Board members chosen for new Detroit charter schools

The emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools has named 25 people to serve as board members for the district’s five new charter schools that will open this fall.

Ola Elsaid will serve on the board of directors for the EMAN Hamilton Academy.

"I really feel like the children in Detroit deserve better. I believe this transitioning to charter schools will provide better education, better guidelines. They deserve as much as students everywhere else deserve, and I really hope we can make a difference to the schools in Detroit."

Elsaid says she starts training with her fellow board members tomorrow. Many people were trained this spring by the National Charter Schools Institute.

Detroit Public Schools offered 45 schools up to charter operators as part of the district’s effort to shed some of its operating expenses.

In the end, just three operators were chosen to run five schools this fall – although more may convert to charters in 2012. A request for proposals is scheduled to go out this month.