Today the Detroit Free Press reported on the newest plan to cut the city's $139-million deficit by closing up to 18 schools. With shrinking enrollments over the last few years, the schools don't have the bodies to warrant operating half full (or half empty?) buildings. There are 52 schools currently being considered for closure which means 52 principals, 52 staffs of teachers, 52 groups of innocent children are now waiting anxiously to find out if it is their neighborhood school that will be next on the chopping block. 

As the city with the lowest graduation rate in the entire country, this newest news strikes a chord.  Students will need to be shuffled around to new schools next year in a district where working towards a high school diploma is clearly not the norm.  How many kids will slink into the shadows now?  With Detroit laying off hoards of employees every week and school enrollment doing a parallel nose dive, the bitter truth is that the current situation is not going to improve before the district decides which schools to close this summer.  Detroit might be sinking but that doesn't mean that the students that occupy her classrooms should pay the price.  The hope, of course, is that the DPS--even in the midst of its budget crisis--has set aside some resources to help acclimate the students who are required to change schools and minimize the disruption it will cause to their academic careers.  It's the least that can be done to provide a brighter future for some of Detroit's children.  If this news make you feel anxious, too, consider doing something to encourage hope and purpose for a child or school in Detroit.   

Photo credits: http://www.detroityes.com/webisodes/2008/080410-the50/103-McMillanSchool.htm, http://flickr.com/photos/51586455@N00/2807960166/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/detroitderek/1392880463/