If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Hundreds of creative and amazing pieces of art by Detroit Public Schools students will be shown in the 75th annual Detroit Public Schools Student Exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts beginning Saturday.
Since joining the DPS family, I've come in contact with numerous awe-inspiring schools. For the people who are unaware of these programs, I can't help but wonder if they've seen what I've seen.
Whether their school is run by DPS, the EAA or one of the new charter conversions, it is imperative that all public school students in Detroit be provided with the best possible opportunity to learn.
Inside Detroit Public Schools: More on the Citizen Patrollers and Their Work to Protect the Students
Detroit Public School expanded citizens' patrols and also issued a call for additional volunteers this year. That, plus a multi-agency effort, resulted in safer schools and safer routes to school.
We need to encourage the mayor and the council to insist on their authority to make decisions. If the state is unwilling to protect the elected officials, we encourage the city to declare bankruptcy.
The concept of emergency management, as pushed forward by Gov. Snyder, is deeply flawed. It is a draconian attempt at a solution to a problem caused in large part by policies and circumstances not promulgated at the local level.
Gov. Snyder should be applauded for the crime response efforts in his "smart justice" initiative; however, it fails to commit enough resources toward referring troubled youth to preventive and therapeutic resources.
In Michigan's largest city, 67 percent of children live in poverty. How can they not? Unemployment in Detroit is thought to be close to 50 percent by the city's mayor.
It would be tempting to blog about DPS' commitment to improve east side neighborhoods through the new East English Village Prep. Academy. But my attention turned to a speaker, a Morningside resident who has lived in her Habitat home since 2009.
Whether you count yourself as a member of Detroit's revival community or you are burnt out, disgusted and sitting on the sidelines, it's time for us to dig in and push ourselves to the next level.
As citizen oversight diminishes, the power of the state increases, enforcing compliance with deadening systems designed to demand obedience and control.
The moving of strong school programs is one of the success stories of recent school consolidation programs undertaken by DPS. I asked the principals who managed those successful moves about their strategies and lessons learned.
It is clear that the state can no longer provide excellence in public education on its own. That is why it is crucial for our communities to follow the lead of higher education to come together to inject philanthropy into public education.
Foundations wield enormous power in defining problems and determining solutions. In Detroit, as in much of the country, this is especially clear in the education of our children.
Every now and then a grin comes across my face. That grin edges to a full-blown smile when it comes to the Detroit Children's Museum, which DPS is reopening for thousands of our students for field trips.
We believe that providing a platform to connect colleges with high school students will encourage youth to set and achieve new education goals instead of settling for the bare minimum.
