Latest Ann Arbor Chronicle Column: Good Ideas, Flawed Process at AAPS

Here is my latest Ann Arbor Chronicle article. The focus is on Jeanice Swift's new proposals (mostly good) and the school board's lack of attention to process or to following the school board's own policies.

It starts like this:

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen good news and bad news coming out of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. 

Good news has come in the form of a new, enthusiastic, positive-energy, forward-looking superintendent in Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift. Her “Listen and Learn” tour was thorough and well-received by the community, followed by some quickly-implemented changes based on feedback from parents, teachers and staff. 

Swift also brought forward some longer-term initiatives that required approval from the AAPS board. Those include plans to address underutilized buildings, a new K-8 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) program, more language programming, and opening up AAPS to students outside the district through the Schools of Choice program. Those ideas are all positive. 

The bad news is process-related, tied to actions by the AAPS board. Mistakes of past years are being made again, as the school board fails to follow its own policies when implementing major changes to the schools. Specifically, the board continues to make important decisions after midnight, with scant information about costs or implementation. Some final votes are rushed through at the same meeting when the items are introduced, not allowing time for sufficient public input.

Read the rest here.

Embedded in the column, also, is the list of Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel members. The Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel is an invited group of community members--and I was asked to be on it. You can access the list directly here.



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Listen and Learn Tour Results Are Being Shared Now Via Meetings, Report, and Video

Superintendent Jeanice Swift had separate meetings with teachers and parents/community members at every single one of Ann Arbor's schools this fall. Copious notes and analysis later, there are presentations scheduled at all five traditional middle schools (open to anyone).

Also in the works:
*Project Sparkle: cleaning up all of the buildings
*Assessment Task Force--just forming. . . see my earlier post about it.  Please consider applying, here.

Where Are The Meetings?

All forums will be held from 6:30 - 8:00pm

Thursday, January 30 at Forsythe

Monday, February 3 at Clague 

Tuesday, February 4 at Scarlett

Wednesday, February 5 at Slauson

Thursday, February 6 at Tappan

Read the Report!

You will find the report here (on the left hand side of the page you are linking to--it's a nearly 3.0 MB file for downloading).

Watch the Video!

I couldn't get the video to embed here, but here is the link.

The video is not the most highly-produced thing, but it is really fun to play the "how many people do I know in this video" game. I spotted a few friends...

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State 1, Local 0: The MEAP and Three Star Holidays

A few days ago I was contacted by someone from the Arab American Parent Support Group, who was concerned that the MEAP was scheduled to be given on one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar, Eid. Eid is a three-star holiday in the Ann Arbor Public Schools religious calendar, and I was contacted because I recently wrote this blog post about three-star holidays.

You may recall that the guidelines state that:

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS GUIDELINES  I. Holiday observances of major significance to a religious group are indicated on the calendar by three stars (***). The following apply:School district employees may not schedule any of the following during these (three star) holidays.   1. Major exams   2. Reviews for major exams   3. Standardized tests...

And clearly the MEAP is a standardized test. So why was it being given on Eid?

A member of the AAPSG did some poking around, asking the state if the test had to be given on Eid or if a change could be made. She got an email back from the state saying that a deviation could be possible for Eid. But when the Ann Arbor schools administrative staff asked, they got a different answer from the state: No. So they told AAPSG that the answer was no. AAPSG did not like that answer, especially since they thought the answer from the state had already been yes.

At the behest of the person who contacted me, I contacted the school board and administration, and they did a little bit more poking around, and went back to the state Department of Education, and confirmed that the answer was, in fact: No.

However, the district did not formally request a "deviation" and I was a bit confused about that. The MEAP administrator at the state level offered to talk to me about it, and I took her up on it, learning a bit about the MEAP in the process.

1. MEAP testing is given in a time window, with certain dates for certain tests. Then there are make-up days.

2. A "deviation" would only be given by the state if a school is actually closed. (For instance, for Eid I think the Dearborn schools are closed.) But then again, if a school is closed, there are no staff to give a test or kids to take it, so that's rather circular logic there. (In fact, it's not even clear to me why, if a school is closed, you need to request a deviation.)

