The Buena Vista school district in Michigan accepted $402,000 of aid over three months from the state for a service is was not providing. As RT reports [3], the school district has taken the drastic steps of firing all of its teachers and shuttering its classrooms before the end of the school-year as the state tries to claw back (or seek an alternative plan) its ill-gotten gains. "We've hit a dead end," the local school district explains, unable to help the school of 400 mostly black and poor students, explaining that they are hesitant to bailout school districts and set a bad precedent. One parent exclaimed, "Our kids ain't really learning like they used to," adding that, "being out of school this early is going to hurt them a lot." The local democratic Representative added helpfully, "we know from past history that students have been treated differently - going back to Brown vs Board of Education." Buena Vista teachers had offered to work without pay for a week, but that was not enough to keep the district's schools open. Instead, the district may offer a “skills camp,” a voluntary substitute paid for by federal grants, and run six hours per day for up to six weeks.
Via Russia Today, [3] [3]
A Michigan school district has had to take the drastic step of firing all of its teachers and shuttering its classrooms before the end of the school year, though it may offer students the option of attending a “skills camp.”
Hundreds of students served by the Buena Vista district will not finish the academic year in mid-June as planned, as the state is withholding school aid for three months after accepting money for a program it was not providing.
According to an investigation by the Huffington Post, the already struggling district of some 400 mostly black and poor students began a downward spiral after the state of Michigan froze school funding to recover $402,000 that was supposed to be spent running the Wolverine Secure Treatment Center, an alternative school.
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Richard Syrek, superintendent of Saginaw County Intermediate School District (which oversees Buena Vista), said it would too expensive for other districts to accept Buena Vista students, citing legal issues.
"The legal parts have kept us from doing some of the things we wanted to do," Syrek told the Huffington Post.
"We've hit a dead end," he added.
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Buena Vista teachers had offered to work without pay for a week, but that was not enough to keep the district's schools open. Instead, the district may offer a “skills camp,” a voluntary substitute paid for by federal Title I and Title 31 A grants, and run six hours per day for up to six weeks.
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That potential solution has not sat well with Representative Stacey Erwin Oakes, a Democratic state legislator who also represents Buena Vista.
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"We know from past history that students have been treated differently, going back to Brown v. Board of Education," she added.
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"When they go to college, it's hard. The math, they don't get. Their reading levels are low. They're just passing them along. Them being out of school this early is going to hurt them a lot,"