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DETROIT-A private group made up of professionals, business leaders, educators, media people, and parents from across Metro Detroit have launched a fundraising campaign to finance either a total renovation or a total remake, at a new location, of Detroit Children's Museum.
The group, which calls itself Detroit Discovery Museum, is responding to a growing concern that the museum, currently run by Detroit Public Schools, is ineffective and substandard, especially compared to children's museums in other cities such as St. Louis and Indianapolis.
One option being considered would be for the school district to turn the facility over to the nonprofit group, which would refurbish the museum in its current location. Another would be for Detroit Discovery Museum and the school district to form some sort of cooperative partnership. Yet another way is to begin a new facility in a new location. Whichever option is chosen, fundraising for the effort is ongoing.
As Amy Roth, a volunteer for the nonprofit group, told Detroit News columnist Bill Johnson, Detroit Public Schools already has its hands full trying to take care of the catastrophic financial and educational woes that have plagued it for decades, without the added responsibility of running a children's museum.
"I think they have more pressing priorities," Roth said.
