$17M Henry Ford High upgrade starts
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
Detroit -- Henry Ford High School will be divided into three
programs this fall to enhance learning, concentrate on careers and cut
down on conflict.
The school, with about 1,500 students, will be
separated into a 9th Grade Leadership Academy, an Academy for Green and
Renewable Energy and an Academy of Business and Technology. Each school
will have a separate uniform color: gold, green and blue, respectively.
Non-freshmen can choose their program.
The reconfiguration comes
at a time when Henry Ford is slated for $17 million in renovations. Each
academy will have its own floor or wing, said Principal Layne Hunt,
after the groundbreaking.
It will "make it smaller and more intimate
and allow us to be more rigorous in our curriculum and give (students) a
capstone experience in that area," Hunt said.
Cody and Osborn
high schools converted to the small-school design two years ago. Their
rollout has been bumpy and it's too early to gauge their success, said
Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.
"I'm
optimistic that at Henry Ford this year there will be a smoother
transition," Johnson said. "The sell is going to be to the students and
to the parents," Johnson added. "They will have to understand this is
not the Henry Ford High School of 2009. This is going to be a new Henry
Ford High School that is really going to be several high schools in
one."
Student Mary Rodriguez, 16, is ready for the transition.
"I
think it's going to be good because it means less fights and probably
more people will actually attend their classes," said Rodriguez, who
plans to attend the green academy.
Fellow 11th-grader Anniesha
Payton thinks the school will have more order. "When people get with
other people they tend to be crazy," Payton said, of the old design. "So
it will be better if everybody is in a small group. That's better
learning for me to be in a small group. In big classes with everybody
talking it's not really helping because it's overpowering the teacher."
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