“False reasons were given for closing Southwestern.
The Board, despite our tremendous limitations on resources, found three bidders. We were told
that two had to be eliminated, leaving only Maroun.
When we got to the Emergency Loan Review board, having made the proper appointments,
getting the bids at our own expense and time, as no white District would ever have to do, we
were told that the Mayor's plans could not be interfered with, thus Southwestern would be
demolished despite the excellent condition of the building at the time it closed and the
outstanding debt. This was all about the bridge.
Less than one year later, Phoenix Academy Principal, Alex Cintron announces at an EAA
Board meeting at Wayne County Community College that Phoenix Academy in SW Detroit
would be expanding to include a high school because ‘Southwest Detroit does not have enough
seats for our growing population.’ It went from a K-8 to include high school.
And once it got a high school, the Charter did not actually have the space, so students who were
forced there were now forced onto buses to Central Collegiate. Most left due to spending their
days on buses.
After this fiasco, Southwestern is sold to a parts supplier from India for hiring ex offenders for
far less than the value of the remodeling the State pushed for just a few years before ,which tax
payers are still paying for!
The building remains vacant and stripped. We did not find out about the sale of the school
from the Emergency Manager. We were notified in the paper like everyone else. If this sound
wrong to you, welcome to our world.”
DISPARATE TREATMENT
Provide requested documentation to individuals elected by the community as requested. Giving the Board of
Education, parent advocates and others false, misleading or no information at all essentially amounts to giving
minorities the run around, when the information they seek is about their home.
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