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All 8th grade students from Highland Park are encouraged to call Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern for enrollment.
At the time Highland Park High School shut down, Central High School was controlled by the Educational Achievement Authority. This is ending by the fall of this year and DPSCD will have direct control over the school. Central High is closer to Highland Park than Northwestern.
Do you think DPSCD should change the designated high school of Highland Park to Central High?
Yes, Central High School is a lot closer to Highland Park than Northwestern so your suggestion should be under consideration, but they are both still subpar inner city schools.
Look, this is like your 2nd post about Highland Park. MS313 and I are the only regular posters on here who are Detroit residents. Other than he and I, nobody on this forum cares about the neighborhoods of Detroit and nobody cares about Highland Park. Highland Park has been reduced to an afterthought, it is at 1/5 of its peak population and over 90% black. People in general don't care about poor black communities. People in this area will always consider the neighborhoods of Detroit and Highland Park as a no-man's land. They are just places you have to drive through to get to/from Downtown. Nothing more.
In addition, nobody cares about the Detroit Public School system or the Highland Park School System. It is pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Detroit Public School system won't exist in a few years. It was the 7th largest district in the country 15 years ago; its a joke now.
I wish there was a Dan Gilbert-type character who had love for Highland Park. Even though ALOT has been destroyed, it has great streetcar suburban bones, and has much more history and far, far, far better architecture than those trendy southern Oakland county suburbs. Because of its small size, a Dan Gilbert type with a big wallet could set about creating a new urbanism community using the bones of an old urban community - with parks/playgrounds/greenways, a beautifully restored library, new schools, separated bike lanes, restored business districts on Woodward and Hamilton Avenues, restoration of housing and storefronts, and one day, Woodward rapid transit running through it.
I'm aware that both Central High and Northwestern High don't perform so well. Many inner-city schools don't, but I think location alone means that Central High's the best choice for Highland Park.
As for this being my second recent post on HP, that's right... and the previous post was back on April 30 of this year. It's a pattern on City-data that posts focus on middle class to upper middle class to wealthy areas, with relatively little discussion of working class and/or downright poor areas. This is especially the case here. I feel it's important to make sure there's some form of discussion for all kinds of areas, especially those with poverty and blight like Highland Park.
I have a strong interest in Highland Park because, in the Houston area (where I'm from) we too have small "cities surrounded by cities". West University Place is a wealthy 15,000 person community with a high-performing elementary school and its own mayor, county library, etc. It is what Highland Park would be if the bottom didn't fall out of the Detroit economy. Imagine if Detroit had a big renaissance and Highland Park took off again...
BTW in a sense the old Detroit Public Schools district was already swept away: the state of Michigan formed a new "Detroit Public Schools Community District" that has no debt and took its place, but knowing some basics about Detroit politics and socioeconomics it may be like Alitalia, the Italian airline that's always been in debt and trouble (A new Alitalia took the place of the old one, but now the new one is in trouble too). It also helps that the EAA is being dissolved, with all of its schools going to DPSCD, and that DPSCD is now having an elected board again (much of the issues seemed to happen during state control: https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits...ools-sick-outs ).
Quote:
Originally Posted by usroute10
Yes, Central High School is a lot closer to Highland Park than Northwestern so your suggestion should be under consideration, but they are both still subpar inner city schools.
Look, this is like your 2nd post about Highland Park. MS313 and I are the only regular posters on here who are Detroit residents. Other than he and I, nobody on this forum cares about the neighborhoods of Detroit and nobody cares about Highland Park. Highland Park has been reduced to an afterthought, it is at 1/5 of its peak population and over 90% black. People in general don't care about poor black communities. People in this area will always consider the neighborhoods of Detroit and Highland Park as a no-man's land. They are just places you have to drive through to get to/from Downtown. Nothing more.
In addition, nobody cares about the Detroit Public School system or the Highland Park School System. It is pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Detroit Public School system won't exist in a few years. It was the 7th largest district in the country 15 years ago; its a joke now.
I wish there was a Dan Gilbert-type character who had love for Highland Park. Even though ALOT has been destroyed, it has great streetcar suburban bones, and has much more history and far, far, far better architecture than those trendy southern Oakland county suburbs. Because of its small size, a Dan Gilbert type with a big wallet could set about creating a new urbanism community using the bones of an old urban community - with parks/playgrounds/greenways, a beautifully restored library, new schools, separated bike lanes, restored business districts on Woodward and Hamilton Avenues, restoration of housing and storefronts, and one day, Woodward rapid transit running through it.
As for this being my second recent post on HP, that's right... and the previous post was back on April 30 of this year. It's a pattern on City-data that posts focus on middle class to upper middle class to wealthy areas, with relatively little discussion of working class and/or downright poor areas. This is especially the case here. I feel it's important to make sure there's some form of discussion for all kinds of areas, especially those with poverty and blight like Highland Park.
Perhaps it's because the vast majority of people who frequent these forums are middle to upper class and have no interest in posting about topics that don't apply to them or interest them. Just a wild guess.
That's exactly it. The thing is, we need to know what's going on in the whole metro area. After I made a post about a similarly troubled school district on a Dallas, Texas forum, I recall one of the posters stated something to the effect that the metro area doesn't only include the nice areas (unfortunately they recently wiped the forum so I can't see the exact wording of the post!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by pojack
Perhaps it's because the vast majority of people who frequent these forums are middle to upper class and have no interest in posting about topics that don't apply to them or interest them. Just a wild guess.
