NOTE: In the comments of this post and another one titled “An EAA teacher elaborates on the treatment of special ed students: ‘These kids deserve so much better’”, there are multiple comments from the same person, making it look as if there more supporters of Nolan school principal Angela Underwood than there really are. The comments are from one of […]

As faculty and students at Eastern Michigan University gather at a rally today to urge their Board of Regents to sever their educational institution’s relationship with Governor Snyder’s failed Educational Achievement Authority experiment in Detroit, lawmakers in Lansing are whipping votes to pass legislation that will expand it statewide and codify it into law. Yesterday’s bombshell news that State Superintendent […]

NOTE: There are two comments at the bottom of this interview disparaging both me and the interviewee, former EAA Teacher of the Year Kim Jurczak. One goes by the name “Lyeyname” and the other by “Mypost”. Both comments came from the same IP address meaning that they were made by the same person masquerading as different people to make it […]

I don’t normally just reprint press releases but this one is so well done and so perfect that I couldn’t really add much to it. Ellen Lipton has been a fierce, fierce warrior in the battle to save Michigan’s public schools. Along with Sen. Hopgood, she was, for far too long, a lone voice calling out the Education Achievement Authority […]

Spin, baby, spin

Yesterday, EAA Chancellor John Covington and Republican Chair of the House Education Committee Rep. Lisa Lyons appeared on the Current State program to discuss the Education Achievement Authority. In clear defensive mode, both of them sought to characterize anyone who opposes the EAA as the only solution to the intractable problems facing the Detroit Public School system as “defending the status quo” and being “outright criminal”.

The audio, excerpts, and commentary after the jump.

WOW! NOTE: My commentary on this development can be found HERE. Not a good week for the Education Achievement Authority and its leader John Covington. First, MLive reporter Jeff Wattrick’s article from 2011 is being circulated again, reminding all of us that Covington’s so-called turnaround success in Kansas City fell apart after he left when the district he controlled lost […]

NOTE:There may well be a vote on the expanding the EAA statewide this week, probably tomorrow (Thursday). If you haven’t already, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE AND YOUR STATE SENATOR TO EXPRESS YOUR OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILL 4369. If you need some ideas, have a look at the talking points prepared by the MEA by clicking HERE (pdf). NOTE […]

Can you hear us now? On the heels of most of the major school administrators coming out against Governor Snyder’s failed education experiment on students in Detroit — the Education Achievement Authority – four members of the Michigan State Board of Education are now calling on lawmakers to vote against the latest version of House Bill 4369. The four members […]

Plain and simple, tomorrow is the deadline to submit a panel proposal for the Netroots Nation conference in Detroit this summer. Need details? Start by clicking HERE.

A year and a half ago, I wrote a rather lengthy piece titled “Majority white communities avoid Emergency Financial managers with help from Republicans Denby and Rogers”. In it, I told the rather convoluted story of how now-State Representatives Cindy Denby and Bill Rogers had, during their time as local government officials, gotten their municipalities and county into severe debt […]

UPDATE: I have heard that there may be a vote this week on expanding the EAA statewide with what is essentially no limit to the amount of schools that can be included in it. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE AND YOUR STATE SENATOR TO EXPRESS YOUR OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILL 4369. Thank you. When Eastern Michigan University was founded […]