MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
2018 MEN OF EXCELLENCE
Induction Celebration NEW DATE
MA R CA YOU K LE R ND AR
Friday, August 3, 2018 | 6PM - 9PM Motor City Casino
Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 81 – No. 45 | July 18-24, 2018
Powered by Real Times Media | michiganchronicle.com
Groundbreaking for new Gordie Howe Bridge in SW Detroit Statement from Council Member Raquel Castañeda-López
After more than 15 years of speculation and negotiation, I am happy the groundbreaking for the Gordie Howe Bridge happened on Tuesday, July 17, 2018. Today’s event symbolizes a hopeful new day for Delray and that hope rests on how well the City, State, Canada and Bridging North America work together to make sure every step of the process moving forward is fair and equitable. The new public bridge will bring tremendous opportunity to our community and city in the form of economic development and jobs - increasing the ease of trade and safety for workers and residents crossing the border. More than that, this project has the potenRaquel Castañeda-López tial to transform the lives of the people living just next door - the families and children of Delray & southwest Detroit. For the past 15 years the community has been fighting in the trenches to protect the dignity and well-being of every single family living in Delray. Together we have been fighting for common sense solutions that protect our right to breath clean air so our kids can play outside without fear of harmful dust, have safe streets where we don’t have to worry about truck traffic or blight and to ensure our neighbors can stay in their homes, and access living wage jobs to thrive in Delray, rather than just survive. I look forward to working with the community, Mayor’s Office, Bridging North America, State and WDBA to develop common sense solutions that support: • Delray residents access to decent homes, for renters and homeowners that choose to stay, through home repair programs • Clean air and the reduction of dust and noise pollution through the re-planting of the 4,000 trees being cut down to build the bridge, diesel mitigation programs and ongoing health impact assessments • Training local residents for the jobs to come and using local contractors for things like catering, landscaping, etc. • Families being able to visit the riverfront and learn about our country’s history at Ft. Wayne, ensuring everyone has access to the park. I know Council, the Mayor’s Office, the State, Bridging North America and Canada are dedicated to ensuring that all residents are able to live a dignified life in a safe, healthy and thriving community. The success of this project rests on our ability to do so. I look forward to partnering with the City, State, Canada and Bridging North America to creating a beautiful gateway into our countries that highlights the promise and potential we share as Americans and Canadians.
WHAT’S INSIDE
National teacher shortage impacts DPSCD recruiting efforts By Koby Levin Eastern Michigan University's traditional teacher certification program is on the list of teacher pipelines for Detroit's main district. So are alternative programs with far fewer requirements. At an EMU hiring fair, teachers said they are having no trouble finding jobs. Detroit’s main school district is proceeding with a plan to hire teachers who are certified but have received no training in the classroom — adding an element of controversy to efforts to fill hundreds of teacher vacancies by the end of summer. The board of education recently approved a hiring plan proposed by Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, signaling that the district will lean partly on programs that offer so-called interim teaching certificates. The move drew blowback from board members and parents, who argued that Detroit children deserve teachers who have been trained in the classroom. “I don’t think the alternative route teachers are nearly as prepared as the traditional route,” said school board member LaMar Lemmons. “It will increase the academic disparity, as you have less qualified and less experienced teachers.”
Online, where much of the debate over district hiring practices took place, some parents worried that teachers with interim certificates would be unprepared to manage a classroom. “So your first day of teaching will be your first day ever in front of children?” Cynthia Jackson, a Detroit parent, wrote on Chalkbeat Detroit’s Facebook page. “You don’t think that’s going to be a problem?” For others, the news that the district will consider candidates with alternative certifications was a call to action. Nikki Key, a Detroit parent who has a master’s degree in business, commented on Facebook that the teacher shortage has her considering a career in education. “I’ve seen what is being offered to our children, trust me … my lack of classroom time is not your problem,” she said. I actually am one of the ones that want to do the job that no one else is signing up for.” The approved hiring plan calls for district officials to undertake a wide-ranging search, recruiting candidates from other school districts, from traditional schools of education, from historically black colleges — and from alternate certification programs. These
state-approved
programs
require little more from prospective teachers than a bachelor’s degree. One such program is Teachers of Tomorrow, a controversial for-profit entity that provides prospective teachers with an interim teaching certificate, after they complete only 200 hours of online instruction. District officials are holding out hope that teachers who haven’t trained in a classroom will nonetheless be an improvement over the uncertified substitutes who currently occupy the district’s more than 200 vacant teaching positions. Vitti has said that the district would prefer to hire traditionally certified teachers exclusively, but that the realities of supply and demand make that impossible for now. Among those following the debate was Dan Finegan, a 25-year-old Michigan native with a master’s degree in social work. He is among Teachers of Tomorrow’s inaugural cohort. Finegan expects to start work as a Spanish teacher in the Detroit Public Schools Community District this fall. Is he ready to teach? He says yes, but he mainly credits the year he spent volunteering as a tutor in Detroit schools. And he worries that others certified through Teachers of Tomorrow, which offers no student
See DEBATE page A5
Wayne County Community College District’s Detroit Urban Summit III: Addressing educational inequity in urban areas
By Michael V. Hubbard
Chauncey Billups returns to Detroit with BIG3 league Game. C3
When Curtis Ivery became chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) in 1995, he promised his wife he would stay at the job for two years. Twenty-three years later, he’s one of the longest serving community college chancellors and he doesn’t seem ready to leave the Michigan college anytime soon. “It’s been an odyssey,” Ivery says. WCCCD opened its doors in 1967, during a time when cities across the nation were experiencing protests and civil uprise, including Detroit. Following Detroit’s own experience, Detroit leaders sought to create new opportunities for residents, including higher education. In those first decades, though, there was a revolving door of chancellors and little stability.
$1.00
al elements endemic to urban neighborhoods dealing with poverty, such as finding adequate access to transportation, child care and housing. Many can’t afford textbooks. Most receive financial aid.
When Ivery took over nearly 25 years later, he spent his early years stabilizing the district.
WCCCD grew from serving 7,000 students to serving nearly 70,000 annually. WCCCD is the largest urban community college District in the state, covering some 36 cities and townships, and 500 square miles. Its students are diverse, speaking some 50 different languages and coming from every walk of life. But being the largest open-door urban institution means dealing with perennial issues that don’t necessarily affect other institutions. “I’ve spent a lot of time explaining what it is to be an urban
institution and to serve our population,” Ivery says. The goal of WCCCD is to create pathways to better lives through higher education. Being a front-line provider of higher education means meeting students where they are and helping them grow to where they want to be. Many WCCCD students work at least part time. Some have families; are transitioning from careers they thought would make them recession proof. Still others are dealing with structur-
When Ivery talks about the students, he describes a broad spectrum of people, but the stories that affect him the most are those that are overcoming untold hurdles to get an education: students who spend two-and-a-half hours on buses to get to class; students who are temporarily living in shelters, and those who have not set foot in a classroom for more than a decade. “We have had to redefine the mission of community college,” Ivery said. “We are not just an institution that enhances educational outcomes for our students, but one that is also invested in empowering the communities in which we serve, including addressing structural hurdles our students confront
See SUMMIT page A2