This map shows how few choices parents have if Detroit schools close

Detroit parents whose children attend schools targeted for potential closure by the state have received a letter from the state suggesting alternatives largely in the suburbs. It raises a sobering reality for Detroit parents: They have few high-performing school options for their kids in the city.

None of the 25 schools in the city that could shut down at the end of this school year have nearby schools that are doing much better academically, a Free Press review of academic data shows.

Only 20 Detroit schools are ranked at or above the 25th percentile, the threshold recommended by the state. A school that ranks at the 25th percentile performs better than 25% of the schools in the state. Only four Detroit schools are ranked above the 50th percentile. And schools that are high-performing tend to be at capacity.

The letters highlight 59 districts for parents. The Detroit Public Schools Community District is one. But the rest are districts outside the city — such as the East China School District in St. Clair County, which is about 50 miles away; and Monroe Public Schools, which is about 40 miles away. There are some closer options, such as bordering Ferndale Public Schools and the South Redford School District.

Michele Phillips, whose three children attend Fisher Upper Magnet School, said she can't afford to pay for public transportation to send her children to a Detroit school located a few miles away, much less one much farther away.

"How am I going to get there?" said Phillips, who doesn't have a car and whose children now walk five blocks to school.

Natasha Baker, head of the State Reform Office, which issued the list of potential closures, said the list provided to parents is designed to make sure they know about all their options. She said some parents have called her office "excited that they have the opportunities they have."

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"All we wanted to do is provide an opportunity for parents to access a higher-quality option," Baker said. "Parents have the right to know what their options are."

And while Baker acknowledged that transportation is an issue, she said "transportation issues can be resolved."

Asked how those could be resolved, Baker said she wasn't prepared to go into detail because of ongoing conversations.

Tonya Allen, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, which has invested in schools in the city, said most of the kids in the failing schools live in the neighborhood and walk to school.

"We cannot close schools and give them no better alternative," Allen said. "That's the predicament we're basically putting parents in."

The state on Friday unveiled a list of 38 schools that could close because of chronic failure. The state will make a final determination by late February or early March, and some schools could get a reprieve if the state determines it would be a hardship for the school to close. A hardship would be if there are no better schools nearby for students to attend.

A better option, Baker said, are schools ranked at or above the 25th percentile. If there are no better options, the state might consider some other type of intervention that could include appointing a CEO to take over the school's academics or requiring the school to replace its leadership and half of its staff.

"School closures, when they result in kids going to better schools, can be a good thing," said Ashley Jochim, research analyst with the Center for Reinventing Public Education, a Washington state based organization. "But when that doesn't happen, they negatively affect student achievement."

A key concern, some say: Are the higher-performing schools in the city equipped to handle an influx of children from failing schools?

Maria Montoya, director of communications and strategic partnerships for Enroll Detroit, which works with Detroit parents on enrollment issues, said many of the in-demand schools have already started their application process for the 2017-18 school year. If the state isn't making final decisions about which of the schools will close — and which will stay open because of the hardship determination — it will put parents from the struggling schools behind.

"It's a very big reality that the kids — many of them — will have missed the first round of application deadlines for the most in-demand schools," Montoya said.

And while schools will continue to take applications, parents will likely find themselves ending up on a waiting list.

"When you're in crisis and you're coming from a school that's closing and hearing you're going to be on a wait list ... that doesn't sit well with families," Montoya said. "And you end up in a situation of panic."

The situation in Detroit illustrates just how difficult that's going to be to find better schools:

• Only 20 Detroit schools — 5 in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and 15 charter schools — are ranked at the 25th percentile or above.

• Only four Detroit schools are ranked above the 50th percentile — Chrysler Elementary, ranked at the 56th percentile; Detroit Merit Charter Academy, 58; Detroit Enterprise Academy, 51, and Detroit Edison Public School Academy, 87.

• Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, a K-8 school which is on the potential closure list and is ranked at the 4th percentile, is surrounded by poor-performing schools. Dixon Elementary School, a K-8 school ranked at the 2nd percentile and is at risk for state intervention next year, is 1.4 miles away. Warrendale Charter Academy, a K-8 charter school located 2.1 miles away, is ranked at the 7th percentile. Slightly farther away: Detroit Leadership Academy, a charter school that serves grades 6-10, is located 2.4 miles away and is ranked at the 1st percentile. And Carver STEM Academy, a K-8 school, is 2.6 miles away and is ranked at the 2nd percentile.

• Fisher Magnet Upper Academy, which covers grades 5-8 and is also on the closure list, has a 0 ranking, the worst possible. Located just a few blocks away is the Regent Park Scholars Charter Academy, a K-8 charter school ranked at the 8th percentile. Brewer Academy, a K-8 school located just over half a mile away, is ranked at the 3rd percentile and is also at-risk for state intervention next year. Trix Elementary, a K-8 EAA school that was converted into a charter, is about 2 miles away and is ranked at the 12th percentile.

• Of the 25 schools that could closing, 10 are high schools. Most of the high schools on the list not only have few higher-performing options, they have few options in general. The closest options for students attending Osborn Academy of Mathematics, Osborn College Preparatory Academy and Osborn Evergreen Academy of Design and Alternative Energy — all of which share the same building — are Denby High and Pershing High, which are also on the potential closure list. The closest higher-performing option is a charter school located more than four miles away.

"All this does is exacerbate the school deserts in Detroit," said Skillman's Allen. "Many of the lowest-performing schools are also in the poorest parts of our city with the fewest academic options possible. If we are to close these schools, we really have no options available to children."

She criticized the letter the state school reform office sent home to parents because, while the DPSCD is listed as an option, so too are 58 school districts, many of which are located far away. Included on the list is East Detroit Public Schools, which has been in a battle with the state after the school reform office last year appointed a CEO to take over the academics of four of its schools. Three of those schools have since improved enough to no longer need state intervention.

Similar concerns are being heard by parents across the city, said Arlyssa Heard, a parent advocate who works with 482 Forward, an education organizing group made up of parents, youth and community members.

"People are panicking," Heard said.

Allen said the higher-performing schools that do exist can only absorb a small percentage of students displaced by struggling schools.

"If you go beyond adding 20% of students who have come from a low-performing school into a high-performing school, you automatically begin to pull down the performance of that school," Allen said.

The problem of finding better options for students in failing schools isn't just a Detroit issue.

"Michigan has a profound lack of supply of high-performing or even mediocre schools in poor communities and working class communities," said Amber Arellano, executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, an education advocacy and research organization based in Royal Oak. "Simply closing schools is not going to produce high-performing schools."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins