Elect John Cruz

As of right now, we have a serious drop in enrollment in Mount Clemens. With neighboring districts such as Chippewa Valley and Lance Creuse now open as schools of choice, students are finding options are better elsewhere.

The problems run deep within the district on all levels, and as a result the student population in Mount Clemens Schools is floating just under 2,000 pupils. While board President Earl Rickman has been quoted as saying that we usually bounce back from such drops, we need to address this issue at the core: too many students and parents feel that they are being short changed by Mount Clemens Schools.

Trustee Larry Humphrey is right when he expressed dissatisfaction with sixth graders being issued fourth grade reading material. We need to be raising the expectations of our students, not lowering them. We need an environment that teaches and challenges students and that means a lot of cleaning house.

To get Mount Clemens back on track and increase student enrollment, here is what we need to do

• Re-evaluate the faculty and administration. Members of the MCCS Family that are not up to par in terms of relevance, communication, or overall success should be open to reassignment. Fresh new faces and fresh ideas can be brought in without much trouble. I would also consider a buy-out option for educators instead of reassignment, such as those done by the big three automakers. If students are feeling that they are unable to relate to their teachers, than the student-teacher gap is wider than it needs to be.  We need to be open to all options on this.
• Make sure new hires are innovative, “think outside the box” kind of people.
• Make drastic changes at the secondary level, especially with the high school, in order to provide new and unique opportunities to attract students.
• Partner with other academic institutions such as Macomb Community College and state Universities.
• Re-build the image of the school district by focusing on an honest, no-nonsense approach. We need to be in the press because of high standards and innovative thinking, not for controversially destroying buildings or being unable to pay for building upkeep.
• Focus on programs like The Promise program that is currently being talked about to pay for college for students, but it needs to be taken even further.