Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a public school district that serves Detroit, Michigan, and high school students in Highland Park, Michigan. The district, which replaced the original Detroit Public Schools (DPS) in 2016, provides services to approximately 50,000 students, making it the largest school district in the state. The district has its headquarters in the Fisher Building of the New Center area of Detroit.
The school district has experienced extensive financial difficulties over a series of years. From 1999 to 2005, and from 2009 to the reorganization in 2016, the district was overseen by a succession of state-appointed emergency financial managers.
Contents
History
1816 to 1999
Detroit's first school was established in 1816 by Presbyterian missionary John Monteith. The next year, he established a comprehensive school for all grades, including a college, with the collaboration of Gabriel Richard, Augustus Woodward, Lewis Cass and William Woodbridge. Its grade school program failed, but the university program moved to Ann Arbor in 1827 and ultimately became the University of Michigan.
Detroit attempted to establish a public school in 1827, but the teacher it hired died immediately. As of 1840, private schools were plentiful for the city's 2,000 school-aged children whose parents could afford them, and the Free School Society struggled to meet the need for school for the poor through sales of baked goods and tomato catsup.
Under the leadership of mayor Zina Pitcher, a proper public school system was founded in 1842. Thirteen schools were immediately established, all in temporary quarters such as homes and churches. However, as Detroit flourished, 88 schools were built between 1856 and 1900. The schools were segregated until 1871.
A high school, then called Capitol High School, was founded in 1858. After the state legislature vacated its Detroit capitol building and moved to Lansing, the high school moved to its former building in 1863. The building burned in 1893, and in 1896 it moved to a grand new building and became Central High School. The building is today known as Old Main.
Another one of the first schools was Cass Union School, on the corner of Grand River and Second Street. It was built in 1860. The precursor to Cass Technical High School was founded in 1907 within this building. It moved to new buildings in 1912, 1922, and 2005, and became Detroit's flagship high school.
Between 1910 and 1930, 180 schools were built. At its peak enrollment in 1966, the district had nearly 300,000 students.
1999 to present
As the city as a whole struggled with declining population and job losses, enrollment plummeted and schools closed, leaving abandoned schools throughout the city. Michigan's Schools of Choice law, which allowed students to attend schools outside of the city, the opening of new charter schools, and the deterioration of the district's older school buildings contributed to a crisis for the district in the early 21st century. Enrollment dropped by 84 percent between 1966 and 2015, and 287 schools closed between 1975 and 2015, with 195 of those between 2000 and 2015. Of those, 81 schools were left vacant. The closure of schools was disruptive to students and neighborhoods. Many of the district's efforts to secure its closed schools failed or were inadequate, creating blight and opportunities to illegally salvage building materials.
Facilities were also improved during this period. To reinvest in its facilities, Detroit voters approved bond issues in 1994 and 2009 that funded new schools such as Cass Technical High School (2005), Detroit School of Arts (2005),, Renaissance High School (2005), Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School (2011), Mumford High School (2012), and East English Village Preparatory Academy (2012). The district continues to reinvest in and build new facilities as of 2026, according to its $700 million Facility Master Plan. Planned new schools include replacements for Frank Cody High School and Pershing High School.
Declining enrollment created a financial crisis for the district. In 1999, the Michigan Legislature removed the locally elected board of education amid allegations of mismanagement and replaced it with a 7-member reform board. Six board members were appointed by the mayor and one appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction. The elected board of education returned following a city referendum in 2005. The first election of the new eleven member board of education, with four chosen at-large and seven by district, occurred on November 8, 2005. At the time the district's enrollment was slowly increasing and it had a $100 million surplus .
Before the district occupied the Fisher Building, its headquarters were in the Macabees Building in Midtown Detroit. The district paid the owner of the Fisher Building $24.1 million in 2002 so the district could occupy five floors in the building. This was more than the owner of the Fisher Building paid to buy the building one year earlier. The district's emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, said in 2009 that he was investigating how the school board agreed to the lease in the Fisher Building. Reginald Turner, who served on Detroit School Board from 2000 to 2003, said that he was told that it would be less expensive to occupy the Fisher Building than it would to remodel the Maccabees Building.
Student achievement
National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
In 2007, Education Week published study that claimed that Detroit Public School's graduation rate was 24.9%. Groups including state and local officials said that the study failed to take into account high school students who leave the district for charter schools, other school districts or who move out of the area. Detroit Public Schools claim that in 2005–2006 the graduation rate was 68 percent and expected it to hold constant in 2006–2007. On February 14, 2009, the Detroit Free Press reported that United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had concern over the quality of education Detroit children were receiving. A spokesman later stated that Duncan had no specific plans for Detroit. The students in Detroit's public schools perennially score at the bottom compared to other large urban school systems.
Cass Technical High School, Renaissance High School, and Detroit School of Arts rank highly both statewide and nationally. However, at many schools some students still do not meet adequate yearly academic progress requirements. Students that fail to meet those requirements struggle in both language and mathematics.
