Ex-GM Exec Roy Roberts new DPS EFM...

[Zacha341]

Ex-GM exec Roy Roberts to be new DPS emergency financial manager

http://www.freep.com/article/2011050...text|FRONTPAGE

[begingri]

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY

DETROIT FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

Gov. Rick Snyder announced former GM executive Roy Roberts as Detroit Public Schools' new emergency manager this afternoon, saying at a press conference he was looking for a Detroiter to take the helm and found the best man for the job.

Roberts' business success was key to the appointment, Snyder said. The district's financial crisis is important, but Roberts' most pressing task will be to ensure DPS students are college-ready, Snyder said.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/2011050...xt%7CFRONTPAGE

[gnome]

If bamn, et al thought Bobb was a hard-ass, they are in for a cold slap to the face. Roberts is a suave prick. He's brutal classist who is intolerant of the lazy, the slackers, the entitled.

Grape throwers beware.

[dtowncitylover]

He's brutal classist who is intolerant of the lazy, the slackers, the entitled.

God forbid one should be tolerant of lazy slackers!

[mwilbert]

Roy Roberts sounds like a fine guy, but the idea that an EFM could do something to make DPS graduates "college-ready" is an indication that the Governor doesn't understand the nature of the problem. I think it is a serious mistake to oversell what an EFM could possibly accomplish. If he can actually eliminate the deficit, that will be more than his predecessors have done.

And as long as we are looking for goals, I'd like to see DPS 8th graders be high-school ready. Also beyond the capabilities of an EFM.

[gazhekwe]

Look what else he did, reported in today's Free Press:

A landmark gift
DIA GALLERY RENAMED IN HONOR OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHILANTHROPISTS
By MARK STRYKER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
In his career as an executive, most of it with General Motors, Roy S. Roberts was a trailblazer, the first African American in an assortment of jobs as he climbed the corporate ladder. When he retired in 2000 as GM group vice president for North American sales, service and marketing , he was the highest ranking black person in the car industry. Now Roberts and his wife, Maureen, are responsible for another landmark: They are the first African Americans to make a donation of at least $1 million to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The museum has renamed one of its galleries of contemporary African American art for the couple. “You can’t have a world-class city without the arts,” said Roberts, 72. “As we try to grow the city, this museum has to be a major part of it.”

[BasementBeat]

Not sure how well he'll turn out for the job - but it's good to see a wealthy person whose involved with the city is willing to invest so much in the arts; which is one of the main things attracting people to the city.

[eastsidechris]

He sounds like a solid guy, but I wonder [[yet again) about the hiring of someone with no background in education to run a school district.

[DetroitTeacher]

He might be OK. I read somewhere that he wanted to be a teacher...so maybe he understands education just a bit. Piss poor pay is probably what made him change his mind [[compared to what he's made doing other things). If someone wanted to be a teacher then they might just have the best interests of the KIDS in sight. Whether or not he balances the budget, well...good luck on that. It seems we keep getting deeper into the abyss with that one.

[Lowell]

Why do I get flashes of Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraq Invasion and occupation when I ponder the school [and other] take overs? I'm not generally cynical and I hope for the best; yet I can't stop wondering how long these commitments will be and what will really get done.

I guess I remember the last take over and all the hoopla about David Adamany bringing some new world order with a distinguished team of authorities. How quickly he fled and now he and his 'Coalition Provisional Authority' are almost forgotten. What did they do?

More importantly, what could they, or the current hope-to-be healers, really do?

Could they create classrooms with 15 students staffed by quality teachers, which is really what is needed? Could they assure safe and secure buildings and student transportation? Could they put a parent with a middle class income into the homes of half the students who live in impoverished circumstances?

This is an extremely difficult situation and it requires a lot of money and love. It has neither and instead we are watching a classic 'rearrangement the deck chairs on the Titanic'.

There is no serious political will to address the situation and, instead of healing, there is punishment.

[Zacha341]

Precisely...

...There is no serious political will to address the situation and, instead of healing, there is punishment.

[DetroitTeacher]

I've always said that a group of single working class parents should run DPS. If anyone knows how to make ends meet and stretch a dollar, they do. DPS also needs to get on the Extreme Couponing kick and stop paying retail for everything [[consultants, new programs that only last a year or two, etc.)

I might be adding a bit of humor to all of this, but kids' lives are at stake here. Something needs to be done and we need to start attracting the best of the best teachers [[and we can't do that with the current state of DPS). We also need to get more parental involvement. I saw THREE [[I have 120 students) parents at parent teacher conferences last night. THREE! Kids might take a more vested interest in school and do much better [[as research has shown) if parents were more involved. Community support needs to improve and society's views on education need to change. We really do need the parent/student/teacher/community mentality of years ago when education was a family affair and the neighbors wanted to see a kid's report card [[my neighbors chased me down when I walked home from school on report card day) because they cared. Kids also need to feel safe, in school and at home, and I don't see that happening with my students.

