a charter school operated by National Heritage Academies, is in Warrendale. Prior to the opening of the charter school, the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit occupied the building. History of schools The Detroit Public Schools school board closed Leslie Elementary School in Warrendale in 1985. In 1992 the Detroit Board of Education voted to move Malcolm X Academy, an "African-centered" curriculum school, into the former Leslie school. Malcolm X had 470 students, one of whom was white. The move prompted a protest from the community, which at the time was a majority White working class community. At the time the nearest elementary school in the immediate area, George Washington Carver Elementary School, was overcrowded. Warrendale residents objected to the idea that the Detroit Public Schools would divert funds and basic services to the Malcolm X Academy, which would be a mostly middle class school, and argued that the board should instead focus on its own overcrowded local school. Marc Christensen of the Metro Times said that the controversy lead outsiders to brand Warrendale as a racist area "because of their unprofessional speech, and because they couldn't control how other people thought the "whiteness" of their neighborhood mattered." He explained that the scenario therefore became "a nightmare." John Hartigan, Jr. wrote about the controversy in one chapter of his book Racial Situations: Class Predicaments of Whiteness in Detroit, published by Princeton University Press. Police officers escorted the Malcolm X students to school due to perceived dangers. Other zoned elementary schools previously serving Warrendale include Kosciuscko Elementary School, Lessenger K-8, and the standalone Jemison Elementary School. Zoned middle schools previously serving Warrendale include Lessenger Middle School and Ruddiman Middle School; Lessenger later became Lessenger K-8. Parks and recreation The Rouge Park is in Warrendale. It is twice the size of Belle Isle. References Hartigan, John, Jr. Racial Situations: Class Predicaments of Whiteness in Detroit. Princeton University Press, 1999. , 9780691028859. Notes Further reading Angel, Cecil. "POLICE RAID TEENAGE NIGHTCLUB PATRONS FACE CHARGES; WARRENDALE QUIETER." Detroit Free Press. June 28, 1999. B6. Hartigan, John Jr. "'White Devils' Talk Back." In: Rasmussen, Birgit Brander, Eric Klinenberg, Irene J. Nexica, and Matt Wray (editors). The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness. Duke University Press, August 17, 2001. start page 138. , 9780822327400. External links Kiska, Tim. "WHERE WE LIVE: WARRENDALE, WAYNE COUNTY." Detroit Free Press. January 7, 2005.