Plan for Ferndale Science, Tech Charter School Withdrawn

FERNDALE, MI – Saginaw Valley State University on Friday its application to start of science and technology charter school in Ferndale after local opposition and disclosure that the proposed operator has a criminal record.

In a statement announcing plans to shelve the proposed Victory Academy of Science and Technology, university spokesman J.J. Boehm said:

"Leaders of Saginaw Valley State University’s School-University Partnership Office spoke with leaders of Victory Academy of Science and Technology (VAST Academy), a proposed charter school, late Thursday night. As a result of that conversation, VAST leaders have formally withdrawn their application seeking to have SVSU authorize the school. SVSU will not be authorizing VAST Academy."

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In a letter to SVSU officials earlier this month, Ferndale Superintendent Blake Prewitt objected to the charter school as a duplication of programs that would draw students away from the district’s nearby University High School, The Detroit News reports.

UHS, a college prep school operated in partnership with Wayne State University, is just down the street from the site proposed for the Victory Academy, the same building as the now shuttered Academy of Oak Park, on Mendota Street in Royal Oak Township.

Another opponent to the charter school, state Rep. Robert Wittenberg, D-Oak Park, said a tutoring company Bartley ran, Metro Education Concepts, received a D+ rating from the Michigan Department of Education in 2007-2008.

Wittenberg said that “with all that is happening with Detroit Public Schools, we do not need to open another school without any oversight or accountability measures.”

The controversy over the Ferndale charter academy mirrors a larger debate in the Legislature on whether limits should be placed on charter schools in the Metro Detroit area as part of the rescue of the Detroit Public Schools.

Image credit: Photo of Ferndale’s University High School via Facebook