Help the Sanchez-Ronquillo Family This Week

UPDATE May 16, 2017: Deportation delayed--for now.

Many of you may already know the story of Jose Sanchez-Ronquillo. 

The CHS Communicator gives some of the background, and a sense of the family, here.

As Lauren Slagter of M-Live noted on May 1, "The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, granted a temporary stay on Sanchez-Ronquillo's pending deportation on Monday, May 1, said Sanchez-Ronquillo's attorney Monica Smith."

Well, that was then. But now there is an emergency motion to deport Jose Luis before the Board of Immigration Appeals has a chance to hear motions about reopening the case.

I got an urgent email this weekend from a Bach/Slauson parent: 

"You may already be aware that one of our beloved Bach/Slauson/Pioneer community members, Jose Luis Sanchez-Ronquillo, is in danger of being deported.  We've just received some upsetting news regarding his case.  The government has made an emergency motion to deport Jose Luis next Wednesday, 5/17, before the Board of Immigration Appeals has a chance to hear motions about reopening the case.  The government's motion will be heard in Detroit next Tuesday, 5/16 at noon. 

We have organized a rally to support Jose and his family on TUES, 5/16 @ 11am in Detroit.  I am wondering if there is any way the PTOC can help spread the word about this event?  A similar rally was held outside the courthouse during Yousef Ajin's hearing - many Community High School students attended this rally and they were successful in stopping his deportation.

SOME WAYS WE CAN HELP:

1.  SHARE the FB event widely on social media:  https://www.facebook.com/events/789048444596348/.  And spread the word to all your contacts.  

2.  ATTEND the Rally next Tuesday, 5/16 @ 11am - Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse, 231 W Lafayette Blvd., Detroit, MI, 48226.

The rally will be held Tuesday, May 16th, 11 a.m. at the Levin Courthouse in Detroit.

3.  WRITE letters of support, which will be given to the judge at the hearing (see sample letter below for ideas).  Email letters to louwsma@umich.edu, or to Jessica.prozinski@gmail.com by Monday night (5/15).  Letters should be addressed to: 

The Honorable David Lawson

231 W Lafayette Blvd # 628

Detroit, MI 48226

Thank you so much for helping this important family in our community!"

One more thing: If you are interested in immigration issues, the Washtenaw County Commissioners are considering a pro-immigrant resolution this Wednesday, May 17th at their Board of Commissioners meeting. Here is more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1829603477292520/

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The Work Goes On: The Dream Shall Never Die

What Are The Odds? 

Given that the Chicago Cubs came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, and Iowa just defeated UM in football, I shouldn't have been as shocked as I was to have Trump win.

Rationally, I knew that, as described, the chance of Trump winning was about the same as a college kicker making a 38-yard field goal. I've seen that happen--not frequently, but also--not so infrequently. (I'm not a huge football fan--but I get called in to watch the replays of the big plays.)

So, the election happened.

And I should be happier than I am that two out of three of "my" candidates won the Ann Arbor school board election. Actually, I am very happy that Harmony Mitchell and Jeff Gaynor won seats on the AAPS board; and that Donna Lasinski won a seat in the State House, leaving open an AAPS school board seat, so another new person can join the school board (and, in the process, putting a dedicated education advocate in the state House).

But I would have given all that up for a Clinton victory.

I was at an immigration conference on Friday, and Rep. Stephanie Chang spoke. She represents Ecorse, River Rouge, and part of Detroit, and one of the things she said is, "We need more candidates running for office!"

I think she's right. So I am really happy that we had competitive school board elections in nearly all of our local districts. It takes a lot to put yourself out there--I appreciate that people are willing to do it!

I had forgotten, but even when candidates lose, competitive elections do some important things:

• draw attention to key issues
• allow candidates to refine narratives and see what catches attention
• running for "lower level" seats like school board allows candidates to learn the skills needed to run for higher office

One thing that I had also forgotten is that there are lots of roles for people who want to support candidates, but don't want to run for office. I had also forgotten that canvassing can be fun, especially if you are working with friends. I canvassed for Hillary Clinton in Ohio and Pennsylvania with old friends; made a new friend canvassing for Clinton in Michigan; and got a lot of exercise walking the streets for Hunter, Harmony and Jeff in some beautiful fall weather.

Now What?

The pressing question for me, now, is: what should I work on? Part of me thinks, "Why were you working on local education issues when so many "bigger" issues are more important?" Part of me thinks, "Work on things you can control and that have a chance of success."

Should I be working on climate change? the Dakota pipeline? civil liberties? reproductive rights? I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Even within education issues, the big question for me is whether we should focus on the short game or the long game. Let's face it--the short game is ALL defense, and it's much bigger than some of the issues that are important to me, like overtesting. [They are related, though.]

Some proposals I have heard are coming down the pike from the state legislature include attacks on teacher pensions and the use of specialized education accounts to pay for private schools.

The long game would be focused on things like ending gerrymandering; improving our Freedom of Information Act law; ending online charters and for-profit charters.

I still believe that our new local group Educate Ann Arbor; the statewide group Michigan Parents for Schools; the national Network for Public Education have a lot to contribute.

More Than Ever

For inspiration, I am sharing Ted Kennedy's 1980 Democratic convention concession speech, in which he says:

"the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." 

After we are done mourning--we've got work to do. So whatever you choose to work on? Choose something.
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WeRoc Questionnaires For AAPS School Board Candidates

I was asked by WeRoc to post the AAPS school board candidates' answers to their questions. After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to share them because I like what WeRoc tries to do. Also, they have some excellent questions for the candidates, and they are a bit different from most of the other questions I have seen.

In any case, if you are really interested in my thoughts about the election, and my endorsements, you will find them here. 

Who is WeRoc?

