Bobb: DPS may have to cancel summer school

[English]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...-summer-school

Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb announced today that a judge's ruling Friday keeping him out the district's academics has forced him to shut down an extended day learning program for about 9,700 students and he may have to cancel summer school.

And Bobb took shots at the elected school board, which sued to halt his academic plan, calling it "totally ineffective".

"Many of them were a part of the process that got us where we are today," Bobb said at a noon press conference outside McKenny Elementary School on the city's west side.

Bobb has done a decent job so far avoiding the tit-for-tat that characterizes so much of what passes as discourse in the city. I'm pretty disappointed by his response to this ruling.

[firstandten]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...-summer-school



Bobb has done a decent job so far avoiding the tit-for-tat that characterizes so much of what passes as discourse in the city. I'm pretty disappointed by his response to this ruling.

What should you have expected him to say. He's still upset with the judges ruling and remember the clock is ticking quickly to March 2011, and he still has work to do.
Besides what he said was basically true, and he doesn't respect the board so the comments were typical Bobb

[LeannaM]

Schools around here are canceling summer school. Some are just doing high school summer school. Some are shortening it. That's the nature of the economy we are dealing with.

[laurin]

It's really a no-win situation. The programs that have to halted sound like wonderful programs for the students. However, I do think that Bobb is overstepping. But do I want the school board in control? Not a chance.

I cannot say that if I were Bobb, I'd be itching to work with the school board as they only seek controversy and are extraordinarily inept. He still has to work within the designed parameters and with what the public elected. I don't think Bobb is the answer for all as his conflicts of interest and shift towards privatization do have me concerned.

Wasn't Bobb denied power over academics by both the governor and the legislature? I wondering what their reasoning for that was......

[English]

Yes, I understand the financial situation. However, summer school was not free in DPS as recently as 4-5 years ago. There was NO money for it when I taught in Detroit four summers in a row. I also taught summer school in the 'burbs -- students had to pay there as well.

This is how it worked: Students and their parents paid tuition. I can't remember the rates. The administrators always made it clear that summer school had to be self-supporting. If we did not get the prerequisite student enrollment, we could not run that particular class. There were even higher rates available for out-of-district students... one young lady in my English 9 summer school class was from the Lincoln Consolidated Schools.

Some of my veteran DPS educator buddies were very critical of the free summer schools in '09. When I taught summer school from 2000-2004, we got kids from all over the city who might have been rough around the edges, but who were willing to do what they hadn't during the school year. In '09, several of my teacher buddies told me that they were getting a population of bored troublemakers who weren't really interested in the credits or the remediation. When that shooting happened last year, they were furious.

This is NOT about the kids. This is about an unwillingness to seek productive solutions on the part of the emergency financial manager AND the elected school board. There isn't a noble side in this. I have been supportive of some of Bobb's actions, but this makes no sense.

[noenaim]

Mr. Bobb was brought in to fix the DPS finances its been a year and has not done the main job he was suppose to do Detroit public schools still has a deficit. Teachers like myself agreed to take pay cut but that still has not stoped the thousands of layoffs that went out this weekend. The guy needs to do the one thing he was suppose to do.

[firstandten]

Mr. Bobb was brought in to fix the DPS finances its been a year and has not done the main job he was suppose to do Detroit public schools still has a deficit. Teachers like myself agreed to take pay cut but that still has not stoped the thousands of layoffs that went out this weekend. The guy needs to do the one thing he was suppose to do.

You can't balance such a massive deficit in a year, without destroying the district.
Plus a budget is based on many assumptions and if you hit home-runs on those assumptions you might get into the black. Its obvious that all the hits were not home runs. Bobb, for all the mistakes he is making is doing a balancing act, in trying to maintain the competitiveness of the district while getting rid of the red ink.

http://detnews.com/article/20100310/...ows-under-Bobb

[firstandten]

It's really a no-win situation. The programs that have to halted sound like wonderful programs for the students. However, I do think that Bobb is overstepping. But do I want the school board in control? Not a chance.

