Tag: Pontiac

GUEST POST: Future of Pontiac schools could hinge on outcome of millage vote THIS TUESDAY

GUEST POST: Future of Pontiac schools could hinge on outcome of millage vote THIS TUESDAY

The following guest post was written by Amy McKeever, a Pontiac School District teacher and the President of the Pontiac Education Association. Enjoy. While much attention has been focused on the horrendous condition of Detroit Public School buildings, the health and safety concerns are no less dire in the Pontiac School District, where the majority of buildings are over 50 […]

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Pontiac for-profit charter cancels humiliating “Teacher Appreciation Week” activities

Pontiac for-profit charter cancels humiliating “Teacher Appreciation Week” activities

Yesterday, I wrote about the activities planned for teachers at the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac (ATAP), a for-profit charter school run by Mosaica. These “Teacher Appreciation Week” activities featured a variety of what can only be described as humiliating activities planned for the teachers to raise funds for the school. They included: MANDIVA – Our 3 favorite male […]

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UPDATED: For-profit charter group Mosaica celebrates “Teacher Appreciation Week” with compulsory teacher humiliation activities

UPDATED: For-profit charter group Mosaica celebrates “Teacher Appreciation Week” with compulsory teacher humiliation activities

Teacher humiliation for fun and profit Mosaica Education, Inc., a self-described “for-profit education management organization”, runs eight different for-profit schools in Michigan: Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac Bay County Public School Academy Bingham Arts Academy Edgewood Elementary School Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School Mosaica Online Academy of Michigan Muskegon Heights High School Muskegon Heights Middle School In fact, […]

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Concert raises funds to support Bound Together’s after-school program in Pontiac

Concert raises funds to support Bound Together’s after-school program in Pontiac

A great evening’s entertainment for a great cause. In May, I wrote about a terrific independent after-school program in Pontiac called Bound Together. The program provides tutoring in math, reading and reading comprehension three days a week, followed by a nutritious meal. Every other week, there’s also a one-day art group, filling a void left when the Pontiac schools cut […]

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Some Good News: US Court of Appeals sends Emergency Manager suit back to lower court to decide constitutionality issues

Some Good News: US Court of Appeals sends Emergency Manager suit back to lower court to decide constitutionality issues

Well, this is pleasant news Earlier this year, public employee retirees from Pontiac filed a lawsuit to reverse a decision by Emergency Financial Manager Lou Schimmel to cut some of their health care benefits, increase their deductibles, and reduce their pensions. They said it was a violation of federal law regarding the impairment of contracts. In June, a district court […]

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Bound Together gives Pontiac students confidence and hope

Bound Together gives Pontiac students confidence and hope

Good people are fighting every day for Michigan’s students. This organization is among them. Just when you begin to despair over the seemingly endless battles public education is facing in Michigan, you find a reason to feel optimistic. In Pontiac, one of the Michigan school districts that’s struggling the most, an organization called Bound Together is providing an environment where […]

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The State of Michigan steps in to save Buena Vista schools. Oh, wait. No they didn’t.

The State of Michigan steps in to save Buena Vista schools. Oh, wait. No they didn’t.

We regret the error

While the State of Michigan has stepped in to save the failing Pontiac schools from closing its doors due to lack of funding, they have NOT done this for Buena Vista schools. Rather, the federal government has, albeit in an absurdly lame fashion. The school is closed for the remainder of the school year but the feds are providing money for a voluntary “enhanced skills camp”.

Much more including video of Congressman Dan Kildee speaking about this issue on last night’s All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC.

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Another Michigan school district is ready to lock its doors due to lack of money

Another Michigan school district is ready to lock its doors due to lack of money

I’m sure another corporate tax cut is all that is needed

I mentioned this briefly in my post this morning about Buena Vista schools being closed for the fourth consecutive day but now the Detroit News is reporting it as a near-certainty: the Pontiac School District is out of money and will not meet their next payroll. They also have no money to pay vendors that provide custodial, transporation, and other services.

Click through for more.

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Judge smacks down Pontiac Emergency Financial Manager, says he’s running the city “like a dictatorship”

Judge smacks down Pontiac Emergency Financial Manager, says he’s running the city “like a dictatorship”

Some truth-telling from the judicial branch

Back in December, Pontiac Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel unilaterally decided to change the composition of the city’s pension board from 11 to 5 members. He thought they were wasting time and money and felt his role as the EM gave him the ability to simply do what he wished.

Yesterday, Oakland County Judge Rae Lee Chabot upheld a preliminary injunction filed by the pension board and reversed Schimmel’s action. In her smack-down of Schimmel’s move, she said “That’s what it looks like — it looks like a dictatorship where the (emergency financial manager) said, ‘look, I’m going to turn over the board so there is no opposition.'”

More after the jump.

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Michigan Emergency Financial Manager Round-up – Reclaiming our power edition

Michigan Emergency Financial Manager Round-up – Reclaiming our power edition

Taking back control

In the wake of the suspension of Public Act 4, Michigan no longer has “Emergency Managers”. We now have, once again, “Emergency FINANCIAL Managers”, men and women with reduced power and a singular focus on financial matters. Several school districts and municipalities around the state have wasted no time in reasserting their power as elected officials.

Many examples and commentary after the jump.

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The artlessness of the Snyder administration’s approach to imposing Emergency Managers

The artlessness of the Snyder administration’s approach to imposing Emergency Managers

You don’t have to be a jerk about it Last spring when I published exclusive audio of Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris talking about crushing the unions, I was shocked at what he said and, more to the point, how he said it: So, I’ve laid off twenty-five people. I’ve laid off nine police officers. I’ve laid off four […]

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