# A Question of Class and Classrooms: Should All Detroit's Public Schools Have Equal Programs and Opportunities?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/daily-detroit-403697/a-question-of-class-and-classrooms-should-all-detroit-s-public-schools-have-equal-programs-and-opportunities
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/daily-detroit-403697/a-question-of-class-and-classrooms-should-all-detroit-s-public-schools-have-equal-programs-and-opportunities.md
Podcast: [Daily Detroit](https://stenobird.com/podcast/daily-detroit-403697)
Published: 2026-08-03T17:05:17+00:00
Episode link: https://www.dailydetroit.com/a-question-of-class-and-classrooms-should-all-detroits-public-schools-have-equal-programs-and-opportunities/
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/dailydetroitnewsbyte/daily-detroit-aug-03-26.mp3?dest-id=497871
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Duration seconds: 1701

## Resource

In this episode, I sit down with parent Brandi "BrandiTheeMillennialManager" McGill and sociologist Dr. Aya Waller‑Bey — along with my regular co-host Norris Howard — to talk about what started when one parent trying to get a soccer program at Denby that has snowballed into a saga that has started a lot of conversations around the Detroit Public Schools Community District. We dig into class, charter flight, black flight to the suburbs, exam schools versus neighborhood schools, and much more. It's one of the most important conversations to be had in the city of Detroit, as it's going to be very difficult to make Detroit's comeback stick without open conversations about the schools. The Detroit Public Schools Community District has undoubtedly made progress. For instance, a recent Chalkbeat Detroit report says DPSCD's high school graduation rate of 83% is now almost on par with the state average, and the highest since 2008. But a number of parents feel frustrated with what they see: a lack of equity of programs, facilities, and outcomes across the district's schools. That there feels to be a wide gap between the district's elite schools that you test into, and those in the neighborhoods for everyone else. Complicating all of this? Less than half of Detroit's children go to the Detroit Public Schools Community District. According to a Detroit PEER report in 2025, a group out of Wayne State University, only about 78,000 of the 106,000 public school students who live in Detroit (about 73%) go to school in the city. Of those, about 48,000 attend school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) and about 30,000 attend a Detroit charter school. The remaining 29,000 students or so (that's about 27%) go to school outside of the city, attending either a traditional…

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