Tree Work in Detroit? (or other hard-hit cities)

True. We're pretty comfortable at the moment with a single income, I do think about how nice it would be to have 2 though! Does the gov subsidize home schooling?
 
Seems one rarely hears of homeschooled kids turning out bad.

Btw, can someone shed some light on the question of why charter schools receive public money? Is it because the government allocates say $5000 per school kid per year for their education, and in the past it all went to public schooling but then some private folks came along and said if you give us that money per kid we will do a better job of educating kids (possibly true or not) and we will make a few schmeckles for ourselves doing it? So the government said yeah do that?
 
It seemed like that guy, Bob, was on the right track when they brought him in to oversee the school system. Closing schools and teachers losing their jobs and him shit canning other people who weren't doing anything, nearly one supervisor for every employee, got him in trouble with the powers that be, immediate conflict, especially with the teacher's union and earlier on with the school board. From what appeared to be going on in the vid, the schools seemed dysfunctional, kids sitting in class for days with no teacher, textbooks not available, a teacher drinking booze in class, instructors simply not caring. The school board meetings were something else, seemed like nonsensical gatherings more than anything else. There was that one elected school board official who asked, "Did I vote yes or no on that?". Bob tried to bring in disclosure on spending, all the previous audits and the one he did showed gross negligence and people were indicted. A billion budget and I think spending was over a hundred million dollars in the red, and the school board moved themselves to fancy new offices. Money disappeared without a trace. The school board wasn't up for any of that attempt to improve things by someone coming in, with their salaries and offices secure and who knows what connections they had themselves with the questionable contracts awarded out. When you combine that with only a few parents showing up for parent teacher meetings, showing the lack of support at home, much of the whole system seems pointless. The one young student they highlighted talked about walking up school stairs past kids having sex, the same even in the classroom. The whole thing is like some science fiction movie that tries to show how bad things can get. Few administrators really seemed interested in the welfare of the kids.

Maybe there are a few good schools, they did show that one charter school that seemed very different, it was easy to see the vastly improved atmosphere. All in all though, it is hard to picture why any objective parent would want to send their kid to a Detroit public school, given that there might be an alternative. Trying to motivate at home and then sending a child to a crap location to learn, it doesn't make much sense. It seems a huge problem with a lot of blame to go around how things could have gotten so bad. What a disgrace to the country!
 
Yes, but his interviews seemed like he had a plan. First get rid of all the waste and corruption and show accountability. Keep records! It seems a similar theme to other places. They squashed him like a bug.
 
cory said:
Btw, can someone shed some light on the question of why charter schools receive public money? Is it because the government allocates say $5000 per school kid per year for their education, and in the past it all went to public schooling but then some private folks came along and said if you give us that money per kid we will do a better job of educating kids (possibly true or not) and we will make a few schmeckles for ourselves doing it? So the government said yeah do that?
Click to expand...

Anyone?
 
Can't say for sure but I think you've got it. That's what I always assumed. As I've mentioned before though, charter schools have a pretty good rep around here.
 
they do have the ability to be more creative. They can be more experimental, flexible and not bound by the same restrictions as your standard public school. I will give them that. There are some excellent charter schools.
 
I don't know that much about Bobb, but it seems pretty easy to figure why he wasn't liked. He tried to change the status quo, get rid of the greedy only self serving and do nothings running the system. The status quo in Detroit ps seems an impossible thing to change unless you burn it down. Most parents don't even bother to make sure their kids show up at school. Few people even give a shit. The core of the apple is rotten, the absurdity would take away most anyone's initiative. That one black teacher they interviewed and seems dedicated spelled it out.
 
thats crap Jay. burning a school down, which literally has been done, does nothing for anyone and permanently destroys a community. these schools were the bedrock of the communities and neighborhoods they served. that will never be rebuilt, its lost, destroyed. gone. its incredibly painful to see an abandoned school and subsequently an abandoned neighborhood.
 
