A Tribal College’s Bold Approach to Launching Public School Academies, Charter Schools: It’s a long, long way from Bay Mills Community College, near the shores of frigid Lake Superior, to Detroit.
You can measure that distance in miles (about 350) or in drive time (roughly 5 1/2 hours) or in cultures (an American Indian-governed two-year college and a predominantly African-American, economically declining city).
But distance, time and demographics aside, the school and the city are united by Bay Mills’ status as the nation’s only tribally-controlled college that authorizes quasi-public schools, known officially as public school academies. And it’s the state’s second-largest authorizer of charter schools.
