Payless Payday (#1)

Highland Park schools stay open; staff goes unpaid

By Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writer

   The financially troubled Highland Park schools stayed open Friday, but teachers and other employees had a payless payday, as expected, amid a third day of confusion over who is running the district.

   “I feel fairly certain that they are going to get paid next week,” school board President John Holloway said.

   The leadership vacuum came after a lawsuit filed by school board Secretary Robert Davis forced Gov. Rick Snyder to suspend an emergency manager Tuesday whom Snyder appointed in January.

   Holloway said he was buoyed by Snyder signing legislation Friday aimed at keeping the district’s school buildings open for the rest of the academic year. The new law lets students stay in the Highland Park district or transfer to another that accepts them, financed by $4,000-per-student stipends that follow them.

   Yet Davis said he doubted there would be paychecks soon. In this week’s legislation, the state didn’t give the district a cash advance, as it did in January and earlier this month, Davis noted.

   Jack Martin, a Bingham Farms CPA who was the state-appointed emergency manager , was sidelined when a Lansing judge ruled that a state review team whose recommendations led to Martin’s appointment violated the state’s Open Meetings Act. The group met repeatedly behind closed doors, Davis’ lawsuit argued.

   The same team met publicly Wednesday, again recommending the appointment of an emergency manager. By law, it appears that Snyder can’t reappoint Martin until next week, state Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, said Friday.

   A website, www.michigan   .gov/highlandparkschools  , with updates on the situation and a video from Snyder, went online Friday.

Proverbial Reprieve (Letter from the Governor)

$4M to let Highland Park kids finish year

School board won’t oppose a reappointment of manager

By Dawson Bell and Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writers

   Emergency legislation to provide $4 million to allow students in the Highland Park schools to complete the school year despite the district’s insolvency was approved Thursday by the Legislature. Gov. Rick Snyder will sign the measure into law “as soon as he gets it” on his desk, a spokeswoman said.

   The legislation provides a supplemental 2012 appropriation of $4,000 for each student enrolled in Highland Park, money that could be used to maintain current operations under new management or to follow students who transfer elsewhere.

   On Thursday night, the Highland Park school board voted not to oppose reappointment of an emergency manager to oversee the district — expediting a likely decision by Snyder, as early as today, to return outside oversight.

   The Legislature’s move was backed by Snyder and Republican legislative leaders who said it was the only viable option to keep Highland Park’s students in school with minimum disruption to their lives and education.

   Democrats, who voted almost unanimously against the bill, called the resolution shortsighted and ideological and predicted that chaos and uncertainty will continue.

   House Minority Leader Rep. Richard Hammel, D-Flushing, said Republicans rejected a proposal that would have allowed the Wayne County intermediate school district to assume operations in Highland Park, allowing students to complete the school year without changing schools and teachers.

   But the bill’s supporters said it would allow an outside entity, including an intermediate district, to take over the district under an agreement with Highland Park’s emergency manager. What Democrats objected to, according to Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, was also giving students the option to transfer to another district or charter school.

   Bolger and his House colleagues were adamant that no additional funding be provided to the Highland Park school board or administration.

   “We’re not going to obligate taxpayers to pay one more dime for a dysfunctional school district,” said state Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville.

   The district has an $11-million deficit, is under the on-again, off-again control of a state-appointed emergency manager and is unable to pay its bills. Employees are not expected to receive paychecks today as scheduled.

   Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said the governor was pleased by the action, but many uncertainties remain.

   “We’re trying to minimize disruption … and keep the kids in school … in their own buildings if possible,” Wurfel said. But she said there was no guarantee an alternative arrangement would be finalized quickly enough to avoid temporary suspension of classes.

   Legislative Democrats said they believed the district would be handed over to Detroit Public Schools, which also is in a financial crisis and under emergency management. In fact, Highland Park is surrounded by districts and charters in deficit. In addition to DPS, the Hamtramck Public Schools is in deficit, as is North Pointe Academy, a charter school.

   But before oversight could be transferred to any other entity, it’s almost certain to be returned to an emergency manager — and that could happen as soon as today, district officials and some state legislators said.

   “I can assure you, our message has gotten to Lansing,” Highland Park school board President Robert Holloway said Thursday night following the board’s 5-0 vote not to challenge reappointment of an emergency manager.

