If you recall a recent installment of ‘Detroit Rock City’, you may remember that the school board in D-town isn’t exactly the ‘cat’s meow’, and the level of education isn’t precisely ‘tickety-boo’. We can all agree that the board needs some work to get the level of education ‘up to snuff’. So where do you start, you ask? At the top, naturally.

Meet Otis Mathis, until recently the President of the Detroit School Board. Despite a lifelong difficulty with the English language (he was placed in a special ed class in the 4th grade) Otis refused to be held back. Unfortunately he couldn’t get his college degree from Wayne State because he kept failing the English Proficiency test. I can’t find the link, but I read that he had to sue the University to get them to graduate him. But Otis is no slacker, and he worked his way up to the top of the DPS. Now you might think that a poor grasp of the English language would cause some to question his ability, but hey, this is Detroit. When did lack of merit stop anyone from rising to the top?

Just to give you an idea of his skills, here’s a couple of snippets of emails he sent out in early 2010

If you saw Sunday’s Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason’s he gave for closing school to many empty seats.

Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row’s, and who is the watch dog?

Ok, so he can’t spell, can’t put a sentence together, doesn’t understand past vs. present tense or any of that messy stuff. You really going to hold that against the guy? Of course not, you’re a progressive sort of person, aren’t you? I mean, schools today aren’t about readin’ and writin’. They’re about inclusiveness and diversity. Guff that’ll stand you in good stead when it’s time to enter the real world.

Unfortunately Otis couldn’t keep the gig for long. He was forced to resign after he repeatedly… uh, what’s the word I can use in polite company… ‘pleasured’ himself in a meeting with a female district superintendent. Sorry Otis, but here’s a little hint for your next job. Keep your pants zipped while in meetings.

If you are interested, here is a longish (by YouTube standards) documentary on the disgrace that is the DPS. It’s appropriately titled, “A National Disgrace”