DETROIT — Last week, the board of education for Detroit Delta Preparatory Academy for Social Justice voted to shut down the charter school with less than 48 hours notice to students and families. The school currently enrolls more than 200 Detroit students. In response, state Rep. Leslie Love (D-Detroit) issued the following statement:
“When a school closes abruptly, it is disruptive and demoralizing to students, families and teachers, yet this is not the first time this has happened with a charter school in my district. All too frequently I hear about a school closing suddenly and unexpectedly; leaving parents and students scrambling to make new arrangements. Can you imagine how debilitating and distressing that is for a child? We can’t allow schools to play poker with enrollment, leaving our students with the losing hand. In a city where the dropout rate can be high and students who have stopped attending school altogether, sudden closings like this only further exacerbate the problem. This is absolutely unacceptable. Abandoned school buildings in our communities are left to be pillaged by vandals and scrapers, add to the damage to the community. I will continue to advocate for legislation requiring charter schools to provide closure warning notice to parents within a reasonable time, as the Legislature has a responsibility to bring accountability to charter and cyber schools to ensure that no parent or student goes through this again.”
In the fall of last year, House and Senate Democrats introduced a series of bills aimed at increasing transparency in Michigan’s charter schools to bring their operations in line with traditional public schools. Additional details on the Democrats’ charter school bills package can be found here.