Flint, MICHIGAN

Nice PR but no credibility. Whatsoever.



Apr 11, 2007 - Flint, Michigan schools will now require background checks for volunteers, new employees and consultants.

Why? A top administrator's check revealed a misdemeanor sexual battery conviction in Georgia. That charge has since been set aside. He was a district consultant before he was hired as a key administrator in August 2006. He resigned in September.

However, the new policy changes will allow the district to employ some individuals before background checks come back, such as to fill an immediate teacher vacancy, said David Comsa, the district's executive director of human resources/legal affairs.

Volunteers will not be fingerprinted. "(The fingerprinting) process costs us $54 a person," board member and policy subcommittee chair Paul Jordan said, adding that board members drafting the policy felt the state police screening would be sufficient.

Other policy changes will require prospective volunteers to be screened through a state police check. However, they have been using the state police check on volunteers for some time.
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TT - 2000 Demographics for Flint, Michigan. Scroll to the Households By Type. See Wikipedia entry for Flint, Michigan. "There were 48,744 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.0% were married couples living together, 27.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families."

At Great Schools www.greatschools.net the Flint City School System has 43 schools. Only two are above a rating of 4. Of 25 elementary schools, every school except two rate 3 and below.

What a disgrace. Bad education is a crime against all children, but the poor are targets so that remain poor (and constitutents) forever. Yet Michigan lawmakers want to give an iPod to every Michigan student even while Michigan faces $680 million budget shortfall.

Instead of promoting schools in Africa, Oprah should visit Flint, Michigan and shame a few bureaucrats.