Red-Hot AIM Program Should Become the "DPS Gift That Keeps on Giving!"

Dr. Ward: As we discussed yesterday this recent development could well provide the "creative tension" necessary for the AIM Program to become the "rallying cry" for Detroit Public Schools.

Multiple choices for city schools

March 29, 2007

Leaders of the Detroit Public Schools have mainly themselves to blame for the welcome mat that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick plans to extend to charter and private schools to open in the city.

The district has lacked vision and credibility for so long, it has become as much an obstacle to a real Detroit renaissance as the blight and violence that plague the city. And although city voters did resoundingly reject giving the mayor authority over DPS, they rightfully expect him to do more than just stand and watch as 10,000 students a year bail out of the city's public schools.

Kilpatrick cannot afford to look the other way. All his ambitious plans for a new, exciting Detroit can be undercut by a dysfunctional education system that scares and chases families away.

It's also a tangible sign of progress that the mayor is even entertaining, let alone seeking, partnerships with charters and private schools. His objections, after all, were one of the main spoilers to philanthropist Bob Thompson's effort to invest $200 million in Detroit schools.

All this said, Kilpatrick, still must proceed down this road cautiously, maybe even scaling back a recommendation that he pursue as many as 50 new charter schools. The choice he aims to offer parents must be a real substantive alternative, more than spruced-up buildings with catchy school names run by well-intentioned education neophytes. Doing this right is much smarter than doing it big.

Kilpatrick would also do well to reread his State of the City address. In it, he enthusiastically welcomed DPS' newest superintendent, Connie Calloway. Kilpatrick vowed to work with her and insisted citizens and local leaders follow his lead.

Calloway, along with the Detroit Board of Education, must be wondering now just how much he meant those words.

Yet in a strange way, Kilpatrick may have just handed DPS and its new leader the best possible gift: a red-hot reason to make DPS competitive and credible again.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.