LANSING (WKZO-AM/FM) — It appears settlements will be reached in the lawsuits filed by Kalamazoo Public Schools and other districts over the authority of the School Reform Office to close schools.
Many of the issues that triggered the legal action are now moot.
Since the suits were filed, the Gov. Rick Snyder has ordered that the SRO be transferred back to the Department of Education and separate “partnerships” have been arranged to avoid school closures.
Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stevens says they have a tentative settlement on the broad strokes and are still negotiating the details.
The decision by the SRO to notify the parents of students at Woodward School for Technology and the Washington Writers Academy that they should begin looking for other schools for their children because they planned to close the two elementary buildings infuriated parents and mobilized the school district to challenge the basic notion that the buildings were at fault for low test scores.
It was particularly disturbing because Woodward had undergone millions for renovations and upgrades and Washington was practically a brand new school building.
They also challenged the authority of the reconstituted School Reform Office, which had been removed from the Education Department, to the Governor’s Office to order the closure of schools.
The suit claimed the language in the order that transferred the SRO did not include the authority to order the closure of schools.
No one is declaring victory but the districts have effectively won if their goal was to keep the schools open and to get the School Reform Office off their backs.
