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Third
time no
charm:
Detroit
City
Council
stalls
on
Mayoral
Control
of DPS
issue
Karen
Hudson
Samuels/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
The
Detroit
City
Council
drew an
overflow
crowd
with
outspoken
opinions
on who
should
control
the
city’s
school
district,
during a
public
hearing
Tuesday.
However,
in the
third
time in
as many
weeks,
Council
tabled
further
deliberation
on the
issue.
By a 5
to4 vote
the
council
decided
not to
have the
question
of
Mayoral
control
on the
agenda.
Instead,
they
turned
the
matter
over to
an
internal
committee
to
determine
whether
control
of DPS
will be
up for a
vote in
November.
The
committee
will
meet
today
(Wednesday)
and is
expected
to
submit a
motion
to
Council
in the
next few
days.
However,
time is
running out on
choosing
among
the
options
of an
elected
school
board,
mayoral
control
or a
hybrid
of the
two.
Council
faces an
August
24th
deadline
for
placing
an
advisory
question
on the
November
ballot.
In the
meantime,
the
debate
has
turned
heated
and
controversial.
Council
President
Charles
Pugh
repeatedly
called
for
order
during
Tuesday’s
prolonged
five
hour
session
as
opposing
sides
raised
their
voices
to be
heard.
"There's
no one
in this
room
that can
deny
that DPS
needs
change,"
said
Council
President
Pro Tem
Gary
Brown; a
point
few
could
dispute.
At one
point
security
had to
remove a
young
teenager
for his
profane
language
and
opposition
to
Secretary
of
Education,
Arne
Duncan’s
support
of
mayoral
control
for
Detroit,
he said
council
should
to "Go
to
Washington
D.C."
and "Get
on his
ass".
On one
side of
the
debate
is
Change
for
Better
School
which
supports
Mayoral
control
but
wants
voters
to
ultimately
decide
at the
ballot
box. The
group is
composed
of
parent,
religious
and
civic
organizations
who say
the
Detroit
School
Board
has
failed
to
provide
stable
governance
and
quality
education
for the
city’s
school
children.
Opponents,
lead by
School
Board
president
Anthony
Adams,
are wary
of
having
residents
voting
on who
controls
the
district,
primarily
because
the
state
legislature
would
then
have
authority
to
determine
how the
governance
structure
would be
organized.
Those in
opposition
also
point to
l the
last
takeover
of DPS
by the
state
which
left the
district
in debt,
a
predicament
now in
the
hands of
Emergency
Financial
Manager
Robert
Bobb.
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