Will Detroit Schools Superintendent Calloway be fired tonight?
as printed on Examiner.com
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tonight, the Detroit Public School Board will vote on the fate of Superintendent Connie Calloway, and it seems as if they are leaning towards ousting her. If this happens, it will be the third time the district has searched for a new superintendent since 2005.
It’s a shame, because as a Detroit News editorial stated, “Superintendent Connie Calloway, hired just 18 months ago by a school board that never fully supported her, had the beginnings of a turnaround plan in place that centered around smaller, more responsive high schools to combat a dropout rate that runs as high as 70 percent.”
Last week, in a 7-3 vote, the board ousted Calloway's Chief Financial Officer Joan McCray because Governor Granholm is now required by law to appoint a state manager to assume "all financial authority in the district." This is because Michigan State Superintendent Michael Flanagan ruled that the district’s $400 million deficit means that DPS is in a "financial emergency." He also said that the Michigan Department of Education found all budget documents submitted by the district to be “unsatisfactory.”
As far as Superintendent Calloway, there has already been a lot of talk about the type of person that should be hired as her replacement. Outgoing board member Jimmy Womack, recently elected as a state representative, feels that the board should consider a non-traditional candidate like a retired CEO of a major company, a retired military general or former university president. Board member Marie Thornton said that a national search firm would be too costly, and feels that the new superintendent should be a local person with experience in the school system.
Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want the Superintendent job even if it does pay $280,000 per year . Even with great benefits such as two security guards, it's still not worth it. Whoever is hired is doomed to excruciating pain and obvious failure. The system is in such a mess, and enrollment has been declining rapidly for years now. Not even a miracle worker can change things overnight. To me, the school board would look pretty bad if it keeps going through superintendents.
I totally agree with the Detroit News editorial when it says that “This school board has yet to prove that it is more concerned with educating children than it is in protecting the parasites that feed off the schools….The state of Michigan puts more than $1 billion of taxpayer money into Detroit Public Schools every year. The return on that investment is a district that sends more children to prison and welfare than it does to college. The state has both a fiduciary and moral responsibility to put an end to this rolling disaster.”
Detroit school board members set to discuss firing Calloway
Jennifer Mrozowski of The Detroit News
Detroit school board members poised to oust the superintendent Monday have divergent ideas about what kind of leader should replace her -- from a seasoned district administrator to a non-traditional candidate like a retired military general.
The board last week ousted Superintendent Connie Calloway's chief financial officer just a day after the state said it plans to appoint a financial manager to take over the cash-strapped system's finances. Board members decided to address Calloway's fate Monday. Some increasingly blame Calloway and her staff for the mounting money woes. The board hired Calloway 17 months ago from a 5,700-student Missouri district.
As they prepare for a transition under the threat of state oversight, school board members are contemplating how to ensure stability in the troubled district. Meanwhile, experts say, regardless who is superintendent, the district should make radical changes to improve the education of the district's nearly 100,000 students.
Outgoing board member Jimmy Womack, recently elected as a state representative, said the board was wrong last time in assuming DPS could not draw stellar national candidates. Womack advocated reopening the search less than two weeks before Calloway was hired and bringing in a national firm to add candidates to the pool.
"We have to expect that committed and qualified people are going to want to come to Detroit for the challenge, not for the money," he said, adding the board should consider a non-traditional candidate like a retired CEO of a major company, a retired military general or former university president, to bring broad expertise. But Womack said the next search process will be complicated by looming state intervention. State law says the fiscal manager would assume control over all financial operations, which some have said extends to hiring and firing staff, including the superintendent. The board is appealing the state's decision.
Board member Marie Thornton said a national search firm would be too costly. "We have people right here or people who previously worked for Detroit Public Schools system ... that can do the job," she said
Former board member Jonathan Kinloch, being considered to fill Womack's open seat, said the board lost its ability to choose a traditional superintendent when the state stepped in. Members instead should seek an academic expert to work hand-in-hand with the fiscal manager, he said.
"Someone in America is going to be willing to answer the call to save the children in DPS. And it could be one of the greatest overhauls in public education history if they agreed to take on this challenge," he said.
Kinloch said the board could reduce Calloway's $280,000 salary because her successor likely would oversee only academics -- not finances.
Whatever happens Monday , some experts say changes will have to go beyond leadership.
"I don't think the solution to Detroit's or any school district's problems is one or two people at the top," said Joe Nathan, director for the Center for School Change, a program of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Nathan said Detroit Public Schools should consider what's happening in districts like New York, Boston and Chicago, which he said are exploring new educational models based on best research, such as creating more, smaller schools within their large, comprehensive high schools.
UPDATED on clickondetroit.com at 5:18 am EST December 10, 2008
DETROIT -- Tuesday night, Detroit school officials discussed a response to the state's decision to appoint a manager to oversee the district's finances. One of the options on the table, laying off controversial Superintendent Connie Calloway and Chief Financial Officer Joan McCray.
The board reasoned that if the state plans to appoint a manager the district may not need to pay employees to do the same job. At one point the board went behind closed doors to discuss the matter.
Calloway, in particular, has been under fire for her handling of the district. Some board members feel she is unqualified to manage DPS because her former district was a fraction of the size. Local 4 spoke with Calloway who would not comment on the possible removal but she did offer these words to the city, "I promised you, when I was hired I would not lie, cheat, or steal. And I have kept every single (sic) bit of those tenets."
Late into the night, the board held off on the decision on laying off Calloway and decided to meet on Monday.
The board voted 7-3 to not renew the contract of McCray.
If Calloway is let go, it will be the third time the district has searched for a superintendent since 2005.
Meanwhile, the board has a little over a week to request a hearing to contest state Superintendent Michael Flanagan's ruling that the district is in a "financial emergency." The district is facing a deficit of more than $400 million. Flanagan said state law requires Gov. Jennifer Granholm to appoint a manager to assume "all financial authority in the district" because it failed to submit an acceptable deficit elimination plan by deadline. Furthermore, he said the Department of Education found all budget documents submitted by the district "unsatisfactory."
Flanagan reiterated that a manager appointment does not mean a state takeover for the district.
But others disagree. "Right now, many people are coming down from Lansing and they're coming here to our house and telling us what we should and should not do. That's not happening in Southfield, that's not happening in Bloomfield Hills. I take great offense. I'm highly offended by this. We can handle our own business," said Trix Elementary School Principal Wesley Ganson.
President of the Detroit Teachers Union, Virginia Cantrell said, "I think it's just like a takeover. This is unreasonable. I think if given the opportunity and given more time, that we can right size the district."
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