KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — Kalamazoo Public Schools will file a lawsuit with the Michigan Court of Claims early next week on behalf of nine parents who have children in Woodward and Washington Magnet Schools, challenging the authority of Gov. Rick Snyder’s School Reform Office.
Saginaw Public Schools will be joining them in court, challenging the SRO.
Supt. Michael Rice introduced some of the parents to the media, who gave their reasons for opposing the closing, and discussed the damage caused and the concerns raised by a letter distributed to parents by the SRO. The letter told them that the school their child was attending was “failing,” and offered them a list of alternative schools they may want to consider for their children.
Parent Briana Wolverton said her heart broke when they got the letter. She says she had to constantly explain to her son that “he is not a failure and the school is not a failure, and they are still having those conversations.”
The parents, who will be the plaintiffs in the legal challenge, say they felt a greater need to get involved. Several of them participated in the focus groups that were conducted by the SRO during site visits in Kalamazoo that they say were biased and stilted to put the school in the worst light. They felt frustrated that a process that they thought would be designed to let them express their opinion, kept them from expressing their true feelings.
Rice said they would be avoiding discussing strategy or many of the details of the suit, but once again repeated that they feel that section 1280-C of the revised school code, which spells out the function of the School Reform Office does not give them the authority to close locally owned and operated schools. He says only local School Boards can make those decisions.
We asked Rice if they were suing prematurely before the SRO had actually ordered any school to close, and he said that damage had already been inflicted and they felt they were not premature. We asked if they hoped that the suit might have some influence on the decision that the SRO would make about closing Woodward and Washington, and he would only say that they are confident that through this and other means, that the schools will remain open.
He says since the site visits they have not heard from the SRO and have been given no information about time lines or deadlines, exploring alternatives to closure or even when a decision might be forthcoming.
