Editorial
Tell it to Bobb or tell it to the judge
With a half-billion dollars about to flow into the Detroit Public Schools for new buildings and renovations, it’s past time to tell the truth about what really happened to the $1.5 billion voters ap proved for school construction in 1994.
But apparently, some folks still don’t want to talk.
DPS lawyers will be in court today seeking to subpoena school board member Anthony Adams, former DPS appraiser Sharon Harbin, and Andrew and David Farbman, principals in the South field- based Farbman group, to answer questions about transac tions in which the school district bought and leased office space from the Farbmans and gave one of their subsidiaries a lucrative no-bid contract to make improvements. Adams, who served as deputy mayor under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, was the school district’s general counsel when some of the controversial transactions took place.
Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is pursuing the subpoenas as part of a series of public hearings designed to shed light on what happened to the $1.5 billion, and specifically on a clus ter of shady real estate deals.
So far, Bobb’s crusade has unearthed some real head-scratch ing decisions and possibly corrupt dealings. So far, everyone else called to testify has shown up.
But Adams, Harbin and the Farbmans have resisted. Thus, Bobb’s trip to court today to compel their testimony.
Given his well demonstrated tenacity, it probably goes without saying, but Bobb shouldn’t back down here. If the four witnesses’ only objections to testifying under oath are technical ones, as their lawyers have indicated, the court should be able to clear any proce dural roadblocks quickly. If the real problem is “the arrogance of those who … hold public funds and believe they can remain unac countable to the public,” as Bobb contends, we trust the court will disabuse the four witnesses of that conceit with similar dispatch.
Either way, taxpayers who agreed to indebt themselves for the betterment of the school system need to know exactly who got their money and whether anything of comparable worth was of fered in return.
It’s time for those with answers to put up their right hands, take a seat on the witness stand, and start talking.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Heavy Lifting (Update Teachers)
Wayne
DETROIT
Teachers union, DPS get help in contract talks
The current contract between Detroit Public Schools and the teachers union will be extended until Wednesday as nego tiations for a new con tract continue, according to a joint statement Sun day from the district and the Detroit Federation of Teachers. The contract expired Saturday. Both sides have reportedly agreed to include such ideas as peer evaluations, shared decision-making and incentive pay.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten took part in Sunday’s negotia tions, including talks about academic reforms.
DFT President Keith Johnson and AFT Michi gan President David Hecker asked her to at tend the meeting.
Johnson said he want ed to have Weingarten— who held a workshop for teachers in May about reforms other unions have adopted — there to answer questions.
DETROIT
Teachers union, DPS get help in contract talks
The current contract between Detroit Public Schools and the teachers union will be extended until Wednesday as nego tiations for a new con tract continue, according to a joint statement Sun day from the district and the Detroit Federation of Teachers. The contract expired Saturday. Both sides have reportedly agreed to include such ideas as peer evaluations, shared decision-making and incentive pay.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten took part in Sunday’s negotia tions, including talks about academic reforms.
DFT President Keith Johnson and AFT Michi gan President David Hecker asked her to at tend the meeting.
Johnson said he want ed to have Weingarten— who held a workshop for teachers in May about reforms other unions have adopted — there to answer questions.
HEAVY LIFTER (Keith Johnson) for TEACHERS and STUDENTS Makes a COMPELLING Argument for "ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!"
RASHAUN RUCKER/Detroit Free Press
“REFORM SHOULD BE DRIVEN BY THE UNION AND DEFINED BY THE UNION IN COLLABORATION WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.”
KEITH JOHNSON, president, Detroit Federation of Teachers
Posted: Nov. 20, 2009
Detroit teachers' leader calls for change
BY ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Twenty-nine years ago, Keith Johnson had just completed his undergraduate studies at Wayne State University and was headed to law school.
"Being a teacher was the last thing I thought I'd ever do," he said.
But his mother, a retired Detroit Public Schools teacher, convinced him to get a teaching certificate to pay his way.
