Step by Step: Moving Forward After the Death of Anna Hendren Schwalb

In the last two weeks, we lost two children. Today's post is dedicated to the memory of Anna Hendren Schwalb, and the next post is dedicated to the memory of Christian Lorinczy.

Anna was a kindergarten student at the Hebrew Day School, and a member of my synagogue, and a friend of many of my friends. She was killed tragically while crossing Geddes at dusk, and at first I thought of it as a very rare occurrence.

And pedestrian deaths are rare--but not that rare, I realized as my friend Danny said to me,
"That's just like what happened to Lauren's niece." And then I remembered. He was referring to the niece of my sister's friend Lauren. Maya Hirsch was four years old when she was killed while crossing a street in Chicago in 2006.

It is rare--but not that rare, I realized when my husband said to me,
"That's just like what happened to David and Sally's neighbors." He was referring to our college friend David, whose neighbor Samuel Cohen-Eckstein was killed on a road in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, shortly before his bar mitzvah last year, in the fall of 2013.

It is rare--but not that rare, I realized as I thought about Jimmy Amico's son Jarrid. Jimmy was a high school classmate of mine, and his ten-year old son Jarrid was killed by a van while he was riding a bicycle in my hometown of Rye, NY in 2006.

That's just the kids, and that's just the deaths. That doesn't count my friend Cara's close encounter with a car while she walked through a crosswalk (broken leg, but her daughter in the stroller was fine); or my friend Wendy's colleague, who was hit--and killed--by a bus. Or the Ann Arbor child who was recently hit by a car on the way to school--and luckily, escaped with scrapes.

When you start to think about it, you too may remember a friend, or a friend of a friend, whose child was killed by a car.

The obituaries called each of these "tragic accidents," and they are. As a person who spends my days thinking about public health, though, I know that these deaths are preventable. Preventable.

And I know I am not the only person who occasionally drives above the speed limit. Who has gotten aggravated by traffic. Who occasionally is distracted by my thoughts, by a story on the radio, by a phone call. Just the other day--while thinking about what I would write for this blog post (ironic, but not in a good way)--I had to brake really hard to stop for a crosswalk, where a pedestrian was waiting on the side.

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One Passover, for the Seder (the dinner event where Jews tell the story of the Israelite's Exodus from Egypt and from slavery), we asked our guests to bring symbols of liberation and symbols of slavery. One guest brought car keys as a symbol of liberation. Another brought car keys as a symbol of slavery.

Yes, cars can free us, and cars can enslave us.  But we also need to remember--cars can be weapons, too.

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The death of Maya Hirsch triggered a lot of activity. 

A new law, dubbed "Maya's Law," increased the penalties for people who drive through stop signs. At least one police officer started handing out stickers with tickets--stickers that read:

REMEMBER MAYA! Maya was killed by a driver who failed to stop at a stop sign & yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. STOP AT STOP SIGNS! YIELD TO PEOPLE IN CROSSWALKS!

After being sued by the Hirsch family, the City of Chicago paid a $3.25 million lawsuit settlement, and as Grid Chicago writer John Greenfield wrote in 2012, The Maya Hirsch Settlement Will Help Save the Lives of Other Chicago Children.

Maya’s family eventually sued the city after it was discovered that, at the time of the crash, the signs and markings at the intersection weren’t up to the city’s official standards...Under Mayor Emanuel and Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Gabe Klein, the city has taken many steps to improve pedestrian safety, demonstrating the city’s changing transportation priorities. The transportation department has repainted hundreds of crosswalks with high-visibility zebra-stripe markings. New leading pedestrian interval traffic signals give walkers a head start over turning vehicles. Existing red light cameras and incoming speed cameras will discourage dangerous driving. Recently the city began installing hundreds of “Stop for pedestrians within crosswalk” signs to remind drivers of the new state law. And the city’s Chicago Forward action agenda states the goal of reducing traffic fatalities to zero.The $3.25 million settlement underscores the importance of continuing these improvements. It’s unfortunate that taxpayer money has to be spent this way when the same amount could have paid for 8,125 “Stop for pedestrians” signs, which are purchased, sited and installed for $400 each.

