Southfield HighSchool graduated its first class in 1954, according to Kenson Siver, author of A Brief History of Southfield. (Darian Fountain)
Southfield HighSchool graduated its first class in 1954, according to Kenson Siver, author of A Brief History of Southfield.

Darian Fountain

Plans Calls for Combining High Schools in Southfield

March 16, 2015

High school administrators are invited to a meeting today to discuss combining Southfield High School and Southfield-Lathrup High School.

The idea, which has been a topic of conversation for more than six years, was presented by Lathrup Village Mayor Frank Brock and Southfield City Councilman Myron Frazier at a school board meeting on March 10. A citizen’s advisory panel contributed to the proposal, which would take effect in 2016, according to the plan.

The plan includes a number of Southfield public schools. It proposes the following:

  • Southfield-Lathrup students would move into Southfield High School’s building.
  • University High School would move to the former Southfield-Lathrup High School building and include grades K-12.
  • Brace-Lederle would change from K-8 to K-5.
  • All of the middle schoolers would relocate to Levey Middle School.

Senior Kyrah Gradford-Dye, who represents Southfield High School at board meetings, said the purpose of the plan is to save money and make wiser use of existing buildings.

Southfield High School can hold 4,500 students at maximum but has under 1,000 this year. Southfield-Lathrup can hold 2,800 students but has approximately 1,000 students as well.

Senior Darren McDonald said, “This change should have been in effect a long time ago. We should have been making use of those empty classrooms.” McDonald said he sees benefits to combining the high schools because each school has programs the other school does not have.

See related story.

View Comments (7)

The Southfield Jay • Copyright 2024 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNOLog in

Comments (7)

All The Southfield Jay Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • D

    Deavah BarnettMay 12, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    I think that they should combine the schools. All the rivalry stuff would stop and these two schools would finally see they aren’t that different from one another. I currently am a freshman at Southfield-Lathrup, and I really hope that this does go through because most of my friends from Levey go to that school (Southfield High) and because the inside of the school looks much newer and cleaner. But that is a stupid reason for them to join schools. I still hoe they do it though.

    Reply
    • J

      Justin McCrawOct 2, 2015 at 9:38 pm

      Merging the schools will not bring peace between them. I went to Southfield High & graduated in 2005. The rivalry between these two schools runs very very deep. There’s so much hatred towards each other they add a lot of assemblies that we had together for the district a fight usually broke out between the schools. Even though I haven’t been there as a student in over 10 years, I still can’t see peace coming out of this; at least not immediately.

      Reply
  • C

    ChellApr 20, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    The merger of these schools means those students that walk to school now have to find a way. The students on sports teams would lose out from both schools, talk about tension. What would happen to the IB program? There are so many questions. Why don’t you sell buildings like Eisenhower?

    Reply
  • M

    Mona ChambersApr 17, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    AWESOME website! I love the pictures and students’ interaction with the articles.

    Thanks for making the Southfield Blue Jays Number 1!!!

    Reply
  • A

    Ariel RussellApr 16, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    They shouldn’t merge rivals!

    Reply
  • N

    NickMar 19, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    This is going to be very interesting if they follow through with this

    Reply
  • D

    Darrius HicksMar 16, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    I don’t know if it is a best to merge the schools together.

    Reply
7