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Tom Gantert of Michigan Capitol Confidential reports that
DPS has been controlled through the State of Michigan for
nearly 11 of the past 15 years, starting in early 1999 to
late 2005. The state resumed control over the district in
early 2009, after the locally elected school board borrowed
$218.9 million (to cover day-to-day operations), when it
originally began with NO operational debt to speak of, as
found in the 2005-2006 State Budget Appropriations Summary
and Analysis report on page 24.
In addition, Ryan Beene of Crain’s Detroit Business reported
in 2009 that several administrative employees were indicted
on theft, fraud and the mismanagement of various funds,
appropriated for students and school programming. Since
then, some school employees have only become more careful in
illegally padding their pockets, as in the more recent case
when a principal from the Education Achievement Authority (EAA)
School District (implemented by Gov. Snyder in Fall 2011)
was found guilty by the feds in a vendor kickback scheme, as
reported by Detroit Free Press’ writers, John Wisely and Ann
Zaniewski.
As a financially struggling educator myself (student loans,
car payments, maneuvering around district lay-offs), I can
remember approaching this woman at the local post office
(having previously been introduced to her by one of her
peers – she is a Martin Luther King high School alumna). I
sought to possibly network and share resources, maybe even
become friends with this person.
She shut me down quickly, making a face as though annoyed
and slammed the door of her black Maserati, before I could
explain rightly myself. Imagine my shock and gratefulness to
find that she was being tried as a white collar criminal,
just a few weeks later. As they say, “rejection is the
universe’s protection.”
The promising young principal’s practice of blurring legal
lines began while working at Detroit Public Schools. She
states that veteran principals “mentored” her on these
deceptive practices, she adopted as her own. However, her
previous ownership of her black Maserati pointed to a
shameless sense of inflated self-worth, as an “untouchable”
in her district.
It’s such a shame that a once great leader and champion of
our youth made terrible decisions leading to her fall from
grace. The former principal is currently an employee with
the Detroit nonprofit, Franklin Wright Settlements.
Michigan’s state and local governments appear to be quite
unfamiliar and completely disconnected from the public
school student demographic, having more interest in holding
greater political power and bigger paychecks for themselves
and their associates. Gus Burns of MLive.com reveals that
the current Emergency Manager (EM) of DPS, Darnell Earley,
will work as an independent contractor, with a salary of
$225,000 per year, per his agreement with Lansing.
EM Darnell Earley just so happens to also be the former EM
over the City of Flint, where "the city switched from
accessing water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department to the more-polluted Flint River” during his
term. What could possibly go wrong?
Earley explains in an editorial for the Detroit News, Oct.
26th, 2015:
“This plan was presented to me when I was appointed as Flint
emergency manager in October 2013 – a full seven months
after [the mayor’s approval] and the city council’s
affirmative vote [in March 2013]… When I began my term as
emergency manager, it fell to me to oversee the
implementation of the previously accepted and approved
plans... It did not fall to me to question, second guess or
invalidate the actions taken prior to my appointment.”
I wonder, why didn’t Early question such a significant
process and transaction that would affect an entire city?
This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “suffer the
little children.”
Earley initially states in the editorial, “The fact is, the
river has served and been used as the back-up supply for
decades, and this was the rationale given to me by staff and
Mayor [during that time].”
Someone, or maybe a few, were aware of the potential
consequences of these actions and have failed the people
miserably. But I digress…
Citizens’ Research Council’s senior research associate,
Craig Thiel, tells the sad tale of Detroit Public Schools’
monstrous operating debt. The report titled, Detroit Public
Schools’ Legacy Costs and Indebtedness, documents “$3.5
billion in outstanding debts”. The Legislative Service
Bureau of 2015 states the following in regards:
“It is the public policy of this state to exercise its
sovereign powers with regard to debt issuance and matters of
statewide concern in a manner calculated to foster
the fiscal integrity of all municipal governments and school
districts to provide for the health, safety and welfare of
their residents; pay principal and interest owed on debt
obligations when due; meet financial obligation to their
existing and former employees, vendors and suppliers; and
provide for proper financial planning, procedures and
budgeting practices. The inability of a municipal government
to provide essential services to its citizens or a school
district to provide public education services to its
residents as a result of fiscal emergencies is determined to
affect adversely the health, safety and welfare of not only
that municipality’s citizens and a school district’s
residents, but also other citizens of this state.”
