failure to grow enrollment.

Vitti said low enrollment is a long-term problem stemming in part from Detroit’s population decline and the fallout of the state’s emergency management of the district.

When emergency management ended, the district enrolled about 45,700 students. The numbers increased by more than 5,000 the following year when Vitti took the helm. However, enrollment declined during the COVID pandemic, and the district has not yet fully recovered its numbers.

At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, there were around 49,400 students, state records show.

Community support for a charter school with an uncertain future

Dozens of community members also spoke during Tuesday’s meeting to urge board members to renew a one-year contract for Barack Obama Leadership Academy.

Four board members, who were present during a committee meeting last month, decided not to put a vote on the Obama charter on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting – a move that likely means the charter would not be approved by the district to operate for another year. At the time, some members said the charter had received multiple warnings that it needed to improve its academic performance and had not shown enough growth.

If the board does not approve a new contract by June 30, the charter will either have to rush to find a new authorizer or face closure.

Michigan charters must sign a contract with an outside body, known as an authorizer, in order to operate. DPSCD, like other school districts, colleges, and universities, can serve as an authorizer. Its role is to monitor the schools’ compliance with education laws.

The district currently authorizes six charters, excluding the Obama school. One more is expected to open in the fall.

Cha-Rhonda Edgerson, CEO of the charter, said during Tuesday’s meeting that the school wanted a final one-year contract with DPSCD to allow enough time to find a new authorizer.

“This is not a request to reverse the course indefinitely,” she said. “We’re asking for the opportunity to continue serving our students while we complete that transition in a thoughtful and structured way.”

During public comment, Tiffany Walls, a parent at the school, described the charter as a community hub and safe haven.

“A school is more than just a list of test scores,” she said. “It’s a vital pillar of the community.”

It is unclear whether the board will revisit the matter at its next committee meeting on April 29 or if it will be on the agenda of the regular board meeting on May 12.

A tense exchange among board members

At the start of the meeting, board member Ida Short asked to make changes to the agenda related to school closures and the Obama charter’s contract.

She said she wanted to “plan a way in which agenda items can be provided by individual board members, so that it does not matter who is the president or not the president, because we’re all equal members.”

McClendon, the board chair, said that “any board member at any time can add an agenda item.” She encouraged Short to attend the board’s committee meetings, where policy is discussed and agendas for regular board meetings are decided.

“I know you’ve missed the last two meetings, but that is the place where you can discuss [policy],” she said.

Short responded, “If I don’t attend any meeting, it means that I have something personal that’s very important.”

Later in the meeting, Short asked about another agenda item, and McClendon responded that the item was discussed at length during the last committee meeting, including the answer to Short’s question.

She suggested Short go back and listen to a recording of the committee meeting.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

How this Detroit teacher uses an outdoor garden to turn students on to healthy eating

2026-04-14T18:36:35+00:00

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“I don’t eat that,” are the famous last words teacher Shirley Brezzell hears from her fifth graders when she introduces food the kids think they won’t like, such as pickled beets, pickled onions, eggplant, and oatmeal burgers.

Brezzell teaches science and social studies at Detroit’s Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. But she’s particularly passionate about exposing students to fruits and vegetables through an outdoor school garden she created and manages, and teaching them about healthy eating. She incorporates the work in the garden into her lessons, showing students during a lesson on matter how food changes while being cooked. Consequently, she’s able to turn those “I don’t eat that” comments into appreciation.

“When they see the process from seed to a piece of fruit that they can actually eat, it is mind-blowing. They are in awe,” Brezzell said. “Oh, and then when you taste it, and when it comes off of the vine, and it is all organic, it’s a whole other experience.”

If you walk into the outdoor garden, you’ll see plenty of garden beds where fruits and vegetables grow. You’ll also see Walmart recyclable bags that students use to grow everything from greens and cabbage to tomatoes and potatoes. Parents will create their own bags during an event this month.

Shirley J. Brezzell, the 2026 Elementary School Science Teacher of the year by the Michigan Science Teachers Association, is a science and social studies teacher at Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School.

Brezzell was recently named the 2026 Elementary School Science Teacher of the year by the Michigan Science Teachers Association. The Detroit native, who graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1975, spent much of her career in the banking industry during a 22-year stretch that took her from working as a teller to an operations manager for a bank. When that bank closed, she began homeschooling her children. Soon after, she began substitute teaching in the Detroit district and by 2011, she had become a certified teacher. Brezzell hasn’t for one moment regretted her decision to become a teacher.

“My regret is that I didn’t do it 100 years ago. Absolutely, this is my calling,” Brezzell said.

Her career will likely end soon, as Brezzell considers retirement. But that won’t happen until after this summer, because her garden supplies plants for her students’ families to grow and provides fresh fruits and vegetables to the wider school community during the summer,

“I have to bring the harvest,” Brezzell said.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

My favorite unit to teach is on matter, as it utilizes food as the medium to show the various stages of matter. I love taking the students out to our school’s garden to pick fresh fruits and veggies and then bringing them back inside to cook them together. It’s a perfect hands-on way to show how matter changes — how food transforms with cooking — and it also gives me the opportunity to introduce them to new flavors they might not have tried before. Altogether, it’s a really engaging and memorable way to connect science to everyday life.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on inside your classroom (or your school)?

Mackenzie is in a neighborhood of Detroit that’s considered a food desert. While I officially teach fifth grade science and social studies, I also manage our school garden. Alongside 10 stationary garden beds, I created the “Garden in a Bag” project where students plant and maintain portable gardens, in a Walmart recyclable bag. This way, they can potentially have fresh produce all summer, even if they move. Plus, the veggies from our on-site beds go straight to Mackenzie families, helping everyone enjoy fresh veggies and a healthier lifestyle.

How do you get your students engaged with science?

In my classroom, I set high expectations and we dive into science from every angle. We follow the curriculum, do hands-on projects, work in the garden, and even use those vegetables in cooking as a way to show how matter changes. And through that, I introduce them to fresh fruits and vegetables they might not usually try. That’s truly my passion — giving them a glimpse of a healthier lifestyle while they learn. At the heart of my teaching, I’m passionate about connecting what we learn in class to real-life choices. I want my students to feel empowered not only to understand science concepts, but also to see how these lessons influence a healthier lifestyle. It’s all about giving them the tools to make good decisions about what they eat and how they care for themselves.

Tell us how you came to create an outdoor oasis for your students.

Four years ago, I joined a group of researchers from Michigan State University in a project called Teaching Science Outdoors: The Urban Project, or TSOUP. With encouragement from them and through American Forests, we planted a total of 65 trees over two plantings. Then, a grant from the Whole Kids Foundation helped us refurbish the garden with garden beds and a hoop house, and with a series of mini-grants from TSOUP, we were able to expand even more.

In the past year, the district has added a new shelter and this spring, will finish the cement work under it. They’re also adding eight picnic tables to create a third outdoor classroom on the patio near the middle school side of the building, and the original outdoor classroom is being moved elsewhere on the property for its own cement work.

And finally, we received another grant from the Whole Kids Foundation that allowed us to build an irrigation station, solving our watering problem with a 450-gallon water capacity. This station will also have cement work and create a comfortable place for students and teachers to sit, cool off, and relax.

How do you approach news events in your classroom? Please provide an example.

I tell them the truth. For instance, we really dove into the pause in governmental food benefits. That was a genuine challenge many families faced, and having those real, honest conversations allowed us to lay a foundation where we can have meaningful discussions about the news and how it impacts their daily lives. This pause also gave me another opportunity to talk about eating healthfully even on a budget, whether that was making oatmeal burgers or finding creative ways to put together a whole meal from basic kitchen staples.

Tell us about your own experience with school and how it affects your work today.

I’m a product of Detroit Public Schools, graduating from Cass Tech in January of 1975. My parents and teachers instilled in me the importance of education and how it could afford me many opportunities. To that end, I work tirelessly to help my students see the importance of their education and their potential to become whatever they want to be. To that end, I am a demanding teacher. I have high expectations for my kids and most rise to the occasion. My goal is to make sure that when my students, after a year with me, move to the next grade, they are better than when I first met them. They will be tired, but they will KNOW the material.

How do you take care of yourself when you’re not at work?

Lol! What a notion! Like all of us, I wear many hats. Wife, mom, sister, aunt, church member, and the list goes on. This year I am learning to at least try to put Shirley first. What does this look like? I have a bedtime. I am taking my vitamins regularly. I am promising myself to exercise daily. I am drinking WATER and have mostly eliminated sugar from my diet. But above all, I am learning to take time for just me.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district begins to weigh options for the end of $94.4 million literacy lawsuit settlement

2026-04-08T18:39:08+00:00

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The Detroit Public Schools Community District has started planning for what it will do when it spends the last of the $94.4 million from its literacy lawsuit settlement.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, speaking at a board committee meeting last week, said once the one-time funds are gone, the district may have to make difficult choices about what programs to keep. The district has been spending about $30 million a year from settlement funds. The money will be gone by the end of the next school year.

Vitti said his top priority is to keep the hundreds of academic interventionists hired by the district. Last year, the district spent $17.3 million of the settlement funds to pay the salaries of 267 interventionists.

An anticipated increase in state funding could cover the cost of the positions, he suggested. If not, the district may have to make “hard decisions,” he said, including considering other budget cuts.

The 2016 federal “right to read” lawsuit alleged long-time funding inequities in Michigan led to unsafe conditions in Detroit schools, which denied children in the city “access to the most basic building block of education: literacy.” The literacy lawsuit was settled by the state in 2020, and three years later, the money was allocated to DPSCD.

District officials created a three-year plan to use the money to improve literacy instruction, provide intervention for struggling students, and boost proficiency rates. The plan was based on community input and recommendations made by a task force.

Next school year will be the final one in the plan.

The district began spending the settlement in the 2024-25 school year. Those dollars have been used to add the 267 academic interventionists to work with students in grades K-2, hire 44 more teachers to reduce class sizes in some schools, hire another 43 teachers to free up teacher leaders for coaching other educators, and contract reading tutors, among other items.

(Before the settlement, the district employed interventionists in some schools with federal and grant funding. In 2022, DPSCD received $20 million from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, which was used to hire more.)

Imani Foster, an advocate with 482Forward, a local nonprofit focused on educational equity, said the interventionists have helped close gaps for struggling students.

“I think it’s really important to keep the [academic interventionists],” she said. “It’s really unfortunate the way our budget works and that there may not be enough money to keep them and everything else the district has invested in.”

Vitti has previously pointed to district data to show how the settlement investments have paid off. For example, among students with similar performance on district assessments, students in classrooms with interventionists showed more improvement over time compared to their peers without, he said.

The district also reached an 11-year high in the percentage of third graders who met or exceeded proficiency in English language arts on the 2024-25 state assessment. Students in the district showed more year-over-year growth in proficiency compared to the statewide average.

Despite the growth, overall proficiency rates in DPSCD still lag far behind the statewide average. While 38.9% of grade 3 Michigan students scored at or above proficiency last spring, the average in DPSCD was 13%.

In order to continue DPSCD’s progress in literacy, Vitti said the district’s initial strategy will be to use anticipated increases in state at-risk funding to absorb the cost of the academic interventionists.

Initial budget conversations in Lansing suggest the legislature has an interest in continuing to increase weighted per-pupil at-risk funding, Vitti said. The amount of targeted funding given to districts in Michigan is based on the percentage of students they serve living in poverty. The dollars can be used for instructional programs and some services, including medical, mental health, or counseling services.

Other costs of initiatives paid for with settlement dollars, such as merit pay for educators whose classes met ambitious literacy goals, may be eligible to be absorbed by other state or federal grants, Vitti said.

Though Foster is glad the district has focused on improving early literacy, she said she hopes other initiatives that reach older students, like free after-school online tutoring, will remain.

Some students who are now in high school were starting school when the inequities highlighted in the literacy lawsuit were still acute, said Foster.

“We can’t forget about them,” she said.

The superintendent said the board will have to start having more in-depth conversations about making up the funding gap around the beginning of next year.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

April 6, 2026: This story was updated to show the average proficiencies in third grade reading in Michigan and DPSCD.

The Detroit school district’s latest tactic to boost enrollment: student influencers

2026-04-08T18:38:54+00:00

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Employing student influencers is the latest strategy in the Detroit school district’s ongoing efforts to grow enrollment in city schools.

District officials unveiled a plan last week to hire 23 students to share positive messages about their schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. The high schoolers will create and share social media content aimed at winning over prospective students and parents, as well as engaging their peers.

The initiative is one of several new ideas the district is considering to reverse a 20-year trend of dwindling enrollment.

“Our students are at the center of everything that we do,” said Sharlonda Buckman, assistant superintendent of Family and Community Engagement, during last week’s meeting. “They have real stories, real accomplishments, real growth.”

When families hear students’ stories and see possibilities for their children, their perceptions about the district may shift, Buckman added.

Applications for the student influencers have already opened. One student from each of the district’s high schools will be selected to take on the task. If approved by the board, the influencers will be assigned content and events to promote each month on rotating schedules, earning $250 each month they post.

Many factors have contributed to enrollment declines, including a shrinking population in Detroit, lower birthrates, state emergency management of the district, and COVID. The district also competes with charter schools, which enroll about half of kids in the city, as well as suburban districts that heavily recruit Detroit students.

Traditional strategies to attract students – including canvassing neighborhoods, hosting Summer on the Block events, expanding prekindergarten, focusing on reenrollment rates, and putting up billboards – have produced modest results, according to the district.

The district estimates it currently has more than 49,200 students – an increase of about 400 compared to the official count at the end of last school year.

Last summer, board members asked the district to come up with innovative, cost-efficient ways to drive enrollment more rapidly.

Board member Monique Bryant said during a July committee meeting she wanted to see students tell the stories of their own schools.

“I think we have an opportunity to use our students more, and I think we get more bang for our buck than what we’re spending now,” she said.

Students and parents would be ‘brand ambassadors’ for their schools

Overall, the district’s plan to boost enrollment is to shape the public’s perception of DPSCD to be more positive, increasing awareness of its schools with targeted advertising and connecting with more families in the city.

Marketing research supports the board’s idea to center student voices to reach those goals, district officials said.

In a survey of about 300 people conducted by the district, about 30% said they wanted to see student success stories, said Deputy Executive Marketing Director Jessica Byrd.

In addition to winning over parents, students also want to see themselves in district messaging, Byrd said. By partnering with high schoolers who are gifted at reaching peers on social media, the district will reach more potential students, she added.

“They bring their audience to our platforms, and that’s essentially what we want,” Byrd said.

The influencers will participate in monthly content creation workshops with the marketing team. They will post both on the district’s social media and their own.

DPSCD also proposes hiring 10 to 15 parent and community ambassadors to “counter negative perceptions and amplify enrollment messaging.” The presentation did not include how much the ambassadors would be paid.

The ambassadors may be people who are trusted by their communities, such as church leaders, block club presidents, and parents of students in the district. They will have monthly themes for their messaging, including safety, the district’s gains in literacy achievement, and career and technical education programs.

The district has relied on volunteer ambassadors in previous years, with slightly different roles. In the past, ambassadors represented the district at community and school events.

This year, the district proposes spending nearly $42,000 on both the student influencers and the community ambassadors.

In total, the marketing plan, including other new initiatives such as web content managers, would cost around $1.4 million, according to the district’s presentation.

The district will continue its traditional enrollment campaigns, including canvassing, yard signs, and events.

Board members at last week’s meeting said they were pleased with the new plans, which would be funded in the district’s budget for the next fiscal year. The board must approve a budget by June 30.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit students to be able to ride city buses for free starting Wednesday

2026-04-08T15:30:36+00:00

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Students across Detroit will be able to ride city buses for free in a new program the city council approved Tuesday.

The Ride to Rise program is being launched Wednesday in part to address high rates of chronic absenteeism of Detroit students attending schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and charter schools.

In her proposal to the council last week, Mayor Mary Sheffield said the free bus passes will also expand access to safe and reliable transportation, extracurricular activities, employment opportunities, and supportive services.

Sheffield, during her State of the City address Tuesday night, described the program as a “show your ID, ride for free” program.

It’s unclear how much it will cost.

“This is an opportunity for us, under Mayor Sheffield’s leadership, to learn more about how transit and DDOT in particular can work more effectively for students and their families,” Detroit Department of Transportation Director Robert Cramer said during the council meeting on Tuesday. Cramer said DDOT will also seek feedback about bus routes, schedules, bus stop changes, and amenities.

Cramer said they’ll present the feedback to the council and possibly submit an ordinance amendment to change the fare system and create a longer-term program in September or October when students return to school.

DPSCD doesn’t provide yellow school bus transportation for high school students, though exceptions are made, including for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. The district does pay for bus passes for high school students who want them.

The district won’t have to pay for the city bus passes during the pilot. DPSCD “is working on plans to reinvest that funding in strategies that expand our work in improving student attendance and enrollment,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said.

Sheffield was more specific during her Tuesday evening speech, saying the city “reached an agreement in principle with the board and the superintendent so that the money currently spent on bus fare for students will now go towards much-needed after-school programs.”

Vitti said in an emailed statement that the district supports the city’s effort “to empower youth to use citywide transportation without cost or barriers.”

“This investment by the City will create greater awareness and access to citywide transportation,” Vitti said. “We believe this will support the District’s efforts in promoting stronger student attendance citywide.”

Transportation has long been a challenge for Detroiters, and it’s particularly so for families trying to navigate a range of options: yellow school buses, city buses, ride share services, their own transportation, or relying on others to get their children to school. Those challenges have made it difficult for many children to get to school regularly.

About one-third of families in Detroit don’t own a car, and 30% don’t have a reliable way to get their children to school every day, according to a report on transportation from Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research, or Detroit PEER, at Wayne State University. Researchers there have done extensive research on chronic absenteeism and its causes.

Half of the school-age children in Detroit attend DPSCD schools. The rest attend charter schools or suburban schools. While many of the city charter schools provide some form of transportation, parents often have to get their kids to a preset location for them to hop on a bus.

“Transportation is one of, if not the most important issue for student attendance in Detroit,” said Jeremy Singer, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint and research affiliate at Detroit PEER.

Singer said the mayor’s initiative is an admirable way to tackle a challenge that schools can’t solve. He hopes the city goes further by addressing safety issues on city buses and at bus stops, as well as the frequency and reliability of bus service.

In a survey Detroit PEER completed in 2022, 40% of parents said free DDOT rides would be at least somewhat helpful. High school parents were more likely to say it would be helpful.

Among the transportation recommendations Detroit PEER made in its report last year:

The city should work with Detroit schools to coordinate public transit schedules and stops with public school schedules and locations.
DDOT should collect better data on public school students who ride public transportation to better understand their schedules and needs.
The city should work with local schools to increase safety, lighting, and complete sidewalks so more children can walk or bike to school when they live close enough.

Few students now are taking DDOT buses daily to get to school, Singer said.

Results from the 2022 survey showed that just 10% of parents said their children rode DDOT to get to and from school. Broken down by grade level, 18% of parents of high school-aged children said their kids sometimes took DDOT, compared to 6% for parents of K-8 children, Singer said.

For parents of high school-aged students, 8% said their children rode DDOT daily, 4% said they rode DDOT weekly or monthly, and 6% said they rode DDOT infrequently, Singer said.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Editor’s note, April 8, 2026: This story was updated to reflect a slight change in the name of the program since the city council approved it last week.

The future of one of Michigan’s oldest charter schools is uncertain

2026-03-27T10:00:01+00:00

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One of Michigan’s oldest charter schools, Barack Obama Leadership Academy, will likely not be approved by the Detroit school district to operate for another year.

At a committee meeting Wednesday night, administrators from the Detroit Public Schools Community District recommended that the school board approve a one-year contract for the school, which would allow it to either make plans to close or find a new authorizer. But board members, who are frustrated with the charter’s struggling academic performance, said the school had not shown enough improvement to continue through the 2026-27 school year.

The charter’s current contract ends June 30.

“The improvement is sad,” Board member Bessie Harris said during the meeting, referencing the assigned school grade given to the charter by the district. “From an F to a D – that’s not an improvement.”

The four board members who were present at the end of the committee meeting decided not to put a vote on the charter’s contract renewal on the agenda of the April board meeting – a move that signaled the body will not allow the district to authorize another year of operation.

Cha-Rhonda Edgerson, CEO of the charter, described the board’s decision as “devastating.” She said it also would give the school, students, and families very little time to make other plans. She described the school as a “pillar in that community.”

She also chastised board members for making the decision without a full board present.

Of the seven board members, Harris, Vice Chair Corletta Vaughn, Chair LaTrice McClendon, and Steve Bland Jr. were present for the discussion about the charter. Monique Bryant left the meeting early. Iris Taylor and Ida Carol Simmons-Short were absent.

Harris, Vaughn, and McClendon each said during the meeting that they were not interested in voting on whether to renew the charter’s contract.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the one-year recommendation was meant only to give the charter a “transitionary year” to find another authorizer or prepare to close. “That’s up to the charter,” he said.

Edgerson did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about whether the charter will seek another authorizer.

Formerly known as Timbuktu Academy, the school offers African-centric education to about 300 students in grades K-5. The school has been open since 1997 on the east side of Detroit.

DPSCD – like other Michigan school districts, community colleges, and universities – can authorize charters. In exchange for monitoring the schools’ compliance with state and federal education laws, authorizers can earn up to 3% of the funding the state gives to charters, also known as public school academies.

The discussion around the Obama academy comes weeks after the Detroit board began navigating its future plans for the district’s relationship with charters. In a February meeting, board members said they want district-authorized charters to meet or exceed the academic achievement in district schools.

The district currently authorizes seven charters, including the Obama school, with one more charter expected to open in the fall.

More than half of Detroit’s school-age children go to charters. There were 81 city charters last year.

Small academic gains were not enough for the board

The Obama charter has long struggled academically.

Last year, DPSCD approved a one-year contract with the Obama charter with the condition it improve student achievement and the handling of its finances, as well as reduce chronic absenteeism. The district has given similar warnings to the charter since 2020.

In the 2024-25 school year, only 10.4% of students at the charter met benchmarks on state tests for reading and writing. In math, 2.8% met benchmarks. The numbers reflected a small margin of improvement from the previous year.

In DPSCD the same year, 15.4% of students in the same grades tested at or above proficiency for reading and writing and 12.3% in math.

The charter also reduced chronic absenteeism to 62.2% last year – a reduction of 2.1 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The chronic absenteeism rate was 60.9% last school year in DPSCD.

In December, the charter was released from its “partnership agreement” – a three-year contract that districts make with the Michigan Department of Education to rapidly improve – because it needed testing proficiency gains.

As part of efforts to improve, the charter has taken a number of steps.

It hired a full-time data coach and stepped up professional development for staff, according to DPSCD. It also made a plan to address its debt with the MDE, and the charter reduced staffing to align with its budget.

Though the charter showed improvement, it still did not meet the performance standards of district schools in the same neighborhood or those with African-centered curriculums, according to DPSCD.

Vaughn, the vice chair, said despite years of warnings, the school has “never, ever been able to come up.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district may allow independent parent organizations after conflict involving PTAs

2026-03-24T18:59:55+00:00

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The Detroit school district is considering recognizing parent organizations that operate independently from the state and national Parent Teacher Association.

The proposal, introduced by the Detroit Public Schools Community District during a Feb. 26 board committee meeting, came after members expressed frustrations over reported dysfunction and conflict within some local PTAs last year. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a June board meeting some PTAs have had challenges with “proper implementation of elections” and “following protocols.”

Board Member Monique Bryant told Chalkbeat this week the proposed policy would create better balance by allowing parents to choose what works best for their individual schools.

Some school communities may not have parents with the time or bandwidth to formally organize and run PTAs, she said. A better option for some parents may be to join an organization overseen by the district’s Family and Community Engagement Department, or FACE.

The proposed policy amendment could mean that formal parent engagement ends up looking different from school to school. It would recognize independent, locally organized parent-teacher organizations, as well as other parent organization models approved by FACE. The proposal would also clarify the voting model all organizations must rely on: Each year, every school would vote on the type of parent organization model it wants to use and submit results to district administrators.

The proposed amendment follows incidents of mismanagement by two parent-teacher organizations reported by the district’s Office of Inspector General over the last seven years.

The National PTA is a nationwide volunteer-led organization with state and local chapters, which organize to fundraise, plan educational events, and advocate for students’ needs. PTAs are self-governed, separate entities from local school districts.

DPSCD’s current policy only recognizes the PTA as its “official parent organization of record” for its schools. There are multiple Detroit PTA councils that oversee school-based chapters in the district.

The board has not yet voted on the proposed changes.

Tonya Whitehead, president of the Michigan PTA, and leaders of several Detroit PTA councils did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But Whitehead said during public comment at a July committee meeting that state and Detroit PTA leadership provided support and additional training to local chapters to address the issues raised by the board and Vitti.

“We are committed to continual improvement within our organizations, including streamlining processes to improve response time, providing additional training to members and PTA leaders at all member levels, and working together with the FACE office to improve two-way communication and behavior problem solving,” she said at the time.

Board members did not discuss the policy when the district introduced the proposal at the February committee meeting. However, members called for change at multiple meetings last year.

Bryant said she complained last year about the handling of a PTA election at Cass Technical High School. Bryant, who is a Cass Tech parent and was a member of the PTA, said the organization did not follow its bylaws when it took nominations for new leadership. The result was that PTA’s entire executive board was reelected before their terms were up, said Bryant.

The Cass Tech PTSA — which also includes students — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bryant added she contacted the Michigan PTA with concerns, but the organization was unresponsive.

“I don’t think we should be moving forward with individual schools still trying to have elections after this,” she said during the June meeting.

Detroit brought back PTAs to ‘heal the divide’

When the state appointed an emergency manager to take control of Detroit Public Schools in 2009, PTAs were removed. That emergency management ended in 2016, and PTAs returned to district schools after Vitti began as superintendent in May 2017.

“We set out to try to heal the divide that was between the community and schools – one of the ways that the board and I thought best to do that [was] bring back the PTA,” said Vitti at the July committee meeting.

Whitehead said during public comment of that meeting that DPSCD staff “were closely integrated in trying to start units in every school in the district” when emergency management ended.

She said their efforts “included collecting dues and being listed as the contractor for PTAs in district documents,” which resulted in “incomplete paperwork” and made it appear that PTA concerns should be directed to district staff.

“Post-pandemic, PTA, in cooperation with the FACE office, has been working hard to end those practices and ensure that adults engaged with PTA and the district know the difference between the roles and responsibilities of each,” she added. “But there is more work to be done.”

Vitti said it is challenging for the PTA “to monitor elections, ensure the training and capacity of officers once they’re elected, and problem-solve through conflict between officers at certain schools.”

Conflict over policy arose at PTAs beyond Cass Technical last year, Bryant said. For example, PTA members at two schools complained it was unfair that school staff who were also parents of students at their school could become executive officers of their PTA, she said. Bryant did not identify the two schools.

Mismanagement of parent organization funds were found in previous years by the Office of Inspector General, or OIG, which serves as an independent oversight office for the district.

In 2019, the OIG received complaints the PTA committee of a district school mismanaged fundraising proceeds. Because the PTA did not properly document the amount of funds raised, the OIG investigation could not determine how much money was reportedly missing.

The district mandated cash management training for all PTA officers and fundraising organizers as a result of the OIG’s recommendations stemming from its investigation. Detroit schools also began requiring PTAs to submit financial statements after every school-based fundraising event.

In 2022, the OIG found that a parent organization improperly retained funds for a school field trip, and also reported a lack of district oversight of support organizations. The OIG recommended the parent group pay an outstanding bill of more than $7,200. The OIG also recommended better collaboration between district offices to improve donation tracking, as well as internal controls for parent support organizations.

However, board members did not mention those two incidents when they shared concerns about PTAs, and Vitti did not address them. It is unclear whether they contributed to the district’s decision to introduce the proposal in February to change how parent organizations work.

“I think the issue has been the PTA has not been able to demonstrate the capacity … to work within the district at the scale that we operate at, because we’re so much larger,” said Vitti in July.

Vitti said the PTA needed to expedite its response to issues at individual schools and improve its communication with the board.

Some board members raised the option of letting individual schools decide whether to continue their PTAs or start new organizations, a choice that’s included in the new policy proposal.

“Instead of creating a one size fits all approach … we might be looking at individual schools that seem to have repeated problems, which is high level conflict, move away from that and run it at the district level in order to create better balance,” said Vitti.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Muslim Detroit students say district rule is unfair for those observing a major holiday

2026-03-20T20:26:08+00:00

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As the sound of fireworks boomed around Detroit neighborhoods to mark the end of Ramadan Thursday night, Humayra Ahmed stayed up late weighing a heavy decision.

The 17-year-old had not yet decided if she would miss school at Cass Technical High School the next day to observe the sacred Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. If Ahmed didn’t go to school on Friday, she would not be eligible to receive a $100 perfect attendance incentive from the Detroit Public Schools Community District. She said she needs the money to cover the costs of activities for the end of her senior year.

Ahmed and other Muslim students in the district have expressed frustration over missing out on the attendance incentive for observing Eid, which can be celebrated for up to three days. The observances commemorate the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer, gatherings, and time with family. Eid is not recognized in the district’s calendar this year, despite years of student advocacy. However, observance is considered an excused absence.

“We’re not asking for the whole month off for Ramadan – it’s one day to celebrate with family and feel closer to God,” said Ahmed. “We still continue to show up to school while we are fasting to get the work done and score good grades.”

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email the district is “committed to including Muslim holidays in the calendar next year.” He added that will depend on factors outside of the district’s control, such as union negotiations.

The holiday is based on the Islamic lunar calendar, which means it falls on a different day each year.

The district’s attendance incentive began last year as one of its efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, which is defined as a student missing 10% or more of the days in a school year. In a typical 180-day school year, it amounts to about 18 missed days of instruction.

Students missing too much school due to systemic barriers such as inadequate transportation, chronic illness, and parents’ work schedules has long been an issue for communities like Detroit, where 84% of students come from low-income homes.

Last school year, nearly 61% of DPSCD students were chronically absent.

This year, students who showed up to each class every school day for a week got $100 Visa gift cards. There were 10 weeks students could get the incentive this year, giving them a chance to earn up to $1,000. This week is the last of the incentive, which is given in the winter and early spring months when attendance tends to drop due to inclement weather.

Vitti previously said the incentive helped improve attendance last year, with nearly half of all high schoolers receiving a payment.

Studies suggest attendance incentives may have minimal effects because researchers said the programs do not address demotivating factors like unsafe routes to school.

The district’s attendance incentive does not make exceptions for any excused absences – whether they are for religious holidays, chronic illnesses, deaths in the immediate family, or college visits.

Both excused and unexcused absences are included when the state calculates chronic absenteeism.

Vitti told Chalkbeat the district relied on state guidelines regarding which absences contribute to chronic absenteeism when it created the incentive.

Students, educators, and advocates asked during public comment at multiple board meetings this school year for a 2026-27 calendar without classes on the holiday.

Vitti said including Eid in the district’s 2026-27 calendar may require an agreement with unions to shorten midwinter break. Some other school systems in Metro Detroit, home to one of the country’s largest Muslim populations, do so to accommodate students.

Another option, said Vitti, is “adjusting the midwinter break and/or spring break” next year. Having a spring break that does not occur from March 29 through April 2, 2027, as mandated in the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency’s common calendar, would require a waiver from the Michigan Department of Education and union approval, he added.

It is unclear what adjustments to the breaks the district may consider.

“We do not want to extend the school year into mid to late June by adding days off to the calendar because this leads to worsening student attendance, behavioral issues, and the risk of temperatures being too high in most of our schools,” he said.

After years of student calls for change, DPSCD recognized the holiday for the first time in its 2021-22 calendar. Union negotiations and considerations for extending the school year upended plans for observances other years.

Muneer Taher, a senior at Western International High school sits for a portrait at Clark Park on Thurs., March 19, 2026 in Detroit, MI.

Muneer Taher, a Muslim Western International High School senior, planned to miss school on Friday. Instead, he planned to wake up early to go to a Mosque for hours of prayer, lecture, and spend the rest of the day practicing the tenets of Islam.

Taher exchanged emails with Vitti expressing his and his peers’ frustrations over not getting the attendance incentive.

The superintendent’s explanation of union calendar negotiations and why exceptions could not be made for excused absences fell flat to the 18-year old.

“There are a big number of Muslim students in DPSCD, and accommodating those students will help the community,” he said.

Ultimately, Ahmed, the Cass Technical senior, decided to attend school Friday. She said she needs the money to pay for an outfit for her senior pinning ceremony and supplies for an upcoming Muslim Interscholastic Tournament.

“I think it’s just unfair,” she said. “But I have this financial strain weighing on me.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what DPSCD parents need to know about the new visitor check-in policy in district schools

2026-03-17T10:00:00+00:00

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Visitors to Detroit Public Schools Community District buildings are being met with a new check-in policy as the district builds upon efforts to prioritize the safety of its students and staff.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti alerted families of the change with robocalls and emails and posted a message on the district website and social media channels stressing that keeping students, staff, and school communities safe remains DPSCD’s highest priority. Schools also have worked to inform families through local communications and signage.

