community


By John Telford By now, many of you are


aware that I’ve accepted an invitation from new board president Anthony Adams to serve on a leadership commit- tee with Helen Moore, former president Bill Brooks and others. Our charge is to de- termine the qualifications for the next superintendent and board and to plan the adminis- trative configuration for when Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is duly thanked for his service and departs in March. However, his job is sig- nificantly unfinished, and Lan- sing could therefore still hand the DPS reins to the mayor or appoint another EFM.


honestly enacted. They in- cluded annual evaluations for all administrators and written and oral tests that administra- tors be required to pass and then be placed on an unrigged eligibility list with the highest- scoring candidates at the top to be appointed first, with no tampering, when a vacancy oc- curred.


This was the fair and ef-


ficient process when I first became a DPS administrator in 1967. No more promoting central-office and on-site ad- ministrators despite inferior credentials just because they


THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE


September 8-14, 2010 This time, let’s really reform DPS


happen to be some honcho’s friend or relative.


Sherry Dagnogo, a commit-


tee member who has assumed coordinative duties for it, shared with the committee an 11,000-word treatise on DPS reform I wrote in 1999 just before Dr. Burnley became CEO. In it, I posed 20 ques- tions, including: “Does there still remain very little top- down and virtually no bottom- up communication?” “Are at- tendance and graduation rates woefully low, are students being advanced from grade to grade before they are quali-


fied, and is student misbehav- ior hampering instruction in many schools?” “Are there ex- treme inequities in funding be- tween some of the schools?” “Is the central warehouse a vast desert of unopened crates of textbooks, equipment, and other materials that never made it to the classrooms?” “Is there an excess of admin- istrative and support staff at the central office?” “Is there in place no annualized long- range planning mechanism?” The answer to these and the rest of my questions was and still is yes.


In the document, I


offered solutions. As a newly- appointed instructional execu- tive director in the fall of 2000, I submitted it to Dr. Burnley’s chief academic officer, who promptly placed it in her “cir- cular file.”


I trust that our leadership


committee will come up with a good blueprint for better- ment with regard to all these issues, and I hope the board is enabled to enact our plan.


Let me say it again. We need


for them to find a caring, com- mitted, capable, courageous, incorruptible superintendent


(preferably with local experi- ence and definitely with both academic and fiscal exper- tise).


Then — as I’ve also said


many times — we need for them to back him or her en- tirely without any self-serving politicking. Get out of his way and let him or her do the job.


Dr. Telford’s tell-all memoir


on DPS is available at Barnes & Noble stores, at www.Alife- ontheRUN.com, and at Har- monie Park Press, (586) 979- 2077.


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Telford’s


Telescope By John Telford


While I favor a re-empow-


ered board, I pray that all the disputants over who will con- trol DPS can get the issue re- solved soon and come together to work cooperatively for the sake of our suffering children.


As I mentioned in my Aug.


25 column, I served on Mayor Archer’s similar team in 1999 and on Gov. Granholm’s team chaired by Rev. Anthony in 2005. Those teams wrote ex- cellent transition plans, which incoming boards and admin- istrations then generally ig- nored.


I wrote much of the 2005


plan for reforming Human Re- sources specifically, but not one of those reforms was ever


Employment opportunities in rural


communities Hog farmers in Michigan


need well-trained staff mem- bers to work in highly skilled positions. That’s where Swine Jobs School comes in.


Through a combination of


classroom instruction and hands-on learning on local swine farms, Swine Jobs School trains interested stu- dents for positions on modern swine farms. Classroom ses- sions will be held at the Schoolcraft Township Build- ing in Vicksburg.


The school focuses on stu-


dents who have completed high school and are looking for immediate employment or workers who are currently unemployed and looking for opportunities to re-enter the workforce. The program is de- signed to help students learn the skills they need to work on swine farms as well as the job and interpersonal skills they need for employment. The school is taught, orga- nized and sponsored by MSU Extension swine specialists and Extension educators.


During the first two weeks


of Swine Jobs School, the class meets for eight sessions that combine classroom in- struction and on-farm, super- vised training. These sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sept. 13-16.


According to Jeff Taylor,


production manager for Circle K Family Farms LLC and La- fayette Pork Production LLC, Swine Jobs School graduates have a greater opportunity for success than other new em- ployees entering their system.


“We are very pleased with


the Swine Jobs School gradu- ates currently working on our farms,” Taylor said. “We pay them a competitive wage and allow them the opportunity for advancement. Swine Jobs School graduates come into our system better prepared for the positions with a greater chance of success than if we hire new employees with the intent of training them inter- nally.”


If you know of someone who


may be interested in working on a hog farm, or if you have employees on your farm that you’d like to see obtain fur- ther training, contact Jerry May (e-mail mayg@msu.edu, phone (989) 875-5233) or Dale Rozeboom (e-mail rozeboom@ msu.edu, phone (517) 355- 8398). Swine Jobs School ap- plications, a class syllabus and expectations for the on- farm training are available at http://bit.ly/swinejobs.


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