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Thu Jun 9, 2011 10:22 AM EDT
Detroit News
Unless someone intervenes, Detroit's Catherine Ferguson Academy for young moms will shut its doors next Thursday for the last time. The local press still appears to have taken no notice of this. In the weeks before we got news of the closure, the Detroit News wrote about how Catherine Ferguson spends more per student than other schools, which is true. The farm school also educates two generations at once, since it supports the mothers on their way to becoming productive adults and their very small children as they grow into future Detroit schoolkids.
But now that the Detroit Public Schools' emergency manager has decided unilaterally to close the school, where are the stories? If you see one, please send it. I keep checking, and nothing ever turns up. It's as though young mothers of color are scarcely worth mentioning.
Principal Asenath Andrews has made the point that Detroit is closing two other high schools, both for at-risk kids. At the same time, the city is opening two new ones backed by public-private partnerships -- the Dr. Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine and Detroit Collegiate Prep. The former will "develop and support a school culture upholding high expectations" and at the latter, "the curriculum will be based on a college-going culture." Without question, all Detroit kids need the best they can get, including the kids destined for an elite high school.
Catherine Ferguson also sets high expectations. Principal Andrews says 90 percent of the students graduate, with college acceptance part of that process. What separates Catherine Ferguson is that a young mom there gets the support she needs to reach for excellence. Ms. Andrews says it's not at all clear where that support will come from now.
This story need not be case of either/or, of the easier cases versus the more difficult ones. All of these kids are our kids.
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