

Darnell Earley

Something clearly doesn't sound right.

WXYX's Kim Russell reports that while the Detroit Public Schools system is going broke and teachers have taken pay cuts, the district's top executives are among the best-paid in the country.

WXYZ shows, for example, that the Executive Director of Communications, Michelle Zdrodowsk, is paid $161,111, more than counterparts in Los Angeles and Chicago.

She reports that the district's chief procurement officer Medina Abdun-Noor makes around $157,000, about the same rate at the purchasing boss in Los Angeles.

She goes on to report that Steve Wasko, executive director for enrollment, makes more than the enrollment boss in Chicago - which has 400,000 students - and Philly, which is also far larger.

"When you look at the size of this district, it has around 46,000 students. When you look at where that ranks in the country it is about 90th. But yet you have some of the highest paid top officials in the country. How do you justify that?" WXYZ asked DPS Emergency Manager Darnell Earley.

"I haven’t seen that first of all, you say that," said Earley. "I haven’t seen your research, so I am not going to try to justify or not justify anything."

WXYZ reports that when offer to share the research, he declined to review it and comment.

Earley has been the target of criticism for the poor shape the schools are in, and because he served as an emergency manager in Flint when the city switched water systems. Detroit News editorial writer Ingrid Jacques recent wrote a column suggesting he resign.