EFM Roy Roberts Steps Down...

[Zacha341]

Well er, umm - that was fast!

Roy Roberts steps down as DPS emergency manager

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22...#ixzz2SA4JSOlb

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...s-to-step-down

[Danny]

YAY! I wonder who will be the next CAESAR! of Detroit Public Schools?

[antongast]

Interesting excerpt from the Freep article that doesn't seem to have been reported elsewhere:

Roberts also told those gathered that when he arrived at DPS, he was told to “blow up” the district and dismantle it, Johnson said.

“Blow it up — those were his exact words,” Detroit School Board member Tawanna Simpson confirmed.

And here's the walkback:

At a news conference today, Roberts said the governor never instructed him to dismantle DPS, but factions from Lansing to Detroit, from community members to educators, had wanted him to make wholesale changes in DPS and “blow it up,” figuratively speaking.

“They had totally given up,” Roberts said. “But we can make it work.”

[brizee]

Interesting excerpt from the Freep article that doesn't seem to have been reported elsewhere:

And here's the walkback:

It's always nice to have the obvious but unprovable confirmed.

What was done to DPS was intentional, delibarate and planned.

Of course the song that them darkies let it go to seed still gets play around here.

[renf]

Does the resignation of Roy Roberts point out the weakness of the new Emergency Manager law? The Emergency manager in Benton Harbor was replaced about two months ago. Hamtramck may soon get an Emergency Manager for the secon time.,
There are fundamental problems with the way the state's tax system fails to adequately support local governmenys and school districts. Extensive structural changes are needed. Will the governor and the legislature address these issues or continue to use an Emergency Manager approavch that does not seem to be working very well.

[Novine]

"Will the governor and the legislature address these issues or continue to use an Emergency Manager approavch that does not seem to be working very well."

What makes you think this isn't working exactly how Snyder and the legislature want it to work?

[DetroitPlanner]

I agree renf it certainly don't help to set-up a system where the leader leaves at the end of a one-year contract. Nothing will ever improve.

[Wesley Mouch]

Does the resignation of Roy Roberts point out the weakness of the new Emergency Manager law? The Emergency manager in Benton Harbor was replaced about two months ago. Hamtramck may soon get an Emergency Manager for the secon time.,
There are fundamental problems with the way the state's tax system fails to adequately support local governmenys and school districts. Extensive structural changes are needed. Will the governor and the legislature address these issues or continue to use an Emergency Manager approach that does not seem to be working very well.

Yes, it is clear that the law is too weak to do what needs to be done. Either strengthen the law, or find another approach -- because the underlying problem hasn't been fixed either.

[Detroitnerd]

But what if the purpose of the EM law isn't to fix finances so much as to touch off a corporate bonanza of privatization?

[Wesley Mouch]

But what if the purpose of the EM law isn't to fix finances so much as to touch off a corporate bonanza of privatization?

Well then that's yet one more failure of the EFM/EM law.

[Detroitnerd]

Well then that's yet one more failure of the EFM/EM law.

No, it would be a SUCCESS of the EM law.

That's the scary part. The system isn't broken.

The system is working.

[313WX]

All the more reason why Detroit and DPS need to go through a bankruptcy that's overseen by a completely non-biased federal judge.

Let the damn chips fall where they may...

Maybe he also stepped down too because there's a good chance the law will be overturned in the federal lawsuit.

[313WX]

Yes, it is clear that the law is too weak to do what needs to be done. Either strengthen the law, or find another approach -- because the underlying problem hasn't been fixed either.

The law has already been strengthened, three times in fact [[the last time which was completely against the will of 82% of Detroiters with a roughly 50% voter turnout).

Making a pig fatter doesn't change the fact that it's still a pig.

[George Cassidy]

One year shoveling against the tide is probably enough exercise.

[Bham1982]

The whole point of EM is to destroy public education in urban areas, and transfer the schools [[and profits) to private entities, so it seems the EM is working splendidly. They won't be fully "successful", though until DPS ceases to exist and for-profit charters have taken over everything.

[Detroitnerd]

The whole point of EM is to destroy public education in urban areas, and transfer the schools [[and profits) to private entities, so it seems the EM is working splendidly. They won't be fully "successful", though until DPS ceases to exist and for-profit charters have taken over everything.

Very close. The private schools will only remain profitable by filling public schools with the problem students who are much more expensive to educate. So there will still be a role for public, non-private schools: socializing the losses so the easy profits can be privatized.

