Rock Meet Hard Place AKA The Boss AKA I Kind of Hate Kevin Cotter

I substitute teach in Detroit area charter schools.

This has been a wild month  for me. Even without the DPS stuff.

So much so that I think it's long time I got out. I could do the professional thing, keep doing my job and then silently move on at the summer, but the thing I want to do with my life is speak truth, and like I said I kind of wanted to get out for along time anyway for a lot of reasons. So even if it might piss off the bosses something needs to be said loud and clear to the state legislature.

Charter schools are not a magical cure all to education in Detroit. A lot of the charter schools I've been to have the same problems for the same reasons. Students are unprepared to work on grade level, many have challenging home backgrounds, parents have to balance real financial and work difficulties with tending to their children's educations. Teachers are paid to the point where financially even they have to balance other life priorities with all the stuff they do off hours.

Heralding school choice is not going to change anything unless standards are put into place and resources are put in, which given the current political environment isn't going to happen.

Look I'm a sub so I'm not going to even pretend I get the full blast of it. I can come and go as I please, I generally don't have to check papers. All the same almost everybody I meet seems overworked and underpaid and yes it must be said even though I also fit that bill under-trained, especially when it comes to how to handle students with special needs.

It seems to me that this is another case where the people of Michigan embodied by our legislators don't want to pay the cost for services we have come to expect.

Being the democrat (lower case) I am, if that's what the people want so be it. I've made my peace with it.

But I do feel the need to raise my hand.

Even if I sometimes feel stuck even I know we don't live in our little fiefdom. Michigan as a whole and Detroit as a city has to compete with the rest of the country, nay the rest of the world for talent, investment money and all that good stuff.

And not being able to get the barebone basics rolling, schools, roads and pipes we send the message to all the people in control of those resources that if they want to do anything they want they'll have all of that against them where if they choose some where else they might not, (hint hint nudge nudge I'm getting out of here if and when I get the cash)