Detroit is a school district that’s so deep in the hole they can’t even keep the lights and heat on in some schools or buy new books.

Now they’ve broken a contract with on of the highest paid officials in the state and agreed to terminate her “with pay” until her contract is up.

What that means is that they are going to spend almost a million dollars over the next three and a half years for nothing.

 That’s right, Calloway will keep getting $280,000 a year until about 2012, making her better paid than Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

While $280,000 may sound like a lot of money, she’s getting paid about average, considering what some school supers get, according to an article in The Washington Post.

But the school board’s decision to fire her early in her contact can’t be good for a district that is in a state of financial emergency.