The Washtenaw Regional Organizational Coalition (WeROC) brings together faith, labor, and community organizations and individuals to create a collective voice to impact public affairs and issues in the Washtenaw County, Michigan area. We are affiliated with the MOSES organization in S.E. Michigan (mosesmi.org) and the national Gamaliel Foundation network of community organizing projects. Our unique organizing process focuses on creating opportunities for more people of color, lower income residents, and youth to participate at the tables where decisions affecting them and the broader community are made — and finding effective ways to dismantle the structures that stubbornly maintain racism and economic inequality in our area. 

WeRoc AAPS School Board Questionnaire and Answers

You can find the WeRoc questionnaire and answers here. (The answers were a bit too long to put inside the blog post.)

To whet your interest, here are the questions:

1. In what ways would you seek to increase minority and low-income parent voice in decision-making?

2. In what ways would you seek to increase minority and low-income youth voice in decision-making?

3. What is your vision of a positive school climate and how would you like to see your district promote that vision? Would you promote Restorative Justice and/or Communities in Schools programs?

4. What is your school district’s approach to school discipline and do you think it’s working? If not, what would you like to change?

5. As a school board member, you may be asked to make decisions about non- mandatory student expulsions and long-term suspensions. What will be your guiding principles in making those difficult decisions? Are there situations you would absolutely expel? Are there situations you would not expel?

6. Nationally, there is a disturbing trend of suspending preschool and early elementary school students and some communities are responding with a strict moratorium on such suspensions. What is your position on suspensions in the early grades?

7. How will you promote transparency and regular review of expulsion, suspension and school arrest data?

8. School dropout is a problem with enormous social costs. What do you feel your district could do differently do address school dropout?

9. What role, if any, do you feel law enforcement should have in schools?

10. In your position as Board member or Trustee, you will be in a unique position to be a powerful advocate for children from marginalized groups. How do you see yourself exercising that power?

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Ann Arbor School Board Endorsements: Mitchell, Gaynor, Van Valkenburgh

It's time for Ann Arbor school board endorsements. 

There are eight candidates for three spots, and my friends who have gotten their absentee ballots are asking me what I think.

I know, you're thinking--in the past, Ruth has not made endorsements. That's true. But in the past, I haven't worked on anybody's campaigns either.

I feel this year is different. You should (and you will!) vote for whomever you decide to vote for, but I would like to share my thoughts.

I really appreciate anybody that takes on the often-thankless task of running for (any) school board. It doesn't pay big bucks, it takes a lot of time, it's hard work, you get a lot of criticism. Having said that, there are more candidates than spots, so we do have to choose.

FIRST: We're Talking About The Non-Partisan Ballot

I'm not a person who checks the straight-ticket box (even when I vote a straight ticket, which is probably 95% of the time, I like to fill in all of the little circles).

But if you are a person who checks the straight-ticket box, you should know that many of the school-related races: school boards, community college trustees--ALL of that--is on the non-partisan part of the ballot. Even if you vote a straight ticket, DON'T FORGET about that part of the ballot!

SECOND: I Think It's Time For A Change

There are three seats open, and two incumbents--Deb Mexicotte and Simone Lightfoot--are running again. I'm not supporting either of them, and I hope that you won't either--especially not Deb Mexicotte, who has been the president of the board for the last several years.

There is a lot that this board has to be proud of, and I have agreed with probably 80-85% of their decisions. However, the other 15-20% has been extremely problematic.

Although a former board member pointed out to me that seven people are on the board (so it's not like these two incumbents could do anything just by themselves), these two are the only ones running for re-election. Also, the president of the board does a lot of work setting the agenda and the process, and in my opinion, that has been the most problematic part of the current board.

I have concerns with the teacher evaluation system (which I believe goes far beyond what the state requires); I have concerns with the way the district has dealt with over-testing of students (the number of tests has been increasing every year); I have concerns with privatization and the number of "employees" who are not the district's employees.

But make no mistake about this--my biggest concerns are about process and transparency. I've had these concerns for several years, and in fact discussed them in an Ann Arbor Chronicle issue back in 2014! (Read it here.)  Board votes are frequently 7-0 with little or no discussion; items get rushed through; discussion of important items happens late in the board meeting when parents, students, teachers, citizens are unable to be there; minutes reflect simply the motion and the vote, and not the discussion. Subcommittee meetings are held during the school day, when teachers and students are not able to be there.

As one recent example: in the past, there were informal budget meetings with concerned community members in May, while the budget was being developed, to discuss what might be added or cut. This year, there were no meetings, and the budget was not even shown to the public until the day of the meeting where it had its public unveiling.

A friend asked me if this was really the work of the Superintendent? I believe that if the school board--and particularly the school board president--were to say, "That's not how we do things here," then that's not what would be done.

Current school board members can certainly be proud of many achievements (largely because of our fine staff), but when it comes to process, they have been sorely lacking.

So, I will not be voting for the incumbents, and I hope you won't either.

THIRD: I'm supporting Hunter Van Valkenburgh, Jeff Gaynor, and Harmony Mitchell

[Photos in order from left to right]

Hunter Van Valkenburgh is a parent, an attorney, a former teacher himself (not in Ann Arbor), and the husband of an Ann Arbor Open teacher. 

Jeff Gaynor is a recently-retired AAPS teacher who also hosted several exchange students who were placed in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.


Harmony Mitchell is a parent who moved here a few years ago from the DC area, where she saw first-hand the havoc wreaked by the so-called "education reform" agenda of Michelle Rhee and company.

I have had extensive conversations with these three candidates, and I know that they are concerned with transparency and process. I know that they support our teachers. They are running as a slate, and you can read about their campaign and their platform(s) here.

They also have--all three of them--endorsed the Educate Ann Arbor platform, which I mentioned recently. (Go ahead, you can endorse the platform too!)

FOURTH: But what if...