   “The rest is up to the governor. He could appoint someone at any time” to resume emergency control of the district, Holloway said. Parents and students in the audience said they wonder each day whether the schools will be open.

   “I’m just hoping I can finish my year here,” said Tiquarius Bell, 14, a ninth-grader at Highland Park Community High School.

   “I don’t know what to do,” said his mother, Veronica Brown, 32, who has four children in the district’s schools.

   Some in the audience opposed the board’s vote and castigated the board. “They say the teachers won’t get paid. … You should go to jail for that!” shouted Juanita Midds, 65, whose granddaughter is an 11th-grader.

   But more applauded the vote and called for reappointment of Jack Martin, a CPA named by Snyder last month to run the district who was removed when the appointment was ruled illegal under the state Open Meetings Act.

   The ruling to suspend Martin came after two lawsuits challenging the secrecy of the appointment process were filed by Highland Park school board Secretary Robert Davis, who skipped Thursday’s meeting. Davis skipped the meeting because his voting would have been a conflict of interest with his lawsuits, Holloway said.

   State Sen. Bert Johnson, who attended the board meeting, said he wasn’t happy to see the board cede control to Lansing. Earlier, at a Highland Park recreation center, Johnson led a meeting of speakers opposed to emergency managers. School officials could only have delayed, but not stopped, having an emergency manager reappointed, he said.

   The district’s officials are only partly to blame for the fiscal mess, added Johnson, who represents Highland Park, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, the Grosse Pointes and part of Detroit.

   “Just like in the Detroit Public Schools, there’s some mismanagement, some corruption, some long-standing abuses that everybody allowed to happen,” he said. “But the bigger problem has been long-term disinvestment,” he said, as the areas lost population, jobs and state revenue sharing.

   " CONTACT DAWSON BELL: 517-372-8661OR DBELL@FREEPRESS.COM  . LORI HIGGINS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.

State Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, said he wasn’t happy to see the school board cede control to Lansing.

Highland Park likely can’t pay teachers

Lawmakers won’t advance state aid

By Megha Satyanarayana and Dawson Bell Free Press Staff Writers

   Highland Park teachers likely will not get paid this week, and state lawmakers said Wednesday that the district won’t have access to state funds unless it reinstates its emergency manager.

   The latest twist comes amid continued legal wrangling about the validity of emergency managers and as — for the third time in six months — Highland Park Schools cannot meet its $220,000 payroll.

   After advancing the district its state aid payment twice to cover its expenses, lawmakers said they will not advance state aid a third time. The state Legislature is crafting a bill to either merge the district with another, or bring in charter operators.

   “We’re done dealing with the Highland Park school district,” said Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall. He said authorizing funds to be spent directly by district officials “is not going to happen.”

   Highland Park Schools came under state scrutiny in August, after multiple years of operating in a deficit. Although the district has shrunk from some 3,179 students in 2006 ago to 989 in January, spending per student has outstripped revenue and many of the district’s children are residents of Detroit.

   On Jan. 27, Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Jack Martin, former chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Education, to run the district. Several days later, a school board member filed a suit alleging that meetings held by the financial review team that recommended an emergency manager were in violation of the open meetings act.

   Last Wednesday, a Lansing judge agreed with that assessment, invalidating Martin’s appointment. Lawyers on both sides are still trying to iron out the details of the ruling. In response, the state held a public meeting Wednesday for the financial review team to go over its findings again, and the team again recommended an emergency manager be placed over the district.

   At the meeting, members of the financial review team said that without an emergency manager, the district may not makeit through the school year.

   Treasury Department Spokesman Terry Stanton said it was unclear when Martin or another emergency manager would be reinstated.

   During his short tenure, Martin had kept the board and superintendent in their jobs, which Public Act 4 invalidates.

   “He didn’t come here with a big stick,” said board member Alma Greer. “We were working in collaboration. He was working with the citizens. This puts us in a precarious situation.”

   A district in limbo isn’t sitting well with students and their families.

   “I don’t want to repeat seventh grade again because of some choices that people made,” said Kiara Smith, 12, a student at Barber Focus School.

   Her brother, DeAndre Ross, 19, said he was concerned that switching schools mid-year would mess up his credits and keep him from graduating.

   Deputy Superintendent of the Michigan Department of Education Carol Wolenberg said the department would do its best to make any transition seamless for students.