After the death of Samuel Cohen-Eckstein, the speed limit was dropped on the street where he was killed, and the timing of traffic lights was altered to slow drivers down.

It took Jarrid Amico's parents several years--and in the meantime, another child was hit by a car in the same spot--but eventually, they got a stop sign placed on the street near the site of the accident.

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After Anna's death, my son and I were discussing street crossings.
He described a scene from a couple of years ago, when he was in eighth grade.
He and his friend were leaving the County Rec Center, and rushing to catch the bus on the other side of the street. So they ran across Washtenaw. (Now, there is a traffic light there--but at the time there was none.) "Standing in the middle of the road," he told me--"That was scary."
Why, I asked him, didn't he walk to the crosswalk?
"Because it was two blocks away."

Moral: distances that are short by car, seem much longer by foot. We need to think about scale, not just from the point of view of cars, but also from the point of view of pedestrians and bicyclists.

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As a community, we have a chance--and a responsibility--to improve pedestrian safety.

As walkers, we have a chance--and a responsibility--to improve pedestrian safety.

As drivers, we have a chance--and a responsibility--to improve pedestrian safety.

May the memories of Anna Hendren Schwalb, and Jarrid Amico, and Maya Hirsch, and Samuel Cohen-Eckstein, be blessings. In their memories, let's advocate for safer streets, and work to make our own driving more careful.

Taken from the World Health Organization's
First Global Pedestrian Safety Campaign

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Choosing A Kindergarten, Ready for Graduation: Looking at the "Long Haul"

As I've written about before, when my oldest son was ready for kindergarten, I was choosing between the local Hebrew Day School, our local public school, and Ann Arbor Open.

On the side of the Hebrew Day School: all-day kindergarten; small classes; an immersion language curriculum; and a school that was willing to let us sit in on classes and observe.

On the side of Ann Arbor Open: multi-age classrooms; progressive education; and the requirement to volunteer and observe a classroom.

On the side of our local public school: basically, nothing, even though it has a stellar reputation, because I had myself experienced and loved "open" education. It had the same negatives as Ann Arbor Open (half-day kindergarten and larger class sizes than the private school) and--in my opinion--none of the positives. I couldn't sit in on a class there, and kindergarten roundup was very unsatisfying.

To round things out, my husband was a strong public schools proponent and thought we should try the public schools first.

That was then...

In any case, I was reminded of this the other day when I heard someone say they were choosing between a private school or the new Northside STEAM program but were wondering about who the teachers would be at the STEAM school.

[Funny--I just realized I was never worried about the teacher quality at any of the schools I considered.]

I was giving the biggest weight to the full-day kindergarten.

One day I was talking to my colleague Cheryl, whose kids went to the Open School and were much older (like, fifth or sixth grade!)--and she said,

"Ruth, kindergarten is only eight months long. 

You have to look at the long haul!"

And so I did. 

That was the best advice I ever got about choosing a school. If you don't want to be someone whose kids change school every year or two, then you need to think about the long haul.

Gabe and me: This is now!

Maybe because that conversation is embedded in my mind, it's hard to believe that this weekend, the little kid I was worried about then graduated from college.

Time flies when you're having fun!

(Just for fun: You can read a piece Gabe let me publish a few years ago when he was still in high school.)






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Reviewing the AAPS Budget Decisions

In another very late night meeting, the Ann Arbor school board voted on a budget. I tried and tried to keep my eyes open for it, but at 1 a.m. I had to go to bed. The board voted on the budget around 2 a.m. I think you already know my opinion of late night decisions--they often don't sit all that well in the morning. Also, there were a lot of last-minute calculations going on, and that can lead to mathematical errors. On the other hand, budgets can be amended.

First, the good:

• The school board saved high school transportation. I think that is fantastic. Even though I don't think anyone spoke on behalf of high school transportation during that evening's public commentary, they saved it anyway.
• They managed to save Pioneer's theater tech person while putting it on Pioneer Theatre Guild to raise more money. That seems reasonable, and I think the Guild will be able to pull it off--they have a good fundraising machine.
• They managed to save middle school sports that were scheduled to be cut.
• At the time of the school board meeting, the district had received 37 announced retirements. It seems possible to me that the district will be able to avoid most of the layoffs.