But what if you don't like to vote for slates? What if you don't like one of these candidates, but you like the other two?

Well then...I'm still going to ask you to not vote for the incumbents, because...there are three other good options.

[Photos in order from left to right]

1. Rebecca Lazarus--Rebecca is a parent of two children in the district and a graphic designer, and she would be my first choice, because although I don't know her personally, she also has endorsed the Educate Ann Arbor platform, so I know her values line up with mine. Read more about Rebecca here.

2. Don Wilkerson--Don is also a parent of two children in the district, and he has been actively involved in his school's PTO and in the PTO Council. He previously ran for the board and he is a hard worker. He has unfortunately (in my opinion) aligned his campaign with Deb Mexicotte's and Simone Lightfoot's. Read more about Don here.

3. Jeremy Glick--Jeremy is a recent graduate of Skyline High School and a University of Michigan undergraduate. He would like to bring the student perspective to the school board. Read more about Jeremy here.

You can also read about lots of local races, including Ann Arbor school board, at annarborvotes.org.

Last, But Not Least: State Board of Education

The State Board of Education deserves its own blog post, but in case you are pressed for time on your absentee ballot, I am supporting John Austin and Ismael ("Ish") Ahmed. Yes, they are Democrats. Read about John Austin here. Read about Ismael Ahmed here.


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Good, And Plenty

Exactly three years ago I wrote a post about how I hate the "Exceptional" tag that the Ann Arbor Public Schools uses to promote their schools. You can read that post here.

I've thought some more about it. I still hate it. Because exceptional doesn't mean good, or excellent; exceptional means that we are better than everybody else.

That's not my goal. We don't need to think of ourselves as better than everybody else. I was thinking about it earlier this summer, and I believe there is a candy that represents my goal.

Here's what I want, for all schools.

Schools that are good, and that have plenty of opportunities for all kids.

That's my new slogan: Good, and Plenty

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Ask the Ann Arbor School Board to Vote No on Tuition-Based Program

I was surprised--and not happily--to see this headline from the Ann Arbor News:

Tuition-based Program Would Bring Chinese Students to Ann Arbor High Schools.

The key things to know, from the article:

A new plan* proposed to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education Wednesday evening would place up to 200 students from China in the city's high schools each year...The district is considering a partnership with BCC International Education Group, a Chinese-American company that has already created similar programs bringing Chinese high school students to Dexter and Saline.

*This idea (or something quite similar) was actually discussed, and rejected, a few years ago in the Pat Green era.

Here's the letter I just sent to the school board. You can send emails to the school board at: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Dear Board of Ed-- 

I'm writing to ask you to oppose the proposed contract with a firm to bring in up to 200 Chinese tuition-paying students.  

We already have at least two exchange programs in the schools--Youth for Understanding and AFS--both programs devoted to bringing students from around the world, including--among many other countries--China. Did you know that YFU started in Ann Arbor as an exchange program with Germany post-World War II? Or that AFS's origins lie in the aftermath of World War I with a similar goal of inter-cultural understanding?  

Ann Arbor also hosts the USA's U-18 hockey program.  

I'm not sure exactly how many students come through these three programs but I think it's something in the range of 100 students.  

All of these programs rely on host family volunteers, and it's not so easy to find them. I know intimately what is involved, because we hosted a student from Sweden last year and a student from Uruguay the year before, both with YFU. Both were great experiences but it does involve a fair bit of work, and (I know I'm repeating myself) it's not easy to find host families.  

I asked several families this year if they could take a student, and none of them felt they were in a position to do it. And, in fact, just today I got an email asking for a host family for a student who needs to leave his current family--and that happens too, sometimes, in the middle of the year. 

I do understand the desire to bring in money for the district, but I don't think this is a good way. And I would say this even if I hadn't heard, today, that the Oxford School District has had a very negative experience with this company.  

With the current exchange programs the student in my house brought in the same per-pupil funding as every other student in the district, thus adding to the district's census.  

I'm asking you to vote no on this. 

Best, 

Ruth Kraut

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The Inspirer Speaks: Washtenaw's National African American Parent Involvement Day 2016

National African American Parent Involvement Day is Monday, February 8th. 

Most local schools are doing something. 

Joe Dulin

The email I got from Community High has coffee and bagels in the morning, an invitation to stop in to any of your children's classes, as well as afternoon activities. It is open to all parents who are interested in getting a better sense of their children in school--not just African American parents. Obviously the details vary by school, but I think it's important to note that the opportunity is there for you to visit your child's school and classes. [You know "Take Your Child to Work Day?" This is the opposite! "Take Your Parent to School!"]


Joe Dulin, who died in 2014, was an Ann Arbor educator and the principal at Roberto Clemente school. He was also the originator of NAAPID.

Noted Dulin, in an undated a2schools.org article,

Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

NAAPID is not just for black people –– it’s for all people,” Dulin says. “It comes during Black History Month, and I thought it was a tremendous time to introduce it as a project for parents to get into our schools to exchange notes, phone numbers, emails, have conversations and get in touch with the teachers.”
Dulin was inspired to create a parent involvement day after going to the Million Man March in 1995. “A young man named Ayinde Jean-Baptiste, then 12 years old, was one of the speakers, and he challenged us to go back to our communities and do something,” Dulin says. “I got the feeling that, out of a million men, he was looking at me.” When he returned home, he gathered up some friends and family and NAAPID was born.

Now the reason I find this so interesting is that the email from Community High notes that there will be a:

Community-wide NAAPID event, "NAAPID at Night," in the Ypsilanti Middle School auditorium, 6 p.m., 235 Spencer Lane, Ypsilanti, MI. Details here. And the speaker will be Ayinde Jean-Baptiste, the then-child who inspired Joe Dulin to start NAAPID!

