VOL. 49 — NO. 5 Jan/Feb 2011POSTMASTER: All forms 3579 are to be forwarded to Detroit Federation of Teachers, 2875 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202

New DFTOfficersTake OathAFT Michigan President David

Hecker gave the oath of office Jan.20 to the newly elected DFT presi-dent, officers, executive board, andtrustees. All were from the Unitedfor Teacher Rights (UTR) slate.The oath came at the beginning of

a contentious DFT general member-ship meeting. President KeithJohnson won by 41 votes. The otherfive officers won by margins of 330to 530 votes.Presidential challenger Steve

Conn demanded a recount of therunoff election immediately after thevotes were tabulated Jan. 15. Beforeleaving the DFT hall that night, theElection Committee agreed to therequest and presented Conn and hisattorneys with written procedures forthe recount. The procedures clearlystated that the votes would berecounted using the Scantronmachines.Four days later, on the day of the

scheduled recount, Conn demandeda “hand” recount of the ballots. Thenext day at the membership meeting,Conn and several candidates fromhis slate asked for an entirely newelection.The Election Committee consid-

ered the requests and voted againstthem. “Keith Johnson has won this elec-

tion three times—in November,December and the January recount,”O’Keefe said. The re count showedJohnson winning by 40 votes,instead of 41, and the ElectionCommittee certified the recount.All work locations and all ballots

were accounted for. Some 365 bal-lots were spoiled by voting for twopeople for the same office. Seventy-six other ballots did not vote for apresident. 275 other ballots were un -opened and uncounted because of“agency shop” status, failure to paydues, or failure to submit a member-ship application as required in theDFT bylaws.

Wrestling as a Life Lessonat Academy of the Americas

Three days a week, 60 stu-dents at the Academy of theAmericas flood the gym

after school and wrestle.While wrestling seems natural

to kids, this formal sport is notwidespread in Detroit schools.Not one Detroit public highschool has a team.The Academy of Americas’ co-

ed team includes kindergartenersthrough eighth-graders. Even thethree-year-old son of the coachtumbles on the mat. The coachexcludes no one.“They can’t wear diapers or be

crybabies, that’s about it,” sayscoach Jose Ramirez, the 36-year-old physical education teacherwho introduced wrestling to theschool.What does wrestling teach kids?“Patriotism,” Ramirez says.

“Most of my kids, like myself,

like their parents, are immigrants.But they believe that if you workhard in school, you can go far.These guys still have theAmerican dream.”Ambition. Confidence.

Kindness. These are the virtues,Ramirez says, kids learn fromwrestling.Ramirez said wrestling – in high

school in Florida and at EasternMichigan University – built hisconfidence.“Wresting for me was training

for life,” he says. “My parents sawtheir shy ninth-grade son get thecourage to walk across the halland ask a young lady to dance.” Italso opened the world to Ramirez,the son of Mexican migrant work-ers with 11 children. Wrestlinggot him on a jet for the first timeand took him as far as Paris.“I tell the parents: your kids are

going to develop self confidencefor anything they want to accom-plish,” he said. “It’s the purestsport. It doesn’t matter if you’reblack or white, rich or poor. Oncethe whistle blows and the matchstarts, everything is equal.”Ramirez credits his college

coach Mike Rodriquez with fillingthe gym for a match at theAcademy of the Americas thiswinter.“One hundred kids were in that

gym,” Ramirez said, “as a productof him reaching out to me.”

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The Last Poets, an activistsinging group in the 1960s,once said in a song “The revo-

lution will not be televised.” The planoutlined by Robert Bobb to addressthe deficit-plagued DPS should incitea televised revolution by the citizensof Detroit.The children of Detroit are not

consumed products of a profit-driven

corporation like a car, or computersoftware. They are human beings.The school district is not a corpora-tion like Ford or GM. You cannotsimply cut the models that are notselling in order to gain a profit.Splitting DPS into two separate butunequal districts is tantamount toreversing Brown v. Board ofEducation circa 1954.This community cannot sacrifice

the educational future of a segmentof its children. It cannot sentence

(ISSN 0011-9695)

The Detroit Teacher is the official pub-lication of the Detroit Federation ofTeachers, American Federation ofTeachers Local 231, AFL-CIO.Member of the Union Teacher PressAssociation, Inter national LaborPress Association and MichiganLabor Press.