“We realize this is a new process and may be frustrating for some visitors,” Vitti noted in the announcement, “but please keep in mind that this is another safety strategy we are implementing to keep everyone safe and accountable.”

Under the process, visitors including parents and legal guardians must present a photo ID and have their picture taken via the new digital platform, called Visitor Aware.

The system, up and working in all schools, has facial recognition capabilities to verify that the person presenting the ID is the person pictured. But Vitti told BridgeDetroit “we are not using this feature.” The district is also not running visitors’ information against government and sex offender lists — another capability of Visitor Aware that the district will not be using — said DPSCD spokesperson Chrystal Wilson.

Vitti said in an email that the program will act as a replacement for paper sign-in sheets and be used to cross reference with a list from principals of individuals who should not be in the school building.

DPSCD’s security ramp-up follows two classroom incidents involving students with weapons. The district in October promised to make changes to its security protocols after an eighth grader stabbed another girl in class at Gompers Elementary-Middle School with a knife her mother allegedly brought into the school past a metal detector. Months later, a student reportedly chased another with a boxcutter around a Denby High School classroom. Vitti told BridgeDetroit that the changes to visitor check-ins were being developed prior to those incidents.

Beyond the check-in measures, the district is spending $4.3 million to hire 38 additional security guards for the rest of the school year and recently began a security screening pilot at 10 schools. Vitti has said that the pilot will last for the remainder of the school year. If the process is faster and more efficient at detecting weapons, the district will consider adding it to more schools next school year.

Visitor Aware was piloted last spring in Detroit schools, according to a FAQ on the DPSCD website that was later taken down. When the pilot was complete, the district installed the equipment needed for the digital platform, trained staff over the summer and at the beginning of the school year, and integrated the system with existing safety protocols.

The program is overseen by the district’s Technology Division, Public Safety and Office of Schools departments.

How does the check-in platform work?

All visitors need to bring a photo ID or some form of identification, like a state ID or an utility bill, Vitti said in an email to BridgeDetroit. Once a visitor checks in, the front desk will take their photo and provide them with a visitor badge. If a visitor forgets their ID or a form of identification, a photo will still be taken for their temporary visitor badge, and additional paperwork is required.

“We use the program to know who is in the building (a replacement of paper sign-in sheets) and to flag who should not be in the building based on a list provided by the principal,” Vitti said in an email. “Names are used to cross reference this list.”

Visitor Aware is among the notification software platforms used in colleges and universities, government and healthcare settings, manufacturing sectors, as well as for businesses. The software was developed by Madison, Wisconsin-based Singlewire.

Visitor Aware is used in 300 schools and districts nationwide, Singlewire Communications Director Chris Swietlik said in an email. Some of those places include the Madison Metropolitan School District, Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District and Wausau School District in Wisconsin; Maricopa Unified School District in Arizona; and the Sioux Falls School District in South Dakota. Locally, Bloomfield Hills Schools began using the app on March 3.

Vitti said that the changes are the result of concerns raised by principals and staff regarding negative experiences with school visitors and parents, as well as the need to ensure the safety of students and staff.

“Many institutions, especially government-run buildings, require a check-in and ID process to ensure safety,” he said.

Keeping the school community safe

Erica Thompson, a parent to two daughters who attend Marcus Garvey Academy on Detroit’s East Side, said she hadn’t been inside the building since the new rule went into effect but doesn’t have a problem with it.

“Anything to keep the kids safe because you never know what could happen out here. I commend it,” she said.

Fellow Marcus Garvey parent Ashley Jones said that she recently encountered the new process and was a little surprised.

“It’s a little invasion of my privacy, but it’s a necessary protocol,” Jones said.

Special education advocate Sharon Kelso has raised concerns over the optics of the policy and has questions about how personal information is being protected.

Kelso, who visits DPSCD schools to assist families who want her guidance for talking to teachers and administrators, said she experienced the new check-in process during a visit to Renaissance High School on Feb. 2, a week before Vitti’s announcement went out to parents.

Kelso explained that she and a parent went to the school to meet with a building administrator to discuss a child’s Individualized Education Program. When Kelso and the parent were walking to the building, she noticed that the parent took out her driver’s license.

“I’m looking at her, and I said, ‘We have to have our driver’s license now?’” Kelso said. “She said, ‘Yeah, they do this for us to come into the building.’”

A security guard put Kelso’s ID through a scanner and instructed her to step back so he could take a photo, she said.

“I said, ‘Now, what do you need a picture of me for when you just scanned my license?’” Kelso said.

Kelso said she believes that the policy is “too much” and worries that it “will have parents and visitors feeling like criminals.”

“Who wants to be subjected to that? We want our schools to be safe, but I think we can be proactive and have people monitor our halls more, rather than doing all those restrictive things,” she said.

Kelso also wants to know how security measures are being implemented for teachers and staff members and whether the personal information and photos of visitors are being retained, and how, after they leave a school building.

“Where’s the data going? People need to know that if you’re going to take their information, then you have to be open with what you’re doing with it,” she said. “It’s like an invasion of privacy to a certain extent.”

Vitti said that the visitor badges are returned or discarded when a person leaves, and people’s photos remain at the school buildings and in an encrypted file by Visitor Aware. DPSCD has set a three-year retention period from a person’s most recent visit. If the visitor does not return within three years, their profile, including photo and visit history, is deleted.

Like Kelso, DPSCD board member Ida Short is concerned about the storage of people’s personal information. But said that she supports the policy overall, with issues like human trafficking targeting children, she said, school safety and security are tantamount.

“We have a lot of stuff that’s going on in this country, in this city, and so, to help our students, staff and parents be safe is important and we have to do all that we can,” Short said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

DPSCD operating tax proposal set to appear on August ballot

2026-03-12T21:49:38+00:00

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Detroit voters in August will have the chance to weigh in on a new operating millage for the Detroit school district.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education, during its Tuesday night meeting, approved a resolution for the millage as well as a $1.4 million contract with public affairs firm Compass Strategies for a voter education campaign on the millage through June 30, 2027.

DPSCD will ask voters to support its collection of an 18-mill levy, which has been collected by Detroit Public Schools and last renewed by voters in 2024. The millage will not affect homeowners, but the tax would be for non-homestead properties, such as businesses and people who own rental properties, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said Tuesday.

“This isn’t a new tax or a higher tax. It’s just basically switching the current DPS millage to a DPSCD millage, which now runs our district,” Vitti said at Tuesday’s meeting.

If the millage fails in August, then the proposal will appear on November’s ballot. If it does not pass then, the district may have to pay between $1 million and $2 million to the city to hold a special election in May 2027. Vitti said at a meeting last month that DPSCD must get voter approval to collect the operating millage by July 1, 2027. If voters reject the millage by that date, then DPSCD will go into a $120 million deficit.

Vitti explained at Tuesday’s meeting that in order for a district to receive state aid, it has to tax 18 mills, which is mainly a tax on businesses, he said. If the revenue is less than the minimum per pupil amount — $10,050 per student — then the state makes up the difference, which is the case for the Detroit school district.

“Districts like Birmingham, Southfield, and Bloomfield Hills generate more than $10,050 per student, and they keep that money,” Vitti said. “That money is flexible and you can apply it to school buildings, teacher salaries, and at-risk programs.”

In 1994, voters approved a new system for funding schools known as Proposal A. It led to three key changes, including eliminating the use of local property taxes as a source of school funding and creating a new state education tax. School districts began to get per-pupil payments from the state called the foundation allowance.

The three suburban districts Vitti mentioned are considered hold harmless districts, where local taxpayers contributed more than $6,500 per pupil prior to Proposal A’s passage, reported Bridge Michigan. These districts tend to be wealthier and are allowed to continue to pay additional local property taxes for their schools’ operations, exceeding the maximum foundation allowance.

State Judge Christopher P. Yates, who issued a summary judgment last month in favor of the Treasury Department, said state law will not allow Detroit Public Schools to continue to collect operating revenue to pay off its capital debt ahead of schedule, as proposed by DPSCD.

The district is appealing the Court of Claims’ decision and is waiting for a decision while it begins the process of putting the operating millage on the ballot.

Detroit school district’s history with tax revenue

In 2016, lawmakers created a new district to resolve a debt crisis in DPS. The new district, now known as DPSCD, took over day-to-day school operations, while DPS remained only to collect tax revenue to pay off its existing $3.2 billion debt.

Since DPSCD would not receive local property tax revenue, the state then filled the gap with money from the 1998 Tobacco Settlement Fund.

In late 2024, DPSCD ran into a disagreement with the Treasury Department, as higher property values in the city accelerated a $150 million emergency loan repayment.

District officials wanted to use operating revenue to speed up the payment of the remaining $1.3 billion in capital debt and $355 million in debt to the state’s School Loan Revolving Fund.

A separate debt millage had been paying off the capital and revolving fund debts, but DPSCD officials have said the move would allow the debt to be paid off years earlier, saving taxpayers about $326 million in interest costs.

But the Treasury Department said state law does not allow operating millage to be used for non-operating debt. The department’s position was that DPS could no longer collect the operating millage once the emergency loan was paid off.

Because the two could not agree and proposed legislation that would have changed the law failed, DPSCD sued the state in December 2024.

In February 2025, the court denied the district’s request for a preliminary injunction to require the state to continue making payments to DPSCD and allow DPS to keep collecting the operating millage as the case continued.

Though the court recognized the potential benefit to taxpayers if DPS were allowed to pay off the remaining debts faster, Yates sided with the state, saying there was no way to allow the district’s request based on existing law.

The final order also said DPS will remain intact to continue to collect debt millages to pay off the remaining loans by around 2040.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Vitti said the operating debt should be paid off at the end of the year.

“This means that DPSCD will now function normally from a revenue point of view like every other district in Michigan,” he said.

What are others saying about the millage?

Vitti’s Tuesday presentation on the millage did not prompt much discussion from the board, but member Ida Short asked what the average homeowner will have to pay annually for the millage.

Vitti said only homeowners who rent out their property would have to contribute, and that he will work with the city to find out how many homeowners would be affected and the amount they will have to pay.

Additionally, Short told BridgeDetroit that while she understands why the district needs a millage, business owners shouldn’t have to pay off a debt that exponentially grew when DPS was under state-appointed emergency management.

In 2016, a report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan showed that the district’s total debt topped $3.5 billion. DPS repeatedly took out short-term loans but through refinancing, converted them into long-term liabilities that became a financial burden. Most of that was done by the five emergency managers that ran the district from 2009 to 2015.

“We’re being squeezed by the state, and we’re squeezed because we’ve got to help the community and students with their education,” Short said. “We’re in a pickle, more or less. We have to have the money. But my point is, this money we should not have to pay. The state should eat the debt that they created.”

Aliya Moore, a DPSCD parent, said she plans to vote “no” on the millage until the district has conversations on a new literacy plan and consolidating schools. During public comment, Moore claimed that the district is not mentioning its phase-out plan for 19 DPSCD schools due to low enrollment. She believes that DPSCD is giving off the illusion of a thriving school district

“We keep voting ‘yes’ and yet, our district is at the bottom in the state,” she said.

Detroit activist and former Detroit library commissioner Russ Bellant said he supports what Vitti and the district are doing to reduce long-term costs and pay off its debt. From watching the state takeover of DPS in 1999, to the dismantling of the district in 2016, he wants to see the district thrive. Bellant said he wants big business to pay its share of property taxes for the millage.

“We need some reconciliation from those who’ve benefited (from tax captures) to pay back, and helping the school district pay off that debt is just common sense,” he said.

Chalkbeat Detroit reporter Hannah Dellinger contributed to this report.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit school district revisits idea of making FAFSA completion a graduation requirement

2026-03-11T19:43:58+00:00

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The Detroit school district is considering requiring students to apply for federal student aid for higher education in order to graduate.

Doing so would open the Detroit Public Schools Community District up for state grants to pay for initiatives that help students get into college or work-study programs.

The district’s proposal is intended to get more students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA. However, there would be several exemptions for students who don’t fill out the form, including for those with privacy concerns.

“We want to ensure that it’s not putting a barrier for our students,” said board President LaTrice McClendon when the policy was introduced during a committee meeting last month.

The board has not yet voted on the proposed policy.

The FAFSA helps determine student eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study scholarships. In some cases, it’s used to decide whether students qualify for state and private aid, as well as Michigan universities’ tuition assistance programs.

In 2024, the Michigan legislature proposed making FAFSA completion mandatory for all districts. But, at the time, DPSCD board members said they were opposed to such a policy. Advocates and community members expressed concerns to lawmakers during hearings for the bills about forcing vulnerable student populations to provide personal information, including immigration status and gender identity. Some Michigan school administrators also said it would not be possible to achieve with a shortage of college counselors.

Others said they didn’t want the requirement to hinder DPSCD students from graduating. The district has made significant gains in its graduation rate in recent years.

The state effort also failed in part due to the rocky rollout of the new FAFSA process in 2024. If the legislation passed, Michigan would have been the 13th state to have the requirement.

The issue was revisited at December DPSCD board and committee meetings after members expressed interest in a state grant that offers millions of dollars to local districts each year if they make FAFSA completion a graduation requirement.

“This grant is over a million dollars,” said board member Ida Short during the December board meeting.

The grant dollars can be used by districts to pay for “activities that are known to drive FAFSA completion,” including financial incentives for students, guest speakers, and seminars. The money can pay the salaries of the staff and administrative costs needed to run the initiative.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the December board meeting he agreed that not applying for the state grant left “a lot of money on the table.” The grant was not pursued since it began two years ago because of the previous board’s position, he added.

If the proposed policy is approved, the change would be implemented for the class of 2027 and DPSCD could apply for the next school year’s grant.

Under the district’s proposed policy, students who don’t want to fill out the FAFSA may complete a waiver with a parent or guardian. The waiver acknowledges that the student understands the purpose of FAFSA but does not want to participate.

The district must confirm a good-faith effort was made by schools to help students who don’t complete the FAFSA or turn in a waiver. In those cases, students can be exempt from doing either if their parent or legal guardian is unresponsive or refuses to sign.

More than 43% of Michigan high school seniors completed the FAFSA by March 9, according to the Michigan College Access Network tracker, slightly up from the 39.5% that had at the same time last year.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

The Detroit school district considers a charter application with a cap on enrolling its own students

2026-03-03T22:27:22+00:00

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The Detroit school district is considering a new strategy when it comes to authorizing city charter schools: limiting how many of its students the schools can enroll.

The idea comes from a proposal to authorize a new charter, called Sound Mind Sound Body Preparatory Academy, which would serve students in grades 4-8. The new charter would agree to enroll no more than 20% of its students from the Detroit Public Schools Community District and to require those students to apply to district high schools. District administrators said no such agreements have ever been included in previous charter contracts.

Board members discussed the potential shift in strategy around charter authorization last week during a board committee meeting.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti signaled that his philosophy on charters has changed since he took the helm of the district nine years ago. At the time, he recommended that DPSCD get out of the business of charter authorization and instead focus on improving its traditional public schools.

He said he is considering now how the district can partner with K-8 charters that cater to specific student needs to feed into district high schools instead of those in the suburbs.

“Over time, I’ve come to accept that charter schools are not going anywhere,” he said, adding that his views have also been affected by the new mayor’s approach to taking a citywide outlook to help youth in Detroit.

“I think if she is going to promote a more agnostic approach to … how we share resources as a city to help Detroit youth, I think there is an opportunity for DPSCD to step up as a stronger authorizer to improve quality,” he said.

Board members said during the meeting that they are hesitant to approve the contract for Sound Mind Sound Body before they develop an overall approach and goals for charter authorization in the district.

“We don’t need a one-off,” said Board President LaTrice McClendon. “We need to be in, or we need to be out.”

School districts and other entities, like community colleges and universities, can authorize charters through an application process. Authorizers monitor charters’ compliance with state and federal education laws, and in exchange, can take up to 3% of their state funding.

Anyone can operate charters, or public school academies, in Michigan. The operator handles key functions, such as hiring teachers and managing payroll. Many Michigan charters hire for-profit companies to fill the role.

When Vitti became superintendent in 2017, the district authorized 13 charters. It currently authorizes seven charters, with one more set to open in the fall.

More than half of Detroit’s school-age children attend charter schools. There are 62 city charters, according to state data compiled in May. There are 24 high school charters in Detroit and 17 in the suburbs where Detroit students make up more than half of enrollment. Many Detroit kids also attend traditional public schools in the suburbs.

As the number of charters in metro Detroit has increased over the last three decades, enrollment in the Detroit district has declined.

A charter for young student athletes

The Sound Mind Sound Body Foundation, whose founders applied for the charter contract, is a nonprofit that runs out-of-school programming geared toward athletics, social emotional learning, and mentoring. The new charter would develop student athletes, according to the proposal.

DPSCD currently contracts with the nonprofit to provide student enrichment programs.

The nonprofit was founded in 2004 by four Detroit Public Schools alumni.

The charter’s plan is to incorporate athletics into its daily schedule and curriculum. It will offer sports leadership, arts and creative expression programs. It will also have college and career exposure, out-of-school activities, mentoring, and an innovation hub for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather said during last week’s meeting the agreement would allow coaches and program leaders from DPSCD high schools to visit the charter and work with its students.

The charter proposes opening in the 2026-27 school year with 50 fourth graders. The next year, there could be up to 100 students in grades four and five, then 200 students in grades 4-6 in 2028-29, followed by 400 in grades 4-7 in 2029-30, and 500 in 4-8 in 2030-31.

For 2026-27, DPSCD would collect a 3% authorizer fee, estimated to be around $81,000.

The charter plans to open at 11433 Beaconsfield St. on the east side of the city, near King High School.

The district’s proposed contract is for three years of operation and requires the board’s approval in order to move forward.

A potential shift in thinking around charters

Vitti said there are some charters that would not be interested in partnering with DPSCD for fear of losing their autonomy but others would be interested. He said the board needs to have a broader conversation about a potential shift in strategy.

“It’s not something that I think is top of my priority list, but I do think it’s an opportunity moving forward,” he added.

Vitti said the district supported Purpose Charter Academy – which the board voted to authorize last year to serve students experiencing homelessness, chronic absenteeism, and interactions with the criminal justice system – and Sound Mind Sound Body because they are tailored to meet specific student needs that may go unmet in DPSCD.

McClendon said the district needs to do its due diligence to ensure the charters it authorizes will be sustainable, pointing out the recent closure of Detroit Lions Academy.

“We know that charter schools close left and right and leave our kids hanging,” she said.

The board president said she is not comfortable moving forward in approving Sound Mind Sound Body’s contract until the board has developed a clear charter strategy. She added the board will likely soon hold a study session on the topic.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district loses lawsuit against the state over paying debt with operating millage revenue

2026-03-02T22:07:29+00:00

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A state judge has ruled against the Detroit school district in its fight with the Michigan Department of Treasury over collecting operating tax revenue.

That means the Detroit Public Schools Community District will have to ask voters to allow it to collect a local operating millage, which has been collected by Detroit Public Schools. DPSCD also will lose some state funding.

Judge Christopher P. Yates, who issued a summary judgment last month in favor of the Treasury Department, said state law will not allow Detroit Public Schools to continue to collect operating revenue to pay off its capital debt ahead of schedule, as proposed by DPSCD.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last week at a board committee meeting that DPSCD must now get voter approval to collect the operating millage by July 1, 2027.

“If we don’t, then by that summer, as we roll into the next school year, we would have a $120 million deficit,” he said.

Vitti said the district will also appeal the Court of Claims’ decision.

Use of tax dollars sparks dispute between DPSCD and the state

In 2016, lawmakers created a new district to resolve a debt crisis in DPS. The new district, DPSCD, took over day-to-day school operations, while DPS remained only to collect tax revenue to pay off its existing $3.2 billion debt.

Since DPSCD would not receive local property tax revenue, the state then filled the gap with money from the 1998 Tobacco Settlement Fund.

In late 2024, nearly nine years after the legislative deal, DPSCD ran into a disagreement with the Treasury Department, as higher property values in the city accelerated a $150 million emergency loan repayment.

District officials wanted to use operating revenue to speed up its payment of the remaining $1.3 billion in capital debt and $355 million in debt to the state’s School Loan Revolving Fund.

A separate debt millage had been paying off the capital and revolving fund debts, but DPSCD officials said the move would allow the debt to be paid off years earlier, saving taxpayers about $326 million in interest costs.

Because the two could not agree and proposed legislation that would have changed the law failed, DPSCD sued the state.

(In February 2025, the court denied the district’s request for a preliminary injunction to require the state to continue making payments to DPSCD and allow DPS to keep collecting the operating millage as the case continued.)

“It may be wise to read a provision authorizing DPS to use the operating levy to repay all outstanding debt,” the judgment reads.

But “courts cannot insert a provision simply because it would have been wise of the Legislature to do so to effect the statute’s purpose,” the judge added, citing a 2021 Michigan appellate court decision.

The final order also said DPS will remain intact to continue to collect debt millages to pay off the remaining loans by around 2040.

The district’s next steps

As the district waits for a decision in its appeal, Vitti advised the school board to put an item on the ballot for the August election asking voters to authorize DPSCD to collect the operating millage.

If that ballot measure fails, Vitti said it could be added to the November ballot. If it does not pass then, the district may have to pay between $1 million and $2 million to the city to hold a special election in May 2027.

The board is also considering a $1.4 million contract with a public affairs firm to educate voters about the operating millage.

Vitti said he is optimistic voters will pass the measure, but the main challenge will be communicating to Detroiters that they will not have to pay additional taxes. The only thing changing will be that DPSCD will collect the money instead of DPS.

In November 2024, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal S, which allowed DPS to levy the full 18 mills on non-homestead property.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Gas cards, bikes, and money for parents considered in Detroit district’s chronic absenteeism fight

2026-02-26T00:04:23+00:00

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More financial incentives, gas cards, and stronger early pick-up policies may be in the Detroit school district’s future as part of ongoing efforts to improve attendance.

The potential strategies were mentioned on Tuesday during a Detroit Public Schools Community District board work session on chronic absenteeism. Board members requested the meeting to springboard new strategies and better understand current efforts.

With a new mayor who has promised to focus on city issues that affect youth and education, there could be momentum to address root causes of chronic absenteeism.

Mayor Mary Sheffield, has already begun conversations with the district around improving transportation, district officials said. Those conversations have included the possibility of expanding city bus routes in specific areas where school-age kids have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism and hiring staff to make sure students feel safe riding the bus.

“If we’re going to partner with the city, maybe we should try to galvanize our community,” said Board President LaTrice McClendon during the meeting.

Students are considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year, or about 18 days of instruction in a typical 180-day school year. Even as the state’s chronic absenteeism rate has climbed in the years following the pandemic, DPSCD has made substantial ground reducing its rate.

Last school year, 60.9% of DPSCD students were chronically absent, an improvement of nearly 5 percentage points from the year before. The district also decreased the rate by nearly 16 percentage points from the 2021-22 school year, when quarantine rules caused many students to stay home.

Still, the district’s rate was nearly 30 percentage points higher than the state average last year.

Districts in communities like Detroit, where 84% of students come from low-income homes, have long grappled with kids missing too much school due to systemic issues such as inadequate transportation, poor health, dangerous routes to school, and parents’ inflexible work schedules.

Gift cards, carpooling, bikes, and city partnerships

The district is considering building on existing financial incentives for attendance, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during the meeting.

Instead of an across-the-board incentive, like its perfect attendance payouts for high schoolers, the district could offer gift cards to families of early-grade students living in neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty, Vitti said. The district could even target the incentive to neighborhoods and grade levels with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, he added.

The chronic absenteeism rates in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade were higher than the district average last year, according to the district’s data. The kindergarten rate, for instance, was 68.3%.

The district may also give more gas cards to parents who carpool, bringing students from the same neighborhoods to school together. Attendance agents would organize this strategy at schools, Vitti said.

The district will also recommend updating school policy to curb the frequency of early pick-ups, said Vitti. Caregivers would still be allowed to pick up students early, but the new policy would set a standard about how often is acceptable.

“This has been a big problem for a lot of schools where we have parents consistently removing children from school before the end of the day,” he said. “It disrupts the learning process.”

This spring, the district will give some students at Cody and Osborn high schools bicycles to get to school, Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather said during the meeting.

Students told the district in a recent survey that bikes would help them get to school. They are already being used at Davis Aerospace Technical High School, where the chronic absenteeism rate dropped by more than 14 percentage points last school year compared to the year before.

The bikes will be given to a targeted group of students to create data around whether the move can improve their attendance, she added.

DPSCD will continue to explore the idea of adding more yellow or shuttle bus services. Vitti said specific student data will be needed in order for those efforts to pay off.

“You will hear, ‘Why don’t we do more transportation?’” he said. “We can add a bus, but if we don’t have any assurance that there’s actually kids that are going to go from point A to B, then we’re just going to have an empty bus.”

The district does not currently provide yellow bus service to most high school students. Exceptions are made in some cases, including for those with disabilities or experiencing homelessness.

Although the district’s yellow bus pilot at Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney served few students last year, the district said it may have helped improve attendance at one campus.

Chronic absenteeism declined by 8.5 percentage points last semester at Ford compared to the 2024-25 school year, according to the district. In the same time frame, the district’s nine other neighborhood high schools’ rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point.

Ford went from having the highest chronic absenteeism rate of all 10 neighborhood high schools to the third lowest, according to the district.

The same was not true at East English – the chronic absenteeism rate there went up by roughly 1 percentage point in the fall compared to last year, the district said.

Board members want to see more parent, community investment

At an October board meeting, some members asked what could be done to hold parents more accountable when their kids miss too much school.

This year, the district began more coordination with its police department in issuing “parental responsibility” citations for egregious truancy cases, according to the district. The citations require parents to improve their child’s attendance or enter the court system.

The citations are a “last resort,” said Meriweather, the deputy superintendent.

Board members asked whether the district could expand attendance contracts to students at risk of severe absenteeism in neighborhood schools.

Currently, the contracts are used for students who attend a school outside of their attendance boundary who are at risk of missing 45 days. They are asked to sign contracts, with their parents, agreeing to improve their attendance or risk being transferred to their neighborhood schools.

The policy was adopted for the 2024-25 school year. More than 2,900 students were identified under the policy and 434 were transferred, according to the district. The average chronic absenteeism rate went down by 7 percentage points for the group who signed contracts. Chronic absenteeism reduced even more for the group of students who were forced to transfer back to their neighborhood schools, with the average rate dropping by 10.1 percentage points.

Board members asked if the at-risk threshold could be reduced from 45 days.

“We can definitely look at bringing that number down,” said Vitti.

McClendon suggested the district partner with community organizations, parent-teacher associations, volunteers, and block clubs to help get kids to school. The groups could help walk kids to school, monitor bus stops for safety, make phone calls to parents, drive carpools, and more, she said.

The district spends around $14 million a year on improving attendance, said Vitti, and most of the funding pays for attendance agents.

The district has hired more attendance agents and concentrated them in neighborhood schools with the most absenteeism in recent years. The agents have a number of duties, including home visits, data collection, dropping off resources to families, making connections to wraparound services, and more.

Board members said they would like to discuss whether it would be possible to hire more agents in future budgets.

“We need to talk about capacity to help, whether it’s on an office level, whether it’s on the school level, to ensure that we’re able to touch every student,” said McClendon.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

The Detroit school district achieved its highest graduation rate since 2008 last year

2026-02-24T11:00:01+00:00

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The Detroit school district’s four-year graduation rate reached a new high and nearly closed the gap between the district and the statewide average last year, newly released data shows.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District’s 2025 graduation rate of more than 83% was the highest since the state began using its current measures in 2007-08. The rate was nearly 5 percentage points higher compared to the previous year and more than 7.3 percentage points higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

Of the district’s 24 high schools, 13 met or exceeded the state graduation rate average last year and 18 improved their rates from the year before.

The district’s dropout rate was 10.6% last year, about 3.5 percentage points higher than the state average. The numbers don’t include students who took longer than four years to graduate, earned a GED certificate, or aged out of special education.

“This moment is more than a milestone; it is a bold promise of what DPSCD can achieve when we remain aligned, accountable, and courageous in our vision for students,” said board President LaTrice McClendon in a statement from the district.

Of the 24 high school charters in Detroit and the 17 suburban high school charters where Detroit students make up more than half of enrollment, a Detroit Free Press analysis found 2025 graduation rates varied widely by school.

The graduation rate was more than 88% at Cesar Chavez Academy, 93.4% at Voyageur Academy, 95.7% at University Preparatory Academy, and 81.3% at Old Redford Academy.

Around half of the school-age children who live in Detroit attend district schools. The remainder largely attend charter schools in the city, suburban charters and districts, or private schools.

The statewide average graduation rate was more than 84%, up from 82.8% the previous year and also the highest since the state started using its current formula.

The state calculates the four-year graduation rate with a cohort model that tracks the percentage of students who earn a regular diploma within four years of starting ninth grade.

Brian Love, state director for research and advocacy group the Education Trust-Midwest, said in a statement the improvement is promising for the state.

“It shows that the collaboration of our state leaders and educators is working for our state’s students,” he said. “At the same time, our state leaders have more work to do to ensure all students are college and career ready, particularly students with the greatest needs.”

State data suggests many Michigan students are still not prepared for college coursework.

According to the College Board, which produces Advanced Placement courses and exams, as well as the SAT, students who meet the SAT benchmarks have a 75% chance of earning a passing grade or better in first-semester college courses.

More than 72% of students in the state scored below math benchmarks on the SAT in 2024-25. More than 44% scored below reading and writing benchmarks.

SAT scores are not a high school graduation requirement in Michigan and many students don’t enroll in college after graduation.

The most recently available data shows 53.4% of 2024 graduates in the state enrolled in college or university within six months of completing high school. In DPSCD, 45.6% of graduates enrolled in higher education.

In DPSCD, 85% of students scored below benchmarks in math and 63.9% scored below benchmarks in reading and writing. In recent years, the district has improved its college readiness scores and narrowed the gap between DPSCD and state scores.

Among most Detroit charter schools, few students met college readiness benchmarks in at least one subject. At Voyageur Academy, for example, more than 95% of students did not meet the math benchmark and more than 91.3% did not meet the reading and writing benchmark.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email the district’s first goal is to graduate students with a high school diploma in four years.

“As you know, we have made strong improvements in that area,” he said. “At the same time, we are working differently and harder to ensure they are ‘college ready.’”

He added the district’s High School Redesign initiative “recognizes the different interests and talents of our students—honors, arts, career—this we believe will better motivate, inspire, and prepare them to be more ‘college’ or ‘career ready.’”

Some Detroit neighborhood high schools saw big gains

Most of DPSCD’s neighborhood high schools improved their graduation rates compared to before the pandemic.

Cody High School’s 72.4% graduation rate in 2025, for example, was an improvement of nearly 11 percentage points from 2019.

At Central High School, the graduation rate was more than 79% in 2025 – an increase of 9 percentage points from the year before. It improved by 14 percentage points compared to 2019.

Principal LaToyia Webb said as a small neighborhood school, the staff know students well and quickly identify their needs.

“We track student performance, attendance and behavior closely, so our staff can intervene quickly when students show signs of falling behind,” she said in an email.

In addition to credit recovery offered during the school day and districtwide initiatives to reduce absenteeism, Webb said community partnerships, after-school programs, and student mentoring contributed to the improvement.

“We create a supportive environment where students feel seen, heard, and valued,” she said. “A strong school climate directly contributes to persistence and academic achievement.”

More funding, wraparound supports appear to pay off for DPSCD

Districts like Detroit have long experienced inequities compared to schools in wealthier Michigan communities, which result in disparities in academic performance and graduation rates.

The pandemic exacerbated systemic problems that affect students’ ability to show up for school and learn, such as poverty, poor health, and homelessness.

At the height of COVID in 2021, DPSCD’s graduation rate was 64.5%. At the time, the district rate was 16 percentage points lower compared to the state’s.

Since then, an influx of $1.27 billion in one-time federal COVID relief dollars allowed the district to address infrastructure needs and ramp up efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, defined as a student missing 10% or more of school days. The district was also allocated more per-pupil and at-risk funding in recent state budgets.

The district has made big strides in reducing chronic absenteeism rates in the subsequent years. In 2024-25 it fell below pre-pandemic rates at 60.9%.

School system officials say the same strategies that have improved attendance – creating health hubs, offering more counseling, and boosting wraparound services – have also contributed to the higher graduation rates.

Those efforts appear to have paid off in particular for vulnerable students. Last year, 75.8% of the district’s students experiencing homelessness graduated in four years. The number improved by 12.8 percentage points compared to 2024.

In addition to increasing wraparound support, the district credits expanded college and career-level courses, a stronger academic intervention model for struggling students, and professional development for school counselors for the higher graduation rate.

In the next school year, DPSCD will launch its “High School Redesign” plan for incoming freshmen. It will introduce four-year diploma pathways, expand advising, and create more career pathway opportunities at neighborhood schools.

