Emergency Managed DPS loses out on millions in federal funding....because reasons.

[Novine]

What's needed is an end to the excuse-making by the cheerleaders for the current and past EMs. They've had plenty of time to make changes to the system. We're on Snyder's second appointee for those who can't keep up.

[FlyOnTheWall]

Pssst.... You're barking up the WRONG tree! First of all, my post, quoting Mr. Kilpatrick, was sarcasm. That was his reply when confronted with taking $9 mil of City funds, using it as hush money to cover up his texts. It seems you didn't get it, my apologies.

No, I couldn't read the sarcasm font. LOL Sorry about that.

I don't condone, expect, or like "these kinds of things", but it seems "these kinds of things" keep happening over and over in the COD, no matter who's @ the helm. This isn't the first time a story was printed about a monetary opportunity missed. That leads me to believe that there's a deeper, underlying problem.

I will agree with you and I have a guess, but you won't like it. It seems that in many places there exists a good ol boy network. These networks can be any color so don't think I'm being down on the blacks. I worked a lot of years for the federal government and saw it many times. In your case though it is a black good ol boy network. Once this good ol boy network takes a hold, it is nearly impossible to get rid of short of near complete personnel changeover. I think that Detroit is run by a good ol boy network and has been since the Young years. Detroit has gotten worse the longer this good ol boy network has has been in power. I think Detroit's problems will not go away or even get better until that strangle hold is broken. It did give a bit of hope that you got a non black mayor. Maybe he can breakup the network a bit.

I don't know when you've looked @ a map last, but Detroit is squarely located within the State of MI, making it everybody's problem. There has been no annexation that I'm aware of.

So let's say that I live in your neighborhood and I run my home into the ground and make the whole block look bad. Would you like being assessed money to fix my place up? Well my town is in pretty good shape and yours isn't. Both towns have aprox the same median income [[$24,000 per household) but yet you are asking that tax money be taken from us for your town. I do sort of resent it. Think about it.

Living here, as I have for 53 years, I am very familiar with Detroit's children being on the losing end of the stick, from neglecting, non-caring parents, growing up in dangerous, bombed-out neighborhoods, to dealing with incompetent, bungling, beaurocrats.

I really do believe that the good ol boy network is responsible for the lack of law enforcement, your lousy schools and most of the other problems causing Detroit's kids to get the short end of the stick. What is happening to your city's kids make me sad and is the only reason that I'm not up in arms with my state representatives sending millions to what has been for years a money pit. I've not a lot of faith that things will really improve. I do hope so though.

And finally, yes, I did vote for Mr. Kilpatrick the first time around, as so many other duped voters did, until the peeling onion revealed what was underneath. Another lesson learned. I hope I've explained things for you.

You seemed very honest in your answers/explanations so I hope I come across as honest sincere in return.

[Wesley Mouch]

What's needed is an end to the excuse-making by the cheerleaders for the current and past EMs. They've had plenty of time to make changes to the system. We're on Snyder's second appointee for those who can't keep up.

So the city was dysfunctional. And the EM's are up to the job. Detroit's even going through municipal bankruptcy. Yes, its a miserable path.

So I don't get your point. Yes, its a screwed up situation. EM's suck. But going back to dysfunctional, financially irresponsible local government makes zero sense. They were the actual cause of the problem the EMs are trying to fix.

What's your solution? A return to Kwame?

[Novine]

We're talking about DPS here. Can you keep up with the conversation?

[Wesley Mouch]

We're talking about DPS here. Can you keep up with the conversation?

Touche. So its just the schools EM that's got your goat?

[Novine]

It should yours. How long are you going to continue to make excuses for the failings of the state appointed EMs? On top of the state's mismanagement of the corpse of DPS, Covington is busy looting the EAA.

[Wesley Mouch]

It should yours. How long are you going to continue to make excuses for the failings of the state appointed EMs? On top of the state's mismanagement of the corpse of DPS, Covington is busy looting the EAA.

Novine, I don't think excuses are valid. We don't need to excuse anything. We need to fix anything that's wrong.

Fixing does not mean giving up on the EM process. When a city government fails [[or if you wish is driven to failure), there has to be an ugly alternative. One that hurts so much people fix their problems BEFORE they have to deal with an ugly EM.

Too many people, and I think you included, believe that fighting the EM is noble. It is not. Fixing the problems is noble. Fighting the EM is simply defending the status quo. And that is what's harmful to Detroit. And that's why I object to attacks on the EMs. Because the attacks are simply territorial disputes -- not systemic fixes.

[Honky Tonk]

When a city government fails [[or if you wish is driven to failure)........

DPS has been failing, and continues to fail, for decades now. The EM did very little to avert further failure, or to turn the failure around, I agree. To blame DPS's failure ON the EM, is totally unrealistic and nonsense.

[ABetterDetroit]

This is a absolute shame because the children of the human race are the most important reason for our existence and they lost.

[Zacha341]

Yep, it seems to be the way of it... anointed and appointed folks at the helm rake in every last coin well into the palliative hospice level.

On top of the state's mismanagement of the corpse of DPS, Covington is busy looting the EAA.