The Detroit Teacher is publishedmonthly, except for July and August,for $4 per year by The DetroitFederation of Teachers, 2875 W.Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202.Periodical Postage Paid at Detroit, MI. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to The Detroit Teacher,2875 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI48202.

Editor — Margaret Weertzmweertz@dft231.com

313-875-6776

Page 2 The Detroit Teacher January/February 2011

them to an inferior educationwrought with inferior buildings, notechnology, and insufficient supplieswhile other children have the oppor-tunity to flourish in sparkling newstate-of-the-art buildings with all theamenities available to enhance teach-ing and learning.We already know which schools

would be in the “elite” district;schools such as Cass Tech,Renaissance, Luddington, the newMumford, the new Martin LutherKing, the new Finney, the newBrightmoor, the new Clark Park, thenew Western International, BatesAcademy etc.Are these children and their par-

ents more deserving than the specialneeds students at Keidan Center, orDurfee, Mae C. Jemison and others?What Mr. Bobb should present to

the state is a case for forgiving the$230 million loan that was presentedto DPS in 2005, a loan that the stateknew DPS was not in a position torepay and, given the declining popu-lation, the eroding tax base, anddeclining enrollment, would NEVERbe in a position to repay.Mr. Bobb’s plan should infuriate

not only the citizens of Detroit butthe lawmakers in Lansing and Gov.Snyder. This is what you’d expectfrom a bean-counter, not an acade-

mician.While it is true you cannot cut

your way to prosperity, you also can-

not demonstrate a willingness to tella segment of this community andtheir children that they are “lessthan” and thus expendable.The revolution may be televised

after all and it will not be must seeTV.

HONORING KING – Golightly fifth-grade teacher David Boye organizeda march through the school Jan. 14 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.Day. The students are learning about the civil rights activist and 1964Nobel Peace Prize winner who would be 82 this year.

KeithJohnson

President’s Report

DPS worst in nation? Don’t Believe It!By Mark O’Keefe

Last spring, NAEP test resultswere released and DPS scoreswere the lowest in the history of

the test. Based on these scores, DPShas been referredto as the worstschool district inthe country. Butthere is much moreto this story.Nobody can

argue that theNAEP scores areacceptable. Thequestion is: Arethey the best indi-

cator of the performance of DPS?For DPS students, teachers, and

administrators, the annual MEAP testhas been the holy grail of standardizedtesting for years. The curriculum isaligned with MEAP, students have

been offered MEAP preparation classesin summer school and after school, andthe tests have been used to determineAYP and as criteria for closing schools.The MEAP is given to all students in

grades three through eight in all DPSschools, and in all other public schoolsin Michigan. The NAEP test was givento fourth- and eighth-grade students ina few select DPS schools and studentsin 19 other cities throughout the coun-try. No Michigan students outside ofDPS took the NAEP test.Over 50 percent of DPS students

take the MEAP test. Just 3 percent ofour students took the NAEP.DPS has a track record with MEAP

that is decades long. We have taken theNAEP once.Which test should be relied on when

assessing the performance of DPSschools? If the NAEP shows we areworst in the nation, we must certainlybe at the bottom of the state scores. Yet

the MEAP scores show something verydifferent.Sixty-one percent of our third-

through eighth-graders were proficientor advanced on the MEAP math test.Sixty-eight percent scored at those lev-els in reading. While these scores arebelow our targets, they are far from theworst in the state, let alone the worst inthe nation.It is insulting and misleading for dis-

trict officials to say that our NAEPscores could have been achievedthrough random guessing, when two-thirds of our students scored atadvanced or proficient levels on MEAP.Let’s not color this debate with a

one-shot test given to a few kids whoweren’t prepared for it. Let’s look atthe MEAP test we’ve used for decades,taken by all of our students, and usethat to help the lowest one-thirdachieve at the same high level as thevast majority of our students.

Mark O’Keefe

Emergency Financial Manager's "Plan" Should Incite a Community Revolution

PHoto by Ricardo Thomas

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January/February 2011 The Detroit Teacher Page 3

Updates...Retirements AnnouncedThe following DFT members have

retired: George Troia, ErnestineJones-Belk, Cynthia Patton, MarjieBenson, Karen Simister, Faith Pruitt-Adkins. If you have retired in the lastsix months and would like itannounced, please call the editor at313-875-6776.