"The moment I stepped into a classroom for student teaching, I knew this was what I was going to do," said Johnson, now president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. That union is negotiating a new contract with a team led by Robert Bobb, the governor-appointed DPS emergency financial manager, who has been widely praised for curtailing corruption and changing the way the beleaguered district does business.
But if the current DPS-DFT contract negotiations are an indicator, Johnson has helped forge a new education debate in Detroit. He's calling for a reform revolution led by teachers, not administrators, that forces a conversation about children, not politics. And his union may be listening. For possibly the first time ever, it is embracing peer reviews that could weed out bad teachers. Change is in the air.
"We have to be willing to embrace change, embrace reform," said Johnson, 54. "Reform is not the enemy of progress as a union. Reform should be driven by the union and defined by the union in collaboration with the school district."
"I have respect for his intellect, knowledge of the school system, how it should work and how it functions, his tenaciousness and his focus on kids," Bobb said.
The pair's relationship is good news for children and for teachers who, at least in Detroit, have the toughest jobs in the city. Like Detroit, all DPS teachers have been defined by the worst of them. That maligns the thousands of teachers who not only have taught math and science, but saved wayward lives.
"I didn't come from a broken home," Johnson recalled. "My mother was an educator and my father was a cement mason. I was 4-foot-10 and weighed about 85 pounds. Now I'm 6-1 and 215."
Johnson's habit of beating up people who picked on him got him kicked out of Cass Tech and Central High.
His senior year at Henry Ford High School, a teacher, Ben Rosenberg, finally approached him.
"He got up in my face and told me I was the biggest waste of time and talent and space he'd ever seen in his life," Johnson recalled. "He said, 'Yeah, you can go around beating up everybody, but you're going to end up driving away many of the people who will someday be in a position to help you.'
"For this little Jewish guy to stand up to me like that ... I found it be rather profound. It really made me take inventory on myself and my life. I give him a lot of credit for turning me around."
Johnson said that Mr. Rosenberg used to send him letters of encouragement and praise, including notes about the articles Johnson wrote for the Detroit Teacher, the union newsletter.
"Mr. Rosenberg would call me or write to me how proud he was of me," Johnson said.
But Rosenberg, who died five years ago, did something else. He made Johnson come back to Henry Ford and talk to classes.
"He had me talk about my life as a young black male and how angry and misguided I'd allowed myself to become and how I transformed my life," Johnson said.
Johnson, who is married to Shenise Johnson, an executive assistant to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, is the father of three children who all attended Detroit public schools. His oldest, a Central High graduate, won an Emmy last year for his work at Fox Sports.
"As the newly elected president, I wanted him to know where my head was," Johnson said. "I told him my primary goal was to challenge my membership to embrace, define and take ownership of this profession and this school district. You don't have non-journalists defining what a good journalist is. You don't have nonphysicians establishing what makes a good physician. You don't have non-attorneys determining what constitutes a good lawyer. So why should non-educators define what a quality educator is?"
Actually, we have non-journalists defining journalism and insurance companies defining adequate medical care -- and it's not working. But that's another column.
This one is about a new day for Detroit schoolchildren and a new conversation about Detroit's public schools.
Flanagan, who recalled that conversation with Johnson, said the DFT leader is "willing to forge a 21st-Century contract" and the Detroit union "could actually lead the state on this."
"That's the hope," he said. "Bobb can't do that job alone. He needs strong union leadership and seems to have it."
For too long, Detroit has been bogged down in the wrong conversation. It has been about money and power instead of learning and children. Now, teachers, parents, administrators and elected officials are having a new conversation. With that, all things are possible.
Contact ROCHELLE RILEY: rriley99@freepress.com
"Being a teacher was the last thing I thought I'd ever do," he said.
But his mother, a retired Detroit Public Schools teacher, convinced him to get a teaching certificate to pay his way.
"The moment I stepped into a classroom for student teaching, I knew this was what I was going to do," said Johnson, now president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. That union is negotiating a new contract with a team led by Robert Bobb, the governor-appointed DPS emergency financial manager, who has been widely praised for curtailing corruption and changing the way the beleaguered district does business.