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Wednesday 1/27/2016: AAEA Press Conference, then AAPS Board Meeting

Ann Arbor teachers have a new evaluation system that involves more testing (of students) and much more paperwork, and they are not happy about it.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27, 2016, the Ann Arbor Education Association (teachers' union) is having a press conference at 6 p.m., at Forsythe Middle School in the Media Center.

After that, the school board meeting will also be at Forsythe Middle School.

The board meeting is supposed to start at 7 p.m., also at Forsythe.

Look at the agenda and board packet here. [The system is not at all intuitive. To see the meeting packet, click on the agenda. The agenda opens up and on the left side of the page, there is a navigation panel that has documents attached. If a document has been uploaded in advance of the meeting.]

Can't be there in person? A nice new feature is that you can live stream the board meetings. Go to this web page and look for the live streaming link.

Want to see what the teachers are talking about? 

What catches my eye is that in a recent survey of over 600 teachers, over 90% of teachers don't believe the administration or school board supports them.

There are lots of links to documents on this web page, and here is an infographic they have shared.

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Thoughts on Capsule Night--and a Wish

Capsule Night--not sure where the name came from--in some schools it is called Curriculum Night.

First of all, it's fabulous. Fabulous to see the teachers. (I kind of wish they did it each semester.) Fabulous to get a sense of my child's day, and at least create a mental map of where he is in each class. How many stairs does he climb every day?

Second of all, it's fun to see the parents--the ones I know, the ones I don't know. It made me realize I miss a lot of people whom I used to see regularly, back in elementary school. Next year, can we pair capsule night with some social time for parents at a coffee shop or bar? (Or in the school...)

Third of all, even though the classes are, like, 12 minutes each, I felt like I was sitting all too long! (Which is really funny, because mostly, I sit at a computer in my day job...)

Fourth of all--I was struck by how much access to computers teachers are requiring. And I wondered--if we didn't have more than one computer at our house--and/or if we had more than one child in high school now--that could potentially be a big problem. The technology divide seems to get bigger. And it's a lot more computer work than I remember from my two older kids. Which really makes me wonder--how much of that is necessary? Because exacerbating a technology divide is not a good thing.

Last, but not least, a wish:

Every year when I walk into the math class at Capsule Night, it reminds me that I wish the school district would offer a free evening class in every middle school and high school for parents, on how to use a graphing calculator. I'm sure it's not hard, but we didn't use them back when I took Algebra...or Geometry...or Trig....or Calculus. You know, back when the dinosaurs were alive.


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July 2015 News and Notes

Congratulations to Two New Nonprofits!

First of all, let's give big congratulations to two important, new local groups that recently got their non-profit status.

1. The E4DS Foundation, Excellence for Dexter Schools, is focused on raising money for regular operating expenses in the Dexter school district. There is also an Educational Foundation for Dexter.

Question of the Day: Is E4DS Different than the Educational Foundation of Dexter?

Yes. E4DS is the only group whose mission involves funding normal operating expenses associated with regular programming in our schools. The Educational Foundation of Dexter (EFD) provides financial support for teacher grants for innovative and creative educational projects that cannot be funded through the school district. E4DS supports the EFD and shares some Board members between the two Foundations. It is our sincere hope that the information you learn about the limitations of available funding will also move you to contribute and support the great work of the EFD!

Find out more at www.E4DS.org or like them on Facebook.

2. The CivCity Initiative (headed by Mary Morgan, formerly of the Ann Arbor Chronicle) also got non-profit status recently. What do they do? "CivCity is working to crack the nut of civic apathy, increasing awareness of how local government works and how each of us can participate in civic life."

I am hopeful that eventually they will take on some civic initiatives related to the schools--and considering that Linh Song of the Ann Arbor Education Foundation is on the CivCity board, I think that's a real possibility!

Find out more at www.civcity.org or like them on Facebook.

National News

The US Senate has passed a version of the Every Child Achieves Act (successor to No Child Left Behind). According to Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teacher Association, who is quoted in this piece on Diane Ravitch's blog:

“The bill continues yearly testing in grades three through eight and once in high school, but leaves it to states to determine how to use those tests for school accountability. It removes the authority of the federal government to demand that teacher evaluations be connected to student test scores and gives more authority to states to determine specific standards and curriculum.“ 

In giving more authority to states, the bill loosens constraints on how funds will be spent, though fortunately the Senate rejected a voucher amendment. The Senate measure now goes to a conference committee, where senators and members of the House will mesh their bills and develop a final piece of legislation. If approved, that bill will have to be signed or vetoed by President Barack Obama. If Obama vetoes it, Congress would have to override the veto for the bill to become law.

Per Madeloni,

“It is a bittersweet victory to applaud the power of school accountability going back to the states, should this bill become law. While it would allow us to organize locally and make the demands we want for our students and our schools, others have noted that it would mean we have 50 battles to fight instead of one – and that some states are especially weak in their readiness to fight.”  

And the House version [which is called the Student Success Act] is different, but it also provides a means for students who opt out to not count against the 95% rule for participation. In other words, based on federal law, parents opting out their children will not affect Title I funding (to be clear--currently this has not affected Title I funding anywhere in the country, but theoretically, it could).

Do you want the details about the differences between the two bills? This blog post, by Mercedes Schneider, does a good job of explaining the differences around testing. She's got other good stuff on her blog too!

I won't pretend to have read the bill, but at least about this piece of the bill--which gives the ability to parents to opt out--I am pretty happy.

Michigan News

We've got a new State Superintendent of Education, Brian Whiston. Read more about him in Lori Higgins' Detroit Free Press article.

The number of new charter school authorizations is going down. Maybe charter school authorizers are starting to realize they actually need to be accountable for the schools. [Hope springs eternal.]

