Detroit News commercial for Pontiac charters while Pontiac Public faces closures

Here is this morning's Public Relations piece from The Detroit News, at once campaigning for the destruction of public education in Michigan, promoting for profit charters under the guise of an "editorial," and cloaking an actual news story: the shutting down of the Pontiac School District.

The author is Ingrid Jacques who writes this stuff all the time.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131115/OPINION01/311150024/In-Pontiac-school-choice-action?odys...

Today is Nov. 15, the day the state has been waiting for since spring, the day went Pontiac School District has to tell the state there are problems and give the state a chance to turn them over to an EM (Donald Weatherspoon, now acting as a consultant for 750 k of state money over 2 years no matter what happens!). The new EM will now either charter the District or shut it down -- the latter the clear choice of the Governor until Oakland County politicians slowed him down and said, in effect, "you have to do this quietly" because if Pontiac closes our constituents actually might notice.

Why?

They get the students. They get the buildings. They get the bill. And then they get the lower test scores. And then they get the "distressed" financial reports. And then they get closed. And when many Oakland School Districts get closed you lose your property values.

The normal calls for "transparency" in how taxpayer money is being manipulated and distributed are barely audible. To date, the Oakland County Republicans who see this coming have tried the old method of quiet, backroom discussions -- deal making. We will let you do this to "them" but don't let it effect "us."

That ain't working so well. Indeed, in 2014 when Bloomfield Hills -- as in Bloomfield Hills School District -- is asked to choose between Chuck Moss and Tom McMillan as their state senator they will have to ask why are these two guys -- principle architects of this disaster -- representing us?

That's right. Two candidates so busy fighting an old war on teacher unions that they lost complete sense of their own constituents and the value of strong school districts to this community.

In the Jacques essay -- on this day -- when these major transformations are taking place, transformations that will effect all of Oakland County -- you garner a sense of why no one wants to talk about that big elephant.