Jackie Robinson Art, Essay and Poetry ContestJackie Robinson broke the color

barrier in his debut with the BrooklynDodgers on April 15, 1947, markinga milestone in baseball history. As away of celebrating this momentousevent and keeping the memory of

Jackie Robinsonalive, the DetroitTigers inviteMichigan schoolsto participate in the15th Annual JackieRobinson Art,Essay and Poetry

Contest. The contest is open to mid-dle and high school students from themetropolitan Detroit region. Studentsmay enter the contest by submittingan original essay, poem, or work ofart in honor of Jackie Robinson. Forthe entry forms and requirements goto www.tigers.com/education. Thedeadline is March 4.

Let’s Take Back Control of DFT MeetingsBy Steven Portnoy

Lately there has been somethingmissing from the DFT generalmembership meetings. Some

people might say it is civility, othersmay say manners, still others couldsay respect. What I miss from themeetings are the children and theirparents who used to attend on a regu-lar basis.You may recall that the kids would

typically sit quietly and color or dotheir homework. The children had beenwith their regular teacher during theday and were able to continue learningfrom teachers in the evening. What didthey learn, you might ask? Until recent-ly they learned democratic principles,comradery, organization and unity.One might ask, “So, where did the

children go?” The simple answer isthat the children have been frightenedaway. But what could possibly fright-en small children at a membershipmeeting? Adults acting like children. A small but vocal segment of the

union appears to have decided therules don’t apply to them. Theyexhibit excessive, self-centered, andimmature behavior. These few peoplelack consideration for other people,display recurrent temper tantrums,have an inability to delay gratificationand constantly demand their own

way.Obstructionand manipula-tion appearsto be theirprime motiva-tion. And fur-thermore, theybelieve theyrepresent theother 99 per-cent of the membership.I propose we return to the way

things were before the Dec. 10, 2009membership meeting. This was thefirst of four that erupted into free-for-all, video taped meetings that werebroadcast all over the Internet.We can take back control of our

meetings. The meetings are designedto involve all members in the demo-cratic process, to inform us of impor-tant issues and to help us bond asbrothers and sisters. The way we take back control is for

you to attend the monthly member-ship meetings and to hold those whowould embarrass us responsible fortheir actions.The membership meetings are

where important union business takesplace. Don’t let a small group of mis-guided people make important deci-sions for you. See you on the secondThursday of the month.

Success! DFT WinsTwo Major GrievancesThe DFT announces the win of two

major grievances. This month 45 spe-cial education transition team work-ers who attended a workshop inMarch 2008 were finally paid for thatworkshop. The district had not paidthe teachers for the SpecializedStudentServicesWorkshopthey attended.

"I'm reallyproud and I'mvery happy,"said MershiraOliver, theDFT LaborRelationsAdministratorwho filed thegrievances and saw them through.

Oliver also successfully won agrievance for 36 Cody High Schoolteachers not paid for 20 hours ofwork to organize and prepare for thenew high school program at Cody.Each of those teachers will be paid$470.

"Cody principal JohnathonMatthews agreed with and supportedthe teachers," Oliver said, "in theirquest to be compensated for the finejob and hard work they did to set upthe program."

Auto Show Brings International MediaDetroit teachers were interviewed by the international media as itdescended on Detroit in mid January to cover the North AmericanInternational Auto Show. Pictured above is Sten Sjorstom, a corre-spondent with Swedish Radio, the public radio station of Sweden.Several teachers from the Peer Assistance and Review program wereinterviewed including those pictured above (from left): Lisa Brigel, IvyBailey, Curtis Dunlap and Mary Mavarak. The teachers said there ismore collaboration with the district and they are excited about theinnovative initiatives in the new contract, including the PAR program.

2011 Retiree Chapter New Board MembersThe DFT Retiree Chapter is going strong with a new board. DFT retirees are

encouraged to come. Meetings are the third Tuesday of the month. The nextmeeting is Feb. 15 at 11:30 a.m. at the DFT hall. Pictured below from left are:Richard Berlin, recording secretary; Arthur Divers, vice chair; Ricardo Thomas,program chair; Jewel Gines, chair; and Virginia Staunch.