Imani Foster, communications director for the educational justice organization 482Forward, said the district has listened to what students want to see in their schools to keep them more engaged.

She also noted financial incentives for students to participate in a tutoring program or to have perfect attendance.

McClendon said strengthening early warning systems for middle schoolers falling behind and creating more flexible schedules for students balancing work or family responsibilities are options the district may consider to improve college readiness.

Foster is hopeful Detroit’s new Mayor Mary Sheffield will follow through on her promises to improve conditions in the city that affect education, including better transportation options, child care, and affordable housing.

“Oftentimes, when we only have the schools addressing these issues, we leave students out,” she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Kristi Tanner is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at ktanner@freepress.com.

State superintendent says Trump’s Michigan schools investigations are based on false info

2026-02-20T00:23:56+00:00

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Michigan’s superintendent is firing back at the U.S. Justice Department by saying the Trump administration’s Title IX investigations into three districts are based on false information about the state’s health education guidelines.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon sent notices of compliance reviews to superintendents of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Lansing School District, and Godfrey-Lee Public Schools on Wednesday. The department said it is investigating whether the districts have included “sexual orientation or gender ideology content” in any classroom and if parents were notified of their rights to opt their children out of such instruction. It will also determine if transgender students are allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

The letters cited the Michigan State Board of Education’s November revision of its “Michigan Health Education Standards Guidelines” that recommended students be taught about gender identity and sexual orientation. The correspondence said “health is a required class for graduation in the state of Michigan, with no opportunity for parents to opt their children out of receiving instruction.”

In a statement Thursday, State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said the premise of the investigations are a “mischaracterization.”

“Local school boards set health curriculum with input from local sex education advisory boards,” he said. “Local control remains in place. Parents retain the right to decide whether their children should participate in sex education instruction.”

The current health education guidelines noted that under existing state law, parents must be notified ahead of sex education classes, have a right to review curriculum, and can opt their children out of all or some of it without penalty.

Michigan districts decide their own curriculums and are not required to comply with suggestions in the state board’s guidelines.

When the state’s current health education guidelines were proposed last year, many conservative and religious parents and community members spoke out against the changes. They claimed their rights to protect their children’s religious upbringing were stripped away.

Maleyko also reaffirmed the state’s commitment to ensuring all students feel safe and included.

“The much-needed updates to health education guidelines—which the Department of Justice falsely said are state requirements—help local districts make decisions on how they can support student health,” he said.

The Justice Department is asking the districts to hand over numerous documents, including library books with mentions of LGBTQ+ matters, curriculum texts, and presentations.

The letters threaten terminating federal funding if the districts do not comply.

All three districts receive high percentages of their funding from federal grants, said Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, an organization that works to help students in districts with the greatest needs by creating educational equity.

Advocates worry the investigations will hurt youth

Erin Knott, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Michigan, said in a statement that the group is disappointed about the investigations.

“LGBTQ+ youth are among the most vulnerable young people in our state,” she said. “They face higher rates of bullying, harassment, and mental health challenges. Inclusive education policies are not ‘ideology,’ they are evidence-based efforts to ensure that every student feels safe, respected, and seen in their own school community.”

Jay Kaplan, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said while the investigations may not have legal bearing, they could cause a chilling effect that results in districts rolling back protections for LGBTQ+ students.

“This is an attempt to harass and bully districts into discriminating against trans kids and into erasing the existence of LGBTQ people,” he said.

Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the political pressure on districts puts schools in an impossible situation.

“Do they comply and risk violating state law, implementing policies and practices they know harm students and the entire school environment?” She said. “Or do they risk federal funding and do what’s right to ensure every student, regardless of their identity, can succeed in school?”

Many Michigan LGBTQ+ youth say they fear the ripple effects of political rhetoric in President Donald Trump’s second term. A 2024 survey by the nonprofit advocacy group the Trevor Project found 89% of Michigan LGBTQ+ students said recent politics negatively impacted their sense of well-being.

Affirming policies are potentially life-saving, other surveys suggest.

Why the DOJ opened the investigation

The Department of Justice said in the letter that the revised standards could violate Title IX or a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Mahmoud v. Taylor, which requires districts to allow parents to opt their children out from classes with LGBTQ+ themes.

Spokespeople from the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions about why the three districts are the target of the investigations.

Kaplan said it appears districts with large populations of Latino and Black students in communities experiencing high rates of poverty were targeted. He said investigations are unusual because they don’t appear to be prompted by parent complaints. He added the letters are “constitutionally flawed,” and that current law does not allow the executive branch to dictate what local schools teach.

Gal said the letters also appear to “misunderstand the timeline and the standards it references.”

“The Supreme Court’s decision in Mahmoud was issued in June 2025, and Michigan’s updated health standards were finalized later in 2025, yet the investigation is requesting materials and communications going back to 2023,” she said. “That kind of mismatch creates confusion and fear for school districts about what is actually expected of them.”

Arnetta Thompson, superintendent of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, said in an email the district will provide all information the Department of Justice requested.

“At this time, this is a standard review process. “The District is not facing any charges or findings of wrongdoing. We remain committed to complying with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and have consistently operated in accordance with those laws.”

Spokespeople for the Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Lansing School District declined to comment.

Monique Bryant, a member of the DPSCD board, said as a parent she has never had a concern about classroom material.

“Sometimes you can have students and parents go too far left with something, and we have to be thoughtful and mindful of everyone,” she added.

Lansing school board President Guillermo Lopez said he had not heard complaints from any parents about not being able to opt out.

House Speaker Matt Hall, a Republican from Richland Township, said at his regular news conference on Feb. 19 he supports the investigations because he doesn’t think most parents want their children receiving that type of instruction.

If it is happening, officials should “put a stop to it,” Hall said.“I would welcome more investigations.”

State Board of Education member Tom McMillan, a Republican from Oakland Township, said he was pleased to learn of the Department of Justice investigation: “This is one of the things the federal government can do to make kids safe.”

Even though state law says that parents have a right to opt out their children from sex education lessons, McMillan said there are no consequences for districts that do not follow the opt-out law.

“I think there should be serious consequences, removal of funds, maybe jail time, prison, for districts that don’t follow the law,” he said. “If they are harming kids, allowing boys to go into girls’ locker rooms, showers, that’s perversion and should be met with some kind of serious consequences.”

Pamela Pugh, president of the State Board of Education and a Democrat from Saginaw, said the investigation is a “politically motivated fishing expedition” and “a misuse of federal resources” that will burden local schools.

Trump threatens funding over transgender student protections, DEI

As promised during his campaign, Trump has targeted transgender communities and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in multiple executive orders.

Since last year, the Michigan Department of Education has pushed back on those executive orders, saying its efforts to incorporate curriculum that reflects diverse experiences won’t change.

The Trump administration has also targeted districts across the country with investigations and funding threats.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights announced an investigation into New York City’s education department for a policy that allows transgender students to play on sports teams in line with their gender identity.

Denver Public Schools was investigated last year by the Department of Education for converting a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom.

Chicago is facing a loss of millions in federal funding for magnet schools due to a dispute with the Department of Education over how the district serves transgender and Black students.

Another Title IX probe began in Maine in April. The Department of Justice sued Minneapolis Public Schools over its layoff protections for teachers of color in December.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Georgea Kovanis is a reporter covering LGBTQ+ issues for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at gkovanis@freepress.com.

Paul Egan contributed to this report.

Vitti seeks ways to boost certification of special education teachers

2026-02-18T23:15:23+00:00

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As the Detroit school district continues to experience special education teacher shortages, its superintendent is proposing ways for more teachers to enter the field.

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, said due to the increase in children being diagnosed with autism statewide, he wants the Michigan Department of Education, or MDE, to expand access to special education programs and offer incentives to bring in more people to the profession.

“That’s the challenge we’re facing here [in DPSCD], but this is a statewide challenge,” Vitti said during a school board meeting last month. “There’s just so few teachers that are generally going into the profession, but especially special education. And then adding that special education endorsement just creates another barrier.”

Currently, an aspiring teacher needs a bachelor’s degree in general education and a special credential called an endorsement. If they want to teach children with a specific disorder, like autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, the person needs an additional endorsement.

Michigan has seen statewide teacher shortages for at least the last 15 years as educators leave the field at an unsustainable rate. This has forced schools to rely on those with temporary or interim credentials, according to a report released last month from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University. That is especially true for special education, where vacancy rates are nearly double the statewide average. More than 5% of all special education full-time positions were vacant in the fall of 2024, far exceeding the statewide vacancy rate of 2.8%.

Across much of the state, the lack of staffing has resulted in teachers with no special education credentials instructing students with disabilities. Lacking enough specialists, districts apply for temporary approvals from the state to put general education teachers in classrooms even though they haven’t yet earned the added credential. This can stretch school resources and, critics say, shortchange the education of the district’s most vulnerable students.

The shortage is not only confined to teachers – Michigan also lacks speech language pathologists, social workers, and paraprofessionals who work with students with disabilities.

At a board meeting on Feb. 10, Vitti said DPSCD had 28 teacher and 32 support staff vacancies. That includes six paraprofessionals in the Exceptional Student Education, or ESE, department, 10 occupational therapists, six physical therapists, and one speech language and pathologist. However, Vitti said the district is “overstaffed” for the first time during his tenure with 107 full-time and contracted psychologists. ESE is the district’s name for its special education department.

The number of children in Michigan being diagnosed with autism is also rising. According to a 2024 report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, 25,315 Medicaid-eligible children – birth through 18 years – were evaluated or reevaluated as having a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in 2022. The following year, 27,449 children were evaluated or reevaluated, a less than 1% increase. Meanwhile, the Michigan Department of Education reported that 25,147 of all children enrolled in grades K-12 during the 2022-23 school year were assigned autism spectrum disorder eligibility.

With new state Superintendent Glenn Maleyko leading the Michigan Department of Education, Vitti is hopeful he’ll be open to possible changes to the certification process.

“The remedy to this is maybe require the special education certification and then give the teacher with that certification some time to gain the endorsement in the specialization area so that we can have more certified teachers in the classroom,” Vitti said during the meeting. “But we can’t do that unilaterally without MDE approving that.”

Finding autism spectrum disorder teachers ‘particularly challenging’

In an email to BridgeDetroit, Vitti said that the supply of educators statewide is not meeting demands when it comes to staffing and support for special education, or Exceptional Student Education, DPSCD’s name for the department.

“This is particularly challenging in areas like Autism Spectrum Disorder,” he said.

DPSCD’s special education department offers several programs specifically for students with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. The programs that saw the biggest enrollment increases in recent years were Mild Cognitive Impairment and ASD, according to a 2025 district report. Enrollment for the autism spectrum disorder programs increased by 100 students between 2022 and 2024, from 311 to 411. The number is projected to rise again to 438 students in the upcoming 2025 report.

Autism spectrum disorder classrooms should have no more than five students to a class, so at least 400 additional teachers are needed based on the number of children with autism recorded in the department of health and human services report, Vitti said. Between August 1, 2024, and July 31, 2025, 138 prospective special education teachers took the state autism spectrum disorder test, with 128 people passing. The exam is part of the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification, or MTTC.

Aspiring teachers can become certified in special education in one of three ways, Michigan Department of Education spokesperson Ken Coleman told BridgeDetroit in an email:

They can attend a traditional preparation program offered at a four-year university for initial certification. This lets students earn a general education endorsement and a special education endorsement simultaneously, along with a bachelor’s degree. This includes at least 30 credit hours of content-focused coursework and a minimum of an 8-week internship in a special education placement as well as at least 50 student contact hours in the area of the general education endorsement. These all contribute to the required minimum of 600 hours of clinical experiences prior to certification recommendation.
Students also have the option of taking an expedited special education program. Expedited programs allow students to earn a special education endorsement without the additional general education endorsement, along with a bachelor’s degree. Completers hold a standard Michigan teaching certificate with a particular special education endorsement. This includes at least 30 credit hours of content-focused coursework and a minimum of a 300-hour internship in a special education placement. This is incorporated into the required minimum of 600 hours of clinical experiences prior to certification recommendation.
A person can take an alternative pathway program, which trains people who already have a bachelor’s degree. They can earn one of the following special education endorsements: cognitive impairment, emotional impairment, physical or other health impaired, and specific learning disabilities, as well as a general education endorsement on a five-year Interim Teaching Certificate, or ITC. Alternative route candidates earning special education endorsements must complete at least 32 credit hours of content-focused coursework, pass the Michigan teaching certification test and complete an eight-week internship before they can add the endorsement to their interim teaching certificate.

For teachers already in the field, they can add a particular special education endorsement to their certificate through a traditional or an alternative route program, Coleman said. The time frame to become certificated varies, he said, but a bachelor’s degree and certification coursework typically take four years to complete, while teachers earning an additional endorsement typically enter programs that last between 1.5 to 2.5 years.

That makes their college training more costly. And once they graduate, many if not most districts don’t offer a pay bump for the extra training.

Ben Hicks, the associate executive director of training and development for the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education, said the costs along with the time frame to become certified is one of the challenges he hears most from educators.

“It becomes more costly and time-consuming and then on top of that, with the certification plus the endorsement, you have to student-teach twice,” he said.

Coleman added that the Michigan Department of Education has made several changes to the certification process in recent years to streamline the experience of prospective special education teachers.

Some of those changes include launching the Special Education Teacher Tuition Reimbursement Grant in 2021 to incentivize certified Michigan teachers to earn an endorsement in special education for employment in a program for which they are currently not qualified, allowing waiver requests for teacher placement in certain special education programs beginning in 2023, and approving preparation standards last year for a new stand-alone special education teacher credential.

The endorsement is intended to stand alone on a Michigan teaching certificate but can also be combined with other endorsements in general or special education, the Michigan Department of Education said in a news release. Prospective special educators will enter the new programs this fall, and teachers will begin to enter the field with the new special education teacher endorsement by spring 2028.

Vitti believes one possible solution to the shortage of autism spectrum disorder teachers is for universities to expand access to endorsements. Twelve colleges across Michigan offer autism spectrum disorder endorsements, including Eastern Michigan University, Madonna University, Oakland University, and Wayne State University.

Alternative pathway programs like Talent Together, which pays school employees and community members to get teaching credentials, offer special education certifications in areas like autism spectrum disorder, cognitive, and emotional impairment and learning disabilities.

DPSCD’s teacher preparation program, On the Rise Academy, does not offer autism spectrum disorder as an endorsement, but educators can become certified in cognitive impairment in addition to one of the program’s general education endorsements.

“Our hope would be that the ASD programs are more accessible at universities and through alternative providers — and that there are incentives tied to increasing the number of ASD-certified teachers for university preparation programs,” Vitti said.

Ensuring teachers are adequately trained

State lawmakers have also taken notice of the teacher shortages in special education. In 2021, Michigan’s Legislature budgeted $1.5 million to study how to “attract, prepare, and retain qualified personnel for children with disabilities.” That task force would become Optimise. The group identifies barriers for special educators, partnering with professional organizations, institutes of higher education, and the governor’s office to come up with recommendations to those barriers. The group has several action teams, with teacher credentialing and standards being one of them.

Laurie VanderPloeg, consultant for Optimise, said incentives have been a topic of discussion for some of the groups. Group members have mentioned giving special educators a stipend for their tuition reimbursement for school and paying teachers overtime for the paperwork they can’t complete during the school day. The group has also talked about reducing the amount of time in teacher prep programs, but guaranteed that there’s an increase in rigor.

“We’re really looking at how do we beef up and change some of our preparation programs to be less timely, which would reduce the cost for overall tuition, but increase the quality of what’s being taught, and retaining the rigor of the program so that parents can be very comfortable with the fact that the candidates are coming out well prepared to meet the diverse needs of their children,” VanderPloeg said.

Heather Eckner, director of statewide education for the Autism Alliance of Michigan, also recognizes the difficulties school districts in the state face in hiring special education teachers and staff. The nonprofit works with students with autism and their families statewide.

While administrators may feel pressured to fill those vacancies, what Eckner hears from families is that they want districts to ensure teachers have adequate training and credentials. When teachers don’t have that training, she has seen cases of educators using exclusionary discipline tactics like seclusion and restraint.

“If we think about it from a family/student perspective, it’s like, we need people in these positions, but we need personnel who are appropriately trained and adequately supported to meet the needs of kids,” Eckner said. “When that’s not in place, we see a rise in things that nobody really wants to happen, where kids get pushed out and underserved or inappropriately served. Higher ed teacher prep programs really have not evolved to better prepare teachers for the student populations that they encounter in any setting in schools now.”

Like Vitti, Eckner wants to see more alternative teacher preparation programs that offer special education endorsements.

“Special education is often left out of the plan for comprehensive reform,” Eckner said. “Now you’re getting these pathways underway like TeachMichigan and Talent Together. But where’s your plan to help build a pipeline to increase how many special education-endorsed teachers we have?”

Bridge Michigan reporter Isabel Lohman contributed to this report.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit teachers union asks district to reaffirm commitment to immigrant students in new contract

2026-02-17T21:58:34+00:00

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The Detroit Federation of Teachers plans to ask for more support for teachers whose students are impacted by immigration enforcement in its new contract.

The district’s current agreement with the teachers union will end June 30 and discussions around the new contract will begin in the coming weeks, said Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins.

The request will come after months of unmet teacher and community pleas to the Detroit Public Schools Community District and its board to provide more training around dealing with federal immigration enforcement. Educators have repeatedly asked the board to do more to protect newcomers and their families as at least five students in the school system have been detained in the months since federal immigration enforcement has ramped up in the second Trump administration.

While the district has provided some training to certain staff, Wilson-Lumpkins told Chalkbeat it can “do a much better job.”

“Parents are still afraid,” she said. “If you go into some of those neighborhoods, where you would normally see hundreds of parents walking their kids to school, you don’t see those parents. That has truly hurt our classrooms.”

The DFT will also seek contract language that reinforces the school system’s commitment to being a sanctuary district, said Wilson-Lumpkins.

Kristen Schoettle, an English as a second language teacher at Western International High School and DFT member, said she wants the contract to include mandatory training for all district staff as a baseline.

Schoettle said the contract should have protections for immigrant workers, as other unions in large urban districts have achieved.

“There are quite a lot of employees with varying immigration statuses,” she said. “They are not represented at all in the contract. There are no special protections for them.”

At last week’s board meeting, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said he recently met with community leaders in Southwest Detroit, where a large portion of the district’s immigrant students and English learners attend school, to discuss strategies to support kids.

Vitti said it is clear enrollment is down and chronic absenteeism has increased in Southwest schools due to fears of ICE.

“We are actively working with Southwest leaders to proactively anticipate increases in ICE presence in Detroit,” said Vitti. “We’re doing this through individual leaders, community organizers, and groups. School staff and central office staff are working with those leaders to provide additional resources to immigrant families that have lost family members or are fearful of the ICE presence.”

The DFT’s bargaining priorities

The teachers union will fight for more competitive wages and better benefits so the district can better attract and retain staff, said Wilson-Lumpkins.

“Stability in our workforce directly impacts student achievement,” she said.

Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email the district and the DFT share the goal of “aggressively increasing teacher salaries to continue our improvement in recruiting and retaining the best teachers to serve our students.”

“A persistent challenge in providing our teachers with what they deserve — which is to be the highest paid teachers in the nation — is unequal and inequitable state/local funding,” he said.

The DFT’s bargaining priorities also include paid maternity leave.

The district provides protected maternity and paternity leave for up to 16 weeks, but it goes unpaid. Another four weeks may be allowed for those who qualify for family and medical leave. Some employees may also use paid sick or vacation time for their leave.

Most states don’t guarantee paid paternity leave, a recent study found, and just one-third of teachers reported access to any paid parental leave in a 2024 survey.

The union is also seeking more resources for students with autism spectrum disorder, saying that working conditions for teachers in special education and autism spectrum disorder or mild cognitive impairment classrooms are leading to burnout, said Wilson-Lumpkins.

This school year, the district revamped its special education department and restructured classrooms to be at centralized hubs. It also hired more staff to keep up with the growing demand for students’ special education service evaluations.

Even with the additional staff, Wilson-Lumpkins said members say the timeline for completing evaluations is unrealistic and causing staff to leave their jobs.

“The last contract scratched the surface,” Wilson-Lumpkins said at a recent board meeting. “This contract must be progressive, creative and innovative, so that there is no question about this district and this union’s expectations about what we have as a union and a district.”

The board went into its first closed session to discuss negotiations for this cycle of negotiations on Tuesday night.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district is spending millions to increase security after safety concerns

2026-02-12T23:38:23+00:00

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Following two incidents involving students bringing weapons into classrooms, the Detroit school district is investing millions in ramping up security.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board voted this week to spend $1.7 million to hire 38 additional security guards for the rest of the school year. This month the district will also begin a pilot program of new security screening at 7 schools and a new visitor check-in process.

The district promised in October to make changes to its security protocols after an eighth grader stabbed another girl in class at Gompers Elementary-Middle School with a knife her mother allegedly brought into the school past a metal detector.

Months later, a student reportedly chased another with a boxcutter around a Denby High School classroom. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email the student brought the weapon into the school due to a security guard’s screening failure.

“It is important to note that while we have strengthened monitoring and reinforced protocols district-wide following the Gompers incident, no system is effective without consistent execution at the school level and with personnel,” said Vitti. “This situation reflects a failure in implementation not a change in protocol.”

The additional security guards will help supervise students throughout the day at 29 schools. The district is currently working to fill 41 security guard vacancies, which includes the 38 new positions. Once the positions are filled, there will be a total of 252 security guards in the district.

The superintendent said the district is confident there will be room in the budget to continue filling the positions next fall.

The security screening pilot will last the remainder of the year at seven schools: Renaissance, Cass, Mumford, Western, East English Village, Gompers, and Earhart. The pilot will cost $490,000.

“As we move through implementation, the district will use what we learn from these pilot sites to determine effectiveness, identify operational best practices, and inform any decisions about potential expansion next year,” said Vitti.

Parents were notified Wednesday that the district began implementing a uniform visitor check-in process at all schools.

Now, all visitors, including parents, must show a photo ID, be photographed at the front desk, and wear a visitor badge with their name and image.

Parents or guardians who forget their IDs are required to fill out additional paperwork.

“We realize this is a new process and may be frustrating for some visitors but please keep in mind that this is another safety strategy we are implementing to keep everyone safe and accountable,” Vitti said in the district’s notification.

Vitti said at a recent committee meeting board members asked for a proposal to increase security personnel after the Denby incident on Jan. 21.

A video of the incident circulating social media showed a teacher trying to stop the student with a chair, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

“The student has been arrested and will not be returning to Denby or another district school,” Chrystal Wilson, DPSCD spokesperson, said in an email. There were no reported injuries.

The guard was immediately removed from screening duties, Vitti said, and was placed on administrative leave while an investigation is pending.

Additional police were placed at the school the following day.

Since the Gompers attack, the district spent a total of $4.3 million on additional security measures, which include more staff and support for risk assessments and hiring 10 more police officers in the district’s police department. There are now 41 officers in the department.

The district also began in-person and virtual monitoring of the screening procedures at schools, said Vitti. Administrators and public safety teams now conduct unannounced visits and live camera reviews of screening practices in real time. Principals are now required to log their monitoring of the screening process.

“When deviations from protocol are identified, we act immediately with additional support and accountability,” said Vitti.

Since October, the district conducted refresher training for security staff and reinforced administrative accountability.

“We remain committed to continuous improvement and to ensuring that screening procedures are carried out with fidelity every day in every school,” said Vitti. “We also need to have the continued support of our families to ensure backpacks are spot checked and the message is reinforced at home that weapons cannot be brought to school.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Feb. 17, 2026: This story has been updated with new information from DPSCD and comments from Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

New city roles point to Sheffield’s focus on youth and education in Detroit

2026-02-12T22:16:42+00:00

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Years ago, when Chanel Hampton was leading a group of educators, they began each day with a question: “How are the children doing?”

It became a North Star, she said, guiding the team in its efforts to see all students succeed. They wanted to be able to say that all the children were doing well.

Hampton, whose background is in education, government, and organizational leadership, is bringing that same direction to a first-of-its-kind dual role in the Detroit city administration as the senior director of youth and the education liaison. Mayor Mary Sheffield formally announced Hampton’s appointment Thursday during a press conference, though she’s been in the role for about two weeks.

Hampton’s job, as well as the hiring of JerJuan Howard as the director of the new Office of Youth Affairs, reflects a new direction for Detroit, which is putting youth and education in the forefront as major priorities in the new administration.

“Today is really a step forward in how we show up for our young people in the city of Detroit,” Sheffield said Thursday. “If we want Detroit to rise higher, which we all do, we know that the next step is how we really invest in our young people and how we continue to improve education in our city.”

During the mayoral campaign, Sheffield often spoke of her desire to play a role in education in the city with a focus on working with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the city’s many charter schools, and city agencies to reduce chronic absenteeism, improve transit coordination so students can reliably get to school, and expand after-school programs and enrichment opportunities at city recreation centers.

While the mayor has no control over city schools, Sheffield’s interest in addressing the societal problems that make it difficult for students to succeed is coming at a critical time. While schools have seen improvement in academic performance and chronic absenteeism, far too many children aren’t performing well and many are missing too much school.

Hampton will serve as a liaison between the mayor’s office and DPSCD, charter schools, out-of-school-time partners, and community organizations “to address some of the most persistent needs of students and their families,” according to a news release from the city. She will also lead the city’s work supporting people from 0 to 26 years old.

“Our young people will know that they are a focal priority in our city, and they will know they have a key role in leadership and ownership in our city, inside of school, outside of school,” Hampton said. “We will be able to say all the children in Detroit are well.”

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti echoed other speakers when he said Detroit children are talented, but lack opportunities. Gaps in opportunities can only be addressed by working together, being collaborative, problem solving, and sharing resources.

“And that’s why today is so special, because we have a mayor that understands that,” Vitti said. “It takes … putting egos aside and focusing on what’s best for children, regardless of what organization or institution or resources are coming from.”

He and Ralph Bland, the CEO of the Detroit charter school network New Paradigm for Education, agreed that this kind of coordination means setting aside egos and working on common goals, even if they are competitors.

“We need to move from isolated to coordinated to intent to implement, said Ralph Bland, CEO of the Detroit charter school network New Paradigm for Education. “This is serious.”

Sheffield said JerJuan Howard, the director of the new Office of Youth Affairs, will oversee an effort to “ensure that youth voices are not an afterthought, but a part of how we develop our policy, allocate our resources, and measure success across city government.”

Howard, a youth leader and founder of the Umoja Debate League, said the new position is timely and necessary.

“It’s important for youth to come with us and for changes not to happen to our youth, but to happen with our youth. They should become the engineers of their own reality and what their city looks like moving forward. They must have a seat at the table, and this appointment reflects that commitment by the mayor.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Sheffield committees weigh in on role of education, arts in Detroit’s future

2026-02-11T17:19:53+00:00

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When Cyekeia Lee was invited last fall by then Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield’s transition team to advise the incoming administration on youth and education affairs in the city, she could hardly believe the moment was real.

The executive director of Detroit College Access Network said she was honored to share her experience leading a nonprofit dedicated to helping Detroit students prepare for college.

“This is a historic time for the city of Detroit, with Mary Sheffield being the first Black woman mayor in its history,” Lee said. “Mayor [Mike] Duggan led really well, but it feels like a return of self for Detroit.”

Lee was among the residents, professionals, scholars, creatives, and others seated on 18 transition committees helping to guide Sheffield’s early days in office, which range from health and human services and housing development, to education and arts and culture. The committees, which met in November and December, were responsible for developing policy recommendations and identifying priorities.

As Sheffield enters her second month as Detroit mayor, she has already filled key cabinet positions and kicked off a series of new initiatives. Sheffield announced plans last month to launch the popular Rx Kids program in Detroit, which opened applications this week. The mayor unveiled a plan to reshuffle city departments focused on health and human services and a crackdown on senior housing conditions. She also launched a citywide survey seeking feedback from residents on six priority topics that will be used to inform her governing agenda. The survey is open through March 6.

An action plan is set to be released publicly on April 11 — Sheffield’s 100th day in office — Melvin Butch Hollowell, co-chair of Sheffield’s Rise Higher Detroit transition team, told BridgeDetroit. It will include recommendations from the committees for actions to take in her first year and before the four-year term ends. Hollowell didn’t share details of the plan, but noted that transportation, housing, education, and safety are key priorities.

Lee served on the education committee, which met a couple of times in November and December. The group was co-chaired by five people: Ralph Bland, CEO at New Paradigm for Education; Alycia Meriweather, deputy superintendent in Detroit Public Schools Community District; Damon Pitt, an education achievement expert; Angelique Power, CEO at Skillman Foundation; and Shawn Wilson, CEO at the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan.

Lee said the group was packed with members deeply rooted in Detroit.

“For people to just be able to put thought to how things were when they were growing up, or streets that they know, or areas of the schools, it feels very home-grown,” she said. “We did a lot of small group work, and, as we rotated groups, I got to know a lot of people that I didn’t know before or that I only knew by name.”

Creating a better future for the youth of Detroit

During her campaign, Sheffield said that she wants to prioritize initiatives that will improve the lives of young people, including ensuring the city’s children receive a quality education.

While the mayor does not have control over schools, Sheffield has shown interest in forming a partnership with DPSCD and the city’s many charter schools. After her public swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 10, Sheffield visited Pershing High School and talked with nearly 90 students in the school’s library.

Suma Rosen, another education committee member and the executive director of InsideOut Literary Arts, said the committee had to take Sheffield’s 15 priorities in the education and youth space and narrow them down to five on the citywide survey. Members also had a say in what the survey looked like, she said.

“Watching the conversations happen — we had full group conversations and breakout conversations — it was structured in such a way that everyone’s voice was heard,” Rosen said. “It was so rewarding to listen to what my co-committee members were saying.”

The group discussed a variety of topics, but among the top five priorities was combating chronic absenteeism, including figuring out solutions for some of the factors that lead to students being absent from school. During the 2024-25 school year, more than 60% of DPSCD students were considered chronically absent. About 84% of the district’s students come from low-income families and have experienced high rates of chronic absenteeism due to systemic barriers, such as housing instability, a lack of accessible transportation, and health concerns.

When it comes to transportation, Lee said one possible way to decrease absenteeism is to have the district provide more yellow school buses for students. DPSCD offers buses for students in grades K–8 who reside more than three-quarters of a mile from their neighborhood school. The district does not provide yellow bus service to most high school students. Exceptions are made in some cases, including for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. City buses are the main mode of transportation for most Detroit high schoolers.

“Even though there’s a relationship with DDOT [the Detroit Department of Transportation], trying to get to your bus stop when it’s eight degrees, that’s tough, right?” Lee said. “And then, the thing that I don’t love for students is you may be in middle school and you got to ride the bus with a bunch of adults. There’s a whole different level of safety measures for young men and young women that we have to wrap our heads around.”

Lee and Rosen said the committee did not have a list of solutions ready in efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, but it’s something they want to tackle in the long term alongside Sheffield’s administration.

“We want to be really clear on what the household determinants are first before we try to put [recommendations] out,” Rosen said. “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket if it’s the wrong basket.”

Every transition committee included a youth representative, and the education group wants to see young people continue to have a seat at the table during Sheffield’s term, Lee said. Having a youth task force in the mayor’s office was another priority that was discussed, Rosen said.

“We want a longer-term committee, and we want that to also include youth voices,” Lee said. “It’s one thing for us to say all the things we want for young people; it’s another thing for young people to say, ‘This is how this is showing up in my life, in my building, in my neighborhood, in my home.’ Whatever it is that we do moving forward, we have really got to look at incorporating the voices of 14-to-24-year-olds.”

One way Lee wants Sheffield’s administration and the Detroit College Access Network to stay connected is through Decision Day, a day on or around May 1 when high school seniors decide which college they’re attending in the fall. Lee said Sheffield participated in the nonprofit’s College Decision Day in 2022 when she was serving as City Council President and hopes to see Sheffield return this year.

“Our hope is that we can communicate with her [Sheffield] and her office to have a citywide Decision Day where every student knows that May 1 is Decision Day and celebrated in all middle and high schools,” she said.

Committee members want to stay engaged on education issues

Hollowell was in charge of finding and selecting individuals to join 18 committees for the transition team, ranging from health and human services and housing development, to education and arts and culture. The committees had a total of 50 co-chairs and 284 members. Some co-chairs included The Right Productions President Shahida Mausi, Detroit NAACP President Rev. Wendell Anthony, Black Tech Saturdays CEO Johnnie Turnage, and Transportation Riders United Executive Director Megan Owens.

Hollowell, who formerly served as corporation counsel under Duggan, said it was the largest group ever assembled for a mayoral transition in Detroit.

“It was easy and hard,” Hollowell told BridgeDetroit about the selection process. “It was easy in the sense that no one said ‘No.’

“The process was the hard part. At some point, you got to draw a line on how many co-chairs you have,” he added. “Everybody wanted to be a coach. We had some people from corporate, some people from the neighborhoods, from the education community.”

