Mike McCready decides to sell the farm (local schools) for a piece of the EAA action!!

Something about the Christmas season and December in particular truly inspires Republican Representatives from the 40th District to open their hearts and want to give . . . not necessarily to their own constituents. . . but to the EAA (the Educational Achievement Authority), the state-wide "reform" district to be that has been the linchpin of Governor Snyder's education reform plan.

If the EAA gets codified by the Michigan Senate in these last 3 days of session -- and that seems likely after  some behind the scenes deal brokering ;The Detroit News voice of education reform, Jennifer Chambers, is reporting it as a done deal even before that silly procedural vote http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131210/SCHOOLS/312100073/1026/schools/Michigan-will-add-up-9-sc... -- then the EAA will have the authority to absorb state resources currently going to Birmingham, Troy, and Bloomfield and eventually swallow hole all public education in Michigan so that it will be strictly under the Governor's control.

This is true even though the EAA lost 25% of its students  this year and has floundered in scandal and financial catastrophe since its inception.http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/failure-is-success-for-governor-snyder-and...

The EAA first appeared in HB6004 in lame duck session (December 2012) when, as written, it would have allowed the EAA to seize property such as the Lahser site while putting "kids first." There is very little doubt that once codification is done there will be a push to reinsert the land seizure powers. Currently, the state is saying at least 10 schools will be absorbed by the EAA but because of the controversy surrounding the "authority" they won't say which schools.....so much for the commitment to parents and school choice.

That is, the state knows what it plans to do with schools but it won't tell parents. Thanks Mr. Flanagan for your leadership.

The December 2012 uproar defeated the bill even though our folks in Lansing like Chuck Moss wanted it to pass. Here is the text of his plea for the children of Hyland [sic] Park.
"Dear Sir or Madam, Thanks for writing about HB 6004/SB 1358 and HB 5923 and education reforms. I understand the criticisms about the Governor's plan for K-12 school reform. Rick Snyder campaigned for Governor on a platform of K-12 reform, and is now trying to deliver on his campaign promises. The problem isn't school districts like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills. These districts must be competitive with DCD, Cranbrook, Brother Rice/Marian to keep "choice students" who have other options. But what about kids from Detroit Public Schools, Hyland Park, of Flint? These are low-performing schools that have failed generations of kids. Do we condemn these children to ignorance and a blighted future until a reform plan comes along that's perfect? How many classes do we fail, year after year, pushing young people out into the world ill-educated? I remember public school reform being an important issue in 1983. These bills are still being worked on, but I think thirty years is long enough to wait to solve the problem. Thanks again for writing. Chuck Moss"

We simply can't wait argued the charitable Mr. Moss; he was "torn" he said between his obligations to top performing school districts that sustain him and his family and the Governor's educational abstractions.

The was the old Moss.

Meet the new "moss" same as the old Moss.

When pre-prop A Seaholm grad Mike McCready outpaced Moss pal Dave Potts in the primary many were quite pleased.

McCready grew up here, benefited from the schools, and raises his kids here. He certainly seemed inclined to listen to the concerns of the public school folks -- and parents -- in a way Mr. Moss had not. "If it isn't broke," Mr. McCready said, "why fix it." http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/bp--mr-mccready-goes-to-lansing-but-lets-h...

As the year passed, Mr. McCready prudently cultivated relationships with local Superintendents and school board members, winning praise for his listening skills and his quiet civility.

Many hoped that we had seen a return to the sort of Oakland County Republican who cautiously preserves the standard of life here and abjures extreme ideological passions.

Just in case, though, I decided to keep close tabs on Mr. McCready as I might my son's elementary school -- given that his party of small government had decided to micro-manage public education from Lansing. I have watched him from the day he took office until now.

You see, the Governor's top education advisor had decided to do things "piecemeal" -- slowly, step by step, and with deception -- given the massive political opposition.

 Politicians work, like Shakespeare's Iago, on "dilatory" time, hoping constituents will lose interest or focus against a concerted foe who has nothing to worry about but creating damage. McClellan counted on this.

When the revised EAA bill (see below) came up again HB4369 Mr. McCready voted yes: http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/bp--ringing-the-bell-for-pefa.

But the skunks works debacle, financial distress at the EAA, including lying on a fed. grant (bad!), and a refusal to turn over necessary paperwork to members of the Senate and House Education Committee (Rep. Lipton and Sen. Hopgood actually came out of their Districts to talk openly about his with BHSD parents) got the Senate codification bill stalled in April.