A team of DPS students from Western International High School and Murray-Wright High School took second place out of 552 teams from 25 countries in a robotics competition in Atlanta, Georgia. DPS students, most notably Bates Academy students, did well at the 42nd annual Academic Olympics in Eatonton, Georgia, winning many honors. The Duffield elementary and middle school chess teams both finished first in the 2007 statewide competition, and performed well in the national competition. At a previous Annual National Academic Games Olympics, DPS students won 25 individual and 20 team first place awards.
Leadership
Superintendent
Past superintendents include Warren E. Bow, Kenneth S. Burnley, Charles Ernest Chadsey, and John M. B. Sill.
The current superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, has held the position since the summer of 2017.
Demographics
In the 1970s DPS had 270,000 students. In 2014 the 2016 projected enrollment for DPS was 40,000.
As of January 2013 about 49,900 students attend Detroit Public Schools. As of that year about 9,000 of them, over 18%, have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) plan required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of the federal government. At the same time, the state average is 12%. In 2012 about 17% had IEPs.
As of 2014 DPS had 6,092 students classified as bilingual, speaking over 30 languages. They included 4,972 Spanish speakers, 522 Bengali speakers, 258 Arabic speakers, 34 Romanian speakers, 29 Hmong speakers, and 277 students speaking other languages.
In the 2019–20 school year the racial makeup was 82% black, 14% Hispanic, 3% white and 1% Asian.
Dress code
Detroit Public Schools created a district-wide uniform dress code for students effective on May 11, 2006, for all students in grades Kindergarten through 12. This includes mandatory identification badges. Parents may opt their children out of the dress code for medical, religious, or financial reasons. Several schools, including Bates Academy and Malcolm X Academy, had uniform dress codes before the start of the district-wide policy.
2012 changes
Schools closing
See: List of closed public schools in Detroit
On February 9, 2012, Emergency Financial Manager Roy Roberts announced the following school closings:
1. Burton Elementary School: Students will be reassigned to the new $21.8-million Mackenzie PK-8 School building on the old Mackenzie High School site.
2. Detroit City High School: Students will be reassigned to schools with existing Second Chance programs.
3. Detroit Day School for the Deaf: Students will be reassigned to schools with hearing-impaired programs.
4. O.W. Holmes Elementary-Middle School: Students will be reassigned to the new $22.3-million Munger PK-8 School. The new facility includes a two-story student arcade that will function as a dining court, student center and school square.
5. Kettering High School & Kettering West Wing: Students at Kettering High School will be reassigned to Denby, Pershing, Southeastern or King high schools. Students enrolled at Kettering West Wing will be reassigned to schools with existing special education programs.
6. Mae C. Jemison Academy: Students will be reassigned to Gardner Elementary School or Henderson Academy.
7. Maybury Elementary School: Students will be reassigned to either Earhart Elementary-Middle School or Neinas Elementary School.
8. Parker Elementary-Middle School: Students will be reassigned to the new $21.8-million Mackenzie PreK-8 School, which will include a large open media center. The building design will focus on student safety and will be environmentally responsible.
9. Robeson Early Learning Center: Kindergarten classrooms at Robeson will be reassigned to the main Paul Robeson, Malcolm X Academy building. All pre-K programs will relocate to Palmer Park Preparatory Academy, which has a surplus Pre-K capacity.
Schools being replaced with new buildings
Mumford High School: The new $50.3-million Mumford High School is the largest school construction project in the district's bond program. The 239,900-square-foot high school will accommodate about 1,500 students and also will have a community health clinic.
Burton International: Is replaced by the Burton Theater which reopened as Cass City Cinema the end of 2011. The building also includes a montessori nursery, artist studios and law offices.
Schools consolidating
Source:
Crockett High School and Finney High School were consolidated into a $46.5-million, 221,000-square-foot high school being constructed at the site of Finney High School. It was named East English Village Preparatory Academy and accommodates up to 1,200 students. Students in grades 10–12 from Finney and Crockett high schools attend the new school, while 9th grade are required an entrance-admissions exam. If accepted, students must maintain a GPA of 2.5.
Farwell Elementary-Middle School and Mason Elementary School will consolidated and renamed Mason Elementary-Middle School. The current Mason Elementary School building has closed, and all students currently enrolled at Mason will be offered enrollment at the new site. New students residing in the Mason Elementary School boundary will be assigned to either the new Mason Elementary-Middle School or Nolan Elementary-Middle School.
Langston Hughes Academy and Ludington Magnet Middle School will consolidate and be named Ludington Middle School but will use the Langston Hughes Academy building.
Ethelene Crockett Academy was named after Dr. Crockett, the wife of the late Congressman George Crockett. Beloved historic leaders in Detroit, the name was changed by the first emergency manager ( actually by Governor Snyder) to Benjamin Carson Academy.
Finney High School, named after abolitionist Jared Finney, was renamed East English Village Academy by the emergency manager.
Barbara Jordan Elementary School, named after the Black congresswoman, was renamed Palmer Park Academy.
Davis Aerospace, named after Tuskegee Airman Benjamin Davis, moved in 2013.