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Appeals, efforts to increase enrollments help schools | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Parents at the Detroit Day School for the Deaf spent much of the last few months organizing rallies, talking to politicians and launching a letter-writing campaign to keep the school open.
On Monday, they learned all their work had paid off. The school was among 18 that got a reprieve after months on a Detroit Public Schools closure list released in March.
"We've been watching the news all day," said a relieved Dawn Pauling, president of the Local School Community Organization.
Pauling said that if the school had closed, the next closest place her 15-year-old son could attend was a live-in program in Flint. She said she was thrilled he would be able to continue living at home.
Then she added the fear of many parents in the reprieved schools: "I just hope we don't have to go through this all over again next year," Pauling said.
In addition to the Day School for the Deaf, these schools also were spared: Robeson Early Learning Center; Bagley, Carstens, Clark, Dossin, Glazer, MacDowell, Mason, Sherrill and Thirkell elementary schools; Hally Magnet Middle School; Communication and Media Arts, Detroit City Alternative, Kettering and Kettering West Wing, and Southwestern high schools, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women.
Drew Elementary, which also was on the closure list, will remain open as a school for special-needs students.
Some schools won a reprieve by increasing their enrollment. Dossin recruited more than 90 families from nearby charter schools during the last several months. Mason more than doubled the number of students, to 417, during the last year. In addition to weighing the increase in enrollment, Mason was left open to provide an alternative to parents leaving the district in the northeast part of the city.
Parents at the Detroit Day School for the Deaf spent much of the last few months organizing rallies, talking to politicians and launching a letter-writing campaign to keep the school open.
On Monday, they learned all their work had paid off. The school was among 18 that got a reprieve after months on a Detroit Public Schools closure list released in March.
"We've been watching the news all day," said a relieved Dawn Pauling, president of the Local School Community Organization.
Pauling said that if the school had closed, the next closest place her 15-year-old son could attend was a live-in program in Flint. She said she was thrilled he would be able to continue living at home.
Then she added the fear of many parents in the reprieved schools: "I just hope we don't have to go through this all over again next year," Pauling said.
In addition to the Day School for the Deaf, these schools also were spared: Robeson Early Learning Center; Bagley, Carstens, Clark, Dossin, Glazer, MacDowell, Mason, Sherrill and Thirkell elementary schools; Hally Magnet Middle School; Communication and Media Arts, Detroit City Alternative, Kettering and Kettering West Wing, and Southwestern high schools, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women.
Drew Elementary, which also was on the closure list, will remain open as a school for special-needs students.
Some schools won a reprieve by increasing their enrollment. Dossin recruited more than 90 families from nearby charter schools during the last several months. Mason more than doubled the number of students, to 417, during the last year. In addition to weighing the increase in enrollment, Mason was left open to provide an alternative to parents leaving the district in the northeast part of the city.