We have yet another new state law that will negatively affect schools. According to this press release from Miller Canfield:

PA 109 of 2015 amends the Revised School Code to require any district without a positive general fund balance of at least 5% for the two most recent school fiscal years to report annually by July 7 the budgetary assumptions used when adopting its annual budget to the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). The budgetary assumptions must include the district’s projected foundation allowance, projected membership, estimated expenditures per pupil for the immediately preceding fiscal year and the projected expenditures per pupil for the current fiscal year. Based on the report, the State Treasurer may determine if the potential for fiscal stress exists within the district.

Local News

And that new state law (PA 109) is one of the reasons why the Ann Arbor superintendent and school board have been so focused on fund balance. Here is the list of local schools (including charters) that need to report. [Most of our local charters are for-profits, and their management companies could be manipulating their fund balances to take as much as they can--maybe they'll leave a little more in the bank now.] Ann Arbor was at 4.9% fund balance this past year, and are projecting to be higher in the coming year.

Ann Arbor has a third in-district transfer/schools of choice window. This might be good news for you if (as happened to a friend of mine) your landlord decided to sell the place you are renting and you might want to not be restricted to a single school area, but you want your kids in the same school as last year...

In the past several months, Ann Arbor has now hired four principals from other local school districts--two from Plymouth-Canton (Megan Fenech for Ann Arbor Open and Karen Siegel as assistant deanat Community High School), one from Northville (Alison Epler for Bach Elementary), and one from Farmington (Jerry Morrissey for Forsythe Middle School). I wish them all good luck! [Fenech and Siegel both live in Ann Arbor.] The Community High assistant dean position was filled in April, and is a new position that is being funded because Community High is adding students, and evening classes.

Ben Edmondson

Ypsilanti Community Schools hired Ben Edmondson as their new superintendent. (He is a former Ann Arbor principal, as well as candidate for Ann Arbor superintendent.) Read his 90-day plan here. (It looks ambitious to me, but it probably needs to be.)

Summer Fun: play.aadl.org

Are you playing the Ann Arbor summer library game? I am! If you are, I am going to give you five six! leads on ways to get some points and codes. [If you're not, it's not too late to start! Visit play.aadl.org, there are both traditional and online versions.]

1. Visit http://www.healthcarecounts.org, which is the Washtenaw Health Plan's site about health care coverage. Specifically, visit this blog post for a code, and a clue for another code.

2. Help out with Arborwiki, our local wikipedia. There's lots of work to be done, and lots of points to be gotten. And I registered and updated a page--it really was pretty easy! (On the page, it explains how to get the points.)

3. CivCity is "sponsoring" a bunch of badges. I think you have to go to meetings to get them... Go to http://play.aadl.org/badgelist and scroll down to CivCity.

4. Go into any local branch, walk around and look for the different codes. That's what I did today at West Branch, and here's a clue to one of the spots.

5. Read. Yup. Whatever you want. You can also get points for commenting on the books, rating them, and tagging them.
The last four books I read? (Which is probably more than I read January through April!)
1. Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind by Sarah Wildman (non-fiction/memoir/genealogy search)
2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
3. Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce (young adult fantasy)--I liked some of her others' more
4. I'm in the middle of The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart (kids' book, part of the Mysterious Benedict Society series)

6. Staff codes--some of the library staff have special codes they can give you. Ask them!


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Happy to See Mediation Begins

Like me, you may have gotten this press release--I'm quite happy to see it!

Ann Arbor Public Schools

and  

Ann Arbor Education Association:

The Ann Arbor Public Schools and Ann Arbor Education Association have agreed to enter into conversations with a mediator from the Michigan Employment Relations Commission regarding the current dispute.  This was based upon the recommendation of the administrative law judge and state labor mediator. During this time, the parties have agreed to maintain confidentiality and will not be making public statements. In support of the spirit of mediation, we are requesting that the public and press and all stakeholders stand down and refrain from further comments to allow the process to proceed. We appreciate the opportunity the mediation process affords and look forward to a successful outcome.

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Guest Post: This is How Our Public Schools Die

Occasionally someone volunteers to write a guest post! I think this post, by Steve Norton, the Executive Director of Michigan Parents for Schools (written in his capacity as a parent, but with the knowledge he brings from MIPFS), is worth your time! He calls it a "companion piece" to the parent letter that was sent to the Ann Arbor school board and teachers' union. (See this post.)

The little embedded video--all of 11 seconds long--is from the movie Independence Day--a movie I've never seen. This holiday should remind us all of our rights and responsibilities as Americans, and that's really what Steve's post is about! (And that's why I've got the text colors set up in red and blue!) --Ruth


By Steve Norton




Everyone who cares about education in our community ought to be paying attention to what is happening right now between the leaders of our school district and the union which represents Ann Arbor teachers. Not to take sides, or to point fingers, but to understand the awful consequences of policies crafted over many years by "think tanks" and lobbying groups who hold tremendous power in Lansing. What we are seeing here today was scripted long ago, by those who hold community governance of education in contempt. Should we continue to follow their script, or should we start writing our own?

As a concerned parent, I definitely want a strong and stable school district which can offer great programs, maintain reasonable class sizes, and avoid constant crises. But as an involved parent, I also know that what matters most for my children is their everyday interaction with the teachers and other professionals who educate and care for them. School is not a place where we send our children to download "facts" and memorize algorithms. A quality education helps teach our children how to think, how to ask the right questions, and how to understand those different from themselves. Together, parents and schools prepare our children to grow into thoughtful citizens and productive members of our community. That's not something which can happen without talented, committed professionals at every level, most especially in the classroom.

So what has our state done to help make this possible? More than twenty years ago, we placed the fate of our local schools largely in the hands of the state legislature, because we gave them control over the funding for our schools. Money isn't everything, but schools are dark and cold without electricity and gas, buses don't run without fuel, and programs don't exist without the people to implement them.

