Many thanks to Andy Thomas for responding to the questionnaire (and being the first one to turn his responses in to me!) If you have further questions for him, you can put them in the comments and perhaps he will answer them. I believe all of the candidates are also willing to answer questions independently if you send them an email or make a phone call to them.
To parents who are wavering between sending their child to the Ann
Arbor Public Schools and a charter or private school, what would you say to
convince them to try the Ann Arbor Public Schools (besides that they would save
money if they are considering private school)?
AAPS offers a wide choice of educational experiences
unmatched in Washtenaw County.
From our neighborhood
elementary schools to the innovative curriculum at Ann Arbor Open, from the
many opportunities offered at Huron and Pioneer, to the more intimate
environment of Community High, from the specialized services offered at Roberto
Clemente and Ann Arbor Tech to Skyline’s four career-track magnet programs and the
world-class academics of the new International Baccalaureate program, Ann Arbor
offers a tremendous range of choices, and outstanding educational programs in
multiple disciplines. Introductory
Spanish and instrumental music are offered in all our elementary schools;
additional foreign languages and advanced algebra are available in our middle
schools. Our high schools feature
numerous advanced placement classes, outstanding programs in the arts and
humanities – and a Grammy Award winning music program rated best in the nation.
What specific ideas do you have for engaging parents and taxpayers in
AAPS decision-making and governance beyond the individual child-school level?
There are many opportunities for parents, students and
community members to participate in AAPS decision-making. Four community groups – AAPAC, PTO
Council, Black Parent-Student Support Group, and Youth Senate –meet regularly
with District staff and present reports
at all regularly scheduled Board meetings. The District has made a practice of scheduling community
forums around major areas of concern, including the budget and hiring of the
new superintendent. Community
members also participated in the development and revision of the District’s
strategic plan. I would continue
these community outreach efforts, but would also encourage outreach
specifically aimed at groups who traditionally have not been highly engaged
with our schools, including our low-income communities, our foreign-speaking
population and various minority groups.
Much of this could be done through establishing regular meetings at
various community centers. The
District also needs to do a better job of responding to inquiries from the
public in a timely and meaningful way.
The District needs to improve its customer service on all fronts.
Personally, I intend to continue engaging the community as much as I can by
attending events and community meetings as well as having regular “coffee
hours” with constituents.
What ideas do you have for making the AAPS web site more user friendly
for parents, staff, students and taxpayers?
The web site underwent a major overhaul last year, resulting
in a much cleaner appearance and more logical design. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of room for
improvement. If you are looking
for very general information (such as a copy of the bus schedule, or a listing
of schools and their web sites) it
is pretty easy to get. But if you
are looking for more specific information – MEAP test results -- it is very difficult to find (you have
to know to look under the “Academics” tab and then under “Assessments”. And certain information is simply missing. The staff e-mail directory, for
example, is not functional. The
information relating to strategies for closing the achievement gap is nowhere
to be found (or if it is, I can’t find it) There are other gaps.
I would offer three concrete suggestions for improving the site: First, the buttons that direct people
to relevant content (parents, students, staff) need to be more clearly marked
as gateways to information. More of the site content ought to be available
through those gateways, and we probably ought to make one for the general
community as well. Second, there
needs to be a site map. And third,
there should be an organizational chart, with names, phone numbers and e-mail
addresses.
Describe your personal approach to district-union negotiations, not
just for teachers but also for administrators, custodial staff, etc. What is your primary goal?
In the face of economic uncertainty, it is important to
establish and maintain positive relationships with our unions. The AAEA, in particular, has really
stepped up in terms of supporting innovation, including the U of M partnership,
revisions to the teacher evaluation process, and efforts to control health care
expenses. My primary goal is to
engage in a partnership with our bargaining groups in which both sides
recognize the fiscal constraints, and work together to create win-win
solutions. I do not think it is
appropriate or helpful to include BOE representatives in actual contract
negotiations, or to hold open negotiation sessions. My approach would be to give overall direction to our
superintendent with regard to what we wish to accomplish, and ask them for
regular feedback on the progress of negotiations.
Do you generally support Rick Snyder’s approach to education and
education reform? Do you support
any of the listed reforms that he and the legislature have made/proposed? Such as:
a.
Emergency manager legislature
b.
Changes to the School Aid Fund, including
funding colleges as well as K-12 education from the SAF
c.
Changes in the rules around charter schools,
including removal of caps on number of charter schools
d.
State-driven teacher evaluation system that
erelies on standardized testing
NO, NO, NO and
NO.
The Emergency Manager legislation seems designed to subvert
local control and focuses exclusively on cutting costs
rather than providing services.
The use of School Aid Funds for purposes other than K-12
education is a grievous betrayal of the public trust, and a violation of the
spirit (if not the letter) of the law as enacted by the people under Proposal
A.
We already have a surplus of charter schools, and the record
of charters in improving academic performance is spotty, at best. We should
focus our efforts on helping traditional school districts serve their students
better.
The State is mandating a “one size fits all” evaluation
model that is impractical and invalid (just how do you use the MEAP to evaluate
a music teacher, or an art teacher, or a PE teacher, or a foreign language
teacher, or for that matter, a high school physics or chemistry teacher?) –
another example of the State trying to micromanage districts.
At this point, would you call the privatization of transportation
services a success or a failure?
(NOTE: This refers to the decision to give transportation services to
the WISD, not to the level of service chosen last spring). If faced with the same question
today(should transportation be privatized, and if so to whom), what kind of
decision would you make and based on what information?
First, a clarification: Transportation has NOT been privatized. “Privatization”
means contracting services to a private sector for-profit company whose chief
motivation is maximizing financial return, rather than serving the best
interest of our children.
Transportation has been consolidated under the Washtenaw Intermediate
School District, and is thus still subject to public control and scrutiny.
Many have advocated the consolidation of services (such as
transportation) for some time as a way to reduce cost and improve efficiency. Last year, the transition to WISD went
very smoothly, and in fact, many parents told me it was actually better under
WISD than under AAPS. This year
has been much more problematic.
WISD has not stepped up to meet the challenge. We need to work closely with WISD, apply pressure to improve
service, and hold them more accountable.
Having said that, many of these problems have already been worked out,
and the level of service is improving each day. I would still make the same decision to consolidate
services, based on the amount of money that can be saved through
consolidation. We are the Ann
Arbor School District, not the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Our business is education, not
transportation. If you read the
entire strategic plan, as well as all the back-up documents, you will not find
a single reference to transportation.
Every dollar we save on transportation is a dollar that can be used for
our primary mission, providing the best possible education for our children.
What was your most influential K-12 school experience (good or
bad)? How does it influence your
approach to the school board?
It all goes back to the teachers. When I attended public schools some 50 years ago in St.
Joseph, Missouri, we had none of the technology we have today. Text books were often old and
out-of-date. We had little in the
way of a performing arts program. We
had no swimming pool or fancy athletic facilities. And yet I feel I received a very solid education, mostly
through the efforts of a small number of truly extraordinary teachers. There were more than a few
average-to-mediocre teachers, as well, but it a few was a few great ones who
taught me how to write coherently and persuasively, to know how to ask the
right questions, to love and appreciate great poetry and literature, to be able
to solve empirical problems efficiently and objectively, and to see the
complexity and ambiguity of national and world events from multiple points of
view while challenging the assumption that our side is always right. Times change, technologies change, the
base of knowledge increases exponentially, but these are still the factors that
make a great education. We must never
forget the importance of great teachers, or the lasting impact they can have on
many lives.
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