Second, the "I think this is good but I'm not positive" category:

• The school board saved most of the reading intervention specialists. My question continues to be--does the program work? I haven't seen evidence that it does, or it doesn't. (That doesn't mean the evidence doesn't exist, by the way. It just means I haven't seen it.) I do wish they would share their evidence.
• The school board settled on a mid-point in trying to figure out how much money they will get for best practices from the state. The possible numbers were $70/student, $40/student, and $0/student. Last year they budgeted for $70 (and qualified for it) but more school districts than expected qualified and so the state gave everybody less money. This year, the school board settled on a number between $40 and $70 and I think that was the right decision--however, if we get less than budgeted, that will further erode the fund balance.
• The school board assumed that they will get concessions from the administrators' union, curriculum coordinators, and tech support staff unions equivalent to the 3% concessions from the teachers union and the cabinet members. That will probably happen, but I'll just note that it hasn't yet.
• The school board assumed flat enrollment. Since they saved high school transportation, I am more optimistic that this is correct. Note, however, that the state is rolling back the entry dates for kindergarten (by a month each year for three years, until the birth date cutoff will be September 1). I hope that the estimates for reduced kindergarten enrollment are correct.

Third, the "I'm not sure this was the right thing to do" category: 

• The board continued to choose to dip into the fund balance. I share Christine Stead's feeling that this puts the district in a more vulnerable position, because the state of Michigan is not working with the district's best interests in mind. On the other hand, I'm sure I'm not the only parent who is tired of class sizes getting bigger, and fewer electives being offered. 
• The board cut the physical education requirement to match the state standard. I don't have a problem with that per se, but: a) I'm really skeptical that this will save the money they expect it to save (which I think was 4 PE teachers, or $400,000) because those students still need electives, and other teachers still need planning time periods, and b) PE classes tend to be on the larger side already, and in any case, kids need PE. [In high school, I had gym four days a week every week of school, for four years.]

Last, the "this was clearly the wrong thing to do" category:

• The district restored seventh hour, but only with a "you have to pay to take the class" option for those schools on the semester schedule (Pioneer, Huron, Community). This is wrong-headed in so many ways. First, before last week's board meeting the ACLU of Michigan had notified the board that they believe this practice to be illegal and unconstitutional. Yet the school board proceeded, risking a lawsuit and all of the fees associated with that, to bring in something like $100,000. [They estimated slightly more income, but in the last-minute rush, I don't think they put in any costs for running a pay-to-play program. So let's call it $100,000 in income.] The school board proceeded, despite the fact that it appears they will be allowing Skyline to continue with a trimester system, and under the trimester system, Skyline students will get three classes more a year for free than the other schools. And that might lead to a different kind of lawsuit. [One thing that could be worrisome about this whole issue--the new interim Superintendent, David Comsa, is the district's attorney. Did he tell the district not to worry about a lawsuit? I don't know, but if he did, I worry about that advice!]
• Adding insult to injury, the board could have kept seventh hour, without any "pay to take the class" option, by accepting Adams Outdoors' offer to pay for three billboards on school property, for $100,000. But the school board rejected the offer, because they didn't like the way the billboards would look. Yup. I'm not a billboard fan, but the budget is very tight. Several years ago the district agreed to put up some cell phone towers to bring in income, and I thought they would look ugly too. But after a very, very short while, I didn't even notice them. Putting up billboards is not like making a deal with the devil. If it allows us to keep seventh hour without a fee, and without risking lawsuits? That says to me--"no brainer!"

And you know, school board, when it comes to these last two issues? You can still change your mind.

Kindergarten Blues

A parent I know whose child goes to one of our southeast Ann Arbor Public Schools says that her daughter, who is in kindergarten, gets a packet full of worksheets every week for homework. She, as a parent, finds it takes her quite a bit of time at least twice a week to work with her daughter on these worksheets.

