Bobb: Close 45 schools

Mar 16, 2010 — Detroit Free Press

Lori Higgins and Chastity Pratt Dawsey

Mar. 16, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, asked parents Monday night to get behind his academic plan, an ambitious road map to the future that envisions a smaller district with the closing of 45 more schools this year and sets dramatic targets for student achievement.

"I ask you parents to walk that road with me tonight," Bobb said as he unveiled his plan to about 800 people at Renaissance High School.

The number of school closures Bobb noted was five more than he had announced earlier. It would bring total school closures to 140 since 2005 -- more than half the district.

Bobb also said that the district would need $700 million more in bond money for school improvements. He suggested a new Bates Academy, a facility for swimming and diving at Renaissance, a sports complex at Cass Tech and a new facility for special-needs students. The district already has $500.5 million in bond money voters approved in November.

Bobb's unveiling was preceded by a loud protest outside, mostly by bus drivers upset about the outsourcing of busing to an out-of-state company.

Bobb, referring to his plan, said he expects naysayers will say it is too ambitious, too difficult, and unachievable. "This will be a lean-on-me moment," he said. "We will never let anyone tell us our children cannot succeed."

DPS chief unveils plan, but some say it violates state law

More than a vision for the future of Detroit Public Schools, the new academic plan unveiled Monday night is a new accountability tool for the public, Bobb told an invite-only crowd of 800 on Monday.

The $540-million, five-year plan aims to pull up the graduation rate for seniors from 58% to 98% and to meet state and national averages on standardized tests, among other long-range efforts.

"We will now have the assurance that someone is watching," he said, referring to an accountability commission that philanthropic leaders expect to set up to grade every school in Detroit, including DPS, charter and private schools. "Ours won't be a hollow plan like so many that have graced the desks within DPS over the years and collected dust on the shelves."

This plan, he said, will move forward because that's what Detroit parents and students deserve.

In his address, Bobb indicated he would be closing 45 schools this year, not 40 as originally stated. He is expected to release the names Wednesday. The number drew a collective gasp from the crowd.

Bobb also said the district needs millions more in bond money than voters approved in November. He suggested using it for a new Bates Academy, a facility for swimming and diving at Renaissance High School, a sports complex at Cass Tech and a new facility for special-needs students.

Officials said there is no time line for when this proposal might be presented to voters. First, they said, they want input from Detroiters.

Brenda Worthy, a fifth-grade teacher at Parker Elementary, wondered what will become of closed buildings -- especially since most schools in the district received updates as a part of a $1.5-billion bond approved in 1994.

"I'm heartbroken at the state of this district," she said.

Kaylyn Render, 14, a freshman at Cass Technical High, and Karly Render, 11, a sixth-grader at Golightly Educational Center, had mixed feelings after hearing Bobb's comments about school closures.

"I'm just worried about all of the children who have to go through being shy or scared and having to get to know new people," Karly said. "It made me feel happy because we're actually getting new stuff. Nicer things and newer attitudes," Kaylyn said.

The academic plan has the backing of Annie Laurie Bryant, a Detroiter who is involved in the education of her two great-grandchildren who attend Detroit Public Schools. She said she's pleased with every aspect of the plan, particularly its emphasis on increasing reading time and introducing algebra earlier.

"I've been happy ever since he's been here," Bryant said of Bobb. "This Detroit board has for many years allowed politics to destroy what's best for our children."

While many Detroiters appear to agree with the plan, others questioned whether it violates state law because Bobb did not collaborate with or consult the school board on the plan.

Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, a cosponsor of state education reform laws passed in December, said that without input from the school board, Bobb's plan violates state law.

"The ideas are great ideas and there's not a parent on the planet who doesn't want a 98% graduation rate," said Johnson, who has two sons who attend DPS. "To the extent that he's come up with a plan and gone outside of Public Act 172 and not formulated that plan with the school board I think that is going to prove problematic because the law is what it is. We've all got to follow the law."

Board member Annie Carter said she and her colleagues on the board want to work with Bobb.

"We've been asking to work with him," Carter said.

Bryant said it will be crucial that Bobb has support in the community to carry out the plan.

"He's just going to have to continue to bring it to the attention of the parents, the grandparents. So many people have lost confidence in Detroit Public Schools."

If the goals and predications are realized, DPS will be a different district than it is today -- down to 56,000 students by 2014 -- not a school system but a "system of schools," Bobb said.

Education expert Sharif Shakrani said it's important to shoot for the lofty goals. He called Bobb's plan a "laudable" one that will, if implemented, "make Detroit a great school district."

"They have to set a very lofty vision for the district and then do their best," said Shakrani, co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University. It's necessary, he said, because the emphasis must be on ensuring every student meets his or her maximum potential.

But he said in order to meet those goals, there must be significant changes in curriculum and instruction.

"They have to make a 180-degree turn from the way things are done now," Shakrani said.

Susan Neumann, an education professor at the University of Michigan, isn't convinced that Bobb's plan will work. She said the goals are too ambitious and the plan is lacking many specifics about how curriculum, instruction and professional development will change.

"These are very generalized goals," she said.

To'IColeman, whose daughter attends King High, wondered how the education plan would work amid record school closures and the layoffs that would entail. She said whatever happens, parents need to step up.

"Change is a six-letter word, but it's a big word. I can see a need for change, but you have to be very precise," she said. "You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. I'm going to be part of the solution."

Contact LORI HIGGINS: 313-222-6651 or lhiggins@freepress.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0048-42959996