URGENCY EMERGENCY?

Detroit Public Schools chief facing a crisis

Deficit plagues her 1st year in Detroit; budget vote tonight

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • June 30, 2008

With a year under her belt as superintendent of Detroit Public Schools, Connie Calloway has been praised by supporters for uncovering financial mismanagement and ideas on using test results to identify areas in which students need to improve.

But Calloway also has been criticized by detractors for waiting until this month to address what became a $400-million hole in the budget and for not delivering a detailed blueprint for fixing the district's finances and improving student achievement.

The district must approve a new budget today or shut down until a deal is reached, school officials said.

Supporters -- who include community leaders, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the state superintendent -- said her academic passion will pay off if the school board gives her time. But critics -- who include principals and several board members -- call her unresponsive at best and inept at worst. Parents give her mixed reviews.

The criticism peaked this month when the finance department released a projected $400-million budget deficit.

The deficit, Calloway said, was largely inherited from -- and covered up by -- previous DPS administrations. Some board members counter that she could have helped reduce it by making planned layoffs last year, or at least including tentative cuts when the 2008-09 proposed budget was unveiled so the hole would not have seemed as large.

It's the kind of disagreement she'll likely see more of in her second year on the job, which begins Tuesday. Calloway's critics and supporters agree that she needs to announce an improvement plan and score a significant victory soon if she is to lead the district forward.

"It's a big, old, huge bureaucracy, and we are a tough city," said supporter Carol Goss, president and chief executive officer of the Skillman Foundation. "She needs some wins. She needs to figure out what those early wins are and begin to promote that."

Kilpatrick said in a statement Friday: "The problems facing the district today are larger than anyone could have anticipated. Dr. Calloway inherited a difficult situation, but she remains focused on transforming DPS."

Caught in the middle is a district that could face a deluge of charter schools if the student population dips below 100,000 this fall, as projected.

Calloway did not respond to more than a half-dozen interview requests. But her approach to planning, academics and finances is being watched closely by educators, parents and community leaders.

Calloway inherited a district with the country's worst enrollment drop, decreasing per-pupil funding and the lowest graduation rate among big-city districts. She was brought to town to make sweeping change.

But she angered some board members from the outset by saying she preferred to communicate with the board president, who would, in turn, filter information to the body. She had a lukewarm relationship with then-board President Jimmy Womack for the first seven months, but the current president, Carla Scott, has been supportive.

A formal evaluation by the school board of Calloway's progress is six months overdue, but board member Annie Carter -- a chair of the superintendent evaluation committee -- said it is forthcoming. Some board members still say that, with support, Calloway's academic expertise will lead to improvements. But criticism is mounting from others -- such as Carter -- who said this month that she would welcome Calloway's resignation.

Morale among teachers, principals and other staff dipped this year. Union leaders were caught off-guard by a proposed budget cut that called for them to give $58 million in concessions and freeze a 2.5% contracted salary increase for teachers. And Virginia Cantrell, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and a 40-year veteran of the district, wrote in May that morale is lower than she has ever seen. A group of 37 principals and assistant principals signed a report calling the atmosphere in the district toxic.

Still, Cantrell said, Calloway is not the cause or solution to every ill in DPS. "Everyone should be willing to get behind the superintendent," she said. "She's going to be here four more years, unless she chooses to leave, and we need to look at what we all need to be doing to move this district forward."

The state Department of Education and stakeholders such as New Detroit and the Skillman Foundation -- which pour millions in grants into DPS annually -- said one of Calloway's strengths is that she shares data with them about how schools are doing and is focused on students' well-being.

"This is the first time we felt we've had the attention of the school leader who understands teaching and learning," Goss said. "So we are hopeful."

Henry Ford High School parent Carolyn Miller-Bell went with DPS officials in May to New York to tour schools that could be models for changes Calloway has in mind for DPS schools. She gave Calloway mixed reviews for responsiveness, but the tour gave her a better appreciation for how Calloway wants to improve achievement.

"She's focused on it," Miller-Bell said. "It's just getting others focused on it. She's trying."

Contact CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY at 313-223-4537 or cpratt@freepress.com.


Calloway and the budget: 'I give her credit for uncovering things'

June 30, 2008

Superintendent Connie Calloway has said that the $400-million deficit revealed this month was largely the result of past-due bills and faulty accounting practices identified by her staff and reviewers from the Council of the Great City Schools.

She inherited a budget process that allowed structural deficits for at least four years, and faced $102 million in bills that were not budgeted for, reports show.

But some board members and a CGCS reviewer said her decision to not lay off 611 teachers in the middle of the school year, in response to declining enrollment, contributed to the deficit.
Calloway has said that she did not want to disrupt classroom instruction.

State Superintendent Michael Flanagan is among the educators and parents who give Calloway good reviews for her academic passion. But Flanagan said he will hold her accountable for fixing the financial crisis that became clear on her watch. He said there is no plan for the state to appoint a financial manager for DPS -- other districts statewide are looking at deficits, and there would be a political problem if Detroit was alone in getting one.

"There would be perceived racial overtones that just aren't necessary," he said. "I give her credit for uncovering things."

Weeks before the deficit was revealed, activist Helen Moore asked at a public meeting whether DPS faced a $65-million deficit. Calloway said she was unaware of a deficit, and Chief Financial Officer Joan McCray said DPS would have a $5.2-million surplus.

That, to Moore, shows that Calloway does not have the skills to do the job. She predicted Calloway will be gone in months.

"We cannot afford this level of mishap, incompetency and failure," she said.

While Calloway's team evaluated financial practices, it asked principals and staff to not spend certain funds -- including Title I dollars for low-income students. However, millions of that money now could be sent back to the government if DPS and the state cannot find a legal way to use it to help plug the budget hole.

CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY

Student performance: School chief is 'on track'

June 30, 2008

Superintendent Connie Calloway has offered ideas on improving student performance in Detroit schools, but no details.

For example, she announced that five schools would be reinvented and labeled Turn Around Schools. Existing staff would be removed, and independent schools of about 450 students would be formed in each building. Many educators have said that smaller schools can boost graduation rates.

But classes start in a little more than two months and details for the schools haven't been worked out, so they are unlikely to open by fall as planned. Michael Tenbusch, a former Detroit school board member, has researched several such high schools nationwide. He said the concept is a winner, but planning takes about 10 months.

"New York improved graduate rates over 4 years, from 50% to 60%," said Tenbusch, vice president of educational preparedness for the United Way for Southeast Michigan. "I believe Dr. Calloway is on track."

Calloway gained favor last fall by announcing a new state-funded early college program that would allow high school students to earn an associates degree in a health-related field without paying to attend a community college. She scored points as well with a data system she wants teachers to use to pinpoint where students need to improve on standardized tests.

But the state said DPS remains out of compliance with a federal requirement to offer free tutoring to students in struggling schools.

Chastity Pratt Dawsey