Lansing Public Schools facing same problems as Detroit

Judging from much of what has been published in the news you might think that Detroit Public Schools (DPS) is the only school system in Michigan losing too many students too fast and trying desperately to figure out how to reverse that trend. Turns out the public school system in Lansing, our beloved State Capitol, has been battling almost the exact same situation, albeit on a smaller scale. It also appears they may be onto something as a potential solution that I'm thinking might even hold some promise for DPS. Check this out from the Michigan Policy Network:

The Lansing School District has been experiencing a significant decline in student enrollment and consequently a large budget deficit. Such problems are a huge cost to the city. Currently, the school district has about a $30 million dollar budget deficit and is losing more and more money as people move out of the city and the schools. While these problems exist, Lansing needs to come up with some effective solutions that would hopefully increase enrollment numbers and decrease the deficit. In terms of the deficit, this may mean closing down schools, and in terms of increasing enrollment and decreasing dropout rates, it may mean discovering or creating programs that encourage students to attend, and stay, in Lansing Schools.

 Due to the shortage of funding for Lansing public schools, the district has had to formulate a plan that requires closing several schools to save money. The "District Reconfiguration Plan" includes closing four lower-level schools and converting the remaining schools so that they teach kids that are separated into new and different age groups ("Lansing"). Because enrollment has been down, it was necessary to close some buildings that weren't being used at full capacity.

According to a data profile of Lansing, the school district lost nearly 3,000 students, 16 percent of its population, from 2000 to 2009 (NCES). The dropout rate for Lansing is greater than any other major city in Michigan, including Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids at 25.47% in 2010 .

Does that sound familiar? I thought it might. But take a look at one of the options they are considering as a possible solution to the problem:

Preventing dropouts is essentially a way to prevent further decreasing enrollment. The next step would be to try to find a solution that not only prevents a decrease in the student population, but also promotes an increase in student population. Currently, Lansing is considering a solution that agrees to bring in more students to Lansing schools. The solution includes creating a fund that would provide college tuition to students who graduate from Lansing public schools. The idea is based off of the policy that worked for the city of Kalamazoo in Michigan. In terms of student enrollment, Kalamazoo is a city in Michigan that is on an opposite trend compared to Lansing. A data profile for Kalamazoo School District shows that their number of students increased since the year 2000. They experienced a small decline from 2000 to 2005, yet the numbers began moving upward in 2006 (NCES). This sudden shift in direction could most likely be attributed to the efforts the city made to boost their numbers. The year 2006 was when the school district introduced The Kalamazoo Promise, which is a policy that uses money from donors for a scholarship for students who graduate Kalamazoo public schools. The Promise provides students with college tuition to any college or university in Michigan. As a result of the Promise, student enrollment grew and in 2010 "had reached its highest point since fall 1994" (Mack). More people were coming to the schools because of the prospect of receiving money to help pay for college. 

I'm sure there would be some complications and adjustments to make such a program fit Detroit. Despite all the similarities, there are certainly significant differences, not the least of which is size. Plus Lansing isn't functioning under the dictatorship of an emergency manager. But it still seems to me like this could be one approach worth considering.

We need to keep talking about the crisis of young black and Hispanic males

Pretty interesting article from Education Week magazine. Not that most of us don't already know the odds stacked against African American and Hispanic males in our public schools, but it's extremely important to keep this issue on the front burner. As the author points out, it has gotten to the place where we are so used to hearing how dismal the situation is that too many of us have become comfortable with the statistics. And along with that misplaced comfort comes the assumption that black boys and Hispanic boys will always be at the bottom of the heap and there's nothing can be done about it.

How wrong that is.

From Education Week, Feb. 3, 2012

African-American and Latino males are more likely to be classified as mentally retarded or to be identified as suffering from a learning disability and placed in special education (Losen & Orfield, 2002). They’re more likely to be absent from gifted and talented programs, Advanced Placement and honors courses, and international baccalaureate programs (Noguera, 2008). Even class privilege and the material benefits that accompany it fail to inoculate black males from low academic performance. When compared to their white peers, middle-class African-American and Latino males lag significantly in grade point average and on standardized tests. 

These patterns have become so common and widespread that a recitation of the dismal statistics no longer generates surprise or even alarm. But, in recent years, private foundations and local, state, and federal officials have called for urgent measures to subvert these trends and reverse the patterns. In August 2011, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he and billionaire philanthropist George Soros were donating $200 million and redirecting another $500 million of public funds to a variety of initiatives addressing the “crisis” confronting Latino and African-American males. Similar initiatives have been launched in communities throughout the country. 

There is a growing awareness that early intervention within schools may be the most effective way to prevent some of the problems facing males of color during adulthood.