I cannot say that if I were Bobb, I'd be itching to work with the school board as they only seek controversy and are extraordinarily inept. He still has to work within the designed parameters and with what the public elected. I don't think Bobb is the answer for all as his conflicts of interest and shift towards privatization do have me concerned.

Wasn't Bobb denied power over academics by both the governor and the legislature? I wondering what their reasoning for that was......

Yes, this is a tough situation. The governance struture is out of balance. Whenever that happens in any institution you are going to have problems. On one hand you have a board that collectively doesn't have the political will-power to make the tough decisons, that botched the search for a super because of a deficient pool of candidates, and didn't put enough internal controls in place so a scam like what happened with risk management could occur. Then on the other hand you have a person with only a lame-duck governor to report to. We need a governance structure that can reflect the will of the people yet be effective. Hopefully once the mayor takes over and puts his person in place the balance will come closer to the center.

[Zacha341]

Withstanding the good he has done, Bobb's is engaging in tit-for-tat. Those close to the situation have noted that early on, even some who initially were on board with him full-on initially.

They are ALL doing "tit-for-tat" it can be argued. Export more of this to come!!

The board or union send him a message -- he sends one back [[ala a decision, a further cut, etc.)... It's obvious as in this case. On and on and the kids and some staff are caught in the middle!

Yet the district is broke, the cash cow fully bled dry of any more meat or dairy. The corruption of years [[discussed elsewhere on this site) has lead to much of this withstanding the judgement of the "tit-for-tat" process.

I wonder if his appointment extend beyond Jenny's departure from the governor seat. He may be working on an accelerated time table.

Would a new governor be obligated to have Bobb finish out his time? After all he has other offers, other places to clean up their messes too... like DC?

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...-summer-school



Bobb has done a decent job so far avoiding the tit-for-tat that characterizes so much of what passes as discourse in the city. I'm pretty disappointed by his response to this ruling.

[Zacha341]

Excellent points English. I heard last summers class were a mess as well.

Yes, I understand the financial situation. However, summer school was not free in DPS as recently as 4-5 years ago. There was NO money for it when I taught in Detroit four summers in a row. I also taught summer school in the 'burbs -- students had to pay there as well.

This is how it worked: Students and their parents paid tuition. I can't remember the rates. The administrators always made it clear that summer school had to be self-supporting. If we did not get the prerequisite student enrollment, we could not run that particular class. There were even higher rates available for out-of-district students... one young lady in my English 9 summer school class was from the Lincoln Consolidated Schools.

Some of my veteran DPS educator buddies were very critical of the free summer schools in '09. When I taught summer school from 2000-2004, we got kids from all over the city who might have been rough around the edges, but who were willing to do what they hadn't during the school year. In '09, several of my teacher buddies told me that they were getting a population of bored troublemakers who weren't really interested in the credits or the remediation. When that shooting happened last year, they were furious.

This is NOT about the kids. This is about an unwillingness to seek productive solutions on the part of the emergency financial manager AND the elected school board. There isn't a noble side in this. I have been supportive of some of Bobb's actions, but this makes no sense.

[Zacha341]

Indeed he is doing a balancing act, one that is not being fully discussed in terms of pragmatic realities with deadlines. Robert Bobb must wear two hats for two possible outcomes:

Outcome 1 - Recovery of DPS: The emergence of a far smaller DPS with some form of sustainability. Replacing the previous model.

Outcome 2 - Dissolution of DPS: The full-out replacement of the District with Charter education K-12 throughout the city.

Both outcomes will have an impact, and Robert Bobb is positioning himself to be poised to say he did "his best" no matter which one plays out. To which some may agree. Pragmatically speaking he has a career beyond this to consider... he knows this.

And we have to consider that aspect as we examine how this is being handled....

Simply put, we're not going back to 1990's etc. when the gravy train of graft and corruption where at full steam.... nor can we return to times when enrollments were very high... A new DPS will not function the way is did... how could it?

Re. the Charters, they will find the task of educating Detroit's remaining K-12 population more challenging than before.

