Parents and teachers of Detroit public schools students believe closing down schools won't improve education in their city.
The state released a list of 38 Michigan schools that could be shut down for low test scores. Twenty-five of them are in Detroit.
Robin Jennings, a Detroit public school teacher, said the state hasn't given the newly created school district enough time to improve.
“They promised that if they opened up this new school district, they would allow us time to get us on track, and they lied to us,” Jennings said. “They outright lied.”
“I think the new superintendent [Alycia Meriweather] is a good one,” Jennings added. “The kids love her, the teachers love her, I love her because it’s the first time I’ve had a superintendent that will actually come to the school, come in the classroom and read to the students.”
Jennings says the state should find ways to improve test scores at the schools instead of closing them.
Gloria House, a retired Wayne State University professor in Detroit, said the closures would be an assault on the city's children.
“No other community would be subjected to this kind of abuse of their children, so we Detroiters have to speak up and say our children will not be abused this way either,” House said.
The state will make a decision regarding the closures by the end of March.
