29 Detroit Public Schools to close

[maxx]

firstandten:
There is the Detroit Compact.

"...The Detroit Compact is a scholarship operated by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce since 1990, for Detroit Public School students only. We recommend this scholarship for students who qualify, because it pays for all of the undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees to designated public universities, which may be a better scholarship than we currently provide. The requirements are an ACT score of 21 or better in reading and math only, a cumulative [[from 9th grade) 3.0 GPA and 95% attendance in high school. Click here or here

[zincfinger]

Debbie Stabenow led the movement to detach school funding from the property tax.

And I think the fact that public school funding was already significantly detached from property taxes raises a couple of interesting questions: i) did it improve the caliber of DPS and/or other relatively low property tax districts, and ii) if not, is that because we didn't go far enough in our detachment, or because funding wasn't the fundamental problem in the first place?

[maxx]

Another idea... lets pay students a small wage to go to school if they pass, and promise them a 4-year schollarship to any public state university when they graduate. That will be motivation to stay in school, when many students give up thinking that their chances of going to college and lifiting themselves out of poverty is slim to none. This would give hope to thousands of students.

Has DPS tried bringing in motivational speakers from time to time? Doing motivational exercises like having kids imagine themselves in a dream job, creating pictures of kids in dream jobs to take home and hang on their wall?

Detroit Teacher: What teacher positions are not being filled presently?

[mwilbert]

And I think the fact that public school funding was already significantly detached from property taxes raises a couple of interesting questions: i) did it improve the caliber of DPS and/or other relatively low property tax districts, and ii) if not, is that because we didn't go far enough in our detachment, or because funding wasn't the fundamental problem in the first place?

Because funding is necessary but not sufficient. The DPS has many other problems, and the community has a lot of problems. As the DPS disappears, as it seems to be on track to do, we may be able to disentagle some of this.

[Danny]

When Detroit's population under 800,000. There must be over 60,000 DPS students left. Those EVIL charter schools are winning.

[zincfinger]

Because funding is necessary but not sufficient. The DPS has many other problems, and the community has a lot of problems. As the DPS disappears, as it seems to be on track to do, we may be able to disentagle some of this.

Are you suggesting that DPS did not improve when school funding was substantially detached from property taxes?

Certainly "funding is necessary". With zero funding, you would have no school. But the question I was raising was whether the DPS schools suffered from insufficient funding, due to school funding being attached to property taxes. Because, to me, if insufficiency of funds due to the attachment of funding to property taxes was even part of the problem, you would expect detachment to result in at least a degree of educational improvement.

[mwilbert]

I wouldn't necessarily expect that. First, what I meant was increased funding, not funding. I thought that was implicit. Second, it depends upon the funding being used in an intelligent way, something clearly beyond the management of the DPS. Third, it depends upon other things not deteriorating, but in fact the demographics of the DPS population have been getting steadily worse for 50 years and teaching in the DPS has become less attractive [[more jobs in other districts, harder jobs in DPS) over that time. Fourth, there still doesn't seem to be enough money, although whether that is because there actually isn't enough money or because it is misspent is hard to say. If you have chair with one leg, it needs more legs, but adding one isn't going to help much.

But I don't think we actually disagree much about this, unless you think that the DPS was not underfunded previously. The problems of the Detroit schools and their students cannot be solved by money alone, unless you have enough money to put everyone in boarding schools when they turn three. The problem of educating a disadvantaged population like the one the DPS serves is not solved, at least not at a large scale.

[maxx]

And I think the fact that public school funding was already significantly detached from property taxes raises a couple of interesting questions: i) did it improve the caliber of DPS and/or other relatively low property tax districts, and ii) if not, is that because we didn't go far enough in our detachment, or because funding wasn't the fundamental problem in the first place?

The question is how was the money spent? Does anyone know? Does anyone know what happened to the No Child Left Behind monies?

[zincfinger]

But I don't think we actually disagree much about this, unless you think that the DPS was not underfunded previously. The problems of the Detroit schools and their students cannot be solved by money alone, unless you have enough money to put everyone in boarding schools when they turn three. The problem of educating a disadvantaged population like the one the DPS serves is not solved, at least not at a large scale.

