In April of 2012, control over Muskegon Heights schools was handed over to an un-elected Emergency Manager, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder. By July, Emergency Manager Donald Weatherspoon had signed a contract to turn the entire public school system over to the for-profit charter school operator Mosaica. Two years later the district was still insolvent and having to borrow almost […]

Oh, look. The corporate front group Mackinac Center wants to convert all Detroit Public Schools (DPS) to charter schools. This, they tell us would be “the best safeguard” and would “allow many independent charter school operators to try varying models for converted DPS schools.” In other words, they once again want to experiment with Detroit school children. In Highland Park, […]

On December 12, 2012, just a few weeks after the General Election, Michigan legislators passed the bill that would become Public Act 436, the latest iteration of Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law. Voters had overturned the previous version of the law in November and Republicans wasted no time in resurrecting it, overturning the will of a majority of voters and […]

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan announced today that 11 of the 40 charter school authorizers have been put in “At-Risk of Suspension” status after a damning investigative report by the Detroit Free Press recently reveal gross negligence, a lack of transparency, nepotism, and, most importantly, poor performance in many of Michigan’s charter schools. In Michigan, which has a quarter of the […]

Last month, the for-profit charter corporation Mosaica announced that it was breaking its contract, signed under an Emergency Manager, to run the entire Muskegon Heights school district. Why? Because they couldn’t make a profit off of running a school system in an economically depressed community. I know. You’re shocked. “To be brutally honest – they had to be brutally honest […]

Mosaica, the for-profit charter group that has been running Muskegon Heights schools has agreed to end their contract with the school district. Why? They couldn’t make a profit: “To be brutally honest – they had to be brutally honest to themselves as well with us – in their model as a for profit company, their profit was not there,” Weatherspoon […]

Wait, Emergency Managers were supposed to solve these problems weren’t they??? In what can only be seen as an embarrassing repudiation of the Republican idea that Emergency Managers are capable of “fixing” financially-struggling schools, the Muskegon Heights schools system has had to borrow nearly a quarter million dollars from the state in order to make payroll. This was after Emergency […]

It just goes on and on and on and on Lots of news to cover today. Make sure you click through to the jump page if you’re reading this from the front page of Eclectablog. Stand Up For Democracy coalition delivers 226,637 petition signaturesYesterday, the Stand Up For Democracy coalition and Michigan Forward delivered well over the 160,304 signatures needed […]

It just goes on and on and on again… Decision to close Highland Park school not made by Emergency Manager Jack MartinContrary to what some outlets have reported, the decision to close Barber Focus school was NOT made by new Emergency Manager Jack Martin During a parent meeting on Monday, superintendent Edith Hightower announced that Barber Focus School would merge […]

The Emergency Manager juggernaut continues to roll unabated in Michigan. In early December, I reported that Muskegon Heights school district was requesting an Emergency Manager and that a state review had been initiated. Yesterday, the Snyder administration added Highland Park schools to the list. An emergency manager may soon take charge of the Highland Park School District. A state review […]

It’s probably a crass way of looking at it, but I can’t see THIS as anything more than the Mayor of Flint and the City Council being rewarded for their obedience. Flint’s emergency manager is giving back some responsibilities to the city’s mayor and city council. One of the first things Michael Brown did after the governor appointed him was […]