Since that time, districts like Ann Arbor have seen their per-pupil funding lag behind inflation nearly every year, to the point where the real spending power of our funding is  over 21% below where it was in 1995, even before retirement costs are subtracted. Overall state spending on K-12 education has stagnated over the last decade and more, and when the mandatory payments to the state retirement system are taken out, real state per-pupil spending is down 21% since 2002. Perhaps more important, the share of our state's economic product that we use to pay for education has gone steadily down over the last decade: in good times or bad, we are committing less and less of our income to support K-12 schools.

In response, local school districts have been cutting programs, laying off teachers, insisting on pay concessions from employees, and privatizing any services which can legally be contracted out. Class sizes have risen, offerings have narrowed, and teachers have not only had their pay cut but their resources slashed. The rise of high-stakes testing has pushed quality education aside for the sake of test prep. The system, and everyone it it, has been under more and more stress as the years pass by. For background on how this has played out in Ann Arbor, please see the presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3W0G8KNKLfLempCX1BoUTJVMUU/view?usp=sharing

Make no mistake: this was intentional. Having restricted itself to a funding bucket that was no longer adequate for our schools, our Legislature alternated between years when they pompously announced that we "need to live within our resources" and others where they patted themselves on the back for increases which were really illusions. But the consequences of these choices, and the pain, played out at the local rather than state level as school boards were forced to oversee the dismantling of their local schools.

To add fuel to the fire, our elected state officials passed laws to ensure greater conflict at the local level. Starting in 2011, the Legislature made topics which had traditionally been worked out between teachers and school boards into "prohibited subjects" that could not be subject to bargaining and instead are under the sole control of the school board. Sensitive matters to teachers, such as staffing and placement, evaluation, layoff and rehiring priority, and the minimum standards for firing, were handed to beleaguered school boards as a replacement for adequate funding. "You won't get any more funding, but you can use these as leverage to whip things into shape." Already backed into a corner, is it any wonder that school boards were willing to use those new powers?

Furthermore, faced with constant pressure for financial concessions, rising health insurance and retirement costs, and now a real threat to their working conditions, is it any wonder that many teachers and their unions chose to fight back?

But why set this in motion? Well, if you believe - as many influentials in Lansing currently do - that "government" can never to anything as well as the private sector, and that it should be as small as possible, you want "public" education to be placed into private hands. The easiest way to do this is to get families to vote with their feet, and abandon local public schools rather than try to save them. The money follows the children - all of it. After all, who wants to stay on a sinking ship?

It is not necessary to get into the details of what has happened in Ann Arbor to recognize the pattern (for more, see the Parent Letter here [http://a2schoolsmuse.blogspot.com/2015/07/parents-ask-aaps-board-teachers-union.html]). We are being forced to fight over a shrinking pie. As the pressure continues, and the fights accumulate, our local public schools will be undermined, public confidence in them eroded, and talented educators driven away. This is how our community-governed public schools will die.

When you are in the middle of the fight, it can be hard to step back and look at the big picture. But for our community, it is essential. These kinds of battles will lead nowhere good - and the people who set the stage for this struggle know that. It's time we took it to heart ourselves.

Our school leaders and educators need to set aside their legal weaponry, and quite literally beat their swords into plowshares. All the resources being used to further this standoff, the legal and organizational effort involved, would be better used to secure a settlement among stakeholders locally and to find allies across the state for political action. Those of us on the outside, parents and members of the community, have a job to do as well: we need to do what we can to plug the financial holes for now, and add our energies to the effort to force our lawmakers to do right by our children and our schools. It may seem trite to say "Fight Lansing," but if we do not, our future is clear - and it will play out just as they intended.


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Key Updates--And A Survey

1. Have you liked Monet Tiedeman's live blogging of the school board meetings?
Find her work again tonight (the meeting is at Huron High School, by  the way):

https://annarbivore.wordpress.com/

Bookmark it!

2. Congratulations to Scott Westerman, for getting the Ann Arbor Preschool named after him. Dr. Westerman was Superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools for many years and has stayed active in the community. (Yes, even now! He's still on the AAPS Blue Ribbon Advisory Group.)

3. Regarding the rumor that TAs might be outsourced, the school district would like to put that rumor to rest. Here's a comment from David Comsa, the Deputy Superintendent for Human Resources and Legal Services:

There is no chance of AAPS outsourcing teaching assistants. First, the district is actively bargaining with the Paraeducator unit, which includes teaching assistants. Second, state case law considers most teaching assistants to be protected from outsourcing. 

4. Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley has been doing a lot of work on the needs of kids who qualify for special education services in this state.

He has had meetings around the state, and now he has got a survey going, and he's hoping for a better response.

Find the survey at michigan.gov/calley.

I think most parents who have kids with special education needs have been impressed by Lt. Gov. Calley's work on this issue, so...help him out!

5. Need shots? The Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools is offering free immunizations:

Student Immunization Clinics

Walk-ins available from 9 am - 1 pm     

July 29th, 30th  &  August 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th

RAHS - Scarlett Middle School

You do not need to be a registered student at these schools to receive services. RAHS accepts insured and uninsured patients, regardless of ability to pay.

Washtenaw County Public Health staff bringing in polio vaccines.
In the 1950s. From Old News at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Grounds Crew Now; Teachers' Aides Next? School Board Meeting Wednesday

You might have noticed this MLive article from June 19, 2015:

Ann Arbor Schools May Privatize Grounds Crew

As noted in the article,

Ann Arbor Public Schools may privatize its grounds crew to save up to $300,000.
The district will have to lay off 13 employees if it hires four local companies to provide grass cutting, snow removal and athletic field care.
The Board of Education on Wednesday, June 17, reviewed a proposal to hire AM Service of Ann Arbor, Great Lakes Environmental Services of Whitmore Lake, JCC Design of Whitmore Lake and Superior Lawn Care & Snow Removal of Ypsilanti to do the work.
"We believe this model of using a number of contractors to deliver services to parts of the district will help meet real time needs and increase agility in keeping grounds in really good shape," said Superintendent Jeanice Swift. (Emphasis added.)

