DPS gives control of lagging schools to private sector

[LWolf]

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News

<snip>

Detroit -- Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb announced Friday that he has hired four educational management companies to turn around 17 of the worst-performing high schools in the district, a move that marks what leaders say is the largest public school district overhaul of its kind in the nation.

"We have not been making the grade," Bobb said at a press conference at Central High School.

School board members expressed shock and dismay Friday -- just one day after they rolled out their own academic plan that they've asked Bobb to fund. Some accused Bobb of overstepping his bounds as a financial manager by launching an academic plan that will affect 20,000 students in three-quarters of the district's high schools without the board's knowledge.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090711/SCHOOLS/907110354

So the privatization of public ed marches on.

It will be interesting for me to note, now that privatizing has been legitimized for Democrats by the Obama administration, how many DUers rush in to defend this anti-democratic and harmful practice.

After all, Governor Granholm, a Democrat, did just that.

Too bad the democratically elected school board is trumped by a political appointee, who prefers to turn education over to private "management" corporations. Who will be well paid, out of money that could go to addressing authentic reform.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Schools will not succeed,

no matter who manages them, if the parents are not interested in helping their kids succeed. I worked in public education for a couple of decades, and I know that what makes the difference between success and failure has to do with the student's self image and the values he or she brings with them from home to the classroom. Poor self image, no value placed on books, reading, and learning--and you have a recipe for disaster!

And don't think that these flashy "private" for-profit companies are going to turn it around. It takes caring community organizations to reach out to homes and families and teach them the value of things like having a regular time to go to bed, regular meals, having books to read and reading to their children. And no, these things are not always easy to achieve.

[LWolf]

5. A truth that no one wants to acknowledge,

since it shoots down all the political capital to be made by perpetually scapegoating and "fixing" schools.

[bluestateguy]

2. Detroit public schools are the worst inner city schools in the nation

and that is saying something.

As long as vouchers are not part of the equation, I think this has to be given a chance.

and the "democratically elected school board" in Detroit is full of nitwits. Just like their city council.

[LWolf]

6. So, you support corporatization over democratically elected

leadership?

It's true that democratically elected officials can be just as bad as those privately appointed. It's true that inner city schools across the nation are in bad shape, although I don't know if the claim that Detroit's are "the worst" would hold up under scrutiny.

It's also true that the problems inner city schools suffer have nothing to do with anything a private "manager" or, in the current system, a democratically elected official can affect.

If the nation wants to "fix" inner city schools, as well as the rest, the nation will focus on eradicating poverty; on making sure that EVERY neighborhood in the nation is safe, well-maintained, etc..

Vouchers and privatization aren't the answer. Providing affordable living, safe communities, and full funding for EVERY public school is.

[BobRossi]

3. DPS is corrupt. Private companies may be the answer.

There is a long history of abuse of power in the DPS, if the management companies have no connection to any DPS board member there may be a chance for success.

[LWolf]

7. If that is so,

wouldn't the DEMOCRATIC thing to do be to run better people and replace the school board? Convince the people in those regions to elect better people?

Why would an anti-democratic, pro-corporate solution be better?

[BobRossi]

9. You don't live in Detroit do you?

Detroit politics is all about name recognition, a former basketball player for mayor, a former Motown singer for city council person,
a congressman's wife on the city council until she pled guilty to corruption charges. It goes on and on.

[LWolf]

10. Nope.

I've lived my life on the left coast.

I hear your frustration. I think what I'm hearing is that the voters don't vote responsibly, which means that things don't run smoothly.

I'd be pissed about that, myself. I don't think I'd bypass the democratic process to address the dysfunction, though.

Educating the voting public about choices and consequences seems to be the way to go. Not an easy thing to accomplish.

I see that as one of the consequences of allowing the education-bashers' propaganda free reign, without answer, over the course of my lifetime. The glorification of anti-intellectualism, the constant drumbeat for "basics" that eschew critical thinking, leaves today's college bound with fewer thinking skills than my blue-collar poor working family had 5 decades ago. A few generations, and we've got way too many who don't make informed choices.

[Caliman73]

4. To have a successful school, you need a successful community

Now there have been many a story about overcoming adversity and success through will, intelligence, and some luck, but the reality is that schools will not be successful unless the community has an interest in the success of the students and the school. That does not mean that only affluent communities can have successful schools. Middle and working class schools succeed as well. The problem is that when you have many people living hand to mouth at a subsistence level, school and education is not a priority. Where there is little opportunity for employment and a chance at prosperity after completing an education, schools will be relegated to child care centers or hang out spots. People who say that education is there for people to "enlighten and better themselves" are usually affluent and have the luxury of being able to receive an education for that purpose. Education is a tool to provide a foundation for acquiring the general knowledge that should be useful in society (though that is debatable at this point)and to move students on to becoming productive in the workforce or through higher education and professional careers. Try selling that message to someone who has one or both parents working and barely earning enough to put food on the table. Sell it to a family that is out of work and facing foreclosure. To people facing life and death struggles, an education is merely a luxury.

Corporations thought not necessarily evil, are amoral. They serve for one purpose, to make money for their investors. If profit is the motive then that already defeats the purpose for which they have been put in charge. We forget that corporations, to achieve "efficiency" are just as likely to cut needed programs as those which may be considered "luxury". Putting a private, moneymaking corporation in charge of something as socially important as basic education is a mistake.

In order to make Detroit's schools successful Detroit has to be successful. Communities need to be rebuilt. Industry needs to come back in and create decent jobs so that families can eat and be secure in knowing that their rents and mortgages will be paid. That is what is needed for a successful school. As some people say, desperation can make you do some crazy things.

[LWolf]

8. You have NAILED the issue.

Thank you.