While work for the committees officially ended Dec. 31, some committees continue to meet informally and members remain in communication, he said. Hollowell hopes members will continue to serve as advisors throughout Sheffield’s term.

“The mayor has said ‘I don’t want this group to go anywhere,’” Hollowell has said. “They want to be kept engaged and we’re going to do that.”

Building an artist economy is also a Sheffield priority

On the arts front, members of Sheffield’s arts, culture, and entertainment committee honed in on the need for more support for Detroit creatives.

The committee, led by Mausi of The Right Productions, also included Detroit Institute of Arts Chairman Lane Coleman and Detroit Entertainment Commission Chairman John Collins. Like the education committee, the group met a couple of times in November and December, said Adrian Tonon, business advisor of digital marketing agency Menace Media and the city’s former 24-hour economy ambassador.

Tonon said a healthy creative economy — one of his responsibilities as an ambassador — was discussed during the committee meetings. He said the city must provide resources for creatives, including enough independent venues across the city to perform in. Tonon added the city is beginning to plug in more to the arts and culture scene with the creation of its Film Detroit office last year.

“Our report was really about how do we infuse support in every vertical of government, from BSEED [Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department] to law to health to housing, every sector of government in order to support people that are creatives,” Tonon said.

Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore was also on the committee and said that she wants to see an artist infrastructure similar to New York, where people can make a living making their art. Moore lived in New York and Atlanta for several years before moving back to Detroit 18 years ago.

“Working as a full-time artist for the last 30 years, I wish I could make a living here,” she said. “I’ve made my money traveling, going to other cities and other countries. It’d be nice for the world-renowned artists that we have in the music industry, the writers, the painters, the dancers … that they could be sustained. And if we have a system, a way to help fund people who are here, then we build the culture. We create an ecosystem that has people saying, ‘Well, yeah, I live in Detroit because nobody’s taking care of me better than Detroit.’”

The committee doesn’t have a plan yet of what an artist infrastructure would look like, but moore wants to help make it happen. She added she represents the D wherever she goes, whether that’s New York, Baltimore, or London. She wants that same love and respect in the city for herself and other artists.

“We have to understand that our artists are globally connected and are some of the best in the world, and we need to take care of them and respect them in that way,” moore said.

Tonon said he believes that Sheffield and her team will prioritize the city’s vibrant arts and culture scene and help creatives thrive. While serving on the City Council, he said, Sheffield was one of the few people who saw his vision of having a 24-hour economy.

“She really got it before anybody else got it,” Tonon said. “She’s the right candidate, the right mayor for the right time.”

BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett contributed to this report.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Hundreds of Detroit students walk out of class to protest federal immigration enforcement

2026-01-31T00:20:22+00:00

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Despite the bitter cold Friday afternoon, hundreds of Detroit students walked out of class to protest recent federal immigration actions.

Students poured out of Cass Technical High School before their last period of class began, chanting “immigrants are welcome here” and “no justice, no peace.” They marched around a loop in midtown with hand-painted signs to condemn the recent high-profile killings of two people by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

Some signs said: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal” and “U know it’s bad when white people are dying in the street” and “It shouldn’t have to happen to you for it to matter to you.”

“People are scared to leave their houses,” said Miguel-Angel Martinez, a Cass senior who lives in Southwest Detroit. “People are scared to go anywhere.”

The walkout at Cass Technical and others staged at schools around Metro Detroit were part of a “National Shutdown,” an organized day without work, shopping, or school.

“They took our alumni, they took our peers at Western [International High School],” said Hailee Hallman, a senior at Cass who helped organize the protest. “After seeing all this happen in so many places and watching it happen to people we know, it’s important for us to try to make sure they know that we’re not satisfied with this.”

Students feel the effect of immigration enforcement

At least five students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District have been detained by ICE in the months since federal immigration enforcement ramped up in the second Trump administration.

One student, Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, was deported to Colombia in June.

Three students seeking asylum in the U.S. – Santiago Jesus Zamora Perez, Kerly Mariangel Sosa Rivero, and Antony Janier Peña Sosa – were detained by ICE last month.

Mor Ba, another asylum seeker who graduated from Western days before he was detained, was released on bond from ICE custody last week.

Some of the teens at Friday’s protest have been directly affected by immigration enforcement in recent weeks.

Justin Perez, 16, said a member of his church was detained by ICE on his street. His uncle is awaiting deportation now.

“If I hear about any protests happening in the area, I always try to make my way,” he said.

Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, a junior who lives in southwest, said she wants to use her voice to speak out because others in her community are afraid to.

“I want to help my people, because what am I doing if I’m not?” she said. “I don’t want to hide under fear.”

Some fear traveling to school because of ICE

Education advocacy groups say immigration enforcement tactics are having a devastating affect on students and their access to education.

On Tuesday, multiple people reported to local officials that ICE arrested four people in Ypsilanti near a bus stop as parents dropped off their kids at school. ICE officials disputed the reports and said the agency is not targeting Michigan schools or bus stops.

The Michigan Senate on Thursday held a hearing for bills that would restrict immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations,” including schools.

Last year, the Trump administration revoked a longstanding federal directive for agents to not make immigration arrests near schools.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said ICE has not attempted to enter any district schools.

Many teachers, students, and community members have pushed the district for months to adopt a stronger sanctuary policy. Among their demands are better transportation options for families with immigration concerns, know-your-rights training, and mandatory instruction for all staff on interacting with immigration agents.

The district has not yet made any policy changes.

DPSCD authorized students to participate in the walkout, said Chrystal Wilson, spokesperson for the district, in an email.

“We believe in encouraging our students to exercise their First Amendment rights and strive to provide a safe environment for them to do so,” she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Timeline: How 2016 was a critical year for the future of Detroit schools

2026-01-30T19:50:16+00:00

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The year 2016 was a pivotal one for the Detroit school district, beginning when teachers staged sick-outs to draw attention to what they repeatedly described as deplorable school building conditions. It ended with the launch of a new district to educate city students, part of a legislative initiative that kept the old Detroit Public Schools intact to collect tax revenue and pay off the crushing debt that almost led to bankruptcy.

Here’s a quick timeline of what happened 10 years ago that had lasting implications in Detroit:

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

10 years ago, Detroit teachers protested building conditions. What’s changed since?

2026-01-30T19:46:39+00:00

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Ten years ago, a big crowd of Detroit teachers and their supporters marched down Jefferson Avenue toward Cobo Hall, where the annual auto show was being held, to draw national attention to the substandard conditions inside city schools.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers timed another rally later that afternoon outside Cobo (now Huntington Place) to coincide with the arrival of President Barack Obama at the auto show, whose appearance drew journalists from across the country.

The protests on Jan. 20, 2016, which closed most schools that Friday, produced stunning headlines that explained why teachers in Detroit Public Schools had called in sick en masse multiple times in that month.

“Rats, roaches, mold – poor conditions lead to teacher sick-out, closure of most Detroit schools,” a Washington Post headline said. “These Photos Will Make You Understand Detroit’s Education Crisis,” a HuffPost headline read. “How Detroit’s teacher ‘sickout’ cast a spotlight on unsafe school conditions,” was a Guardian headline.

The local and national coverage of the crisis proved instrumental, prompting the mayor to order school inspections and the district to begin repairs. After years of emergency management by the state, the new administration and school board that took over in 2017 ordered an audit of conditions in every building. More than $700 million in federal funds went into renovating and rebuilding schools, helping address needs officials say were created in part by a lack of equitable state funding. A decade later, the district is still constructing new schools to replace a handful of buildings that were in the worst condition, as well as addressing the biggest needs in other buildings.

But the scale of the challenges — both financially and physically — mean many students still attend school in buildings with significant problems.

“I am proud of the investments we have made and the improvement we are seeing in our infrastructure, but I am not satisfied with it,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti wrote in an email to Chalkbeat. “Our students and staff deserve EXACTLY and even MORE than suburban districts have.”

The $700 million investment, made during the pandemic with federal COVID relief dollars, addresses a fraction of the $2.1 billion infrastructure needs, according to the district.

“Many buildings still require major modernization, and some remain in deficient or failing condition based on industry standards,” Vitti said. “Aging systems continue to drive future costs, and without sustained investment, deferred needs will grow.”

Teachers push for change in building conditions, higher pay

The protests happened in the midst of turmoil and division within the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

The union’s fiery leader, Steve Conn, had been ousted by the union board in August 2015, after a two-day trial that ended with him being convicted of five misconduct charges, the Detroit Free Press reported.

As part of its attempts to stabilize the union, the American Federation of Teachers, its umbrella organization, asked members to identify the biggest problems facing the district. Building conditions were at the top of the list.

Stories and pictures collected from union members became the basis for the campaign to raise awareness of student and teacher learning and working conditions, said Ivy Bailey, interim president of the DFT at the time. Photos showed ceilings that were caved in and missing tile, vermin infestations, mold, and other troubling conditions.

Teachers and supporters rallied during a protest held Jan. 11, 2016 outside the Fisher Building, which houses headquarters for the Detroit Public Schools.

Contributing to the problems, according to teachers and union officials, were the state-appointed emergency managers who had control of the district. The school board existed but had little power during the years of emergency management, which stretched from 2009 to the end of 2016. Teachers said their complaints about building conditions were often ignored. The emergency managers were tasked with whittling down the district’s debt, but it rose substantially while they were in control.

Nina Chacker, who organized sick-outs as a union representative at Schulze Academy, said areas of some schools would be closed because of water-logged ceilings, forcing students to cram into classrooms that were usable.

Instead of listening to teachers’ pleas to make buildings safe for kids, Chacker said emergency managers sent people into schools “telling us how to teach.”

“We knew things weren’t going to get better as long as they were left in the state’s hands to address,” she said. “We wanted a school board with power. We wanted the democratic process returned to the district.”

Carrie Russell, now a math teacher at King High School, taught at Cody High School before the sick-outs began. An old boiler made it difficult to maintain temperatures in the building. She remembers a teacher who wore hard hats in her classroom at Cody because she feared falling ceiling tiles. (Russell left to teach in the Oak Park school district before the sick-outs and returned to the Detroit district in 2018.)

Teaching in a building with such problems, Russell said, was “demoralizing on so many levels.”

Building conditions were hardly the only issue teachers were concerned about, however. Class sizes were high – one teacher at a rally held a sign saying her class had 39 first graders. Teachers had not received pay raises in years, and many schools struggled with teacher shortages. Many teachers wanted to see an end to the years of state oversight and more attention from state lawmakers in Lansing.

“Everybody deserves a clean and safe environment to work in,” said Bailey, who retired as a teacher in 2018 but remained as union president until 2019. “They shouldn’t have to be worried about if they’re going to get cancer or if it’s going to affect their lungs. I mean, that should not have been an issue.”

The sick-outs started out small in November 2015, but by Jan. 20 they had increased in size, with nearly every building being closed that day. Most were organized by Detroit Strikes to Win, a group of teachers led by Conn.

Conn, who taught math at Western International High School for many years until he retired in 2023, said images of the roofs caving in, mold, and vermin infestations were the best way to demonstrate the inequities in Detroit schools to the public.

By bringing national attention to Detroit schools, he said the movement sparked a larger conversation around inequities in U.S. education.

“It was time to fight for justice, and we did that and set an example,” he said. “I think it was a high point in the struggle. But the struggle goes on for equity in Detroit schools and America’s schools.”

Vitti calls for more equitable state funding to keep improving buildings

When Vitti interviewed for the superintendent job in 2017, he said he was shocked by the conditions he saw while touring schools in the district.

“To actually walk the buildings and see the state of our infrastructure shook me, and in fact enraged me to see that our children have to go to schools where there are holes in the wall, tiles that are not replaced. It’s unconscionable and it’s a clear indication of the injustice our children face here,” he said.

The district during emergency management had “no vision and no resources consistently invested in infrastructure,” Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email.

A large crowd gathered to protest conditions in Detroit Public Schools during a rally on Jan. 11, 2016, in Detroit.

Since he took the helm, Vitti has focused on tackling the widespread problem — and some teachers say they have seen the changes.

Russell, the math teacher at King High School, has seen improvements since she returned to the district in 2018. While she used to be met with silence when trying to get problems in her classroom resolved, the current administration is more responsive, she said.

“They do a better job of trying to maintain issues,” she said.

She’s happy that the district recently broke ground on a new building for Cody High, where she worked a year before the sick-outs began.

Chacker, who now teaches at Bunche Preparatory Academy, is excited to have enough books for her class now, but the lack of air conditioning in her building is still a hindrance.

“The problem is that we started in such an egregious place,” said Chacker. “There’s a lot of improvement needed and still so far to go as far as getting to the standard our peers in the suburbs are enjoying.”

Funding continues to be an obstacle, Vitti said, because the state funding model doesn’t earmark dollars for school infrastructure, which “indirectly requires districts to either take funding from the general fund” or apply additional local taxes. Federal funds received by the district cannot be used for that purpose. (The COVID relief dollars used for the $700 million plan were one-time funds.)

Vitti said he wants to see more equitable state funding to help close the gap.

“DPSCD receives $10,050 per pupil as the minimum, other districts have as high as over $13,000 per student,” he said of state funding. “This difference results in gaps as large as $168 [million] annually.”

Last week, Vitti presented a new proposal to use $79.4 million in surplus funding to demolish 11 buildings, board up 11 properties, build an athletic complex at the former Cooley High School, re-pave parking lots at 36 schools, improve fencing at 28 schools, and replace the roof at Charles Wright Academy, among other items.

Vitti said the district will continue to recommend shifting unspent funds to one-time building improvements.

“When we have extra surplus funding, we know exactly where to invest whether it is in roofs, windows. HVAC, masonry, fences, paving, or football fields,” he said.

Chacker said the protests were an important moment in the history of the district because teachers shared a unified message that the status quo was no longer tenable.

“It set standards for how students should be treated,” she said. “Before that, we got a blatant no when it came to money even if schools weren’t safe.”

Detroit teachers: We want to know more about the state of your classrooms and schools. Reach out to us at detroit.tips@chalkbeat.org and tell us your stories.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Advocates again ask the Detroit district to recognize Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr

2026-01-14T23:46:08+00:00

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Students, educators, and advocates are renewing calls for the Detroit school district’s calendar to recognize the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

The district’s failure to observe the holiday in its academic calendar makes it difficult for Muslim students to celebrate without the stress of catching up on missed schoolwork or tests, speakers said during public comment at the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board meeting Tuesday night. The group asked the board to adopt a 2026-27 calendar without any classes scheduled on the holiday.

“There is a lack of representation for the religious holidays for the Muslim students who are a part of this community,” said Nabila Wahid, a recent graduate of Cass Technical High School, during public comment.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti addressed the speakers to say the district will revisit the idea of adding the holiday to the calendar each year.

Metro Detroit is home to one of the country’s largest Muslim populations. Other districts in the area, including Hamtramck and Dearborn, take the day off from class for the holiday every year.

Though the district did recognize the holiday once in its calendar, in 2022, union negotiations and considerations for extending the school year derailed plans for continued observance.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, a month of communal fasting and prayer for Muslims. The holiday includes celebrations, meals with family, and prayer. The holiday falls on a different day each year because it is based on the Islamic lunar calendar.

This year, Eid is expected to begin around the night of March 18. The holiday lasts 24 hours, though celebrations may continue for up to three days.

Recent DPSCD graduates Nabila Wahid and Moriym Begum listen to public comment during the DPSCD board meeting Tuesday night.

Moriyum Begum, a 2025 graduate of the Detroit International Academy for Young Women, said students who miss school for the holiday won’t receive the district’s perfect attendance incentive for that week.

Religious observances are generally considered excused absences in the district, and students are given time to make up work.

The incentive, which pays students $100 gift cards in five-day cycles in an effort to curb absenteeism, will continue through the week of March 16.

“There still hasn’t been any communication on this matter from any faculty member or the district,” Begum said during the meeting.

A couple of months ago, MI Students Dream created an online petition calling Vitti and the board to put the holiday back on the calendar next year. As of Wednesday afternoon, 970 people had signed it.

The group also successfully lobbied for the Detroit Federation of Teachers to add a survey question about whether observing the holiday was a bargaining priority for members

Eid al-Fitr observance hinges on calendar negotiations with DFT

For years, students have asked DPSCD to recognize Eid.

The board voted for the first time to add Eid to its 2019-20 calendar. Days after the vote, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers threatened to take action because they said the calendar violated their contract and prioritized standardized testing. After the backlash, the district revoked the proposed calendar.

Students again objected to the calendar not recognizing Eid al-Fitr in 2020-21. Board members and Vitti acknowledged the students’ complaints, but cited several barriers to including it.

After a student-led campaign and widespread community outreach, the district and the DFT agreed to observe it in 2021-22. In 2022-23, the holiday began on a Friday evening, so it was not included in the district calendar.

In 2023-24, union negotiations again hindered the observance because of objections to extending the school year later into the summer, Vitti said at last night’s meeting.

At the time, district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson told Chalkbeat that DPSCD would ensure any student absent for a religious holiday not recognized by the calendar would be excused and given time to catch up on missed assignments.

Lindsey Matson, deputy director of youth organizing for nonprofit 482Forward, said during public comment a student she worked with had to complete all of her finals in one day so she could take Eid off.

“She really feels like she didn’t get the score that she would have gotten had she been able to spread that out,” she said.

Begum said her sister, who attends Cass, skipped Eid celebrations last year to take her finals.

Vitti told the speakers during the meeting the district will adjust the final exam schedules if the holiday falls on the dates in the future.

Last year, Eid began the evening of March 30 and continued through March 31, which was a school day.

Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, a junior at Cass, said she has advocated for the calendar change for years for her many Muslim friends and peers.

“We have to all be treated equally,” she said after the meeting. “It’s not fair seeing my friends struggle and not getting justice.

Ortiz Sanchez said she’s emailed board members and the district administrators about the issue multiple times, but has not heard anything back.

During Tuesday’s meeting, two DFT members showed support for the calendar change next school year.

Begum and Wahid are hopeful that DPSCD will observe the holiday again.

“It’s not fair that other school districts around the area get the holiday off,” Begum said. “And it is not fair that we should be sacrificing our time over school. I really hope that we can get this.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. She can be reached at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Buses, safety: Students at Pershing High tell Mayor Sheffield how she can help

2026-01-09T22:31:19+00:00

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Mayor Mary Sheffield made Pershing High School the first stop after her public swearing-in ceremony on Friday.

The stop at the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s neighborhood school reflected her campaign promise to focus her term on initiatives that will improve the lives of young people.

Lines of cheerleaders and a hallway booming with applause greeted Sheffield. As students and adults clamored to point their cellphone cameras at the mayor when she walked in, girls talked to each other about how excited they were to meet the city’s first female mayor.

“I’m very grateful to be in the presence of such a person,” said senior Neveah Washington.

Sheffield, who was sworn in during a private ceremony on Jan. 1, spent 30 minutes with nearly 90 students in the school’s library. She talked about partnering with the city’s schools to address systemic issues that affect the quality of students’ education, from improving city transportation to offering more after-school programming and wraparound services.

DeAngelo Allen, left, and Darnell Miller, right, listen to Sheffield talk about her policy priorities.

The mayor said she also wants to give youth reasons to stay in Detroit, such as more career opportunities and affordable housing.

Though the mayor does not have control over schools, Sheffield told the students, “that does not mean that the mayor cannot be a great partner, that we cannot be visible and hands-on with our youth – and that is what I intend to do.”

Education became a key issue in the mayor’s race as more advocates pushed for the office to address underlying systemic challenges that contribute to poor academic performance and chronic absenteeism in the city’s schools.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the students that Sheffield’s presence at the school reflects her interest in investing in opportunities that will benefit neighborhood schools.

“Being here at Pershing, being here at DPSCD, in a traditional public school, and a neighborhood school on the east side, all of that is intentional,” he said. “If we don’t have strong neighborhood schools, you can’t have a strong city.”

Sheffield told the students she is creating the city’s first youth department. Jerjuan Howard, the city’s new director of youth affairs, said each department in the mayor’s office will make a “youth priority statement” to detail how decisions may affect young people.

“What that means is that you all will be at the center of decision making for anything the city is talking about moving forward,” he said. “No other city in the nation has done this yet.”

Sheffield talked to the students one-on-one and collected their written questions.

DeAngelo Allen, a junior who takes a city bus to school every day, asked Sheffield how she will improve the city’s transportation. Allen said he is often late to school because the buses he relies on either come far earlier or later than their scheduled times.

The teen said he feels like he has to be vigilant about safety when he rides the bus.

“You have to watch your surroundings,” he said. “You see some pretty disturbing stuff.”

Mac Sconi, 17, asked Sheffield how she will address safety concerns – an issue many students say affects their ability to learn and get to school.

The teen said he was optimistic about the response he got from the mayor after she expressed she would take a holistic approach to improving safety with crime prevention programs. The city’s new neighborhood and community safety office will promote long-term solutions like mental health and conflict resolution programs, Sheffield added.

Mac Sconi, center, asks Sheffield how she will make Detroit a safer place for youth.

“There’s a lot of things right now that are threatening the safety of our students,” Sconi said. “It’s something that needs to be addressed, because what is the importance of anything if we are not safe?”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district stands to lose $2.2 million in state funding for low daily attendance last year

2025-12-19T22:23:14+00:00

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Detroit’s school superintendent wants legislators to change a state law that mandates penalties for not meeting daily attendance requirements as the district faces millions in fines.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District will lose $2.2 million in state funding for not reaching a 75% attendance threshold multiple days last year, according to the Michigan Department of Education. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat the law disproportionately punishes schools in communities with high concentrations of poverty and creates more funding inequities.

He said the fines punish the district for attendance issues rooted in systemic challenges, such as housing instability, lack of transportation, health concerns. Ultimately, it takes away money that could be used to support students in need, he said.

Many school building closures also have been caused by the city’s aging infrastructure, which are beyond the district’s control or ability to fix, the superintendent added.

“It’s a policy that punishes the symptoms while making the underlying condition worse,” said Vitti.

Under the State School Aid Act, districts can lose state funding if less than 75% of enrolled students attend school on any day of instruction. The state superintendent can waive the fines in some situations, such as severe storms or epidemics.

The MDE calculates the fines based on the amount of annual state funding allocated to each district and the percentage school systems fall short of reaching 75% attendance per day. Districts that receive more state funding stand to lose more in fines.

Bob Wheaton, the MDE’s director of public and governmental affairs, said the agency and its auditors are obligated to enforce the daily attendance penalties. All districts in the state are subject to the fines, regardless of student demographics, he added.

When asked if the law is intended to address chronic absenteeism, Wheaton said the percentage of students in attendance on a school day is a different data point than chronic absenteeism rates, which represent how many students miss 10% or more of all days in a school year.

“While chronic absenteeism remains a serious concern for the state, the calculation of chronic absenteeism originates from federal and accountability reporting requirements and is monitored through separate data systems and processes,” he said.

State records show DPSCD fell below the attendance threshold 11 days last school year. Initially, the district faced more than $6.8 million in fines. However, the number was reduced to $2.2 million, according to the MDE, because the district reported absences at one school that went beyond the state’s 180 instructional day requirement.

“We were fortunate; the reduction was only possible only due to a unique circumstance at the specific building that was affected,” said Vitti. “Had the same situation occurred at nearly any other school in our district, we’d still be facing the full $6.8 million.”

So far this year, Vitti said DPSCD has fallen below 75% daily attendance twice.

But, “our challenges typically accrue throughout the year; during the winter months when students face additional barriers getting to school due to weather, and at the end of the year when attendance drops,” he said.

State records showed 142 traditional public school districts and charter schools were initially identified as facing potential fines for last school year’s attendance rates. A final tally was not immediately available from the MDE this week.

The Detroit district, where 84% of students come from low-income families, has long had high rates of chronic absenteeism.

In recent years, the district has significantly reduced the rate with a multilayered approach.

“We’re investing heavily in attendance agents, health hubs, home visits, parent engagement, mental health services; all the wraparound supports that actually move the needle on attendance,” said Vitti.

Last year was the first time students in the district were chronically absent at a lower rate compared to pre-pandemic years. Still, more than 60% of students missed too much school.

The statewide absenteeism rate was higher in 2024-25 than before the COVID pandemic, at nearly 28%.

As Michigan struggles to reduce absenteeism, recent data suggests districts with the most to overcome, like DPSCD, are outpacing the rest of the state in improving attendance.

At a November policy committee meeting, Vitti said this year was the first since he became superintendent in 2017 that the attendance penalty has been enforced for the district.

According to Wheaton, 2020-21 was the only year the penalty was not implemented in the state due to COVID.

In 2023-24, Wheaton said only one district faced a fine, but it was waived once it was verified there was an error in the attendance data.

“That said, it’s common for somewhere between 35 and 50 districts to be initially identified,” said Wheaton.

Vitti told board members at the November committee meeting that the district should begin lobbying legislators to change the law.

“Taking millions from schools doesn’t get a single additional child to school,” he told Chalkbeat “It just means we have that much less to help them get there.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s how the Detroit district spent nearly $32 million of its literacy lawsuit funds last year

2025-12-17T22:40:39+00:00

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Last year, the Detroit school district spent about $32 million from its literacy lawsuit settlement to hire more staff to support students learning to read, reduce class sizes in early grades, and pay for tutoring.

Some of the investments are already paying off, said officials in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, or DPSCD. Students in classrooms with academic interventionists and kids who read with in-school tutors showed more improvement on average on the district’s literacy assessments than their peers, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a board finance committee meeting in November.

The district’s spending on those initiatives account for about one-third of a one-time $94.4 million settlement in the 2016 federal “right to read” civil rights lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged Michigan’s longtime funding inequities led to bleak and unsafe conditions in Detroit schools, including vermin infestation, overcrowding, and leaking sewage. The complaint said the alarming state of schools in the city denied children “access to the most basic building block of education: literacy.”

The state settled the lawsuit in 2020 and allocated the money to DPSCD three years later. Last school year was the first in the district’s three-year plan to use the funding to improve literacy instruction, intervention, and proficiency.

The district’s plan for the money is based on recommendations made by a task force and input from community meetings.

The largest chunk of the district’s settlement spending last year went toward efforts to teach students in K-3 to read.

“The idea was investing there to narrow the achievement gap, because it’s the narrowest at the early grades, and to get kids to where they need to be as soon as possible,” said Vitti.

Results on recent state standardized testing suggest those efforts worked.

The percentage of DPSCD third graders who met or exceeded proficiency in English language arts on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, or M-STEP, reached an 11-year high in the 2024-25 school year.

The district’s overall proficiency rates, however, still lag far behind the statewide averages.

Last spring, 15.4% of students in grades 3-8 in the district scored proficient or above in English language arts. The statewide average was 38.9%.

Ida Short, a board member, asked Vitti at the committee meeting what the district can do to get students caught up to grade level more quickly.

Vitti said the greatest challenge in closing achievement gaps is chronic absenteeism, defined as a student missing 10% or more of days in a school year.

Last year, more than 60% of students in the district were chronically absent. DPSCD has reduced that rate below pre-pandemic levels, though it remains higher than the statewide average.

Here is a breakdown of how the district has invested the settlement funding so far:

The school system spent $17.3 million to hire 267 additional literacy academic interventionists to work with students in small groups and in K-2 classrooms. Students in classrooms that had interventionists showed more improvement on district assessments over the last two years than peers with similar previous scores, according to DPSCD.
In order to reduce K-3 class sizes, the district spent $4.6 million to hire 44 additional teachers. The largest improvements on assessments were not associated with the most dramatic reductions in class sizes, Vitti said.
Forty-three additional teachers were hired with $4.5 million so that teacher leaders could leave some classroom responsibilities to focus on coaching other educators at their schools. Of the 216 teacher leaders in DPSCD last year, 77 led K-8 English language arts classes while also coaching other educators. According to the district, students taught by teacher leaders were somewhat more likely to meet their goals in learning to read compared to their peers.
Around $2.5 million was spent to hire more multilingual academic interventionists to work with students who were not fluent English speakers. The district also spent $1.1 million to expand an existing newcomer program at Western International High School and establish one at Harms Elementary School. State proficiency assessment results show more English learners met language acquisition goals last year compared to previous years.
This school year, the district will spend $1.8 million on merit pay for educators whose schools or classrooms reached ambitious literacy goals.
The district spent $240,000 for 150 Let’s Read tutors to read with first and second graders. The program previously existed in the district, however, the settlement funds allowed the district to serve about 423 students – up from fewer than 50 in previous years. The funds allowed the district to offer tutors stipends of $2,500, as well as provide more training and curricular tools. Last year, more students who participated in Let’s Read met their goals in learning to read compared to their peers, according to DPSCD, but there was little difference in their proficiency levels at the end of the year.
DPSCD spent $230,000 to offer free after-school online tutoring to students in all grades for six weeks to prepare for end-of-year testing. According to the district, high schoolers who got the tutoring had better PSAT/SAT scores on average than their peers.
The district spent $270,000 to create Parent Academy sessions focused on literacy to help parents encourage their kids to read at home. Parents got $25 stipends for attending up to 15 sessions, with nearly 900 parents from 89 schools participating.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district increases staff to keep up with special education evaluation demands

2025-12-10T22:30:31+00:00

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To keep up with a growing demand for special education evaluations, the Detroit school district will spend $9 million more than expected this school year to staff additional school psychologists and speech language pathologists.

The extra funds, which were approved by the school board Tuesday night, will be added to an existing $13.5 million contract approved in June and cover higher hourly rates offered at the start of the academic year to fill open positions.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District increased the pay after the original contract was approved to match private sector rates as part of an effort to retain staff in the hard-to-fill positions. The contract with outside providers allows the district to supplement its full-time special education staff with specialists.

Delays in evaluating students to determine whether they need special education services have persisted in the district and across the state for years, advocates and educators say.

Evaluations are a critical first step in assessing the needs of students with disabilities before they may be given an individualized education program, or IEP, which spells out what accommodations they are entitled to under federal law.

The district has made progress filling vacancies of school social workers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists in recent years, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at a finance committee meeting last month.

But vacancies for psychologists and speech-language pathologists affected the district’s ability to quickly evaluate students.

Evaluations may require teams of various specialists. Psychologists may help evaluate students with classroom observation, testing, and interviews. Speech-language pathologists may conduct assessments in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Contracting with outside providers to fill those positions has improved the district’s evaluation process, according to the school system.

“This is a positive in moving into greater compliance with evaluations and direct support to students,” said Vitti of the contract increase.

With the pay increases, the district hired 71 psychologists and 45 speech-language pathologists in hourly positions this school year — more than double the previous year, according to the district.

Of the full-time and contracted positions, there is currently only one vacancy for a psychologist and four for speech-language pathologists, Vitti said at Tuesday’s board meeting.

There are also unfilled positions for six physical therapists and 12 occupational therapist positions, said Vitti, adding the number was “too high.”

All special education social worker positions are staffed, according to the district.

Last school year, there were more than 7,100 students with disabilities identified in the district, making up nearly 15% of the school system’s enrollment. Numbers for this school year are not yet available.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit district says these investments are helping growing population of English learners

2025-12-08T20:05:53+00:00

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Last year, the Detroit school district hired dozens of multilingual academic interventionists to work with a growing population of students who aren’t fluent in English.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the $2.5 million effort, coupled with curriculum changes and virtual tutoring, has shown results.

More English learners in the district met growth targets on a national exam that tests how well they are picking up the language, according to recent state data.

More than 65% of English learners met or exceeded average growth in language acquisition on the ACCESS test – 8 percentage points higher compared to 2018-19, the year before the pandemic.

Statewide, that percentage remained nearly the same in that time period, at 70.9%.

“We understand that as more students with varying levels of English proficiency join our district, that proficiency performance on state assessments may not immediately reflect consistent growth,” Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email. “However, we anticipate increased academic outcomes each year in response to our strategic focus on targeted instruction and intervention for Multilingual learners.”

Though the exam results suggest a positive trend, some educators say there are still not enough certified teachers to educate the district’s growing population of English learners.

The district enrolled more than 7,400 English learners last school year, an increase of nearly 660 compared to the previous year. English learners now make up more than 15% of all students. That growth has come at a time when the district is looking to boost its enrollment after two decades of declines.

Teachers and community members have also urged the district in recent months to better support newcomers. As Detroit students and their family members have been detained and deported by federal immigration officials, community members asked the district to provide additional counseling services, know-your-rights training, and more transportation options for students.

The ACCESS test, created by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s language development resource group WIDA, measures English proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The tests, given to K-12 students who are identified as potential English learners, do not measure performance in core academic subject areas.

In Michigan, the tests are administered annually to monitor students’ progress learning English. Results only include students who have taken two or more consecutive assessments.

Average growth on the tests is based on the percentiles students fall into compared to their peers on previous tests.

The results also indicate how much English students know when they first enroll in a school district in the U.S.

Many newcomer students are enrolling in schools across the country with greater language needs than before the pandemic, test results show. That’s true in DPSCD, too.

