Board takes 34 good first steps toward right-sizing
April 6, 2007
It's a good start, shuttering 34 of Detroit's 255 public schools to wipe nearly $19 million in red ink from the district's bottom line.
But the key word here is "start," as in beginning, outset or -- if things go exceedingly well from here -- maybe even a hopeful word like "commencement."
There is a lot more closing to do before the DPS board has right-sized facilities to match dwindling enrollment. And there's no more time for dallying. Every building that stays open while half-empty is a millstone adding weight to the estimated $118 million the district must cut to balance its books next year.
There are plans to close eight more schools in 2008 if enrollment and performance don't improve. A state-mandated deficit reduction plan could help close more. But if the district's population is really as low as 118,000 students, a true realignment should bring the number down even further. Philadelphia, a city with nearly twice as many schoolchildren as Detroit, has only 291 schools. In Baltimore, where the public schools have about 80,000 students, they get by with 159 buildings and have scheduled future closures.
That's not to say that closing schools will be easy, or will come off without a fair bit of rancor. District officials must continue to be smart about what gets closed, where it is, and why; they wisely backed away from a plan to get rid of the highly successful Communication & Media Arts High School, which sends nearly all of its graduates to college.
They must also be mindful of not confounding sensible educational objectives -- like lower class sizes -- with their closure plans.
Most important, school officials have to keep a stiff spine in the face of the crass and juvenile antics of some school activists who just don't get that the district must shrink. Wednesday's public board meeting was disrupted by a gaggle of miscreants hollering insults and even tossing fruit onstage. So much for reason, or debate, as the preferred way to solve public problems.
It will take real courage for the school board to go forward with its plans, but that's what leadership is: the mettle to do what's right even when it's unpopular. The city's schoolchildren are absolutely worth it.
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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