Report Calls for Decentralization of Detroit School Administration

By Bess Keller

The Detroit school board and acting Superintendent Eddie Green took a whack at their overgrown bureaucracy last week while mulling a new report that calls for big changes in the way the district's central office does business.

The report envisions a system in which principals lead K-12 clusters of schools backed by a smaller bureaucracy and a school board focused almost exclusively on policy. The changes would take effect over three years, according to the plan, with almost 300 clerical and administrative jobs eliminated at the central office and the human resources they represent shifted to the schools.

Meanwhile, the board unanimously approved a request from Mr. Green to allow the contracts of 15 of the district's 45 executives to expire without renewal. The move is the first round of job cuts linked to shutting down the district's area offices, a controversial change promoted by the civic and business group New Detroit Inc., which has been active in efforts to...