We don't disagree, and frankly, I'm in no position to disagree. I don't know that much about DPS, and so I'm asking sincere questions to gauge opinion from those who do know something about it.

That being said, I do have a bit of a personal bias/opinion that school funding is generally not the distinguishing factor between schools that work well and those that don't. But I know next to nothing about DPS budgets specifically.

[DetroitTeacher]

I know someone needs to fill my position since I have moved into the "Literacy Coach" position. They haven't sent a teacher to replace me, yet. I am still in the class and doing the coaching thing in my "spare" time [[you got it, it's not getting done). I know they need math and science and English. They may need others but I am a bit disconnected from other schools, so I am not in the know like I used to be.

Has DPS tried bringing in motivational speakers from time to time? Doing motivational exercises like having kids imagine themselves in a dream job, creating pictures of kids in dream jobs to take home and hang on their wall?

Detroit Teacher: What teacher positions are not being filled presently?

[Rocko]

Final decisions regarding DPS closures and changes 2010-2012:
http://download.gannett.edgesuite.ne...losurelist.pdf

[[Very helpful) Detroit News map: DPS maps turnaround with building closures, charter conversions:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...aps-turnaround

Detroit News Article:
DPS does the math on school closure

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...school-closure

[DetroitTeacher]

That first link is from last year. It is not the current closings.

[maxx]

Detroit teacher:
What is a literacy coach?

I heard about the closing of Paul Robeson/ Malcolm X today on Need to Know. They devoted a segment to the school and students' first time attempt at a city planning competition.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know...e-future/8813/

[Rocko]

April 24. 2011 3:12PM
DPS schools slated for closure prepare to plead their cases

Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

Detroit — Sit-ins, neighborhood marches with megaphones and YouTube video pleas are all being launched to block school closures and charter conversions across Detroit Public Schools.

Teachers, students and administrators say they are out to stop the dismantling of DPS as the clock ticks down on plans to "rightsize" the district by closing eight schools and turning over as many as 45 schools to charter operators in the next two years.

Starting at 4 p.m. Monday, staff from six schools set to close in June will get the opportunity to make their case for saving their buildings at a School Presentation Meeting before DPS Emergency Manager Robert Bobb.

Veteran teacher Christine Abood will be at her school's meeting on May 3. Carleton Elementary School is on this year's closure list, despite the fact that Abood says her classrooms and others have been bulging at the seams for years.

For the last five years, she has had 40 students in her first-grade class. Now the number is closer to 25, but it should be under according to the teacher's contract, she said.

"At our school, the rationale of low enrollment was shocking to the community," Abood said. "We have always been a jewel, an exceptional school in the community. We're known for our teachers. We have people walking in from Harper Woods and Eastpointe to come here."

To make a case to save the school, near Interstate 94 and Moross, Abood and others marched through the neighborhood two weeks ago.

"People didn't know and they said, why? It's not boarded up here," Abood said. "It's a stable working-class community. Kids walk to school."

Bobb has said closing specific schools has been the hardest decision as he tries to erase a $327 million deficit and bring the state's largest school district out of financial emergency. The number of students attending DPS in 2000 was 168,000.
Today it's about 73,000. DPS projections for 2016 say it will drop to about 50,000.
At Carleton, enrollment today is 495 but by 2016 it's expected to drop to 200 students, DPS says.

A two-minute video posted April 16 on YouTube.com by a school library employee shows students from Dossin Elementary School using Smartboard technology and footage of Bobb telling the community last year that Dossin was a "high-performing" school and was being taken off the 2010 closure list.

With Eminem's "Lose Yourself" — the song in Chrysler's "Imported From Detroit" ad — in the background, the video shows children from the school cheering as Bobb tells them he won't close their school and the commercial's narrator saying, "This is our story."

This year, the school is being considered for a charter school or closure because of what DPS says are its high operational costs and declining enrollment.

