Detroit Help Me Please (Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor: house, unemployment, neighborhoods)

[Mae03]

please tell me a little bit about detroit thinking about moving out there. what are the zipcodes of the good school districts. How is your employment. Please give the 411 on detroit michigan. NYCer needs help for myself, myhusband and 10 year old son.

[and the]

There are no good zip codes for schools in Detroit. You have to go school by school. I couldn't tell you about grade schools and I think your best bet there is a private school. I don't know about charter schools in Detroit as far as grade schools.

There are a couple high schools that are better than the "neighborhood" high schools which can be little more than holding facilities for students who don't really have to learn anything to get promoted to the next grade. Two that come to mind are Cass Tech. and Renaissance. Both are in beautiful, brand new buildings. Students come from all over the city to both schools. If you want to live in a neighborhood so your kid can walk to Renaissance, that would be in the 48235 Zip code. The School is on Outer Drive near Hubbel, here:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/NormanYan007/Renaissance.jpg (broken link)
Trivia: The OLD Renaissance High building used to be Detroit Catholic Central. Another great choice for high school, though not public, would be the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. They also have a Jr. High. That's in the 48221 zip and is on 7 Mile between Livernois and Wyoming here:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/NormanYan007/UofDHigh.jpg (broken link)

My opinion: If I had a kid of high school age, the only choice for public school in Detroit would be Renaissance. But personally, I'd much rather send him to U of D, (all boys), but it's expensive. My advise: Live in the suburbs or at least send your kid to school there. But you asked for Detroit schools, and there it is, complete with maps.

[Reissman]

Originally Posted by Mae03

please tell me a little bit about detroit thinking about moving out there. what are the zipcodes of the good school districts. How is your employment. Please give the 411 on detroit michigan. NYCer needs help for myself, myhusband and 10 year old son.

Do you have a choice in this matter? I mean moving to Michigan.

[Mae03]

Thank you for your information it was very helpful.

[and the]

You're welcome. But like the other poster asks, do you have a choice in coming here? Why are you considering Detroit? Do you really want to live in the city for some reason with a 10 year-old?

[cristoq]

There are magnet schools within the Detroit district that have good reputations. One is for music, located near the Detroit Symphony and with a good jazz program. Palmer Woods is a pricey but beautiful neighborhood toward the northern edge of the city. Schools of Choice in Michigan is a policy that lets you opt out of your public school and send your kids to any other that is willing to take them. Many Detroiters send their kids to towns like Ferndale and Berkeley for school. The Oakland Press -- daily newspaper in Pontiac -- would give you info on this. They did a page 1 story last summer on patterns in the Schools of Choice in the area. Good luck with your move. I am from Detroit and love the city.

[motorcity03]

I live in Sterling Heights outside of Detroit about 30 min. No way would I live below 8 mile LOL! There are many great suburbs outside of Detroit and you can still enjoy some of the good aspects of Detroit. Like tomorrow we are taking my son to the Fox Theatre to see Elmo, tons of sports and Detroit fans are the best, casinos, concerts. In all seriousness, economics is tough in Detroit right now but they are trying to make progress.

[Coldjensens]

Renaissance is one of the best high schools in Michigan. When we visited, the kids were unusually polite and respectful. More so than any other school we have ever visited anywhere. Not everyone can get not Renaissance. They must be considerably above average academically. Almost all of the kids at Renaissance are black if you care about that one way or the other.

If you are going to live in Detroit itself, be careful about the neighborhood that you choose and pay attention to the surrounding neighborhoods. Some are very dangerous. Downtown is pretty neat, but somewhat lonely. A few neighborhoods are pretty nice and reasonably safe for a big city.

If you choose to live in the suburbs instead, many (most) are very safe. The difference is night and day. Detroit is a really neat city in places, but it is really horrible in other places. The suburbs and surrounding towns, townships and villages are generally wonderful. I could identify six or eight of them that are some of the best paces to live in the USA by my criteria.

The economy here is rough. At least 10% of the state's economy is dependent on automakers and the big three automakers are slowly becoming the little three automakers. They are laying off or retiring tens of thousands of workers every year. This has an impact on other businesses as well.

House values are extremely low and nothing is selling. It is a good time to buy. No one seems to know whether housing prices are still falling, or whether they have hit bottom. Unemployment is the highest in the nation (About 7.5%) although it is not all that significantly higher than many other states right now.

Did you mean to refer only to Detroit, or did you mean to include the Detroit metro area?. If you include the suburbs, there are a lot of absolutely excellent public school districts. You can get statistics on the internet but a few of the better ones include:

Birmingham.
Bloomfield/Bloomfield Hills
Rochester Hills
Northville.
Plymouth -Canton
Grosse Pointe North
Grosse Pointe South.
Ann Arbor.
Grosse Ile.

Next tier:
Novi
South Lyon.
Huron
Trenton
Possibly Woodhaven


That is all I can think of. The rankings depend on what criteria that you use. However most of these schools are consistently ranked very well.

If you have a ton of money, one of the best private schools in the country (Cranbrook) is up near Rochester.

Country Day is also a reasonably good private school although not on par with Cranbrook (nor is it as expensive).


Then there is the Detroit mayor. His antics will keep you entertained if you do not allow his them to make you angry. He is horrible. So corrupt and inept that it is actually funny. (At least you have to laugh or cry about it - one of the two).