   But Robert Davis, a Highland Park board member who filed a motion to halt the meeting Wednesday and who filed the open meetings act suit, said the financial review team’s recommendation is still invalid because the team met eight times.

   “They have to redo all eight meetings,” Davis said. “What the review team attempted to do today has no effect. This unlawful action will be invalidated as well.”

PUBLIC HEARING

   State Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, will hold a public hearing tonight in Highland Park to discuss state-appointed emergency managers.

   The hearing will be held at 6p.m. at the Ernest Ford Recreation Center, 10 Pitkin. It will include testimony by officials from Pontiac; Flint; Benton Harbor; Highland Park; River Rouge, and Detroit —all of which have emergency managers or are at risk of having one appointed.

   -BILL LAITNER

BOARD MEETING

   Highland Park Schools will hold a special board meeting today to discuss the recommendation that an emergency manager be reinstated. It will be at 7 p.m. at district headquarters, 20 Bartlett. For information, call 313-957-3000.

KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/DETROIT FREE PRESS

   DeAndre Ross, 19, a student in Highland Park Schools, is concerned that switching schools mid-year might prevent him from graduating.

Do the Math

Highland Park schools might be shut down

Snyder: District down to its last $40,000

By Dawson Bell and Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writers

   The Highland Park school district is on the brink of financial collapse and could shut down as early as next week without emergency intervention, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday.

   Widespread and long-term mismanagement have left the district virtually broke, with only $40,000 on hand to meet the payroll Friday, Snyder told reporters in a briefing at the Capitol with state Superintendent Michael Flanagan, Treasurer Andy Dillon and Jack Martin, whose appointment as the schools’ emergency manager has been suspended as the result of a lawsuit over the process by which he was selected.

   “It’s a terrible situation,” Snyder said. “We’ve got to come up with an option for these kids. This is not business as normal at all.”

   Snyder and Flanagan said they will ask the Legislature for authority to contract with another school district or a charter school to operate Highland Park for the rest of the year. Such a contract could cost “several million dollars,” Snyder said.

   The governor also said he hopes to be able to reappoint Martin quickly.

   In the meantime, the district is back in the hands of the elected school board and superintendent.

   “If the Highland Park board has a solution (to meet payroll and other financial obligations), we’re happy to let them,” Snyder said.

   But Dillon said the district has not demonstrated the wherewithal to operate on its own. Twice this school year, the state has had to make accelerated school aid payments to Highland Park, he said.

   Although the district is among the highest-funded in the state, at about $14,000 per pupil per year, the district spends about $16,000 a year per pupil and finished the 2011 school year with an $11-million deficit, Dillon said.

   Highland Park also has seen a precipitous decline in enrollment, from 3,179 in 2006 to fewer than 1,000 now.

   Martin asked to meet with the board Tuesday evening to discuss the situation, said Robert Davis, a school board member and plaintiff in the lawsuit that challenged his appointment.

   Davis said the emergency manager process is “fatally flawed” and called on Snyder and administration officials to work with the district’s elected officials to address the crisis.

   If money is available to pay another district or charter operator to run Highland Park, why isn’t it available to pay the district to run itself? Davis asked. “Their actions show they would rather play politics … and just take over,” Davis said.

   Snyder and Flanagan said the crisis is complicated by the lawsuit Davis filed, challenging the right of state financial review teams to meet privately. An Ingham County judge ruled last week that the private sessions violated the Open Meetings Act.

   The review team is to meet publicly today in Detroit, and Snyder expressed confidence they would again recommend he appoint an emergency manager. But Snyder said it will take cooperation from the school board to get Martin back on the job quickly.

   Hours after Snyder’s announcement, four of the seven members of the Highland Park School board and Superintendent Edith Hightower met with Martin in the board offices.

   “Effective today, they are now back in charge of the school district,” he said, before sitting down with two board members at a time — avoiding a quorum of at least four that would violate the Open Meetings Act, he said.

   “My big concern is for (administrators) to talk to the teachers and let them know — this situation is not permanent, but we may be missing one payroll,” Martin said, while meeting with board members Alma Greer and Debra Humphrey. Teachers were to get paychecks Friday but likely won’t, he said. The last payroll was about $260,000, and the district could be short more than $150,000 of that, he said.

