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    Letter from Wilson to board about superintendent search

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    Letter From Wilson to Board

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    Letter from Wilson to board about superintendent search

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    2K views3 pages

    Letter From Wilson To Board

    Uploaded by

    Lena Khzouz Ile Camera
    Letter from Wilson to board about superintendent search

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 3
    Mareh 11, 2015, Dear Grosse lle Board of Education, ‘Thank you for involving the community in the Superintendent interview process. | was very impressed with the protocol you used to include and involve your stakeholders. You invited your audience to not only observe, but to participate in the debriefing process which shows your commitment to hearing multiple perspectives. | am a parent of two entertaining kindergarten boys and a nurturing and generous third grade daughter. | have sky high expectations for their education- that it will be the highest quality possible and that they will be prepared for an unknown future. | am an educator with extreme passion for high quality education. After hearing and reflecting on the interviews this week, | am disappointed only one candidate is moving forward in the process. | have reviewed my notes from the selected candidate's interview and | wish for much greater depth in her responses. | am alarmed by the impression | have from her interview that she has not developed the instructional leadership or academic leadership that our students deserve, As you know, our district has committed to Professional Learning Communities ~ a highly effective school improvement approach. However, it is not yet at a sustained level, The Common Core State Standards ‘together with the Common Core English Language Arts and Mathematical Shifts have raised the ber for student depth of knowledge, We are facing our first Common Core state assessment this April through June. One year from now, there are plans for a different (TBD) assessment than what we will have this spring. | need to express to you that | desire a strong educational leader that is prepared for these impending academic challenges as our next Superintendent. | did not hear evidence of that from the selected candidate. I want the very best education for this community and my children. That is why lam driven to share some state academic data that | hope you will consider in this weighty decision you are facing. The sources of my data include the Annual Education Report prepared by East Detroit Public School District and wiww.mischooldata.org ~ the State of Michigan Educational Data Website. {tis true that the budget deficit in East Detroit Schools was over $7 Million in 2011-2012 and itis expected that they will be out of deficit this school year. The candidate stated she had been the Superintendent for 5 years ~ since 2010. The istrict had a steady positive fund balance until the 2011- 12 school year. EDPS went into the red two years after she took the position and she has been working to get them out since. | will acknowledge that the state reduced the foundation allowances to schools in 2011-2022, however prepared districts compensated for that with appropriate reductions to prevent a deficit. Why didn’t this candidate prevent the deficit? | am pleased she moved the district out of deficit Yet, | realize she was at the helm two years prior to the deficit happening — this isa concern that | hope you will consider. The financial graph below will show the financial data of EDPS since 2008 as prepared by the Michigan Department of Education on mischooldata.org 60%. 40% 20% ow 20% ; 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13, ‘School Years @ Assets © Fund Was it poor planning that created a $7M deficit in just one year? How did that happen? She was the Superintendent ~ please ask that question. | now Wyandotte prepared and made more cuts p that expected loss in revenue. I suspect Gl did too. While itis appropriate to give commendations to the leader that took drastic measures to pull the district out of deficit spending, | ask you to dig deeper because that same leader took on a stable budget and within two years it fell into a $7M deficit. nto | care about money, but | care more about the education of our children. | looked at the academic data of EDPS and I have even more serious concerns. The following information also comes from www.mischooldata.org and | hope you consider it conscientiously -as it is my greatest concern, As of the most recent academic accountability data (2013-2014), 4 out of 6 EDPS are priority schools. ‘That means they are in the lowest 5% of all schools across the state. Even more alarming is that they have been on a significant academic decline for the past 3 years, The chart below shows the top to bottom scores since 2011-2012. | prepared the chart based on the information on the Top to Bottom ranking on www.mischooldata.org Top to Bottom Percentile Rankings (0-100 percentile) 2012-2014 2011-2012 2012-2013, 2013-2014 East Detroit High School __| 5 (Priority School) 1 (Priority School) (0 (Priority School) Belleview Elementary 7 3 (Priority School) 1 (Priority Schoo!) Kelly Middle School 8 6 1 (Priority School) Pleasantview Elementary | 7 3 (Priority School) 3 (Priority Schoo!) Crescentwood K-2 Elem | No accountability data_| No accountability data__| 17 Forest Park K-2 Elem 'No accountability data_| No accountability data | 13 *Priority School Status identifies bottom 5% of schools in state The decline in academic achievement shown on this chart is beyond devastating and it is alarming, Pease consider the implications here. While the budget was being rectified in EDPS, it was absolutely at the expense of the education of their children. Additional Academic Concerns. ‘©The EDSD scorecard went from Yellow in 12/13 to Orange on 13/14. ‘© Less than 5% of students were proficient on the MME both school years and only 9.3% of students scored proficient on Math and Reading MEAP tests the past 2 years. © ACTscores have gradually declined. ‘+The dropout rate went from 10.4% in 12/13 to 12.4% in 13/14 ( That's 2% in 1 year) | appeal to you, the Board of Education of Grosse lle Schools, please find a Superintendent that can balance the budget in partnership with Shawn Stirling AND continue to pursue academic excellence. Our children deserve both ~ it does not have to be one or the other. Respectfully Submitted, Vies {Also supported by David Wilson ~

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