Quote Originally Posted by Neilr View Post
There's not much I can, or want, to say in defense of the elected members of the Board of Education. However, I want to point out that they do not get paid for their [[and I'm being generous with the word) service other than a small, IIRC $30, stipend per meeting.

The real compensation that being on a board of education [[whether in Detroit or any smaller town, it's all the same) provides is that it's an entry level step into the world of elected politics. Board members can get their names in the paper on a regular basis thereby building their name recognition. Also with the ability to approve contracts and promotions a clever member can build up a base of contributors for future political campaigns.

Alonzo Bates, Kwami Kenyatta, Barbara Rose Collins, and Kay Everett [[who can forget how she sold her vote on a major city contract for 17 pounds of sausage, in addition to lots of cash) all got their start in politics on the the Detroit Board of Education.
You just exposed the reason why people want to get elected to the school board....in the past. In the past, before DPS became a cesspool of corruption, if you were an unknown you wanted to get elected to the school board to build up your name recognition so that you could get elected to a higher office. Now, the board is so poisoned that if anyone from the current board was to get elected as a representative or a senator or even a councilperson I would be shock. Jimmy Womack may be the last for a long time to jump from the board to whatever.