(Lansing, MI – AP) – The Michigan school reform office plans to put chronically low-performing schools on notice that they might be closed by next June. The office’s Director Natasha Baker tells the “Detroit Free Press” the number of schools affected isn’t known, but some have been performing at low levels for a decade. She says schools will learn by year’s end whether they could be closed.
Baker says aggressive action is needed because the state can’t continue to allow schools to fail year after year. The office has had the ability to close schools since 2010, but the newspaper says it would be the first time it would do so. Baker says she’s working on alternative plans for low-performing schools in areas where there isn’t a higher-performing school that students could attend.