Mershira Oliver

Steven Portnoy

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a song they produced. They wrote thelyrics to “Saying no to junk food,”

created the beat and burnedit to a CD — all on theirMacBooks.

Their teacher, AngelitaDavis, left, and her col-leagues at Dossin are tryingto make Dossin one of thepremier elementary techschools in Michigan. Dossinis often the only Detroitschool invited to variousMACUL conferences.

This year students in herseventh- and eighth-gradelibrary tech team areSkyping students in class-rooms around the country.

“My dream,” the energeticDavis says, “is to Skype aclassroom in every one ofthe 50 states.”

Page 4 The Detroit Teacher January/February 2011

Let’s Re-educateOurselves About

Martin Luther King Jr.

Detroit teacher Willie Dechavezexhorted the people to “re-educateourselves about Martin Luther KingJr. to understand what he believed inand worked for.”

Dechavez urged this in a speech atthe MLK Holiday Celebration ofMacomb County on Jan. 17 at theRoyalty House in Warren.

Dechavez, chair of the Michiganchapter of the National Federation ofFilipino American Associations,spoke at the celebration as chair of

this year’s MLK Dayevent attended by 1,300people.

“Tonight we honor thelife and leg acy of a greatman who brought hopeand healing to ournation,” he said. The val-ues King advocated andpracticed, he said, arecourage, justice, humili-ty and service.

“Dr. King inspired usto help build a communi-ty – a community that

embraces different faiths, ethnicitiesand races, and a community thatembraces people from different walksof life,” said Dechavez, who is a teacherat DPS’s Blackwell Institute.

“We have to teach others, especial-ly today’s youth and the next genera-tions, more about his life and nonvio-lent struggle for justice and peace,” hesaid.

The MLK Holiday Celebration ofMacomb County is an annual event ofthe Interfaith Center for Racial Justiceheaded by the Rev. Michail Curro.

Dossin Tech Team Goes to Lansing

One thing that’s as certain asThanksgiving every year.Dossin Elementary School

will be invited to theMichigan StudentTechnology Showcaseat the Capital inLansing.

Dossin was among50 Michigan schoolsNov. 10 to showcasetheir students’ projectsusing iMovie, Power -Point, MicrosoftPublishing, Black boardor Garage Band (toname a few).

The event, spon-sored by the MichiganAssociation forComputer Users inLearning (MACUL),shows how studentsuse technology to inte-grate other subject

areas and deepen their understand-ing of both technology and academ-ics.

EXTRAVAGANZA AT GOMPERSJohna Treadwell, above, music teacher at Gompers ElementarySchool, delivered her usual holiday extravaganza on Dec. 16.This year the theme was the song “This Christmas” by DonnyHathaway. Students from preschool to fifth-grade dressed tothe nines to sing, dance and play music in the spirit of the hol-idays. The whole school, parents included, ended the affairsinging “This Christmas.”

In Lansing, 12-year-olds TyroneBean and GeQuan French showed off

Willie Dechavez

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January/February 2011 The Detroit Teacher Page 5

Finney Teacher Puts Art in Graffiti’s Way

Finney art teacherPatrick Burton isknown for motivating

students on a grand scale.His students painted a hugemural on a wall at the oldFinney High School thatdepicted historical African-American figures from slav-ery to President BarackObama.

“No one touched thatmural,” Burton said. “It wasa source of pride.”

When Finney closed andmoved into the old McNairschool, Burton noticed graf-fiti creeping up on thebuilding. There were gang-related symbols, profanityand negativity.

Burton, a 26-year Detroitteacher, asked principal Jared Davis if he could attack the problem with his paintbrushes.

Now an eclectic mural is appearing in the boys and girls bathrooms, sectionedfor each art student to contribute.

“They could do whateverthey wanted,” Burton said,“but it had to have a positivemessage.”

A student is painting aquotation by Malcolm X:“The future belongs to thosewho prepare for it today.”Others are painting flowers,peace signs and HarlemRenaissance themes.

Burton, a graduate of CassTechnical High School andthe prestigious School of theArt Institute of Chicago, isdelighted with the positivesymbols springing up. AndDavis is delighted byBurton’s “can do” attitude.Finney had 19 entrees lastyear in the Detroit Instituteof Arts Student Art Exhibit.A school can only submit25.

“When you think about the best art students, you wouldn’t think Finney,”Burton said. But each year Burton’s students have a large showing at the exhibit.

