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Council
delays
vote
on
mayoral
control,
DPS
students
continue
to
suffer
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels
A
Detroit
City
Council
hearing
Tuesday
on
whether
the
question
of
Mayoral
control
of the
Detroit
Public
Schools
should
be
placed
on the
November
ballot,
erupted
into
chaos
when
Council
Pro Tem
Gary
Brown,
addressing
School
Board
member
Reverend
David
Murray,
said
“Otis
Mathis
and you
are the
face of
the
(current)
city
school
board”.
With
that
remark,
the
hearing
came to
an
abrupt
halt for
a ten
minute
recess
as
people
stood
and
shouted
their
outrage
and
disapproval
of the
statement
made by
Brown.
Board
member
Murray
had made
comments
sympatric
to the
behavior
of
ex-Board
President
Otis
Mathis,
ousted
for
making
inappropriate
sexual
gestures
to
former
Superintendent
Teresa
Gueyser.
When the
session
resumed,
tempers
were
calmed
and
Council
member
Andre
Spivey
offered
an
apology.
But in
the end,
for the
second
time in
two
weeks,
the
Council
took no
action
to place
the
question
of DPS
control
by the
Mayor up
for a
vote in
November.
Deputy
Mayor
Saul
Green
appearing
at
today’s
hearing
was
questioned
repeatedly
on the
Mayor’s
personal
opinion
of DPS
governance.
Green
side
stepped
the
question
saying
Mayor
Bing
would
support
whatever
the
citizens
decide.
But
Council
members
Kwame
Kenyetta
and Ken
Cockrel
were
persistent
in
knowing
the
Mayor’s
position.
While
Green
stood
his
ground,
he did
relent
momentarily
answering
“yes”
the
Mayor
does
favor
oversight
by the
Mayor’s
office.
Last
week
Change
for
Better
Schools,
a
citizens
group in
favor of
Mayoral
takeover
of the
city’s
public
schools,
presented
a 30,000
signature
petition
to have
an
advisory
question
on the
ballot,
but
their
efforts
failed
on two
fronts.
First
the
group
missed
the
filing
deadline
of their
signatures
according
to the
City
Clerk’s
office.
And then
the city
elections
director
said
only
City
Council
can put
forth
ballot
questions
regarding
Mayoral
control,
according
to the
City
Charter.
The push
to
reconfigure
how DPS
is
managed
continues;
Council
President
Charles
Pugh has
offered
up a
proposal
to
maintain
a
nine-member
school
board.
The
Mayor
would
appoint
three
members,
four
members
would be
elected,
and the
remaining
two
would be
appointed
by the
City
Council.
Pugh’s
plan
also
calls
for the
Mayor to
name a
superintendent,
subject
to
approval
by the
City
Council.
Councilman
Gary
Brown
wants
the
voters
to
decide
at the
polls
this
fall.
He's
prepared
a
resolution
for a
ballot
question
and
plans to
ask
other
council
members
to chime
in.
He said
Detroiters
would
have
three
choices:
leave
the
district
as is,
place
the
district
under
mayoral
control
or place
it under
the
control
of a
hybrid
board
with the
mayor,
City
Council,
parents,
teachers
and the
community
all
playing
a role.
"I'm not
in any
way
trying
to come
up with
a
detailed
plan,"
Brown
said.
"I'm
just
coming
up with
a
question
to put
on the
ballot."
Last
week the
council
refused
requests
by a
coalition
to put
the
issue on
the
November
ballot.
The
Change
for
Better
Schools
group
wants to
disband
the
11-member
school
board
and give
power
over the
87,000-student
district
to Mayor
Dave
Bing.
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