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9486 in the collection
Judge halts Bobb's plans for Detroit Public Schools
This isn't posted in 'good news,' because the school board cannot be considered competent, never mind heroic. And how can a school district with drastically declining population not close schools? Just because Robert Bobb is a Broad Foundation ally, not to mention arrogant and autocratic, doesn't mean the school board is right.
This seems to be the case of two wrongs making--chaos.
Here's the opening of a Detroit Free Press editorial on the subject:
So the maniacal power struggle atop Detroit's public schools will persist, thanks to a judge's ruling Friday that keeps an incompetent school board's hands at least partially on the wheel.
If Robert Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager, is going to implement his visionary plans to resize, remake and rejuvenate the system, he'll need to do it by convincing the school board that he's right. Good luck to him on that.
Note: They call Bobb "visionary," so . . . .
Reader Comment: ok ok ok...let's just make this entire thing real simple ~ and really, this should do it:
His (Bobb) title is EFM, which stands for Emergency FINANCIAL Manager..."financial" is the KEY word, it's the operative word in the title. It does not say...Emergency Academic Manager, nor does it read, Emergency Financial-Academic Manager or Emergency Academic-Financial Manager ~ Bobb's title clearly is Emergency FINANCIAL Manager - EFM. You all know the root word, "finance" ...as pertaining to money matters ~ there now, it should be settled
Ruling: He likely exceeded authority in academic, school closing proposals.
Reader Comment: Your comments regarding Reverend David Murray are interesting, in light of the fact that the State of Michigan removed this man's children. Why is he still on the school board?
The School Board, under the astute leadership of functionally illiterate Otis Mathis, is the biggest plan failure that the people in the City of Detroit has even seen. This School Board knows absolutely nothing regarding academies, they are still involved in their favor vendors, friends and family endeavors.
This judge has been in trouble before regarding her rulings, (google her name) and I believe she made the wrong decision this time.
Marisa Schultz and Christine Feretti
Detroit -- Parents and students upset over school closings found some hope Friday that their neighborhood buildings won't close in June after a Wayne Circuit Court judge put the brakes on a plan to close a quarter of them.
The ruling by Wayne Circuit Judge Wendy Baxter also blocks the Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb from implementing his academic plan without consulting the school board and bans him from testing students every quarter, ending social promotion and changing grade levels in schools.
Baxter's preliminary injunction is in response to a lawsuit the Detroit Board of Education filed against Bobb, alleging he overstepped his authority by making academic decisions and by failing to consult with the 11-member board.
The ruling is the latest chapter in a public power struggle between the board and Bobb. Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Bobb last year and ordered him to turn around the district's finances, but opponents say he has been making academic decisions without obvious authority outlined in state law.
"I'm bubbled over with joy about it," school board member Reverend David Murray said. "It shows, in fact, Robert Bobb was trampling over the rights of the people and of the school board. The action the judge took today was fair and it protects the rights of the people who elected us."
The order doesn't end the case, and both sides are expected back in court next week. Bobb pledged to fight the ruling.
"Today, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge sentenced the school children of the city of Detroit to continued failure," he said at a news conference after the ruling at Crary Elementary, where parents and staff tried to convince Bobb their building should be spared closure.
"We cannot allow this to stand. ... We have begun discussions with the Attorney General's Office regarding the next steps to fight this for the students."
Keeping Crary open is vital to parents like Ashanti Hearn, who decided last year to relocate her kids from a Southfield charter school to Detroit. Now six of her seven children, ages 5 to 17, are attending schools slated to close.
"I'm a Detroit Public Schools person," said Hearn, 35. "It's not just about the kids. It's about the community. We all look out for each other."
Arline Allen, a noon classroom aide at Crary, says tearing down schools will not help the city.
"If we close all the elementary schools, where are the children going to go and how are they going to get there?" she said. "Think about what you are doing and who you are doing it to. You are doing it to the children and they are suffering."
In March, Bobb unveiled a $540 million academic plan to boost standards, offer college level courses and reach graduation rates of 98 percent by 2015. The school board had passed its own academic plan during the summer, but Bobb hadn't funded it.
The same week, Bobb announced his facilities plan to close 44 school programs by June and another 13 by 2012. The closures have sparked an outcry.
"That's a victory for us," parent Patricia Hicks-Lark said of the ruling. She believes her child's Hanstein Elementary has a better shot of staying open now that the board has a say.
In contrast, teacher Ann K. Crowley said she was horrified by the news.
"I hate the fact that schools have to close," said Crowley, who supports Bobb's plans. "... but we need to step up and unite and get on the same page because we don't have time to lose another generation of children."
Baxter is charged with deciphering Public Act 72 of 1990, the emergency financial manager law from which Bobb draws his authority. Nowhere in the law does it mention academics, but Baxter made clear at a Dec. 18 hearing on the case that decisions that are entirely academic should be left up to the board, while decisions that are purely financial fall under Bobb's authority. The gray areas could be determined on a case by case basis, she said.
In making her decision Friday, Baxter said she believed the school board was "likely to prevail on the merits" and that "irreparable harm to the (school board) and to the public outweighs any harm to the defendant emergency financial manager."
Specifically, her ruling:
# Prevents Bobb from making decisions on school closings before Friday.
# Bars Bobb from implementing his academic plan or school closing plan without consulting with the school board.
# Prevents Bobb from implementing quarterly benchmark tests, called Q2 and Q3; the ban on social promotion; or the changing of grade levels of schools.
# Orders Bobb to consult monthly with the board, starting this month.
The ruling means Bobb "has to stop acting like a dictator and start acting like someone who has to respect the authority of the elected school board and the citizens who elected it," said school board attorney George Washington.
District spokesman Steven Wasko said district officials will meet with the full board to discuss Bobb's facilities plan. They have previously met with only one board member, he said.
Mark Moroni, a DPS elementary school teacher, said it's too early to tell whether the ruling will clear up the power struggle that has trickled down into the classrooms. This year, Bobb ordered benchmark tests to students, while the school board and superintendent moved to stop them.
"You are insubordinate any way you do it," said Moroni. "It puts us in a precarious situation. Teachers don't want to take sides. Teachers want to teach."
Additional Facts
About the law
# Allows the state to appoint an emergency financial manager to a school district in the case of a serious financial problem.
# Says the emergency financial manager shall develop a financial plan "in consultation" with the school board. The Detroit school board alleges Bobb hasn't consulted with it.
# Doesn't address academics. It's the board's contention that since the financial manager is not specifically granted power over academic decisions, those decisions remain in control of the elected school board. Bobb has said DPS faces an academic and financial emergency that warrants his attention.
— Marisa Schultz and Christine Feretti
Detroit News
2010-04-17
http://detnews.com/article/20100417/SCHOOLS/4170365
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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