DPS board seeks to halt Bobb

Detroit -- The Detroit Public Schools' board voted unanimously Tuesday to seek a court order to halt the emergency financial manager's plan to turn 17 of the district's 22 high schools over to four professional management firms to help boost student achievement and graduation rates.

They'll also ask a judge to more clearly define the board's role in setting academic policies while emergency financial manager Robert Bobb works to overhaul the district's finances. Attorney David Olmstead is working for free on the issue, board members said.

Bobb announced the plan Friday, a day after the board adopted its own master plan for academics. Board members said he made the plans without their knowledge and didn't consult them. They say he overstepped his authority and was interfering with their role in setting the district's educational policy.

"We hope this forces him to say what he's going to do, which is consult with us," board President Carla Scott said, adding the court order would allow a judge to further outline the board's authority.

"We have no problem working with him, but we have a problem with him working around us. You can't do something without discussing it with us. You don't have a right to set the policy."

Last week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's spokeswoman said Bobb, whom the governor appointed earlier this year, is not overstepping his role with the district. Granholm gave him a very difficult job of turning around the district, and he doesn't need to be micromanaged, Liz Boyd said.

Scott said the board's legal counsel still is determining whether the action will be filed in federal or circuit court.

District spokesman Steve Wasko said schools would remain DPS schools, and that Bobb's plan did not mean the schools would be privatized.

"Mr. Bobb continues to be focused on the children's issues, not the adult ones," he said. "Dwelling on the adult ones for far too long has led a district to seven consecutive years of deficit spending and, even worse, more years of academic deficits."

Bobb's plan involves some of the districts' worst-performing high schools and is part of a wider restructuring of 40 schools. Bobb is considering management companies for six alternative schools and 10 elementary schools.

Despite the closure of 29 schools, nearly 2,500 layoffs and elimination of general funding to the Children's Museum, the district is facing a $259.5 million deficit. And last week, Bobb also met with retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ray Reynolds Graves to discuss Chapter 9 bankruptcy for the district.

During Tuesday's meeting, board members expressed concern about whether Bobb's plan would cause greater financial hardship to the district. They also hoped to obtain contracts for the management firms to learn about their pay.

"This money should be explained in how it's being spent and where," said board member Ida Short.

Board member Anthony Adams agreed.

"We're talking about process and procedure," Adams said. "It's about transparency and spending millions of dollars."

Scott said the board was not interested in fighting Bobb but wanted to make sure board members had their say in how they reshaped the district. That's what the board is assigned to do, she said.

"Our intention is to set the standards that our children deserve," Scott said. "We're not afraid of reform, but we do draw the line at giving a substandard education to our students."

Detroit News Staff Writer Marisa Schultz contributed. mhicks@detnews.com">mhicks@detnews.com