Another friend, hearing about this, is thinking seriously about sending her daughter to Rudolf Steiner. The Rudolf Steiner school follows a Waldorf, play-based curriculum and actually does not believe in teaching young children to read, but rather believes it is important developmentally to wait. In the Waldorf world, they are more interested in developing "critical thinking and innovation, open-mindedness and compassion."

Hearing this, I feel very sad. My oldest son experienced a very play-based curriculum in kindergarten and first grade. One of my favorite memories from that year was when a group of children decided to design a city. When I arrived at the end of the day they had not gotten very far, but they had figured out where they would put the church, the synagogue, and the mosque. [That, perhaps, is what happens when there are Christian, Jewish, and Muslim kids in the class.]

Seven years later, I noticed that there was a big difference in the kindergarten and first grade experience for my youngest son. The class was much more structured and there was much less time for open play. Unfortunately, it appears that in the years since my youngest son finished kindergarten that trend has greatly accelerated.

Where does this trend come from? Friend #2, above, says to me (completely unsolicited--I don't even think she knew I was involved with Ann Arbor STOP: Stop Overtesting Our Pupils), "is all this testing really necessary?"

And the answer, of course, is no. There is no reason to use the NWEA MAP test on kindergartners or first graders, something that we have been doing in the Ann Arbor Public Schools without a good reason for doing so, and apparently without an evaluation plan (at least, none that has been made public).  Its use exacerbates a trend toward "test prep" worksheets.



There is no reason that we shouldn't be teaching reading or math, social studies or science using a play- and project-based curriculum with early elementary students. If they are going to give kindergartners homework (which, to me, is questionable in any case), can't they at least be fun projects?

Five Thoughts About Labor Day and the First Day of School

1. Read about the history of Labor Day here. Remember that in the late 1800s, the average worker worked 12-hour days, 7 days a week.

2. In most public schools in Michigan, we have unionized teachers, custodians, secretaries and principals. If you think any of them are paid too much, get too much time off, have pensions or other benefits that are too high, just remember. . . they didn't negotiate those contracts by themselves. There was somebody. . . administrators and school board members, generally. . . on the other side of the negotiating table.

3. For a lot of schools, the first day of school is tomorrow, and in Michigan, that is going to be the first full day of kindergarten in many school districts, including Ann Arbor. Between the time that my oldest child started school and now, kindergarten has gotten much less play-ful and much more work-ful. Let's hope that full day kindergarten will still be fun for kindergartners.

4. That reminds me of a story:

When my (oldest) son was in first or second grade, he never seemed to want to read at home.
One day I said to him, "Why don't you want to read? Reading's fun!"
And he said to me, "Look mom. Maybe someday reading will be fun. But right now, it's work!"

School--it's a day of labor for both students and teachers. But that doesn't mean it can't also be fun.


5. Where I grew up, school always started the day after Labor Day. You might know that the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) also starts in September. As a Jewish kid, growing up, it never ever made sense to me that the "New Year" started in December. Clearly, the New Year started in September. I hope this new school year is a good one for you and for your kids. I foresee a lot of battles ahead. . . I hope to be writing more about testing. . . charter schools. . . arcane details of contracts. . . and more. But time presses, so we'll see how the blogging goes. I had told a friend of mine that when September starts I always feel like a Mack Truck has hit me. [She found that to be a helpful comment, because it validated her feeling. Maybe it will help you too.]

Mack AC-model flatbed delivery truck from the Petersen Automotive Museum

Chance Encounters and All-Day Kindergarten

Finally, the Ann Arbor schools have joined the other county school districts s in the rush to create all-day kindergarten--if the districts didn't make the switch, they would lose more state money. Of course, all-day kindergarten costs money too.

I don't like the state requiring schools to provide all-day kindergarten without providing more money for it, and I do worry about kindergartens being too academic, but the trend toward an academic kindergarten has been very evident for years. There was a big change in the tenor of my oldest son's kindergarten class and my youngest son's kindergarten class. (There are seven years between them.) My oldest son's kindergarten class was much more play-based. Sure, skills are important, but little kids acquire skills through playing.

