[citation needed] The district operated schools serving Detroit's large immigrant population including Italians, Poles, and Jews as well as African Americans who fled the south.

The first election of the new eleven member board of education, with four chosen at-large and seven by district, occurred on November 8, 2005.

[13] The district's emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, said in 2009 that he was investigating how the school board agreed to the lease in the Fisher Building.

[11] In January 2009 Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm installed Robert Bobb as the emergency manager of DPS.

[11] In September 2011, a new statewide district, Education Achievement Authority, was to take over some of Detroit's failing schools as selected by the emergency manager[17] with up to 16 expected.

[24] In 2016 a hearing was scheduled for Norman Shy of Franklin, owner of Allstate Sales, a DPS vendor of school supplies.

[25] The associated court filings reflect a total of 12 DPS principals and 1 administrator allegedly conspired with Shy in a scheme to fill their own wallets by approving invoices for supplies the schools never received.

[29] In 2007, Education Week published study that claimed that Detroit Public School's graduation rate was 24.9%.

Detroit Public Schools claim that in 2005–2006 the graduation rate was 68 percent and expected it to hold constant in 2006–2007.

At a previous Annual National Academic Games Olympics, DPS students won 25 individual and 20 team first place awards.

The Thompson Educational Foundation financed a new University Preparatory Academy High School, and provides yearly scholarships on condition of meeting student performance goals.

[40] In March 2007, the DPS board removed Superintendent William Coleman and replaced him with Connie Calloway.

[41] Connie Calloway was removed after 18 months after accusations by the school board that she was behaving unprofessionally and exercising poor judgment.

She later won a lawsuit for wrongful termination, and termination without due process in retaliation for filing a whistle-blowing lawsuit when the treasurer reported ongoing misappropriation of more than 77 million dollars per year in funds intended for the children of Detroit.

[42] Past superintendents include Warren E. Bow, Kenneth S. Burnley, Charles Ernest Chadsey, Duane Doty, and John M. B. Sill.

As of March 2016, financial matters are under the control of a Transition Manager appointed by Governor Snyder, retired bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes.

[45] Nikolai Vitti was appointed as Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District on May 23, 2017, on a five-year contract.

In his first year, Vitti worked closely with the Detroit Board of Education to implement a 100-day plan that culminated with the development of a new Strategic Plan that focuses on raising student achievement, transforming the district's culture, improving staffing, developing the whole child, and ensuring financial responsibility.

Students enrolled at Kettering West Wing will be reassigned to schools with existing special education programs.

Beloved historic leaders in Detroit, the name was changed by the first emergency manager ( actually by Governor Snyder) to Benjamin Carson Academy.

Barbara Jordan Elementary School, named after the Black congresswoman, was renamed Palmer Park Academy.

[52] On December 8, 2008, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan determined the district's inability to manage its finances and declared a financial emergency.

[43] Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Robert Bobb as the emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools in 2009.

On March 3, 2009, Bobb estimated that DPS's current year deficit would be greater than $150M, and requested early payments from the state to meet payroll.

[62] On February 4, 2010, the Detroit Public Schools announced that it wants to digitize all its teaching and learning as part of the comprehensive plan to accelerate student achievement, within five years.

The first step will be interactive Web-based portal called Learning Village that would be fully functioning by fall 2010.

The Learning Village program will give DPS the ability to digitize its textbooks, curriculum and lesson plans.

Parents can log into the system to track their students' progress, print additional worksheets and view cumulative test results for a teacher's entire class.

DPS will also use $14.2 million in federal stimulus and Title I dollars for netbooks for all 36,000 students and 4,000 teachers in grades 6–12 for access to technology to support hands-on learning.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is setting up a Detroit-based office with at least 13 employees for technical support, training and outreach.