This item will be voted on at Wednesday's (June 24th) board meeting.

Side Note:

Another item on the June 24th agenda will be the "revised" Draft Policy 5060, which addresses parents who refuse to have their children take state tests.

Here is the amended policy--do you think it is better? It does not call out any particular students. But it still maintains that the tests are mandatory, and it says the board may take "any additional actions," which I think is pretty broad.

But back to my other point.

The rumor that I have heard floating around--I have not seen any written documentation (but also I haven't looked for any)--is that the district is looking into outsourcing all of the teachers' aides in the district. Presumably that would mean making it so that another company (possibly PESG, which does the substitute teachers) would hire all of the teachers' aides and supply them to the district.

UPDATED 6/24/2015--response to this rumor from David Comsa, Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources and Legal Services: "There is no chance of AAPS outsourcing teaching assistants. First, the district is actively bargaining with the Paraeducator unit, which includes teaching assistants. Second, state case law considers most teaching assistants to be protected from outsourcing."

Notice the trend? The goal is to make it so that the number of employees the district is directly responsible for is as small as possible. There is a strong financial incentive for this--for all school district employees, the district is responsible for retirement costs (I believe the costs are above 25% of payroll, and the district is unable to control the amount they are required to pay--that is set by the state). It also gives the district a lot more flexibility.

However, there is certainly also a very troubling aspect to this as well. People lose their jobs, and there is no guarantee that they will be re-hired, or that their pay rates will be similar...even if they are, they will lose the opportunity for a state pension. It also distances the district from tough personnel decisions (after the initial layoff)--the district just tells the other company to do X with Y amount of money--if that leads to difficult working conditions or less pay for certain people--it is separated from the decisions of the district itself.

I recognize that the district, per pupil, gets about the same amount of money as we got thirteen years ago--and there-in lies the conundrum. On the other hand--although theoretically the services should not change, in reality I hear people complain all the time about the decline in custodial services, the decline in food service...I don't really know if the decline is real or imagined.

Can you imagine a time where the district outsourced the teachers? (Just. Asking. I have not heard of any plans to do so--and I do not mean to start any panic about that--but that is what some charter schools do.)

If you have feelings about any of this, you should share them with the Board of Education: boe@a2schools.org (note new, shorter, email address!), ideally before the school board meeting on June 24th.



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Unveiled: The MERC Unfair Labor Practices Complaints--Plus a Reception for PERA

At the end of May I wrote about the unfair labor practice complaints that the Ann Arbor Education Association was filing against the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and the Ann Arbor Public Schools complaint that was being filed against the Ann Arbor Education Association. That post can be found here, and primarily addresses the process of unfair labor complaints.

And here are the complaints!

Ann Arbor Education Association (the union) complaint against the Board of Education of the Ann Arbor Public Schools

The complaint lays out a lot of detail. There are attachments that support the AAEA claim.

I'm lazy and it's in pdf form so I would have to retype stuff and...well, just go read it already!

The attorney is Jeffrey Donahue from the firm of White, Schneider, Young & Chiodini, P.C.


Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education complaint against the Ann Arbor Education Association

The complaint lays out detail and a timeline, but it does not have a lot of attachments, unlike the other complaint.

Read this one too, it won't take too much of your time.

The attorney is Barbara Ruga from the firm of Clark Hill, but the AAPS representative signing the complaint is David Comsa, who is the legal point person/human resources point person for the school district.


********************

And as it happens, the Public Employment Relations Act (the Act which both sides are alleging the other violated) is having its 50th anniversary this year!  So guess what is on the web site of the state's department of Licensing And Regulatory Affairs (LARA)?  An invitation to an event celebrating the Public Employment Relations Act!

Public Employment Relations Act 50^th Anniversary Open House

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

1-4 PM Strolling Reception

MERC Detroit Office – Cadillac Place

3026 W. Grand Blvd, Ste. 2-750

Detroit, MI 48202

 

Light Snacks -- Photos and Memorabilia -- Public Welcome

RSVPs requested to LARA-MERC-PERA50@michigan.gov 

Hey, the public is welcome! So if you want to go, you should RSVP. 

Yes, folks, that is Republican Governor George Romney signing PERA on July 23, 1965.
How times have changed, eh? Photo taken from the LARA flyer. 

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Live-Blogging the Ann Arbor School Board Meetings

Nope, not me.

Monet Tiedemann has started live blogging Ann Arbor school board meetings. Tonight is the first night! 

For a time, Monet Tiedemann wrote the Ann Arbor Chronicle Ann Arbor school board coverage.

Thanks Monet! Check it out--

https://annarbivore.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/aaps-board-meeting-15-june-2015/


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Letter from an Ann Arbor Teacher: Remembering Our Agreements

I received this as an email from an AAPS high school teacher--who also happens to live in Ann Arbor--so she's a community member and voter--and parent!

Oh, and in case it's not clear--this is clearly a partisan (teacher's) point of view. Just FYI, I thought I would start out by acknowledging that. Also--I described some (not all) of this in a previous post, Confused? Just When Exactly Does the Teachers' Contract End?

From my teacher friend:

Discussions about the Ann Arbor teachers’ contract are confusing: the MOAs (memorandums of agreement), TAs (tentative agreements), durations of agreement, ratifications of agreement. It all sounds agreeable but hard to follow. As an AAPS teacher, I realize that if I’m feeling confused about these agreements, others in our community may be feeling equally—if not more--confused. I decided to go back and look at the agreements that the district and the union signed, and I’ve tried to summarize key elements here. Until 2015 the district and union’s statements and actions seemed to be consistent with the agreements. But in the spring of this year, the district started to issue statements and make decisions that seemed to ignore them. Has the district forgotten the agreements it signed? Do we need a new term: forgetting our agreements (FOA)? Since we may be experiencing this FOA, I’d like to introduce another term: remembering our agreements (ROA). Here is my attempt at ROA.