For example, no longer will they have the dilly-dance of sending the "bad" kids back to DPS after the 'count day' etc. They will own it. And just where will that allocated "building news schools" bond money go...?

Will/ would the Charters inherit that funding should DPS go bust...?

Yeah, Bobb's wearing alot of hats, and wants to add the additional hat of academic control.

So much of this is purely about money, and not just the ending of deficits and fraud, but WHO will be left standing receiving state funding. Often initially distributed to the top admins, consultants, contract to vendors and other pork-spending that educational industries, um-er, I mean "systems" [[charter and public) have.

You can't balance such a massive deficit in a year, without destroying the district.
Plus a budget is based on many assumptions and if you hit home-runs on those assumptions you might get into the black. Its obvious that all the hits were not home runs. Bobb, for all the mistakes he is making is doing a balancing act, in trying to maintain the competitiveness of the district while getting rid of the red ink.

http://detnews.com/article/20100310/...ows-under-Bobb

[DetroitTeacher]

With the exception of summer school [[it being free made the kids think they didn't have to work for a grade, some rarely attended, and it was chaos), I haven't heard about ANY of the programs that Bobb said will need to be cut. I teach the extended day program now. I never received any training or received anything stating what they wanted taught. I am teaching things the kids need to know but haven't learned yet. It's very student tailored. No one student is doing the same thing since they all need to learn different skills.

After teaching summer school recently, I'll never do it again. I don't need the money bad enough to be subjected to the headaches that came with the free program. The extended day is much better because the kids are all seniors trying to make up one or two classes to graduate on time. They are mostly my kids [[the kids I have in day school). They know how I operate and they know that I have high expectations for them. Since the kids only have to pay 25.00 for the extended day, though, I do have some who don't come and don't do any work. If they had to pay a hefty sum, you bet they would be there and would be working or would never have enrolled.

The burbs charge for their summer school and extended day classes. People tend to take care of what they have to pay for...if it's free, they tend to take advantage of it. I think having free summer school is a horrid idea. I hear the kids say that it doesn't matter if they fail a class, they'll just take it in summer school becuase it's free. We didn't have that attitude [[and we had more parent support when we called home to explain a student's lack of ambition) when the parents had to pay 200.00+ for summer school.

[Zacha341]

Those kids parents should have been following the news to let their kids know that 2010 summer school might have been a bust! And NOT consider it an escape hatch!! So now they will be jammed up if they need the summer credits to graduate. And many teachers were not willing to do it any how again and planned other things for their summers. Anyone dealing with DPS needs to be a bit very aware -- recognizing the instability of the institution, suspended as it to some extent [[amidst the politics and peoples careers), pending the final outcome.

...I hear the kids say that it doesn't matter if they fail a class, they'll just take it in summer school becuase it's free. We didn't have that attitude [[and we had more parent support when we called home to explain a student's lack of ambition) when the parents had to pay 200.00+ for summer school....

[DetroitTeacher]

I apologize, I thought the article would mention some things I received in an email the other day from DPS. I think it came directly from Bobb, since it sounds hostile. Other than summer school, I haven't heard anything about any of the other things that are being cut. Here it is:

Thousands of DPS students to be immediately impacted by court order

Extended day, some teacher training and plans for summer school halted


Wayne County Circuit Judge Wendy Baxter’s order Friday to temporarily bar Detroit Public
Schools from implementing its academic plan has brought an immediate halt to several
programs that are being developed as part of the district’s five-year Academic Plan.

The plan was developed to combat the low academic performance throughout the district.
Last year, Detroit’s fourth and eighth graders had the worst scores in the 40-year history of
the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The graduation and dropout rates are
among the worst in the nation, prompting the ambitious plan to raise student achievement.

A large portion of the Title monies the district currently receives were designated to support
the initiatives in the academic plan, and the inability to implement the plan will impact the
district’s ability to spend those funds.

“The delay or elimination of these programs will have a profound effect on student
achievement,” said Chief Academic and Accountability Auditor Barbara Byrd Bennett.