But on the other hand--I am very happy that the schools are going to offer something that private schools have been offering for years. Half-day kindergarten was a pain in the neck. After years of full-day day care, it seemed like almost nothing, and I still had to pay for almost full-time day care. For many years, some other schools had used alternate-day kindergarten--but not Ann Arbor.

At the time that I was looking for a school for my oldest son, I was very attracted to a local, private, parochial school. There were two key attractions--the immersion language program (which was only a true immersion program beginning in first grade), and the full-day kindergarten. I was really struggling with the choice, and even though my husband had his heart set on public school, I was thinking. . . well perhaps for kindergarten. . . and then we could switch.

In a chance encounter one day, I ran into a colleague who had three older children. In the course of catching up, I described my dilemma, and Cheryl said, "Ruth, when you make your decision, you really have to look beyond kindergarten. Kindergarten is only eight months long!"

Cheryl was right. But for that chance encounter, I might not have realized how fleeting kindergarten is. At the time, it seemed like a huge step!

I know now that a lot of parents initially choose a private school for a full-day kindergarten option, and some of them never leave those private schools. But for that chance encounter, I might have had three kids go through private school, at least for their elementary years.

Therefore, I'm glad that in this area, at least, the public schools have leveled the playing field. I hope this will allow more families to start their kids' academic careers in public schools. And perhaps. . . one can hope. . . that full-day kindergarten will also allow more time to play, and do project-based learning, and still allow teachers to cover those academics.

In the News

MEAP "proficiency" cutoff scores are being revised. Think it will help...ANYTHING?

The Myths of International Comparisons (yes, it's also about test-taking).

Dexter Schools are thinking about all-day kindergarten.

Whitmore Lake student Jesse Burkitt dies in a car accident.

Kids Count is out. Kids Count is "part of a broad national effort to measure the well-being of children at the state and local levels, and use that information to shape efforts to improve the lives of children." You can find the data center here. Nearly 30% of Washtenaw County kids are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. (Random factoid pulled from Kids Count; really, not so random--it's a good indicator of poverty and near-poverty.)

Revenue Side

It is, in fact, more pleasant to talk about how AAPS can increase its revenue stream than to talk about how it can cut. So here are a few places that I would look.

1. Pay to Play for athletics: This has already been proposed by the district, and I don't have a problem with it, IF there is a way for students who are income-eligible to get the fees waived. Annarbor.com had a little chart of what other districts do. I liked the way that Plymouth-Canton has fees set up, with a larger fee for the first sport, and a smaller fee for additional sports.
What I would add: I would add a smaller fee for middle school sports. The seasons are much shorter, but perhaps a fee along the lines of $30/first season and $20/additional seasons would be reasonable.
I would also add fees for other extra-curricular activities, in particular theater and music activities.

2. Grant Opportunities: Currently the district does not have a grant-writer. In a district the size of Ann Arbor's, I think this is a mistake. Although one district official told me that AAPS "couldn't" hire a grant writer without funding from an outside source, I have two reactions to that. First, that yes AAPS could--if the administration wanted to, they could reassign staff to 100% grant writing. Alternatively, they could ask the Educational Foundation, or the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, for two years worth of funding to get that going. This will not affect this year's budget--even successful grants take a while to come to fruition. Investing in a grant writer is an investment in the future.

3. Facility Rental: I'm not convinced that the district has fully exploited the opportunities for facility rental to outside groups. I would like to encourage the district to get a group together to tweak both the pricing and the way that facility rental is promoted. That group needs to include potential end users and people with marketing/business acumen, as well as school facilities people.

4. Medicaid Reimbursement: Some of the district's special education expenses are Medicaid billable. Currently, that billing brings in about $1 million each year, and is largely handled by social workers. I believe that this is an area where the school district needs to be absolutely sure it is maximizing its billing, and if the billing is spread out, it is likely that it has not been maximized. I don't have local statistics, but a study in New York State of 8 districts found that they were only being reimbursed for about 1/3 of the Medicaid monies that they should be reimbursed for. In the study, some of the reasons that the districts did not get reimbursed included: a) not checking students' Medicaid status regularly (so they would be kicked off Medicaid, and not get back on even though they were still eligible, and the districts would not know); b) waiting too long to send in the claims; and c) not appealing claims that were denied, even if they believed that denial was in error. In those districts, the estimate was that they could triple their reimbursement level! The Medicaid claims submission process should be reviewed from the point of service onward, even if the increase would add $100,000 and not $2 million to the AAPS budget. (And this is true for every district in the county.)

