This will NOT be pretty
Now that Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — is suspended pending the November election, stuff is really beginning to hit the fan around the state.
In Highland Park, a school board member sent a letter to Emergency Manager Joyce Parker telling her to pack her bags now that her appointment has been nullified by the suspension of PA 4. (I hadn’t realized this but Parker is also the Emergency Manager for the city of Ecorse, as well.)
Last night in Flint, the city council voted to sue the state to rid itself of newly appointed Emergency Financial Manager Ed Kurtz. They believe the city is no longer in a financial emergency and, therefore, doesn’t qualify to be ruled by an EFM.
In Detroit, the school board got right to work reversing many of the actions of Roy Roberts, the district’s EM.
Late Thursday, board members voted to rescind the move of 15 Detroit schools into the Education Achievement Authority, the state’s new recovery district for failing schools, to sever ties with the EAA and cancel a contract with Teach for America because it was made through the EAA. They also named John Telford, a Detroit activist, as interim superintendent. {…}Earlier Thursday, DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said in a statement the EAA agreement would not be changed, regardless of any vote by the board. “The EAA was established by a legally binding Interlocal Agreement between Eastern Michigan University and Detroit Public Schools, and is not impacted by the change in law.”
But it doesn’t stop there. EM Roberts sought an injunction to prevent the school board from unraveling what he has done. To make the entire thing even more screwed up, state Attorney General Bill Schuette sued to force the school board to shed 7 of its 11 members. He contends that, because the school system is no longer a Class 1 district, all of their board members should be voted in as at-large candidates and 7 of them were voted in from districts.
This is just the beginning of the fallout from the suspension of PA 4 and we’re sure to see more drama and more lawsuits between now and November and probably long afterwards.
Get out your popcorn.
