For all the people who believe the EAA Schools thing is a Detroit issue. You need to know this is a growing epidemic …
Remember the story about the frog a couple weeks ago? Put a frog in a pot of water then bring the temperature up, you can increase it all the way to boiling and kill the frog — however the frog will jump away if you try to immerse them in boiling water.
THE WATER IS GETTING WARMER - YOU MIGHT WANT TO JUMP AROUND A BIT!
- Detroit School Board meeting tonight March 20, 5pm at Detroit Public Library main branch on Woodward across from the DIA.
- Youth Takeover March this Saturday March 23, 1-3pm at Cass Park in front of the Masonic Temple, near Cass Tech will march to the Jail.
A Letter Of Inclusion
The following note is from a fellow activist, and teacher of 16+ years who is concerned about Michigan Schools. She has seen children become parents of future students.I have Facebook friends who are 20 years old, some who are 70 years old and everything in-between. This message is for all of my “twenty-something” friends in Michigan.
Remember when you were in elementary school and all the neighborhood kids went to school together? Remember how there were buses that transported kids to-and-from school and athletic events? Remember the after school sports, field trips, clubs, band/orchestra, and all those fun elective classes you were exposed to? I want you to know what’s happening to public education in Michigan because it won’t be long before your kids will be starting elementary school, and you might be surprised at how different their experience will be if we don’t stop the attack on public education in Michigan.
Since Snyder’s administration took office in 2011, they’ve been dismantling public education one piece at a time. First they went after teachers’ unions to weaken our voices (knowing full well that educators wouldn’t stand by idly while they destroyed our public school system). For two years they’ve come after us, left punch, right punch, until we were sufficiently beaten into submission.
While we were fending off these attacks, they lifted the caps on charter and cyber schools without ensuring the same quality controls that we expect in our traditional public schools. What this means is that charter schools can open up virtually anywhere with very little oversight. Every charter school that opens puts a financial strain on the traditional public school system because the (very limited) funds are spreading thinner and thinner.
Further, we now have 25% of the NATION’S for-profit charter schools in Michigan. This means that our taxpayer dollars that are supposed to be used for public education are, instead, lining the pockets of businessmen. I have a hard time rationalizing why ANY of our taxpayer dollars should go to a businessman who opens a sub-par charter school and pays his teachers dirt, when we can put the money directly in classrooms. But, I digress.
As I type, the legislature is moving forward with a bill to expand Snyder’s Educational Achievement Authority (EAA). The EAA is a state-run school district for 15 of the lowest performing schools in Detroit. Although Snyder would like you to believe otherwise, the EAA is an absolute debacle. I have enough contacts to know exactly what’s happening inside those schools, and it’s not good. I’ll post some links below so you can read for yourself. The problem is that Snyder is pushing to expand the EAA statewide. This means that the state could take over your local schools and do as they please, without any local input.
Let’s stop and think about this using Detroit Public Schools as an example. The state first assumed control over the Detroit Public Schools in 1999 when the district had increasing enrollment, a surplus of $93 million and improving test scores. After 14 years under state control, Detroit Public Schools has a deficit of over $300 million and has closed down dozens of schools due to kids fleeing the district for charter schools. Currently, almost half of the kids in Detroit attend a charter school while the other half attend Detroit Public Schools. This all occurred on the state’s watch. Despite 14 years of evidence that the state is ill-equipped to successfully run DPS, they continue to run it into the ground. Very successful DPS schools like the Catherine Ferguson Academy (for pregnant teens and teen moms) and the Detroit Day School for the Deaf have been destroyed as a result of the state’s meddling.
Of course, we need to eventually extract the state from DPS and return it to it’s rightful owners … the taxpayers of Detroit and their elected school board. Secondly, we need to STOP the state from expanding their state-run EAA before any more school districts are ruined. (I won’t get into this now, but the state also ruined the Muskegon Heights School District in record time. The state took control of that district less than a year ago and that district is in shambles as well. As evidence, at least a quarter of the teachers had already quit before the end of first semester.)
We can’t afford for the state to ruin any more of our wonderful public schools. If we want our neighborhood schools to remain intact and to provide a wide range of opportunities for all students, then we have to stop the expansion of the EAA now. Please pay attention to what these lawmakers are doing and write/call/email them if you feel compelled. If you do nothing else, PLEASE VOTE each and every opportunity that you have.
Thank you, twenty-somethings, for listening to this old lady. ;-)
Testimony from EAA Teacher
Testimony from Helen Moore (video)
Voice of Detroit Article
‘EAA is Failing Us’
Letter to Obama
Save Michigan’s Public Schools (Facebook)
List of current & potential EAA Schools…
- Aisha Shule/WEB DuBois Preparatory Academy, Detroit charter school
- William Beckham Academy, Detroit Public Schools
- Beecher High School, Beecher Community Schools
- Benton Harbor Middle & High School, Benton Harbor Area Schools
- Brenda Scott Academy for Theatre Arts, DPS (now part of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan)
- Buena Vista High School, Buena Vista School District
- Burns Elementary-Middle School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Central Collegiate Academy, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Cody College Preparatory Upper School of Teaching and Learning, DPS
- Denby High School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Eastern High School, Lansing Public Schools
- Finney High School, DPS
- Ford High School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Harper Woods High School, Harper Woods School District
- Highland Park Community High School, Highland Park School District
- Inkster High School, Inkster Public Schools
- Kettering High School, DPS
- King High School, DPS
- Mt. Clemens High School, Mt. Clemens Community Schools
- Mumford High School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Murphy Elementary-Middle School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Nolan Elementary-Middle School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Northern High School, Flint Public Schools
- Northwestern High School, DPS
- Oak Park High School, Oak Park School District
- Parker Elementary-Middle School, DPS
- Pershing High School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Phoenix Elementary-Middle School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Pontiac High School, Pontiac School District
- River Rouge High School, River Rouge School District
- Robichaud Senior High School, Westwood Community Schools
- Ross-Hill Academy-Elementary School, Detroit charter school
- Saginaw High School, Saginaw Public Schools
- Southeastern High School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Southfield Regional Academic Campus, Southfield Public Schools
- Southwestern High School, DPS
- Trix Elementary-Middle School, DPS (now part of the EAA)
- Union High School, Grand Rapids Public Schools
Reference: EAA cound become Michigan's largest school district in the new 5 years, Detroit Free Press, Oct 8, 2012
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