A Stronger Detroit for Our Kids

Our plan to Improve our Schools

We seek a commitment by Detroit Public Schools to make improving public services a fundamental goal through the creation of a Labor/Management Committee. We welcome the opportunity to contribute as full partners in a sustained labor-management partnership. The goals of this partnership are improving efficiency, quality and creating more responsive public services for parents and the community. We believe school districts save money and improve services by relying on the ideas experience and commitment of front-line workers.

We are committed to the Detroit community; we are from this community. We have a track record of bringing forth workable solutions to the challenges we face. We believe that Detroit Public Schools can move forward by adopting a strategic approach that incorporates the experience of staff and builds on our skills. Together we can improve operational efficiency and better deliver services such as an enrollment system that is seamless, accurate and user-friendly for parents. Our service to Detroit Public Schools and our long-held commitment to cooperation and collaboration with a series of DPS administrations should be recognized with a renewed commitment to a labor-management partnership for improved services.

The alternatives to collaboration - privatization and contracting out - are not cure-alls and carry with them significant risks.

In Detroit and elsewhere the "low road" of privatization has failed to produce the promised cost-savings. Time and again privatization has proved inefficient and wasteful. The 2008 report by the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS) that found DPS oversight and administration of contractors generally lacking in key areas such as facilities management is but one example.

Consider the hidden costs of privatization.

This oversight was lacking precisely because school officials rarely consider the "hidden costs" of privatization, such as the cost of monitoring and enforcing the agreement and the cost of converting public school services to private providers. We believe support for the education of our children is systemic and extends outside the classroom; it continues in the secretary's office, on the school bus, in the cafeteria, and throughout the system. When in-house expertise is marginalized the school district diminishes it's own capacity to provide services. When that happens the district becomes dependent on contactors who bolster their profits by cutting staffing to the bone and repeatedly raising their rates. Private contractors are less accountable: instead of reducing bureaucracy they add additional unaccountable layers. In most cases contractors are not required to open their records or decision-making process to parents and the community.

Partnership and collaboration is the best way forward.

The alternative to this risky "low road" of privatization and contracting out is a Labor/ Management Committee that is a vehicle for partnership and collaboration. A successful partnership will improve efficiency, and ensure the delivery of quality public services because it values the experience of long-serving district employees who are committed to the community and are from the community.

Read how experience can lead to innovative ideas:

Report: A Stronger Detroit for Our Kids

Report: Evaluating the Options

Post your own ideas (by clicking on the "Add New Comment" link) about how we can improve Detroit public schools for every child in every neighborhood.