Bing Says He Should Lead DPS

Bing says he's ready to lead schools, if Detroiters want it
Choosing new superintendent would be key

BY KATHLEEN GRAY and ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

MACKINAC ISLAND -- Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said Friday that the mayor should be in charge of the city's schools, as supporters ready petitions to put the issue before voters in November.

"We want to get a feel if there's community support for this," Bing told the Free Press on Friday. "I do think one person should be responsible."

It won't be an easy sell. A poll last fall by EPIC-MRA of Lansing showed 62% of Detroit voters opposed turning school control over to the mayor.

Bing spoke at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. He has said his hands were full managing the city's troubled government, but left the door open to adding schools to his job if there was community support.

Robert Bobb, the district's state-appointed emergency financial manager, is to leave his post in March. Bing said if voters approve, he would want to be in position before Bobb leaves. The proposal would take control from the elected school board.

Community groups hope to start a petition drive within two weeks, said mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas.

The push has the support of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said earlier Friday: "I hope Dave Bing will have the authority to appoint a superintendent. That would be enormously helpful."

http://www.freep.com/article/2010060...o-lead-schools

Fuck Dave Bing. He's having enough goddam trouble handling the job he's already got, and that ain't only because the job is difficult, either.
Good thing, that our standards for mayoral audacity are so extremely distended.

Tell us how you really feel [[smile). Yeah Bing must have some extra time on his hand from some where. How? What a mess!

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Originally Posted by Ravine

Fuck Dave Bing. He's having enough goddam trouble handling the job he's already got, and that ain't only because the job is difficult, either.
Good thing, that our standards for mayoral audacity are so extremely distended.

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Well, I don't think that Bing wants to run the day-to-day, just appoint the people who do. Check out this article from last year for some thoughts on pros/cons of a mayor-controlled public schools system.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123682041297603203.html

The state of Michigan has done extremely well with its schools decoupled from the governing entities. In most of Michigan, school district boundaries and political boundaries do not coincide with school districts crossing the lines and political units being a part of several school districts.

I would think that when the Mayor has responsibility for the schools, you could end up with all sorts of false reporting. The "Houston miracle", which I think W based his No Child Left Behind program on, turned out to be faked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston...s_in_the_2000s
"...HISD's performance in the late 1990s and 2000s was dubbed the "Houston Miracle" by the media. A 2003 state audit of HISD's performance caused more controversy. One of the district's most publicized accomplishments during the Paige era was a dramatic reduction in dropout rates. When 16 secondary schools, including Sharpstown High School, were audited, it was found that most of the students who left school from those schools in 2000-2001 should have been counted as dropouts, but were not. It was found that the administrators at Sharpstown deliberately changed the dropout rate at the school. The Sharpstown controversy resulted in a recommendation to label the entire HISD as "unacceptable." Former Sharpstown Assistant Principal Robert Kimball, found by an external investigator to have been involved in the false reporting, asserts that HISD coerced administrators at many schools to lie on dropout rates..."

I would think that DPS would need someone who is above the political fray to make what changes are still needed after the downsizing is done. There was an alternative school over on Frisbee that demanded parents sign a contract to volunteer so many hours of a month to the school doing everything from teacher assisting in class to cleaning the building. That was parental involvement. But I also think a lot of DPS problems are linked to the crime in Detroit. If kids are involved with selling drugs, their incentive to succeed in school diminishes. If kids are getting shot regularly, that can't be good for their mental health.

Bing would be very wise to stay away from that mess. He should take note of what happened when the last bunch of 'experts' from the state takeover ran it, led by former WSU president Adamany, or should I say soon ran from it. The challenges he faces with the City of Detroit requires his full attention.

I'm with Ravine on this, exactly well-put.


THIS is why we heard that anti-Bobb piece in the news last week, it was the SET-UP for this delivery.


They really NEED to get rid of Bobb to continue their gravy-train...I'm telling you, Bing is Kwhyme Junior...nothing more, nothing less.

He is a pawn of the corruption machine that was created by McNamara...and a lame one at that!

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Originally Posted by Hermod

The state of Michigan has done extremely well with its schools decoupled from the governing entities. In most of Michigan, school district boundaries and political boundaries do not coincide with school districts crossing the lines and political units being a part of several school districts.

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Yes, this is the way things are in Michigan, but I disagree that we have done "very well" with that type of system over the last thirty years. Are you of the opinion that most school districts in the state are doing "very well" right now?

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Bing would be very wise to stay away from that mess. He should take note of what happened when the last bunch of 'experts' from the state takeover ran it, led by former WSU president Adamany, or should I say soon ran from it. The challenges he faces with the City of Detroit requires his full attention.

