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OPINION:
Children's
needs
must
come
before
adult
issues
when
changing
education
systems
Op-Ed By
Tom
Watkins/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det)
Education
should
be about
TLC —
teaching,
learning
and
children.
Yet,
once
again,
when it
comes to
providing
the
education
our
children
need and
deserve,
to not
merely
survive
— but to
thrive
in a
fast-paced,
hyper-competitive,
disruptive,
knowledge
economy
where
ideas
and jobs
can an
do move
globe
effortlessly
the
focus
quickly
deteriorates
into
power,
control,
politics
and
adults.
It was
the
desire
to place
the
focus on
TLC
which
prompted
Gov.
Rick
Snyder
to
create
the
Education
Achievement
Authority
(EAA) to
reconfigure
Michigan's
most
dysfunctional
schools
that
have
been
failing
students
for
years
into
learning
centers
of
excellence.
John
Covenington,
the EAA
Chancellor
and his
team
currently
are
transforming
15
formerly
chaotic,
under-performing
Detroit
schools
into
orderly
buildings,
where
students
are
learning
at their
own pace
using
individualized
education
plans
instead
of
standard
grade-level
curricula.
The EAA
could
take
over the
management
responsibility
of up to
40
schools
across
Michigan
next
year
that
have a
history
of
failing
our
children.
With the
defeat
of
Proposal
1 — the
emergency
manager
— law at
the
polls
the
Detroit
Public
School
Board
has
renewed
its bid
to quit
the EAA
and pull
the
schools
back
into
DPS.
This
fight is
about
power,
control,
politics
and
adults
and must
not be
allowed
to
succeed.
The GOP
lawmakers
are
right to
be
taking
steps to
codify
the EAA
in state
law and
short-circuit
the
legal
challenge
by the
Detroit
Public
School
Board.
To
disrupt
the EAA
system
would be
all
about
adult
power
issues
and has
nothing
to do
with
quality
education
for
children.
Carol
Goss,
EAA
board
member
and
Skillman
Foundation
president
is
absolutely
right
when she
says,
"Real
education
reform
takes
five to
seven
years to
show
success.
These
children
deserve
stability,
and we
believe
the EAA
will
give
that
stability.
These 15
schools
have
been
failing
students
in
Detroit
for
generations
—
something
had to
change."
Covington
and his
team are
not
miracle
workers.
The work
to turn
around a
failing
institution,
especially
one as
complicated
as an
urban
school
takes
dedication,
focus,
talent,
energy
and
persistence--
all of
which he
and his
team
have in
spades.
Will
there be
problems
and
setbacks
along
the way?
Absolutely.
Yet, as
FDR said
during
the
Great
Depression,
" Do
something."
And if
that
does not
work —
do
something
else. "
But, for
God's
sake —
DO
SOMETHING!"
Gov.
Snyder
is to be
commended
for
doing
something
to
address
the
needs of
the
children
of
Detroit
and
others
trapped
in
failing
schools
for far
too
long.
"Innovate,
create,
change…or
die,"
needs to
become
our
mantra
as
individuals,
communities,
educational
institutions
and as a
state.
Holding
onto the
past and
protecting
the
status
quo are
not
prescriptions
to help
us
thrive
and be
competitive
on the
world
stage.
As the
second
decade
of the
21st
century
knowledge
economy
unfolds,
Michigan
is going
to be
dependent
at every
level on
bold
leadership
with the
courage
to cast
off the
anchors
of the
past and
set sail
to
create a
new
future.
Those
education
and
political
leaders
who
believe
we can
go “back
to the
future”
are
selling
fool’s
gold.
What we
once had
in
Michigan
is gone
and is
not
coming
back —
and
change
is
needed.
The EAA
has a
longer
school
day —
71/2hours,
an hour
longer
than a
traditional
public
school.
The
school
year is
also
longer —
210
days,
compared
with 170
days in
traditional
public
schools.
The old
system
was not
working
for
students.
Let's be
clear, a
child
that
does not
receive
a
quality
education
today
will
become
an adult
without
much of
a future
tomorrow.
If we
fail the
children
of
Detroit,
we all
will
suffer.
While
much
focus
has been
on
Michigan's
"brain
drain" —
students
receiving
a
college
education
and
fleeing
our
state —
perhaps
the
greater
problem
is those
we fail
to
educate
that are
staying
behind.
A
uneducated
child
does not
disappear.
They
will be
coming
to your
place of
business,
be that
as a
potential
customer,
employee
or with
some
more
nefarious
idea in
mind.
So,
because
of adult
power
and
political
games
the
future
of the
EAA,
including
its 15
schools,
467
employees
and
10,000
students,
is in
jeporday.
The
Detroit
Board of
Education
has
threatened
to take
the EAA
schools
back.
The
question
is, back
to what?
Some
argue
the EAA
is a new
state
system
run by
the
governor
and
exists
outside
the
authority
of the
state
superintendent
and the
elected
state
board
and the
state
Department
of
Education.
They
absolutely
are
correct.
But, the
point
is, this
historic
structure,
which I
led as
state
superintendent
from
2001 to
2005,
has put
adult
needs in
front of
teaching
and
learning
for far
too
long.
Real
change,
requires
just
that —
real
change.
The
definition
of
insanity
is doing
the same
thing
over and
over
again in
exactly
the same
manner
and
expecting
a
different
result.
State
Rep.
Lisa
Posthumus
Lyons,
R-Alto,
introduced
a bill
two days
after
the
election
that
would
codify
the EAA
by
making
it part
of state
law.
As
policymakers
consider
this
bill and
other
changes
to our
system
of
learning
they
need to
decide
if they
will
come
down on
the side
of
teaching,
learning
and
children
or
power,
control,
politics
and
adults.
Vote as
though
our
collective
future
depends
on your
action--
because
it does.
Tom
Watkins
served
the
citizens
of
Michigan
as state
superintendent
of
schools
and
state
mental
health
director.
He is a
US/China
business
and
educational
consultant
and can
be
reached
at
Tdwatkins88@gmail.com.
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