DPS superintendent Calloway gets the ax

Dr. Connie Calloway (photo: Michigan Chronicle)

The Detroit Public School (DPS) board fired superintendent Connie Calloway Monday evening, voting 7-4 to immediately terminate her contract.

Calloway was dismissed “for good cause” because she “exhibited a failure to provide adequate leadership” and showed “insubordinate, unprofessional and uncooperative behavior,” according to the board’s resolution.

The resolution also suggested that she was to blame for the state’s decision to declare DPS finances were in a state of emergency. Calloway will still receive an annual salary of $280,000 until the five-year agreement expires in 2012.

Calloway replaced William Coleman III, who was also fired by the same board early in his tenure.

She seemed calm and chose not to speak before the vote. But after the vote, she told the crowd in the auditorium at Spain Elementary School that the board made an “unjust decision” and that she was being scapegoated for the preexisting problems the district experienced before she came.

“When I accepted the contract, I was well aware that this was a district in chaos,” she told the crowd of 300, which seemed to support her for the most part with cheers. Prior to taking the superintendent position, Calloway worked as superintendent of a 5,700-student Missouri school district.

“I asked for five years because in the first year, one learns about the issues, the second year, one begins to put programs together,” Calloway said. “By the third year, generally people are unhappy because friends, family, contracts, how you used to do business has to change.”

She noted that the same board fired two previous superintendents during their three-year tenure since the board regained control of the city’s schools from 1994 through 2004.

“It is an unjust decision,”  Calloway said. She claimed the board was trying to silence her and avoid transparency. Her dismissal, she said, was “fueled by several attempts to silence me to prevent the transparency.”

She cut her speech to just five minutes because she said she didn’t want to keep talking and put the community in “an uncomfortable position. …

“I have much say,” she told a crowd that was becoming increasingly loud with insults and cheers. “My heart grieves for the children of Detroit.”

Two board members spoke before the vote to urge other members not to terminate Calloway.

“I wholeheartedly disagree with this resolution,” school board president Carla Scott said just before the vote. “It reminds me of the Salem witch trials.” She also read a letter from a group of community leaders supportive of Calloway.

“Dismissing Dr. Calloway will do nothing to improve school achievement scores,” board member Terry Ketchings told the board before the vote. “Dismissing Dr. Calloway will do nothing to improve graduation rates.”

Chief Financial Officer Joan McCray was also fired at the meeting. Last week, the board had voted not to renew McCray’s contract; this week they decided to terminate her “effective immediately” with pay.

After the meeting the crowd erupted noisily. While there were sparse jeers from the crowd, the standing ovation that followed made it clear that most of the crowd supported Calloway. The board thought otherwise.

Video from the meeting available HERE.