A hallway at the Cornerstone flagship campus showcasing the network’s guiding principles
Credit: Allie Gross / Chalkbeat

When prospective families arrived at Cornerstone Schools’ flagship campus on Nevada Street in Detroit last month, they were greeted by a staff primed to woo and sell.

Folding chairs had been placed in the tidy front entrance of the northeast Detroit school, and one by one, administrators stood up to speak about the rich culture and strong curriculum that parents and children had come to know and love since the religious school opened in 1991.

“You know, when you come in the fall, we’re going to have a team of parents waiting for you to teach you how to do things because there’s a way to do things. Just like when you go to a church or join a new group,” said Candace Brockman, the primary-school principal and soon to be K-8 leader, to the crowd of potential families.

In March, Cornerstone announced that starting next year, its flagship private Christian school would stop providing primary- and middle-school classes. Instead,