Original Research by School Decision on Waterford Kettering High School
Waterford Kettering High School is a regular public high school in the Waterford School District, serving the township of Waterford in Oakland County, Michigan. Though its listed grade span includes seventh through twelfth, its enrollment is concentrated in grades nine through twelve, with no students currently reported in the seventh or eighth grades. The school draws from a community that is predominantly residential and suburban, shaped by its many lakes and its location roughly a half-hour northwest of Detroit.
The most pressing fact for any family considering Kettering is that the Waterford School District Board of Education voted in June 2025 to close the school and consolidate its students into Mott and Durant high schools beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, according to publicly reported coverage. The decision followed a long enrollment decline across the district. The closure will redraw attendance boundaries and shift where current Kettering students attend high school. For families already in the Kettering feeder area, this means the school as it exists today will not be an option beyond the coming transition. A parent may want to contact the district directly to understand the redistricting plan and how the transition will affect current students, transportation, and academic programming.
Academic performance data for Kettering is largely unavailable. State assessment results in math, English language arts, science, and social studies were suppressed in the records we reviewed, with no tested students reported for the grade levels in the data. This means we cannot characterize the school's proficiency outcomes from the information provided. A graduation rate was not available either, nor was a chronic absenteeism rate. Without these measures, the neighbor comparison set, which positions the school relative to districts in Oakland County, could not be computed. The absence of these figures may reflect the school's grade configuration or data reporting patterns rather than signaling weak performance, but the data simply does not tell us. Parents seeking a read on academic outcomes should ask the district for current school-level results directly.
What the data does show is a mid-sized high school with a student body that is majority white, with a Hispanic population representing the largest minority group, followed by smaller Black, Asian, multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander populations. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not have charter or magnet status. Information on special education rates, English learner populations, course offerings, staffing, discipline, attendance, and program details was not available in the provided data, so we cannot speak to those dimensions.
The surrounding community of Waterford is a sprawling charter township defined by its lakes and suburban subdivisions rather than a walkable town center. Civic life centers on the Waterford Civic Center Complex, which houses township government, the police department, and the district court. The township has faced economic headwinds since the closure of two major commercial tax sources, the Summit Place Mall and a General Motors facility, both of which affected local budgets. Publicly reported sources note that the police department was reduced as a result. Today, major employers are concentrated in government and education, including Oakland County offices, the intermediate school district headquarters, and a community college campus located in the township.
The housing market in the area is moderate relative to Oakland County overall. County-level listing prices have softened somewhat recently, with the median listing price down from the prior year and homes sitting on the market a bit longer. The typical home value for the school's zip code sit below the national benchmark and modestly above the state benchmark, making this one of the more accessible entry points into Oakland County's housing market. The market shows a high supply score and cooling demand, which may give buyers more room than in tighter neighboring areas.
The Waterford School District has passed two bond proposals in recent years, one in late 2022 and another in 2024, both funding facility improvements, safety upgrades, technology, and STEM lab conversions across the district without raising the tax rate. These investments speak to a district working to modernize its buildings even as it contracts its footprint.
For a parent weighing Kettering today, the central question is not whether the school fits a child's needs over the long run, because the school's closure is already decided. The practical questions are about the transition: where students will go, how the consolidation will work, and what programming will be available at Mott and Durant. The academic data needed to evaluate Kettering on its own merits was not available, so this account cannot fill that gap. Families should go directly to the district for the most current plans and school-specific performance information.
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