In other words, it might be nice not to wait until a kid finds himself in prison before the decision is made that perhaps he needs some  help. The statistics already paint a clear and present road map detailing what lies ahead for far too many of our youngsters if measures aren't taken to steer them toward the right path where they have more choices - and thus more control - over the direction of their lives.

We need to remember that children aren't born bad. Too often it's the world we adults have created for them that makes them that way. We owe them a better chance.

Republicans as saviors of education? No way!

Last week I read a rather interesting article in Yahoo News where New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie made the overly humorous claim, in so many words, that it is actually the Republicans who are at the forefront of the type of education reform that will provide the best opportunities for the nation’s children in public schools. Specifically, here is what the article said:

Christie made the remarks Thursday (May 3, 2012) at the American Federation for Children and the Alliance for School Choice's annual policy summit in Jersey City. He said it was "ironic" that he, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Gov.

Mitch Daniels of Indiana—all Republicans—were the only national political leaders to address the conference. (Daniels did not speak at this event, but attended earlier AFC events.) The groups advocate for the formation of more charter schools and for state-funded vouchers for low-income children in failing schools who want to attend private schools.

"You know, I don't want to make this partisan, but let's face it—and I say this in urban communities all the time—you continue to vote for these folks, put them in office, and they continue to not address the needs of your families and your children," said Christie.

Really? Really?

At this point it should be apparent why I use the term ‘overly humorous’. The residents of these ‘urban communities’ that Christie apparently visits all the time may be struggling financially, and in many other ways, but they are far from stupid. They ‘continue to vote for these folks’ because they know that ‘these folks’ are much more likely to have their best interests at heart than anyone from Christie’s side of the fence.

And let’s be clear; Republicans have been trumpeting the benefits of charter schools and private school vouchers for years. This is nothing new. And the reasoning behind their support of these so-called alternatives to public schools is nothing new either; to undermine teacher unions and to turn over everything in sight to the private sector. Offering that same level of passionate support and enthusiasm to the salvation of public schools seems to be a concept that is simply beyond them. For some strange reason the Republicans seem to think that it is better to abandon struggling public institutions than to improve them.

Make no mistake, here in Detroit, as in so many other urban (meaning predominantly black) communities around the country, our schools are facing tremendous difficulties. Thousands of parents have left the city – taking their tax dollars with them -and withdrawn their children from the school system. The dramatically decreased numbers has negatively affected the amount of federal funds allocated to our schools. And that’s just for starters. I’d love to say I see a rainbow, or at least a light at the end of the tunnel that isn’t an oncoming train, but right now things are pretty bleak.
 

But even as bad as the current situation is, I have yet to see any evidence – any at all – that it would somehow benefit Detroit’s children more to give them vouchers and ship them off to private school (is transportation included with these vouchers?), or to enroll them in a charter school. Somebody please show me the proof that money would be better spent pulling apart the Detroit Public Schools than in making them better. Since when is abandonment an improvement on rehabilitation?

Political correctness can conceal truth

 Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada)

Note: This post originally appeared as a column in the April 2012 edition of the Detroit Native Sun

 

By John Telford

    Black (and many white) reactionaries are still calling Nevada Senator Harry Reid a racist for simply stating a probable truth — that many of President Obama’s white (and some black) supporters were swayed to vote for him because he’s light-skinned and speaks "standard" idiomatic American English.　

     It’s known in southeastern Michigan that I’ve battled white racists throughout my career and called them what they are in print, in board halls, and over the air.　

     As I said regarding Rochester’s resident racists when I was the deputy superintendent there, and as I said again two decades later on television regarding Madison Heights’ racists when I was the superintendent there, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck, you can be pretty sure it’s a duck."　

     Sen. Reid is a liberal Democrat with a record of supporting African-Americans.　 A "duck" he definitely isn’t.　　

     This brings to mind the Dale Lick case of 1993. Dr. Lick was the Michigan State University governing board’s favored candidate　for the MSU presidency, until word got out that he had said blacks are innately superior in some aspects of athletics. When confronted with that with that statement during the interviews, he refused to recant. By all accounts, he was the best candidate.　　

     Many mainstream publications, including Runner’s World in a 1992 article, have stated the obvious in asserting that athletes of West African descent are generally faster sprinters than are athletes of purely European descent. Throughout the past half-century, Track & Field News’ annual listings of the world’s 100 top times in the dash races confirm that 95 percent of them were usually clocked by Caribbean or American blacks, who some anthropologists hypothesize are collectively stronger and faster due to innate muscular-skeletal traits, plus hybridization and slavery’s brutal "natural selection."  In the 1950s in national and international competition, nearly all of my toughest opponents at 100, 200, and 400 meters were African-Americans or Jamaicans.　　　　

     Dale Lick’s statistically supported statement cost him the MSU job, even though he had also made this relevantly redeeming remark, "Just because Blacks are superior in athletics doesn’t mean they’re inferior in something else."　

