Catherine Ferguson Academy

Catherine Ferguson Academy
School building in background with principal Andrews giving a tour (December 2009)
Address
Map
2750 Selden Street

Detroit
,
Michigan
48208
Coordinates42°20′26″N 83°05′23″W / 42.34062°N 83.08977°W / 42.34062; -83.08977
Information
School typeCharter operated, public funding
School districtIndependent Charter through Wayne RESA[1] (2013-2014)
Blanche Kelso Bruce School District (2011-2013)
Detroit Public Schools (1986-2011)[2]
PrincipalAsenath Andrews[3]
Grades9-12
Enrollment92 (2014)[1]
LanguageEnglish
AreaUrban

Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA) was a public high school in Detroit, Michigan for pregnant girls and teen mothers, in operation from 1986 through 2014.[1][2] The school had an urban farm in its backyard[3] and provided day care and preschool education for the students' children.

CFA received awards and was the subject of documentaries and media coverage due to its academic success. During 2010, its last full year of operation as a school district-operated public school, it boasted a 97 percent attendance rate and a 90 percent high school graduation rate, with the vast majority of students going on to either a two or a four-year college.[4]

As a member of Detroit Public Schools, it was under control of an Emergency Manager and scheduled to be shut in June 2011 as part of a system-wide deficit reduction plan. Protests and national media attention focused on keeping the school open, and the school's operations were privatized under a new district created for Blanche Kelso Bruce Academy, a charter operator with local ties.[5] As of August 2011, state and federal funds amounting to $13,500 per student were to be going to the charter operator who ran the school on a for-profit basis.[2][6]

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