Time Magazine profiles Bobb

Time Magazine ran an in-depth profile of Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb. Titled "Cleanup Artist," the article describes Bobb's background and youth as well as the appalling circumstances that led to DPS needing an emergency financial manager in the first place:

When Bobb arrived last spring, here's what he found: Contracts had been stuffed in office drawers. The district couldn't afford new books. Gas was siphoned between buses. The district had to borrow money to pay its employees. There wasn't even a chief financial officer managing the system's $1.3 billion annual budget.

The article goes on to describe the tough decisions Bobb makes in addressing these issues, such as laying off 20 piano teachers:

"You go back to your apartment and think, How can you have a school of music without a piano teacher?" Bobb says. So he hired them back too. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Bobb's chief academic officer and a former CEO of Cleveland's public schools, says she often greeted Bobb's proposed cuts with a single question: "Is this good for the kids?"

The story is fascinating and informative, and an accompanying slide show of DPS students and their dreams for the future is very inspiring. Check it out and then tell us what you think.

(photo from the DPS website)