Rochelle Riley: Schools should be #1 priority for new mayor

**Irvine Laird** · May-01-09, 11:10 AM

Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press believes the singular focus on the next mayor's administration should be fixing the Detroit Public Schools. She her column here: http://www.freep.com/article/20090501/COL10/905010339
Riley makes a strong statement in the column: The schools should not revert to the control of a school board after Mr. Bobb finishes his work here. The inference is that Detroit's mayor should oversee the schools. We've debated the merits of that here before.

The crux of the column is Robert Thompson's 2003 offer to give $200 million to start charter high schools in Detroit--an offer that Detroit's school board rejected. Ken Cockrel says he would reject the offer if Thompson was to make it again. Bing says he would take it. Riley seems to favor Bing's position. I think I do, too.

What do you think? Are the schools the single most important challenge/opportunity before the new mayor? Even more important than economic development and public safety/service?

**Russix** · May-01-09, 01:26 PM

All of them and more are priorities. Rating them is personal choice.

**daddeeo** · May-01-09, 01:49 PM

You have to get the city's finances under control. How can you support the schools if the city is broke?

**firstandten** · May-01-09, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by Irvine Laird

Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press believes the singular focus on the next mayor's administration should be fixing the Detroit Public Schools. She her column here: http://www.freep.com/article/20090501/COL10/905010339
Riley makes a strong statement in the column: The schools should not revert to the control of a school board after Mr. Bobb finishes his work here. The inference is that Detroit's mayor should oversee the schools. We've debated the merits of that here before. ?

I have been a strong proponent that this is THE issue that the new[[starting 2010) mayor needs to focus on. Without a strong school system we will not be able to attract whats left of the middle class back to Detroit especially if there are children involved. The middle class in Detroit is essentially paying a dual tax. Property taxes to live in the city and private school tuition. If Detroiters felt better about the schools maybe the private school tuition would go away.

Originally Posted by Irvine Laird

The crux of the column is Robert Thompson's 2003 offer to give $200 million to start charter high schools in Detroit--an offer that Detroit's school board rejected. Ken Cockrel says he would reject the offer if Thompson was to make it again. Bing says he would take it. Riley seems to favor Bing's position. I think I do, too. ?

I agree with Cockrel's position. No way would I let Thompson build 5 high schools in the city. Maybe 2 high schools and 2 or 3 middle/elementary schools . As with Cockrel and his Titanic and lifeboat example charter schools should be a supplement and not a replacement to a strong DPS

Originally Posted by Irvine Laird

What do you think? Are the schools the single most important challenge/opportunity before the new mayor? Even more important than economic development and public safety/service?

Both areas are important public safety goes without saying, that is an issue for all mayors and every election cycle.

Economic development will altimately depend on the viablity of our school system. You can't create jobs without a skilled and educated workforce.

DetroitDad · May-01-09, 09:11 PM

Schools are without a doubt the biggest issue for families, with crime being the most important for unmarried young professionals and the elderly. Families don't buy homes, they buy schools. Give Detroit a good or great school system, and you'll get a nice rise in property values and home sales.

Beyond that, you also need destinations people want to live near. Downtown, casinos and stadiums, transit, and parks are important secondary concerns after schools and non violent crime control [[basic civil disorder is the broken window of crime). People will choose to live near destinations if there are good schools and little civil disorder. Taxes and insurance costs are also secondary to schools and non violent crime.

Residents are the egg before the chicken because there will always be some risk taking singles and starter families interested in investing in an area where their home will rise in value. Once enough of these move in, you'll see more of the legit small retail and food options followed by the first batch of home owners selling for a profit. New higher income people will come in and the Meijers and Kohls, who only come later in the cycle, will follow as the new bubble begins to inflate.

**Irvine Laird** · May-02-09, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitDad

Families don't buy homes, they buy schools.

I didn't know how true this is until my wife and I began looking for homes. We share a passion for Detroit that compelled us to live and work here for many years, but our highest priority in looking for a home is the schools where we will enroll our children. This change in our perspective [[from the former view that any "hip" place with lots of bars and restaurants would be ideal) is influencing us to look at places we wouldn't be caught dead considering even a few months ago for fear of the grief we would endure from our hipster friends in places like Detroit and Ferndale.

**professorscott** · May-02-09, 12:48 AM

The school district is destroying Detroit, no doubt. The Mayor, though, is not in a position to do any damned thing about the schools. Your elected school board is to blame, and sadly, it doesn't seem to matter who gets elected. The school board and the various superintendents who have gone through the DPS revolving door don't seem to give a damn about the kids.

Detroit can not survive in any form without decent schools, and Detroit does not have decent schools. School district personnel are all about power and control, and don't care whether children are educated [[or even safe) or not.

