As DPS Suffers, Detroit Kids Head To Madison Heights And Other Suburban Schools

MADISON HEIGHTS (WWJ) There was a time not too long ago when Detroit Public Schools had 160,000 students. Since the new millennium, enrollment is below 50,000 as 195 Detroit public schools closed between 2000 and 2015

The instability of Detroit schools, with its teacher sick outs, crumbling buildings, low test scores, and lack of funding for basic classroom necessities, is leading families who have access to transportation to send their children to districts outside the city.

Madison Heights Schools Superintendent Randy Speck has seen that influx of Detroit kids into his classrooms, and he tells WWJ the current turmoil is sad.

"The second graders who should be in school right now, the fifth graders who should be in school right now, the eight, 11th and 12 graders who should be planning for what comes after high school -- They should be in school right now but they're being caught up in adult problems," Speck said.

Speck says 35 percent of his enrollment comes from Wayne County and Detroit. And he expects more kids to enroll this fall.

"They're choosing to be in environments where they're not having to deal with the dysfunction that they're seeing right now in DPS," Speck said. "And that doesn't necessarily mean that they're not supporting teachers or the school system. They're just wanting some stability for their own children."

When the leaders of other districts look at what's happening in Detroit Public Schools, what do they think?

"It makes you automatically sad for the students," Speck said.

On the up side, Speck adds that some of his best students, the brightest leaders of the future, are the ones who become motivated to leave by adversity in their home district.

The Atlantic, for instance, wrote a story including parents who spend six hours a day getting their kids to and from suburban schools, walking to avoid the most dangerous bus stops and changing between a half-dozen buses to get to schools that are miles away in the suburbs.

"Like many big cities, Detroit has shuttered scores of traditional neighborhood schools in favor of charter schools and public-school magnet programs. Detroit kids can also attend schools in suburban districts. But many of the city's new options do not provide transportation, and new schools are often far from where kids live—a serious challenge in a city where a quarter of families have no access to a car and where the public-transit system is woefully insufficient," The Atlantic wrote.

But for suburban schools looking to turn out the leaders of tomorrow, that can be a bonus in terms of attracting kids and parents with Herculean-level commitment to education.

"If you look at a student who gets up extra early and gets on a couple of different public transportation buses to come out to your school district, that's a student who's motivated, that's a family that cares and those are the kinds of students you want for your school district," he said.