Press

by Chastity Pratt Dawsey, April 26, 2013

Democratic lawmakers attacked the state’s school reform district Friday for using Detroit Public Schools as a conduit for $12 million in loans and for inadequately training security officers.

Democratic state senators Coleman A. Young II of Detroit and Bert Johnson of Highland Park called the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan a threat to children at a news conference outside the state’s offices in Midtown.

“EAA should not exist, period,” Johnson said.

The lawmakers’ accusations come as the state Senate is considering a bill that would establish the EAA in law and allow it to include 35 more schools statewide. Young said he does not support the bill, but he intends to introduce an amendment that would require more training for EAA security officers who currently do not receive training in first aid or CPR.

The security concerns come on the heels of accusations against the EAA from Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, a Democrat from Huntington Woods, who said the EAA had stalled and charged her $2,642.05 for documents she requested under the Freedom of Information Act last month. Lipton released the information this week, including documents that show that Detroit Public Schools took out loans through the Michigan Finance Authority’s state aid note program and gave the money to the the EAA to pay its bills.

DPS — and the state — have an interest in the financial viability of the EAA. The EAA pays DPS for food services, information technology and police services. DPS also still owns the 15 school buildings that the EAA took over and about $10 million in lease payments will be due this summer. DPS is run by a state appointee, emergency manager Roy Roberts.

DPS took out a $6-million loan in September and passed the money on to the EAA to help with start up costs. The EAA repaid the loan in January and paid DPS an $87,000 markup on top of $30,000 in interest, said John Covington, chancellor for the EAA. In February, DPS took out another $6-million loan and passed the money on to the EAA. That is due to be paid off by July 22.

The board was never presented with information on the transactions, EAA board president Carol Goss said Friday. The board was not required to approve the transactions, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

“It was not illegal. It was not a matter of going into smoke-filled back rooms to get it done; it was to make sure the children of the EAA would get everything they needed,” Covington said, “Once we become a statewide school district in the law, then we can do the same things other school districts are doing — that’s the crux of the problem.”

DPS acted as a conduit for the loans at the request of the state, according to DPS spokeswoman, Michelle Zdrodowski. Under the agreement with Eastern Michigan University that created the EAA, DPS can provide advances and services to the EAA, she said in a written statement.

Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, along with Sen. Vincent Gregory, a Democrat from Southfield, also issued statements condemning the governor and the EAA for using DPS to borrow money.

The EAA is the reform district for the lowest performing 5% of schools in the state that started educating students last fall by taking control of 15 schools in Detroit. It was formed in 2011 with support from Gov. Rick Snyder.

The EAA used DPS to get the loans because the EAA does not have authority to do so, said Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the state treasury department. Legislation approved last month by the House and pending in the Senate would give the EAA the ability to take out loans backed by state aid payments, a common practice.

The EAA’s security issues gained attention last month after the EAA reported an increase in crime in its schools for the first half of the school year compared with last year. EAA contracts with Prudential Security for guards.

Gerald Collins, executive vice president for Prudential, said the firm provides training, but is not required to provide first aid and CPR training.

by Jennifer Chambers and Chad Livengood, April 27, 2013

State Sen. Coleman Young II, D-Detroit, said at a news conference held at Cadillac Place on Friday that he plans to introduce a measure to require increased training for contracted security workers in EAA schools. (David Coates / The Detroit News)

Detroit — As state lawmakers consider expanding the Education Achievement Authority, questions and controversy continue to dog the new system for failing schools.

Friday, state Sens. Coleman Young II, D-Detroit, and Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, voiced concerns for the students at the 15 EAA schools, all in Detroit.

On Thursday, a $6 million loan to the EAA from Detroit Public Schools was made public, prompting other lawmakers to criticize Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration and call for further investigations.

“It’s appalling to see the governor’s office directly involved in taking $6 million out of the already cash-strapped Detroit Public School system in yet another shady back-room deal designed to keep the public from knowing it ever happened,” state Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer said.