Students from Catherine Ferguson Academy, a DPS school for pregnant girls and teen mothers, staged a sit-in April 15 to protest its closure. The school is being offered to a charter operator for takeover. If no one comes forward, it will close and its 220 students will be sent to neighboring schools. It has a school presentation meeting May 3.

DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said every school has a 20-minute presentation to make their case to stay open.

"There's a certain 'roll up our sleeves and work on solutions together' between Bobb, his team and the community," Wasko said.

jchambers@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110424/...#ixzz1KTw5foWI

[DetroitTeacher]

It's a bit hard to describe, really. Basically, what I do is to go into teachers' rooms and show them how to teach a strategy [[there are very specific strategies the kids can use for reading and writing). There is a whole process to this before I actually get to the teacher's room. First, there is the workshop on the strategy, then there is a demo lesson [[which is where I hijack a teacher's room and teach a lesson), then there is the co-plan and co-teaching [[the teacher and I do it together, in tandem), and then the teacher should practice on their own after which I go in and do an observation and provide feedback. I guess it's pretty much what the old Department Chairpersons did. I haven't actually been able to do any of this because I still have classes [[which is where I really want to be, anyway).

I'm not so sure how well this is going to work, since teachers SHOULD already know how to teach the strategy. I'm sure it would work well with teachers who need some extra coaching [[new teachers). The coaching positions went to the most senior teachers [[in Math, ELA, and Technology) in the school. That person was me for the ELA [[I have more seniority than everyone else in my dept, combined). They haven't sent anyone to replace me in the classroom so I really can't implement the coaching role for which I've been trained.

Detroit teacher:
What is a literacy coach?

I heard about the closing of Paul Robeson/ Malcolm X today on Need to Know. They devoted a segment to the school and students' first time attempt at a city planning competition.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know...e-future/8813/

[DetroitTeacher]

Dossin was set to close at the end of last year, too. They made an AMAZING video [[different from this year) and presented it at the rally with Bobb. They need to keep Dossin open, they are doing too many great things with the kids and the kids are really excited to learn. Kids like those at Dossin make my job much easier when they get to high school. They also need to keep Catherine Fergeson open. There are many reasons why those girls may drop out of school but the lack of a place to go that offers day care shouldn't be one of those reasons. I also love the fact that, as a graduation requirement, each young lady MUST be accepted to at least one college. I think it's a fabulous school with a great curriculum [[the farming) and an awesome support system for young mothers.

[drippyhollows]

grain of salt. They should do what ever is best for the students. If ever there was something to
throw money at its education. I have seen dropout rate info about Detroit. The district claims to graduate just under 60%. Independent research indicates closer to 25% To split the difference
and say 42-44% of Detroit students graduate is probably generous and basically terrible. The ones that beat the odds, go to college, graduate and succeed. How many of them return? No way of knowing but one can guess. If you decide to live in Detroit you pay higher insurance, you have to leave the city to shop for groceries, put bars on your doors and windows and then you have the schools. Its not too far a leap to imagine 500K of Detroit's 700K residents not having a highschool diploma. Education is the message
You could have a quarter million people in the city that are nearly illiterate.

[DetroitTeacher]

The problem is, they aren't doing what's best for the kids. I am not going to repeat why because it's already been discussed to death in other threads.

grain of salt. They should do what ever is best for the students. If ever there was something to
throw money at its education. I have seen dropout rate info about Detroit. The district claims to graduate just under 60%. Independent research indicates closer to 25% To split the difference
and say 42-44% of Detroit students graduate is probably generous and basically terrible. The ones that beat the odds, go to college, graduate and succeed. How many of them return? No way of knowing but one can guess. If you decide to live in Detroit you pay higher insurance, you have to leave the city to shop for groceries, put bars on your doors and windows and then you have the schools. Its not too far a leap to imagine 500K of Detroit's 700K residents not having a highschool diploma. Education is the message
You could have a quarter million people in the city that are nearly illiterate.

[drippyhollows]

nope. They sure aren't. I imagine that most of the teachers burn out pretty fast. Being a teacher in the city is probably pretty depressing. I expect most of the students don't want to attend and only show up because they are hungary and want to get fed. I expect that atleast some administrators over time have taken jobs in the district because they knew it would be easy to steal DPS money and get away with it and draw a paycheck at the same time.

