Michigan district copes with plummeting enrollment

From The Detroit Free Press: Highland Park (Mich.) school administrators say their district is in crisis mode after losing 50 percent of its student population over a two-year period. From September 2007 to September 2009, enrollment dropped from 3,672 students to 1,783. The February count could reflect a continued downward trend. Earlier this month, the district sent layoff notices to most of its staff and teachers, as the school board ponders how to close a $4.5 million deficit. In an effort to turn things around, district officials hope to repeat the recruiting success that once made the district the state's Schools of Choice champs. From 1999 to 2002, no other district was more successful in recruiting out-of-district students. Even now, about 65 percent of the students in the district don't live in Highland Park.