It would take me a day, to figured out the historical time line and the players. I got a little peeve when I read, “When I asked her how teachers and parents allowed students to attend school in these conditions, Ashford responded: “I thought about my colleagues. Always placed them in very high regard. But going into some of these rooms, and looking at the filth that was in those rooms ... my whole attitude changed toward them.”

I bet parents were complaining from day one, and I was right. Its the one thing I don’t like about the public education model, its philosophies and belief values on how parents and their children are educated by their social-income status. One will only see schools in such disrepair in the lower income communities. And yes, Canada has the same thing going on - educating by the social-income status. In Canada, no one ever hears about the high-income school shutting down…......and its like night and day when it comes to the resources of the low-income school to the high-income school in Canada.

Here is the PTA president - stating need more money.
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/17280

Here is the parents protesting the actions of tossing out the Black history resources and materials of the Highland Park School District.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/highland-park-black-history-materials-protest_n_3567329.html

The Wikipedia account - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Park_Schools

As soon as I read this - “The improvement is significant because Highland Park is at the center of an ACLU class-action lawsuit that claims the state failed to ensure students were reading at grade level and the state “should know” the Leona Group “is incapable of producing appropriate results.”
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/19006

The class-action lawsuit by the ACLU will probably go all the way to the Supreme Court of United States. Its known as the ‘Right to Read’ lawsuit. The big teachers’ unions are fighting tooth and nail and as well as the other education stakeholders - who don’t think that children have a right to learn how to read well. At least the charter outfit is doing their bit to raise the levels of the low-income students.

On the ACLU web site - ““This is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit asserting a child’s fundamental right to read. “

“. However, their hopes and dreams for a future are being destroyed by an ineffective system that does not adequately prepare them for life beyond school.”

““No one can walk through the halls of Highland Park schools and say that this is a suitable and safe environment to learn,” said Michelle Johnson, a lifelong Highland Park resident whose daughter is entering her junior year, but reads between five and seven levels below her grade. “I spoke out at nearly every public meeting and I went to school with my kids every day, all day this year. But nothing I do will work if the district and the state don’t meet me half way. All I am asking for is a full partner in my child’s education so that she can learn the basics – reading.”
https://www.aclu.org/human-rights/highland-park-students-file-class-action-right-read-lawsuit

One can only conclude - The education stakeholders of the public education system in the near future will either be facing massive lawsuits for providing ineffective and poor education outcomes of students, and if not, the education stakeholders better get cracking in improving the education futures of the public students they claimed they serve.

Hello Nancy,

In your post above you state, “Canada has the same thing going on”.  In the post above you provide several links to American sources.

Where are the Canadian sources that mirror what you are posting about the US?

cheers, Mirka

Mirka, it certainly shows in the data streams in both micro and macro levels. It certainly shows visibly in the state of schools at the school district level. It certainly shows up in the Toronto Star series of the Toronto School District Board, concerning in part, the charge of $165 to installed a pencil sharpener.

Take note, the schools that are not in need of repair - are the schools located in high income communities drawing from the professional class. In the Globe and Mail, June of 2013 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-school-board-seeks-tighter-control-over-maintenance-costs/article10966701/

So what does the TDSB do? Cut positions in teaching and support staff, to pay the salaries of the janitors and the few who made it on the Sunshine list. The 3 billion dollar maintenance backlog at the TDSB did not occur in a vacuum. Standard MO practice, the lower income schools have a lower prioritization than higher income schools.

Another example - “Out of a total of approximately 600 public schools, about 145 have backflow preventers, while 35 have them installed but still need to be inspected.”
Read more: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/are-toronto-schools-failing-to-provide-clean-drinking-water-1.1332970#ixzz2cnWEp8YW

Five years later, the question goes begging -  Did the higher income schools go first in line to install the backflow preventers?

On another front - law suits regarding education services. In Canada, its a bit different considering that our legal system is different from the United States. Canadian parents do give voice that students are not being adequately prepare for life after grade 12. Unfortunately, parents voices are rarely heard above the din of the education stakeholders, and nor are the students with lower levels of reading, writing or numeracy are heard above the din of the education stakeholders.

The best Canadian example - http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/factums-memoires/34041/FM020_Respondent_Board-of-Education-of-School-District-No-44.pdfis the Supreme Court of Canada - the Moore case.

I draw your attention to the school board factum and clause 14 - ” Courts and tribunals do not have expertise in pedagogical matters. School boards have both the expertise and statutory mandate to provide educational programs that, in the opinion of the board, are designed to enable students to develop their individual potential.14 Given the shifting nature of pedagogical theory and practices, and the ongoing need to allocate financial and service resources, school boards require the flexibility to change educational programs as long as they do so in compliance with the School Act and the Code. Judicial deference is traditionally given to school boards in matters of educational programs and policies. Legislative recognition of this deference is recognized in s. 11 of the School Act 1989, which provides an appeal to the Board regarding educational decisions.15 “

I also draw your attention to the Web cast, at the 236 mark for full context. At the 243 mark, we learned two things. One, that results-based education is not feasible in the education of children and two, fifty percent of all students will never learn to read at average levels. The lawyer adds, at a statistically level.

Its apparent that the American school district in question, like its Canadian counterparts are following their legal obligations as prescribed in law and the school acts to provide a building, a set of books, the delivery of education services that enables students to develop their individual potential. Outcomes of students, schools nor the actual operations and administration are not obligated under the law, to be held accountable for ineffective education services and operations of the school district. As I concluded in my first post, “One can only conclude - The education stakeholders of the public education system in the near future will either be facing massive lawsuits for providing ineffective and poor education outcomes of students, and if not, the education stakeholders better get cracking in improving the education futures of the public students they claimed they serve.”  Its the 21st century, and NOT the 19th century.

Thank you Nancy.

Canadian sources.  Do not understand why you bother with the American stuff when there is relevant Canadian material to sink you teeth into.
Clearly you have the sources - why not use them and ignore the marginal system down south?

best.  Mirka

It is just a matter of budget allocation, and putting the right people in charge. You need to take a look at states that are doing this correctly, and apply their processes. Funding is not the issue here, and maybe you need to turn to legal procedures to have this resolved

I actually lived near that school system that you’re talking about in Michigan, I work as an <A >Dentist</a> and had many of those students and their parents as patients. That school was indeed horrible, I never realized they were spending 20k$ per student, that changes my entire mindset on the deal.