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Lowell,

I would agree with you completely that he should stay away if all he cares about is political success and getting re-elected. The schools are in even worse shape than the city government and there is no way to make the changes that are necessary without pissing a lot of people off. That's one reason I give Mr. Bing a lot of credit for embracing this idea.

The other reason is that the city and the schools are inexorably linked. I can't see how we can make much progress on one without simultaneously improving the other. I think that's the whole basis of the idea of mayoral control of school districts in large troubled cities.

We've seen where the current system of governance [[school board) has gotten us: massive waste, systematic corruption, entrenched special intrests, and shamefully poor quality of education for the majority of students. I don't see how we can expect that to change without some type of change in governance. That's why I want to give this idea a chance. I'm excited about the prospect of the mayor being accountable for the condition of the schools. Right now, mayors can always pass the buck and say there's nothing they can do.

We aren't talking about removing democracy from the process of school district governance, we are only shifting from an elected board to an elected mayor [[who would then appoint a board or executive). Ask yourself how much you knew about the school board candidates before the last election. Honestly, how many school board members can you name right now? My guess is that even the most informed voters in Detroit don't feel like they had enough information to make those decisions [[I know I didn't).

I'm sure Norm White and Chuck Beckham will do wonders with it!

3rd degree burns: My guess is that even the most informed voters in Detroit don't feel like they had enough information to make those decisions [[I know I didn't).

maxx:And with the demise of the newspapers, people will continue to be uninformed. So shall we just have the Mayor appoint the city council too?

Agreed. The internal fiscal, specific and broad crime situation in Detroit, along with the management of the city, city departments, pending litigation's and the city council and addressing the economic fallout is more than enough... When does he plan to sleep. Or would he hand off the DPS situation to some consultant from say DC out of state and just be some "figure-head"!? Great!

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Bing would be very wise to stay away from that mess. He should take note of what happened when the last bunch of 'experts' from the state takeover ran it, led by former WSU president Adamany, or should I say soon ran from it. The challenges he faces with the City of Detroit requires his full attention.

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Originally Posted by 3rdDegreeBurns

Yes, this is the way things are in Michigan, but I disagree that we have done "very well" with that type of system over the last thirty years. Are you of the opinion that most school districts in the state are doing "very well" right now?

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The problems of the out state school districts are a function of the collapse of the real estate market and diminished revenues, not the way the school districts are structured.

While a mayoral takeover of the schools is probably not the most idea situation for Detroiters I think at this time its the right call. The school board governance model for this city does not work and hasn't work for a very long time. People over the years have been willing to run for school board for such little pay for these basic reasons

1) access to political opportunities and the ability to build a political base.

That in itself is not so bad, start off low then work your way up to a higher office.
Problem is , they stay long enough to get name recognition, don't really do anything of note on the board, and they leave the school district in worst shape than when they came on.

2) The ability to influence contracts.

We don't know to what extent some of these school board member compromised the financial integrity of the school district by the games they played with the millions of dollars given out in contracts to vendors, consultants and the like.

3) The inability to make the hard decision

Much of the reason DPS is having problems is because the school board put off the tough decisions [[Or as President Obama likes to say kick the can down the road) because the school board members didn't want to upset their various bases they had established over time.

I'm sure you can think of more.

The mayor has a lot to do, but he will treat this as another city department with according to Bing a person responsible for academics and a person responsible for finances both reporting to him.

Mayor Bing will be judged on the progress he makes just like making sure the buses run on time the police respond, etc. If the schools don't progress the way the voters think they should, then they will make Bing the one term mayor he always said he would be.

BTW - being a one term mayor doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Detroit needs such a massive overhaul, we need a person to make the tough choices that may not make a difference right away but unfortunately will piss so many people off in the present that getting that second term won't happen.

Oh ! in this entire post I haven't said a word about educating the students. Thats shows you just how bad this situation has become.

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Originally Posted by maxx

3rd degree burns: My guess is that even the most informed voters in Detroit don't feel like they had enough information to make those decisions [[I know I didn't).

maxx:And with the demise of the newspapers, people will continue to be uninformed. So shall we just have the Mayor appoint the city council too?

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Well, the status quo is untenable. I would rather be able to factor school district issues into my mayoral choice [[which does get quite a bit of media attention) than be stumped when it comes time to vote for school board [[which gets almost 0 election coverage).

Also, by your logic, should we open up currently appointed positions to a popular vote? If you don't have a problem with the mayor making appointments to city departments, why the big problem with him appointing a school district executive? To me, the resistance only seems to be a fear of change. Change is exactly what we need. I don't know that this will fix the problem, but I am certainly willing to give it a try.

Anyone else have practical ideas for how to make Detroit Public Schools more accountable?

I thought Bing had a lot on the ball until I saw this. Has he bought a ticket on the crazy train?:eek:
Let's see if he can handle what he's got to deal with right now.