If not addressed soon, the district could run out of money
by April of this year. The full report on this issue is
available at no cost on the Citizens Research Council’s
website: www.crcmich.org.
Synder’s Detroit Public Schools’ Proposal, as described via
his Reinvention blog includes:
Snyder’s amended proposal for the Detroit Public School
district includes:
1. Break the district’s operations into two:
One would assume the district’s debt, while the other would
focus on educating children.
2. Debt would be paid by city’s property owning taxpayers
3. The new district would be paid for out of the state’s
School Aid Fund
4. Additional state assistance
5. “Currently, debt payments take $1,100 per pupil out of
the classroom.”
Gray and Wisely of the Detroit Free Press cite that a new
draft proposal will:
1. Select a nine-member school board appointed by Gov. Rick
Snyder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, given the power to
remove the district superintendent
2. Allow for an elected school board to come into power in
Nov. 2016, with no powers regarding the superintendent
3. A CEO would be appointed to run the bottom five percent
of schools in the state
Those issues were looming in late 2015, but the new year has
come with more terrible and frightening challenges for the
students, the teachers and the district overall…
Part Two: DPS
Administration vs. the Union vs. Steve Conn
Due to the infighting over operations within the Detroit
Federation of Teachers’ (DFT) Union, mediators from the
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have been called upon
by Interim DFT President Ivy Bailey. The former union
president, Steve Conn, was ousted via majority members’
votes. His perceived unprofessional behavior and tactics
have created a house divided over what some believe is the
radically, strategic leadership, necessary for the immediate
acknowledgement and correction of Detroit teachers and
students’ long-suffering.
Baily addressed the DFT members, Dec. 7, 2015, via their
website in an open letter stating:
“AFT staff will be in Detroit working in the office, in
schools and at work sites. They cannot be involved in local
union elections, and we will not be successful if the local
[union] is constantly embroiled in internal strife. It is
also essential that a voluntary trusteeship be in place to
give the DFT a much-needed period of stability.
Sick-outs led by Conn and frustrated teachers have resulted
in a number of school closings across the district. Teachers
are now being investigated by DPS administration for these
actions. Should this manner of protest continue, layoffs and
firings could ensue. This would only serve to deepen the
already strained learning routine of DPS students,
especially that of the graduating seniors.
DPS administration required teachers to once again enroll in
a new health insurance policy before 2016, should they want
to participate in the provided benefits. While several
benefits were cut abruptly in the spring of 2015, though
some have been reinstated, the union is still fighting for
the more robust provisions given in the 2014-2015 school
year.”
Intra-office politics bloom in every industry but the real
reason for DPS’ teachers’ frustrations are horribly surreal,
yet a daily reality they have yet to escape:
“The deplorable conditions in our schools have created a
serious environmental and educational crisis that is being
ignored. … teachers, school support staff and students are
exposed to conditions that one might expect in a Third World
country, not the United States of America,” said DFT Interim
President Ivy Bailey.
The conditions she speaks of include: rat and other rodent
infestations, crumbling walls, holes in ceilings, cracked
sidewalks, dangerous broken boilers and no heat; overcrowded
classrooms, 170 teaching vacancies, lack of nurses resulting
in untrained teachers forced to give medication – all of
this to endure with “poor salaries and benefits” to rely on.
Then there’s the mold…
Spain Elementary-Middle School has had to shut down parts of
the school due to black mold. It breaks my heart to write
this, as this is the school where I attended kindergarten
and learned to write my first sentences with the amazing
Mrs. Hamilton, supreme leader of the second grade.
Kim Russell, of Channel 7 Detroit, reported on Jan 13th,
that “Patricia Hall filed a complaint with the Michigan
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MiOSHA), in
October informing their office and DPS administration that
she was sick, her students were sick, and that doctors
believed it could be due to mold in the building.”
