How rare is it for a trial court judge to hold a state agency in contempt of court? Rare as hen’s teeth. Rare as unicorns. Or maybe better stated, rare as the veteran out-of-state teacher who applies for and gets–no problem–a Minnesota teacher license.

Six months after ruling the Minnesota Board of Teaching was flaunting the law, a Ramsey County District Court judge has held the political appointees in contempt of court. Will the move shock the board–which has resisted two mandates from the legislature, a state audit and a lawsuit–into implementing a 6-year-old law?

Don’t hold your breath.

Read my take on the latest installment n Minnesota ed reform’s most Onion-esque saga at The 74 Million.

Mind-boggler: In the last six years, 80 percent of schools in Detroit have either opened or closed–or both, according to Mayor Mike Duggan’s office. There’s no central list of schools to peruse when you need a new place to send your child. There are 50–yep, 50–different enrollment processes.

And with a near-total lack of accessible services, what to parents in other cities would be a small hiccups–getting a copy of a birth certificate, say, or records from a past school–are nearly insurmountable obstacles.

What Detroit does have is a small but determined army of mothers who have survived the system’s many gantlets. This year, they set out to knock on every door in the city to help families find decent school placements. The stories they collected are illuminating.

My latest, via The74Million.