Naeyaert & Henderson Debate DPS

Is it Time to Get Rid of Detroit Public Schools in Favor of All Charters?

As state lawmakers debate a $700 million bailout to avert the financial collapse of Detroit Public Schools – some Republicans say it’s time to just get rid of the state’s largest school district altogether. In a recent op-ed in the Detroit News, Republican state Representative Tim Kelly of Saginaw Township wrote:

“We shouldn’t sentence another generation of Detroit students to certain failure while selfish adults figure out ways to game the system in a new, but still corrupt and failing, school district.”

Gary Naeyaert is the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Education Project. He generally agrees with Kelly.

“We’re talking about a particular district that has shown itself to be so academically and financially bankrupt that it has forfeited its right to teach our children.” he says. ”[But I] wouldn’t agree with the premise that our goal is to eliminate all public education in Michigan.”

Naeyaert says he doesn’t think Governor Rick Snyder’s current plan for DPS working its way through through the state Legislature via the Senate is a good one.

“The governor has proposed a plan…to create a mini-me, DPS 2.0, that’s going to be no different than the current district,” he says. “There’s no question that [DPS] is the worst urban school system in the country.”

“If DPS has an F, [charter schools] have an F+” says Chastity Pratt Dawsey, reporter for Bridge Magazine. ”Why should parents want either of those choices?”

Naeyaert says if Detroit moves to an all-charter system, charter schools will “give students what they need; more time on task.”

Click here for an audio link to hear the entire conversation, hosted by Stephen Henderson.

Courtesy of WDET 101.9 FM

 

 

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NOTE: There was an exchange during the broadcast about how many DPS schools required applications, students tests, GPA requirements or other “filters” to allow schools to selectly enroll their student population. Below is a list of the selective enrollment schools in DPS, and it bears repeating that ALL charter public school practice open enrollment and don’t use these techniques to keep out unwanted students:

Selective Enrollment DPS Schools

1. Academy of the Americas— Application / Language Proficiency Assessment
2. Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School— Application / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
3. Bates Academy— Application / 3.2 GPA / Assessment / Letters of Recommendation
4. Cass Tech High School — Application / Assessment
5. Chrysler Elementary— Application / Assessment / Interview
6. Clippert Academy— Application / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
7. Communication and Media Arts— Application / Letters of Recommendation
8. Davis Aerospace Technical High School— Application / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
9. Detroit Collegiate Prep High School at Northwestern— Application / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
10. Detroit School of Arts— Application / Audition / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
11. Edward Duke Ellington Conservatory of Music and Art — Application / 2.5 GPA / Letters of Recommendation
12. Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School— Application / 2.5 GPA / Language Proficiency Assessment
13. Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men— Application / Interview
14. Golightly Education Center— Application / 2.5 GPA
15. Ludington Magnet Middle and Honors Academy— Application / 2.5 GPA / Assessment / Interview
16. Marcus Garvey Academy— Application / 2.5 GPA
17. Mark Twain School for Scholars— Application / 3.0 GPA / Assessment
18. Renaissance High School — Application / Assessment
19. Robeson/Malcolm X Academy— Application / 2.5 GPA / 3.2 GPA for 6-8 Honors
20. Spain Elementary-Middle School— Application / Letters of Recommendation

1. Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine— Application
2. Burton International Academy— Application
3. Detroit International Academy for Young Women— Application
4. Nichols Elementary-Middle School— Application