Friends School Closes a Few Weeks before School Starts
Friends School has closed its doors, but will it remain that way forever?
A few weeks before school was to resume, Michigan’s only Quaker School closed its doors after 50 years in Detroit. Stephen Henderson, who attended the school in the 1970s, is joined by Brandy Robinson, a parent of three students who formerly attended the school, and Friends Board Member Jane Morgan to talk about Friends and what future it may have.
What happened to Friends? “It wasn’t any one thing. It was a number of factors,” Morgan says. The school amassed a large debt, experienced declining enrollment and outstanding building repairs were just some of the factors that led Friends to shut its doors. But supporters want to see those doors open again.
There’s no place like Friends: According to Robinson, there really isn’t any other place like Friends. It was founded in part to make sure students have access to a good education. In order to have that again, Jane says there are a number of interconnecting issues that will need to be resolved.
The Future: The Friends school has often been outshined by other private schools like University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Cranbrook, University of Liggett and Grosse Pointe Academy. However this will not stop Friends from reopening, says Robinson, and once it does it’ll not only open but it’ll be strong.
Click the link above to listen to the full conversation.
