Why is the man most to blame for the #FlintWaterCrisis, Darnell Earley, still the Emergency Manager of Detroit schools?
On April 16, 2013, Flint Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz signed an agreement on behalf of the city to form a new water district that would, when the project was completed, get its water from Lake Huron via a new pipeline. The decision was made in order save money since water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) was very expensive. The next day, the city of Detroit, which was also under the control of an Emergency Manager, Kevin Orr, notified the city of Flint, that it was exercising its right to give one year’s notice that it was terminating their nearly 50-year-old contract. This would have compelled Flint officials to renegotiate the contract which was expected to result in even higher water costs since the new water pipeline would not be completed by April 2014.
In other words, despite the fact that both cities were under state control via Emergency Managers appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, Detroit was essentially attempting to extort additional money from Flint between April 2014 and when its new pipeline was operational. Emergency Management, a system ostensibly put in place to stabilize cities financially, had essentially degraded into a pissing match between two Emergency Managers under the direction of Gov. Snyder.
Shortly before the April 2014 deadline, DWSD Director Sue McCormick offered to let Flint stay on their system until their new pipeline was completed. However, EM Earley declined. If you were to point to one specific decision that lead to the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water, it would be this one. Earley, by rebuffing Detroit’s offer in their on-going internecine battle, put Flint on a course that lead to the state of emergency they are in today.
You can read Earley’s response to McCormick HERE. Here’s the paragraph that created Flint’s current catastrophe:
Dear Ms. McCormick:
Thank you for the correspondence dated February 12, 2014 which provides Flint with the option of continuing to purchase water from DWSD following the termination of the current contract as of April 17, 2014.
Following DWSD’s April 17, 2013 notice of termination of the water service contract between the City of Flint and DWSD, the City of Flint has actively pursued using the Flint River as a temporary water source while the KWA pipeline is being constructed. We expect that the Flint Water Treatment Plant will be fully operational and capable of treating Flint River water prior to the date of termination. In that case, there will be no need for Flint to continue purchasing water to serve its residents and businesses after April 17, 2014.
Earley’s letter goes on to acknowledge that Genesee County officials were negotiating with the DWSD to continue using their water (which is distributed to them by the Flint system), saying that, if Genesee County decided to go forward with it, Flint would only need to purchase the amount of water needed for them and that Flint itself would get its water from the Flint River.
This chutzpah and single-minded focus only on the economics of the situation with a total disregard to warnings about the impact of Flint River water chemistry tells us a great deal about how Darnell Earley operates. When you watch video of him talking to reporters, that arrogance comes through loud and clear. It was also blatantly clear inan almost laughable revisionist history op-ed he penned for The Detroit News denying any responsibility for Flint’s water catastrophe.
Earley is now embroiled in another controversy as the EM of Detroit Public Schools. DPS teachers have been staging “sick outs” over the past two weeks to protest over-crowded classrooms, deplorable working conditions, and continuous cuts to their pay and benefits. The sick outs, which have not been organized by their union, the Detroit Teachers Federation, reached their zenith on Monday when 64 DPS schools were closed due to a lack of teachers with two-thirds of the students impacted. The ongoing “non-strike” drove Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to tour several DPS schools. What he saw is shocking:
Mayor Mike Duggan said he saw a dead mouse, children wearing coats in cold classrooms and a gym floor too warped for play during a tour of some Detroit public schools Tuesday, amid a teacher sick-out that has forced dozens of buildings to close.
Duggan pledged to quickly come up with a plan to improve the condition of the buildings. He noted that the state has been in control of DPS for the better part of a decade, saying, “It was a troubled district seven years ago, but there is no argument to say that state management has made it better.”The teachers’ union has complained about mold, rodent infestations, too-large class sizes and other issues. Teachers upset about their pay, the district’s financial condition and work environments called in sick Monday, forcing the cancellation of classes at 64 schools.“Our children need our teachers in the classroom. … But there’s no question about the legitimacy of the issues that they’re raising,” Duggan said Tuesday, when about two dozen schools were closed because of the sick-out. […]“We’ve seen a couple of school buildings that are well-maintained and then saw some conditions that were deeply disturbing, including a school where the children have no gym class because the gym floor is buckled from roof leaks,” Duggan said.He said it was “heartbreaking” to see some kids wearing coats in the morning until classrooms warm up by lunch.
After his tour, Duggan called for all DPS schools to be inspected.
The American Federation of Teachers has a scathing report on the conditions in DPS schools written by a school counselor at Spain Elementary-Middle School in Detroit. You can view it HERE.
In addition to that report which has photos of some of egregious conditions students and teachers are living with, here’s a heart-breaking video they produced that gives you an even better view. If you’re like me, it’ll make you weep to see these beautiful, innocent children having to attempt to learn in such a terrible environment.
Darnell Earley has been the Emergency Manager for DPS for a year now. While the obscene state of many DPS schools is not soley on his shoulders, it’s clear that he’s done nothing to solve the problem. Once again, he has used the Emergency