I don't know how to change society and I don't know where or when we let things slide down to what they are. Too many greedy people with their hands in the cookie jar and not enough accountability at the top?

[firstandten]

He sounds like a solid guy, but I wonder [[yet again) about the hiring of someone with no background in education to run a school district.

He's a manager He will hire a super and a financial person to handle to heavy lifting

[Mikeg]

Why do I get flashes of Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraq Invasion and occupation when I ponder the school [and other] take overs? I'm not generally cynical and I hope for the best; yet I can't stop wondering how long these commitments will be and what will really get done.

I guess I remember the last take over and all the hoopla about David Adamany bringing some new world order with a distinguished team of authorities. How quickly he fled and now he and his 'Coalition Provisional Authority' are almost forgotten. What did they do?

More importantly, what could they, or the current hope-to-be healers, really do?

Could they create classrooms with 15 students staffed by quality teachers, which is really what is needed? Could they assure safe and secure buildings and student transportation? Could they put a parent with a middle class income into the homes of half the students who live in impoverished circumstances?

This is an extremely difficult situation and it requires a lot of money and love. It has neither and instead we are watching a classic 'rearrangement the deck chairs on the Titanic'.

There is no serious political will to address the situation and, instead of healing, there is punishment.

Are you implying with your analogy that the State of Michigan is the cause of the dysfunction in the DPS?

The "Coalition Provisional Authority" was put in place in Iraq because of the "Pottery Barn Rule": you break it, you own it. The US military had in effect already "taken over" Iraq as a result of defeating Saddam and his Army and the CPA was an attempt [[however flawed and belated) to restore order and repair the organizational and physical damage we had done to that country.

[Meddle]

College ready? How about if we just make sure they can read?

According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday [[things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/...ers-cant-read/

[Lowell]

I saw THREE [[I have 120 students) parents at parent teacher conferences last night. THREE! Kids might take a more vested interest in school and do much better [[as research has shown) if parents were more involved.

There's an old saying about what forms the base of a good school - a good principal and involved parents. I saw a model for this for my son's education in Highland Park starting with Head Start which, IMO, offers the model to follow. Parents were *required* to participate in the form of periodic classroom presence and activities. The class size was small, around 15, and there was always at least three adults present. It was also enlightening for the parents who became familiar with the challenges.

But after that? If fell off a cliff. The next year they were sent to a windowless kindergarten with over 30 kids and one teacher. So we placed our son in nearby St. Benedict's, which by every comparison was underfunded, yet provided an outstanding education. Why? Because parents who are paying are by default involved and good principals ran the show. Parent-teacher sessions and participation in various activities including the dreaded candy sales fundraisers were *required*. But even if they weren't required almost every parent would have been there.

Too many parents take free public education to equal free babysitting that requires none of their attention. I think this should be changed and they should be required to attend, at a minimum, parent-teacher sessions - or face a truancy warrant just like their kids do if they skip.

[Lowell]

Are you implying with your analogy that the State of Michigan is the cause of the dysfunction in the DPS?

The "Coalition Provisional Authority" was put in place in Iraq because of the "Pottery Barn Rule": you break it, you own it. The US military had in effect already "taken over" Iraq as a result of defeating Saddam and his Army and the CPA was an attempt [[however flawed and belated) to restore order and repair the organizational and physical damage we had done to that country.

The State is not the cause, but it is certainly a big part of the problem. You could extend the Pottery Barn Rule to say that 'if you took it home, you own it'. This is what happened previously with the Adamany, and whoever followed him. They became like the proverbial dog who chases a truck - if it caught it, it wouldn't know what do it. So they 'took it home but then returned it' to the store. The challenges were too great and the resources too limited and they didn't want to get the failure pinned on their reputations.

[SWMAP]

I think that Detroit Teacher and others may be too young to have observed what happened to the DPS district over the last 30-40 years, as it has become a classic patronage system. Such a system is operated at the core level to as a means of offering jobs, contracts and money to an inside group that has won control. Obviously, in such a system, "the kids" are very far down in the priority list.

As long as the DPS remains a spoils system with Holly, Scott, Sheffield, and others of their ilk running things visibly or through the school board members that are their minions, the district cannot achieve any educational goals. Note, as Meddle does, the illiteracy rates that are the legacy of this system.

This corrupt patronage ststem must be dismantled. The public corruption charges that have been brought have provided a wedge to open up the corruption, but the EFM is critically needed to destroy the sense of financial entiltlement that local control of the school district [[funded with state and federal funds) has engendered, and hopefully, build a smaller, less fiancially tempting district with many independant charter schools.
I do see that Horace Sheffield has applied to run a charter school. Great! let him find out how life will be with restricted funds!

