When 18 Detroit elementary schools came off the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) sanctions list last year, it was a time of great celebration. The State Department of Education held a reception in their honor along with 42 other state schools that achieved the same result. Staffs and students were invited to Lansing to receive awards and congratulations from department officials for reaching the heady ranks of AYP.

To achieve AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress in the NCLB era is very difficult. It means that the school, parents and students worked their hearts out to meet the strict and highly rigorous requirements set by national and state standards. It means that teachers, parents and students had to overcome huge obstacles not the least of which were less than desirable school conditions, lack of books and materials, large class sizes, illnesses, and student mobility from one school to another.

When a school doesn’t make AYP, it moves into a progression of sanctions called phases. For instance, if a school doesn’t reach AYP for two consecutive years in either English Language Arts or Math, it’s in Phase 2, which means it must develop a school improvement plan. In Phase 4, a school must restructure and replace its staff. The consuming goal of each school is to keep from restructuring or closing under NCLB, and this is achieved by reaching AYP.

In Detroit, however, the manner in which these high performing schools are treated is another story. In 2007 high performing schools are put on a fast track to extinction. Yes, we recognize some schools need to be closed and consolidated with others. It’s the choice of schools selected for closure that has aroused so much outrage. Of the 51 schools slated for building or program closure, 27 are kindergarten through 5th grade schools and of those 27 an astounding 21 are making AYP. Remember those 18 schools that received awards and high fives last year for hauling themselves out of sanctions? Five of them are slated to close as well.

Twenty-one schools whose students, staff and parents are filled with pride and accomplishment for what their schools have achieved and held onto since the inception of NCLB. Twenty-one schools are experiencing the awful irony of knocking themselves out academically to keep from closing, only to see their own district doing it instead. In spite of all the work, students will in many cases now be attending schools well down the sanctions road toward NCLB oblivion.

Isn’t school excellence what we strive for in Detroit? What of all the work being done by the district and the state to close the achievement gap? If children and their education are truly the reason we set these goals and provide all this assistance, why would the system now want to close down these high achievers? Parents and schools should have been consulted individually before the closures were announced, so they could have had their say without being pitted against each other in demeaning public confrontations.

We need a DPS School Board policy that says no school meeting AYP can be closed. Perhaps a state law is needed because other districts will soon face this same situation. The state could also help us by making up the deficit it left DPS at the end of the takeover fiasco. We should be celebrating the fact that these schools have consistently made AYP and that these children are excelling in spite of huge obstacles.