In 2018-19, more than 11% of DPSCD English learners were proficient. Last year, less than 5% were.

There are many factors potentially influencing the trend, said Julie Sugarman, associate director for K-12 education research at the Migration Policy Institute.

“Anecdotally, we’ve heard that over the last 10 years or so more newcomers are coming to the U.S. with less formal education and more interrupted education in their home countries,” she said.

Research also indicates the pandemic disproportionately affected English learners.

Literacy lawsuit funds used to support newcomer programs

Parents, students, and advocates have long called on the Detroit district to provide better instruction for English learners.

Advocates have also pushed for the state to increase funding for educating English learners for years. Michigan historically ranks among the worst in the nation compared to the percentage of funding other states allocate to such initiatives.

The 2016 federal “right to read” civil rights lawsuit against Michigan alleged many English learners were left behind in the Detroit schools due to funding inequity.

Among the allegations, the complaint said there were no certified English as a second language teachers at Medicine and Community Health Academy at Cody, even though there were multiple students who did not speak or write English fluently.

Teachers at the school relied on other students who spoke Arabic to assist the English learners in their classrooms, according to court documents.

The lawsuit was settled for $94.4 million in 2020. Three years later, the money was allocated to DPSCD in the state education budget.

The district began using the funds to improve reading instruction and add support for struggling students last school year.

More than $1 million was used to hire additional staff for an existing newcomer program at Western International High School and to establish one at Harms Elementary School last year, according to the district.

The programs are meant to streamline services and provide more English language development coursework for students who have been in the U.S. less than three years and are not fluent in the language.

Last year, the district adopted a new English language development curriculum, which is designed to “promote growth in listening, reading, speaking, and writing while also preparing students to demonstrate their English skills on the WIDA assessment,” Vitti said.

“Simultaneously, the curriculum introduces students to school culture in the United States by frontloading needed vocabulary to engage in daily activities,” Vitti added.

Multilingual students were also offered high-impact virtual English as a second language tutoring last year, said Vitti.

More than 1,243 students in the district qualified for the newcomer program in 2024-25, according to officials. Of those students, 216 attended Harms or Western International.

Around $2.5 million paid to staff 58 multilingual academic interventionists at 15 schools. The interventionists supported classroom teachers by adapting lessons for English learners and gave targeted instruction to small groups of students with language barriers.

Last year, the district employed about one interventionist for every 110 English learners, according to DPCSD. The goal is to have one interventionist for every 42 English learners.

The interventionists are required to have a bachelor’s degree, a minimum of three years of experience working with students, and evidence of coursework in math, English language arts, science or bilingual education.

The qualifications are different from those of certified teachers endorsed to teach English learners.

Kristen Schoettle, a teacher at Western International, said the interventionists’ work may be beneficial, but their time with students is not a substitute for the minutes they should have with an educator certified to teach English.

“They might be in a classroom helping translate something, but their focus isn’t on students learning English,” she said.

Michigan’s new requirements for teaching English learners

This year, Michigan schools will have to follow specific requirements for teaching English learners in order to receive certain state funding.

The law includes a framework for how many minutes of language acquisition instruction students must get from teachers endorsed in English as a second language or bilingual education based on their proficiency.

Many districts, including DPSCD, will likely have to hire or train more staff to meet the mandated minimums. School systems without enough endorsed teachers to meet the requirements must have a plan to acquire the staff in four years or less, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

DPSCD used some of its settlement money to offer tuition assistance for teachers to get English as a second language endorsements.

“ESL certified District staff has significantly increased due to our established partnerships, who provide alternative pathways for ESL/Bilingual endorsements,” said Vitti.

In the spring, the district spent $50,000 for certification courses for 10 teachers. Four of the teachers are now certified. A total of 48 teachers are working on the endorsement this school year, according to DPSCD.

The district also offered a $5,000 retention bonus to keep endorsed staff at schools whose student bodies are made up of 50% or more English learners. For new teachers with endorsements, a recruitment bonus of $2,500 was offered.

“These incentives and initiatives continue to bolster staffing ratios towards the new MDE guidelines,” said Vitti.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Sheffield wants to hire a strong education leader to advise her. Are you the person for the job?

2025-12-04T22:02:29+00:00

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A job posting for Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield’s administration provides insight into the kind of person she’s looking for to advise her on Detroit education issues.

Sheffield, who won the Detroit mayor’s race by a large margin last month, said throughout the campaign that she intended to play a role in education in the city. On election night, she said that would include creating coordinated transportation and investing in after-school programs and wraparound services. Her main goal, she said that night, is ensuring every child in the city can succeed.

There’s been a growing realization among education advocates in Detroit that the mayor, while having no control of district or charter schools in the city, still must address some of the societal issues that have led to low academic achievement and high rates of chronic absenteeism, both of which are heavily influenced by poverty.

The job posting for an education liaison is one of many posted on Sheffield’s transition website.

Here is the kind of person Sheffield is searching for:

She wants someone who can take on an ambitious set of responsibilities

Detroit’s education system is fragmented, with dozens of governing bodies overseeing 185 schools. That includes the Detroit Public Schools Community District and charter schools that are independently operated.

But it’s not just the city’s K-12 system that the mayor’s education liaison will be responsible for advising her on. Sheffield wants this person to also be the primary liaison between her office and early childhood education organizations and on youth development issues.

A key responsibility: “Identify challenges facing Detroit students and families and develop solutions in partnership with schools and City departments.”

The person will also be responsible for coordinating city services that support schools. That includes public safety, public health, recreation, neighborhood improvements, environmental safety, and transportation resources.

That’s crucial given the power the city has to address issues schools can’t control but that affect students nonetheless. For instance, many high school students take the city’s public transportation to get to and from school, but they have long reported that service is spotty, with buses arriving late or passing them by. They’ve also reported safety concerns waiting for buses. Sheffield has promised to address wait times and other concerns.

Sheffield wants someone experienced in education policy

There is no shortage of education advocates in Detroit. But Sheffield is looking for someone with at least a bachelor’s degree — though an advanced degree is preferred — in public policy, education, public administration, or social work.

They also need at least five years of experience “in education policy, school-district administration, charter-school management, youth development, government, or related roles.”

The qualifications go beyond education and experience. Sheffield wants someone who has a “deep understanding” of Detroit’s education ecosystem, someone who is a proven collaborator, someone with strong research skills, and someone who is committed to equity and improving outcomes for Detroit students.

The job can pay in the six figures

There is a wide salary range for the position, with potential pay ranging from $80,000 to $120,000 annually.

Of course, whatever salary the education liaison receives will be based on their qualifications and experience.

There are few details about benefits in the posting, aside from a link to a city web page that provides more details, but it does note that “our goal is to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce by providing generous healthcare and other benefits to eligible employees.”

Interested in the job? Here’s a link to where you can apply.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit teens detained by ICE should be released, advocates say

2025-11-26T01:05:30+00:00

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Valerie Brown doesn’t personally know her two classmates at Western International High School who were detained Thursday morning by federal immigration officials and sent to Texas, but that didn’t stop her from helping organize a press conference that became a rally for bringing the students home.

“I have friends who have told me they are afraid to go to school. You shouldn’t be afraid to come to school,” Brown told Chalkbeat after speaking during the press conference, saying the fear is magnified by rumors of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents taking kids “whether they have papers or not.”

“They’re scared to be outside, to be with their friends. They’re kids.”

The press conference was organized to support the two 16-year-old students, who are cousins and attend Western International High School in Southwest Detroit. Outlier Media and Chalkbeat reported Monday that students were born in Venezuela and arrived in the U.S. in 2023. They were taken into custody along with two of their parents when agents raided their home on the Eastide in search of a different migrant.

Brown and others spoke in front of a backdrop at Detroit’s Clark Park. Dozens of people were there, some of them holding signs and shouting “for shame” whenever a speaker brought up something they thought was particularly egregious. All of them called for the release of the teens and the parents.

Some of the speakers, including Valerie, called on school, city, and state officials to be more involved in ensuring the safety of students who fear moving throughout the community because of immigration actions. Some called on the Detroit school district to have an immigration attorney on retainer to assist students who’ve been detained and to ensure students know their rights.

“Instead of the (students) chilling with their friends, they got to be stuck in a detention center with ICE,” Brown said during her speech. “We don’t even know where they’re going. We don’t even know if they’re going to a country that’s theirs or is even safe for them or even if they have family anymore.”

Teens and adults from across the city came out to Clark Park Tuesday to call for the release of two Detroit high school students who were detained by federal immigration officials.

One of the speakers, attorney George Washington, said ICE agents entered the home while the occupants were sleeping. “Suddenly, ICE appears at the door, busts into the place, and tells them that they’re all being arrested.”

All four who were detained had pending asylum petitions, Washington said.

“We have a tremendous immigration lawyer from Detroit who did everything he could,” to assist the four while they remained in Michigan. But, Washington said, they were sent to Texas “too quick.”

“He’s going to continue representing them and we’re going to get them out,” Washington said.

After the event, Sen. Stephanie Chang, a Democrat from Detroit, issued a statement about the detentions:

“I am standing with Detroit teachers, friends, family and community members of these two students in urging their immediate return home to Michigan,” Chang said. “I understand that they have been following the asylum process and have upcoming immigration court dates. ICE should release them and allow them to proceed with the asylum process.”

Many of the youth attending the event were from Western International, located across the street from Clark Park. Others came from schools such as Southeastern, Cass Technical, and Detroit International Academy for Young Women.

Theo Edwards, a student at Western International High School, attended the press conference and rally on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, to show support for his classmates who were detained.

Kenneth Russell, who attends Southeastern, was among the speakers.

“It’s better for us to all be connected than apart,” Russell said.

“It’s awful what’s happening,” said Theo Edwards, who’s attended Western for nearly a month. He was holding a sign that said “People are not illegal,” with the “not” underlined. “It’s scary, especially for those who are Hispanic.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach Lori at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Two Detroit students from Western International High detained by ICE

2025-11-25T01:07:02+00:00

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Federal immigration agents arrested two 16-year-old Detroit cousins at their home on Thursday. The teens are being held in Texas.

The cousins — born in Venezuela and arrived in the U.S. in 2023 — were taken into custody along with two of their parents when agents raided their home on the eastside in search of a different migrant.

Both teens are formally seeking asylum in the U.S. and had upcoming court dates. They have work permits and jobs at Chili’s, said Kristen Schoettle, a teacher at Western International High School who works with one of the teens in an English class for newcomers.

“She is an excellent student, really wants to learn English,” Schoettle said, adding that the teen sometimes shares recommendations for Spanish-language indie-rock music.

Outlier Media is not identifying the teens because their parents did not give consent.

Schoettle said her knowledge of the situation is based on conversations with her student’s mother, who had spoken with the teen’s father in detention.

Outlier confirmed that the father of one of the teens is being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center, a facility operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, through the agency’s Online Detainee Locator System. Schoettle says the teens are there too, though the database does not provide information about minors in detention.

“We need all Detroiters to stand up against these kidnappings,” said Lindsey Matson, deputy director of youth organizing at 482Forward.

“If you care about education justice in the city, defending the rights of immigrant students who are dealing with fear and trauma is a first step. 482Forward and the [Detroit] People’s Assembly is calling on all Detroiters, including elected officials, to do all they can to get the immediate release of these young people and their family.”

Matson said students are organizing a press conference and rally at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Clark Park in Detroit.

The two cousins are at least the second and third Detroit students detained by federal immigration authorities this year. This spring, the arrest and deportation of Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, an 18-year-old student at Western, prompted protests.

The Trump administration is waging an aggressive campaign to deport as many immigrants as possible. To meet that goal, agents have broken with decades of precedent to target asylum seekers, often arresting them immediately after court hearings. Record numbers of people are being held in federal immigration detention facilities, three-quarters of whom have no criminal convictions.

Detentions of children, often lasting months, skyrocketed after President Donald Trump’s return to office.

Last week, immigration officials say two Ecuadorian migrants struck an agent during an arrest in metro Detroit. One escaped, but officers used a stun gun on the other. A video of officers shoving her limp body into their vehicle circulated widely on social media last week.

Youssef Fawaz, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, linked the students’ arrests to the agency’s effort to track down the fleeing migrant.

“While executing a search warrant for an escaped fugitive Ecuadoran national who assaulted a Detroit Border Patrol Agent last week, agents encountered three Venezuelan aliens who were illegally present in the United States,” Fawaz said.

According to Schoettle, four Venezuelans were detained: the cousins along with one parent each. Fawaz acknowledged that “a fourth individual from Venezuela” was arrested later that day.

Fawaz did not directly confirm or deny whether the cousins were taken into custody.

The Trump administration’s crackdown has separated families and fueled fear in communities across the U.S. One sign of that climate is falling attendance at Detroit schools with large immigrant populations. Students at those schools missed an additional 4,900 days of class compared to schools with fewer immigrants over the months following Trump’s second inauguration, Outlier found.

The teens were not arrested at or near a school, but news of their arrest could deepen those fears and keep more students home unnecessarily, said Chrystal Wilson, a spokesperson at the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Research shows that every day of missed school undermines student learning.

The district does not work with ICE or share information with the agency, and its policy forbids staff from allowing immigration agents into schools without a warrant or subpoena.

“It’s crazy to be picking people up like this,” Schoettle said. “There was no arrest warrant for this family. ... Now you’ve got kids in a detention center, and they’re just stuck there for I don’t know how long. It’s ridiculous.”

Koby Levin is a reporter for Outlier Media. You can reach him at koby@outliermedia.org.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district agrees to controversial waiver to get state mental health and safety funding

2025-11-14T23:12:03+00:00

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The Detroit school district’s board voted this week to share privileged information with the state if a mass casualty event occurs in order to receive $7.2 million in state funding – a move many other Michigan school leaders are objecting to.

This year’s state education budget added a condition to dollars local districts can use to pay for mental health support, intervention for at-risk students, and school safety measures. In order to get the money, districts must agree to disclose information that would otherwise be legally protected in deadly emergencies, such as school shootings. Districts must also agree to comprehensive state investigations.

Districts have until Nov. 30 to approve the waiver and apply for the per-pupil funds.

The waiver comes after parents of Oxford High School students killed in 2021 pushed for a state investigation of the district’s alleged failure to prevent the shootings. Though an independent investigation found multiple failures by school officials, many employees did not participate in the review.

Michigan’s government immunity laws shield educational institutions from liability in lawsuits, unless a high threshold of gross negligence can be proven. The laws can also protect institutions’ employees. Without immunity, school employees could be held legally and financially liable for failing to prevent deaths.

There has been a movement in Michigan to lower the threshold for negligence and take away immunity from schools that do not properly follow emergency operations plans.

In addition to the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the Lansing School District also approved the waiver.

DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email that the district had concerns about the conditions, but it “could not afford to walk away from $7.2M dollars that assist in funding our contracted nurses and mental health for students, and full time security employees at schools.”

He added that “losing that funding would have had a direct negative impact on our students.”

Twenty-two districts and 11 regional educational service agencies sued the state this week, challenging the constitutionality of the waiver attached to the funding.

The complaints, filed in federal and state courts, request emergency relief by the end of the month. The plaintiffs argue the law could force schools to give up funding for counselors, social workers, and security infrastructure.

“The provision imposes an unconstitutional condition by leveraging essential public funds in exchange for the waiver of fundamental individual rights,” the complaint reads.

Seven education organizations, including the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, asked the legislature in a letter last month to change the language of the bill to require districts to cooperate with investigations but allow them to preserve legal privileges.

The groups argued the waiver could prevent districts from discussing crisis responses in closed sessions and protecting records from being released to the public.

Leaders in other districts, such as Southfield Public Schools and Hazel Park Schools, opted to take more time to consult with attorneys at recent board meetings.

The state’s historic mental health and safety grants, created in 2022-23, were praised as a step to address school security issues in the aftermath of the Oxford shootings.

In DPSCD, the grants are used to continue nursing services that had been funded by now-expired federal COVID relief dollars. The dollars are also used to pay for contracted mental health support at all of its schools and to partially fund security guards and officers.

According to a fiscal analysis, the district would lose $5.5 million in grants this school year and an additional $2 million carrying over into 2026-27.

The Detroit school board voted unanimously at Tuesday night’s meeting to comply with the waiver and share all information with a governor-appointed investigator if there is a mass casualty event.

The board did not publicly discuss the waiver before the vote at the meeting.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board urges policy change to boost student meal access

2025-11-14T20:51:19+00:00

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Amid recent uncertainty and confusion from the federal government on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the Detroit school board is calling for school policy changes to improve access to meals and snacks for Michigan students.

The board of the Detroit Public Schools Community District approved a resolution Tuesday asking the Michigan Department of Education to pursue two key adjustments to the state’s Afterschool Snack Program. The DPSCD proposal, “No Michigan Student Left Behind Hungry,” from board secretary Ida Simmons Short, aims to waive a requirement that children must eat meals on-site at school, as well as a provision where at-risk after school care programs can only be eligible if they have “organized, regularly scheduled activities.”

Simmons Short told BridgeDetroit that she wants to see the changes made so students do not need to be in an after-school program to receive a meal and are allowed to take meals home. She noted that the MDE allowed school districts a waiver during the COVID pandemic to help mitigate food insecurity for families, and she wants that to be an option again as families have experienced delays in receiving their SNAP benefits.

“I want the opportunity for Detroit Public Schools Community District to provide supper for our children, regardless of whether or not they’re in an afterschool program,” Simmons Short said. “And I would like for them to be able to take the supper home if they cannot stay at school.”

DPSCD hasn’t yet provided a response to how many students could be served under the proposed amendments.

In the resolution, Simmons Short notes that DPSCD’s breakfast, lunch, supper, and summer food programs are the district’s strongest safety nets in their efforts to combat hunger. The district’s office of nutrition serves more than 85,000 healthy meals daily through its food programs. The board member said her next step is to work with the MDE to figure out how to implement the program adjustments.

“I don’t want to keep our students in jeopardy,” Simmons Short said. “You cannot expect children to go to school hungry and try to learn anything when your stomach is growling. It’s not going to work.”

MDE spokesperson Ken Coleman said Friday that changes to the policy would have to go through the federal government, since the snack program is part of a federal food program. Coleman didn’t address whether MDE would advocate for such changes.

DPSCD’s At-Risk, After School Supper Program is tied to Michigan’s Afterschool Snack Program, which provides a low-cost or free snack after school to Michigan children in public and private schools, public school academies, and residential child care institutions. The program is part of the federally funded Child and Adult Care Food Program. CACFP offers a cash reimbursement to eligible public and private organizations for serving nutritious snacks and suppers to children and teens participating in afterschool care programs in low-income areas. In order for meals to be reimbursable, the program requires children to eat meals on-site. However, a 2017 memorandum now gives kids the option to take one vegetable, fruit, or grain item home.

The DPSCD board resolution comes as delivery of this month’s SNAP benefits was in limbo due to the federal government shutdown. President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill late Wednesday to end the record 43-day shutdown. The deal should resolve a legal fight over food assistance benefits.

Distribution of SNAP benefits in November has been chaotic, sparking court battles over the Trump administration’s position that the federal government did not have to pay those benefits during the shutdown.

Nearly 13% of Michigan households, or 1.4 million people, rely on SNAP benefits, according to MDHHS. About 43% are families with children and 36% are families with members who are older adults or disabled. And nearly 24% of people living in Wayne County get food assistance, the largest percentage of any county in the state.

Last month, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti released a statement saying that the district was working with city and community partners to provide families with food access during the shutdown. DPSCD’s 11 health hubs and family resource centers offer food pantry items, and board member Monique Bryant said she’s seen pantries at schools like Davis Aerospace Technical High School, Detroit Lions Academy, and Communication and Media Arts High School.

Simmons Short said during Tuesday’s meeting that “our children’s health and food security shouldn’t be part of the political football.”

Bryant added that she supports anything that fills gaps for families.

“Obviously, right now, with the food insecurity that many of our students could experience with their families, that (the resolution) just reaffirms our commitment as a board, that we are aware and that we are taking action,” she said.

Filling in the gaps for struggling families

In her resolution, Simmons Short referred to a report from nonprofit United Way called “The State of ALICE in Michigan.” ALICE, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, is defined as people earning above the Federal Poverty Level but don’t make enough to afford basic expenses in the county where they live. In 2023, 41% of households in Michigan were below the ALICE Threshold, with Wayne County households sitting at 51%.

According to the ALICE Household Survival Budget, two adults with a preschooler and an infant spend $1,277 a month on food, which is higher in cost than housing and child care.

Bryant said potentially having kids take meals home will also be helpful to working parents who don’t have time to prepare dinner.

“We have done a good job as a district to already convey that we are going to have the breakfast and lunch opportunities, but with supper, I think that just takes us to another level,” she said. “We’re able to meet students and families where they are in the gaps that we don’t normally see.”

DPSCD parent Britta Shine agrees. The Detroiter has two children enrolled at Thirkell Elementary-Middle School and Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy. While her kids are only enrolled in the breakfast and lunch programs at the moment, Shine would take dinners home if they were available. As a mother of four, a trip to the grocery store can cost hundreds of dollars. And raising two children with disabilities, it can be difficult making dinner for them at times, Shine said.

“I’m buying groceries for five people and two of those people are babies,” she said. “Everything costs more now, so anytime the school wants to share their bounty as opposed to throwing it away, that’s great. Whether it’s the breakfast food, lunch food, after school snacks, giving it to the community … that’s a blessing. Everything is not going to get cheaper anytime soon.”

Shine also believes expanding the supper program would help other parents who may not have time to cook dinner because they’re tired from work or helping their children with their homework.

“It is the duty of the school system to help care for the children in the system, and if they have the resources to produce a nice meal for the kids to take home, that’s great,” she said. “I’m exhausted all the time and I’m not the only one.”

Simmons Short hopes the resolution will be duplicated in other states.

“I have a responsibility, an ethical responsibility, to do all I can to help my students at Detroit Public Schools,” Simmons Short said. “I understand there’s a chance that it might not make it, but the only cure for failure is a try.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

How to choose the best Detroit district exam or application school for your child

2025-11-13T20:53:15+00:00

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The first round of deadlines to apply for the Detroit district’s examination and application schools is fast approaching, and here’s what parents and students need to know about which schools could be the best fit and how to apply.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District’s competitive examination schools offer rigorous courses, specialized learning programs, and college dual enrollment. The district’s application schools, which focus more on career pathways and hands-on learning, have their own admissions requirements.

While some families automatically think of Cass Technical, Renaissance, or Martin Luther King Jr. Senior high schools as their top choices, parent and DPSCD board member Monique Bryant said they should consider all of the district’s schools based on their child’s interests.

Bryant, an alumni of Cass Tech, has a daughter who is a senior at the school as well as a son who attended Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men and later Communication and Media Arts High School, both application schools.

Other Detroit application high schools are Davis Aerospace Technical High School, Academy of the Americas, Crockett Midtown High School of Science & Medicine, Detroit International Academy for Young Women, and Detroit School of Arts.

Cass, Renaissance, King, Southeastern High School, and The School at Marygrove are DPSCD’s exam schools.

The exam school testing window for this round of application closes Nov. 14. Applications are due Nov. 16. There will be another chance to apply for the next school year. The second application window begins Feb. 24 and ends May 1.

There will not be a third application window this year, according to the district.

What should I consider when choosing a school?

The most important consideration parents should make in selecting the best fit for their kids is transportation, Bryant said.

The district does not provide yellow bus service for most high school students. Some students have to travel hours on city buses to get to school.

“If you live 15 miles from the school your child wants to go to, what does that look like if you don’t have a car?” said Bryant.

The district has specific attendance requirements for students who want to attend schools outside of their neighborhood. Students must sign an acknowledgement that if they miss too many days, they will be required to attend their neighborhood school instead.

Students are considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the days in a school year.

Parents and students should also consider post-graduation goals.

“Are they going to go to a four-year or two-year college, or are they going to learn a trade?” Bryant said. “If the experience doesn’t match what you have planned for post-secondary, you’re under a lot of pressure at an exam school when you could have gotten the same thing at a CTE program, a neighborhood school, or an application school and been way more career-ready.”

Bryant said parents should contact the district’s Family and Community Engagement department to learn more about the schools they are interested in and visit them.

Talking with parent engagement groups, attending open houses, going to an athletic game, or watching a choir performance are good ways to experience the school’s community and culture, she said.

How can my child apply to an exam school?

Five DPSCD high schools require students to take an admissions examination. The schools focus on college and career preparation.

Here are the district’s exam school options:

Cass Technical High School has 15 curricular pathways, five college dual enrollment partnerships, and more than 15 advanced placement courses.
Renaissance High School offers more than 20 AP courses and dual enrollment classes on college campuses.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School has specialized career pathway programs in math, science, and technology, computer information systems and commerce, sports marketing, management, medicine, and college preparatory liberal arts.
Southeastern High School has career pathways in business, information technology, advanced manufacturing and welding, and capstone projects for all grade levels.
The School at Marygrove is centered around social justice and offers service learning, a focus on engineering, and cooperative learning.

Eighth graders who want to enroll for ninth grade and current high schoolers in grades nine through 11 who want to transfer can apply.

Students’ applications are scored on a number of factors, including exam results, grade point average, and a writing sample. Acceptance also depends on available seats in each grade level.

Students’ performance on the High School Placement Test holds the most weight in scoring. The exam, which takes about two and a half hours, covers English language arts, reading comprehension, math, and science. Students can only take the test once per school year.

Grade point average is worth up to 35% of applicants’ total scores.

For current high schoolers who want to transfer to an exam school, students must be on track to graduate on time. Cass applicants must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5. For other exam schools, the cumulative GPA generally should be at least 2.8.

Students are required to write an essay about their goals, their strengths, and why they should be accepted.

Three references are also required. They may be teachers, coaches, principals, or other mentors.

Bonus points are given on the application score for current DPSCD students. Those applying for the School at Marygrove get extra points if they live within a certain distance from the school.

Students and parents can make appointments for one-on-one help with district staff to assist with applications. There are also webinars that help explain the process.

How can my child get into an application school?

Several of DPSCD’s specialty schools have separate application processes and admission requirements. The application high schools do not require students to take an entrance exam, and most do not have GPA requirements.

Most of the application high schools require two years of transcripts or report cards, recent standardized test scores, and references. Some require a recommendation letter and student interviews. Parents can learn more by visiting the district’s website.

The application deadline for the 2026-27 school year is Dec. 19.

Academy of the Americas is a dual language immersion school with a bilingual program in Spanish and English.
Crockett Midtown High School of Science & Medicine offers work-based learning and externship opportunities in science and medicine.
Communication and Media Arts High School has dual enrollment classes, AP courses, and lets students explore media opportunities such as podcasting.
Davis Aerospace Technical High School prepares students to test for their remote pilot’s license, has a competitive robotics team, and will soon start aviation classes at the Detroit City Airport.
Detroit International Academy for Young Women is the only all-girls public school in Michigan. It has career pathways in biomedical science and veterinary medicine with a focus on multicultural experiences.
Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men is DPSCD’s only all-boy school. It focuses on teaching leadership and offers AP and honors courses.
Detroit School of Arts offers classes in dance, instrumental music, literary arts, multimedia production, visual arts, and vocal music.

The Detroit School of Arts requires in-person auditions as well as portfolios of prior work for some areas of study. The school requires a 2.5 GPA for students entering ninth grade, and a 3.0 is preferred for transfer students.

Academy of the Americas and Frederick Douglass only accept on-paper applications, which can be downloaded from the district’s website.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Teachers, community members ask Detroit district to update immigration sanctuary policy

2025-11-12T02:16:00+00:00

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Dozens of community members asked the Detroit school district on Tuesday night to update its sanctuary policy and train all staff on how to interact with immigration enforcement.

Speakers at the board meeting also asked the Detroit Public Schools Community District to protect students outside of school buildings and provide more transportation options for families with immigration concerns. Community members asked for in-school counseling for students at risk for immigration enforcement, referrals to legal services, and more resources for language acquisition classrooms.

Kristen Schoettle, an English language teacher at Western International High School, told the board DPSCD’s 2019 “Sanctuary District” policy needs to be updated.

“As we all know, a lot has changed since 2019,” she said. “We have to do more than simply say ICE isn’t allowed in school buildings.”

The concerns were raised as federal immigration agencies have ramped up enforcement, including arrests of parents and teens outside school buildings. Last week, a child care worker was dragged by federal agents from the Chicago center where she worked.

Though dozens showed up to address the districts’ policies around immigration concerns, the board asked for three representatives from the group to each speak for up to six minutes.

Some speakers ignored the board’s request and made additional comments in support of protecting immigrant students and families. The board did not stop them from speaking.

Chair Corletta Vaughn offered pamphlets on immigration resources to those at the meeting.

“You are not alone and we are 100% in support of all of our students and families,” said Vaughn.

The district’s sanctuary policy requires the superintendent’s office and general counsel to sign off before staff allow immigration agents with warrants to enter school property or access student data.

In January, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district would begin training principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, attendance agents, and security guards on the protocols. Community members want all staff to be included.

“We want to know who has been officially trained,” said Heidi West, a teacher at Academy of the Americas. “Do our secretaries and security guards know what to do if ICE is right outside or trying to get in?”

West said she and many other staff members feel unprepared and want training.

“This is the very least we should be doing to be proactive and make sure everyone is protected,” she said.

Schoettle said other public school districts, including in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, have mandatory training for all staff, regular “Know Your Rights” presentations and in-school counseling.

Schoettle told Chalkbeat that better communication with bilingual families is needed in the district. A robo call sent out by the district last month intended to quell rumors about immigration actions in the community caused “chaos,” she said.

Schoettle said the call only went out in English and it was misinterpreted by families, creating confusion and fear. The next day, about 15% of her class was absent, she said.

Frank Espinosa, another teacher at Western International, asked the board to provide better transportation for undocumented students and families with mixed immigration status.

As the district explores ways to use additional state funding to get kids to school, Schoettle said DPSCD should invest in more ride shares for families with immigration fears.

“There are undocumented parents who risk their safety every day to take their kids to school,” she said.

Vitti responded to the speakers’ concerns Tuesday night, saying any changes to the sanctuary policy would have to be made by the board, adding he would assist them administratively.

No members of the board responded to the speakers’ concerns after the public comment.

The school system has enrolled more newcomers and English learners in recent years. Last school year, there were more than 7,400 English learners, which represented 15% of the district’s students.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration ended a policy that deemed schools and day cares “sensitive locations” protected from immigration enforcement.

The administration’s immigration enforcement policies and increased arrests have impacted Detroit families, prompting fear in neighborhoods and schools for months.

In June, hundreds gathered at a board meeting to ask school leaders to decry the immigration arrest of DPSCD student Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, an undocumented teen from Colombia. After hours of public comment, the board reversed course and made a statement asking for Maykol’s release.

Days later, he was deported.

At October’s DPSCD board meeting, Vitti responded to several people who asked the district to provide “Know Your Rights” immigration enforcement training for students.

“I’ve certainly heard today the need for training and information sessions for our families that are fearful of ICE,” he said during the meeting. “I’ll work with the team and legal counsel to determine what exactly we can and can’t do, but obviously, as a district, we want to do everything we can in support of our students and our families.”

Vitti added that the district has never been contacted by ICE or given information to the agency.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

BridgeDetroit reporter Micah Walker contributed to this story.

Two DPSCD schools being rebuilt could get new names

2025-10-24T10:00:00+00:00

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As the Detroit school district moves forward with its plan of rebuilding and renovating buildings, two schools under construction could see a name change.

During an academic committee meeting Tuesday, three board members for Detroit Public Schools Community District — Vice Chair LaTrice McClendon, Monique Bryant and Steven Bland — discussed a proposal to explore the possibility of renaming the former Phoenix Elementary-Middle School and Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy.

The full board would have to approve launching the name change process. That likely would happen when the board meets Nov. 11.

The schools are part of the district’s facility master plan, a $700 million project introduced in 2022 that includes rebuilding, reopening, or demolishing certain schools. The plan calls for rebuilding Paul Robeson Malcolm X and Phoenix, which closed in 2016, as well as Cody and Pershing high schools and Carstens Academy. Meanwhile, a handful of school buildings, including Ann Arbor Trail, Sampson Webber, and Clark, will be phased out.

The new buildings for Phoenix and Paul Robeson Malcolm X are scheduled to open in the fall of 2027, according to a district document. During engagement sessions for Phoenix, community members expressed interest in renaming the school, citing the need for a fresh start and identity. McClendon said there are no alternate names for the school yet.

Before Phoenix closed, the school was known as Phoenix Multicultural Academy, located in southwest Detroit. The school building, once named after former President Woodrow Wilson, held a library, science labs, and an auditorium in addition to floors of classrooms, reported the Detroit Free Press. The school was a part of Detroit Public Schools until 2012, joining Michigan’s short-lived Education Achievement Authority reform district until the school closed in 2016 due to low enrollment and low performance. The building was demolished in 2024.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said Paul Robeson Malcolm X Principal Jeffery Robinson talked to him and Deputy Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson about flipping the school’s name to Malcolm X Paul Robeson Academy.

