Detroit Public Schools set new record!

[burk48237]

In a town where records for utter failure are becoming commonplace, where the Lions finish 0-16, and the Tigers lose 107 games our Public Schools have found a way to top it. Detroit public schools just finished with the worse scores on record in the NAEP test with 69% of the fourth grade students and 77% of the eighth grade students scoring below basic. One educator familiar with the test claimed that the students would have scored about the same had the "guessed the answers" another claimed it was as if the fourth graders had never attended a day of school in their lives!

These numbers are only slightly better than what one would expect by chance as if the kids had never gone to school and simply guessed at the answers," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools, which represents large urban school districts. "These numbers ... are shocking and appalling and should not be allowed to stand."

One group of parents suggested that school board members and some teachers should "go to jail" for this and I have a hard time arguing. Currently since Robert Bob (appointed by the governor) has taken over as Emergency Financial Manager their have been multiple indictments and it was found their were 257 employees on the payroll who didn't exist.

A probe launched by Mr. Bobb uncovered paychecks going to 257 "ghost" employees who have yet to be accounted for. He said that approximately 500 illegal health-care dependents he uncovered have cost the district millions. A separate Federal Bureau of Investigation probe in May led to the indictment of a former payroll manager and another former employee on charges of bilking the district out of about $400,000 over four years.

But, you have to love this. The new contract which the teachers may not approve (because they feel it holds them too accountable) still requires the city to pay teachers who aren't teaching because of lousy performance, and the ones that our teaching are the ones that produced the results we have already seen!

The Detroit school district will pay teachers deemed unfit for the classroom, placing them in a so-called "rubber room" to do nothing, or perhaps some day serve as reading aides.

The rubber room, as offensive as it is in a district that may have to lay off good teachers to balance its budget, is still better than what was in place.

Up until this year, Detroit kept excess teachers -- those the district didn't have a classroom for but kept paying through an unbudgeted account -- in a jobs bank at a cost of $30 million to $60 million in 2008 alone.

That's right before the school district was paying 30-60 million dollars a year (the district only has 70,000 students) for not teaching! And we wonder what the problem is. It's a cesspool, and while Robert Bobb, is trying to do his best, we should destroy the whole thing, and start by firing the school board and demanded the return all of their income they stole form the community (in other words every dime they've earned). We literally would be better off returning the money to the citizens and telling them to find their own schools.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009120...-U.S.-district

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...onal-math-test

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125012223083427629.html

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...ey-don-t-teach

[MichaelScott]

Education begins at home and should be enforced at home. Communities have been blaming teachers for the last 20 years and nothing has gotten better. Maybe once parents/community realize that they need to be the ones pushing the kids to perform better, instead of blaming the easy target, things will get better.

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Education begins at home and should be enforced at home. Communities have been blaming teachers for the last 20 years and nothing has gotten better. Maybe once parents/community realize that they need to be the ones pushing the kids to perform better, instead of blaming the easy target, things will get better.

Your right BUT, if you read the articles you'll see that not ONE detroit Fourth grader scored "advanced" on the same test. Their are bad school districts all over the country that would certainly be better served by better parenting. But bad parenting isn't going to solve the problems of a school district that has 238 million dollar deficit and is paying employees that aren't even on the books. When you get to the point that Detroit PS system is at, it's FAR MORE then just bad home situations. As bad as Detroit is it's not that bad. The school district is paying close to a 1000$ per student to teachers that have been judged to incompetent to teach! I can't blame that one on the homes of the kids.

[MichaelScott]

Originally Posted by burk48237

Your right BUT, if you read the articles you'll see that not ONE detroit Fourth grader scored "advanced" on the same test. Their are bad school districts all over the country that would certainly be better served by better parenting. But bad parenting isn't going to solve the problems of a school district that has 238 million dollar deficit and is paying employees that aren't even on the books. When you get to the point that Detroit PS system is at, it's FAR MORE then just bad home situations. As bad as Detroit is it's not that bad. The school district is paying close to a 1000$ per student to teachers that have been judged to incompetent to teach! I can't blame that one on the homes of the kids.

Los Angeles has a larger deficit that... I don't see your point.

It's pretty easy for people to blame someone else for their problems. Are you a parent in that area? How much time do you spend with your child going over their homework and helping them learn at home? I'm gonna guess zero- like 99% of the other parents in the public school system there. Parents that really cared would probably send their kids to private schools or home school them.

[UnsungZeros]

Glass parking lot... Just kidding of course.

But seeing as how the situation in Detroit is so desperate, to what capacity does the state of Michigan have the ability to completely uproot the local government there? Seems like the emergency appointment of Bobb was a good first step, but this may call for more drastic measures.

[adammazza]

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Los Angeles has a larger deficit that... I don't see your point.

It's pretty easy for people to blame someone else for their problems. Are you a parent in that area? How much time do you spend with your child going over their homework and helping them learn at home? I'm gonna guess zero- like 99% of the other parents in the public school system there. Parents that really cared would probably send their kids to private schools or home school them.

My kids go to public school in NYC, and they do quite well. We also live in an area with a very active PTA and active parents.

My wife and I spend lots of time with our kids to make sure sure they succeed, and at the end of the day if they don't it's ultimately our fault.

That said, I still want to do everything in my power to make sure the school administration is competent. Parenting is only one part of the equation, a child's environment plays a critical role.

Adam

[capnsandwich]

GO RED WINGS!!!

(that's pretty much all we have left)

[tycobb73]

send your kids to a national heritege academy.

GO GRANHOLM!

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Los Angeles has a larger deficit that... I don't see your point.

It's pretty easy for people to blame someone else for their problems. Are you a parent in that area? How much time do you spend with your child going over their homework and helping them learn at home? I'm gonna guess zero- like 99% of the other parents in the public school system there. Parents that really cared would probably send their kids to private schools or home school them.

LA didn't score as low despite the fact it has a much larger immigrant-language issue. And is far as the deficit size, LA has far more students then 70,000. If you figure deficit per student it's mind boggling. And the district is a poster child for incompetence. Bobb found warehouses full of supplies and textbooks that hadn't been distributed, hundreds of employees receiving income who hadn't showed up for a day of work, a district that is paying 30-60 million a year to pay incompetent teachers not to teach, and yet the "competent" teachers produced these results. It is literally criminal what the administration and educators have done to the students of Detroit's public schools.