   “We’ve really borrowed all we can (from the state). It really is out of the governor’s hands until he sees where the Legislature stands” on extending further aid to the district, Martin said in a second meeting, which included board President John Holloway.

   Holloway and other board members agreed with Martin’s suggestion that the board call a special meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday to respond to whatever recommendation is issued today by the state financial review team. Holloway, 79, a former Highland Park police chief, said Davis’ lawsuits put the district’s leadership into temporary confusion.

   “He’d doing what any citizen has a right to do” in challenging the state law, Holloway said.

   Davis is a well-known activist whose lawsuits are known for challenging laws he considers anti-union.

   Several school board members said they were just getting to know Martin, a dapper Bing-ham Farms-based accountant, before Davis’ lawsuit led to Martin’s suspension Tuesday as the district’s emergency manager. Snyder appointed Martin on Jan. 27, but Martin’s authority was challenged after a judge ruled Feb. 15 that the appointment process was illegal.

   Board members said they were split on whether to accept Martin or anyone as financial manager, although he was given a mostly positive reception by parents and some board members in a meeting three weeks ago at Highland Park Community High School.

   “I couldn’t see anything but good coming” from his appointment, Humphrey said Tuesday, while awaiting her turn to meet with Martin. “He kept everybody informed (and) has not taken anything away from the district,” she said.

   Martin could have dismissed the school board but asked board members to keep meeting and advising him, she said. And he could have dismissed the superintendent, who said she earns $125,000 a year. Martin was paying himself at the rate of $100,000 a year to manage the district, he said this month.

   ! CONTACT DAWSON BELL: 517-372-8661

   OR DBELL@FREEPRESS.COM  

Gov. Rick Snyder says emergency action is essential to keep Highland Park schools going. “We’ve got to come up with an option for these kids,” he said Tuesday.

Who, What, Where, When, Why? (HOW?)

Authority of Highland Park schools’ manager unclear after court ruling

Open Meetings Act violated, judge says

By Dawson Bell, Suzette Hackney and Chastity Pratt Dawsey Free Press Staff Writers

   MASON — The tumult surrounding the financially stricken Highland Park schools veered closer to disarray Wednesday as an Ingham County judge ruled the process by which the district’s emergency manager was appointed was illegal.

   But confusion reigned on the question of whether manager Jack Martin remains in power.

   School board Secretary Robert Davis said the ruling by Judge William Collette renders Gov. Rick Snyder’s appointment “null and void.” The district is back under the supervision of the board and appointed administrators, Davis said.

   But Snyder’s office released a statement saying that Collette’s order fell short of requiring Martin’s removal.

   And other school board members said they weren’t sure what was going on.

   Asked Wednesday afternoon who was in charge of the school district, Vice President Kathryn Joyner said, “I have no idea.”

   Less than a day earlier, the school board rescinded a separate legal challenge to Martin’s appointment, Joyner said.

   Collette said state financial review teams for both Highland Park schools and the City of Detroit had violated the Open Meetings Act. Davis said he believes that means the recommendation by the Highland Park review team to appoint an emergency manager, adopted by Snyder, is nullified.

   Wednesday’s court order is to be finalized today, Davis said, and if Martin’s authority isn’t rescinded by state officials within 24 hours, he said he and his attorney will seek an emergency order to have him removed.

   “Gov. Snyder doesn’t have any appointment power now that the review team has been declared null and void,” he said.

   Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said in a statement that Martin will stay on.

   “The ruling only really addressed review teams and the Open Meetings Act, and we don’t believe it affects the appointment by the governor of Jack Martin as emergency manager,” the statement said.

   Martin was named after the review team’s report found the district to be in financial crisis, with a spiraling deficit, plummeting student population and a severe cash flow problem. The state has twice advanced aid payments to Highland Park to cover payroll and expects another request for early payment soon, Wurfel said.

   But Davis said there is no reason why the state cannot offer the same kind of help to the district at the request of its elected board and administration. He and his attorney said Collette’s ruling also calls into question the legitimacy ofemergency managers appointed in Pontiac and Benton Harbor.

   Meanwhile, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said his administration would work within the guidelines dictated by law. Snyder appointed a 10-member review team (including Martin, who is a certified public accountant) that has been examining the city’s finances.

   “We will abide by whatever process guidelines are mandated by the judge’s ruling and cooperate accordingly,” Bing said in a statement.

Keep the Faith!