DPS administration responded that they would fix the problem
within 15 days. They misspoke.
Fed up teachers brought in 7 Action News cameras last week
to view the “shocking sight” for themselves.
The floorboards [in the school gym]… have been pulled up to]
reveal a black substance that appears to be a mixture of
adhesive and mildew or black mold.... Complaints from Spain
were submitted between May and October of 2015.”
Could there be a correlation between the increasing cases of
asthma in children and adults in Detroit (as reported in a
series by writer of the Free Press in 2015) because of these
and other deplorable conditions found within the school
buildings? It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.
Spain is considered to be the Cass Tech of elementary/middle
schools in the district, focusing on the music and
performing arts. Our future creative leaders don’t deserve
this type of treatment, let alone to be ignored for an
entire year and left to illnesses that could be easily
prevented.
Aaron Foley, editor of B.L.A.C. Magazine and author of “How
to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass,” made these
observations as he toured various Detroit Public Schools
with state officials, the local media and the mayor:
“The reason for the sickouts could be because teachers and
students are actually getting sick… The Detroit News reports
that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan spotted a dead mouse while
touring DPS facilities, and was disheartened to see young
students wearing winter coats in class due to a faulty
boiler. Teachers say they have dealt with these problems for
years.”
As a former Detroit Public Schools teacher, my physical
health was put in immediate danger due to the toxic air
quality from moldy carpet and rotting ceiling pipes at a
Detroit high school in 2015. After four trips to the Detroit
Receiving Hospital’s emergency room from June to late
October, my doctor quite simply told me not to return. I
know I can’t be the only educator experiencing these acute
symptoms from working in DPS’ toxic school buildings.
Foley goes on to state, “It's hard not to look at the
extremes here [when] you can see construction of the new
[Red Wings’ Hockey] arena— $240 million of which is funded
by the city of Detroit, a figure that could have easily been
spent on upgrading the schools.”
Part Three: The Future of
Detroit Public Schools
America Pink’s history of Detroit Public Schools mentions
that in the 1970s DPS had 270,000 students.
The 2016 projected enrollment for DPS was 40,000.
The 2013 Nation’s Report Card notes that in comparison “21
other large urban districts across the country, Detroit's
fourth-grade students ranked last in math and reading.”
Is there a conspiracy behind the atrocious state of Detroit
Public Schools, once a model of excellence across the U.S,
where one could easily obtain a great job with only a high
school diploma? One would think that, if it weren’t for the
fact that the entire state of Michigan is losing rank in
education when compared to the rest of the U.S. The most
recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
data for 2013, [puts] Michigan in the bottom third of all
states [for] fourth grade reading and math, and eighth grade
math.
According to data compiled by the nonprofit group Education
Trust-Midwest, Michigan's student achievement rank has
fallen in the last decade for ALL groups of students –
white, African American, Latino, low-income, higher-income.”
The state itself is losing population in the amount of
20,000 persons per year, as observed via the latest U.S.
Census.
If there’s a way to fix education in Detroit, let alone the
state of Michigan, I’m pretty sure the governor would love
to hear it. With all the chaos and instability that
non-existent leadership and ineffective decision-making can
bring, an intervention is in order in the form of a miracle
wrapped inside of a revolution.
Perhaps a team of innovative educators will gather together
and enter Laurene Powell (Steve Jobs’ widow) Super School
contest to redesign an effective high school, building a
powerful model that will lift Michigan’s education ranking
to top 10 status: http://xqsuperschool.org . One can only
hope, as hope seems to be the only way to save our students
now.
Vic Bell, M.Ed. is
principal of Right Brain Connections: Consulting and
Coaching; the founder of The Detroit S.T.E.A.M. Project at
Osborn Evergreen High School ; a 2016 Economic Justice
Alliance of Michigan (EJAM) Fellow and is a State of
Michigan, secondary education, certified teacher since 2007
www.linkedin.com/in/coolrightbrain/
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