SMARTER!

Pontiac Schools making the tough, but necessary decisions

Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:11 AM EST

BY GLENN GILBERT
Of The Oakland Press

The Pontiac School District is pointing the way to how things should be done for a system that seeks to turn itself around.

Last Monday’s school board meeting certainly marked a milestone in a process that can trace its roots back to late 2006.

That was when leaders of the system admitted the district was seriously off target and asked for help from outside.

They hired an outfit called the Chartwell Education Group, a consulting firm headed by former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, to evaluate district practices.

The result, issued in June of 2007, was a 292-page report containing hundreds of reform recommendations. If enacted, authors suggested, the measures would not only improve academic achievement and rebuild languishing community trust and confidence, but also save the district up to $8 million immediately and an additional $5.6 million in the next two to five years.

The report assailed district leaders for spending $1 million per year in district legal fees, failing to adequately monitor service contracts, allowing unethical practices such as nepotism to guide personnel decisions and failing to maintain consistent curricula throughout the district.

The Board of Education president at the time, Letyna Roberts — there have been three more since — promised “revolutionary change.”

“If we keep going like this, this school district will not be around much longer,” she said.

But the change that came, for whatever reasons, involved the resignation of then-Superintendent Mildred Mason and eventual departure of Roberts.

Still unable to come to grips with the situation, new leaders again asked for outside help, turning to the Oakland Schools intermediate district.

What has transpired in the past 18 months has been nothing short of inspiring.

Oakland Schools officials, led by Superintendent Vickie Markavitch, guided the school board in a months-long process that led to the truly historic achievement of a unified and trained group of trustees. At the top of the leadership structure, Chartwell consultants had noted considerable disharmony between Board of Education members and top district administrators.

Markavitch also helped recruit an interim superintendent, Linda Paramore, whose selection turned out to be a stroke of genius. As an outsider who does not intend to remain in the position, Paramore was able to insist on common-sense, though difficult reforms.

School Board President Damon Dorkins is another hero in the process, and there are undoubtedly many others. He is leading the board in taking the heat for whatever tough choices emerge.

On Monday the board voted to create a combined ninth-grade academy with students from Pontiac Northern and Central High schools when school opens in the fall. They also decided the school system will feature a K-6, 7-8 and 9-12 configuration, with the ninth-grade academy operating independently.

Oh, and by the way, the board also reached a consensus in favor of a recommendation to close Central and combine high schools at the Northern building.

The Pontiac Redesign Committee for Instructional Effectiveness and Financial Efficiency made that suggestion. Appointment of the committee had been a deft decision by the board in an effort to bring some objectivity to the process of closing up to half of the district’s schools in an effort to save $10 million annually and rechannel some money into the classroom.

For the sake of full disclosure, yours truly served on the redesign panel, though without distinction.

The process is far from over, and the public — as it should — still has an opportunity for input. Yet to be determined is the shape of changes in the instructional approach.

A public forum on the restructuring of the schools is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 13 at Whitmer Human Resource Center and a study session is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Jan. 15.

Pontiac’s elected and appointed school leaders, plus Oakland Schools, should be commended for execution of a brilliant strategy.

It’s amazing what can happen when you ask for help. This may be something the folks at Pontiac City Hall want to check into ... but that is another subject for another day.

Glenn Gilbert is executive editor of The Oakland Press. Contact him at (248) 745-4587 or glenn.gilbert@oakpress.com.