White Mayor?

Intriguing headline from the Detroit News today about Mike Duggan potentially running for mayor: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120429/OPINION03/204290307/0

I hope the City is ready for a qualified leader of any color to be mayor, though I am not sure it is quite there yet. Duggan may not be the best person for the job after Bing leaves, but if he is, race shouldn't be a reason not to elect him. The US has a black president...it would be interesting, and until now, a bit unfathomable, for Detroit to have a white mayor.

Excellent Schools Detroit Recap

Yesterday, I was able to attend the Excellent Schools Detroit Conclusion/Celebration event. It was interesting and encouraging to see that many participants had a more favorable than expected experience. I certainly was favorably impressed - there are some bright spots, where I wasn't really expecting any. Of course, there are many issues, but there is something to build on, too.

The new report card templates looked okay, but it only captures some of what we observed. I hope they are able to put together a document of best practices or solutions to the challenges all schools are facing in Detroit, based on the insights we gained from our visits. We collected a lot of information and saw some good things - that is pretty powerful, and if all schools adopted some of the best practices others are already implementing, then change can happen even faster.

Check out a clip from a news story covering our school visits at www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org