So basically, Ann Arbor was told that since they weren't closing any schools, they couldn't get a deviation, even though it contradicts their local policy about giving standardized tests on three-star holidays. Thus I say, State 1, Local 0.

(Side note: the schools I grew up in were, and are, closed for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, even though only about 5% of the kids were, and are, Jewish.)

3. I asked the state administrator why the tests have to be given on certain days, especially given that there are makeup days. Why couldn't the district just substitute a makeup day for a specific test day? The answer: Security.  I said, "but you have makeup days," and was basically told that they have to make accommodations for kids who miss school (because they are high stakes tests), but it would be a "nightmare" in terms of security if, for example, different schools gave the math test on different days. (Think: cheating.)

This is where we see what is meant by "high stakes" testing. If the MEAP wasn't "high stakes," nobody would worry about the implications of swapping days. And unfortunately, the district doesn't have any control over this. And the stakes are high for the district because if fewer than 95% of the kids in any school take the test, then the school won't make adequate yearly progress. And penalties ensue. To the district.

As far as the district goes, this is what I learned:

1. The district did respond to the initial request of the AAPSG, which is good. I think the communication channels still need a little bit of working out, because it appears that the district staff didn't adequately explain the situation (which is how I got pulled into this). Over the past few years I have found several times that even when the district staff are doing the right thing, the communication back to families from central administration is very weak and leaves people confused and upset.  But, I'm hopeful that this is about to change, because...

2. I was very pleasantly surprised by the communication from the top AAPS staff. It was a HUGE improvement over the past administration's practices. I actually got an email from the superintendent (and a couple of board members too--thank you board)! Fingers crossed for more great communication back to parents.

And to the district staff I say: Thank you very much for trying to follow the religious calendar guidelines. Even though you weren't able to do so this time, I truly appreciate the effort.

Read more about the state MEAP policies, if you want...and remember, next year there will probably be a different assessment...and probably even more assessments (go to the same place as the MEAP link in this paragraph, and look at the Smarter Balanced information). Ugh. High stakes testing. There is lots to organize around in the coming year.

Read. Think. Act

Things to read:

Article about the experience of being a test grader: Inside the multimillion-dollar essay-scoring business. Reading about scoring reminded me of the essay my son wrote for a test once that I actually published.

Article about Ann Arbor Public School teachers losing their domestic partner benefits due to the union contract being renegotiated due to Right to Work, and the anti-domestic partner legislation passed two years ago in Michigan. (Note: this is also true of Washtenaw County employees, and probably others in the state.) I. feel. terrible. about. this.

Article about how Snyder and Co. knew all about the Skunk Works project. 

Article about Albion closing its high school. (One thing I don't understand about this--it was my impression that state law says that a district is defined by having a high school. But it appears this won't automatically dissolve the district.)

Think and Act. Or in some cases, Act and Think.

The former "SkunkWorks" group now headed by Michigan Superintendent Flanagan has set up a new Facebook page asking for input. Please. Give them a piece of your mind.

The Ann Arbor Schools are asking you to fill out a survey about the qualities most important to you in a Superintendent. Find the survey here. It's fairly short, but before you fill it out, think about how you want to answer qualities that could be interpreted in more than one way. There are several of those. For instance, what exactly do they mean by "Is comfortable leading innovation and reform efforts?" Is that a code word for another Broad Foundation candidate? I'm all for innovation along the lines of more project-based work and more magnets, but I'm not for corporate reform. . . As it happens, there is a comments box at the bottom. Use it!

There is a MoveOn petition to the Ann Arbor school board asking the district not to cut high school transportation because of its disparate impact on low-income kids. If you are in agreement, please sign it here. (I did.)

Finding a New Superintendent: A Four-Legged Stool

If you want to know what other people think we should look for in a new Superintendent, take a look at these survey results. I agree with 80-90%% of the comments there.

For myself, I've been visualizing what I want in a Superintendent. And I've been visualizing a four-legged stool.

Yes, I drew this myself. It took forever!