Highland Park district won’t close, group told

Emergency manager to tackle enrollment

By Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writer

   About 75 parents and students gathered Wednesday night at Highland Park Community High School to voice their worries with Michigan’s newest emergency manager.

   Jack Martin, an accountant who lives in Bloomfield Township, assured them that the district was not about to close and asked them to keep their children in its schools.

   “Our first priority has to be to get these children educated (and) keep enrollment up,” Martin said.

   He was appointed Friday by Gov. Rick Snyder to rein in escalating deficits in the fast-shrinking district, once considered one of Michigan’s best. Enrollment plummeted from 3,600 students in the 2008-09 school year to 988 in September, officials said. Last year, the district incurred an $11.3-million deficit, amounting to more than a third of its annual budget, according to a state report.

   But Martin barely discussed finances, instead facing a crowd upset by the announcement Monday that one of the district’s two K-8 schools, Barber Focus School with 278 students, would close in about two weeks.

   If it does, “I’ve got 125 parents ready to pull their kids out” of district schools, parent Michelle Johnson said. Martin said students from the school could ride a bus for just five minutes to the district’s other K-8 school.

   Others said they had heard the high school or even the entire district might close. There is no plan for more closings, Martin said, but added that he has “serious concerns with the physical conditions” at the high school.

   “We need to finish the school year and graduate these young people, but it probably would be good eventually to pull out and move,” he said. The high school needs major renovations and downsizing, he said.

   “Thank-you, thank-you!” shouted school board member Debra Humphrey.

   High school senior Tekiyah Bush, 17, of Detroit said classes in the high school often had 30 students — “not that big” — but rarely had enough books to go around, “and you can’t take a book home.”

   Just a few years ago, the high school had more elective classes and more teachers than most Detroit schools, she said.

   Martin said he would not dissolve the school board, is being paid $100,000 a year by the district and plans to keep Superintendent Edith Hightower — who said she is paid $125,000 a year.

   “We’re already working well together,” Hightower said of Martin after the meeting.

CHEAPER< Better, Faster

Highland Park K-8 schools merger is hoped to keep district open for now

By Lori Higgins Free Press Staff Writer

   The Highland Park School District will merge its two elementary schools and move its district offices into a school building. And officials hinted Tuesday that changes could be in store for Highland Park High School.

   These steps come as administrators — faced with a financial crisis that led Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint an emergency manager to oversee the district — try to cut costs and avoid having the district shut down in the middle of the school year.

   Barber Focus School, with 278 students, will close in the next two weeks and its students bused to Henry Ford Academy, which has 222 students. Each of the K-8 schools has the capacity to hold 800 students.

   The move was announced Monday, the same day Jack Martin, appointed Friday as the emergency manager, began his job. He said after a meeting Tuesday night that the decision to merge wasn’t his, but was part of Superintendent Edith Hightower’s plan to eliminate the district’s deficit.

   The decision, he said, “makes sense.”

   The district ended the 2010-11 school year with a $11.3-million deficit — a 51% increase over the deficit a year before. And earlier this month, the state said it had to advance the district $188,000 to help it cover payroll.

   Martin said the closing of Barber could help the entire district remain open through June. What happens after that is uncertain.

   “Enrollment, in my mind, is going to be key,” Martin said at a parents meeting Tuesday evening. If enrollment keeps declining, he said, “we have a huge problem.”

   Randolph Johnson, who has three kids at Barber and two at Highland Park High School, said Tuesday he is saddened by the closure. He and his wife have fought for years to keep the school open.

   “I feel for many of these kids — all of them really,” Johnson said.

   Hightower addressed parents at Ford on Tuesday night.

   “We’re trying not to disrupt the learning process. We just have to do this because we’re financially unable to maintain two buildings,” she said.

   Robert Davis, a member of the Highland Park Board of Education, said closing the school “is the logical decision.”

   Davis filed a lawsuit Monday in Ingham County Circuit Court, asking a judge to overturn the state’s decision to appoint an emergency manager for the school district on grounds that meetings to discuss the district’s financial situation were held in private, in violation of the state’s open meetings law.

   Meanwhile, the state Department of Treasury said Tuesday that a financial review team will examine the Muskegon Heights Public Schools’ finances. The district has had a deficit condition for three or more consecutive years. Its current year deficit of $8.5 million is greater than15% of its general fund revenues.