History of Herman School/Jemison Academy

The Herman School was built in 1944 as a single story building at first. During construction, it became clear that the projected enrollment would exceed what was originally planned. Students from Herman came from the Herman Gardens Projects, a development that began in 1942 to house over 2,000 units for workers from the city's defense plants. Herman Gardens was one of the biggest projects built during this time. When the Herman School opened in September of 1944, it was already overcrowded, requiring another addition to be added in 1948, followed by another one in 1955. This increase brought the enrollment from 1,600 students to 2,500 in the late 1950s and included a massive gymnasium, an auditorium, and plenty of classrooms to accommodate students. Enrollment became more manageable when other schools were built nearby. Herman Gardens, like many other projects in Detroit and other cities, became a hotspot for crime and underfunding by the 1980s. Many sections of the project began to decay and rot away. In an attempt to improve the quality of life for residents, many of these vacant homes were demolished, and many others were renovated around the same time. However, more and more houses were demolished, and by 1993, the Detroit Free Press quoted, "many of its 182 buildings have stood boarded, vandalized , and vacant for a dozen years. A renovation 10 years ago has done little to boost its occupancy rate now at about 56 percent." By 1998, the last of Herman Gardens was demolished, leading to a lack of students to attend the Herman School. Into the 2000s, enrollment stood lower than it should have for such a massive school. In 2005, it was merged and renamed Jemison when the Jemison program moved into the school. The Jemison Academy had opened in 1992 in the former St. Monica Catholic School at 14595 Heyden St., just south of Fenkell. It was a "school of choice " a school that takes kids from anywhere, not just the surrounding neighborhood, with a special, curated curriculum. Jemison's curriculum featured a heavy focus on Black history, literature, and culture. The academy was named in honor of Mae C. Jemison, the first Black female astronaut. At this point, the former Herman School, now known as Jemison, taught K-8. In 2009, the former Herman Gardens had been redeveloped into the Gardenview Estates, a 607 unit housing development. In 2011, with an enrollment of 612 students, Principal David Harris said 599 of those were Black, 434 were economically disadvantaged, and 144 were identified as students with disabilities. However, the students were motivated. Harris noted that the school struggled with attendance from its teachers and parents at parent teacher conferences more than it did with pupils. Student attendance was at 84.4 percent, relatively high for DPS schools. The school also showed improvements in reading and math Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) scores, with 73.4 percent meeting or exceeding performance levels in reading and 53.4 percent in math, low but still showing improvement. Later noting in his letter , "Students don't always feel safe in the school," Harris wrote in his grant application. "Staff members sometimes feel misled by information that they receive from Detroit Public Schools administration. The library is not staffed or used effectively, and many of the school clocks do not work and none are synchronized, and many windows in the school are in poor condition and do not work properly, and the school has experienced break-ins as a result of broken windows." In 2012 , the emergency manager in charge of DPS, closed Jemison, citing building repairs and low enrollment. Jemison was bought by Total Life Change Ministries in 2014, a church founded by Michael Beasley. Beasley was a former prison guard who had a successful ministry in the suburbs but felt drawn to the city. He said God came to him in a dream and told him to buy a school and move his flock to Detroit. After looking for a new home for his church, he found Herman/Jemison. He viewed the school, which needed significant repairs at that point, as an opportunity to provide community services and vocational training for at-risk youth. His goal was to not only save souls and expel demons but to provide community services such as a 24 hour Christian bookstore and coffee shop, as well as vocational training for at risk youth. However, many of his parishioners did not follow him from the suburbs to Detroit. Indeed, only about a dozen stuck with him. Despite this setback, he stayed true to his dream and kept his church services at the former Herman School. However, by 2018, scrappers had begun breaking in and stealing copper pipes and wiring from the church while the building was still active. In the Detroit Free Press, it was said, "Over and over, someone keeps breaking into the building, methodically stealing the copper pipes and copper wiring, leaving the church without water or power. Time and again, the congregation has sealed every crack and crevice they could find. But the scrappers keep forcing their way inside. During one stretch this summer alone, they got into the building seven times in two weeks. Once, faced with barricaded windows and doors, the thieves just sledgehammered their way through a wall to get in." In 2019, after years of metal thieves and over tens of thousands of dollars to repair the damage that was done, with only nine members left, the church closed, abandoning the Herman School to the scrappers. In 2020 and 2021 , several fires broke out in the school, and since then, scrappers have continued to target the school in its abandoned state.