But if the current DPS-DFT contract negotiations are an indicator, Johnson has helped forge a new education debate in Detroit. He's calling for a reform revolution led by teachers, not administrators, that forces a conversation about children, not politics. And his union may be listening. For possibly the first time ever, it is embracing peer reviews that could weed out bad teachers. Change is in the air.
"We have to be willing to embrace change, embrace reform," said Johnson, 54. "Reform is not the enemy of progress as a union. Reform should be driven by the union and defined by the union in collaboration with the school district."
The right leaders
Johnson's philosophy and efforts make clear that Bobb has a partner in rebuilding a new DPS."I have respect for his intellect, knowledge of the school system, how it should work and how it functions, his tenaciousness and his focus on kids," Bobb said.
The pair's relationship is good news for children and for teachers who, at least in Detroit, have the toughest jobs in the city. Like Detroit, all DPS teachers have been defined by the worst of them. That maligns the thousands of teachers who not only have taught math and science, but saved wayward lives.
From bully to change agent
This new reform movement, this new conversation, could be the most serendipitous event in the city since William Ford moved from County Cork, Ireland, to Greenfield Township and had a son named Henry. And ironically, the conversation is being led by a former school bully who was saved by a good teacher."I didn't come from a broken home," Johnson recalled. "My mother was an educator and my father was a cement mason. I was 4-foot-10 and weighed about 85 pounds. Now I'm 6-1 and 215."
Johnson's habit of beating up people who picked on him got him kicked out of Cass Tech and Central High.
His senior year at Henry Ford High School, a teacher, Ben Rosenberg, finally approached him.
"He got up in my face and told me I was the biggest waste of time and talent and space he'd ever seen in his life," Johnson recalled. "He said, 'Yeah, you can go around beating up everybody, but you're going to end up driving away many of the people who will someday be in a position to help you.'
"For this little Jewish guy to stand up to me like that ... I found it be rather profound. It really made me take inventory on myself and my life. I give him a lot of credit for turning me around."
Johnson said that Mr. Rosenberg used to send him letters of encouragement and praise, including notes about the articles Johnson wrote for the Detroit Teacher, the union newsletter.
"Mr. Rosenberg would call me or write to me how proud he was of me," Johnson said.
But Rosenberg, who died five years ago, did something else. He made Johnson come back to Henry Ford and talk to classes.
"He had me talk about my life as a young black male and how angry and misguided I'd allowed myself to become and how I transformed my life," Johnson said.
Johnson, who is married to Shenise Johnson, an executive assistant to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, is the father of three children who all attended Detroit public schools. His oldest, a Central High graduate, won an Emmy last year for his work at Fox Sports.
Educators defining themselves
Johnson spoke with state Superintendent Mike Flanagan about his vision last year."As the newly elected president, I wanted him to know where my head was," Johnson said. "I told him my primary goal was to challenge my membership to embrace, define and take ownership of this profession and this school district. You don't have non-journalists defining what a good journalist is. You don't have nonphysicians establishing what makes a good physician. You don't have non-attorneys determining what constitutes a good lawyer. So why should non-educators define what a quality educator is?"
Actually, we have non-journalists defining journalism and insurance companies defining adequate medical care -- and it's not working. But that's another column.
This one is about a new day for Detroit schoolchildren and a new conversation about Detroit's public schools.
Flanagan, who recalled that conversation with Johnson, said the DFT leader is "willing to forge a 21st-Century contract" and the Detroit union "could actually lead the state on this."
"That's the hope," he said. "Bobb can't do that job alone. He needs strong union leadership and seems to have it."
For too long, Detroit has been bogged down in the wrong conversation. It has been about money and power instead of learning and children. Now, teachers, parents, administrators and elected officials are having a new conversation. With that, all things are possible.
Contact ROCHELLE RILEY: rriley99@freepress.com
HEAVY LIFTING SHARED-VISION: (Barbara Byrd-Bennett / Academic Czar)
Byrd-Bennett is Bobb's academic czar and more: She is his co-chief. (John T. Greilick / The Detroit News)
| November 19, 2009 | http://detnews.com/article/20091119/SCHOOLS/911190336 |
AMBER ARELLANO
The Detroit News
It's 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Barbara Byrd-Bennett is e-mailing Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb one more thing to add to their to-do list.
