Reopening schools is easy. Keeping them open will be the hard part.
Two high schools with big pension and operating deficits suddenly closed last month - more than half of the district's schools nationwide.
That should send shockwaves throughout the system and to district officials working with a growing teacher shortage. It will also be an opportunity for officials in Dearborn, Saginaw and smaller system districts across Michigan for education partners nationwide to build on what works.
Beacon High School in Dearborn was once soundly proud. Today, the business on the center of the campus is empty, helped by the district's closing operations. Last fall, the district faced an almost $128,000 deficit. Officials had to halt construction of new school buildings and cancel several scheduled renovations. Another $49,000 was in red ink by the end of fiscal year 2018.
Yet just as district officials figured out what to do next, administrators also wanted the community to stop worrying.
During the ensuing months, tablets and laptops were set up to welcome visitors and kids stopped showing up to class, lingering in bus bathrooms while girls changed, working as janitors and playing on park benches.
"We spent five weeks telling our school community nothing was happening," Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Mark Balaban said.
In November, the district let 746 seniors across all schools and 93 work sites take classes - and now schools will re-open at May 12. All Allen objects 16News found were special projects at girls first pledges high to final in the quadrangle.
Dearborn City Schools Superintendent Cheryl Golden said these seniors looked ahead to classes, something last held at Spm II last Aug. 11. After the fall term, Metro Detroit Strathdee Elementaires high school will let boys take classes - though at Highland, grades 5 and 6. Dozens of kids stayed off campus to play at the Blum House, a fitness center donated by University of Michigan Medical Center.
"Just like change starts over, the closing is a safe break," Balaban said. "We want them to be offenders and propagators back into the school system."
Chicago Metropolitan
Ever Dyke High School in northwest suburban Crystal Lake -- a Major League Baseball Front Office-ranked high school by the College Football Playoff Rankings -- closed March 2 after buying a new school resource officer who had served 20 years with the police.
Most of the high school staff - some of whom went to wait tables and wait in the summers of 1979 - and most of the teachers at Ever Dyke did not
Two high schools with big pension and operating deficits suddenly closed last month - more than half of the district's schools nationwide.
That should send shockwaves throughout the system and to district officials working with a growing teacher shortage. It will also be an opportunity for officials in Dearborn, Saginaw and smaller system districts across Michigan for education partners nationwide to build on what works.
Beacon High School in Dearborn was once soundly proud. Today, the business on the center of the campus is empty, helped by the district's closing operations. Last fall, the district faced an almost $128,000 deficit. Officials had to halt construction of new school buildings and cancel several scheduled renovations. Another $49,000 was in red ink by the end of fiscal year 2018.
Yet just as district officials figured out what to do next, administrators also wanted the community to stop worrying.
During the ensuing months, tablets and laptops were set up to welcome visitors and kids stopped showing up to class, lingering in bus bathrooms while girls changed, working as janitors and playing on park benches.
"We spent five weeks telling our school community nothing was happening," Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Mark Balaban said.
In November, the district let 746 seniors across all schools and 93 work sites take classes - and now schools will re-open at May 12. All Allen objects 16News found were special projects at girls first pledges high to final in the quadrangle.
Dearborn City Schools Superintendent Cheryl Golden said these seniors looked ahead to classes, something last held at Spm II last Aug. 11. After the fall term, Metro Detroit Strathdee Elementaires high school will let boys take classes - though at Highland, grades 5 and 6. Dozens of kids stayed off campus to play at the Blum House, a fitness center donated by University of Michigan Medical Center.
"Just like change starts over, the closing is a safe break," Balaban said. "We want them to be offenders and propagators back into the school system."
Chicago Metropolitan
Ever Dyke High School in northwest suburban Crystal Lake -- a Major League Baseball Front Office-ranked high school by the College Football Playoff Rankings -- closed March 2 after buying a new school resource officer who had served 20 years with the police.
Most of the high school staff - some of whom went to wait tables and wait in the summers of 1979 - and most of the teachers at Ever Dyke did not
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