[DetroitTeacher]

I am a little upset that you think that my job is depressing. I have wonderful kids! I do love my job. It's also a bit disheartening for me to hear that administrators [[I think you mean Principals) are there just to steal. I have worked with some wonderful admin in the buildings. Most of us on the front lines are there for the kids. Some aren't but please don't think that we are all depressed slackers out for our paychecks. If you have been following my posts, you know that I [[and most of my colleagues) are here for the kids.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all sunshine and roses. I am frustrated by the politics but my kids make up for that frustration. Many people believe what they hear on the news about DPS kids. Most of it is not true. Sure, there are pockets of trouble and issues but, for the most part, kids are there to learn. You really have to get to know the kids in order to really appreciate them. If a kid comes to school because they are hungry and NEED to be fed, then so be it. We are giving that kid something that they need. Most who are like that are not the problems in DPS. Kids who are hungry and come to school as a place of refuge are some of my best kids. They know what lies ahead of them without an education. They might come to school because that's the only place they might get a hug or a word of encouragement. If so, I am glad to give it to the kids.

Most of the teachers in DPS are there for the long haul. There isn't much turnover. Sure, there are folks who can't handle it. It has little to do with the kids. It's the politics and red tape that are the issues that cause most good teachers to leave the district.

Please see my kids in a better light. They are not the ones at fault for DPS going to the dogs. It's also not the fault of the teachers. It has much to do with those at the top of the food chain and that isn't how it should be. It should be all about the kids, but many people have lost sight of that.

nope. They sure aren't. I imagine that most of the teachers burn out pretty fast. Being a teacher in the city is probably pretty depressing. I expect most of the students don't want to attend and only show up because they are hungary and want to get fed. I expect that atleast some administrators over time have taken jobs in the district because they knew it would be easy to steal DPS money and get away with it and draw a paycheck at the same time.

[maxx]

How proficient as a reader is the most proficient third grader? Does this mean kids in DPS only have to reach a third grade level of reading even in high school?

http://news.michiganradio.org/post/d...education-plan

The emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools praised Governor Snyder’s education agenda.
Robert Bobb says his call to have every child proficient in reading by the end of third grade is important. ..

[DetroitTeacher]

Maxx: I totally agree that having children proficient in reading, early on, will make a world of difference in the lives of each child. It will also make the lives of that kid easier as they move on in school. It will also make the lives of the teachers easier because we won't have to spend so much time teaching remedial reading skills to kids who are in the 11th-12th grade and read on a 4th grade level. Reading is really the key to being successful in school.

[Rocko]

Small but not less significant victory!:

From the Detroit News:

April 28. 2011 12:12PM
DPS takes Dossin Elementary off closure list

Jennifer Chambers / / The Detroit News

Detroit— Dossin Elementary School has been taken off the closure list at Detroit Public Schools.

Robert Bobb, emergency manager of the district, contacted the school's principal on Wednesday to say Dossin, a kindergarten through seventh grade building, will still be offered to charter operators for a takeover but would not be closed in the event no charter is awarded.

Steve Wasko, DPS spokesman, said Bobb re-examined the school's enrollment, the community support it received when it was to be closed and the difficult conditions students would have faced crossing over I-96 to get to another school.

Dossin has 429 students and room for 489, according to district figures. The school also appeared on a closure list last year but was allowed to stay open.

Staffers from Dossin posted a YouTube video this month asking Bobb not to close their school, which focuses on technology and 21st century learning.

DPS, which faces a $327 million budget deficit, is moving ahead with plans to close seven other schools and offer 45 — including Dossin — to charter operators for takeovers. Of the 45 schools, 18 will be closed if no charter operator comes forward.

jchambers@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110428/...#ixzz1Kq1u4l2e

[DetroitTeacher]

Good, I am glad he took Dossin off the list. Maybe he read DYes??

[firstandten]

Yes, but he still offered it for charter operators. I'm not sure how that process will work, but if they allow the charter operators to cherry-pick the schools I would think Dossin would be one of the first they would want.