Mayor takes lead in necessary revolution on city schools
March 30, 2007
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says that, despite criticism, he is undeterred in his efforts to improve education for all Detroit schoolchildren and will continue conversations with educators, foundation leaders, corporate leaders and parents to discuss what is best for the kids and the city's future -- including establishing more charter and private schools in the city.
Thank God. That means the mayor is doing his job.
When I reported Tuesday that Kilpatrick had been talking with officials from charter and private schools, all hell broke loose. Opponents of anything that might stop the gravy train that is the Detroit Public Schools began a public screeching and gnarling of teeth. They accused the mayor of betraying city schools, even as some privately said he might have a good idea.
Schools are key to city's survival
The mayor is responding to the demands of parents and potential new residents. Is he supposed to bury his head in the sand while the schools decline and employers choose other cities with a more educated view of education?
"By 2009, 60% of Detroiters will be senior citizens," Kilpatrick said in an exclusive, hour-long interview. "We love our senior citizens ... but you can't have the type of transformation that you really need in the city unless you make sure that young people and families have opportunity ... that has to happen simultaneously.
"If you ask any parent, it's not taxes, it's, 'Where's my baby going to go to school?' It's very important that people know that we're not stopping on this. This is bigger than just being the mayor. It's a conversation about, really, our future. The next Detroit will not survive if our children are not being educated."
The mayor's efforts come at a time when the Detroit schools are in turmoil. They are in debt and losing students by the thousands. The school board, after initially announcing it would close as many as 50 schools, voted last week to close none. But they come also as the mayor leads redevelopment that has received national notice.
"There's a spark in the city that people nationally and internationally have noticed," the mayor said Thursday at the Downtown Detroit Partnership annual luncheon. At that same luncheon, business and racing magnate Roger Penske said, "Detroit and its image drive the economy and image of our state."
Critics argue that charter and private schools might skim the "cream of the crop" students from the public schools or take money from the high schools. So what? Then the city schools could actually focus on making the rest of their students "cream of the crop" and becoming a K-9 system.
It is past time for a revolutionary transformation of education in Detroit. It is the mayor's job to lead it. With Detroit's history and political baggage, that revolution can begin only with charter schools, good charter schools, effective, accountable, appropriately monitored charter schools.
Aiming to fill educational gaps
Detroit has an estimated adult illiteracy rate of 47%. Its middle class is still moving to the suburbs or out of state. We're headed for a single-state depression. Only Detroit can save it, and only if the city fixes education.
"I love the public schools, but I have to serve all of our children, and all of our children are not in the public schools," Kilpatrick said. "... We have to acknowledge that there are real educational gaps in the city of Detroit ... and the public school system doesn't have the money, operating or capital budget, to fill those gaps all on their own."
Kilpatrick has redefined himself as a leader. Now he's redefining the city and its image. That means redefining education. What the rest of us need to do is consider the children first and join the revolution.
Contact ROCHELLE RILEY at 313-223-4473 or rriley99@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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