In effort to save the school from closing, students and faculty at Catherine Ferguson Academy organized a sit-in and
occupied the school for several hours. Police assaulted and arrested a number of the protestors.
Catherine Ferguson Academy is the only public school in Detroit that serves pregnant teens and teen moms. The specialized school boasts a 90% graduation rate and 100% graduate college acceptance rate - the school requires college acceptance as a requirement for graduation. The benchmark of a "good school" should be its ability to prepare its students for college and careers.
Young mothers in low-income communities of color are among the most marginalized, most overlooked, most abandoned by the system. Catherine Ferguson Academy is one of a few schools in the country designed to meet the needs of young mothers - offering support programs, childcare and parenting classes. The fact that it is the only school in Detroit with these necessary programs and supports is sobering. And that it is slated to close is more than unjust - it's social exclusion.
The bigger picture is that school functions as a socializing and learning space for young people to learn skills and tools that will prepare them for the world. In addition to creating a supportive academic and social space, Catherine Ferguson Academy also runs a successful urban farm, which was featured in the documentary "
Grown in Detroit." The urban farming movement has created viable alternative economies in Detroit, New Orleans, the Bronx and other areas hit by abandonment and urban decay.
It's obvious but needs to be said: the school is academically excelling, providing necessary services, building sustainable economy in Detroit.. and it's being closed.
Organizers at Catherine Ferguson Academy posted the following demands:
- No school closings
- Keep all Detroit schools public - no more charters or privatization
- Reinstate all programs and services that have been eliminated, including art & music as well as counselors & social workers
- Student control of curriculum and school character to assure that every Detroit school provides equal, quality education for all
- No discipline or retaliation against any of the participants in the occupation
"I'm fighting because I believe in our school." - Ashley Matthews, 17
Rachel Maddow feature on the struggle of students at Catherine Ferguson Academy:
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No Child Left Behind has systematically dehumanized the education system - reducing students to faceless statistics, restricting teachers to standardized curriculum, and assessing schools on test scores and graduation rates. Thus anesthetizing students, stifling teaching and learning, and suppressing future generations. Core curriculum is prioritized at the expense the arts, music programs, and resources for student health and wellness programs. It has paved way for mass school closings, the spread of charters and the wholesale privatization of education.
It's time we elevate education to a human rights issue. The state of public education effects us all - it's no overstatement that our future depends on our ability to educate our children. The stakes are too damn high. The students at Catherine Ferguson Academy seem to understand that better than anybody.
Related: support organizing efforts at Catherine Ferguson Academy
here
