Kim Fields
Eric Sabree
becomes first black Wayne County Treasurer
literally grew up on television See page D-1
See page A-3 POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
michiganchronicle.com
Volume 79 – Number 30
April 6-12, 2016
Michigan lags behind in graduation rates for black students By Roz Edward A recent educational study of graduation rates for black and white college students indicates that the news is good in the academic arena in terms of narrowing the graduation between the races. Authors and researchers for the Rising Tide II: Do Black Students Benefit as Grad Rates Increase? found an overall increase in the black graduation rate over a 10-year period. Two hundred and thirty-two fouryear colleges and universities participate in the study.
The Detroit School Board speaks out By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
In the midst of the swirl of heated public discussion surrounding whatever the latest development happens to be with the Detroit Public Schools, the one group of individuals who seem never to be called on even for a quote, or referred to in any way shape or form other than as a mistaken afterthought, is the currently elected Detroit Public School Board. Which seems strange because even though they were stripped of much of their authority due to emergency management, they are still the publicly elected school board. After all, nobody forgot about the mayor, right? City Council either. Granted, both the mayor and city council were operating under a different emergency manager, but the system was the same, imposed on the same city by the same governor. All these plans and proposed legislation for a retooled DPS, for when and whether to have new school board elections, about who would and should be eligible to run for those seats, about another level of bureaucracy to be imposed on top of the school board whenever they get elected. And yet… Nobody seems to want to hear from the board that’s already there. Which would probably explain why they refer to themselves as the
school board “in exile.” Toiling furiously to have their authority restored, an authority which they will tell you in no uncertain terms they believe was stolen from them under cover of darkness, Detroit’s school board members remain They Who Shall Not Be Named. Board member LaMar Lemmons remains perhaps the most outspoken – and also most strategic – member, along with Dr. John Telford and Elena Herrada, whose passionate views on what is happening to Detroit’s public schools are regularly posted in detail on her Facebook page. Telford and Lemmons agreed to sit down for an interview at Dr. Telford’s Detroit apartment on Tuesday afternoon. What is the current condition of DPS? The district is insolvent, and it was made so by the emergency management system and the state experiments of Public Act 10 of 1999, and then exacerbated under the emergency manager laws, and abuse by the emergency financial manager laws. What are your feelings about the current DPS rescue legislation that is being proposed? Well first of all, the House version is unrealistic and no one is really going to entertain that. The Senate version is…all of the versions are essentially cover-ups and do not deal with the exploitation of the district over the past years. What they intend
to do is to (quote unquote) “move forward.” And although the gov. is famous for saying “no credit no blame,” there is blame when there’s penalty, and the Senate version imposes a penalty on the Detroit Public School District. And it also puts in place a financial review board much like what the city has. Unfortunately, the difference between the city and the school district is that the school district has absolutely no culpability in its financial demise. In our case, when the state took over the district in 1999, there was a $114 million surplus and a 92 percent market share. Market share is the percentage of students that are eligible to attend Detroit Public Schools that actually attend the Detroit Public Schools. Because we’ve had emergency management, all they’ve done is to further damage the quality of Detroit education with DPS to make the charter schools, in our opinion, to make them more attractive, because the DPS has been rendered unacceptable to most parents with means to send their children. So they are saying that the parents are voting with their feet. That is true, but they’re essentially educational refugees being flushed out of the district by the lack of quality education, health and safety issues, as run by the governor and his emergency managers.
See DPS page A-6
One of the key findings of The Education Trust’s study is that programs designed to provide comprehensive academic and social support are instrumental for ensuring that black students cross the academic finish line. Scores of African American students succumb to failing to graduate and leaving college for a number of factors including:
A negative racial climate at some schools which affect a student’s pursuit of a degree; Inadequate pre-college preparation for the rigors of a college level studies; Many black students are first generation college students and hail from families that have no tradition of higher education and are unaware of the support necessary to help a student succeed at the college level; Financial hardship. The Journal of Black in Higher Education reports that two-thirds of all black students who drop out of college do so for financial reasons. But at Ohio State University black students graduated at a rate of 73 percent in 2013, representing a 26 percent increase from 2003. The graduation gap with white students also decreased by nine percent. The institution credits that success to programs that support minority and first-generation students. One of the programs highlighted by Hechinger Study starts with middle school students and nurtures them academically and financial-
See BLACK
WHAT’S INSIDE
GRADS page A-6
A designer’s designer
Architect Howard Sims helped create blue print for post-rebellion Detroit
Historic walkout recalled (Page B-1) Judy Walker recalls the key role she and others played in the daring Northern High School walkout in 1966.
By Ken Coleman
University of Michigan-Dearborn General Campus renovation
Howard F. Sims played a leading role in designing much of Detroit’s landscape over the last 50 years, its ambitious downtown revival and its Herculean urban renewal neighborhood efforts.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport international arrivals section
But blacks didn’t always have an opportunity to help create the city’s skyline and neighborhoods.
Detroit Historical Museum Renovations and Master Plan
“Certainly it’s true that at one time, black architects had only one major client: churches and maybe funeral homes,” he told the Detroit Free Press in 1982. “It wasn’t until the mid to late ’60s that black people entered the decision-making process so far as what might be built and where, and how it should look.”
Orleans East Apartments in Lafayette Park
Sims died last week after suffering a heart attack. The 82-year-old had been associated with many notable construction projects. They include: Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center 1981-89 expansion and 20102015 capital improvement program Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
$1.00
Howard F. Sims
University of Michigan School of Social Work
Detroit Wayne County Port Authority Terminal Greektown Casino
McMichael Middle School
Franklin Wright Village in Elmwood Park Research Park Apartments near Wayne State University Wayne County Community College District’s downtown and northwest campuses “If you asked Howard Sims which of his designs he loved best, good luck getting a straight answer, but if you listened well he always came back to one building — the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History,” said David E. Rudolph, family spokesman. “In our community we call death
See HOWARD
SIMS page A-4