The community engagement for the name changes would cost $50,000, which would be taken out of the facility master plan funds.

“Apparently within the community, there’s a feeling that the school should be called Malcolm X first,” Vitti said during the meeting. “Based on the longevity of his (Robinson’s) service at that school, I believe that there is a sentiment to at least engage. That’s what this (vote) would do. It doesn’t change the name of the school. What it does is allow us to conduct surveys, conduct meetings, to gauge if there is an interest and if there is, what the name should be. Then we take that back to the board for an official renaming or this process.”

BridgeDetroit reached out to Robinson for comment, but he has not responded.

The last time DPSCD approved a school’s name change was in 2022 when the board voted to rename East English Village Preparatory Academy to East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney. This was to honor the former Finney High School, which was located where EEV is now on Detroit’s east side.

That same night, the board also approved changing the name of the Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine to Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine.

Going back to its roots

Robinson told BridgeDetroit Friday that one of the reasons for the name switch was going back to the roots of Malcolm X Academy, the district’s first African-centered school and the first school of its kind in the country when it opened in 1991, Robinson said. Paul Robeson Academy, Marcus Garvey Academy and several other Afrocentric schools followed during the 1990s.

About 15 years ago, Malcolm X Academy merged with Paul Robeson Academy when Detroit Public Schools was under emergency management, Robinson said. He took on the principal’s role after the schools combined.

“Now that the district is building a brand new building that will be completely dedicated to the furthering of African-centered education initiatives…now is the time to return to some historical accuracy and rename the school properly,” Robinson said.

However, he didn’t diminish the contributions Paul Robeson, an activist and artist, made on Black culture.

“They were both brilliant historical figures in Black history, in and of themselves, making the contributions and taking the stands that they took,” Robinson said. “It’s (the name change) just based on the historical accuracy of the schools being developed in the district.”

Melissa Redmon, a parent outreach coordinator at Robeson/Malcolm X, is for the name change as long as the community is involved in the process.

“If they’re going to change something, I believe they need to let the people in the community and students and parents have a say. Then they won’t be blindsided,” she said. “Change is scary, but sometimes change is good. It’s a brand new building and Malcolm X was the first (school opened) anyway before Paul Robeson. I can agree with it.”

Some concerns about the proposal

McClendon had concerns about the proposal for Phoenix and Paul Robeson Malcolm X, asking why the board would spend $50,000 on community engagement.

“Is there a cheaper or a least expensive way to figure out if this is what the community wants?” she said. “I think that’s not the best use of the district’s resources. We have all these other projects going up. Could we just do a simple survey and get it done?”

Jackson said that the majority of the $50,000 will go toward community engagement for Phoenix.

“There are fees that will be involved with the community engagement regarding Malcolm X, but those will be nominal,” she said.

Bryant then brought up the Catherine Blackwell Institute, which is set to close within the next five years. Blackwell’s niece Alberta Carter has addressed the board about renaming another school after the late Detroit educator, who was a pioneer in the field of African and African-American studies.

Vitti responded by saying that he would have to bring an agenda item to the academic and finance committees to initiate an engagement process for the Blackwell Institute based on the new feeder pattern associated with the school.

Additionally, Vitti said having an engagement process for Phoenix and Paul Robeson Malcom X will allow students, staff, and parents to have a say in what they want to see in a new name.

“This process doesn’t allow one person’s voice, five people’s voices to carry the main change in and of itself,” he said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. She can be reached at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

What mayoral candidates Sheffield and Kinloch said about education at this week’s debate

2025-10-16T18:44:16+00:00

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Detroit’s mayoral candidates may be far apart about how they should solve many of the city’s challenges, but their views on improving education in the city sound similar.

Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Jr., the pastor at Triumph Church in Detroit, and Mary Sheffield, the president of the Detroit City Council, faced off Wednesday night during a televised debate on WXYZ-TV. Moderators asked one question about education, but related topics such as child poverty, transportation, and safety also came up.

Education has been an issue throughout the campaign because of the depth of Detroit’s school challenges. Low academic achievement and high rates of chronic absenteeism are big problems in district and charter schools. While the mayor doesn’t have control over how schools are operated, the person elected can play a role in addressing many of the barriers that make it difficult for children to learn, including housing instability, a lack of transportation, and extreme poverty.

Here’s what they had to say at Wednesday night’s debate.

How will the candidates help improve education in Detroit?

Moderator Carolyn Clifford noted the city’s high rate of illiteracy and the most recent results for the Detroit Public Schools Community District on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in which just 5% of district students were proficient or above in reading. Noting that the mayor has no control over district and charter schools in the city, she asked the candidates, “What can a mayor do to help ensure Detroit kids can read, can learn, and succeed?

Kinloch repeated what he’s said throughout the campaign: that he would “be an educational mayor” and would create a cabinet-level position that would partner with the school district. Though the city has dozens of charter schools, Kinloch only mentioned partnering with the district. Kinloch said that while “the school district is not the mayor’s job, it’s still the mayor’s responsibility.”

Solomon Kinloch Jr. faces off against Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield in a televised debate between the two remaining candidates in Detroit’s mayoral race on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025 at the WXYZ-TV studio in Southfield.

“What we will do is partner with the district to make sure that we’re removing the social ills that keep the children from showing up in class in a productive way, not to just to survive, but to thrive. There are a whole lot of things that take place before those children get to class. And so we got to make sure that they have access to mental health professionals, that they have access to affordable housing, that they have access to food and grocery stores and healthy eating, that they have access to extra curriculum activities to keep them off the street and give them a sanctuary to be safe.”

Sheffield said she believes the mayor “can be a greater partner to drive better outcomes for our youth” and that every child deserves access to a quality education.

“My administration will have a liaison working directly with our DPSCD and charter schools on a consistent basis. We will ensure that we have robust after school programming within a two mile radius of every school, focusing in on literacy. We will provide the wraparound service and address the social deterrents that prevent and impact our families and our students, like mental health and housing and having support in the schools and on the grounds to support our families and students. And lastly, as a mayor, I can ensure that we have safe routes to school and fixing the infrastructure around our schools and providing more coordinated transportation to reduce absenteeism and get our students back in school.”

Setting students up for post-high school success

At various points during the debate, Sheffield and Kinloch talked about ensuring that children are set up for success once they leave high school.

Sheffield noted that the Detroit Promise, a scholarship program that gives eligible Detroit residents a tuition-free path to an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, or technical certificate, already provides opportunities for Detroit youth.

“We want to enhance that program and ensure that we’re creating pathways so that everyone who wants to receive secondary education has a pathway to do so,” Sheffield said.

Kinloch made a similar statement.

“I’ll make sure that every child has access to a quality education, giving them a pathway to college and giving them a pathway to a career,” Kinloch said.

Crime may be down, but safety is still an issue

Chalkbeat heard from a number of students earlier this year who said they often feel unsafe in the city, avoid being out in large groups because they fear what could happen, and worry about violence as they travel to and from school. That’s despite crime being down in the city.

At Wednesday night’s debate, candidates were asked how they explain the disconnect between the statistics and what people say in their neighborhoods and what they would do if elected mayor to solve this problem.

Kinloch noted that as a pastor, he has had to “give children dignity in death that they didn’t get in life because their life was taken too soon.”

He said one of the reasons there is a disconnect is “because Detroiters deserve two things. They deserve safety and they deserve justice.” He also suggested that the city is “fudging” crime statistics. BridgeDetroit and the Detroit Free Press reported that after the debate, Kinloch explained his comments, saying there should be additional oversight into how crimes are tracked.

Sheffield noted the reduction in crime stats, but also said “one life lost is still far too many.”

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield faces off against Solomon Kinloch Jr. in a televised debate between the two remaining candidates in Detroit’s mayoral race on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025 at the WXYZ-TV studio in Southfield.

“I believe in a comprehensive and holistic approach to public safety that is rooted in strong partnerships with our law enforcement agencies in our community. I will ensure as mayor that we are investing in prevention, more year round, youth employment for our young people, ensure that we’re expanding our community violence intervention work.”

Her plan also includes launching the city’s first ever office of gun violence prevention and expanding community policing efforts.

Improving public transportation is important

The candidates were asked to explain how they would improve public transit in the city. While the question wasn’t specific to education or students, the city’s transportation woes affect school attendance. Many students take city buses to and from school, and Chalkbeat has heard from students who say the buses frequently arrive late, making them late for school, or don’t show up at all.

Transportation barriers are one of the reasons the DPSCD chronic absenteeism rate is high. The rate is improving, but 60% of students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year. At least one DPSCD school is experimenting with distributing bikes to students to make it easier for their children to get to school.

Sheffield said the most pressing issue is addressing public transportation wait times.

“We have to ensure that no one is waiting 30, 40, 50 minutes to catch a bus. And so as mayor, my number one priority is to reduce wait times, increase frequency and reliability of our system, make sure that our drivers are paid the wages that they deserve, and make sure that the system is safe.”

Kinloch said the city needs to ensure it is offering competitive pay to transit workers, has reliable vehicles, and has trained mechanics.

“I remember growing up in the city of Detroit, and the only way I can get from point A to point B is I had to depend on public transportation,” said Kinloch, who said improving the transit system is a necessity. “A lot of our school children are dependent on public transportation. Our family, our community is dependent on public transportation.”

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Could holding parents accountable improve chronic absenteeism in the Detroit school district?

2025-10-15T21:01:04+00:00

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Two members of the Detroit school district’s board want to explore what can be done to hold parents accountable for their children missing too many days of school.

Based on trends in the attendance rate so far this school year, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at Tuesday night’s board meeting that about 45% of students are projected to be chronically absent by the end of the school year. Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more days of a school year.

Chronic absenteeism, which negatively impacts students’ ability to learn and progress academically, has long been a problem for DPSCD. High rates of poverty, a lack of transportation, health concerns, and unsafe routes to school are among the leading causes of kids missing too many days of class.

The district has made big strides in reducing absenteeism in recent years. Still, more than 60% of students in the district were chronically absent last school year.

When students are at risk of being chronically absent, the district’s intervention process includes engaging with parents and visiting the kids’ homes. Students are also required to sign an acknowledgement that they know they will be required to attend their neighborhood schools instead of opting to attend district schools outside of their feeder pattern if they miss too many days.

In an effort to solve transportation issues, DPSCD gives students free city bus passes, as the school system does not offer yellow bus service to most high schoolers. Some principals problem-solve for individual students with ride shares or carpools, one school gave its students bikes, and two high schools are piloting yellow buses this year.

In addition to solving transportation barriers and providing wraparound services, board member Monique Bryant asked Vitti what the district can do to address parents who are “not sending their kids to school.”

“I hear we’re working with students, we’re providing transportation, but I just don’t understand how we are not more firm with our parents and their responsibility to get their children to school,” Bryant said to some applause from the crowd at the meeting.

“I think there’s some work for the board to do, and I think now we need to step up more than ever, because we need to be the first people saying parents should be accountable,” said Latrice McClendon, another board member. “We need to be non-negotiable about some of the things that are happening in our district, and we are now outraged and upset about what we’re seeing … It starts with the parents.”

Vitti said during the meeting he believes “it is time to enhance the accountability and engagement” with parents. There are policy or administrative actions the superintendent said he would recommend that would put parents at the center of discussions around attendance, like mandatory in-person or virtual meetings.

“The more extreme cases of absenteeism, we are reporting those to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office, but they are way understaffed, and they are not prosecuting the vast majority of cases that we send them,” said Vitti. “They take the most egregious examples and move forward on those cases, especially for the youngest of children that are extremely absent.”

Bryant said she was not aware that there are cases referred by the district that do not get prosecuted, adding “they should be.”

McClendon said, “We need to personally contact our prosecutor to say, ‘Hey, we need to step up, and we need to do that.’”

Michigan parents can face a misdemeanor charge if they fail to ensure their child attends school. The penalty can range from 90 days in jail and fines between $5 and $50. Parents who get public financial assistance for their children also risk the aid being withheld by the state.

Some research suggests punitive measures do not reduce absenteeism. Officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services told Chalkbeat in 2023 they could not provide evidence its penalties for parents of truant kids improved attendance.

During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, one parent told the board they should focus more on filling in gaps for families without transportation instead of prosecuting them.

McClendon clarified to the speaker that she agreed.

“The goal is never to criminalize parents,” said McClendon. “Accountability is not punishment, it’s partnership.”

The board member added she understands addressing absenteeism requires “empathy and understanding” because of the “complex realities families face.”

“I think the balance is delicate, but it’s necessary,” she said. “I do want to set high standards.”

Vitti said he will provide more information and recommendations on potential policy changes at a future board committee meeting.

Could yellow bus service improve high school attendance?

This school year, DPSCD began piloting yellow bus service for students within the boundaries of Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Vitti said despite efforts to raise awareness and interest among students, the pilot is “not having a scaled impact” on chronic absenteeism data at either school so far this year. He didn’t say how many students are participating in the yellow bus pilot. The superintendent said there may be a positive impact for individual students and the district will look at whether attendance for kids taking the bus has improved compared to the prior year.

There may also be more use of the buses once the weather becomes colder, Vitti added.

He suggested the board decide early next year whether the pilot should continue based on participation and attendance data.

The schools have sent robo calls and texts about the service, made announcements during school, and offered incentives for ridership.

Anthony Peete, a student representative on the board who attends Henry Ford, said at the meeting that he had surveyed his classmates about why they do or do not use the service.

“A lot of what students replied was that it just wasn’t convenient for them in a lot of different ways,” said Peete.

Some said in the survey they felt the city bus was more convenient, and many said they didn’t know how to check if the yellow bus went to their neighborhood, Peete said.

Because the district received more state funding than was anticipated in its adopted budget for this school year, Vitti said there is some opportunity to expand transportation options.

Vitti said he would not recommend using the funds to add more yellow bus services, saying ride shares for targeted students or small groups of classmates who are missing too many days of school may be more effective and cost efficient.

The “big picture” solution to the problem is for the city to expand its transportation offerings. That has been successful for other large urban districts in the U.S. in improving attendance, Vitti said.

The district’s long-term goal is to “have more children attend their neighborhood school,” Vitti said, which would result in students traveling shorter distances.

About 50% of DPSCD students currently attend schools in their neighborhood, said Vitti.

“That will happen if we continue to improve neighborhood schools, which we are, and the data suggests that,” said Vitti.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Correction: Oct. 17, 2025: A previous version of this story said the student representative’s name was Anthony Peele. It is Anthony Peete.

Former principal, special education teacher appointed to the Detroit school district’s board

2025-10-14T23:40:18+00:00

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Bessie Harris, a retired special education teacher and principal, is the newest member of the Detroit school district’s board.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Detroit Public School Community District’s board formally announced Harris to loud applause from the audience. The board voted to appoint Harris to fill a seat left vacant by Sherry Gay-Dagnogo earlier this month. Harris, a grandmother of a student at Cass Technical High School, spent decades as an educator in the district and said she’ll use that experience to serve students, families, and staff in her role on the seven-member board.

Harris was the runner-up in a selection process to fill another vacancy this summer.

During a monthlong search to fill Angelique Peterson-Mayberry’s open seat, the board interviewed 14 candidates. They were scored on their resumes, letters of intent, answers to survey questions on key issues in the district, and public interviews. The scores were tallied live during a public meeting by a third-party law firm.

Steven Bland Jr. was appointed to fill the seat.

Instead of going through the “time-consuming” process of interviewing candidates again a couple of months later, the board voted Oct. 1 to offer the new position to Harris, who had the highest score after Bland.

Iris Taylor, a board member, said on Tuesday she did not support suspending the district’s policy for appointing new members, saying the move lacked “transparency” and “integrity.”

But the board, including Taylor, voted unanimously to appoint Harris. Bland was not at Tuesday’s meeting.

Harris unsuccessfully ran to be on the board in 2020 and 2022. She was principal of Palmer Park Preparatory Academy until she retired in 2016.

Before that, Harris was an assistant principal at Marion Law Academy, Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy, and Emerson Elementary-Middle School and principal of Chrysler Elementary School, according to the resume she submitted to the board.

She was a special education teacher for 10 years at the former Guyton Elementary School, where she was promoted to be in the first group of special education resource teachers in the district.

During her July interview with the board, Harris said truancy, school closures, and a lack of parent participation are the biggest issues the district faces. In answers to a candidate survey submitted to the board, she added that ensuring there are equitable resources across district schools, retaining staff, and fixing aging infrastructure are also big challenges for DPSCD.

“Students need strong, effective, transparent leadership,” Harris said during her interview.

Harris said at the time that she wouldn’t shape or revise any district policies if she were a board member.

“I can’t think of any that’s not being carried out that I would say, ‘Oh no, that’s not’ – I would just like to chime in and enhance what you’re doing,” she said in the interview.

Harris said targeted training for administrators and staff would help improve literacy in the district.

She suggested that instead of gathering hundreds of teachers for a large early literacy education training, it might be more successful to train teachers within their schools based on the needs of the students they serve.

“Why not take the training to the building, where it’s more personable, more centered around that school,” she said. “Sit me down in my building with my principal and the staff, and let’s dig into it and see where we go from there.”

Harris said she is still actively involved in the district by participating in her granddaughter’s education and mentoring youth at her church.

Harris will serve through the end of 2026. She told the board she would campaign to keep her seat in the next school board election.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit community rallies behind Gompers as students return to school following stabbing

2025-10-14T15:17:53+00:00

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Students at Gompers Elementary-Middle School made their return to school Monday for the first time since an eighth grader stabbed another girl in front of a classroom full of students on Oct. 8.

But despite the early morning darkness and chill in the air, Detroit school board members, city and state officials, police officers, and community leaders came out in full force to support the students during a difficult time.

The stabbing happened after the mother of one of the students brought a knife to her daughter inside the school, according to the Detroit Public Schools Community District. The mother set off a metal detector but was allowed to enter the school without being searched by the security guard on duty, officials said.

During a clap-in for the students, DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that an assistant principal has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, as well as the security guard who let the mother inside the school. Security has also been beefed up following the incident.

“We talk about all of our students feeling loved, challenged, and prepared. That’s not new,” he said. “When they showed up this morning, I could see the smiles, I could see the excitement. They’re acknowledging that what happened last week is not normal.”

A community member hugs a student during a clap-in at Gompers on Monday.

A fight reportedly occurred between the two students outside the school days before the stabbing, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a parent meeting Oct. 9. The school’s administration was aware of the fight, he said, and both parents were contacted and asked to come to the school to talk about the “tension” between the students.

The mother and the student were arrested Oct. 8, according to the district. The student who was stabbed has been released from the hospital, Vitti said.

‘Showing up in a major way’

“Good morning, Gompers Elementary!” Lynn McNeal, a community liaison for Detroit City Council, yelled into a megaphone Monday morning as a stream of young children made their way to the main entrance from the school bus. “We’re 100% here with you!”

Detroit’s Task Force on Black Male Engagement, chaired by City Council President Pro Tem James Tate, organized the clap-in for Gompers students. He told BridgeDetroit that the clap-ins are something the group has been doing at schools across the city since 2014. When Tate found out about the incident at Gompers, he reached out to DPSCD school board vice president LaTrice McClendon on what he could do to help.

“We were trying to put our minds together, and she said, ‘You know what? It makes sense for you to come and do the clap-in,’” Tate said. “But in speaking with Rev. Larry (Simmons from Brightmoor Alliance), it was very clear that we’ve got to do more, so that’s when we start reaching out to some of the community organizations as well. That’s how we got together today.”

Tate said the village showed up in a major way for Gompers, with people like Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, new Detroit ombudsman and former school board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, and several members of the Detroit Police Department’s Sixth Precinct in attendance to support the students.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, DPSCD school board member Monique Bryant and officers from the Detroit Police Department were some of the school, city and state officials at the clap-in at Gompers Elementary-Middle School on Monday.

“Today was different; today was special,” Tate said. “It wasn’t just men who came out. These were men, women, folks from different walks of life. It was so critical for everyone to understand that it’s not just a governmental response, it’s just not a school response, but it’s literally all of our responsibility to wrap our arms around these children so that they understand that we love them and care for them, that they’re seen and heard and that we want to do everything we can to protect them as they grow and move forward and prosper in our community.”

One of the parents dropping off at the school Monday was Annastasia Martin, who has a daughter in the first grade. She said her daughter wasn’t really aware of the stabbing. However, Martin wishes that the district would have told parents about the incident sooner. That concern was also raised during last week’s parent meeting.

“I heard about it on the 5 p.m. news first, and then I got a robocall from the school, so that was disappointing,” Martin said.

Carla Milton’s three children, who are in first, third, and seventh grades, weren’t anxious to return to Gompers, but couldn’t believe that a stabbing would take place at their school, she said.

“My daughter (the seventh grader) has been going to Gompers since she was in kindergarten, so we’ve been here for a while,” Milton said. “There’s been a few incidents here and there, but nothing as bad as this.”

As Gompers ramps up its security measures by increasing the number of security guards from two to three and adding a police officer, Milton wants to see the district’s protocols being followed, including searching everyone’s bags.

“We gotta keep the kids safe,” she said.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

New Wayne State program aims to remove college barriers for DPSCD students

2025-10-10T17:51:16+00:00

Wayne State University attracts thousands of students from metro Detroit and from outstate but the number of students enrolled in its own backyard, Detroit public schools, has hovered for years around 7-8% of the undergraduate population.

A new program aims to change that.

Warriors on the Rise, a program announced in September, offers guaranteed enrollment to qualified high school juniors at Detroit Public Schools Community District and other benefits like mentorship and free or discounted tickets to campus events.

It is the first program that directly addresses the need to boost enrollment of DPSCD students at Wayne State.

The new program is part of Wayne State’s efforts to create more opportunities for Detroit students, former president Kimberly Andrews Espy, who spearheaded the program, previously told BridgeDetroit. She has since departed WSU two years before her contract expired.

A similar program, UT San Antonio Direct Admission, operates at University of Texas at San Antonio, where Espy was provost.

Detroit public school officials plan to take the first step and automatically enroll juniors with a 3.0 grade point average into the college. Their families will then be invited to a meeting with the district to discuss the next step.

The hope is that the acceptance at a major university will build students’ confidence and that they will enroll there or at another college, said DPSCD Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather.

“If we can increase the number of students who get into Wayne State or another institution and finish, you are talking about changing their trajectory, (and) of the city and potentially the state,” said Meriweather.

The number of Detroit public school students enrolled at WSU as first-time undergraduates went from 192 in fall 2018 to 316 students in fall 2024. The numbers dropped slightly this year to 294 students in fall 2025.

The total number of WSU undergraduates who attended Detroit public schools has increased, from 1,187 students in 2015 to 1,363 in 2025. This occurred even as WSU’s undergraduate student enrollment declined from 17,669 in 2015 to 16,390 students in 2025.

In fall 2025, total enrollment at WSU was 24,168.

Graduation rates lag those of the overall Wayne State population. Of the 139 DPSCD students who enrolled in 2019, 70 earned a degree six years later in 2024, or about 50%, according to data provided by WSU. During that same time period, 60% of all first-time, full-time students graduated from WSU.

‘Taking things a step further’

Wayne State is the state’s third-largest university, located in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood, and DPSCD is the largest K-12 school district in the state.

Wayne State estimates that a first-year in-state undergraduate student would pay $15,388 in tuition this semester and up to $26,006 for total costs, including books, transportation, and more, if living at home. That number jumps to $33,244 if the student lives in the least expensive dorm on campus.

WSU officials note that 6 out of 10 WSU students don’t pay any tuition at all because of financial aid that is available from the federal and state government, along with financial aid from the university. Part of the Warriors on the Rise program includes financial aid sessions prior to enrollment.

Wayne State’s initiatives geared toward the broader Detroit community include the Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge, which offers free tuition for students of Detroit high schools or residents earning a high school diploma, and the Detroit Promise, which ensures that any eligible student graduating from a high school in Detroit will have a tuition-free path to a two-year or four-year institution. However, Warriors on the Rise is the first direct admissions program specifically created for DPSCD students.

For educators, the program is critical since Detroit students from disadvantaged backgrounds face numerous barriers to college access.

“Prior research has shown that clarity and certainty about the college admissions and financial aid process are important determinants of student enrollment in college,” said Brian Jacob, a University of Michigan education professor. “To the extent that WSU guarantees admissions to high school students, this can only help boost enrollment.”

The purpose of Warriors on the Rise is to expand access to higher education for Detroit students and provide resources and exposure to the collegiate experience, said Charles Cotton III, vice provost of strategic enrollment management at Wayne State.

“One of the main reasons that this just felt right and timely is that we already provide an amazing tuition guarantee for our residents of Detroit and Detroit high school students,” he said. “This takes things a step further as it matches our financial support for these students with additional college prep, additional collegiate exposure and affirmation that not only will the cost be mitigated, but that you are eligible, that you are worthy, that this is an opportunity for you. The students have these amazing opportunities at a research institution in their own backyard.”

Removing barriers

Warriors on the Rise guarantees admission for all DPSCD juniors who earn a 3.0 GPA or higher and who complete at least two credits each in English language arts and math. Students are considered for the program after they complete their first semester in January, Meriweather told Bridge. The district will send notifications to qualified students in February and then work with Wayne State to set up meetings with the families, she said.

“We want to see a pretty tight timeline of notification of acceptance, the family student meeting and completing paperwork for students who actually want to enroll because we also want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to connect students and families to all of the scholarships that are available to them,” Meriweather said.

In addition to automatic admission to the university, students in the program will enjoy other benefits, such as:

Career peer mentorship
Readiness workshops
Academic advising
Financial aid sessions for families
Transportation support through WayneRides
Free or discounted tickets to campus events
Opportunities for dual enrollment courses at Wayne State

Meriweather said conversations about Warriors on the Rise started about a year ago when Espy wanted to replicate the UT San Antonio program. She believes the program will help remove some barriers Detroit students face like not being college-ready or not having the money to attend college. Meriweather said students in the Detroit school district don’t have a talent or an intelligence gap, but an opportunity gap.

“Figuring out how to remove the barriers that prevent our kids’ talent from moving forward is really what we’re trying to do, both during the time they’re with us (at DPSCD) and then as they leave us,” she said. “It’s not that the opportunities aren’t there, but when barriers become so many, the opportunities can get lost, and so, it is extremely important to remove barriers so that young people have the greatest opportunities possible.”

Helping students reach the finish line

Robin Jacob, a professor at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, said Warriors on the Rise is a step in the right direction and elevates Wayne State as a possible path for many DPSCD students.

Jacob is the co-founder and faculty co-director of UM’s Youth Policy Lab, a research center that develops evidence-based, policy-relevant research in partnership with local and state agencies, practitioners, and policymakers. In 2021, Jacob co-authored a report titled “Detroit Students’ College Pathways and Outcomes.” The report found that while many Detroit high schools offer college-supportive resources, the majority of graduates are not college-ready. Additionally, students report financial concerns, lack of transportation, and family responsibilities as other obstacles to enrolling and staying in college. Jacob said those factors are most likely why Wayne State’s enrollment rates are so low.

“I don’t know to what degree it will increase enrollment,” Jacob said about the program. “Getting students to enroll is only part of it, right? You have to encourage students to enroll, but then provide them the support to help them graduate and there are a lot of factors that play into that piece of it as well. But anything that we can do to sort of reduce the number of barriers is a positive thing.”

Like Jacob, Cyekeia Lee has heard about direct admission programs in other states and is thrilled to see this partnership between Wayne State and DPSCD. Lee is the director of the Detroit College Access Network (DCAN), a community-based organization dedicated to promoting higher education in the city. DCAN works with more than 50 district and charter schools across Detroit to get students interested in college and they provide professional development to Detroit-area counselors.

According to data from DCAN, Wayne State was the top university for Detroit students from 2016 to 2022, with 2,110 young people enrolled during that time period. Wayne County Community College District, Henry Ford College, Michigan State University, and Eastern Michigan University rounded out the top five.

“For some students that we talk to, that is their number one institution, especially those that want to look into engineering, law or medical school,” Lee said about Wayne State. “And some have even said, ‘Wayne State wasn’t necessarily my number one choice,’ but there’s the combination of the early admit, the Heart of Detroit award, being able to utilize the Detroit Promise, and then staying locally. When you get to alleviate some of those, it makes the decision easier.”

Regarding Wayne State’s enrollment numbers for Detroit students, seeing those numbers steadily increase over the past 10 years gives Lee hope that they’ll continue to trend upward.

“It can’t only be on the institution to get those numbers up, we have to lean in as a community and really support the school district (DPSCD) because they’re doing their part also by having this partnership,” she said. “But in order to get those numbers higher as a community, we have to give more college-going culture talking points and opportunities to young people to see that number rise higher.”

Cotton, the vice provost from Wayne State, said the university remains committed to DPSCD students due to its wealth of resources, as well as its commitment to following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Sixty by 30 goal, which aims to have 60% of working-age adults obtaining a skill certificate or college degree by 2030. Currently, the number is 51.8%.

“For us, this work becomes critical because we want to see the students not just start their collegiate journey, but complete their collegiate journey,” he said. “The more exposure students have to that early on helps them further reinforce the academic pursuits that they’re truly in. What we hope and expect from the program is just to see a continued growth across the district and students attending higher education more broadly and of course, attending Wayne State.”

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. She can be reached at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Kim Kozlowski is a reporter for Bridge Michigan. She can be reached at kkozlowski@bridgemi.com.

Extra security will be stationed at Gompers after student stabbing in classroom, officials say

2025-10-10T00:32:36+00:00

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Security at Gompers Elementary-Middle School will be ramped up for the remainder of the school year after an eighth grader stabbed another girl in front of a classroom full of students, officials said.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District will increase the number of security guards from two to three and add a police officer at the school, as well as monitor the effective use of metal detectors at all of its schools moving forward, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a virtual meeting with parents and community members Thursday evening.

Parents expressed concerns about security and the school’s handling of reported tension between the two students leading up to the stabbing. Some asked why the district did not immediately notify parents of what happened or close the school for the remainder of the day. One parent said they found out about the incident from their child, who was “traumatized,” when they picked him up from school.

Vitti said he is committed to investigating the incident further and preventing future violence in schools.

“I want to make this very clear – this is not normal and it’s not acceptable,” he said. “And I say that purposely, because I think we all know the level of violence unfortunately that many of our students experience, sometimes in their home, in their personal life, in the community at large. We have not had an incident like this in a school building in DPSCD over the nine years that I’ve been superintendent.”

The stabbing happened after the mother of one of the students brought a knife to her daughter inside the school, according to the district. The mother set off a metal detector, but was allowed to enter the school without being searched by the security guard on duty, officials said.

The mother and the student were arrested Wednesday, according to the district. The student who was stabbed was released from a hospital, said Vitti.

The district’s protocol is to “check all bags and persons if the metal detector sounds,” Vitti told Chalkbeat. The security guard who let the mother through at Gompers has been put on leave pending an investigation, officials said.

Vitti added the school system will make any necessary changes to its security protocols and will increase its monitoring of how schools implement them.

“Most importantly, the victim of the attack will physically recover but the school and the entire district must use this incident as a dire example of why implementation of safety and security protocols must always be implemented,” said Vitti.

A fight reportedly occurred between the two students outside the school earlier this week, Vitti said during Thursday’s meeting. The school’s administration was aware of the fight, he said, and both parents were contacted and asked to come to the school to talk about the “tension” between the students.

On Wednesday, after going through the metal detector, the mother who allegedly brought the knife to school went to the main office and asked to talk with an assistant principal about the fight, Vitti said.

“From our preliminary review of the circumstances, the [assistant principal] did not engage the parent,” said Vitti.

The daughter left class to come to the office after her mother asked to see her, the superintendent said.

“What appears on video, allegedly, the mother gives the daughter a knife,” said Vitti.

The daughter then went into a classroom and “slashed” the other student with the knife, Vitti said. Adults, including the principal, intervened in the attack; the principal was injured, he added.

The mother of the victim told WXYZ her daughter was stabbed four times in her head, arm, back, and wrist areas. She said her daughter called her screaming 45 minutes after being dropped off at school.

The district sent a robocall out to inform parents of the incident in the afternoon, according to the superintendent.

“The District’s protocol is for schools to inform parents of a significant incident that occurs at the school no later than that evening or early the next morning,” Vitti told Chalkbeat.

Counselors spoke with the students who were in the classroom, said Vitti, and the district will provide additional support to others in the school who request it.

Gompers will reopen on Monday, the district said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit student stabbed by classmate whose mother snuck a knife into school, officials say

2025-10-09T00:58:40+00:00

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A student was stabbed by a classmate during school Wednesday at Gompers Elementary-Middle School, according to officials.

The stabbing occurred after the child’s mother reportedly gave her child a “small knife,” said a statement from the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

The mother entered the school through a metal detector that went off, the district said. The school’s security guard did not search the mother, according to DPSCD.

“The security guard has been removed from the school pending an investigation that could lead to termination,” the district’s statement said.

Both of the students were in eighth grade, WXYZ reported. The student who suffered the stabbing is in “stable condition,” according to DPSCD, and the mother and the student accused of the stabbing were arrested.

