DPS petition tactics decried
Bid for Bing control called misleading
BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Groups opposed to an attempt to allow the mayor of Detroit to oversee Detroit PublicSchools said Monday that those gathering petitions in favor of the effort are being misleading in their approach.
"This whole endeavor has been a fraud from start to finish," said Shanta Driver, national chairwoman of By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), an activist group.
It is unclear who is heading the petition drive to allow Detroit residents to vote on the issue this year. But Driver said residents are being coerced into signing the petitions by people telling them that the effort will keep Detroit schools open or that the move is supported by a school board member.
BAMN; AFSCME Local 207; Defend Public Education/Save our Students, a caucus of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, and the Detroit Board of Education held a news conference Monday in which Driver pledged to combat the alleged deceptive practices by challenging the petitions and ensuring that people who believe they were misled can have their names removed from the petitions.
Driver said the petition seekers are lying to Detroit residents because they know Detroit
Database: Top to Bottom School Rankings
BY KRISTI TANNER-WHITE AND PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Search this database to find statewide achievement and academic growth rankings among Michigan schools. Rankings are based on test results for math and English language arts on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) for elementary/middle school students and the Michigan Merit Examination (MME) for high school students 2007-2009. The ranking gives the percentage of schools in the state that had lower achievement/improvement.
Among the 108 schools eligible to apply for federal School Improvement grants, rankings ranged from the bottom 0.1% - 12.9%, with two exceptions. Kettering West Wing and Cooley North Wing, high schools in the Detroit Public Schools district, had rankings of 99.9%. A graduation rate of less than 60% for three years running qualified them as grant eligible schools.
The state Department of Education will have a revised list out in September, based on 2008-2010 data, of the lowest performing 5% of schools.
Among the 108 schools eligible to apply for federal School Improvement grants, rankings ranged from the bottom 0.1% - 12.9%, with two exceptions. Kettering West Wing and Cooley North Wing, high schools in the Detroit Public Schools district, had rankings of 99.9%. A graduation rate of less than 60% for three years running qualified them as grant eligible schools.
The state Department of Education will have a revised list out in September, based on 2008-2010 data, of the lowest performing 5% of schools.
