Detroit to Close One-Quarter of Schools

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Emergency Financial Manager Says 44 Schools to Shutter Due to Budget Issues, Declining Enrollment

(AP) The emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools says more than a quarter of the district's schools will close in June as it struggles with budget issues and declining enrollment.

Robert Bobb announced the closures of 44 of the district's 172 schools Wednesday as part of a proposed five-year plan to create a leaner district.

Six more schools are slated to close in June 2011, and seven more a year later. Many current programs will be moved to other buildings. Bond money would be used to build new schools in targeted neighborhoods.

The closures are in addition to the shuttering of 29 schools before last fall. The nearly 88,000-student district faces a deficit of at least $219 million. Full-time enrollment is projected to drop to about 56,000 by 2015.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/17/national/main6307992.shtml?tag=stack

[kpete]

1. sabra

i think i will rest a bit,
the schools are in SO much trouble here in Calif.
i worked this a.m. and more and more cuts coming down the road for us teachers

peace and thanks for posting, kpete

[NJmaverick]

2. The economy has done to Detroit what Katrina did to New Orleans

[SharonRB]

4. Detroit's downfall started long before the downturn in the economy

It started after the 1967 riots, if not earlier, with white flight out to the ever-expanding suburbs. Having a couple of crooked mayors in Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick didn't help. (In between them was Dennis Archer, who was much more honest.) Dave Bing is finally doing a lot of things that should have been done a long time ago. It took a non-politician businessman to start getting the job done right. It's just so far gone, I don't know how long it's going to take.

[salin]

11. the city was in growing desperate straights when I worked

there with the DPS schools in the early nineties. At that point there were already, on average, three abandoned houses on each block in residential areas of the city. I would agree with your causes - but add in an aggressive influx of crack cocaine to hit the poorest areas - at the time of that recession (circa 1991-2) - and the economic devastation escalated. I think each recession hit the area harder (due to the huge reliance on the "Big 3" car companies for the economy) and there was never a full recovery between the recessions.

The question we should all be concerned about is whether the fate of Detroit is a bellwether (very early sign for the trajectory of other cities) or an anomaly. Regardless it is a tragedy.

[skeptical cynic]

3. Collapsing state budgets...

are going to be a major hurdle to economic recovery, and could even be a contributor to a second bust.

California has the fifth highest unemployment rate in the nation. It's unlikely that there will be a recovery without California.

Expect more cuts in programs funded by tax dollars at the City/County/State level.

[dencol]

9. It just seems like the bottom is falling out.

The unemployment numbers don't jive, especially now that we have been so many teachers and government workers being laid off. I've been laid off for over a year now, and have no idea what I am going to do if I don't find a job before unemployment benefits don't run out. Fortunately, I am in the state capitol, so I think there will be some trouble to be found.

[skeptical cynic]

12. It seems that way to me, too.

The bottom is falling out, and I believe that we're being lied to.

I can't point to any single thing that tells me this, only the statistics that don't reflect the reality I see, the conflicting points of view among people citing the same facts, and the difference between what I read in the domestic and foreign media.

I believe that the Powers That Be are so firmly entrenched, so confident in their positions of power, and so contemptuous of the masses that they no longer even bother to practice any sophisticated deception. They have become blatant in their corruption.

They are not the ones who will suffer when things get worse. If recent history is any indicator, they may profit from another bust.

[reggie the dog]

5. look for crime to increase

dropouts too.....plus increased gang wars from having even more rival gangs at the same high school.

[harmonicon]

6. just what Detroit needs: more large vacant buildings (nt)

[WriteDown]

7. Future farmland. nt

[FarCenter]

8. The population of Detroit is less than half what it was in 1950

And it is falling with each year.

[vadawg]

13. yup people are leaving, nothing to be done as you cant force people to live there

mayby shrinking the city is the best idea and giving the land over to farms or the surrounding counties...

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. More cannon fodder

.
.
.

This is one way to redirect youth to the military for the World's most aggressive nation.

sumthhing to ponder

[Psephos]

14. Nice try. The schools are being consolidated due to declining enrollments.

The only "redirecting" being done is the self-redirection of the Detroit population to somewhere else.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. been there

trying to move schools and neighborhoods doesn't work.

What we need is induction/re-training programs for teachers to be able to teach in hard to teach areas with very large pay packets.

It has been proven that good teachers promote high academic achievement no matter wha the socioeconomic climate is.

Therefore funds should be used to assist teachers in areas of need. Simple.

[hack89]

16. Buildings are expensive to run, maintain and upgrade.

consolidation may be the only way to free up funds to attract better teachers.