She e-mails him at 4 a.m., when she cannot sleep. She e-mails him at 11 p.m., before she goes to bed. She e-mails him at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays from Cleveland, where she lives some weekends with her husband, Bruce, before returning to Detroit to do one of America's toughest big city jobs.
Byrd-Bennett is Bobb's academic czar and more: She is his co-chief.
When Byrd-Bennett told Bobb he was proposing budget cuts that would hurt children's learning, he backed off. When she recommended they negotiate a dramatically different teachers' contract, he followed. When she said Detroit had to radically change to compete with charter schools, Bobb agreed.
While Bobb is the school district's showman who woos the public with his no-nonsense message and anti-corruption results, Byrd-Bennett is the behind-the-scenes policy strategist charged with the arguably tougher job: dramatically improving student achievement in the country's most troubled urban school district.
"What is important to her is not the glory; it's the students and what's best for them," says Sharif Shakrani, co-director of Michigan State University's Education Policy Center, who worked with Byrd-Bennett in Washington, D.C.
This week is one of Byrd-Bennett's most critical early tests. She is one of the lead negotiators in talks with the Detroit Federation of Teachers' union. Negotiations have been extended until Saturday.
The negotiations are considered by experts to be essential to the district's survival. Byrd-Bennett wants the teacher union to agree to a new special contract for the city's lowest-performing schools, modeled after a successful effort she headed in New York City.
"What Barbara is working on now, along with the current teacher contract negotiations, will dictate the future of the Detroit Public Schools," Bobb says.
Despite her influence, Byrd-Bennett is relatively unknown in Detroit. Outside the city, she is considered a superstar. Hundreds of wanna-be reformers have tried to boost poor urban student achievement levels. Byrd-Bennett is one of the rare leaders who has done it.
What reformers around the nation are watching now: Whether Byrd-Bennett -- who led the turn around of New York City's and Cleveland's failing schools -- will be given the opportunity to flourish in the Motor City.
Children drive her
Byrd-Bennett's passion for disadvantaged children drives her. Growing up in the "projects" in a black working-class family in New York City, she says, she always wanted to be part of a movement to empower disenfranchised people.
Byrd-Bennett was inspired by her dad, Wallace Lee, a postal worker who rose to become a leader in his union. Her mom, Helen, worked in retail.
She found her opportunity in a chance meeting in her early 20s with a renowned New York City educator called Mother Hale. The woman asked her, "Do you want to be a teacher?" Byrd-Bennett answered, "No, but I want to be part of a movement." Mother Hale said, "You're hired."
Struggling as a teacher early in her career, Byrd-Bennett eventually made a name for herself in her mid-30s when she began to unravel the mystery of how to boost student achievement in high-poverty schools.
She was charged with improving instruction and curriculum in dozens of schools. Her first year, test results flat-lined.
"I could almost cry, just thinking about it," she says. "We looked at why and made changes."
By years two and three, students' reading and math test scores improved, eventually reaching a jump of 30 percent. National experts paid attention. The model she developed is championed by Mass Insight Education & Research Institute and other school turnaround experts.
"Barbara laid the foundation for everything we're doing with District 79 (New York City's alternative schools and programs)," says Giulia Cox, executive director of student support services for the New York City Department of Education.
The city has revamped its General Educational Development (GED) degree and other programs for teenagers and young adults who weren't succeeding in traditional high schools. The result: The GED passage rate doubled in the first year, and the city's graduation rate is rising, Cox says.
Byrd-Bennett built that foundation as the superintendent of the Big Apple's special Chancellor's District in the 1990s.
Byrd-Bennett wants to apply that model to Detroit. She and Bobb are proposing to create a "high priority district" within the larger district for the city's chronically failing schools.
The high priority district's success largely rides on securing a special teachers' contract, as it did in New York. Byrd-Bennett wants failing schools' staffs to be hired based on performance, not just seniority; and ensure students have longer school days and smaller classrooms.
To encourage the Detroit teacher union to support such changes, Byrd-Bennett and Bobb are offering an unprecedented $45 million in performance-based bonuses for school employees.
Such a carrot helped build buy-in from New York City teachers' union.
Detroit hasn't been that easy.
Detroit talks difficult
Byrd-Bennett had anticipated difficult contract negotiations; budget deficits; brutal public scrutiny and an intrusive school board in Detroit -- all are part of the typical urban district's terrain.
What she had not expected is Detroit's almost total lack of workable systems.
"This really isn't about reform," she says of Detroit. "In a reform district, you see some measurable results relatively quickly ... Children are not dying in a reform district."
"Detroit is very different, in my mind," she added candidly. "This is about turnaround. ... I failed to judge how deep and intense the work would be here. It's very heavy lifting."
On the other hand, Byrd-Bennett says Detroit is similar to New York City and Cleveland, the latter of which she served as superintendent for eight years until 2006.
"Every community thinks their circumstances are worse than any other city," she says. "They think nothing can be done."
Experts say the results of her work will not be seen until next fall, at the earliest, if she is given the chance to succeed.
"Barbara knows all of the challenges; she knows what the hiccups are," says Michelle Rhee, chancellor for Washington, D.C., public schools. "At the end of the day, she can be as great as anybody, but if there is not the political will and infrastructure in place to support reforms, it's not going to matter."
Like Bobb, Byrd-Bennett is ambitious and decisive -- and often works 14-hour days, her staff says. Her buoyant energy is contagious.
"I've done incremental school change and rapid change," she says, explaining her workaholic lifestyle. "Rapid change is what parents want."
Unlike Bobb, Byrd-Bennett is so warm and gracious, even her critics like her. Keith Johnson, the teachers' union president, says he has so much faith in her -- unlike Bobb -- he believes the district could be turned around in just three years under her.
For her, she says "Detroit is a high for me in my career." It's a chance to ensure some of the country's neediest children get the high-quality schools which they deserve, the civil rights movement of her era.
She says the biggest obstacle to school reform is faith.
"You have to suspend your disbelief," she says. "Change can happen, and it does happen. I've seen it."
Amber Arellano is a Detroit News editorial writer who writes about education policy. Please sSend letters to The Detroit News at Editorial Page, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or (313) 496-5253 orletters@detnews.com">letters@detnews.com.
Additional Facts
Thursday, November 19, 2009
"Fly Me to the Moon!"
Posted: Wednesday, 18 November 2009 3:38PMMetro Airport Explores Wind Power |
Detroit Metropolitan Airport will further reduce its consumption of fossil fuels by producing its own wind energy at two locations on opposite ends of the facility. The Wayne County Airport Authority Board approved a contract with Michigan-based Southern Exposure Renewable Energy Co. to install five wind turbines at the airport entrance on Rogell Drive and at the South Cell Phone Lot on Eureka Road. Unlike the traditional, towering, three-blade, windmill-type turbines, the Windspire units, manufactured by MasTech Manufacturing of Manisee, are cylindrical, vertical-axis wind turbines that operate quietly while generating electricity for immediate use regardless of wind direction. At only 30-feet in height, they easily fit within DTW’s airspace height limitations. “We have calculated that the two units at the South Cell Phone Lot will, on average, generate 60 to 70 percent of the power needed for the lot’s overhead lights and to illuminate the sign,” said WCAA Director of Facilities and Infrastructure Ali Dib. “On windy days and during daylight hours, we will be feeding electricity back to DTE Energy’s grid.” The wind energy project is one of many environmentally friendly initiatives at the airport. DTW has been the world leader in recycling aircraft de-icing fluid for eight of the past nine years. The new North Terminal is programmed to harvest daylight and to automatically reduce lighting and cooling in terminal areas not in use. The North Terminal also supplies pre-conditioned air, 400hz power and underground jet fuel to each gate which reduces the need for aircraft engines to be idling and excess vehicles on the ramp. This is expected to reduce emissions of various air pollutants by more than 1,300 tons over the expected life-span of the building. The airport has installed a solar panel and LED lighting prototype at the North Cell Phone Lot and established more efficient electrical fixtures in the parking structures saving $79,000 in energy costs annually. In 1999, Detroit Metropolitan Airport received international acclamation for the creation of Crosswinds Marsh, a 1,000-acre wetland preserve constructed in Sumpter Township to replace airfield wetlands disturbed by runway and terminal construction. Described as “Michigan’s showcase wetland,” the preserve continues to provide spectacular habitat for a variety of wildlife and offers public access and educational opportunities for children. “Many other such initiatives are under way or planned for the future,” said WCAA CEO Lester Robinson. “We continue to look for opportunities to be a friend to the environment while maintaining one of the most operationally-capable airports in the world.” |
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Alignment to Purpose (Race to the Top) Beginning to Unfold
Bargaining for big reforms
DPS, teachers closing in on merit pay, peer review
By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
In an effort to improve aca demic performance in Detroit Public Schools, the teachers union and school district are negotiating to mandate sweep ing academic reforms in the new labor contract.
The reforms under discus sion for the next teacher con tract include peer evaluations and school-based performance bonuses. Site-based manage ment — a topic that in 1992 sparked controversy and a strike — also is on the table. It essentially would allow teach ers and administrators to each have a role in making key deci sions for the schools.
“This is going to be revolu tionary,” said Keith Johnson, who embraced talk of reform after becoming president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers this year. “Both sides acknowledge that what we’re doing is not giving us the re sults that this community has a right to expect.”
DFT also has committed to help DPS cut $45 million from the budget, suggesting mea sures such as adjusting teach er preparation periods to save $11 million.
With threats of bankruptcy looming over the deficit-ridden Detroit school district, now has become the perfect time to talk not about unlikely raises, but about academic reforms, Johnson said.
The DFT contract for its 5,000 teachers and estimated 2,400 support personnel ex pired on June 30, but the union and the school district have agreed twice to extend it. The contract now is set to expire on Saturday.
Robert Bobb, emergency fi nancial manager for DPS, said the issue of seniority is a stick ing point in the negotiations. Bobb would not elaborate, but Johnson said the union would fight any effort by the district to circumvent seniority when it comes to layoffs.
“We believe there are ways all parties can win,” Bobb said, noting that the major focus of talks is reform.
Both sides appear to be working toward that common goal of meaningful change.
For instance, Bobb and the DFT agreed to cancel classes on May 26 so teachers could at tend workshops — including one with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten — about reforms other unions have adopted na tionwide.
Peer review
Detroit is using Toledo as its model. That city has led the way nationwide in Peer Assis tance and Review programs since instituting them in 1981. Detroit teachers and adminis trators have been there twice this fall to learn how they do it. Dal Lawrence, founder of the PAR program in Toledo, who has helped institute simi lar programs in cities such as Chicago, said about 8% to 10% of Toledo’s new teachers are terminated each year as a re sult of peer evaluations.
In Toledo, veteran teachers are selected to work as evalua tors for three years to observe colleagues — mostly new teachers. Recommendations go to a panel that includes ad ministrators.
“It’s the most popular thing we do,” said Lawrence, former president of the Toledo Feder ation of Teachers.
He said the program never has been measured for aca demic impact, but two years after it was instituted, the dis trict’s state rating went from an F grade to a C.
“These efforts alone do not lead to improved academic achievement for students. But there is evidence that where implemented fairly, aggres sively and deliberately, there has been increased — and in some cases, dramatic increas es — in student achievement,” said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, chief DPS academic officer.
Detroit principals who ob served the Toledo peer pro gram in September welcome the chance to turn over the evaluation process to veteran teachers.
“Who knows better about teaching than teachers?” said Tracy Johnson, principal at Durfee Elementary.
James Hearn, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, said a peer review process may re move the us-versus-them ten sion between administrators and teachers.
“This process will change the culture because if bad teaching is going on, guess who’s allowing it — other teachers. You can’t blame ad ministrators,” he said. Teach ers also would get mentors and more hands-on assistance, he added.
DPS principals get short handed and may not have the time to spend helping teachers improve, Hearn said.
Financial incentives
Differentiated pay, com monly known as merit pay or performance incentives, for teachers who reach agreed upon goals is discussed far more than it has been institut ed. The American Federation of Teachers cites Toledo, New York and smaller districts such as Douglas County public schools in Colorado and St. Francis public schools in Min nesota among the districts that have adopted it.
With the help of a federal grant, Toledo started the Teacher Incentive Fund that awards $2,000 to each person on staff if students meet two academic goals and a goal in another area such as atten dance. The staffs get $1,000 each if two goals are met. Last year, 28 Toledo schools met two or three of the goals, cost ing $1.8 million, said Joan Kuchcinski, coordinator for in centive programs for Toledo Public Schools.
Each of the last three years, the number of schools meeting goals increased, she said.
“Toledo has done the right thing,” she said. “We have the results to show it.”
Parent Ida Byrd-Hill said the Detroit contract negotia tions should include reforms that parents want, like making it easier to get rid of poor-per forming teachers.
“I shouldn’t have to give you a bonus to achieve,” she said. “They keep negotiating con tracts with teachers, and it’s not about what I want as a par ent.”
Site-based management
The union and the district have agreed in principle to in stitute voluntary site-based management, Johnson said. If a school wanted to take on more authority over areas such as hiring and budgeting, and be free to adopt measures such as a longer school year, 75% of teachers would have to agree.
Supporters say site-based management empowers em ployees. But it’s also the issue that led to a DPS teacher strike 1992. Back then, the union feared principals would wield too much power and hiring practices would erode working conditions.
Johnson said this time, site based management will in clude teachers in decision making about everything from curriculum and professional development to hiring.
DPS teacher Kimberly Kyff, the Michigan Teacher of the Year for 2006-07, favors the reforms.
“Working together, having professional development and programs based on building needs and a structured assis tance program — designed to improve teaching and learning — will lead to student achieve ment and a flourishing dis trict,” she said.
| CONTACT CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY: 313-223-4537 OR CPRATT@FREEPRESS.COM
“THIS PROCESS WILL CHANGE THE CULTURE BECAUSE IF BAD TEACHING IS GOING ON, GUESS WHO’ S ALLOWING IT — OTHER TEACHERS.”
JAMES HEARN, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, on a proposed peer review process for teachers in Detroit Public Schools
DPS, teachers closing in on merit pay, peer review
By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
In an effort to improve aca demic performance in Detroit Public Schools, the teachers union and school district are negotiating to mandate sweep ing academic reforms in the new labor contract.
The reforms under discus sion for the next teacher con tract include peer evaluations and school-based performance bonuses. Site-based manage ment — a topic that in 1992 sparked controversy and a strike — also is on the table. It essentially would allow teach ers and administrators to each have a role in making key deci sions for the schools.
“This is going to be revolu tionary,” said Keith Johnson, who embraced talk of reform after becoming president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers this year. “Both sides acknowledge that what we’re doing is not giving us the re sults that this community has a right to expect.”
DFT also has committed to help DPS cut $45 million from the budget, suggesting mea sures such as adjusting teach er preparation periods to save $11 million.
With threats of bankruptcy looming over the deficit-ridden Detroit school district, now has become the perfect time to talk not about unlikely raises, but about academic reforms, Johnson said.
The DFT contract for its 5,000 teachers and estimated 2,400 support personnel ex pired on June 30, but the union and the school district have agreed twice to extend it. The contract now is set to expire on Saturday.
Robert Bobb, emergency fi nancial manager for DPS, said the issue of seniority is a stick ing point in the negotiations. Bobb would not elaborate, but Johnson said the union would fight any effort by the district to circumvent seniority when it comes to layoffs.
“We believe there are ways all parties can win,” Bobb said, noting that the major focus of talks is reform.
