I had mistakenly assumed that these images were as rock-bottom as the Detroit Public School system could get. Nope, things just hit bottom-er: Robert Bobb, Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager, says that in order to make things better, things have to get a lot worse.

From the NY Times:

The state-appointed official overseeing the finances of Detroit’s impoverished school district said Thursday that in an effort to close a $303 million budget deficit, he planned to shut more than a quarter of its 194 schools and eliminate the jobs of more than 10 percent of its teachers.

The plan calls for 23 schools to be permanently shut over the summer, leaving more than 7,500 students to be transferred to other schools, said the official, Robert C. Bobb, whom Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm[link] appointed last month to address the district’s rapidly growing deficit.
An additional 30 to 40 schools will close next year, Mr. Bobb said, and as many as 600 teachers will be laid off this year.

Mr. Bobb said big changes were needed to turn around one of the nation’s most distressed school districts.
“We will have to grow smaller to grow larger,” he said in a telephone interview after his announcement. “We cannot make these changes incrementally. We need a complete reform of this entire school system.”

Educators, students and parents are understandably furious and, after years of being pretty well screwed over by every public official with access to public school funds and decision-making processes, they’re a wee bit untrusting and gun-shy.

From The Detroit News:

Stern said it’s difficult to believe Bobb will ensure millions of dollars will be devoted to improving the remaining schools when the district neglected to make sure schools would be safely merged in previous closures.

“You can understand why Detroiters are dubious about promises,” she said “None of them have been fulfilled.”

I’m hoping for their sake that Mr. Bobb knows what he’s doing and really does have the schools’ best interests in mind.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

image credit: John T. Greilick/Detroit News, via AP