Lori Higgins and Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

A Macomb County judge has blocked a new CEO set to take over academics at four Eastpointe schools from starting his job in the district.

The State School Reform Office last month appointed Gary Jensen as the CEO for four schools in East Detroit Public Schools. Jensen told the Free Press on June 20 that his first day in the district would be Monday.

But the district filed a lawsuit against Jensen on Tuesday, and requested a temporary restraining order. Judge Joseph Toia signed that order today.

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Administrators and school board members in the Eastpointe district, as well as many Macomb County officials, have been vocally opposed to the appointment, saying the district is capable of turning around the schools with the help of the Macomb Intermediate School District. They said the existing partnership between the two has produced improved results for students.

Tuesday's court filing requests that Jensen be prevented "from asserting or exercising any authority or control over any EDS school."

A hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. July 18.

Tuesday's filing brings the number of lawsuits the district has filed to two. Both lawsuits attempt to prevent a CEO from taking over the schools. The difference lies in who's named as defendants. In late May, the district filed the first lawsuit in Macomb County against the State School Reform Office, the state school reform officer and a CEO yet to be named. Toia, the assigning judge in that case, issued a restraining order preventing the state from appointing a CEO. That restraining order expired June 13. But the case was moved to the Michigan Court of Claims.

The second lawsuit, also filed in Macomb County court, lists Jensen as its sole defendant. George Butler, the attorney for the district, said he filed the separate lawsuit after the Michigan Attorney General's office told him Jensen was not a state official "and therefore they were not going to represent him." The first lawsuit no longer lists the CEO to be named as a defendant.

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Jensen, 44, is taking over the academics for Bellview Elementary, Pleasantview Elementary, Kelly Middle and East Detroit High schools. All four schools are priority schools — so-called because they rank in the bottom 5% academically in the state. Jensen is a former Michigan Principal of the Year who is credited with turning around a priority school in Lakeview Public Schools in Montcalm County.

"We’re reviewing the latest court action with the attorney general's office to determine the next appropriate steps," said Caleb Buhs, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, where the school reform office is housed.

District officials say in the filing that East Detroit "has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm" because the appointment of Jensen "has caused a reduction in EDS student enrollment, a corresponding loss in state school aid, and the resignations of EDS teachers."

"CEO Jensen's assertion and exercise of his purported authority and control will financially devastate EDS," the lawsuit says.

Further, they said Natasha Baker, the state school reform officer, doesn't have the authority to appoint a CEO because state law requires her office to annually publish a list of the lowest-achieving schools in the state. The list hasn't been published since the 2013-14 school year because the state's switched to a new, tougher state exam last year. State officials have said at least two years of data is required before it can rank schools based on the data.

But the lack of a list, the district says, means her "installation of CEO Jensen is based upon outdated, legally deficient data in violation of the law."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins