In the previous post, I noted that the emergency manager in Detroit was instructed to “blow up” the district.
In the other districts controlled by emergency managers–Muskegon Heights and Highland Park–the emergency managers closed down public education and handed the buildings and students over to for-profit operators.
This article in Education Week brings out important facts.
1. “African-Americans make up 88 percent of the students in the Muskegon Heights system, and 98 percent of the Highland Park system’s enrollment.”
2. The emergency managers picked two for-profit operators whose record is unimpressive:
“And critics of the strategy say that neither Mosaica Education nor the Leona Group has an impressive record of turning around low-performing schools.
“We think that there’s a huge opportunity closed when the state steps in and decides to intervene in a place like Highland Park and Muskegon Heights,” said Amber Arellano, the executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, an education policy and advocacy group in Royal Oak, Mich.
“Our concern is that, based on what we know about those operators,” she continued, “it would appear as if [this] opportunity may be wasted … because those are two of the lowest-performing charter operators in Michigan.”
Read that last line again: “…those are two of the lowest-performing charter operators in Michigan.”
3. “Some experts point out that Mosaica students nationally do not show as much academic growth as students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds in regular public schools.”
What more do you need to know?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Another example of the “good ole boy” network. Or to use another overused but true phrase: “It’s not what you know but who you know.”
What exactly are you asserting in this post, Diane? I see at least a couple possibilities, both closely related but still quite different. But why not just come out and say it?
FLERP, I believe that the state has a responsibility to maintain public schools. In the case of these impoverished majority-black districts, the state abandoned public education and handed the kids and buildings over to for-profit corporations with poor track records.
Was I not clear?
That’s definitely more tentative than I expected given the headline. This seems to suggest a headline of “Selling Out Children Who, In This Particular Case, Happen to Be Black.”
FLERP, while it is true that Governor Snyder is selling out public education in Michigan, which will hurt children of every race, the emergency a naggers are cynically selling out black children and their districts.
FLERP! – are you trying to say that the fact that the children “happen to be black” has nothing to do with it?
No, I was trying to learn what Diane thought that fact had to do with it. I still don’t know.
Stateline, which is an NPR news product, had a good series on Muskegon Heights.
They uncovered that some of the charter teachers weren’t certified, which is against the law in Michigan. The last time the series was updated was in January, I believe, and they were on their THIRD superintendent.
The whole piece is sad. I wish they had spent more time talking to community members about what it’s like when your whole district is privatized like that.
I am totally disgusted with those who are clambering to make $$$$$ off our children’s, teachers’, and parents’ back! It is soooooo obvious, I have no idea why anyone has HOPE that things will get better without standing up to lunacy!
Definitely a clear example of how chartering should NOT work, if at all.
After all it is “The Race to the Bottom.”
Sounds familiar–some lefties (or whatever) in the 60s said the same thing.
I have a close friend who works in this very charter school in Muskegon Heights.
If Mosaica isn’t the worst charter operation in America, it’s in the top ten.
A few observations from my friend:
1. They instituted a homeroom period at the start of the day. Students were ASSIGNED to a classroom and were supposed to show up for assistance / tutoring. My friend said that one student showed up. Administration did nothing to address the fact that kids weren’t coming to school.
2. His building administrator locked the office doors and told teachers that she would only speak to them via e-mail.
3. In April of last year, he was told that he must purchase paper because the school would no longer provide any.
4. When MLIVE (The Grand Rapids Press), reported that nearly a third of the teaching staff had quit halfway through the year, the school responded by calling all the teachers in for a meeting. At the meeting, they had the teachers write down areas of improvement / complaints they had about the way Mosaica was running the school. After collecting all of the complaints, they threw them in the garbage. They then berated the remaining teachers and told them to quit because they have “loads of qualified applicants” dying to teach there.
I could go on and on and on. This despicable company has stolen millions of dollars from Michigan taxpayers. On top of that, they’ve eliminated 50+ middle class jobs (former public school employees) and have created more paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by jobs. My friend makes $31,000 a year. He is better paid than several other staff members because he had previous years of experience.
I am a FORMER REPUBLICAN. I voted for GW Bush twice. Knowing what NCLB and Republican efforts have done to public schools and to public education (the narrowing of education, total focus on standardized tests, elimination of liberal arts programs, loss of rigor or accountability for students, destruction of the teaching profession), I have left the party and have helped convince many of my friends to leave as well. I’m also a married white male (the backbone of the GOP). Lose guys like me, and you’re screwed.