Detroit closing plan will be scaled back

April 14, 2010
District manager says fewer than 42 school will be shuttered

FromThe Detroit Free Press: The Detroit district will not have to close all of the 42 schools included in a recent reorganization proposal. Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, says new data and proposals from residents are being considered and will lead to fewer closures. Bobb says he is unable at this point to estimate how many schools will survive. MARCH 2010...from The Detroit News: The Detroit school board is seeking a court injunction to block Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb's plan to close schools and carry out a sweeping academic overhaul of the district.Earlier...from The Detroit News: Less than five months after Detroit voters passed a $500.5 million school construction plan, nearly half of the 18 schools that were to be rebuilt or renovated are now headed for closure or plans for them have been altered. Some supporters of the bond say they feel cheated for voting for a plan they were told would mean new construction or renovation in their neighborhood, but instead their schools will be shuttered as soon as this summer, according to the facilities plan released this week by Robert Bobb, the school system's emergency financial manager.

From The Detroit News: Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb says his vision for a leaner Detroit public school system calls for closing 45 schools this year and building new athletic facilities, a new campus for special needs students and reviving a closed high school site. This rebuilding, he says, will require voters to approve an estimated $700 million more in bonds--in addition to the $500 million voters approved in November to remodel and build 18 schools.

From The Detroit News: The $540 million academic plan Robert Bobb will unveil tonight for Detroit Public Schools calls for rigorous achievement standards, offering college-level courses within all high schools and boosting graduation and attendance rates beyond the state average. Bobb's blueprint sets standards so high that the district would climb from the bottom of the list to among the best in the country for student achievement measures. According to Bobb's plan, Detroit schools' graduation rate would increase from 58 percent to 98 percent graduation rate and all students would pass standardized tests and be accepted into college by 2015.

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