Friday, November 20, 2009

Education news in brief

The Detroit News education team keeps you up to date on issues impacting students in Michigan, from elementary through college.

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Students stung by Promise cuts

Ferris State University student Paula Getzmeyer said she will have to find a new source of funding to remain in school.

With just weeks before the end of the fall semester many college students are unsure if Promise Scholarship money will be available for next term or how they might replace the funding. - 11/20/2009

DPS will ask court to make witnesses testify

"This is an affront to the people of Detroit who have demanded answers for too long," DPS' Robert Bobb said of the refusal of witnesses in district real estate deals to comply with his orders.

While some key witnesses have agreed to testify before a hearing into questionable Detroit Public Schools real estate deals, others could face a court order to compel them to appear. - 11/20/2009

MSU gets federal funding to help study wind speeds

Lansing -- Michigan State University will receive $83,806 to measure wind speeds in five areas around the state. - 11/20/2009

DPS to file lawsuit for witness testimony in real estate probe

Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb said today he'll file a suit in Wayne County Circuit Court to force testimony from four witnesses who have refused to participate in hearings targeting questionable real estate deals. - 11/19/2009

Tough job for Detroit's academic czar

Byrd-Bennett is Bobb's academic czar and more: She is his co-chief.

While Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is the school district's showman who woos the public with his no-nonsense message and anti-corruption results, Barbara Byrd-Bennett is the behind-the-scenes policy strategist charged with the arguably tougher job: dramatically improving student achievement in the country's most troubled urban school district. - 11/19/2009

Gov. Granholm urges students to fight for Promise Grants

Gov. Jennifer Granholm speaks to students at Saginaw Valley State University on Wednesday. She'll speak at other colleges today.

East Lansing -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm took her case to restore funding for Promise Grants to college campuses Wednesday, scolding lawmakers for taking time off without resolving the issue. - 11/19/2009

WSU provost Nancy Barrett to step down

Barrett

Detroit -- Nancy Barrett will step down as provost of Wayne State University at the end of the school year, and will join the economics faculty, Wayne State University President Jay Noren announced Wednesday. - 11/19/2009

OU profs call for vote against president

Russi

Just months after going on strike, some Oakland University professors are calling for a vote of no confidence in the school's president. - 11/19/2009

DPS hearings provide little information

Just about everyone who has been called as witnesses -- from former school board members to real estate brokers -- during four hearings on why Detroit Public Schools overspent millions in taxpayer money has blamed everyone else or has claimed critical decisions were not their responsibility. - 11/19/2009

DPS, teachers' union agree to try to turn around failing schools

Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb and his academic czar, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, are trying to do what no leadership team has done in Detroit in decades: Make failing schools work again. - 11/19/2009

Dearborn students take fight against school cuts to Lansing

Dearborn Fordson senior Jon Akkari, 17, protests school cuts at the state Capitol on Tuesday.

Hundreds of students from Dearborn's Fordson High School on Tuesday boarded four buses for a trip to the state Capitol to protest school cuts passed by the state Legislature. - 11/18/2009

WSU provost Nancy Barrett to step down

Detroit -- Nancy Barrett will step down as provost of Wayne State University at the end of the school year, and will join the economics faculty, Wayne State University President Jay Noren announced Wednesday. - 11/18/2009

DPS lawsuit against Detroit catches some off guard

Detroit Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the city of Detroit on Friday over property taxes, but by Monday district leaders wanted to take the words back. - 11/17/2009

Fire closes Augusta Twp. high school

Augusta Township -- Lincoln High School is closed today following an early morning fire in a science room storage area. - 11/17/2009

Superintendent takes over Romeo schools amid school board recall

"When I was offered the position, it felt right to me," said Nancy J. Campbell, the new superintendent of Romeo Community Schools.

