Community Rallies to Keep Osborne High Open

Osborne is on state list of possible 2017 closures.

Sascha Raiyn

Students, parents, teachers and community members rallied outside Osborne High School in Detroit to protest the possibility the state may close the school.

Basically – it’s three schools in this area. All three of them are on the list. They can’t close all three. We don’t have nowhere to go.

Osborne is one of 16 DPSCD schools the state has identified for possible closure.

Interim Superintendent Alycia Meriweather says the state needs to focus on improving student outcomes, not school closure.

“Let’s look at the whole landscape and make sure that high quality options are available for every kid,” Meriweather said. “That’s what the conversation should really be about. A closed school does not improve.”

Osborne 9th grader Jerusalem Crawley said closing the school would be wrong because it would leave the community with no options.

“Basically – it’s three schools in this area,” Crawley said. “All three of them are on the list. They can’t close all three. We don’t have nowhere to go.”

DPSCD and other districts with schools identified for closure because of poor academic performance submitted their “hardship” arguments to keep buildings open to the state’s School Reform Office.

More on this:

School Reform Office Releases List of Schools to Close [MAP]

Detroit Schools Make Case Against School Closings

Author

  • Sascha Raiyn
    Sascha Raiyn is Education Reporter at 101.9 WDET. She is a native Detroiter who grew up listening to news and music programming on Detroit Public Radio.