Class is canceled on Thursday at the school “to ensure safety protocols are in place,” the district said.

“A Gompers family meeting will be held tomorrow to address this matter,” the school system’s statement reads. “At this time, we are unaware of any additional threats targeting students.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Students at this Detroit school got free bikes. Here’s how they say it helped attendance.

2025-10-07T21:16:36+00:00

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Some days, it takes Elyazar Holiday two hours and four buses to travel the 20 miles from his home on the far west side of Detroit to his school on the edge of the east side of the city.

The Detroit school district has limited yellow bus service, and none for most high school students. Like many students in the city, the 17-year-old’s family doesn’t have access to a working car. Riding city buses to Davis Aerospace Technical High School is Holiday’s only option, but – with delays and missed buses – it often proves unreliable.

Last year, Holiday received a gift from his school that made the trek easier: a bicycle.

Principal Michelle Davis gave every student at the school a bike as part of a holistic approach to reducing chronic absenteeism. The bikes were funded through community donations.

Many of the nearly 100 students at Davis Aerospace last year said the bicycles helped them safely get to school by reducing the amount of time they had to walk to school or wait for buses. Others said the bikes gave them a new sense of independence, allowing them to travel around the city with their friends, get to after-school activities or jobs, and get exercise.

While Davis believes the bicycles improved attendance during good weather in the fall and spring, she said it’s only one measure the school is taking to get kids to class.

“Giving the students bikes is just one problem that we’ve solved for,” Davis told Chalkbeat. “What we do intentionally is solve for all of the problems that the kids have, because that has to be our major responsibility.”

Principal Michelle Davis poses in front of her "Big Ideas" board.

The principal wanted her students to feel the same sense of independence she did as a teen when her mother bought her a pink Huffy.

So, Davis wrote “bikes” at the top of a white board next to her desk that lists her “big ideas.” And soon the vision came to fruition.

Other high schools in the district may also soon give bikes to their students. Last school year, the district surveyed high school students who were chronically absent about why they missed too much school. Some of the students said having a bike would help improve their attendance.

After the district’s school board heard the feedback at a July meeting, some members said they wanted the superintendent to follow up on whether a stock of “dozens” of bicycles in a storage warehouse could be used for that purpose.

Can bikes reduce chronic absenteeism in Detroit?

Chronic absenteeism, defined for Michigan students as missing 10% of the school year, has long been a problem in DPSCD. Issues such as high rates of poverty, health concerns, parents’ work schedules, and unsafe routes to school keep many children from missing crucial instructional time.

Students at Davis Aerospace say the bikes have helped address some of those barriers.

A poster tracking attendance for each grade is one of the first things students see as they enter their school building.

Holiday, for example, said his bike allows him to get to bus stops more quickly.

The first bus Holiday usually rides is regularly late by 20 minutes to an hour, he said.

If that bus doesn’t come in time, the teen has to decide whether he’ll go to another stop to try and catch a bus on a different route.

“I might miss those if I walk too slow, or I might be tired from trying to run to make it there,” he said.

Now, if the bus that runs on Plymouth Road doesn’t arrive, the teen can ride his bike to another stop. Or if Holiday isn’t able to catch a transfer due to delays, he can ride his bike the rest of the way to school.

“With the bike, I can still make up the distance or go to a different street to get on a different bus and still make it there on time,” he said.

His bike also makes him feel safer.

While violent crime rates have declined in Detroit in recent years, many young people fear being attacked on their way to school. Their sense of safety is shaped by many factors, including news reports of peers killed in gun violence.

“A bike in itself is protection,” said Holiday. “You can use that to get away from the situation. You can use that as a barrier between you and something coming at you in the heat of the moment. You can even throw it.”

The bikes also help students left without a ride because their parents have to get younger kids to school earlier in the morning.

Myron Dean, a senior at Davis Aerospace, said while his parents take his five younger siblings to their schools, he has to get to school on his own.

With a bike, Dean can get to school in about seven minutes.

Dean is also using the bike to get to driver’s education classes so he can eventually drive himself and his siblings anywhere they need to go.

Junior Tryve Roberts said when no one in his family was able to give him a ride, he used to have to walk to school. It took about an hour, which would make him tardy.

Now, since he can get to school on the bike in about 16 minutes, he’s showing up on time more often.

Some research and anecdotal evidence in other parts of the country suggest bicycles alone may reduce chronic absenteeism. Those who support the idea say using bikes to get to school gives more students access to transportation they otherwise wouldn’t have, can improve their health and well-being, and adds motivation for kids to improve attendance.

However, the successful examples proponents cite are in parts of the country with warmer climates, such as Florida, Tennessee, and Arizona.

At Davis Aerospace, the students are taught bike safety and instructed to not ride to school in poor weather conditions or during the winter.

There are nearly 165 miles of bike lanes in the city, according to advocacy groups, but not every neighborhood in the city has access to continuous dedicated bike paths.

Creating a culture of good attendance

DPSCD has made strides in reducing chronic absenteeism in recent years. Several schools in the district have outpaced all others in the state in reducing absenteeism.

At Davis Aerospace, the chronic absenteeism rate dropped by more than 14 percentage points last school year compared to 2023-24. Since 2018-19, the chronic absenteeism rate at the school fell by nearly 23 percentage points.

Even with that progress, more than 42% of Davis Aerospace students missed too many days of school last year. And the problem is more persistent in the district’s neighborhood schools.

For example, Denby High School, which is also on the east side of the city, had a chronic absenteeism rate of nearly 80% last year.

Some of Davis Aerospace’s progress may be due in part to the bikes, but the school had already been making steady progress in reducing absenteeism before that program.

“What we know is that there’s not just one thing that’s going to decrease absenteeism,” said Davis. “Every kid that has a barrier for attendance, we talk to those students. We see what the barriers are, and we solve for the student and their challenge to getting to school.”

Students can pick out any items they want from the school's free boutique.

At the school, which requires an application for students to attend, reducing absenteeism is ingrained in the culture.

A poster hanging on a brick wall by the school entrance tracks the daily attendance rate of each grade. Students who miss two days or fewer in the class with the highest attendance each month get rewards like cookies, nachos, or a movie day.

A room on the first floor of the school looks like a clothing boutique, except the clothes “for sale” are all marked “100% free.” Kids can grab the things they need to show up to school, like winter coats, gloves, and new shoes.

In another space, kids can get the hygiene products they need to show up ready to learn. There’s also a washer and dryer in the school where students can clean their clothes.

Davis said there are discussions around creating a parent carpool for kids who live near each other.

‘A form of freedom’

The gift of the bikes was not simply a pragmatic attempt to reduce absenteeism, said Davis. It was an act of love.

“When you’re a teenager, bikes are your first form of transportation, right?” Davis said. “It gives you a form of freedom. You explore the world with your bike.”

Students Elyazar Holiday, Savannah Robinson, Ciana Carter, and Myron Dean pose with bikes in front of Davis Aerospace.

Junior Roderic Pippen said his bike helped him find a new hobby.

“I like to adventure on the bike – find new places to be at,” he said. “My bike trips are more fun than just sitting in the car, scrolling on the internet.”

Holiday will use his bike this year to attend biweekly events by the Midnight Golf Program, a mentorship and college readiness nonprofit.

Before they got bikes, seniors Savannah Robinson and Ciana Carter felt stuck at home during summer breaks because their parents were busy with work.

Last summer, the girls had the freedom to ride to meet up and go to places like the beauty supply store and restaurants.

“Anytime she had a bad day over summer, I’d be like, come on, girl, let’s go ride our bikes and get fresh air,” said Robinson. “So it’s really helpful for both of us.”

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Count Day: Detroit school district sees modest bump in enrollment, officials say

2025-10-03T20:11:13+00:00

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Nearly 500 more students were in attendance on Count Day in the Detroit school district this year compared to last, according to early data.

The numbers are crucial for determining how much state funding the Detroit Public Schools Community District will receive. The early data suggest that the district’s efforts to ramp up enrollment and reduce chronic absenteeism have paid off with incremental gains.

On Wednesday, 45,388 students attended school in the district compared to 44,893 last school year, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat.

The numbers are preliminary, as districts are able to add some students who attend school within a certain period after Count Day.

Monique Bryant, a school board member, told Chalkbeat the increase in Count Day attendance this year is a move in the “right direction.”

Bryant said she and Vice Chair LaTrice McClendon made an effort this year to ensure parents’ questions about the enrollment process were answered and that logistical issues were resolved promptly by staff members. The two board members answered calls and emails themselves and worked with Vitti and administrative staff to make sure each concern was addressed.

“This is a direct reflection of the work we have done,” Bryant said of the numbers.

Michigan public school districts tally the number of students in attendance on two days each year. The count helps the state determine the amount of per-pupil funding districts will receive the following fiscal year. Count Days are held on the first Wednesday of October and the first Wednesday of February.

The foundation allowance of per-pupil funding will be $10,050 per student this school year, according to a state budget approved Friday morning that still awaits Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature.

Michigan districts that serve higher rates of students from low-income families, such as the Detroit district, have received more weighted funding from the state to support children with higher needs since 2023. This school year, the Michigan legislature approved a 25% increase in at-risk funding compared to the last.

In the last 20 years, DPSCD has lost more than 92,000 students. Many factors played a role in the drop, such as population declines in the city, lower birth rates, the state’s emergency management of the district, and the pandemic.

Enrollment declines over the years have led to underutilization of many school buildings. A recent district report found the high per-pupil cost for operating19 small schools is creating funding challenges.

In June, the district outlined potential solutions that included merging schools and phasing out the use of some buildings.

Increasing enrollment has been a top priority of the district for years. This summer, it spent more dollars to market to prospective families, send people to canvas communities, and nearly doubled the number of community events hosted at neighborhood schools.

Bryant and McClendon pushed the district to improve its marketing and have asked Vitti for reports to determine what’s working.

In recent years, DPSCD has focused on retaining students. Vitti said at a board meeting in August the school system has “done a fairly good job” in attracting new students, adding that the main challenge is keeping them.

Bryant said she and other members of the board will continue to regularly assess enrollment and attendance data to refine the methods the district is using to attract and keep students.

“One of the things I think has been a detriment to the district is that we have not told our story,” said Bryant. “We have far more academic programs, resources, and wraparound services compared to our competitors. Too much of that is not being shared broadly enough for parents.”

The board member said moving forward, she will push for changes that will better serve the district’s population of students who have to move to new neighborhoods frequently due to economic and housing constraints.

“We have to make sure students know all the resources they have in one school will follow them to the next,” she said.

The full impact of the district’s recruitment and retention efforts won’t be known until the end of the school year, officials say.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school board is set to offer Sherry Gay-Dagnogo’s vacant seat to a previous candidate

2025-10-01T23:46:36+00:00

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After a heated discussion Wednesday, the Detroit school district’s board voted to bypass a lengthy selection process for a vacant seat and instead offer the job to the runner-up from a prior vacancy.

The seat on the seven-member Detroit Public Schools Community District board is likely to open next week. Board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, who participated in Wednesday’s meeting, plans to resign to start a job with the city of Detroit.

The name of the runner-up was not released publicly during the previous selection process. But during Wednesday’s meeting, Chair Corletta J. Vaughn identified the candidate as Bessie Harris, a retired special education teacher and principal at Palmer Park Preparatory Academy. Harris unsuccessfully ran for the board in 2022 and in 2020.

Vaughn was admonished by members of the board for naming the candidate. Vice Chair Latrice McClendon asked if it was confirmed that Harris was the runner-up, and others on the board said the candidate should not yet be named. The board voted to strike the mention of Harris’ name from the record of the meeting.

Harris could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Board members went through a monthlong search for a new board member in July after Angelique Peterson-Mayberry stepped down from the school board. She was appointed to the Wayne County Commission.

Steven Bland Jr. was appointed to fill the seat after a process that included submitting resumes, letters of intent, answering survey questions on key issues for the district, and public interviews. Fourteen candidates were ultimately interviewed for the position.

Board members scored the candidates on their application materials and interviews. The scores were then tallied live during a public meeting by a third-party law firm.

Instead of going through the “time-consuming” process again, board member Monique Bryant suggested Wednesday that the second-highest scoring candidate from the last round of applications be selected.

“In light of the fact that we just went through this less than 90 days ago, we had more than enough candidates that we have already vetted,” Bryant said.

Other board members agreed, arguing that repeating the entire process would be a burden to the administrative staff who would be saddled with facilitating the additional special board meetings.

Gay-Dagnogo said streamlining the selection would allow the board to address urgent work. Holding more public interviews and meetings would push back usual board business, she added.

Board member Iris Taylor objected, saying deviating from the process they used for the last appointment might be interpreted by the public as a decision lacking in “consistency” and “integrity.”

Bland, the newest board member, said he did not support the move because he did not participate in the last round of screening candidates. To allow Bland to participate in the selection, Vaughn suggested truncated options, such as interviewing the top three candidates from the last round.

The district’s policy on filling vacancies requires the board to “seek qualified and interested candidates from the community.” Candidates must submit a notice of their interest, be interviewed by the board, and receive a majority vote from the board to be appointed, according to the policy.

The board must make an appointment within 30 days of the vacancy being announced.

After an hour of discussion Wednesday, four board members – Bryant, Gay-Dagnogo, McClendon, and Ida Short – voted to suspend the policy for the purpose of filling the new vacancy. Taylor, Vaughn, and Bland voted against it.

Once the policy was suspended, the board voted on the new process that would be used for the appointment. Members voted to offer the seat to the runner-up candidate from July, with Taylor abstaining.

The board will notify the candidate within 24 hours of Wednesday’s special meeting and will allow another day for the candidate to accept the position in writing. If the candidate does not accept the appointment, the board will decide on another selection process.

Once a candidate accepts, the board will hold another special meeting to vote on their appointment. They still must get a majority vote from the board to officially take the seat.

The new board member appointed to fill Gay-Dagnogo’s seat will serve through the end of 2026 instead of completing her entire term. A Michigan Association of School Boards policy requires appointed board members to run if there is already a set board election the following November.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

DPSCD board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo set to resign for city job

2025-09-30T21:17:37+00:00

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Detroit Public Schools Community District board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo is set to resign her post to become the city of Detroit’s next ombudsman.

The Detroiter was selected for the post by a 6-3 vote during the City Council’s formal session on Tuesday. Council members Scott Benson, Angela Whitfield-Calloway, and Gabriela Santiago-Romero cast their votes for other contenders — Gail Barnard and Tiffany Tilley, respectively — after the field was winnowed to three finalists from a ballot with 10.

Gay-Daynogo, 58, had a strong showing of support during public comment from people including DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti; Board of Police Commissioners members Darryl Woods and Linda Bernard; and the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, among others.

“This is my roots, this is my mecca, this is my coming home to serve the residents of Detroit,” Gay-Dagnogo told BridgeDetroit after the vote as she tearfully embraced her supporters.

Gay-Dagnogo says she’s still committed to schools

She told BridgeDetroit that she intends to formally submit her resignation on Tuesday. Her formal appointment date as ombudsman has not yet been set. Although her tenure with the school board will be ending, Gay-Dagnogo said she’s still committed to the schools and families, which are “the same constituencies.”

“My heart continues to remain with our schoolchildren, our citizens. I continue to fight and field complaints from all social institutions, not just DPS. That won’t stop,” she said. “I have a number of colleagues that I work with and will continue to work with in making sure education is still a cornerstone, even of the ombudsman’s office.”

Gay-Dagnogo, who worked for Detroit when Gil Hill was the council’s president, said she began her career in city government at age 27 and is looking forward to coming back into the fold.

“Our city has grown. It has been through a lot. We have emerged. We will have new mayoral leadership. It’s a great, historical time to be working together in tandem with our City Council and our next mayor,” she said.

The ombudsman performs an often overlooked but influential role in city government. The ombudsman is responsible for investigating citizen complaints, working as a liaison between residents and the government. The salary is listed at $199,500. Ombudsman Bruce Simpson’s appointment expires Oct. 5. Gay-Dagnogo’s 10-year appointment will run through the fall of 2035.

Gay-Dagnogo told BridgeDetroit that she crafted a 90-day plan in preparation for her tenure.

She said her efforts will begin by sitting down with council members and their staffers and all of the city’s 25 department heads. She stressed the central pillars of her leadership and advocacy will continue to be social justice, education, seniors, and criminal justice reform. She touted her “institutional memory” and the ability to unite and build a bridge, even to DPSCD.

“There are a lot of common issues we have,” she said.

Gay-Dagnogo lauded as a tireless advocate, ‘Megatron’

Gay-Dagnogo pointed to the crowd who attended Tuesday’s meeting to back her bid for ombudsman, including Vitti.

The superintendent, during his allotted speaking time, said that during his nine years as DPSCD’s leader, there hasn’t been another board member who has worked as tirelessly on behalf of residents as Gay-Dagnogo. He noted her history of service to Detroiters and her efforts to challenge emergency management and uplift literacy, blight concerns, and school programs.

Gay-Dagnogo, Vitti said, works to “connect us as a city,” even though the two officials haven’t always been in alignment.

“I don’t always agree, but I’m here because I respect her,” he said.

Woods, who sits on the Board of Police Commissioners, called Gay-Dagnogo a “proven leader” whom he met while incarcerated.

“She’s a person who has dedicated her life to educating students, dedicated her life to citizens across the state of Michigan in the state Legislature. She sacrificed herself as a leader and gives her heart and soul to this community,” he said. “I go to church with her, I’ve prayed with her, and I have seen her passionately love on this community.”

Bernard, another BOPC member, added that Gay-Dagnogo has “served our entire community for her entire adult life.”

“She is actually, in my opinion, a Detroit Megatron. She’s a smart, gifted … alpha female in every respect. Sherry will bring true honor to our city,” she said.

Ombudsman restricted from serving on boards

Gay-Dagnogo, a former teacher and state lawmaker, has served on the school board since 2020 and was reelected to the board in 2024. In 2022, she made a failed run for the 13th Congressional District, a seat ultimately secured by Democrat Shri Thanedar. Recently, she applied to be the state’s next school superintendent, but did not advance to the semifinals.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, the council sought procedural clarity from its legal team about next steps for two ombudsman candidates if they were selected for the job. Gay-Dagnogo and Tilley, a member of the Michigan State Board of Education, were not named in the memo but are the two serving on boards.

The council’s Legislative Policy Division memo states the ombudsman can’t simultaneously serve on boards or hold positions that provide a form of compensation while serving out their 10-year term.

The City Charter bans the ombudsman from holding any other “office of trust or profit.” Though the charter doesn’t define those offices, the LPD determined it applies to membership on education boards.

According to DPSCD’s policy manual, the board must take steps to replace Gay-Dagnogo. The board must seek and interview qualified candidates and ultimately make an appointment by a majority vote.

The district last went through that process and chose a new board member in July.

Christine Ferretti is the managing editor for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at cferretti@bridgedetroit.com

Detroit school district’s early enrollment figures see small increases as school year begins

2025-09-11T21:57:10+00:00

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Three weeks after students in Detroit started the new school year, the early data is in for the district’s enrollment numbers.

As of the 11th day of school, 48,823 students have attended school at least once, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email Thursday to BridgeDetroit. That’s slightly higher than this time last year, with 48,386 students in attendance by the 11th day of school. In 2023, 47,401 students had attended school for at least one day during the same time period.

“As of Day 11, we are trending 437 students more than last year and 1,422 more students as compared to two years ago,” Vitti said.

Overall, 52,505 K-12 students are enrolled in DPSCD. In 2024, enrollment was at 53,044 students.

However, Vitti would rather look at the number of students attending school than the number of students enrolled in DPSCD since there’s always a gap between the two, he said during a school board meeting Tuesday.

“It doesn’t mean that we dramatically dropped in enrollment. That number always fluctuates because the fall number assumes that everyone that was enrolled in the district last year is enrolling the following year,” he said during the meeting. “But obviously, we have people moving out of the state, they don’t go to our high schools from eighth to ninth grade, or they attend a school outside of the district.”

Each year, DPSCD shares enrollment and attendance data from the first couple weeks of the new school year. Those figures provide an early snapshot of enrollment patterns ahead of Michigan’s two official Count Days, in October and February, when the number of students attending school is tallied for the purposes of allocating state funding.

Improving student attendance and enrollment has been a priority for officials in DPSCD and districts across Michigan, especially in recent years given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Union leaders urge board to support paraprofessionals

During the public comment period, Michelle Lee, president of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 345, said she wants paraprofessionals in the union to receive proper training before being placed in a classroom with students with disabilities. In DPSCD, the special education department is known as Exceptional Student Education.

Paraprofessionals are being placed in unsafe environments without adequate preparation, Lee added, which leads to them facing disciplinary action or termination while the students’ behavior isn’t being addressed. AFSCME also represents other DPSCD employees including custodians, bus attendants, and food service workers.

“On Sept. 4, a brand-new ESE para just two days on the job was blindsided and had his nose broken by a student who is currently on a tether for allegedly assaulting a police officer,” she said. “This para had no training, no chance to protect himself from such a violent act.”

Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins also wants to see regular training for ESE staff as well as for general education staff.

“Our members are facing unprecedented demands as the number of students requiring evaluation and special education services continues to climb,” she said. “Without consistent professional development, meaningful support, and boots-on-the-ground assistance, our educators are being stretched to the breaking point. The $15,000 bonus is not enough.”

Last year, DPSCD and DFT approved a two-year contract that offers a $15,000 annual bonus to new and current employees who support students with individualized education programs, including ESE teachers, ESE social workers, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists.

While paraprofessional certificate programs are offered at some community colleges, no certification, training, or background is required. The only requirement to be a teacher aide in Michigan is a high school diploma. Schools offer training for those who are hired.

DPSCD is one of those districts that offers professional development. Vitti said during the meeting that ESE paraprofessionals receive crisis intervention prevention training every year. The training provides tools for staff to deescalate violent or threatening situations. Most ESE paraprofessionals completed the two-day training before the first day of school on August 25, Vitti said.

“The only paras that were not trained were those that did not attend when school started or when their report date happened,” he said. “Since then, we have been trying to follow up with those paras through individual school sessions or sessions in the area where ESE paras could go.”

Vitti said 312 paraprofessionals have done the training, while 93 have not. The superintendent told BridgeDetroit in an email that paraprofessionals who do not take the training won’t face any consequences, since that is something that would need to be negotiated with the district’s unions.

Vitti added that the district is hoping to have the rest of the paraprofessionals complete their training by the end of September through training during school hours, the upcoming professional development day on Sept. 29, and offering paid weekend and evening training.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Detroit school district leaders ask Education Secretary Linda McMahon to preserve Title I funding

2025-09-09T19:36:31+00:00

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Detroit school district leaders expressed the need to protect federal assistance for schools serving students from low-income homes during a private meeting with Education Secretary Linda McMahon at Renaissance High School on Monday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat.

The brief sit-down with McMahon, which included Vitti and two Detroit Public Schools Community District board members, was part of the education secretary’s nationwide “Returning Education to the States Tour,” which is focused on defending her plans to dismantle the Department of Education. Critics say the stop is the most recent example of the education secretary publicly touting the services the federal government provides to vulnerable students while at the same time working to cut the programs that offer support.

McMahon also visited Pembroke Academy, Washington Parks Academy, and Hillsdale Academy charter schools, and gave a speech at Hillsdale College, where she criticized university diversity efforts. Only the Pembroke Academy visit was open to members of the media, the Detroit News reported.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat from Royal Oak, told Chalkbeat McMahon’s stops at Michigan schools should have been open to the public so community members could ask questions about federal education policy.

“You don’t have to hold a secret meeting if you’re doing something good,” she said of McMahon’s sit-down with leaders from DPSCD.

McMorrow added that the education secretary chose a school in a district that serves a predominantly Black student body and stands to lose crucial federal assistance for a photo opportunity.

“They are using kids as pawns for a photo opportunity and then turning around and slashing funding,” said McMorrow.

Since McMahon was confirmed as education secretary in March, the department has slashed staff that enforced student civil rights, rescinded guidance on English learners’ rights, proposed cuts to competitive grants aimed at improving literacy, and wiped out dollars for education research.

Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins said in a prepared statement that she was “deeply disappointed” by McMahon’s visit given her support of the Trump administration’s proposals to cut billions from the federal K-12 education budget.

“These visits are nothing more than staged photo opportunities designed to sell policies that will hurt our students and our schools ... at a time when Detroit children need smaller class sizes, better resources, and stronger supports,” she said.

Jennifer Mrozowski, senior director of strategic communications and external relations for the research and advocacy group Education Trust-Midwest, said in a prepared statement the Education Department’s focus on “returning education to the states” raises “serious concerns.”

“Shifting core responsibilities—such as civil rights enforcement, Title I funding, and student loan protections—entirely to the states risks widening opportunity gaps and undermining consistent standards, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities,” she said in the statement.

At Renaissance High School, McMahon’s stop included “a walkthrough of classrooms and then a conversation in a separate room where Secretary McMahon asked ways that the federal government can better assist schools and districts,” Vitti said in an email.

The superintendent and the board members also discussed the need for more flexibility of funding to allow the district to increase teacher salaries and make improvements to school buildings, Vitti said.

State Rep. Matt Hall, the Republican speaker of the House, was also in attendance for McMahon’s visit to Renaissance.

Photos of the visit released by the Education Department show DPSCD board members Ida Carol Simmons-Short and Steve Bland Jr. there as well.

Bland told Chalkbeat in an email the work McMahon and Hall saw students doing in Renaissance classrooms highlighted the opportunities state and federal funding can provide children.

The board member said he used the visit to tell the education secretary and Hall that both the federal government and the state have a responsibility to ensure equity for Black students.

Simmons-Short did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the visit.

The Department of Education released this image of a private meeting between DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, two board members, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and State Rep. Matt Hall on Monday.

Board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo told Chalkbeat that though she supports the idea of communicating and compromising across the aisle, she chose to skip the visit to Renaissance.

“Due to the lack of a concrete agenda to include concerns from our district, I felt it best to respect our Detroit Caucus Members, many of which were protesting the fact that they have struggled to lock in a budget that doesn’t adversely impact our students,” Gay-Dagnogo said in a text message.

The board member said representatives had contacted her to express the challenges they’ve had with Hall in negotiating a state education budget.

The Michigan legislature missed the July 1 deadline to adopt a state budget, leaving local districts to adopt their own budgets without knowing if they will have to make later cuts. Republicans and Democrats each blame each other for the delay, saying negotiations have stalled.

In May, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved a proposed education budget that would increase per-pupil, as well as at-risk funding, and would continue programs like free school meals.

The Republican-controlled House proposed a plan that would give one lump sum to districts to use as they see fit instead of allocating dollars to specific programs. Democrats argue the House proposal would risk programs that benefit the state’s most vulnerable children.

According to Vitti, during McMahon’s visit, Hall told a board member the state budget would be completed “in time to ensure school districts had their funding.”

Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of budget negotiations.

Typically, state education funds are distributed starting in October each year. State lawmakers must adopt a budget by Oct. 1 to prevent a government shutdown.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit school district approves proposed charter school for struggling youth

2025-09-08T19:41:41+00:00

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The Detroit school district has approved a new charter school to serve students experiencing homelessness, chronic absenteeism, and interactions with the juvenile justice system.

Purpose Charter Academy, which is expected to open for prekindergarten through eighth grade students in the 2026-27 school year, will aim to “reengage disconnected youth,” according to the Detroit Public Schools Community District, or DPSCD. Projected enrollment for the charter the year it opens is 225 students. By 2029-30, it’s expected to be 400.

Since Superintendent Nikolai Vitti took the helm of the school system in 2017, DPSCD has authorized fewer charter schools. At the time, he said he wanted the district to use its resources to improve its traditional public schools.

Entities, such as school districts and community colleges, can authorize charters, meaning they approve charter applications and monitor the schools’ contract compliance.

More than half of school-age children in the city attend charter schools, with 62 charters in Detroit, according to state data compiled in May.

As the number of charters in the city and its suburbs increased over the last 30 years, enrollment in the Detroit district declined. But, rather than competing for students, Vitti said Purpose Charter Academy’s model could address student needs that are not otherwise met in the school system.

According to the charter’s development team, the most vulnerable student populations in Detroit often face significant and overlapping barriers in traditional public schools. The charter aims to combine targeted interventions, wraparound support, and culturally responsive programming that will allow the flexibility necessary to meet the students’ needs.

The new charter will be comparable to an alternative education program run by educators with trauma-informed training.

The Detroit district currently has one alternative education campus for kids in grades 6-12, which can enroll up to 500 students each year. There is no such program for children in the lower grades in the school system.

“A single school where the Board of Directors, budget and staff are all focused on serving the most at risk students allows a unique level of focus and program design around supporting deep-rooted trauma and instability that is not always easily achievable in a larger district with multiple other priorities,” he said in an email.

Detroit’s poverty rate is nearly three times higher than the national average. Nearly 85% of students in the Detroit district are identified as being from low-income households.

About 455 children experienced homelessness in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park last year, according to a January point-in-time count by the city. The count is an estimate and provides a snapshot of how many people experience homelessness on one night.

In the 2024-25 school year, more than 60% of DPSCD students were chronically absent, Vitti said at a recent board meeting.

Staffing requirements at the charter will focus on specialized expertise, such as staff with knowledge of the juvenile justice system and trauma-informed care, according to the district. The charter will be better positioned to coordinate services through other agencies such as shelters, courts, and mental health providers, according to plans for the school.

The main reason the district can’t implement the same model is cost, Vitti said.

“The District is not in a position to expand alternative education options for K-8 when the cost of those programs is typically much higher than traditional school settings,” said Vitti.

The charter plans to work with the district to enroll students in the school system when they are ready to return to a traditional school setting.

The nine-member development team behind Purpose Charter Academy includes Michigan Third Circuit Court Judge Cylenthia LaToye Miller, attorney Lamar Moreland, as well as educators, mental health practitioners, and civic leaders, said Board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

The development team has not yet determined if the charter will be self-managed or if a management company will be chosen to operate the school, according to the district.

Charters, also known as public school academies, are public schools and must follow state and federal education law. In Michigan, anyone can operate a charter. The operator handles key functions, such as hiring teachers and managing payroll. Many charter schools in the state hire for-profit companies to fill the role.

The Detroit district’s board voted in July to approve a three-year contract with Purpose Charter Academy. The charter must meet all of the state’s requirements before the contract is signed.

The board also voted last month to approve a lease agreement for the charter to use its vacant school building formerly occupied by the Detroit Lions Academy on East Canfield Street.

The charter will pay 9% of the per-pupil state funding it receives by 2028-29 for the lease. There will be an option for the charter to buy the property through August 2028.

The district will get a 3% fee for authorizing the charter, which would amount to around $81,000 in 2026-27, according to a financial analysis.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Michigan third grade student proficiency on M-STEP exam reaches a new low

2025-08-27T19:37:33+00:00

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Last spring, Michigan third grade students recorded their lowest performance in English language arts in the 11-year history of the state test.

Only 38.9% of the third graders were proficient in ELA, down from 39.6% in 2024, according to latest results released Wednesday from the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, known as the M-STEP.

There are some positive trends: Test scores are up in four out of six grades in both English language arts and math. Still, overall proficiency rates remain below pre-pandemic levels in all subjects and grades except eighth grade English language arts.

Those eighth grade students were third graders when schools shut down in spring 2020 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The results show Michigan’s educators still face an uphill battle to recover learning lost during the pandemic. Michigan has fared poorly compared to most states in national tests, with its students among the farthest behind compared to where they were before COVID disrupted learning across the country.

The state’s students fell behind peers in places like Mississippi despite tens of thousands of additional staff, free early childhood education, and greater free nutrition options.

State Superintendent Michael Rice, who is leaving his post soon, focused his comments on recent gains and made little mention of the steep losses students registered in 2022 and 2023.

“It is noteworthy that in many grades, Michigan students posted the highest math and ELA proficiency rates in the last three school years,” Rice said in a news release. “At the same time, however, ELA scores in grades 3 and 4 remain a concern. Once fully implemented, historic 2024 laws to address early literacy and dyslexia will help substantially, but we must do more to improve literacy skills of young readers.”

Lawmakers passed two bipartisan laws last year aimed at improving how schools teach literacy skills. The laws will require schools to screen students for characteristics of dyslexia and provide evidence-based literacy instruction. Plus, educator preparation programs will be required to train future teachers on dyslexia and student support strategies. The state is also investing millions in teacher training and curriculum materials.

The Michigan Department of Education did highlight that students who were learning remotely in 2020-21 continue to struggle.

MDE determined that of all economically disadvantaged 3-7 graders who spent seven months or more studying from home that year, 16.9% were proficient in ELA this past spring, compared to 27.6% of those who were in school more frequently.

In math, the gap was similar: 10.4% who were homebound for seven months or more compared to 22.3% who were not.

Those same gaps affected those who are not economically disadvantaged. In ELA, 45.6% of students in longer remote settings were proficient compared to 56.8% of those who were in school more. In math, the gap was bigger: 36.8% proficient for the remote students compared to 52.8% to those in school longer.