“He makes every kid draw,” Davis says. “Somehow he makes artists out ofthese kids.”

Vetal School Hosts Judicial DayJudge Terry Clark did something

intriguing when he visited VetalSchool Jan. 19. He let 13-year-

old Joshua Dotson wear his blackrobe and hold his gavel.

“Even though I was one of 10kids,” Clark said, “Even though Igrew up in the projects of Saginaw, Iknew what I wanted was achiev-able.”

Clark, the first African Americanjudge in Saginaw’s 70th DistrictCourt, said by ninth grade, he knewhe wanted to be a lawyer.

“You’ve got to start thinking aboutyour purpose,” he said to the middleschool boys in the Vetal cafeteria.

Down the hall in the auditorium,36th District Court Judge DonnaRobinson Milhouse, echoed thosesentiments to Vetal’s pre-teen girls.

“Everyone has a hidden talent,”Milhouse said. “You should be try-ing to see what that purpose is.”

Vetal behavior specialist Kathy

Hemingway and her colleagues real-ized it was important for the stu-dents to see what black judges looklike and hear what obstacles theseprofessionals hadto overcome toget where theyare.

“These judgeshad to go throughthe same thingsyou have to,”Hemingway said.“You can do whatyou want in life,but you have tobe very, verydetermined.”

Vetal’s“Judicial Day”was a resoundingsuccess, judgingby the students’interest and atten-tion. The day wasorganized byHemingway and

36th District Court Judge Donna Robinson Milhouse, Vetal eighth-grader Joshua Dotson,70th District Court Judge Terry Clark, and Vetal Behavior Specialist Kathy Hemingway.

her colleagues: Principal Philip VanHooks, Walter Smith, John Becker,James Porter, Renee Williams, Erica

Davis, Mshindari Cook, Lynn Maye,Philip Owens, Nesha Dougal, andDr. Joan Rivers.

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Dads came in constructionbibs from their jobs. Momscuddled with their kids.Parents read to kids and kids to par-ents. The Pasteur Elementary Schoolgym was wall-to-wall blankets forFamily Reading Night on Dec. 8.Rene Green, a paraprofessional atPasteur, organized the reading nightto bring the close-knit communityinto the school to build readingskills. The 11-year DPS employee is

the go-to person for such events atPasteur.

“She’s extremely creative,” saidteacher Yvette French.Green and LSCO presidentAnthony Muhammad, picturedabove, work together to organizethis and other events, like a parentleadership training conference, tobridge the community and the school.

“We want parents to take 30 minutes a day to build their child’s

reading skills,” Green said.

tu

sim T

Davison Broadcast CrewGoes to Lansing

Davison Elementary School was represented at the Student TechnologyShowcase at the Capital Building in Lansing in November. Davison’s broadcastanchors met with State Sen. Martha Scott (above) and State Rep. Bert Johnson.Thanks to “Good Morning Davison” producers – art teacher Tony Shopinskiand kindergarten teacher Judy Robinson – the crew has been broadcasting dailyfor nearly 11 years at Davison. The TV program presents school news, weath-er, sports and other information every morning on a closed-circuit system. Thecrew has been invited to present each year at this event, sponsored by theMichigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL), along withstudents from around the state.

Photo by Michael R. Porter

Soldier Visits O.W.Holmes SchoolAfter Sept. 11, 2001, O.W. Holmes teacher Stacey Apap and her

students started sending care packages to the firefighters and policein New York. Soon the country entered war with Iraq andAfghanistan.It’s been 10 years and the packages keep going out of O.W.

Holmes. They are filledwith notes and cookiesand other goodies, nowfor the troops fightingabroad.Apap, a third-grade

teacher, said the goodgesture is more than just agesture. It’s a learningexperience for the kids.They think about some-one else, someone who issacrificing for others. In

addition, they learn geography, history and our core democratic val-ues.Airman Marisa Carter, a Detroit Public School graduate, was

touched by the letters and cookies she received. She asked Apap ifshe could visit the school on a trip to Detroit. “I would love to comeand meet the kids,” she told Apap. Carter visited the school Jan. 11to much excitement. Pictured above is from left, Apap, Carter andLynzi Johnson, hearing impaired teacher.

Cuddling U Pasteur Elem

LSCO president Anthony Muham

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