The thing is, "liberal" nowadays pretty much covers almost all urban areas (as well as some rural resort towns and some heavily minority rural areas). The monied "liberal" areas of, say, Fairfax County, Virginia and Park Slope, Brooklyn do well in public school. Likewise wealthier conservative areas do well in school too, and Appalachia not so well.
BTW people need cell phones nowadays, and "flat screen TVs" are standard.
Moderator cut: orphaned
As for the topic at hand, I recall they weren't happy over the Leona Group's plans for the Highland Park schools. While the HP Schools were doing bad before the handover, after the handover enrollment fell dramatically.
Before Leona took over, Highland Park had nearly 1,000 students enrolled. This year there were only 639. The state provides the district $7,168 per student.
Obviously there are some parents who don't give a damn about education, but it seems like even they have limits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit
Perhaps it's because the vast majority of low class/income people living in Detroit and Highland Park don't really give a damn.
That's exactly it. The thing is, we need to know what's going on in the whole metro area. After I made a post about a similarly troubled school district on a Dallas, Texas forum, I recall one of the posters stated something to the effect that the metro area doesn't only include the nice areas (unfortunately they recently wiped the forum so I can't see the exact wording of the post!)
The thing is, "liberal" nowadays pretty much covers almost all urban areas (as well as some rural resort towns and some heavily minority rural areas). The monied "liberal" areas of, say, Fairfax County, Virginia and Park Slope, Brooklyn do well in public school. Likewise wealthier conservative areas do well in school too, and Appalachia not so well.
BTW people need cell phones nowadays, and "flat screen TVs" are standard.
Moderator cut: orphaned
As for the topic at hand, I recall they weren't happy over the Leona Group's plans for the Highland Park schools. While the HP Schools were doing bad before the handover, after the handover enrollment fell dramatically.
I don't know if the HP school board still owns the property. AFAIK would be up to Leona Group: they only authorize a single high school. The Highland Park School Board exists but has absolutely no power: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/t...nt?oid=2453382
Quote:
One is the “old” district, known as the School District of the City of Highland Park.
That district is overseen by an elected school board that has virtually no power and nothing to do with governing the education provided to the city’s children.
The “old” district exists only to pay accumulated debt.
As for what happened after the closure of Highland Park high: the kids drifted off to several different schools. Many Detroit area high schools have open enrollment policies, and they held a high school fair for HP kiddos: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...park/28721799/
The about 160 former HP High school students were scattered across several schools. 72 went to Detroit Public Schools, including some at Northwestern and some at EAA-run Central High.
Notice that the enrollment at HP High was almost 400 in 2012-2013, and by spring 2015 it was down to 160.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28
Why not reopen the school there on Glendale..the original high school?
Where r the orphaned high school kids going now?
Is it okay if you describe what it was like? I'd like to read more
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28
Leona group was there for one reason..to disassemble the system..the year I taught here was laughable.
I don't know if the HP school board still owns the property. AFAIK would be up to Leona Group: they only authorize a single high school. The Highland Park School Board exists but has absolutely no power: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/t...nt?oid=2453382
As for what happened after the closure of Highland Park high: the kids drifted off to several different schools. Many Detroit area high schools have open enrollment policies, and they held a high school fair for HP kiddos: Schools pitch students, parents from Highland Park
The about 160 former HP High school students were scattered across several schools. 72 went to Detroit Public Schools, including some at Northwestern and some at EAA-run Central High.
Notice that the enrollment at HP High was almost 400 in 2012-2013, and by spring 2015 it was down to 160.
Is it okay if you describe what it was like? I'd like to read more
Really? It hurt the brain to see the school from the inside. The 3rd floor was not used. When Leona took over, the teachers were told to "Search"for anything they needed. The whole 3rd floor was open season. Classrooms were all filled with books. Computer. and what ever the HP teachers left when they walked out that last day.
The 3rd floor was also the freshman and sophomore class offices. Records were just dumped on the floor. The radio station was destroyed. To make matters worse, the doors to the 3rd floor were never locked so there was no way of knowing who was up there or who did the vandalism.
The below grade floor, where the science classes were and what used to be a really nice lecture hall, typically had 2--3 inches of water in the center classrooms. The science labs still had a few nice scales and lab specimens in the refrigerator.
What had once been a great ROTC program was just trashed due to funding cuts.
One day, as the snow melted, the counselor area in the basement level was flooded with what had top be 100 gallons of water. Files and documents were floating--the majority were special education papers. And the only other functioning copy machine in the building.
When I started in September 2012, the enrollment was just about 600(?) By December I believe it was down to about 400.
Teachers were buying line paper,pencils, toner for their printers (some even bought their own printer as the copy machine in the main office was off limits for most teachers).
The state appointed superintendent left around December and was appointed to an EM position in Allen Park I believe.
I could not stay through the end of the 2012-2013 year (nor did many teachers).
The majority of teachers there were great and doing an all but impossible job. Those who really tried (a science teacher from Africa who held several degrees, including a Ph.D I believe), did an outstanding job--until they fired him for some cranked up allegations of being incompetent (aka asking for support and supplies I think).
I really cannot give more details without giving my position away....I do not trust Leona Group to hunt me down and make my new position hell..
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