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Detroit Public School Teachers Want to Open Their Own Charter School

by Donna Gundle-Krieg December 3, 2008

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Nineteen Detroit Public Schools teachers are running for election on November 24-26 to leadership slots in the Detroit Federation of Teachers union on a school reform platform, according to the Michigan Education Report.

The teachers, led by Ann Crowley and Ann Turner, want to open their own charter school modeled after the Los Angeles Green Dot Schools, which is a nonprofit network of unionized charter high schools.

Green Dot School’s website says that their vision is “leading the charge to transform public education in Los Angeles and beyond so that all children receive the education they need to be successful in college, leadership, and life.”

Green Dot states that with their successes to date, they are “demonstrating that public schools can do a far better job of educating students if they are operated more effectively.”

The Detroit teachers, calling themselves "Detroit Children First" were turned down by Detroit Public Schools administrators and union leaders when they proposed using Green Dot as a model for Detroit.

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Reform-minded Detroit teachers deserve help

The Detroit News

Monday, November 17, 2008

A small band of Detroit teachers is pushing hard for reform in the failing school district. They should have more help from their union, the school administration and the state Legislature. When Ann Crowley and Ann Turner, two of the teachers, decided to run a reform slate for their union election, they figured they would face nasty attacks. They also suspected some teachers would support them. So far, both hunches have been right.

Crowley and Turner are leading a pro-charter school reform slate in the Detroit Federation of Teachers' Nov. 24-26 election. The union is one of the nation's most militantly anti-charter locals. Crowley and Turner have organized the Detroit Children First slate. Made up of 19 diverse classroom teachers, it faces the current union President Virginia Cantrell and a host of other candidates.

The Children First slate's goal is two-fold: First, to begin a reform conversation among teachers who too often are ignored by the district's dysfunctional, bloated bureaucracy. Second, to create its own charter school. Its model: the Green Dot Schools, a Los Angeles nonprofit network of unionized charter high schools that is proving poor, urban and minority students can reach the same academic heights as their white and suburban peers do.

Green Dot has union teachers, but its schools are radically different, and more effective, than Detroit schools. Its schools utilize a comprehensive instructional strategy for teaching urban high school students. In comparison, the Detroit Public Schools has no systemic approach to addressing high school dropout rates or tackling many teenagers' most difficult subject, mathematics.

Green Dot also invests in good teachers. Its rigorous hiring process makes teacher talent a priority. The program spends money on classrooms, not bureaucrats. Ninety-four percent of every public dollar Green Dot receives is spent in the schools. And it uses a modern union contract that values performance over seniority and tenure.

Crowley rightly sees Green Dot as a model for Detroit. But bureaucracy is blocking her way. Children First teachers have sought support from school Superintendent Connie Calloway, who has said she seeks ideas for successful school models.

The slate also pitched its ideas to local union leaders. There are precedents. The United Federation of Teachers of New York City just opened its own Green Dot charter school.

But in Detroit, both the union and administration shot the reformers down. It shouldn't be this way. In California, a new law empowers teachers and parents to overhaul their schools.

A majority of either group may vote to turn over the management of their public school to a charter management company.

Michigan's Legislature should provide that option to our teachers and parents, as well. The Detroit school district is on the verge of fiscal collapse, and its students are among America's most poorly educated young people. The fact that its leadership won't more seriously consider the proven ideas of its teachers is a testament to its closed-mindedness.

Michigan must act to make sure they do better.

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Don't pass up chance to reform Detroit Public Schools

By Gary G. Naeyaert written for the Michigan Education Report

Mon. July 14, 2008

Under Michigan law, any public school district with more than 100,000 students is defined as a “first class school district.” Bestowed exclusively on Detroit Public Schools, this special status provides that district with a variety of special privileges, including a prohibition on competition from some public charter schools.

Because 40 percent of DPS students have fled the district during the last decade and more are predicted to follow, Detroit will soon dip below the enrollment threshold necessary to continue its first class standing. This would put Detroit on the same level playing field as Michigan’s 550 other school districts. It also would increase charter school options for parents and families there.

In response, DPS and their enablers in the Legislature are working to lower or eliminate the enrollment requirement to become a first class district, ensuring that Detroit will never lose this special status. Senate Bill 1107, the School Aid Budget for 2008-2009, would simply redefine a “first class” district as the one with the most students.

Simply changing the number — without any meaningful reform — doesn’t do anything to improve educational opportunities for students. Rather than make a technical change in the status quo, we should have a broader conversation about improving education and creating quality 21st century schools in Detroit and other cities across Michigan.

Granted, the challenges facing public education today are enormous, but Detroit should not be rewarded for producing the lowest graduation rate of any large city in the nation. Our priority should be to develop schools that overcome such system failure and prepare students to meet the expectations of a knowledge-based economy.

In order to succeed, 21st century schools must embrace and extol the values of rigor, relevance and relationships. Beyond these essential principles, more successful schools will utilize data to drive student achievement and empower building-level educators with site-based management over policies and personnel.

Only by having a broader conversation about education in Detroit can we implement state policy to produce a modern and effective school system. Simply changing the numbers — without pursuing enhanced opportunities for choice, achievement and accountability — isn’t what our children need.

Let’s not miss the opportunity before us. Let’s not simply change the definition of a first class school district without reform.

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Naeyaert is vice president of public relations and government affairs for the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited.

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