For the next Superintendent, I think we need:

1. Obviously, we are looking someone with educational leadership/curricular knowledge. I personally am looking for someone who is concerned with supporting teachers and principals and who seeks feedback from them. I am looking for someone who is not interested in testing as a goal (for the purposes of evaluating students or teachers), but rather sees standardized testing as something to be limited. I'm not interested in another Broad-trained Superintendent. I never wrote about how Pat Green was trained as a Broad Superintendent (or what that means), although I had plans to do so. In fact at the time she applied I had no idea what that meant, but now I do, and you can read a little bit about Broad Superintendents here and here.

2. Second, we should be looking for someone with good communication skills. We need someone who speaks and writes well; who will spend time in the schools; and who wants to be open, accessible, honest and transparent to parents and taxpayers. [No, they don't have to do whatever people want; but when there is a disagreement they have to be able to articulate and explain.]

3. Third, at this critical time, we need someone with excellent financial skills. AAPS is a large organization, and we need someone who is comfortable managing large budgets and, even more critically, comfortable with leading longer-term financial planning.

4. Last, and definitely not least, I think we need someone who is familiar with Michigan politics. We need someone who understands Michigan's current educational climate and has experienced it. We need someone who is willing to lead as a political advocate for Ann Arbor schools and all public school districts in the state. We need someone to say that our districts are worth funding well. We need someone to say that (for instance) the education bills around the EAA and teacher evaluation, currently in the state legislature, are misguided and poorly-thought out. In this regard, Clarkston Superintendent Rod Rock, Oakland ISD Superintendent Vickie Markavitch, or Bloomfield Hills Superindent Robert Glass (who by the way, came from the Dexter schools) are modeling the kind of behavior I'd like to see from our next Superintendent.

So--anything else?

What about internal candidates? A few names have been suggested to me, of both current Ann Arbor staff and recently retired staff people. I guess if the board wants an interim person, then a recently retired person with a lot of experience might be good--especially if they had retired from Ann Arbor, because right now the "cabinet" is pretty green. Also, if we were to find a good candidate for the permanent position who was very local--internal to the district as a staff person or parent already--I think that would make the transition easier. If Saline's experience is any guide, an internal candidate would likely stay longer and be more successful. And if the candidate is not internal, let's at least look locally!

But minimally, I think the board should at least start with the intention of hiring a Superintendent who has been working in Michigan. I would suggest we only expand that geographic boundary if an initial search didn't turn up good candidates. Remember, it only takes one good candidate. [These folk tales make the same point poetically.]

Finally, let's talk about pay.

I'd like to see the board offer a salary range, rather than a fixed amount. Let's have that range start around $160,000, and top out where Pat Green's salary is, $245,000. I know, $160,000 is less than Todd Roberts was getting three years ago, but all that does is allow the board to be a big shot and not pay at the bottom of the range. And also, let's be careful about what goes in the Superintendent's contract, too.

What other criteria are on your mind?

Parents, Schools, and the Personal is Political Question

For a while now I have been following Leonie Haimson (yes, following on twitter and getting her email messages). Leonie Haimson is the executive director of a New York City group called Class Size Matters. Sure, New York City is nothing like Washtenaw County, and New York City has a mayoral control system--which really sucks if you are a parent trying to have some input into the school system!

Still, I'm interested in New York because I'm interested in New York, and obviously. . . most obviously. . . class size does matter. So today Leonie Haimson sent out an email that she titled "A Personal Note," and I want to share it.

Dear parents:

I haven’t written much about myself or my family on my blog or in these newsletters; however, I am doing so now because GothamSchools [ed. note: link] is intent on writing about me, my organization Class Size Matters [ed. note: link], and about the fact that my son entered a private high school this year. I told their reporter Geoff Decker about this in the fall, in the midst of a longer, off the record conversation about many things, and ever since, whenever I have contacted him about possible stories, he has brought up this issue instead of more important ones.  I myself don’t think it is either particularly interesting or relevant, but since he is intent on writing about the situation, and said he intends to compare me to Michelle Rhee, who also sends one of her children to private school, I decided I should explain why I think our situations are quite different.

