One yellow bus dropped off several students outside of J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy early Thursday in the Morningside neighborhood.
The kids filed into the school through a gothic arched doorway at the front of the large building on Detroit’s east side. The only sounds on the street were the muted chatter of a couple of kids who walked themselves to school and several cars stopping to drop off students. A staff member blew a single whistle to signal the start of school at 7:30 a.m.
Jaqueisha Loyd watched her three children go off to class. They all started kindergarten at Clark. The mother will need to find new schools for all of her kids after the school year ends June 5, when the school is set to permanently close and eventually be demolished.
Clark and three other schools have been on the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s list of phase-out buildings for four years, but district officials moved up the timeline in part because of budgetary concerns. That news, shared in letters in February, has brought complex feelings for some families and staff members.
Loyd said she wishes things were different. She values having a traditional public school in her neighborhood.
“I would love for it to stay open,” she said.
Detroiters have seen mass school closures over the years due to declining population, the state’s emergency management of the district, and enrollment lost to neighboring charters and suburban districts. Since 2000, more than 200 school buildings have closed in the city.
During last year’s budget cycle, the district’s board voted to accelerate the closure of Clark – along with Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School – to save $10 million-$19 million. The board also voted to speed up the planned phase-out of Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School, though there are no plans for it to close this school year. This district has not said when Marshall will close.
The under-utilized buildings cost the district more money to operate than the revenue each brings in, officials said. The threat of federal funding cuts, demands for higher teacher pay, and inflation were all considered when district officials recommended closing the schools earlier.
There was not a date set for the closures when the district’s board voted to phase them out in 2022, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat in an email. The original plan was for each lower grade to be phased out and for grade levels with fewer than 10 students to be eliminated.
Staff at the closing schools will be reassigned to other positions in the district, Vitti said.
All four school buildings are set to be demolished, according to last year’s budget presentation. The district has not shared a timeline for demolition.
About 330 students total have been affected across the four schools. Their families should have received letters in February letting them know their new assigned neighborhood schools for the upcoming school year. Students, however, may attend any neighborhood school in the district they choose, though transportation isn’t guaranteed.
They may also opt for a DPSCD application or examination school, as well as choose to leave the district for a suburban district or charter school.
Nearly 25% of school-age children in Detroit attend a charter in the city, according to DPSCD data based on 5-Year American Community Survey estimates from 2023. Another 17% go to charters outside of Detroit and 10.6% are in traditional school districts in the suburbs. More than 39% attend DPSCD.
At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, DPSCD enrolled about 49,400 students, state records show. Enrollment fell significantly during the COVID pandemic, and the district has not yet fully recovered its numbers.
Here are details about the closing schools.
- Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School at 7635 Chatham St. in northwest Detroit enrolled 51 students at the start of the school year, according to state data. There are 21 total staff members, including 10 teachers. The district estimates that it lost about $15,000 a student by running Ann Arbor Trail in the 2024-25 school year, according to a DPSD report. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Dixon Educational Learning Academy, about 1.4 miles away.
- Catherine C. Blackwell Institute at 9330 Shoemaker St. on Detroit’s east side enrolled 61 students at the start of the school year. The school employs 21 total staff members, including 10 teachers. The school operated at a loss of about $8,000 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School at Howe, about 2.2 miles away.
- J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy at 15755 Bremen St. enrolled 83 students at the start of the school year. The school employed 23 total staff members, including 10 teachers. It operated at a loss of around $3,000 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Hamilton Elementary-Middle School, about 1.7 miles away.
- Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School at 420 W. 7 Mile Road on the north end of Detroit had 138 students at the beginning of the school year. There are 29 staff members, including 13 teachers. The school operated at a loss of about $2,506 a student in 2024-25, according to DPSCD. Students’ new assigned neighborhood school is Nolan Elementary-Middle School, about 1.6 miles away.
Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.