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Detroit PSL to accept first charter schools to compete in PSL athletics
Detroit – A month ago State Champs learned that the Detroit Catholic League would add two members beginning with the 2017-18 school year and now it’s the Detroit Public School League’s turn.
Detroit Edison and Detroit Delta Prep, two charter schools, have joined the PSL and will begin competing in football in August and in basketball in November (girls) and December (boys).
These two schools are the first charter schools to join the PSL and Alvin Ward, the director of athletics for the Detroit Public Schools, said he hopes there will be more schools, outside of the PSL, to join the league and compete in athletics.
Ward added he reached out two years ago to schools outside of the PSL to join and Harper Woods, a public school in Wayne County, was the only one to accept but the school did not become a full-fledge member. It competed in swimming and volleyball, according to Ward, but did not participate in the major sports.
“These kids (in charter schools in Detroit and nearby suburbs) are our kids,” Ward said. “They should be able to compete at the highest level.”
Ward said he hopes the addition of Edison and Delta Prep will encourage other schools, charter or public, to join the PSL and compete in athletics.
Some might argue that the decision to allow charter schools to join the PSL would increase the number of students from Detroit to enroll in charter schools and not to traditional PSL schools like Detroit Western or Detroit King, for example. Ward does not agree with that thought process.
“Parents have already made the decision whether to send their children to a charter school,” he said. “Now, parents might want to send their kids back to (schools) in the PSL.”
Ward said the scheduling process has already begun. Delta Prep will compete in Division 2 (in the PSL) and Edison will compete in Division 2 for football, Division 1 for basketball.