The most immediate effect will be the cancellation of a training session today for
approximately 200 teachers on the materials and lessons that were to be implemented in the
extended-day program. The extended-day program provides additional instruction and
support to students who are struggling academically. It will immediately affect 102 schools,
approximately 648 teachers and approximately 9,720 students.

The injunction could prompt the cancellation of summer school for struggling students in
grades prek-12, impacting all of the district’s 172 schools. The summer school program
was anticipated to impact more than 40,000 DPS students. At the high school level, this will
mean that some students who are between one and three courses away from graduation will
not be able to make those courses up so they can graduate on time.

The district is in the process of assessing bids on materials and professional development
for summer school programs. These are extremely time sensitive and even a delay in
assessment will hamper the district’s ability to deliver a quality summer school program.

Training must be cancelled for about 80 teachers who were selected to deliver professional
development to their colleagues. They were to teach their peers how to determine student
weaknesses and give them strategies to address those weaknesses.

In addition to having an immediate effect on academics, the ruling will impact plans to
balance the district’s books. The district has major, structural financial problems, and the
district cannot resolve its financial emergency if it cannot address how academic programs
are operated and funded.

The academic plan includes the following changes:
More time for reading in Pre-K through eighth grade
Advanced Placement courses available at every high school
More language course offerings
Introduction to pre-algebra as soon as sixth grade
Extended summer school offerings, including a bridge program to help rising ninth graders
adjust to high school.

[maxx]

English wrote: Some of my veteran DPS educator buddies were very critical of the free summer schools in '09. When I taught summer school from 2000-2004, we got kids from all over the city who might have been rough around the edges, but who were willing to do what they hadn't during the school year.

maxx: I wonder how effective summer school is to begin with unless it is computerized with set goals that must be met. I think Berkley was talking about a computerized summer school. I don't know if it ever came to pass. My daughter took algebra in summer school in Southfield. She felt like Einstein because on the first day of class, she could answer the question, What does 3x mean? If you didn't learn enough during the school year to pass a subject, how are you going to learn it in 6 weeks?

[DetroitTeacher]

Most of the kids taking summer school classes [[at least in DPS) are there because they just didn't attend class during the regular school year. If kids don't go, they don't do the work and they don't pass the class. Summer school in DPS has the requisite number of hours a student must have to complete the class. It's just like taking spring/summer classes in college. It's the same thing, just done in a shorter period of time [[week wise, not hours). When kids had to pay to attend summer school, some really did the work and accomplished the goals. Others expected to pass just because they paid for it, and did little work. When it is free it is just a clusterf^&% and teachers are left to manage major behavior issues [[because most of the kids who attend are not wanted at home by the parents) by kids we don't really know and the kids who were really serious about it got shortchanged. Not to mention class size was ridiculous [[try 70 kids in a class on for size). They packed as many as they could into a room so they didn't have to pay another teacher. Never again will I teach free summer school!!

[mwilbert]

From what I have heard, the students are more inclined to skip school when the weather is good, so if they are trying to make up their [[voluntary) absences from the regular school year, I'm not sure how well that would work.

[laurin]

A big problem last year was also the combining of schools that were rivals without any additional resources. I want to say that was the issue with Southeastern going into King for summer school. It was a mess.

Combining the schools [[for summer school) made great financial sense, but didn't really take much else into account. Bobb definitely needs greater assistance in the academic arena if he wants to continue making such decisions.

[DetroitTeacher]

The kids of whom I speak don't come to school much at all, it doesn't matter what the weather is like.

[Locke09]

Mr. Bobb has complained profusely since he got here about people playing politics with the children's education. Yet that is precisely what he is doing. He is not canceling programs because of lack of funding. He is claiming he has to cancel them because the court [[temporarily) ruled against him controlling academics as well as finances. He is throwing a "hissy fit." Did Mr. Bobb really expect a judge to ignore what the existing law says?

Mr. Bobb was brought here to reduce the deficit. Not only has he not reduced it, it has grown. Perhaps if he would concentrate on the finances he could get his actual job done. Appoint someone else to handle academics if we don't trust the board.

