11 Members Named To Snyder's School Takeover Panel

LANSING (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday announced the appointment of 11 people to the board of the new Education Achievement System, which will take over and run Michigan's lowest performing schools, starting in Detroit.

The system "will operate the lowest performing 5 percent of schools not achieving satisfactory results on a redesign plan or that are under an emergency financial manager," Snyder's office said in its announcement. Detroit, Michigan's largest public school district, is under such a manager after running up chronic budget deficits and producing low test scores.

Two members were appointed by the Detroit Public Schools, two by Eastern Michigan University and seven by the governor.

"Students deserve an education that can best prepare them to succeed after graduation, either in the work force or through a college education," Snyder said in the statement. "These outstanding individuals bring a tremendous amount of experience and talent to the table as we work to create new educational opportunities for our students."

The system will start operating in designated Detroit schools in the 2012-13 school year and then expand statewide, the announcement said.

The Detroit school appointees are the district's emergency financial manager, Roy Roberts, and Detroit Parents Network executive director Sharlotta Buckman.

The Eastern Michigan appointees are American Electric Power chief executive Mike Morris and university regent Jim Stapleton.

The gubernatorial appointees are Detroit Medical Center chief executive Mike Duggan, Skillman Foundation chief executive Carol Goss, the Rev. Joseph Jordan of Corinthian Baptist Church in Hamtramck, Meijer Inc. president Mark Murray, VITEC chief executive William Pickard, New Detroit chief Shirley Stancato and Lansing Community College associate vice president Judith Kaye Berry.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.