5a. I feel ambivalent about one area: Schools of Choice. 
On the one hand, I have felt for a long time that AAPS should have schools of choice. On the other hand, coming into this now, feels a little like we are robbing Peter (the other school districts) to pay Paul (our school district) and I don't feel very good about that. I also wonder whether opening schools of choice to Stone (which I don't think works as a school) and Clemente (which does work, but is our most expensive school) makes any sense at all. Will that entice high school students? Stone was a school of choice before, and I don't think it really got that many people choosing to go there. We would definitely have school of choice applications for Pioneer, Huron, and Skyline.
On the elementary school level, I have found that generally, people who are unhappy with schools are often unhappy after a couple of years, so opening to schools of choice only in grades K/1 does not make sense to me. If we are going to have schools of choice, let's open up a certain number of spots in every grade, K-12.
If we are going to open to schools of choice.

5b. I have another idea for Schools of Choice/Recruitment
There is a whole other part of me that says, we should not be recruiting from other school districts. We should be recruiting from the people who live in our district and are choosing to send their kids to other schools. That also maximizes the amount of money we get (since our per-pupil rates are higher than the surrounding districts, kids from within the district bring in more money than kids from without the district.) My friend told me that in some of our elementary school districts, 1/4 of the students go to other schools.
What will reverse that trend? I think that magnets can do that. Anyone who goes to the Community, Skyline, or Ann Arbor Open orientations can see that magnets get people interested. And they don't have to be more expensive. As a school district, we need to get those families to see AAPS as a viable choice because they offer what the families want (for instance--K-8 school, intensive language, Montessori practice). Here are some of my ideas (just a taste) that directly target individuals who are choosing other schools. [This is not a budget proposal for this year, but some of these things could be implemented fairly quickly, certainly within two years.]

Elementary/Middle:
Another K-8 school, on the east side.
A Montessori school (could be combined with a K-8 school).
A language immersion program. (Start with a K-1 Spanish or Arabic or Chinese or Japanese program, and increase from there. Could be combined with a K-8 school.)

High School:
Magnets at all three large high schools. We already have 4 of them at Skyline.
For Huron: Orchestral Music magnet and Foreign Language magnet and/or Science magnet.
For Pioneer: Theater magnet and Voice magnet and/or Sports Management magnet.

It could be worse

At least in this county, you are likely to get into one of your
top seven school choices.
Seriously. In San Francisco, that might not be the case.
(By the way, that report makes getting into Community High School, where your chances are about 1 in 3, look like a piece of cake.)

Attention! In-District Transfers Process Happening Now

A while ago I mentioned the in-district transfer policy. If you are not satisfied with the school you are districted to, and you didn't get into Ann Arbor Open (or that is not what you are looking for, or you are hedging your bets in case you don't get in), you do have another AAPS option if you live in the school district.

You would be forgiven if you thought the schools didn't really want to promote it. Like so many things, you need to know what to search for on the AAPS web site. And apparently this great option doesn't qualify as "news." And if you were looking for it, how would you know to call it the "Space-Available In-District Transfer Policy?"

EVEN THOUGH (yes, I'm shouting here) THE FIRST SET OF DEADLINES IS FRIDAY! MARCH 20. TWO DAYS FROM NOW. 5 p.m. To read the policy and get the application, click here.

I kid you not. Is this incompetence? Or are they trying to hide the policy?
Per the policy,
"Under the Space-Available In-District Transfer policy, families that live within the Ann Arbor Public School district may apply for a transfer from their assigned school (as defined by the Ann Arbor Public School Street Index) to one of the identified space-available schools. Families of students who receive these transfers are officially assigned to the requested school instead of their original school. If the transfer request is granted, students can stay for all grades offered at that school.

