He guided Detroit through the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. But instead of a quiet retirement, Judge Steven Rhodes is now taking on a challenge he’s calling even more daunting than the bankruptcy - reforming Detroit Public Schools and giving local control back to the district.
Wednesday was his first day on the job at DPS and Rhodes took some time to talk to Heather Catallo about why we all have a stake in making sure DPS doesn’t fail.
"There’s a clock running here, and there is no Plan B so we need help," Rhodes says.
Judge Rhodes says there is no time to spare, lawmakers in Lansing must pass funding bills to keep Detroit Public Schools afloat and they must do it this month.
"This is not the time for lines in the sand," Rhodes says. "The District has debt – over $500 million that it cannot pay while at the same time fulfilling its obligation to educate the kids."
Just hours after taking over DPS as a Transition Manager, this retired federal bankruptcy judge told 7 Action News he hopes to get the district back to a locally elected, or at the least an appointed school board, by August.
That would mean no more Emergency Managers.
"I want people who like me are committed to the future of the city of Detroit, and to the future of our kids – that’s the primary qualification," he says. "It has to be a true commitment because being a school board member is nothing to take lightly."
Even though filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection ultimately helped the city of Detroit get back on track, Judge Rhodes says that isn’t a good option for the district because most of the DPS debt is secured by the state – which means ultimately other school districts could lose funding.
"I said when I confirmed the plan of adjustment of the city of Detroit – one of the two continuing concerns I would have would be about the future of the school system," Rhodes says. "Parents will not want to move their families into the city of Detroit unless there is a viable and effective and competitive school system here, so it’s absolutely critical to the future of the city of Detroit."
Rhodes says one of his top priorities will be to fix the dangerous building problems 7 Action News has exposed in several schools."
Without schools that at a minimum meet code standards we can’t possibly hope to educate our kids, we can’t possibly hope to compete in the marketplace," he says. "We in this state have a moral and even a constitutional obligation to educate everyone of our children in this state. And we have to keep in mind that whatever caused the problems that DPS is in – the financial problems - it wasn’t the kids."
Rhodes hopes to appoint an interim superintendent within the next week. His goal is for that person will have a strong education background, so that DPS can put the days of business managers running the district behind them.
We’ve heard that if the Governor can’t get a funding bill passed, the teachers could have payless paydays as early as April – but Judge Rhodes says he’s extremely optimistic Lansing will come together.
