History of Detroit Delta Preparatory Academy

Delta Preparatory Academy as it is most well known as today, was built as Couzens Elementary in 1955. Initially Couzens Elementary would have served a large base of the new Jeffries housing projects which inculded 13 High-Rise Towers, each 14 stories tall and 415 Low-Rise Units mostly consisting on townhouses all built in 1953. Around this same time the Lodge Freeway of which Couzens sits next to today was in the process of being built with most sections of the freeway open by the time Couzens opened in 1956. The density of the projects ensured high enrollment at Couzens in its early years, additional enrollment was provided with busing changes from Washington, Davison, Custer, Franklin, and Poe Schools. With 1670 students in its first year Couzens was a very successful school, 5 classrooms had been made into Kindergarten rooms to support the enrollment numbers. In 1958 enrollment was eased at Couzens when Edmonson Elementary School opened next to Poe Elementary. Into the early 1960s the school hosted the “Couzens Summer Program” with regular language arts classes in the morning and activities and field trips in the afternoon. However by the late 60s a growing concentration of poverty in the Jeffries projects lead to issues in the surrounding area including Couzens. Like many housing projects in Detroit and elsewhere in the US, many became underfunded and hotspots for crime. While many black families faced discriminatory housing policies that prevented Black families from moving to the suburbs, leading to Couzens growing into a almost 100% black student population, this factored with Detroit’s school segregation into the early 70s. Lead to Couzens becoming a underfunded school inside the system into the late 60s. Funding would be secured for the school finally again, in the early 1970s when Couzens received its first addition in 1971. This addition added a multipurpose rooms along with a series of large classrooms. Later the school would be known as the Dewey School. Throughout the 80s the school began a Federally funded STEM program. However by the late 90s the crime and population loss had caught up to the school. Between 1996 and 2001 many buildings of the Jeffries Projects began to be demolished citing, low occupancy and high crime. While some of the remaining towers were renovated and new townhouses were built, the housing was built as a much lower density housing project. In 2010 the school was closed alongside many other schools in the district. While the school sat abandoned from a couple years, it would see a second life as a charter school. It was to be called Detroit Delta Preparatory Academy for Social Justice. It was founded by the Detroit Alumni Association of the sorority Delta Sigma Theta. With its founder and chair board member Edythe Friley a alumni of Cass Tech and later a Detroit Public Schools teacher for over 30 years. The school was planned out starting in 2012 however was questioned if it would be financially stable, however a donation of $800,000 from Michigan Future Inc a non profit that had funded similar Charter school openings in Detroit allowed the project to continued and the school opened in 2014 as a high school serving grades 9-12. In the beginning the school saw large pushes in the school’s social justice theme and was central to its appeal. There wasn’t another Detroit school with “social justice” in its name, and everyone involved says it made the school sound like the kind of project that could succeed in Detroit. However enrollment was not as much as planned at only 52 students, with a budget that had planned for around 260 students. Not to mention the school once had held over 1,600 students. However many parents liked this as it meant a smaller classroom size for students to learn in. During the 2nd year enrollment at Delta would increase due to other charter schools closing in the years following heavy recruitment campaigns at Delta. This is when delta would reach its peak enrollment at 322 students. However by the 3rd year of Delta only 20% of students came to school with any sort of regularity, and over 36% had been suspended at some point in their time at Delta. The same year not a single 11th grader was deemed proficient in math. By 2018 the board had admitted to financial shortfalls largely due to attendance issues and not reaching 85% attendance for full financial funding for the school, and in the beginning of the 2018 school year, piled teachers, parents and students into the auditorium informing the vote 4-1 to close Delta, the auditorium crowd pleaded with the board to keep the school open. With just two days to homecoming the school was closed just short of Count day, with no homecoming dance to ever be seen. However a farewell dance was set up for students in a very short time, by consultants hired to help students find new schools sought to ease the emotional blow by saving the homecoming dance. The result was a cross between a typical high school dance, a farewell party, and an apology. There was a DJ, a photo booth, and a sheet cake with the words “Well Wishes and We Love You All” written in the red and white color scheme that the school shared with the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. The school was left abandoned shortly after and in the years since becoming abandoned the school had become a known hotspot for squatters, however were removed over the fall of 2025. When the city cleaned up the school.