This year we will have two windows during which applications will be accepted and approved:
February 1 – March 20, 2009 with notification by the end of April
April 27 – May 29, 2009 with notification in June."

As of right now, these schools have openings.

Abbot	Eberwhite	Pattengill	Clague - 10 slots
Bach	Lakewood	Pittsfield	Forsythe - 10 slots
Bryant	Lawton K-1	Thurston	Scarlett - 10 slots
Carpenter	Logan	Wines K
Dicken K-4	Northside		Slauson - 10 slots

No high schools have openings via this policy. You can put up to 4 schools on your list.

The upshot is:
This is a good policy, and a lot of schools have openings! (More than half the elementary schools, most of the middle schools.)
I have friends who have used it, and been happier. Different schools do have different personalities.
This is a good policy, but it is being poorly publicized. The question is, why?

Why Kindergarten Roundup Is Completely Inadequate

True Story:
As a conscientious parent of an almost 3 year old, looking for good child care, I visited several day cares. Armed with a list of questions, and my child, I settled in, observing the setting and the providers. I had read several articles that said that when "entrusting my child," I should be inquisitive and make sure the setting was right.
Fast forward a few years, and I'm ready to start looking for a kindergarten. I find out that in the AAPS (at least the school I was districted to), "we don't schedule" classroom visits--although I could meet the principal and get a tour if I liked. I had always thought of myself as pro-public school, but I start to have some doubts. (Are they hiding something?)
I consider a local parochial school. I get to meet the principal (she seemed burned out--in fact she was retiring). And so if I had stopped with the principal, I wouldn't have given the place a second look. But I got to visit the first grade, and the second grade. I got to talk to some fabulous teachers. I was told I could be considered for financial aid. And their foreign language program was an immersion program.
My favorite years of school were at an alternative school, so we also looked at Ann Arbor Open (then Bach Open). We got an orientation. We got to visit the classrooms. And then we got in. My husband felt strongly we should try it. I tried it, and I liked it. But if not for that, my family trajectory might have taken me out of the public schools for a long time.

Think I'm alone? I don't think so. Every year, parents in the Ann Arbor school district choose to send their kids to private, parochial, or charter schools. Schools which they were allowed to visit, in depth, and see in action. And principal visits alone are not enough. My reaction to the private school principal (poor) was overshadowed by the great reaction I had to the teaching staff.
The Ann Arbor Public Schools could do a lot better with recruiting, if they just believed that they were put there to serve the families of Ann Arbor, and let people who are not yet in the school system see all the good things that are going on. In that context, Kindergarten Roundup is a joke. Ann Arbor Open should not be the only school that lets me see the classrooms. Let me meet the teachers. Open Houses, anyone? Parent visits to classrooms? Aren't they a small amount of extra work that is completely worth the years of per-pupil funding? For those of us with more than one child, as the first goes, the rest will likely follow.

AAPS: Don't you know I'm a Major Donor?

A large chunk of the Ann Arbor Public Schools funding comes from its per-pupil allocation. Every child in the schools is worth over $9600--for that year--to the AAPS. So if I enroll my child, in kindergarten, in the Ann Arbor schools, and I stick with them for the next 13 years, I have effectively given the Ann Arbor schools $125,000 (more, if the per-pupil allowance goes up at all). Leaving aside the fact that I am trusting the schools with my most precious kids, this donation makes me, by the standards of any non-profit, a VMD (Very Major Donor).
Now any fundraiser can tell you that the path to raising money from a donor is based on a) developing relationships and b) getting buy-in for the cause. And that's why many potential donors get wined and dined.
If you figure that I might have more than one child (say, 3, because that's how many I've got)--I am now worth a whopping $375,000 (minimally) to the schools. And if I don't "buy in" to the schools, they have lost that money. And if I choose not to send my first child to the AAPS, then most likely my others will not follow either.
So--if I'm a new potential parent--will I get wined and dined? Will I get to see what's going on? There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, the answer is no. What will I get? I will get...Kindergarten Roundup! (And yes, the first one starts tonight.) That I find this totally inadequate is hopefully apparent. More about why it's inadequate, coming soon.