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Friday, October 16, 2009

DETNEWS | Weblogs | Daniel Howes' Blog


DETNEWS Weblogs Daniel Howes' Blog:

"In a town desperate for good news, word that Robert Bobb is negotiating to extend his stay as emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools is about as good it gets. They need him. The city of Detroit needs him. DPS kids and their parents need him. The social-services budgets of the city, the state and the feds need him because, as Nick Kristof points out in today's New York Times:

'Good schools constitute a far more potent weapon against poverty than welfare, food stamps or housing subsidies. Yet, cowed by teachers' unions, Democrats have too often resisted reform and stood by as generations of disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools.'

There's no Detroit dateline on the piece, but there might as well be. He continues: 'It's difficult to improve failing schools when you can't create alternatives such as charter schools and can't remove inept or abusive teachers.'"