Parents, government & schools must work together to address education crisis

There was a lot of buzz last week about DPN executive director Sharlonda Buckman's comments on December 12 and the ensuing television appearances. Sharlonda got a chance on Sunday to express parents' desire for real solutions - Detroit Free Press published an op-ed laying out DPN's take on the city's education crisis and what we all must do to address it:

Our Legislature must institute badly needed education reform and make the state eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Race to the Top funding. Leaders in Lansing must seriously consider taking control of DPS away from an inefficient school board system and give centralized academic authority to Bobb. While teachers deserve fair compensation, they must accept new accountability standards.

And, of course, parents must get involved with their children's education by monitoring homework and attendance, meeting with teachers, and volunteering as much as possible.

Good news - a couple of these important measures came through over the weekend. The Detroit Federation of Teachers approved the new contract with Detroit Public Schools that increases evaluation and accountability, and in Lansing, bills were passed that make Michigan eligible for federal Race to the Top funding.

These are important developments, but none of us should be satisfied until Detroit's children have a fair shot at success. We at DPN will continue working hard to make sure the city's parent's have the tools necessary to give their kids a better life and to hold accountable the leaders who make decisions affecting our kids. As Sharlonda summed up in Sunday's piece, "...we all must work together to find a solution. It's too huge a crisis for anyone to get away with criminal complacency."