It was the current school board that first raised concerns about Risk Management fraud. That board decided to sue those who they feel stole millions. The press makes it seem as if this was Mr. Bobb's baby, but it wasn't. So far, what has he uncovered in terms of real fraud? Did we ever get a report on how many "ghost" employees he actually found and who was prosecuted for paying ghost employees? If so, I must have missed it.

Mr. Bobb needs to concentrate on finances. He can't clean it up in a year, but he is heading in the opposite direction so far.

[DetroitTeacher]

Mr Bobb cancelled the extended day program [[we have 8 days left). We are giving the kids their grades for the classes. It's not their fault that this adult is throwing a tantrum. Some of us even offered to teach it without pay during May...the third and last section of classes offered [[we would rotate days) but that was denied. Now, who is for the KIDS? Certainly not Bobb or he'd take us up on our offer Nothing needs funding, since he would not have to pay our salaries for the program. He is a moron when it comes to academics and helping the kids...

[English]

^ DetroitTeacher, I am truly sorry about this. I didn't agree with everything Bobb was doing, but I felt that he was really cleaning house at the administrative level and reducing theft. However, I've lost respect for him because of this.

About teachers teaching without pay, DT -- you and I know that teachers do this all the time, without hesitation, which is why people who think we are greedy get to me. I worked my first three months in DPS without pay -- back then, people explained to me that "it takes 90 days for you to get on the payroll." WHAT???

The fact that Bobb is refusing to allow you to finish up that program for FREE says so much about the agenda of the people behind him. Bobb himself is only the tip of the iceberg.

Because of his "tantrum", as you call it, instead of being in summer school, kids who need remediation will be roaming the streets, bored during the long, hot months. If this is reform, they can have it. The status quo in DPS was untenable, but the jury is still out on what's happening now.

[Hypestyles]

i just hope the reform that needs to happen happens within the next year.. a mayoral-appointed system.. no more at-large-elected boards.. when these people run, i barely know anything about them..

[DetroitTeacher]

English: Not only did we offer to finish out this session, but we are running a month long session in May for those seniors who need just one more class to graduate, on time. THAT is the program for which we all agreed to work one or two days a week [[there are enough of us to cover each of the core subjects on a rotating basis), sans pay.

It also took me 3 months to "get in the tube" for payroll when I began working for DPS. I called and told them I would come and insert my foot into said "tube" just to get things moving. They didn't like that. I had a pre-teen to support and he ate his weight in groceries per day! Thank goodness my parents were able to help me out until I could get put in the tube. I also worked an entire summer for free [[this is before the spread the pay option) because I wasn't in the summer "tube". I still have yet to see this "tube". It can't be that hard to input someone into a computer. I also was without insurance for 2 months while they figured out that clusterf*&^ this past Feb-March. Luckily, I didn't get my yearly dose of horrible bronchitis as bad as in years past...I just suffered through it this year [[and didn't miss a day of work).

Whoever says teachers are in this for the money is smoking something...

[casscorridor]

Robert Bobb should go to jail for the cruel injustice he is committing against our children. He pretends to be helping, and the media is all but entirely on his side. Because the schools got so bad, any change was immensely welcomed, but is this the change we need? Robert Bobb is destroying public education. He has publicly said he won't stop until someone stops him. I honestly think he'll close the entire district if he can. But parents are standing up and fighting back and saying that closing neighborhood public schools is not what we need! The media as well people on this forum, make it seem like everyday Detroit citizens can't run their own lives, they are called "incompetent" and said to need the guidance of outsiders. I'm not opposed to outside help, but I firmly believe the that the people of Detroit can govern themselves, and there is example after example of parents taking initiative and working their hardest for their children. There are also example after example of hardworking students, yet the sterotype illiterate dropout is always what is highlighted. Robert Bobb is paid for by the foundations who want to radically transform education, pushing it into the realm of the market. They want to trade education on the free market just as they did with loans, and we all know what happened to the latter. Economics left to the market is a disaster, why is education any different? How can we let these foundations rewrite history? Public education is a mainstay of American democracy, and to have it be eroded is eroding the very foundation of our democracy.