EAA chancellor John Covington defended the loans, saying there was nothing secret or illegal about them, even though the EAA board never approved the transaction.

“We ran into a shortfall. The loans were taken out on behalf of the EAA. We are a client of DPS,” Covington said. “They already provide nutrition, law enforcement services.

“We don’t have a credit rating yet. It was thought it was best DPS partner for us,” he said.

Michelle Zdrodowski, DPS spokeswoman, said the district provided the funds at the request of the state.

“DPS agreed to the state’s request because the students in the systems are Detroit students and as former DPS students deserve a smooth educational transition during this time period,” Zdrodowski said.

“Under the agreement with Eastern Michigan University, which created the EAA, DPS can provide advances and services to the EAA.”

The transaction with the EAA was publicly reported through DPS’s deficit elimination plan, she said.

All costs associated with that borrowing, including staff time, is being paid by the EAA, she said. Repayments, including principal, interest and fees began on March 26, with a payment of $1.2 million.

Young said Friday he will introduce a measure that would mandate a higher level of training for contracted security workers in EAA schools.

At a news conference, Young said officers have told him they lack basic training in CPR, experience high turnover and get little support from Prudential Protective Service, the company hired to provide security officers at the 15 EAA schools.

“I’m not going to wait for a tragedy to happen. That’s why I’m introducing an amendment that will put our kids’ safety first,” Young said.

Robert Booker, an EAA security officer, said he was recently injured responding to a gang fight at Central High School. “We find knives, guns, drugs all the time,” Booker said. “Officers come and go all the time because we don’t have the training and support.”

This month, The News reported that in the first five months of the school year, authorities documented more than 5,000 discipline-related infractions in the EAA buildings, including fights, truancy, gambling and disorderly conduct.

The number of reported incidents soared from mid-November through the end of January, when 4,000 infractions piled up. The data represent the first assessment of behavioral problems among the 10,000 students at the EAA schools, which were under Detroit Public Schools management until last fall.

EAA chief of staff Tyrone Winfrey said the district contracts with the Detroit Public Schools Police Department and Prudential Security to provide security services.

“We take any allegation of unsafe conditions seriously and are ready to thoroughly investigate each allegation if we are provided with the details so that we can follow up. At the same time, to the extent this is an attempt by the SEIU to organize Prudential employees, that is an issue between Prudential and the SEIU,” Winfrey said.

A Prudential official said the claims are inaccurate and unfair and are rooted in an attempt to unionize the security guards rather than a sincere concern for students and staff at the schools. The guards make $9 an hour, the company said.

“This is politics at its worst. Rather than taking the proper steps to organize our employees, the union is exploiting children in an attempt to discredit Prudential and its employees,” said Gerald Collins, a company executive vice president.

An official with Service Employees International Union Local 1 in Detroit confirmed SEIU is trying to organize Prudential Security guards, including in the EAA. Chris Siller, the union’s Michigan coordinator, said the guards aren’t paid overtime and none are trained for CPR.

In Lansing, lawmakers are debating Snyder’s proposal to codify the EAA in law and allow it to take over another 35 schools across the state that have been in the bottom 5 percent of test scores for three years or longer. A bill passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

The House and Senate budget plans for the 2013-14 school year contain additional funds the EAA could request.

In February, Snyder proposed $8 million in grants for school districts that offer “student-centric” learning, which is defined in the budget bill as allowing students to “advance to the next level of learning based on their individual mastery of the each subject area.”

The House lowered the amount of grant money to $7 million, which the EAA and other schools using a different style of student learning would be eligible to apply for, said Bethany Wicksall, an education funding analyst with the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency.

The Senate, in turn, capped the per-district grants at $1 million “so it couldn’t all go to the EAA,” said Eric Dean, chief of staff for Sen. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City, who is chairman of the Senate’s School Aid budget subcommittee.