3 New Boys’ Academies Told to Admit Girls

The public school district must admit girls into three planned all-male academies to offer both sexes an equal education, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women Legal Defense Fund sued earlier this month to let girls attend the schools, which are scheduled to open Aug. 27. They argued that, although focusing attention on the plight of black males is admirable, it denied girls the right to an equal education.

U.S. District Judge George Woods ruled that excluding girls from the schools violates federal and state laws. He said that, no matter how important the goals of improving education for black males in Detroit, it cannot happen while girls were excluded.

“There is no evidence the school system is failing males because girls attend schools with them,” the judge said. “Girls fail too.”

The 170,000-student school district intended to have the experimental schools, officially named Male Academy, open to boys of all races but aimed at blacks. The curriculum will stress discipline, civic responsibility and high academic standards, with special emphasis on African and African-American history.

The civil rights groups filed the lawsuit on behalf of a Detroit mother with three daughters who attend public schools. The woman, who requested anonymity, said that the application process for the schools and the name Male Academy made it clear that girls need not apply.

Arthur Carter, the school district’s acting deputy superintendent, said in an affidavit disclosed Thursday that girls could apply to the academies and would be considered on an equal basis with boys. One girl and 599 boys were admitted, he said.

But, in promoting the plan, the district had stressed the school’s all-male focus.

The judge ordered the Detroit Board of Education, the NOW Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU to work out a schedule under which girls will be admitted to the academies.

The Aug. 27 opening will be met only if the groups can work out a compromise to allow girls.