[Novine]

I'm not here to defend the status quo or the poor performance of DPS prior to the state takeover. But the appointment of all-powerful EMs who are unaccountable to anyone but the Governor was sold on basis that such steps were necessary to rescue the schools. Instead, as impossible as it may seen, each time the state's stepped in to take over Detroit schools, they've managed to make things worse. How is is that successive EMs at DPS have managed to drive the school district's finances even further into the hole? Or how about the Engler era takeover that managed to mismanage hundreds of millions of dollars of bond proceeds. Some of you are quite enamored with the idea of little dictators beating the system back into shape. But when the facts show otherwise, you can't find it in yourself to admit that the EMs have largely been a failure.

[iheartthed]

Isn't this like the third or fourth time around for emergency management of the DPS? I'm surprised there is anything left of DPS to emergency manage. Aren't they down to less than a handful of high schools now?

[1953]

I prepare and submit grants for a living - its actually much easier than you think to foul up a grant submission. Just yesterday I had to help a very respected local organization submit at the last minute, when they failed to follow one of the 80 million steps required to submit, using the government's very poorly designed application system.

That said, my experience with DPS is that they do not historically employ the best grant professionals. Also, DPS was unlikely to win this competition, as it had competition from some very reputable, community-based organizations.

1953

[Wesley Mouch]

I'm not here to defend the status quo or the poor performance of DPS prior to the state takeover. But the appointment of all-powerful EMs who are unaccountable to anyone but the Governor was sold on basis that such steps were necessary to rescue the schools. Instead, as impossible as it may seen, each time the state's stepped in to take over Detroit schools, they've managed to make things worse. How is is that successive EMs at DPS have managed to drive the school district's finances even further into the hole? Or how about the Engler era takeover that managed to mismanage hundreds of millions of dollars of bond proceeds. Some of you are quite enamored with the idea of little dictators beating the system back into shape. But when the facts show otherwise, you can't find it in yourself to admit that the EMs have largely been a failure.

This of it this way. Suppose Captain Smith handed control of the Titanic over to an Emergency Pilot Manager after hitting the iceberg. Damn EPM. Things just keep getting worse.

[Novine]

Still making excuses? The state gave the EMs almost unlimited power to change DPS. In some cases, they managed to make the financial problems even worse than when the district was under the control of the elected school board. That's an amazing feat.

[Cliffy]

Maybe they'll bring Bill Cosby back this summer to enroll students in DPS lol

[ABetterDetroit]

Isn't this like the third or fourth time around for emergency management of the DPS? I'm surprised there is anything left of DPS to emergency manage. Aren't they down to less than a handful of high schools now?

At 12k per pupil how do you screw it up? I am all about education, but at what point should we expect the job to get done? 15k a head? 20? I know I've heard it before "it's for the children" but honestly, if the job isn't getting done at 12k anywhere in the state then something's wrong.

I believe in the checks and balances of unions but I also believe that police and teacher unions have so successfully morally blackmailed the taxpayer that they left their "union brothers" to swirl down the drain after they got their's and left the rest to take the backlash.

[Honky Tonk]

At 12k per pupil how do you screw it up? I am all about education, but at what point should we expect the job to get done? 15k a head? 20? I know I've heard it before "it's for the children" but honestly, if the job isn't getting done at 12k anywhere in the state then something's wrong.

I believe in the checks and balances of unions but I also believe that police and teacher unions have so successfully morally blackmailed the taxpayer that they left their "union brothers" to swirl down the drain after they got their's and left the rest to take the backlash.

Excellent post and I believe throwing more money @ the education problem is accomplishing nothing. The DPS teachers I knew told me they had kids in their class that MAYBE showed up 3 times a semester, never had any homework, never took a test. When he would flunk them, not only the parents, [[IF and WHEN you ever saw them), but other teachers would get on his case. "What are you doing? Pass them along..." What do you expect from a school system that has to bribe students with I-Pods to get them to show up for "count day". You can lead a horse to water....

[Wesley Mouch]

At 12k per pupil how do you screw it up? I am all about education, but at what point should we expect the job to get done? 15k a head? 20? I know I've heard it before "it's for the children" but honestly, if the job isn't getting done at 12k anywhere in the state then something's wrong.

I believe in the checks and balances of unions but I also believe that police and teacher unions have so successfully morally blackmailed the taxpayer that they left their "union brothers" to swirl down the drain after they got their's and left the rest to take the backlash.

While the teacher's unions are a notable part of the reason why innovation is so hard in schools, they are no more or less responsible than the rest of the system. Management is just as much to blame.

The market produces bad results in many cases. But like democracy, its the worst system except for all the others. Regulation is required. Oversight is required. But the existing self-serving monopoly system of administration and labor isn't capable of self-reform. What little reform we see only happens because they're afraid of charter schools. Sure, some suck. But others don't.

What did we do right from the 1900-1960 that we had great schools in America?

Here's we're discussing why DPS missed federal funding. I think discretionary federal funding is the problem. Schools must be unionized. Planning all comes from above. Don't behave -- and you don't get money. Its a bad proxy for the market. You get the lying and cheating of the market, but without real accountability because they can't be replaced.

Fund education at the State level, to a pretty decent degree. Let cities fund it with additional property taxes if they wish. Let government and private industry use that money to do the best job to educate students.