I meant burn down the corrupt system, Kevin. Based on that video, the schools seemed abandoned when people were still going to them. Sitting in a class with the lights off and no teacher for days isn't provding an education in the least, no matter the purpose of the building. It seemed that Bobb saw more wrong with the way things were being run, than most people were willing to admit. Shit, they couldn't even show how they were spending the funds supposedly for education, the record keeping was atrocious. People got insulted or severely threatened when cleaning house included them too. I wonder if the teacher drinking on the job became insulted too? If parents don't care and teacher's don't either, what the hell is there to be obtained from a school besides a place to go and watch the clock if the hands are still on it. At that one school they weren't any longer.
 
i was a subsitute teacher in detroit in 2002-2003. i taught in a lot of different schools. some of them were excellent, others not so much. the situation was far better than it is today. it borders on criminal. oh and bobb was paid 500,000 a year to dismantle the school system. They folks that orchestrated it should be in jail IMO.

https://m.facebook.com/notes/save-m...it-public-schools-a-timeline/431480706933505/ here is a good timeline.
 
the story of detroits schools and the water crises in flint are remarkably similar. both involve state takeover and a penny counting culture that puts dollars ahead of human rights. water in flint, education in detroit. They two stories involve even the same people. Emergency manager of flint, after poisoning the water supply of Flint to save a dollar he was appointed emergency manager of Detroit public schools!
 
Did you watch the vid that showed the superintendent that the school board got rid of as well. She seemed to have good ideas too, asked for accountability. Kevin, I can only go by the one vid, certainly defer to your experience, but it certainly seemed that the public schools were in serious disarray well before Bobb came along. Maybe he went too far in trying to cut expenses, hence the closing of schools, but how would you suggest that someone go about introducing change if not in the least at first seeking accountability and getting rid of waste and corruption? There were short interviews with members of the school board, they came off as idiots, much less concerned with the well being of the children than feeling disgruntled for having their authority challenged by the outsider.
 
There was that part as well with forty something million dollars unaccounted for by the school board, something like that. It doesn't seem like being penny pinching to want to find out where it went. That could buy a few computers. Pretty apparent that dirty dealings were going on.

Bobb stated his purpose in trying to get a handle on funds. It was just like what Trump said about Clinton and her way of governing, got to drain the swamp.
 
http://www.eclectablog.com/2016/03/...will-receive-over-80k-in-consulting-fees.html

Yes there were problems. Increasing community involvement is the key. forcefully disenfranchising community self determination and removing an elected school board with an "emergency financial manager" is a way of destroying it. There was complete disregard for what schools mean to neighborhoods. they are meeting places, they stabilize them. I have watched this city shrink by 300000 people in 15 years. the dismantling of the public schools has been a big part of that. obviously there are other factors. Even just writing this makes me incredibly sad thinking about all the abandoned schools, many of which they didnt even bother to board up. left to the looters. beautiful buildings. I dont know the answers, I know for sure that this was NOT the answer.
 
It seemed that the parents that wanted to be involved were seeking self determination, or some way to get out from the mess, but when they went to the school board meetings as shown, to try and get some answers, the affairs turned into complete disrupted shouting matches between the parents and the elected officials. One school board member wanted to go fight a parent, it said. Parents were allowed two minutes to say their piece, before not giving it up had them escorted out by the police. I think you have to give people credit for seeking an improvement, I mean the ones that would go so far. Hours went by at meetings with virtually nothing accomplished. It's hard to picture how such immovable entanglements could ever lead to a better situation by problems being solved from within, especially when there are also the dark forces of greed at work. The kids hardly stand a chance.

Closing schools does seem bad, but without the right spirit to have them functioning within, what good are they? At least Bobb tried to get the kids to go back to the schools that did remain, give his program a chance, but apparently many many fewer than could have showed up. Low enrollment is one of the problems. Parents must be to blame for that in part.
 
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