IX Ongoing Failure to Provide Information to School Board Members and the Public is Unnecessary to
Achieve Educational Goals & Impairs Transparency in the Minority Community
SUMMARY
Governor Snyder, through his Emergency Managers, keeps the elected School Board in the dark and unable to
perform their fiduciary responsibilities without personal hardship.
DETAILS
In June of 2015 a building sale contract amended retroactively. October of 2014, it was announced DPS would
give vacant school buildings to the City in exchange for $11.7. The amount of money was said to be the result
of electricity DPS owed the City for astronomical electricity bills due to security equipment on abandoned
buildings. Citizens are not given an accounting of how those figures are arrived at, but on its face, $11.7
million seems high, if only for security cameras. Then, the City and Emergency Manager agreed to change the
figure to $5 million. There is little opportunity for public scrutiny.
With regard to even the most basic, relevant information about the running of Detroit Public Schools such as the
student population, the Detroit School Board members must file a Freedom of Information Act request with the
School Board secretary, Joyce Zarrieff to obtain only the most specific data requested on the operation of the
schools. The information they are provided is limited to what the Emergency Manager wishes them to see.
However, the Emergency Managers do share information with other parties without a FOIA. School Board
members are not necessarily notified when contracts are entered into, or cancelled. Therefore, the Board has no
way of knowing about, reviewing, or providing oversight to many contracts until after the Press or others
publish information. Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, laid off janitors and entered into a contract with
Sodexo, a janitorial company. The next EM stated the contractor did not perform to specifications required and
chose to cancel the contract. Sodexo sued.
On or about February 18, 2015, School Board President, Herman Davis was contacted by a reporter. The
reporter stated that the Detroit Public Schools was judged to be liable for $32 million dollars which is $15
million dollars over the original contract. The Emergency Manager’s decision further reduces the dollars
available for classroom instruction, which in turn increases class size, and the attention to the needs of
individual students. The Emergency Manager’s action restricts and potentially impairs the district’s ability to
deliver supplemental and extra-curricular activities. The reporter asked for a quote from School Herman Davis,
because Davis was named as a Defendant in an action in the lawsuit. Davis did not know details of the contract,
and would have to file a FOIA to receive details about the contract regarding the lawsuit, to which he was
named. A copy was later delivered by the court process.
The Emergency Manager also refuses to provide trips for training. The purpose of the training is to provide the
Board Members with opportunities to learn new ways to improve the educational experience of Detroit’s
children and bring that information home to Detroit. There are ongoing opportunities for School Board
members around the country. Detroit’s school board members must pay out of their pocket to attend a trip.
Of these trips, there is the Michigan Association of School Board, the National Association of School Board in
addition to trips such as those for School Board Members to discuss policy with their Congressional
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