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Suit filed to block takeover of schools

Highland Park group to seek alternatives

By Megha Satyanarayana Free Press Staff Writer

   Opposition to the state takeover of Highland Park schools mounted Monday, with the filing of a lawsuit to stop the emergency manager and the announcement that a coalition had formed to delve into the district’s financial mess.

   School Board Secretary Robert Davis filed suit Monday against Gov. Rick Snyder, state Superintendent Michael Flanagan and the state-appointed financial review team to stop the emergency manager on grounds that meetings to discuss thedistrict’s financial situation were held in private, in violation of the state’s open public meetings law.

   The two sides will meet Feb. 8 in Ingham County Circuit Court, with Davis represented by former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga and Andrew Paterson.

   “Any recommendation should be voided,” said Davis, who said he is looking for a temporary restraining order to prevent Jack Martin, appointed Friday by Snyder, from starting work on the district’s finances.

   Meanwhile, state Sen. Bert Johnson and members of Rainbow PUSH Michigan announced the formation of the Financial Academic Reinvestment Commission to address faults in emergency manager legislation and the issues they believe have led to the school district takeover, including property taxes, loss of business and loss of investment in the city.

   “We’re trying to find genuine, sincere fixes to the crisis that the school district finds itself under,” Johnson said.

   Johnson said the group will hold a meeting open to all at 6 p.m. Friday at Nan-di’s Knowledge Café at 12511 Woodward. John-son, a Democrat from Highland Park, said they will formulate a plan to present to the governor and emergency manager.

   Martin, a certified public accountant and former chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of Education, took over a district with an accumulated deficit of $11.3 million for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

   School enrollment has fallen from 3,179 students in 2006 to 989 in January. School officials said more than half their students come from Detroit.

   Options for the district have included closing it. Davis said the board and Superintendent Edith Hightower had been working on a plan to improve school programs and to recruit new students to the district’s three schools.