It might help to know that while our Mike was pressing forward with the EAA Mayor-elect of Mike Duggan was resigning from the EAA board.http://www.freep.com/article/20130503/NEWS01/305030114/

 HB4369 sat all spring and summer and fall until.....

You got it! December! The season of EAA giving!

A few weeks after EMU faculty insisted their university quit the intralocal agreement that made the EAA possible and pushed their own Dean to resign from the EAA board...

And this time it is Mr. McCready, not Mr. Moss, who can't tolerate those poor kids waiting anymore.

Having had a year to educate himself and hear from local superintendents, parents, teachers and university faculty Mr. McCready decided he has let too much moss gather on him and the "kids" and failing schools. The EAA came again to fore behind a political smokescreen, two bills (5111 and 5112) designed to gain attention and opposition -- but not necessarily pass -- while the real agenda of EAA codification got done. Here is the story bolstered by the reporting of the state's best, Chad Livengood: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131206/SCHOOLS/312060025/Critics-rip-school-grading-bill?odysse...

Mr. McCready can thus claim to oppose these current anti-public education bills while helping the Senate slip in the EAA during their short work week. This is some dodge: they are creating a statewide school district.

I don't know what to call this in office supply furniture sales: the soft sell? the bait and switch?

As a fellow Bloomfield parent who has talked with Mr. McCready several times about these issues I can only consider this in retrospect the worst kind of political deception; as a taxpayer living in an area dependent on its schools I can only call it colossal stupidity, betting on a flailing scheme that itself bets on a bursting "education tech bubble."

"Dear Ken, House Bill 4369, which deals with the expansion of the EAA, passed through the House in March of this year and has been in the Senate Committee on Education since. With that bill being in the Senate I have focused on legislation before me like House Bills 5111 and 5112 which after extensive review I plan to oppose if they come up for a vote.

 As you are most likely aware, HB 4369 applies only to schools in the bottom 5% of school performance statewide.  After amendments were adopted to provide more control locally and to permit teachers to remain in the MSPERS, I chose to support the bill.  I also worked with our local superintendents and Oakland Community Schools Association on final changes to the bill.  In speaking with them, it was important to allow schools the option to pursue early intervention efforts with their local Intermediate School District (ISD) as opposed to the EAA.  That amendment was adopted.

I, and many others, will continue to monitor the effectiveness of schools under the EAA, but it is time to take action for the students in these continuously failing schools.  Again, I appreciate hearing your thoughts on legislation and while we may have disagreed on this issue, I wanted to give you my reasons again for supporting the bill back in March of this year. 

With the bill being before the Senate I recommend you contact your State Senator to voice your opposition to the legislation. For your convenience I have listed the Senators for my district according to the community that they serve as well as the links to their webpage with their contact information."

Now, like anyone, I appreciate being "Dear Ken" instead of "Dear Sir and Madam."

I even appreciate the "as you know..." (yup, I do read about these things from time to time), but the result of this kind of politicking is no different than the December 2012 old "Moss" politicking, choosing party over constituents. Back last winter at  BHSD I offered to take Mr. McCready on a tour of the EAA schools, see a classroom, in fact, through the eyes of teacher (now fired for criticizing the whole plan).

He demurred quietly.

Now? He is apparently overcome by Moss- like charitable sympathies for those strange troubled places like Hyland [sic] Park. And the only folks who can do something are those darn senators, mine -- John Pappageorge -- term limited out.

"Call them" is the well calculated response.

What Mr. McCready does not have is the political courage  to admit or to explain to his neighbors  that the EAA will take resources constantly from local districts, always absorbing the "lowest 5%" until there is no money left for regular districts.

Maybe this is a math deficiency.

What is the "lowest 5%" if E. Lansing, Okemos, Birmingham, Troy and BHSD are the only local Districts left standing? Whose buildings go to the EAA first? The Governor really doesn't need the other bills to make this happen (although a few would have helped speed the process).

That has been the plan all the along, the reason the EAA has been so critical to the Governor. He has created his own shadow district to drain public education in Michigan -- including Birmingham, BHSD, and Troy.

With its seeming passage in to state law -- this should happen this week if not today -- parents should consider their schools now in a death spiral and should be watching carefully for signs of decay and a chance to pull them out before the fund equity is spent. 

This also has been part of the plan from the beginning.