Its not just Detroit that has to dismantle a corrupt public school system caught in the spoils system. Look briefly at this recent article about a similar set-up in Harrisburg PA: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...n_harrisb.html


Note this:
"This is a $130 million business. He who controls the schools controls the city. This has been about jobs. It’s been a political machine. It goes back so far, it’s so ingrained in people, that that’s what they expect,” Christ said.

"racial fissures and mistrust are misplaced. The real issue is that the education of the city’s youths has long been a secondary consideration behind who’s getting jobs or who is getting paid.

“These are adults making decisions about adults. It’s all about jobs [implied: not "the kids"]. Nepotism is rampant. The tragedy is the kids aren’t learning,”

[firstandten]

If bamn, et al thought Bobb was a hard-ass, they are in for a cold slap to the face. Roberts is a suave prick. He's brutal classist who is intolerant of the lazy, the slackers, the entitled.

Grape throwers beware.

Roberts comes from the world of auto manufacturing as a plant manager after early in his career turning around a failing plant. These types of guys are not a walk in the park

[Bham1982]

This guys sounds smart, tough and hard-working.

Unfortunately, the problems of DPS are structural in nature, and even the smartest, toughest, most hard-working leader can't fix it.

The achievement problem is due to demographics. The budget problem is due to lack of achievement.

[DetroitFats]

1. High school students in Detroit miss about 50 or 60 days of school per year, on average.
2. Huge amounts of money in DPS go to consultants and administrators who never have and never will set foot in a classroom.
3. At our last parent-teacher conference, I spoke to 10 parents. I have more than 200 students this year. Unless and until we can find a way to make education important in the lives of our students and their families, all the EMF's in the world will never make a difference.

[DetroitTeacher]

Swamp: You are correct, I am a bit too young to remember much in DPS over the last 30-40 years. I only speak of my experience in the past 15 years with DPS. Prior to that, I didn't hear much about DPS and certainly didn't know all of the inside wheelings and dealings going on. I just hope, for the sake of the kids that someone, somewhere can step in and turn this capsized ship right side up.

[Danny]

Well, let's see what EFM Roy Roberts can do to save DPS. Is going to finish the job like Robert Bobb or do worse as Snead! Only time will tell and the fate of Detroit Public Schools be decided on Roberts.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET!

Because public education is a neccessity for all American People.

Neda, I miss you so.

[hamtown mike]

This thread made me think of my many highway crossings into the state of Kentucky. At the state line their greeting sign proudly displays the slogan "Welcome to Kentucky, where education pays."

I chuckle a little because it's Kentucky-where there are still 'Shiners in the hills, but it gets me to thinking about our city. What would our sign say? "Welcome to Detroit, where no education pays just as well."

The social safety net [[which I continue to believe has become a hammock) keeps an education from paying dividends. Actually, our network of entitlement programs doesn't stop an education from paying dividends, it stops an education from being earned in the first place.


The incentive for getting a good education is literally out of sight for most of Detroit's children. They are not seeing the application of an education or knowledge equating an income. Detroit's children are surrounded by ditch diggers and fry cooks, which would be fine if Detroit needed more ditches and french fries. We need dreamers. We need artists. We need scientists. We need doctors. [[we don't need $100,000 hip hop seminars)

I'm blown away by the number of children who have asked me if I am rich while i'm out working in my yard. I tell them I'm not rich, that if I was; "I'd be paying somebody else to be doing this right now".

As the kids stare at me, as if it's the first time they've ever seen someone hard at work, I try to impress upon them the importance of an education- that if they want nice things they have to go to school, get smart and get to work.

Perhaps that's the intent of mixed income housing-dropping section 8 housing right in the middle of established housing stock to help those with less see that there is more out there to be earned. Earned? Eeeekk!

Sadly those with less [[non-tax paying) far outnumber those who have a dime in their pocket-siphoning off more and more financial resources to maintain and service than if the land had just remained vacant. Just ask the city of Hamtramck about the 250 'income-adjusted" houses they were court-ordered to build 3 years ago.

Seriously, I overheard last week that a DPS student has a better chance of getting arrested than graduating form high school. That can't be right.

I was going somewhere with this...oh right.
Parents that have grown comfortable with less, will raise children that will be comfortable with less. Forget the parents, they're lost. How do we inspire children to dream? To want more?
The new EFM can cut costs left and right, hell he could even bring the district into a surplus but until students see the benefits of an education all efforts will be in vain.

I say we open city wide orphanages-where kids can actually quit-claim their parents. I'm sure mom and dad [[ok who are we kidding, just mom) would be fine with that until a month later when they discover their bridge card didn't get refilled and that their little $2500 tax credit, I mean bundle of joy, no longer applies.

Now get off my lawn!

[Hypestyles]

DPS needs an adult education curriculum. For folks who want to get their Diploma or GED. Also it needs Literacy "Reinforcement" program for folks who may already have the Diploma or GED, but who need remedial help. Re-open many of the closed schools and have these programs. Also have programs at schools where kids are if you have a child in DPS.