     When we insert the word "intellectually" in place of the words "in something else," we reach the crux of this issue.　 I taught black youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds who with what in those bygone days was a good Detroit Public School education became top academicians. They included Southeastern High alumnus john powell (uses no caps in his name), a former Harvard professor and national legal director of the ACLU. I encouraged them to be able to switch from dialect to the "standard" English spoken by leaders like Obama when the situation requires it.　

     Also, as Sen. Reid implied, favoring lighter-skinned blacks socially and politically remains a discriminatory practice of many Americans, both white and black.　 Reid simply told the truth.　 So did Dr. Lick.　

     "Political correctness" shouldn’t supersede plain truth or plain justice.　

　　　　　　

     Contact Dr. Telford at 313-460-8272 or drjohntelford@mi.rr.com. 

A word to the revolutionaries to come

Dear predominantly liberal and a few conservative friends,

As most of you know, I was an All-American and world-ranked sprinter in my checkered youth, and now in my mid-seventies more than half-a-century later, I am about to finish my metaphorical leg of a relay race in which I now pass the baton to you progressive, mostly younger, mostly liberal  "runners" who will run what may well be the societal anchor leg--the last leg for the remnants of us true liberal all-American activists.  I invite you to forward this post to sympathetic liberals and indeed even to conservatives of your acquaintance who care about the future of American-style democracy.

 Much of the American liberal class has essentially sold out to the corporations.  Now we must pray that President Barack Obama will grow some huge cojones and stand up to the cowardly Philistines in his own party that has an ass as its symbol, as well as to those in the pachydermous party of the Republicans who have briskly set about dismantling our democracy with their unwillingness to tax those among us who are the most fortunate--with the accent on "fortune."  You relatively few individuals whom I address in this post (plus some additional individuals whom I shall perhaps address in subsequent forwarded emails, as well as in additional communications) are progressive activists or potential activists who have the interest, brain power, and drive to reactivate and redirect the "liberal class."  As most of you know, it is as a member of this class that I have been a revolutionary anti-establishment, anti-institutional, counter-corporate member for all of my life.  (So were my freedom-loving Scotland-born father and grandfather before me--at considerable economic and indeed sometimes physical cost, I might add, to all three of us.)  

Many conservatives, numerous affiliates of the Tea Party, and others who are politically right-of-center either worship the power-elite uncritically (and thus self-sacrificially) or else are themselves clinging--albeit precariously--to the lower fringes of the power-elite.  What is less known but is becoming starkly and increasingly recognized (and regarding which I therefore feel I must emphasize now and sound a relevant clarion warning bell) is that the American LIBERAL class as we have known it is indeed selling out now as well to the mega-corporations that control the world's wealth and that loot, exploit, and oppress the common man, the downtrodden, children, women, and the aged, infirm, and impoverished in Detroit, in Michigan, across America, and indeed throughout our planet.  This makes me worry about the futures of my son Steve and my daughter Katherine, and the futures of my grandson RJ and my granddaughter Tori--as it should also make you worry about the futures of your children and grandchildren and indeed the future of our embattled country.  

Let me exemplify for you a (seemingly) relatively insignificant symptom/result of this (I will doubtless cite other symptoms in later emails), to wit:  

Frighteningly, the Republican Governor of Michigan has appointed an emergency manager for the imploding Detroit Public Schools and afforded him dictatorial powers to void legally-agreed-upon contracts and dissolve the union--thus simultaneously disenfranchising Detroit voters, including me.  This process could presently be duplicated in other school districts and municipalities--and ultimately perhaps even in some state governments throughout the nation.  I submit that this violates the United States Constitution and sets a perilous precedent that enables the encroachment of totalitarianism in the United States of America.    

Relatedly, the toadying corporatization of numerous members of the once intellectually independent and vigorously activist liberal class, among whom have historically numbered  academic, municipal, faith-based, trade-union, arts-based, financial, political and indeed Democratic leaders, has gone hand-in-hand with the shift from a print-based culture to an image-based culture, as Dr. Chris Hedges, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and I have both been asserting in recent years.  Hedges correctly observes that the decline of newspapers--along with that of book-publishing, coupled with the degradation of our educational system for all but the elite few--has created a culture in which verifiable fact, which is rooted in the complexity and discipline of print, no longer forms the basis of public discourse.  It has been supplanted by the blogosphere, the various arms of the Internet, cable TV, and corporation-dominated and domesticated "newspapers" which now have become virtual trade journals.  Print-based culture--in which fact and assertion can be traced and distinguished--has ceded to a culture of "emotionally-driven narratives" where facts and opinions are interchangeable.   

As Hedges observes, once reality is disconnected from print, it is no longer placed in context.  This has left dissidents like me (and some of you) speaking in a language that will often be unintelligible to the wider society and prevent us from being able to guard against threats to the well-being of ordinary Americans.