Democracy Being Murdered in Michigan

This is WXYZ's coverage of people being taken from Catherine Ferguson Academy. Steve Wasko, PR spokesmodel for EFM Robert Bobb managed to be on the scene when police sirens drowned out the voices of teen-aged girls being hauled away in handcuffs. Who called whom to show up? Does a major city's police chief show up to handle a dozen pregnant teenagers? Our Michigan legislature handed dictatorial power to Governor Snyder, and enabled Robert Bobb, EFM DPS to overturn elected government, and throw out democracy. Catherine Ferguson Academy has a 90% graduation rate, and 100% acceptance rate for its graduates at the college level. Catherine Ferguson Academy is on Bobb's list of schools to be closed. It is a model for urban agriculture, and has received international attention. But this most successful school in Michigan will close if a charter operator will not or cannot take it over right now. This is Michigan today. These are Michigan cities, Michigan schools. Michigan girls. And a handful of legislators can take it all away in handcuffs. Rachel Maddow Show is covering Catherine Ferguson Academy's struggle to stay. A petition can be signed at change.org. We can do better than this. We must.

Detroit Schools Squeezed: Is EFM Bobb Effective?

5,466 layoff notices were received by Detroit teachers. 45 "academically struggling" schools will be bid out to private contractors for charter schools. The single most successful school in Detroit will be closed. Catherine Ferguson Academy is a school where pregnant teenagers can get an education. Ferguson has a 90% graduation rate, and a 100% acceptance rate for 2- and 4-year colleges. Ferguson also is a successful program in the urban agriculture arena. Academically struggling? Day School for the Deaf, opened in 1898, is also to be closed. DPS EFM Robert C. Bobb was appointed by Gov. Granholm in 2009 to a city with a $200 million school deficit. Michigan's Public Act 4 now expands his powers to dismantle union contracts, dismiss the school board, fire all the teachers. City of Detroit two pension boards filed suit Monday charging MI Public Act 4 is unconstitutional. After two years of Robert Bobb, the school district deficit is $363 million. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called Detroit "Ground Zero" in the administration's education reform plan. So far so good, hey? Michigan School Superintendent Michael Flanagan said the plans must be implemented immediately. In addition to closing approximately half of Detroit's public schools, outsourcing charters, and laying off teachers, Bobb has a new contract with serial workers' rights abuser Sodexo, a multinational food services and maintenance company with a troublesome international record. Bobb will also replace Safeway Transportation, owned by black entrepreneurs providing 35 years of school bus support to Detroit schools with another multinational - First Student has safety issues. First Student was paid $85,000 to analyze the Detroit School District's transportation system, make recommendations and then allowed to bid on the contract, which Bobb awarded to First Student. Bobb added $90,000 to the deficit with consulting fees. Is Robert C. Bobb a problem solver? Does Robert C. Bobb's job performance allow for expanded powers, more authority? Can we see a more successful Detroit Public Schools in our near future? A school district with a prime directive around students and their safety and success? Short term solutions implemented by EFMs in the past have not worked. We need long term thinkers, right thinking doers. Is Public Act 4 the way we find them?