Romeo -- The superintendent of Romeo Community Schools is taking the reins amid multiple challenges, including a potential $127-per-pupil statewide funding cut and a recall campaign against three school board members. - 11/16/2009

U-M, MSU among U.S. leaders in international studies

Ann Arbor -- A new report says the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are among the national leaders in international educational exchange. - 11/16/2009

Public school district audits to be released today

The Michigan Department of Education is expected today to release audits of public school districts, which include a financial analysis and overall recommendations. - 11/16/2009

Metro Detroit school districts among dozens yet to file audits

Hazel Park --Nearly 70 of Michigan's 840 school districts have not yet turned in their financial audit reports to the Michigan Department of Education as of 4 p.m. Monday. Audits are due every Nov. 15, but since that day fell on a Sunday, the deadline was extended a day. If they wait too much longer, they risk losing state aid. - 11/16/2009

Conference encourages Detroit students to graduate

High school students listen to speakers, which included Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, during the Boys to Men conference on Saturday. The event encouraged youth to stay in school.

Detroit -- Community leaders came together today for a day-long conference aimed at keeping city students in school. - 11/14/2009

Thinking ahead

Southfield school starts kids on adult principles of success

Six-year-olds Kristopher Finley, left, Zaria Outlaw, Autumn Young-Joubert and Shannen Tuliao work on putting together a puzzle with the pieces upside down and without looking at the picture on the box as part of the lesson to "Begin with the end in Mind."

Southfield -- Some are still missing front teeth but these 6- to-9-year-old students are already learning skills to become successful adults. - 11/14/2009

State schools head urges compromise on reforms

Flanagan

State school Superintendent Mike Flanagan on Thursday urged lawmakers and the state's largest teachers union to compromise on education reforms required within 60 days to qualify Michigan for up to $400M through President Barack Obama's Race to the Top education initiative. - 11/13/2009

An outdoor challenge

In search of the 'ugliest schoolyard'

From left and in front, Nsoroma Institute fourth-graders Jaleesa Johnson, Sean Nevitt and Hidayah Muhammad plant garlic bulbs as part of the Ugliest Schoolyard Competition, which challenges students to improve their schoolyard and sustain it.

Detroit -- It's not that the schoolyard at the Nsoroma Institute is awful, but there's always room for improvement. - 11/13/2009

EMU professor, other experts to begin cataloging language

Salt Lake City -- Some of the world's experts on endangered languages are meeting at the University of Utah to get started on a huge catalog and comprehensive database project on endangered and dying languages. - 11/13/2009

Spring Arbor University starts degree programs in Ionia, Howell

Ionia -- Spring Arbor University says it will start offering degree programs in Ionia and Howell. - 11/13/2009

U-M's Coleman honored in Time magazine

Mary Sue Coleman was praised for leading the most successful capital campaign ever by a public university.

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman was named one of the best college leaders in the country by TIME Magazine. - 11/12/2009

Getting DPS students books no easy task

Despite all the efforts of Robert Bobb and his team, the most basic issues still plague some city schools. Kids are missing books and teachers don't have the supplies to teach. - 11/12/2009

School board to seek tax probe

DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has sent two letters this fall to Mayor Dave Bing to try to recoup millions of dollars in back property taxes the district says it is owed.

Detroit -- The Detroit Public Schools Board is poised to put a plan in motion today to reclaim millions of dollars in back property taxes DPS officials say the city has owed the school district for years. - 11/12/2009

DPS board seeks millions in taxes from city

Detroit -- The Detroit Public Schools Board requested a state investigation Thursday to reclaim millions of dollars in property taxes board members say the city has owed the school district for years. - 11/12/2009

DPS' budget deficit decreased by $87M

Detroit Public Schools has whittled its deficit down and resolved the majority of financial reporting issues that have historically plagued the district. - 11/11/2009

Michigan debuts college savings plan

Saving to put the kids through college will get a little easier -- but a little more expensive -- starting Monday, when Michigan rolls out a new savings plan available only through licensed investment brokers. - 11/11/2009

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