Thomas M. Cooley High School Detroit Michigan...Closing
by Don Jones...7/23/10
Former Audio-Visual Stage Technician at Cooley H.S. 1958-70
I have learned today that Thomas M. Cooley High School in Detroit Michigan will close its doors July 30, 2010 for the last time. It is a sad day for this writer. I worked there from 1958 until 1970 ! They were wonderful days at a school that was not only top notch in the city, but, academically one of the best in the State of Michigan. Cooley had the largest comprehensive music department in the United States at That time. I was privileged to work with some very talented people at Cooley. Ms. Doris Lenz was the fine arts Department head. Ms. Stella Schvickas was a wonderful art teacher. Mr. William E.(Bill) Hollingsworth was the Auditorium Director and my immediate supervisor and one great guy ! I have been in communication with Mr. Stephen Czapski, Principal at Cooley H.S. Having never met him, from his letters, he sounds like an upfront and caring man and Principal. I can only hope that the powers that be, will find a place for him in a broken but not dead yet system ? I understand they will place the 17 acres that Cooley presently sits on up for sale. My heart breaks, when I think they will demolish that auditorium and stage facility. It was built in 1928-29 and If you have never seen it, You should before it is gone. When I left Detroit in 1970 and headed for Martin Tennessee, little did I think of the events that would unfold. Detroit had approximately 2 1/2 - two and half million people in the City limits. There were 26 High Schools and the Detroit Board of Education was the largest employer in the City limits. Today, there are less than 800,000 thousand people in the City ! Detroit had a school system that was envied by everyone across the country ! Today it is in shambles. The arsenal of democracy is decaying before our very eyes. I believe it can be rebuilt. This City must not be allowed to continue on its present course. I informed Mr. Czapski, that the first time, I heard of the term "Quality Education", was around 1964-65, when Lyndon B. Johnson was president. The Congress under his direction passed the National Defense Education act (NDEA). Money was thrown at our school system like rice at a wedding. I`m not sure if helped or hindered ? For years after the (NDEA) I kept hearing the term, Quality Education. I really did`nt understand the definition or if there was a definition ? Then about three years ago, I learned what Quality Education was ! Definition of Quality Education = Discipline ! Somewhere along the way, we seem to have lost our way, in discipline. Now, I`m not sure how to regain it ? I just know, what it is ! The Teachers/Faculty blame the parents, the parents blame the Teachers and Administrators. I think there is enough blame for everyone to share and at this time and point, blame is irrelevant. I do not have all the answers, but, I have some. I just know, that if we do not save our public school system, we will lose ourselves ! We seem to have become a throw away society. If we throw away our public school system, we might as well consider ourselves lost in a wilderness of despair. Lets return to common sense and service to our fellowman. I realize, that I have rambled a bit, but, I cannot write this and be neutral. Everything in the past is not bad. Everything in the present only seems to be. Everything in the future depends on both ! I`m an old Detroiter, I can remember when it was Great ! I believe it can be again. It must be again or we all lose !
Cooley Cardinal ~ Black & Red Epitaph :
Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story structure is operated by the Detroit Board of Education. The facility was named in honor of Thomas M. Cooley, a nineteenth-century jurist and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Due to budget issues and declining enrollment, the school was closed at the end of the 2010 academic year.
Hi.
I am also a graduate of Cooley High School (1959) . I was privileged to have Don Jones as one of my teachers. Cooley High school was a wonderful building, beautifully built and very pleasing to the eye. The grounds were equally beautiful. We keep tearing down our old wonderful buildings . Why not sell it for a dollar and save the demolition costs, someone might have a good use for it. I know my memories are from 50 years ago but I’m sure the building is still salvageable. Another idea is sell it to China so it can follow the jobs that left Detroit.
Steve Sauter, Class of "59"
_____________________________________________________________________
Don :
I have tried with to no avail to save the closing of Cooley High School - even that last ditch effort. As I walked on each floor that last day - Thursday, July 29th - it was a shame to see the gutting of the school's interior. Currently, my objective is still to reopen as a magnet and academic academy, similar to the Lindblom - Math and Science Academy High School located on the South Side of Chicago. Lindblom had also fallen to disrepair within a socio-economic neighborhood, I would suggest similar to that of Cooley High School in Detroit. I visited the new Lindblom in April of this year. Wow, currently it is a wonderful refurbised high school (interior and exterior) with an advanced curriculum. Moreover, it has great architecture as does Cooley - though different type and period. I will not stop in this advocacy for Cooley High School within my geographic School Board District.
Sincerely,
Tyrone E. Winfrey, Sr. ~ School Board, City of Detroit
6 comments:
I graduated from Thomas M. Cooley High School in 1952. Thanks to Mr. William Hollingsworth, I worked on my stuttering - he made me the student director of the senior play. Thanks to Miss Myrtle Munro I learned to make pottery, silver work and leather carved items. Thanks to their leadership and the other teachers, I diligently worked on my class assignments while missing 6 weeks of school due to illness. It was a surprise to be picked for the National Honor Society. I became a speech therapist after four years at the University of New Mexico. I graduated with my degree in education, enlisted in the Air Force and then was commissioned as the first woman officer in the USAF from the state of New Mexico. Cooley High gave me the start. I am sad to think Cooley will no longer be able to give students the leadership it did for me.
Cooley High will never die!!!!!!!!!!Keep rocking that sweet red and black.
I am a 1958 graduate of Cooley and lived across the street on Strathmoor so it was an easy walk to school. I remember Owen Emmons, Clarence Hiller and Helen Delbridge = they were dedicated administration. I also had Stella Shivickas in art,Myrtle Munro in crafts and a host of others that I considered good educators. Jeanette Goodenow was my counselor and I enjoyed her. I was in See and Hear, the Guide Council and the Air Raid Corp - Cooley always had fond memories. It is sad to see its demise. I agree that it should be offered to some enterprising alternative educator with an idea on how to keep the Cooley Spirit alive. I have not been back since leaving in 1987, it would just bring too many tears to my eyes. Blessings to all alumni and faculty that are still out there with fond memories of an era gone by.
Dick Weber
Tularosa, New Mexico
I was a graduate of 1960. I have so many great memories. I was in the music program. Mr Lenz was a great voice coach. I just read about the closing and am saddened that my school, might be gone. It was a wonderful school and a great school to brag about being from. There are none to compare!!!!!!
Patricia Acuff (nee Kordus)
I attended Cooley High from 1961-63and appreciate all the comments about the campus-building-teachers.!
But no one has addressed to what happened to the school & neighborhood about 1970. It became a nightmare & hell hole, never to return to it's glory.!
If the entire building could be moved to a safe & respectable site, only then can this wonderful building represent it's previous & creative history.!
C.Norfleet
Houston,Texas
Tom from Oregon ...
I never would have a thought that a minority could bring down a dynasty. But thank you Mrs Cox for everything you guided mr thru!! Cooley was the BEST!!
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