Successful Charter to Open Detriot School
by Marisa Schultz
February 11, 2010
A nationally recognized charter school operator will open a secondary school in Detroit in the fall, marking the first of what advocates hope will be a wave of new, high-performing charter schools coming to the city.
YES Prep, a Houston charter operator that boasts a 100 percent college attendance rate, pledged to duplicate its success here at a former Detroit Public Schools building on the city’s northwest side. It’s a partnership with New Urban Learning, which runs University Prep Schools in Detroit.
When University Yes Academy opens in the fall, students will attend school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and at least one Saturday a month. By eighth grade, students will be on the college prep path and by high school, students will be taking Advanced Placement courses.
The announcement Wednesday is the culmination of an effort by two of Detroit’s most influential charter school backers to open or expand enough charter schools for 25,000 students to attend within a decade. Doug Ross, founder of the U Prep schools, and Steve Hamp, founder of Henry Ford Academy, formed the nonprofit More Good Schools to try to woo some of the nation’s best charter school operators to the city.
“We believe this is a significant event in the city’s educational history,” Ross said Wednesday of the school’s opening. “This will open the doors to many other such nation-leading schools to come.” The Wayne and Joan Webber Foundation donated $5.8 million to renovate the former Winship school, 14669 Curtis. Bay Mills Community College will authorize the charter.
The tuition-free school is accepting applications for 125 sixth-grade slots. The school plans to add a grade each year and hopes to eventually have 775 students in grades six through 12. Youth in Detroit “deserve the option to attend college and have rigorous academics in front of them so they are prepared to be successful when they do get into college,” said principal Agnes Aleobua, a 1999 Cass Tech graduate who has been training at YES Prep in Houston.
Ross is optimistic about the goal of bringing the 25,000 charter school seats to Detroit. He’s working to lure nationally recognized charters, such as KIPP and Green Dot, to give parents more options of high-performing, safe schools.
“This fight over whether charters are a help or a hindrance has been resolved,” Ross said. “… We’ve reached a point where we are now saying whoever can provide Detroit children with good learning opportunities ought to do it.”