School districts administer the test to students in the spring.

Here’s how students in some Michigan districts performed

Dearborn Public Schools: The Wayne County district’s fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade math scores are up compared to pre-pandemic. Its reading scores are down in most grades tested but up in fifth grade. Superintendent Glenn Maleyko is poised to become the next state superintendent.

Detroit Public Schools Community District: The state’s largest public school district reports higher ELA scores compared to pre-pandemic scores in all grades tested. Math is also up in fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade. The proficiency rates are still much lower than the statewide numbers. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has testified in support of bills to help students with dyslexia, and DPSCD has hired more than 250 academic interventionists to help students, using funds from a literacy lawsuit. (DPSCD’s results are labeled “Detroit” in Bridge’s searchable database.)

Ann Arbor Public Schools: The Washtenaw County school district’s scores are below pre-pandemic levels across third through eighth grade in both ELA and math. But ELA and math scores are up in all grades compared to last year, except third grade ELA.

Grand Rapids Public Schools: The Kent County district’s sixth and seventh grade math scores are higher than pre-pandemic along with the seventh grade ELA. Compared to last year, math scores are up in each grade, but ELA scores are down in each grade.

Literacy scores remain a concern

During the first school year that the M-STEP was administered, 2014-2015, half of the third grade students were proficient. Last year, 39.6% of third grade students were proficient in ELA.

Rice reiterated calls for several funding and policy changes. The Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have failed to meet a school budget deal, blowing past a July 1 deadline in law.

“The Michigan legislature needs to provide our children with lower class sizes in high-poverty K-3 classrooms, more in-person instructional time, funding for more research-based, early literacy materials that help drive improved student achievement, and mandatory training in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) on the science of reading for teachers and administrators in grades K-5 and all literacy coaches,” Rice said. “These research-based measures would also help students improve their reading skills.”

The Senate Education Committee heard testimony earlier this month about a pilot project to fund lower class sizes in specific districts. Rice has called for the state Legislature to double the funding for evidence-based literacy materials.

Recently, 561 school districts received a total of $87 million to purchase materials but they had to select from either curriculum funds, professional development, or “interventions.” The state offers grants for LETRS training, but the training is optional.

State Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who helped lead the charge to pass the literacy laws, told Bridge the “test scores confirm that we need to make changes around literacy.” Change will take time, he cautioned.

“I think the changes we made last fall are absolutely necessary and important.”

State House Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, said the results underscore the importance of the legislation. School districts have a few years before the requirements fully kick in, but Greene said districts that can should “fast track” changes “because what they are currently doing is absolutely not working.”

Venessa Keesler, president and CEO of school reform group Launch Michigan, told Bridge “Literacy has to be the state’s top priority. And the good news is we actually know what to do, and we’re doing most of it.”

She called for high-quality curriculum and teacher training requirements. Additionally, she said districts should use assessments that determine if students have decoding skills, and then use that data to make changes to course correct more quickly.

Income gap drops

The latest test results show that the gap between students from low-income homes and those who are not remains vast in Michigan —with the latter group of students having proficiency rates that double those of students from low-income homes — but it has shrunk since the pandemic.

But it’s contracted largely because overall proficiency rates among students who are not from low-income homes fell even farther than their peers. For instance, 31.3% of third graders from low-income homes were proficient in English in the 2018-19 school year, compared to 62.8% of those who are not from low-income homes.

The scores of students who are not from low income homes, however, fell 7.1 percentage points, to 55.7% this past spring, while their peers’ scores fell 5.6 percentage points to 25.7%; the gap shrunk from 31.5 points to 30. That runs counter to some research that has found that the gap nationally actually widened since the pandemic.

Mike Wilkinson is a reporter for Bridge Michigan. You can reach him at mwilkinson@bridgemi.com.

Isabel Lohman is a reporter for Bridge Michigan. You can reach her at ilohman@bridgemi.com.

First day excitement as metro Detroit students return to school

2025-08-25T14:44:29+00:00

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It was a nippy August morning outside Richards Middle School in Fraser, but the arrival of the fall-like chill didn’t stop the back-to-school fashion show on the first day.

Girls wore their jean shorts, tinsel glittering in their hair, and boys donned their basketball shorts, artfully paired with socks and sandals. Several clutched Alani Nu energy drinks as they hurried to the school gymnasium for a quick introductory assembly.

For half of the students sitting in the gym, the eighth graders, middle school is the last stop on the way to high school. And for the seventh graders, it’s the next stop after elementary school.

For the 30 minutes before the assembly started, the gym was a cacophony of student voices. In the tweenager stage of their lives, the middle-schoolers lived up to some of the stereotypes of their age: Boys and girls mostly sat in separate groups. Moms kissed stoic kids outside of school. Braces abounded. Someone shouted, “I have a boyfriend!” to teachers.

Shatara Johnson kisses her daughter, Katelyn Roney, on Monday at Richards Middle School. It was Katelyn's first day of seventh grade.

But eighth-grader Elijah, 12, excited for his first algebra class, said middle school is not all awkward or challenging.

“It’s not as hard as some people say,” he said.

These scenes of excitement and jitters played out across metro Detroit as students returned for the first day of school. But the first day also was clouded with concern as an ongoing impasse among lawmakers over the state budget has meant school district leaders are still uncertain about how their schools will be funded.

Michigan lawmakers have been unable to agree to a budget, with the House and Senate both far apart in their proposals for funding schools. As a result, some school district leaders have made staffing cuts, according to a recent survey of school officials.

The impasse is happening during a school year for which there is a growing chorus of people calling for change. High rates of chronic absenteeism and lackluster student performance on state and national exams, have led to renewed criticism of the state’s school system. Even Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, during an address earlier this year, said low literacy rates are “not acceptable.”

Richards Middle School seventh grader Nikola Bilbilovski, center, sits with classmates on the bleachers as their first day of school began.

Federal policies impact southwest Detroit schools

Meanwhile, fears about how Trump administration actions, from promised cuts to federal education funding to increased immigration enforcement, have further fueled uncertainty.

The crackdown was on the minds of some students filing into Western International High School in southwest Detroit Monday. In May, a junior at the school, Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, was detained by immigration officials. In June, he was deported to his native Colombia.

Students file into Western International High School before the first bell.

Natalia Quinomez, a junior, stood in front of the school about thirty minutes before the first bell rang as she looked for a friend. Her mind was also on Maykol.

“He was about to graduate, which makes it really sad,” said Natalia. “Like, he was so close, but he was detained.”

Natalia said people in her community don’t feel safe as federal immigration crackdowns continue in the city. The school, the student said, also could have done more to make her and others feel supported after Maykol’s arrest.

As cars lined up for blocks on Scotten Street on Monday, Maria Ruvalcaba walked her daughter Camila Gallardo to her first day of her freshman year.

Ruvalcaba said (her daughter translated) that she thought the school “more or less” did well in handling Maykol’s arrest. More security at the school would make the family feel more safe, she added.

For many, worrying about immigration enforcement is nothing new, said John Henriques, a senior at Western.

“I don’t really worry that much,” he said. “It’s just normal life.”

At the Southwest Detroit school Monday morning, students were greeted by a staff member on a bullhorn as they filed into the building.

“Good morning, good morning, good morning,” he said. “It’s going to be a great year.”

Detroit International Academy for Young Women seniors Assia Kaddoumi and Aysha Uddin hug.

Aiming for continued improvement in reading and writing

The pink-and-gray lined hallways at the Detroit International Academy for Young Women were full of excitement Monday morning as clusters of girls spilled out of their classrooms to head to their next class.

“Good morning! Have a good first day!” a male and female teacher called out to the students. One girl gave the female teacher a hug before heading down the hall.

Lakesha Spears, a fifth grade social studies and English teacher at Detroit International Academy of Young Women, in her classroom on the first day of school on Aug. 25, 2025 in Detroit.

Lakesha Spears, a fifth grade social studies and English teacher at the school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, was going around to different classrooms to check on the new teachers at DIA. Spears is in her 25th year teaching and her second year at DIA.

She said her goals for the year are to continue improving reading and writing scores for her students. Some of the strategies she uses include having students read 20 minutes a day.

“They did wonderful last year. They continued to grow in both reading and writing,” Spears said. “Fifth grade in particular did wonderful on M-STEP and i-Ready. We’re looking forward to continuing showing them some positive strategies to continue with reading growth.”

Students sit in class on the first day of school at the International Academy for Young Women.

Spears said she is enjoying her time at DIA. As a mother of two sons, teaching boys was more familiar for her, but said teaching at an all-girls school has been rewarding.

“I’ve been teaching a long time, and I’ve been waiting a long time to find a place like this where you’re happy and willing to serve. The girls are really eager to learn here. I feel like I’m a better teacher now.”

Vitti begins his ninth year as superintendent with school visits

DIA was DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s first stop.

As he visited classrooms and walked the halls, Vitti said he is looking forward to starting his ninth school year leading the district. He decided to visit DIA on the first day because of the school’s improvement in English, math, and social studies. Vitti recalled that when he first became superintendent in 2017, the building where DIA is housed was closed. It got rebranded as the academy.

“I think DIA is a good example of what we’re doing differently in the district,” he said. “You have your neighborhood schools, you have exam schools, but also single gender opportunities for boys and girls, and it’s just a menu of options for parents in the city.” Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men is the district’s all-boys school.

One of Vitti’s goals for the school year is continuing to improve student attendance and achievement.

“By improving attendance, we’re going to accelerate student achievement,” he said. “We’re narrowing the gap between the district and the state, but we want to accelerate it.”

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, greets students in the cafeteria of Bates Academy on Monday.

As school districts wait for the state budget to be passed, Vitti said the holdup will not directly impact the district, specifically when it comes to free lunches, as those are funded through the federal government.

“I would say we’re not going to have any kind of impact unless the budget is not approved by the beginning of October,” he said. If the impasse continues beyond that, Vitti said, “we’ll have to start dipping into our reserves to fill the gap, to keep everyone employed, and to keep student programming.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to the search for Michigan’s next state superintendent, Vitti believes the three finalists–former Virginia state superintendent Lisa Coons, Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Glenn Maleyko, or Harrison Community Schools Superintendent Judy Walton– will continue the work of current superintendent Michael Rice, who is retiring Oct. 3.

“I’m hopeful that the state superintendent, whoever he or she is, is going to advocate for equitable funding and improve statewide accountability structures throughout the state so the state can start improving academic performance,” Vitti said.

Practice makes perfect, unless you’re dealing with those tricky locks

In Fraser, nerves were on display in the seventh grade hallway as students traveled from the gym to Richards’ main seventh grade artery, a hallway flanked by narrow beige lockers. The new students were particularly bedeviled by the combination locks. One student told another that he’d practiced at home, but the twists and turns required by the elusive lock still tripped him up.

Students rose early to prepare for the 8:05 start at Richards.

Catalina Norberto, 11, woke up — though “woke up” is a stretch, as Norberto said she could barely sleep because she was “overthinking everything” — at 5 a.m. to prepare and call her friend Marley Franchi, 12. The pair said they are particularly nervous about learning how to switch classes.

“I have a class upstairs. I’m scared,” Marley said.

Fraser is a suburban school district of about 4,400 students down from nearly 5,300 in 2015, according to state data. Fewer students means less per-pupil funding, though overall funding levels have risen with recent state budgets. But a school bond approved by Fraser voters in 2023 means that Richards has a new HVAC system, roof, and cafeteria this year. The school bond money makes them fortunate, said Principal Huston Julian. (Not all districts can successfully persuade voters to approve bond money).

“Our community has always supported our schools,” he said.

But the unknowns around the state budget still concern the district, said Kristin Sommer, a district spokeswoman. The district is particularly interested in whether lawmakers will approve universal school meals again, as the proportion of Fraser students eating free breakfast and lunch has risen with the Michigan School Meals program.

Richards Middle School seventh grader Kayla Pittman, center, looks over a friend's class schedule during at Richards Middle School.

In Richards’ seventh grade hallways, students found their first period class, consulting adults eager to help them crack the school’s layout. About 30 students sat in Andy Brodi’s first hour science class as it began. When Brodi first began teaching in 1998, he said even 25 students in a class seemed like a lot. In 2025, around 30 is the norm, and “it’s not a big deal,” he said.

On Monday, Brodi acknowledged to his students that he probably felt the same way as many of them did: With 180 faces, of course he had some first day jitters.

“It’s such an overwhelming thing,” Brodi later said. “They’re seeing seven teachers for the first time, they’re seeing 300 different kids. … It’s more just a comfort level the first day, just to know that we want them here and we can’t wait to teach them.”

Lily Altavena is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. You can reach her at laltavena@freepress.com.

Hannah Dellinger is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Here’s what Chalkbeat is watching as the new school year begins in Detroit

2025-08-22T10:00:01+00:00

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Monday is the first day of school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and many others across Michigan, but educators face uncertainty about how schools will be funded.

Michigan lawmakers have yet to agree on a budget that will determine how much money schools will receive. The delayed budget is one of many issues Chalkbeat will be keeping an eye on during the 2025-26 school year.

DPSCD also is starting a pilot program that will provide yellow school bus transportation to students at two high schools in a bid to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism. The Trump administration’s actions, including cuts to federal funding, could affect Michigan schools. And we’re interested in whether a change in leadership at the Michigan Department of Education and a governor’s race will elevate the conversation about improving Michigan schools.

Here’s more on what we’re watching.

Budget stalemate leave school districts in limbo

Free school meals for all Michigan children is a potential casualty of a budget stalemate that has lasted for months.

July 1 was the deadline for the Michigan Legislature to adopt a state budget. Lawmakers have blown that deadline and don’t appear close to resolving it. Blame is flowing between Democrats and Republicans, each blaming the other for the delay. Meanwhile, school leaders who had to adopt budgets by June 30 are left to wonder if they’ll have to lay off staff if the state budget, when it’s finally adopted, doesn’t align with their spending plans.

It’s not the first time the school year has begun without a state budget, but in years past when this has happened, there weren’t major differences between the House and Senate. This year, though, the Republican-controlled House budget makes substantial changes to how schools are funded. Instead of a separate line item funding the free school meals, the House budget creates a separate funding stream from which local districts can choose to pay for a number of items, including meals. The Democratic-controlled Senate maintains dedicated funding for free school meals.

“I don’t ever recall in my career so little clarity about approximately where school funding in the annual budget will land. It is troubling and, if not rectified very soon with the passage of a reasonable budget for schools, will ultimately hurt children,” State Superintendent Michael Rice said at a recent State Board of Education meeting.

As far as the school meals are concerned, state funding runs out Sept. 30. Districts are being urged to continue providing the free meals at least until that date. But if the date comes and goes and there is still no budget, or no explicit funding for the meals, it could result in some students going hungry.

Education a key issue in Detroit mayoral election

Detroiters on Nov. 4 will decide who will be the next mayor of Detroit. Mary Sheffield, the president of the city council; and Solomon Kinloch, the senior pastor at Triumph Church in Detroit, were the top vote-getters in the primary held earlier this month.

Both cited the need for the city of Detroit to play a stronger role in education in the city, particularly as it relates to fighting chronic absenteeism. Whoever is elected will take over from Mike Duggan, who has been mayor for more than a decade.

The desire to get involved in education issues is happening at a critical moment in the city. Low academic achievement and high rates of chronic absenteeism are among the biggest challenges schools face. But contributing factors such as poverty, housing instability, transportation, and safety concerns — issues schools alone can’t resolve — impede school success for many students.

Sheffield said in a response to a Chalkbeat survey that her role would “be a solutions-oriented advocate on behalf of parents, teachers, students and community members.” She said she would “commit significant resources” toward improving conditions that affect education that the city oversees.That includes Infrastructure, quality of life for students and families, safety, and funding advocacy.

Kinloch, on his website, said he will appoint a senior cabinet level position on education and that person would be “specifically tasked with working with our school administrators, educators, parents, and children to coordinate city services that support student success.”

How to address troubling academic performance for Michigan students

There are many reasons to believe improving Michigan schools is a top priority at the state level. But the selection of a new state superintendent and a governor’s race where education is expected to be a key issue, should fuel discussion.

Student performance on state and national exams has been troubling. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, just 24% of fourth graders were considered proficient in literacy, and 31 states scored higher in fourth grade reading than Michigan. Results are similarly lackluster for the other grades and subjects tested, as well as on the state’s Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress.

Candidates hoping to become Michigan’s next state superintendent, a process that will continue Aug. 26 with the interviews of three finalists, all cited literacy as a key priority in improving school performance.

On the campaign trail, some of the candidates vying to become Michigan’s next governor identified improving schools as a key issue, with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan releasing his education plan earlier this year.

The big question we’ll be seeking answers to is what can be done to help students succeed academically. Michigan has tried many reforms, but few have stuck for an extended period of time. Some have been abandoned completely.

How Trump administration affects education

School district leaders also must contend with the uncertainty about how the Trump administration’s actions will affect schools.

Massive layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education has meant Michigan parents who filed federal civil rights complaints against their local districts are in limbo waiting to hear if and when their cases will be held — and if their children with disabilities will get the services they need to succeed.

Stepped up immigration crackdowns have been felt in Detroit and will likely continue to be an issue throughout the 2025-26 school year. Near the end of the last school year, Detroit teen Maykol Bogoya-Duarte was detained while on his way to a field trip. He had been working toward citizenship and was just three credits shy of earning a high school diploma. He was deported to his native Colombia in June.

The budget bill Congress passed last month cuts Medicaid spending, affecting districts that rely on Medicaid reimbursements to provide services to some students. And it’s unclear whether the Trump administration will attempt to cut key federal funds, particularly after the government froze — but eventually released — more than $6 billion in school funding.

Yellow school buses for some Detroit high school students

In DPSCD, a pilot program might answer questions about whether providing yellow school bus transportation to high school students could help combat chronic absenteeism.

It’s the district’s latest effort to address its attendance issues, and it involves offering bus transportation to students at Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney.

DPSCD currently doesn’t offer yellow bus transportation for most high school students. Transportation concerns are among the factors that have resulted in the district having a 60% rate of chronic absenteeism, well above the state average of 30%.

Chronic absenteeism is a problem in many school districts across the state, and it affects student performance. It’s an issue Chalkbeat Detroit has covered extensively since 2022, and we will continue to make it a priority.

Some Detroit students with disabilities move to a different school

Big changes are coming to DPSCD’s special education programs.

In the fall, the district will increase the number of self-contained classrooms, where students with disabilities receive instruction from a special education teacher for most of the day, from 174 to 185 classrooms. Self-contained classes are designed for students to get the services they need while still attending general education schools.

However, services will be offered in fewer schools, going from 60 to 38. Some students will have to transfer to one of the new sites that offers a program specifically for their disability.

The restructuring is happening to ensure every special education classroom is fully staffed with teachers and support staff. And it reduces travel time for families by offering programs in their high school feeder pattern — the school they would be assigned to based on where they live, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at a June school board meeting.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Stay updated on the Detroit public schools board with Chalkbeat texts

2025-08-07T19:09:25+00:00

Want to stay up to date on the latest news from the Detroit school board while also having a way to text your school board questions to Chalkbeat’s journalists? Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s texting service.

Each month, Hannah Dellinger, who writes about DPSCD for us, sifts through agendas and documents, attends board meetings, and interviews Detroit leaders, attendees, and others before and after the meetings. She reports the decisions made by the school board and tells the stories of the people who will be affected by those decisions.

And with our texting service, you’ll stay in the loop on the latest Detroit school board news, regardless of whether you’re able to attend board meetings.

Here’s how it works:

Sign up by texting SCHOOL to 313-385-4796 or enter your phone number into the box below.

Once you sign up, you’ll get a reminder text before each meeting, as well as a text after the meeting to tell you the news, and a text on occasion when there is additional important Detroit school board news.

Plus, the texts are a direct line to Chalkbeat Detroit, so if you have questions you don’t see the answers to, you can text back and ask us.

This is one more way our team works to inform the community, spark conversation, and inspire you to take action. Our team wants to hold district officials accountable for doing right by their students while also sharing what’s important to students, parents, and teachers.

The Detroit school district hosts its monthly board meetings at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, and you can find the monthly schedule here.

‘Fight for the future’: Why education has become a key topic in Detroit’s mayoral race

2025-08-04T13:52:34+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

High absenteeism rates, youth fearing for their safety, and a fragmented education scene with dozens of governing bodies overseeing 185 public schools mean Detroit’s next mayor will have their hands full if they want to improve outcomes for young people.

Next week’s primary is the first open race for mayor in more than a decade, and nearly all of the candidates racing for the top two vote-getting spots say they have plans for how the mayor can play a more effective role in education.

But it will be a tough challenge in Detroit, because the scope of the problem includes low academic achievement and high rates of students missing far too much school, and also because factors such as extreme poverty, housing instability, and transportation woes impede school success for a majority of students.

Community leaders like Angelique Power, the president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, see this election as a “liminal moment” for Detroit public education, because along with a new mayor, the city will elect new city council members. Next year, Michigan residents will elect a new governor.

“This is sort of a fight for the future and the soul of Detroit.”

While Detroit’s mayor doesn’t have control or oversight of schools, the person elected in November will need “political will” to create cohesion in the city’s schools when there is pushback, Power said. (The Skillman Foundation is a Chalkbeat funder. To learn more about our funding, go here.)

That’s important considering the city has 185 public schools. That translates to one elected school board overseeing more than 100 schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, and 56 appointed school boards overseeing charter schools. Meanwhile, city leadership must take into account the nearly 30,000 school-age children who live in Detroit but leave the city every day to attend suburban schools.

“There’s no cohesive vision or strategy that crosses over the different types of public schools that we have here,” Power said.

That matters greatly. While DPSCD can boast of some high-performing schools, and charters can too, many schools in the city are struggling academically.

Nine Detroiters are running for mayor. They are Jonathan Barlow, James Craig, Fred Durhal, Joel Haashiim, Saunteel Jenkins, Solomon Kinloch, Todd Perkins, Mary Sheffield, and DaNetta Simpson.

Just five of them (Barlow, Durhal, Jenkins, Perkins, and Sheffield) filled out a Chalkbeat Detroit survey first sent to the candidates July 2. Between those responses and a candidate forum hosted recently by the Detroit Federation of Teachers, Chalkbeat got a clear picture of what the candidates would prioritize on education.

They say there needs to be better coordination between the city and schools to align resources. They want to improve attendance and other outcomes such as safety for city students. They want to work to ensure that schools receive adequate state and federal funding. They want to improve access to a number of services, including after-school programs and career and technical education programs. You can read their responses below.

“The need to fix the broken bridge and communication between City government and schools is pressing,” Durhal wrote in his response.

Wayne State University researcher Sarah Lenhoff, whose team has done extensive research about Detroit education issues, including chronic absenteeism, enrollment, and housing, is pleased to see candidates making education a focus. She’s long believed that Detroit’s mayor should play a bigger role in improving the city’s education landscape as well as the conditions that support student success.

“It should be the responsibility of the mayor,” said Lenhoff, director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity and Research, or Detroit PEER. “Just because they don’t have direct authority over the schools doesn’t mean they don’t have a lot of influence over how well the schools are doing, how well students are doing in the city. It’s overdue, and I’m hopeful that whoever becomes mayor will carry that through into action while they’re in office.”

Playing a role, but leaving control to the schools

If Detroit’s next mayor plays a key role in education, they’ll have to overcome skepticism from residents who may still be wary after more than two decades of reform attempts.

Helen Moore, a longtime education activist in the city who has pushed back against school takeovers, said she’s not opposed to the next mayor having some input on education issues.

Detroit’s mayor “should have a role, but they should not be taking over,” Moore said. “That’s happened before,” and it didn’t work, she said.

Moore said the mayor needs to send their representatives to school board meetings to listen to the public and understand the district’s challenges. They need to be focused on helping students succeed, she said.

“We’re going through hell trying to get them (students) to the place they should be,” Moore said. “There are too many people trying to keep our children from getting the quality education they deserve.”

Mayoral control became an early reform effort when Michigan lawmakers transferred control of Detroit Public Schools to the city mayor in 1999, allowing then-Mayor Dennis Archer to appoint a seven-member school board that answered to him.

That experiment ended in 2005, when Detroit voters approved a ballot initiative to return to an elected board. But in 2009, mounting debt in DPS led then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm to appoint the first of what would become a series of emergency managers who had almost complete control of the district. By the time emergency management in the district ended in 2016, the debt had ballooned to catastrophic levels.

To ward off bankruptcy and unsaddle classrooms from the debt, Michigan lawmakers implemented a controversial plan to create a new district — DPSCD — to educate students and operate schools, while DPS remained intact to collect tax revenue and pay off debt. DPSCD has been on relatively solid financial footing since it had that fresh, debt-free start.

But the many years of state and mayoral oversight decimated the district. Enrollment declined from around 160,000 just a few years after mayoral control began to around 49,000 today. Dozens of schools closed, leaving some areas of the city with no neighborhood schools.

And the emergence of charter choices, which began opening in Michigan in the mid-’90s, has created intense competition in Detroit, giving parents a plethora of often dizzying options for where to send their children. It’s also created instability in the system as parents move their children frequently from school to school, often in the middle of the school year. Those frequent moves happen for a number of reasons, including a desire to find the best option for their children but often because housing instability forces families to move unexpectedly.

In a 2018 special report on the effects of frequent moves, Chalkbeat Detroit and Bridge Michigan explored how they create instability and makes it difficult for schools to improve academically.

Tackling chronic absenteeism will be a key issue

Lenhoff and Jeremy Singer, her colleague and fellow researcher, coauthored a book released earlier this year about chronic absenteeism in Detroit in which they argued that schools alone can’t solve the intractable problem and called on city and community leaders to get more involved. Detroit PEER recently released several fact sheets that highlight areas where it sees the mayor having “the most direct influence over the conditions for learning and education in the city.”

About 60% of DPSCD students were chronically absent during the last school year, meaning they missed 18 or more days of instruction. Citywide, the rates have hovered around 50%.

“Many of the big reasons why kids miss so much school in Detroit have little to do with the schools themselves and have much more to do with the conditions in which they’re living, with their access to transportation, with their housing and neighborhood situations,” Lenhoff said.

Those are mostly within the control of the mayor and city government.

So what could the city do? According to Lenoff, it could make it easier for kids to ride public transit to and from school, strengthen the safety of neighborhoods so students who live close enough can feel safe biking or walking to school, and invest in family-friendly affordable housing.

The city has invested in affordable housing, but for Lenhoff, the key question is whether there’s an emphasis on housing that can accommodate families and is located near schools.

Those housing efforts, she said, don’t necessarily require working with school systems, but they might be more effective if they were coordinated with DPSCD and major charter school operators “to ensure alignment between where the city’s investing and where schools are prioritizing their efforts.”

Many families in Detroit lack reliable transportation, making it difficult for kids to get to school every day. The Detroit PEER fact sheet on the top notes that a third of families in Detroit don’t own a car, and 30% of families don’t have a fixed way to get their children to school.

DPSCD doesn’t provide yellow school bus transportation for most high school students, who can receive bus passes to take city buses. But just 4% of students use those bus passes to go to school daily, according to the fact sheet.

The city can look for ways to make riding city buses more palatable and convenient for teenagers, perhaps by letting teens use their student identification cards instead of bus passes, Lenhoff said. Crucial steps would be researching bus routes to ensure they are located in areas that are more easily accessible for students, making sure buses arrive on time, and making sure bus stops are safe.

Another area the next mayor can collaborate on is promoting district schools. DPSCD and charter schools in the city would be far more stable enrollment-wise if they were able to reengage with students who leave the city to attend suburban schools.

“Our city’s leaders have an interest in those children coming back to the city for school, and, you know, for neighborhoods to have thriving community-based schools,” Lenhoff said. “So figuring out ways to promote that … could be really worthwhile.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated after a fifth candidate, Jonathan Barlow, filled out Chalkbeat’s candidate survey after publication.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Meet the Rev. Steven Bland Jr., the Detroit school board’s newest member

2025-08-01T21:22:14+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

The Rev. Steven Bland Jr. spent Wednesday morning at a hospital counseling a family whose mother had a stroke and heart attack.

“That’s the story of my life,” he said. “Giving hope, you know, in hopeless situations.”

In the afternoon, Bland arrived at the Fisher building ahead of an academics committee meeting for the Detroit school district’s board — his first time participating in a meeting as a sworn-in board member. As the senior pastor of Liberty Temple Baptist Church for the last 21 years, Bland said he hopes to carry his connections and advocacy in the community into public service.

“I’ve met a lot of people — there’s a whole lot more I haven’t — but I’ve been a community advocate for a lot of issues on a lot of fronts,” he told Chalkbeat. “I hope to turn that into partnerships and opportunities where people can be heard.”

The Detroit Public Schools Community District board voted to select Bland to fill a vacant seat on Monday night. The seat opened last month following Angelique Peterson-Mayberry’s resignation on July 2. Bland, 65, will finish out her term through the end of 2026.

Board members are scheduled for up to 60 meetings a year, earning up to $250 a meeting.

Although he serves a congregation of about 1,800, Bland said he wanted to become a board member because of his passion for helping uplift youth.

At his church, the pastor has helped develop new opportunities for kids in his community, including a technology center that serves as a Wi-Fi hub for students in the neighborhood to do homework.

He also leads the church’s ministry, Project R.I.S.E., which stands for Rigorous Instruction to Supplement Education. The tutoring program helps kids with the subjects they are struggling in.

During the application process for the board seat, Bland said the biggest challenges for the district will be to maintain state funding in the wake of federal cuts and to address its longstanding problem with chronic absenteeism.

Bland said he’s heard through church outreach about systemic barriers that can prevent Detroit kids from getting to school regularly. Some of his ministry has addressed those gaps, such as providing winter coats and new clothes to kids.

The new board member said he created other church-school partnerships as a leader at the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit.

Bland said he’s been inspired by the “strong women who believe in the educational excellence of children” around him.

His mother was a leader in parent-teacher associations and a school liaison. His sister is a retired school principal. His wife, also retired, taught at John R. King Academic and Performing Arts Academy. One of his daughters graduated from Renaissance High School and now works as a consultant to educational institutions.

Bland said he is also motivated to work in public education by his two granddaughters, ages 15 and 7, who live outside of the Detroit area.

The pastor said he will consider running for reelection in 2026, with input from the other board members.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

The Rev. Steven Bland Jr. is the Detroit school district’s new board member

2025-07-29T00:27:42+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.

The Rev. Steven Bland Jr., the senior pastor of Liberty Temple Baptist Church and a community activist, will join the Detroit school district’s board as its new member.

Bland’s appointment was approved by the Detroit Public Schools Community District board in a vote during a special meeting Monday night at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School.

“I’m humbled to have the privilege to serve, and I’m excited about this season for Detroit Public Schools Community District,” Bland told Chalkbeat after the meeting.

Bland was selected out of 14 candidates who applied for the position, which opened this month following Angelique Peterson-Mayberry’s resignation on July 2. He will finish out her term through the end of 2026.

Bland leads several community-based ministries and youth outreaches, including Project R.I.S.E., which stands for Rigorous Instruction to Supplement Education.

During his interview with the board, the pastor said he’s worked to improve chronic absenteeism through church outreach. He said he will continue to focus on the issue in his new position.

“If we want to educate our students, they need to be present,” he said. “And they need to be not only there physically, but help to make sure that they have proper nutrition, make sure that they have emotional stability, make sure that they have support.”

The candidates included district parents, educators, an administrator currently employed by the school system, a philanthropist, and an attorney.

They were scored on their interviews and application materials by each board member. Board Chair Bishop Corletta J. Vaughn said during the meeting the candidates’ scores were stored in sealed envelopes that were not opened until the Monday night meeting.

Scores for all of the candidates were tallied by independent third party legal counsel live on stage for more than an hour during the meeting.

Once the third party identified Bland as the candidate with the highest score, his name was announced and the board voted on his appointment.

The board voted unanimously in favor of Bland’s appointment. Board member Ida Carol Simmons-Short was not in attendance.

Bland was sworn into office after the vote

Candidate interviews took place in four public meetings last week.

Each candidate submitted a letter of intent, a resume, and responses to survey questions earlier this month. Only the survey responses have been made available to the public.

Chalkbeat asked the district for all of the materials and was told an open records request was necessary to review them. A request was filed last week, and the district responded that it needed an extension until Aug. 11 to provide the documents.

During the selection process, three candidates withdrew their applications before they were interviewed. One person dropped out as questions arose about the use of ChatGPT in application materials attributed to her.

Bland will take Peterson-Mayberry’s seat on the board’s Academic Committee. Board member Monique Bryant will take the position of chair of the committee.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

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Are you a Detroit parent looking for a new school? Read these tips on how to make the best choice.

Step 1: Interview yourself to understand your education priorities for your child

Step 2: Finding schools

Step 3: Time to research schools

Step 4: Diving deep on possible schools

Step 5: Visiting a school, talking to the principal

Step 6: Knowing what documents you need to enroll

Step 7: Not a step, just more recommendations

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