Both sides appear to be working toward that common goal of meaningful change.
For instance, Bobb and the DFT agreed to cancel classes on May 26 so teachers could at tend workshops — including one with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten — about reforms other unions have adopted na tionwide.
Peer review
Detroit is using Toledo as its model. That city has led the way nationwide in Peer Assis tance and Review programs since instituting them in 1981. Detroit teachers and adminis trators have been there twice this fall to learn how they do it. Dal Lawrence, founder of the PAR program in Toledo, who has helped institute simi lar programs in cities such as Chicago, said about 8% to 10% of Toledo’s new teachers are terminated each year as a re sult of peer evaluations.
In Toledo, veteran teachers are selected to work as evalua tors for three years to observe colleagues — mostly new teachers. Recommendations go to a panel that includes ad ministrators.
“It’s the most popular thing we do,” said Lawrence, former president of the Toledo Feder ation of Teachers.
He said the program never has been measured for aca demic impact, but two years after it was instituted, the dis trict’s state rating went from an F grade to a C.
“These efforts alone do not lead to improved academic achievement for students. But there is evidence that where implemented fairly, aggres sively and deliberately, there has been increased — and in some cases, dramatic increas es — in student achievement,” said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, chief DPS academic officer.
Detroit principals who ob served the Toledo peer pro gram in September welcome the chance to turn over the evaluation process to veteran teachers.
“Who knows better about teaching than teachers?” said Tracy Johnson, principal at Durfee Elementary.
James Hearn, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, said a peer review process may re move the us-versus-them ten sion between administrators and teachers.
“This process will change the culture because if bad teaching is going on, guess who’s allowing it — other teachers. You can’t blame ad ministrators,” he said. Teach ers also would get mentors and more hands-on assistance, he added.
DPS principals get short handed and may not have the time to spend helping teachers improve, Hearn said.
Financial incentives
Differentiated pay, com monly known as merit pay or performance incentives, for teachers who reach agreed upon goals is discussed far more than it has been institut ed. The American Federation of Teachers cites Toledo, New York and smaller districts such as Douglas County public schools in Colorado and St. Francis public schools in Min nesota among the districts that have adopted it.
With the help of a federal grant, Toledo started the Teacher Incentive Fund that awards $2,000 to each person on staff if students meet two academic goals and a goal in another area such as atten dance. The staffs get $1,000 each if two goals are met. Last year, 28 Toledo schools met two or three of the goals, cost ing $1.8 million, said Joan Kuchcinski, coordinator for in centive programs for Toledo Public Schools.
Each of the last three years, the number of schools meeting goals increased, she said.
“Toledo has done the right thing,” she said. “We have the results to show it.”
Parent Ida Byrd-Hill said the Detroit contract negotia tions should include reforms that parents want, like making it easier to get rid of poor-per forming teachers.
“I shouldn’t have to give you a bonus to achieve,” she said. “They keep negotiating con tracts with teachers, and it’s not about what I want as a par ent.”
Site-based management
The union and the district have agreed in principle to in stitute voluntary site-based management, Johnson said. If a school wanted to take on more authority over areas such as hiring and budgeting, and be free to adopt measures such as a longer school year, 75% of teachers would have to agree.
Supporters say site-based management empowers em ployees. But it’s also the issue that led to a DPS teacher strike 1992. Back then, the union feared principals would wield too much power and hiring practices would erode working conditions.
Johnson said this time, site based management will in clude teachers in decision making about everything from curriculum and professional development to hiring.
DPS teacher Kimberly Kyff, the Michigan Teacher of the Year for 2006-07, favors the reforms.
“Working together, having professional development and programs based on building needs and a structured assis tance program — designed to improve teaching and learning — will lead to student achieve ment and a flourishing dis trict,” she said.
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“THIS PROCESS WILL CHANGE THE CULTURE BECAUSE IF BAD TEACHING IS GOING ON, GUESS WHO’ S ALLOWING IT — OTHER TEACHERS.”
JAMES HEARN, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, on a proposed peer review process for teachers in Detroit Public Schools
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