I have despaired over this problem since I've been in the Detroit area. We are throwing away thousands of lives every year, and have been for decades. Somebody ought to be shot over this, and I would be happy to personally take place in the shooting if I thought it would do any good.

How can any of this be fixed? Anyone have any ideas, aside from murder, which though cathartic is probably impractical [[not to mention risky)?

**firstandten** · May-02-09, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by professorscott

The school district is destroying Detroit, no doubt. The Mayor, though, is not in a position to do any damned thing about the schools. Your elected school board is to blame, and sadly, it doesn't seem to matter who gets elected. The school board and the various superintendents who have gone through the DPS revolving door don't seem to give a damn about the kids.

Detroit can not survive in any form without decent schools, and Detroit does not have decent schools. School district personnel are all about power and control, and don't care whether children are educated [[or even safe) or not.

I have despaired over this problem since I've been in the Detroit area. We are throwing away thousands of lives every year, and have been for decades. Somebody ought to be shot over this, and I would be happy to personally take place in the shooting if I thought it would do any good.

How can any of this be fixed? Anyone have any ideas, aside from murder, which though cathartic is probably impractical [[not to mention risky)?

Professor, I feel your pain and as the situation now exists you are correct 100%

I've posted stories on Mr. Bobb before but this bears repeating.

Mr. Bobb was the president of the school board in DC when the mayor fired him and the rest of the board and put his own person in [[reformer Michelle Rhee) who reports to no-one but the mayor. Mr. Bobb literally begged the mayor to not do it but he did anyway.

I think he saw the value in that approach because now he reports only to the governor, he's in charge of everything that has to do with money, the school board has responsibility over academics [[ a nice way of telling them they have no power)

Its looks like Bobb's approach like DC mayor Fenty's approach CAN work its going to take some time of course. We just need a mayor with guts who will hire a kick-ass administrator and give that person some political cover. As voters we can and must insist that happens.

**firstandten** · May-07-09, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Irvine Laird

Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press believes the singular focus on the next mayor's administration should be fixing the Detroit Public Schools. She her column here: http://www.freep.com/article/20090501/COL10/905010339
Riley makes a strong statement in the column: The schools should not revert to the control of a school board after Mr. Bobb finishes his work here. The inference is that Detroit's mayor should oversee the schools. We've debated the merits of that here before.

One other thing that I didn't mention is we may because of circumstances be forced to change from a school board / superintendent structure anyway. It is highly unlikely you will be able to hire a talented administrator with urban school experience who is going to want to report to 11 board members.

What you will get will be people who fit a profile along the lines of the last superintendent. Nobody with the kind of skills you need to turnaround a school district like Detroit will accept that kind of situation and they can get as much money if not more going to a system were they have more control.

What you will have left is trying to pick the least undesirable candidate to head up your district

**Neilr** · May-07-09, 05:45 AM

Originally Posted by firstandten

One other thing that I didn't mention is we may because of circumstances be forced to change from a school board / superintendent structure anyway. It is highly unlikely you will be able to hire a talented administrator with urban school experience who is going to want to report to 11 board members.

What you will get will be people who fit a profile along the lines of the last superintendent. Nobody with the kind of skills you need to turnaround a school district like Detroit will accept that kind of situation and they can get as much money if not more going to a system were they have more control.

What you will have left is trying to pick the least undesirable candidate to head up your district

That's what happened the last go round. As absolutely unqualified as Dr. Connie Calloway was to successfully lead a system such as DPS, she most likely was the most qualified of the final five applicants.

**royce** · May-07-09, 11:53 PM

Lodgedodger, hiring more security guards will help keep down the chaos in the classrooms and the hallways so that the students have an opportunity to read. Hiring more teacher's aides will allow the teacher or that aide to spend time with the students who are having problems reading. Money spent in the right way is money well spent. The problem with DPS is that it spends money so inefficiently that there are more negative results than positive results.

**royce** · May-08-09, 12:16 AM

Oh, and one other thing, the current school board set up needs to be abolished. All you need to have is a superintendent appointed by the mayor who answers directly to the mayor and no school board. What sense does it make to have a school board that doen't get paid a salary? Giving non-paid individuals access to millions of dollars to carry out DPS business is asking for trouble. When did this non-paying, part-time school board set up come into fruition? It may work in other places, but it clearly doesn't work in Detroit.

**firstandten** · May-15-09, 07:30 AM

Found this report that gives a detailed history of the relationship between the schools the economic decline of the city and the politics of the city and state as it relates to DPS. The piece was written before Calloway was ousted but it seems revelant to the discussion of what Mr. Bobb is doing now and what Mayor Bing must do. It is written by Dr. Wilbur Rich. Dr. Rich talks extensively about the first mayoral takeover of the board and its problems.

http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/advocacy/...eformatted.pdf