Thursday, March 11, 2010

A new day for Detroit Public Schools

Very interesting news coming out today about the future of Detroit Public Schools. A 20 page report called "Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children" was issued by an influential group of Detroiters (from the mayor to the heads of key foundations) called Excellent Schools Detroit. The goal is to create the "fastest improving school district in the country", and the emphasis is on the kids instead of unions, bureaucracy, contractors, or other stakeholders. The mayor would take control, the board would be disbanded, the foundations would invest, schools would close, new ones would open. The objective is a complete overhaul to help Detroit students become the first major city with 90% high school graduation.

Of course, mayor control did not necessarily work in the past (1999-2005 didn't work out at all). However, with the involvement of players like the Skillman, Gates and Kellogg foundations, I hope this time would be different.

Some links to articles covering this story:
http://freep.com/article/20100310/NEWS01/303100003/1318/Plan-for-Detroit-schools-Ambitious-transformation
http://freep.com/article/20100311/COL10/3110440/1318/
http://freep.com/article/20100311/NEWS05/3110446/1318/

In other news, it looks like the Silverdome is shaking off the mothballs. I am not sure how I feel about its reversion to stadium-hood (it has so much potential for other things too), but better than the wrecking ball. http://freep.com/article/20100311/COL06/3110462/1320/Vision-for-the-Silverdome

No comments:

Post a Comment