Since I don’t always trust my memory, I’ve been re-reading the documents. All of these agreements are available on the AAEA website (http://www.a2ea.org/) and on the AAPS district website. I’ve included links to the district website throughout. Quoted language from the various documents is in bold. (I haven’t been able to open these documents on the new AAPS website at a2schools.org so the links are to the old website at www.aaps.k12.mi.us.) I hope you will take my ROA as a starting point and then examine these documents for yourself.

In June 2010, the teachers agreed to loan the district money by deducting 2.2% from each teacher’s contract amount. The district agreed to pay us back using a complicated formula. This is in “AAEA June 10. 2010 Tentative Agreement” (Tentative Agreement between AAEA and AAPS For a Successor Agreement Extending the 2009-2011 Master Agreement June 14, 2010) http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/hrs.home/files/june_14_aaea_ta.pdf  Basically, as revenues increase, a portion will be shared with the teachers. In the same document, the district agreed upon an expiration date for our contract tied to this sharing of revenue:

SECTION VIII. Duration of Agreement

Where ever the phrase “duration of agreement” is used it refers to June 30 of the school year in which Section II above is satisfied. That is the year in which the shared revenue increases total $4,500,000 or more. That date will be known in November when the official audited report is received. Negotiations for a successor agreement should begin by March 1 of that school year per section 1.223 of the Master Agreement.

This is a clear--though complicated--formula for determining the contract’s expiration date: June 30 of the school year in which the shared revenue increases total $4,500.000 or more.

The district has not paid the teachers back the money specified in 2010. In fact, we have given up more money since that loan was made. In March of 2013, at the district’s request, we voted to take a 3% pay cut. This reduction was for one year. The reality of a pay cut would make it hard for anyone to imagine that the district had paid us back or that the contract could now expire. I remember no such suggestion that either of these things had happened. This agreement is in “AAEA March 18, 2013 Tentative Agreement” (http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/hrs.home/files/aaea_ta_2013.pdf)

Despite the fact that the 3% pay reduction was scheduled to end in June 2014, teachers voted to continue the pay cut (with step freezes) through the next school year, 2014 - 2015. See “AAEA June 20, 2014 Tentative Agreement.” (http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/hrs.home/files/aaea_ta_2014.pdf) We took this vote in June 2014 in response to a letter sent to us by the Board of Education, saying they would terminate our contract if we did not vote to continue the 3% cut and step freeze for the next year. The grounds for this was the clause in our contract that says:

In the event there are major (exceeding .5% of projected annual revenue) reductions in local, state or federal revenues, or an unforeseen financial crisis which adversely affects the funding of schools, the Master Agreement shall terminate at the time such changes go into effect, except as the contract is extended by mutual agreement. (from article 10.118 of the Master Agreement (http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/hrs.home/files/tma_for_printer.pdf)

Teachers voted for the pay freeze rather than lose the protections in our contract. The district’s actions and statements certainly seemed to indicate that they thought this was a valid contract. This agreement also included the following provision: “Problem solving to meet in March 2015 to discuss finances and the impact of 10.118.” Some have suggested that is an expiration date, but I don’t see anything about the contract expiring in that line.

Recently, the district has said that our contract needs updating. In her email of May 4, 2015, the superintendent wrote: “we will need to align the teacher contract with the 2011 and 2012 Michigan school reform legislation.” It is true that, under recent Michigan laws, some of the provisions in our contract are now “prohibited subjects” in new teacher contracts. The prohibited subjects are those items that the union may no longer bargain—items such as teacher evaluations, placement, discipline, and layoffs. The laws do take away the union’s right to have a say in how these important matters are worked out. Unfortunately, that is how “right to work” works. But these laws do not require our district to get rid of the provisions, nor do they dictate how the district handles these matters. The requirement is that the union may not bring them up or have a say.

Michigan law also states that a contract containing those prohibited subjects may remain in place until that contract expires. Remember the loan we made in 2010? The district agreed that our contract would not expire until “June 30 of the school year in which Section II above is satisfied. That is the year in which the shared revenue increases total $4,500,000 or 
more.” It seems to me that according to the agreement signed by the district, the contract has not expired because the district has not shared the agreed upon revenue increases with us.

One more point of confusion is the claim I’ve heard that our contract expires in June 30, 2016. This is a deadline found in “AAEA March 18, 2013 Tentative Agreement” (http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/hrs.home/files/aaea_ta_2013.pdf). It does not refer to the contract’s expiration; it refers to our Association Rights amendment that “shall continue in effect through June 30, 2016.” This has to do with how the union functions and how dues are collected--not the contract’s expiration.

I am having a hard time understanding how the district interprets any of this to mean that the contract is about to expire or that they must remove protections from the contract. How do they explain this FOA (forgetting our agreements)? One explanation the district has offered is that when we voted to take the 3% pay cut (2013) and the pay freeze (2014) to help the district through the financial crisis, we technically opened up our contract which then caused it to expire. I realize that there are many legal details here that are way beyond my pay grade, but common sense tells me that the district should not use our vote agreeing to take a pay cut and a pay freeze (both at their request) as the grounds for terminating our contract.

When I see the signature of our district representative at the bottom of these agreements, I wonder how they are making sense of their current claims. Even if they now regret those decisions, the signatures attest to their agreement. Apparently, the concessions we have made, working cooperatively with the district to get through difficult financial times, have not been good enough for the superintendent and the Board. They now seem intent on undermining our bargained agreements in order to impose an “agreement” on us.

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