The Extreme Sacrifice Detroit Parents Make to Access Better Schools [TheAtlantic.com]

Samantha Sangenito 4/12/164:01 AM

For thousands of Detroit families, the daily trek begins in darkness, before dawn.

Myesha Williams, a mother of eight on Detroit’s west side, sets out at 7 a.m. to deliver her three school-aged sons to three different schools on opposite ends of the city—and she considers herself lucky. She has a car and a large family that can help share the driving.

Total daily journey: up to 93.5 miles, 3 hours.

Monique Johnson starts her trek even earlier, just after 6 a.m. when she and her son Shownn, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, catch a ride to a bus stop eight blocks from their home in the city’s Brightmoor neighborhood. There are closer stops, Johnson said, but they’re pitch black at that hour—and dangerous.

[For more of this story, written by Erin Einhorn, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/]04/the-extreme-sacrifice-detroit-parents-make-to-access-better-schools/477585/

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