Dozens packed the city council chamber in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center for a town hall meeting in response to the potential closure of two dozen under-performing public schools in Detroit.
As many as 24 under-performing Detroit public schools could be shut down by the state.
Outraged residents pled their case to members of the city council, saying that shuttering schools will only hurt students and communities by subjecting them to continuing cycle of blight and failure.
"In allowing these schools to close, you go around the city and look at any school that's closed, look at the devastation around it," said Arthur Edge, whose three children attended Detroit public schools.
Some residents blamed the state take over of Detroit public schools in 1989 for the lower test scores that threaten their survival.
"The state took us over in 1989 when we had test scores that were at the state mid-point and rising and we had
a $140 million surplus. Here we are a decade and a half later billions of dollars in debt. Test scores are the worst in the country. Detroiters didn't do that," said John Telford
City officials plan to introduce a resolution at a meeting tomorrow, calling on local lawmakers to support two bills in the state legislature that will changed the standards under which schools can be closed.
But even the head of the teachers union doubts it will help.
Ivy Bailey said Detroit schools are facing mounting challenges to educate Detroit's future that take precedence over closed buildings.
"Some students don't have a teacher in front of them and we have aides in classrooms trying to fill in the gap.
That is unacceptable," Bailey said.
