The newly elected Detroit Public Schools Board of Education
was recently sworn into office. Six women and five men comprise the first
elected board since 1999, when state law was changed to allow the mayor of the
City of Detroit to appoint all but one member of the board of education. That
ushered in almost five years of political turmoil, the consequences of which
were evident even in the 2005 Detroit mayoral election. The challenger, Freman
Hendrix, was appointed by then-Mayor Dennis W. Archer to chair the first
so-called reform board of education. He was castigated during the mayoral
campaign for his efforts to preserve order during those early board meetings. In
the meantime, many district schools continued to under-perform and parents
continued to look for alternatives. The only visible success of the reform
effort was the fact that $1.5 billion in bond money that had languished under
the previous elected board was finally used to repair, remodel and build new
schools.
Under the 1999 law, after five years, Detroit voters were
permitted to vote to either keep the appointed board or return to an elected
board. Last year Detroit voters overwhelmingly voted to return to an elected
board. While some of the appointed board’s critics complained about lack of
educational achievement over the five years, most of the criticism was that
Lansing had taken away Detroit’s "right to vote." This act was viewed as racist
by many. So instead of looking at the reform effort as a way to move forward,
the reform board critics chose to move backwards.
This is not to say that the reform board was the ideal
solution. It missed many opportunities to improve students’ academic
performance; it failed to get a handle on spending; it failed to gain key work
rule concessions from the unions; and it failed to achieve adequate yearly
progress as a district under the No Child Left Behind legislation. More than
half of Detroit Public Schools are in some phase of improvement and 17 percent
of those are in the final phases of restructuring for longstanding failure.
According to the State Department of Education, six of the 24 schools on a
critical list of the state’s most troubled public schools are in Detroit. These
schools have failed to meet academic standards for six straight years.
The challenges facing the newly elected board are clear. Yet
one wonders if these well-intentioned and well meaning men and women truly
appreciate the depth and complexity of the problem.
Will they be able to change the minds and hearts of the 20,000 employees so that they will embrace a culture of achievement instead of the culture of failure that seems to be pervasive in the system?
Will they be able to encourage major institutional players, such as the teachers union, to think first about the impact of policies and work rules on children and learning?
Will they be able to find the administrative leadership who will see the position not as just a job, but a "calling," and who will not be deterred from the goal of providing a quality education for every child?
Will they use every reasonable means, no matter how politically unpopular, to ensure that every child has an opportunity to receive a quality education?
Will they listen first to parents and students rather than the politically powerful whose interests run contrary to those the district is required to serve?
Based on media reports and personal interviews, it appears
that few of the new board members are prepared to take radical or even unpopular
steps to quickly address the daunting issues facing the district. One board
member sees the solution to the district’s problems as getting rid of the
current CEO and allowing no more charter schools. This is just the kind of
thinking that will force Detroit parents who care about their children to look
for alternatives. Those who are able will move out of the district and the city
and the district will continue to suffer the loss of population. Even worse,
families with low incomes and those who have recently lost jobs due to the
problems in the auto industry will be forced to continue to send their children
to schools that will fail them, year after year.
Detroit parents are not unlike parents everywhere. They want
the best education possible for their children. They understand how important
education is to their children’s ability to succeed in a world increasingly
driven by global competition. Their children are not just competing with
children from Southfield, West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills or Birmingham; they
are also competing with children from India, Singapore, China, England and
France, to name but a few.
In a recent poll conducted by Troy-based John Bailey and
Associates on behalf of the Detroit chapter of the Black Alliance for
Educational Options and the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, the
state charter schools association, only 44 percent of Detroit parents rated
their public school as above average to excellent. By contrast, the poll found
that 72 percent of Detroit parents who send their children to charter schools
rate them as above average to excellent. More than half of the Detroit parents
polled believe there are not enough educational options in Detroit and have
considered moving out of the city in order to have those educational options.
The newly elected board will have to face and address this
reality if it is to meet parents’ expectations. Detroit BAEO, whose mission is
to actively support parental choice, to empower families and increase quality
educational options for black children, will be watching for signs that the new
board takes seriously its first obligation: that Detroit children receive a
quality education. DBAEO supports quality educational options for black children
regardless of which institution provides them. We believe that the new board
should not foreclose the charter school option, if opening more charter schools
will more quickly provide quality options for Detroit parents. Detroit Public
Schools has the option to establish charter schools and decide who will provide
the education services to those schools, thereby ensuring that only those
education service providers who provide quality educational programs, and who
have the best interest of Detroit students at heart, will be selected to manage
the schools.
We also support quality traditional public schools. Indeed,
Gompers Elementary School, part of DPS, was recently honored with our "In the
Spirit of Choice Award" for its outstanding efforts in educating Detroit
children.
We at DBAEO wish the new board well and Godspeed. Detroit
children deserve nothing less. Our commitment at DBAEO is to support the board
in its efforts to provide Detroit parents and children with quality educational
options; to work with Detroit parents to educate and inform themselves about
their rights; and to be advocates for parents and quality educational options.
Harrison Blackmond is President & CEO of the Detroit Chapter of
the Black Alliance for Educational Options.