[detroitbob66]

Detroit Public Schools are in deeeeeeeeeeep trouble

[detroitbob66]

Detroit Public Schools has all this to worry about and yet they spend millions of dollars on security cameras and motion sensors for the DPS abandoned schools. It makes sense for still functioning and operating schools, but NOT vacant and abandoned schools. The scrappers still come in, break/remove the cameras, and take every piece of valuable metal with them, leaving schools completely destroyed. Detroit Public Schools needs to focus on staying afloat and not worrying about schools that are too far gone to save anyway. The schools that are still savable, they need to keep them lock down and watched closely and that could be even with cameras and motion sensors, but most abandoned DPS schools are far beyond saving.

[Wesley Mouch]

Very close. The private schools will only remain profitable by filling public schools with the problem students who are much more expensive to educate. So there will still be a role for public, non-private schools: socializing the losses so the easy profits can be privatized.

What's wrong with socializing the cost of handling most difficult students? Let the private sector do most of the work. They can innovate where innovation is most valuable and public schools can't. And let society pay the cost for 'problem' students.

[Detroitnerd]

What's wrong with socializing the cost of handling most difficult students? Let the private sector do most of the work. They can innovate where innovation is most valuable and public schools can't. And let society pay the cost for 'problem' students.

That's what I'm saying. Privatize the profit; socialize the loss. Saddle the government with the job that is inherently unprofitable. Then, for the students who are easier to teach, set up a variety of levels where you can take profits out. It's not just legalized graft, right? They have to innovate.

For instance, perhaps one company owns the land the school is on. They have to be paid.

Similarly, maybe another company owns the school building itself. They have to be paid.

Or how about another company contracted to take care of janitorial services? They have to be paid too.

Then you can have another company entirely run the school administration. They have to be paid.

But why not have them contract with another company to do the hiring? That company will have to be paid as well.

By the time we've "innovated" a six-tiered system of contractors -- all pulling in profits at the expense of the students and the teachers and staffers and their unions -- maybe there will be some change leftover to lock the kids in a room with a TV for six hours a day.

And if anybody wants to complain about the clusterfuck the school is, there are six different companies all pointing at each other, saying they'd love to provide more quality education, but you need to see so-and-so at Educorp. Or Autolearn. Or Scorepro. And so on.

Now, that would be truly innovative, wouldn't it?

[Wesley Mouch]

...snip...all pulling in profits at the expense of the students and the teachers and staffers and their unions..ssnip...

Why are profits at the 'expense' of anyone in your mind. Is it not possible for 'profits' to simply be the fair reward for wise investment?

Sure, there is abuse. But there are also opportunities. I find your outlook on the world depressing. Evil corporations surrounding you 'pulling in profits at the expense' of others. I believe that the evil you describe does exist. But I don't believe that every involvement with a corporation means abuse to the students and unions. I also see unions and administrators abuse the system. But I mostly believe that they are forces for good.

You should keep fighting against corporations who prey upon the public trust. And you should keep fighting against unions and adminstrators who do so as well. You're right to vigilant. But wrong to be paranoid.

All that said, I enjoy the debate as your points do make me think more deeply about the issues. The desire for improvement is mutual, I'm sure.

[antongast]

Why are profits at the 'expense' of anyone in your mind. Is it not possible for 'profits' to simply be the fair reward for wise investment?

Profits are money. Money comes from somewhere. In the case of publicly-funded educational institutions, "somewhere" is all of our pockets. Either you deduct money from actually educating children to cover the cost of the profits, or you raise taxes to cover the cost of the profits. If you want to get rich off "wise investments," go hit up Wall Street.

[Wesley Mouch]

Profits are money. Money comes from somewhere. In the case of publicly-funded educational institutions, "somewhere" is all of our pockets. Either you deduct money from actually educating children to cover the cost of the profits, or you raise taxes to cover the cost of the profits. If you want to get rich off "wise investments," go hit up Wall Street.

Wow. You really think its that simple -- that corporations just 'deduct' it from your pockets? And if there were no profits, you'd have heaven-on-earth? Command economies haven't done very well. But why not keep trying it since the schools are doing so well.

[Detroitnerd]

Wow. You really think its that simple -- that corporations just 'deduct' it from your pockets? And if there were no profits, you'd have heaven-on-earth? Command economies haven't done very well. But why not keep trying it since the schools are doing so well.

False choice. Since when was the red brick schoolhouse part of a "command economy"?

[Bham1982]

But why not keep trying it since the schools are doing so well.

Charter school performance is actually lower than that of DPS perfomance, yet we keep closing public schools and replacing them with charters.

And most Michigan charters are for-profit, and receive little scruitiny, yet they receive the exact same amount of state taxpayer funding as the publics. Go figure.