3 New Detroit High Schools Planned for 2012

DETROIT (WJBK) - It is the brainchild of four Michigan foundations teaming up to create what they hope will be high quality high schools for Detroiters.

"If we're going to really change the outcomes for kids, then we have to address what's happening at the high school level," said Carol Goss with the Skillman Foundation.

It is called Michigan Future Schools. The Skillman, Kellogg and Kresge foundations, as well as the McGregor Fund are pitching in $2.4-million into the pot to come up with three new schools. Two of them are charter schools -- the YMCA Detroit Leadership Academy, operated by its namesake, and the Detroit Delta Prep Academy for Social Justice.

The Detroit alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will operate Detroit Delta Prep Academy.

The third one is called Schools for the Future. It is an actual DPS school. What is unique is that students who have failed in the past can take their time to graduate whether it takes two-and-a-half years or five years.

"Now the requirement is this, we want to have kids who have been unsuccessful in school. There are enough schools for successful kids. Ours is unique. These are for kids for some reason who have not been successful in high school or in elementary school," said Alice Thompson.

The new schools are not enticing to everyone.

"Every time someone has an idea about let's start a school, then somebody says, okay, let's put a school together, that is not the answer. What that does is it perpetuates the problem that we have of schools that are not performing because you're inheriting the same group of students with the same degree of problem," said Keith Johnson with the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

"Our challenge to the unions is ... if you believe that you have a model that would really educate children, well, you should step up also. It's not limited to anyone," Goss said.

The three new schools are working on locations now. They plan to have them operating by 2012 and hope to open 35 similar schools in the next eight years.