I had kids in NYC public schools for a total of 15 years; my daughter attended public schools from K-6^th grade; my son K-8^th grade.  My record of advocacy and my continued work in this area should prove my commitment to public school children.  The private schools they attended have the sort of small classes that I believe all children have the right to receive.  It is a parent’s responsibility to find a school that they believe best fits their children’s needs; and for that reason I have never criticized Bloomberg, Bill Gates,  Rhee or anyone for sending their own children to any school, whether private, charter or public. 

So I thought this was really interesting because it mirrors some of the issues I've been thinking about in regards to Washtenaw County schools, in particular in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

In Ann Arbor, when the Community High School lists came up, several people I know immediately began discussing on facebook whether they should look at private schools or other schools. Some of them had older kids in the comprehensive high schools, and some of them didn't, but had heard things they didn't like.

In Ypsilanti, I have several friends and acquaintances who are working hard to make the new Ypsilanti Community Schools a success--they are on committees, they are going to meetings. And yet their children are already in private schools, charter schools, or schools of choice in other districts. We saw this also in the school board candidates for the new YCS school board, some of whom had children in charter schools. All of them desperately want the Ypsilanti Community Schools to be a success. But for their own kids? They felt they needed to make a different choice.

One of them said to me, "I feel guilty, but I don't know what YCS will look like next year, and I had to act now."

Ultimately, we as parents are responsible for our children's education. That is our responsibility, and generally, we don't get do-overs when it comes to our kids' educations.

Ultimately, our individual choices--taken collectively--can harm our efforts for public schools.

Should we judge these choices?

I sort of do. I sort of judge them as making the smart parenting choice. Most of these parents don't come to, or take their, decisions lightly.

I sort of judge them as selling out.

Mostly,  I sort of respect that a parent's gotta do what a parent's gotta do as a parent--even if in the long-term it hurts the work they are trying to do in the larger community.

Yes, the personal is political, but let's not forget that the personal is, first and foremost, personal.

And here Leonie Haimson gets to the key point:

What I have criticized is when powerful and wealthy individuals send their children to schools that feature very small classes, lots of art, music, etc., and little or no standardized testing, but then advocate for an entirely different kind of education for other children.     The evidence is crystal clear that all kids benefit from smaller classes, but especially poor and minority kids, and yet these children are LEAST likely to have access to them. The efforts of the corporate reformers mentioned above who have advocated for increasing class size, especially in large urban districts, while ensuring that their own children are provided with small classes is wrong.  I will continue my life’s work to try to improve the opportunity for all kids to be provided with small classes, as well as adequate and fair funding, an end to high stakes testing, and a voice for parents in decision-making, and to call out hypocrisy wherever I see it.

And guess where we see that hypocrisy? Right here in Michigan, where Governor Snyder is doing the exact same thing.

David Arsen, MSU School of Education professor and school finance expert, takes this on in a terrific (and long) "Open Letter to Governor Snyder." (Read the rest of David Arsen's letter here.) In this excerpt, in the section titled Trust Your Judgment, he writes:

My hunch is that you [Gov. Snyder] have a pretty good sense of what makes for a good school. You had the opportunity to send your own child to excellent public schools [Ann Arbor schools], but chose Greenhills School, a wonderful private school in Ann Arbor. It is selective. The school has attractive facilities and grounds, a student-faculty ratio of eight and an average class size of 17. Greenhills strives to provide a wide range of stimulating and challenging classes. Teachers and administrators take pride in the school’s democratic decision-making; it’s not top-down.
Annual tuition for Greenhills is nearly $20,000, and, as you know better than I, that doesn’t cover all operating costs. If the trend line for Michigan public school revenues looks like a frown, then the one for Greenhills looks a bit more like a smile.
I don’t question your choice. But this is what puzzles me. Students at Greenhills do not take standardized tests until they apply to college. The school’s educators sympathize with their public school colleagues whose professional lives now revolve around tests.
Greenhills does not accept credit for online classes, nor offer classes for credit in the summer. It takes a firm position against students taking courses at other institutions, including colleges or universities, unless they have already taken the school’s most advanced course in a subject. Greenhills students don’t graduate early, but rather all together at a spring commencement. The school is designed around remarkable physical spaces devoted to “forums” for students in each grade to meet, deliberate and socialize.
The school has a thoughtful rationale for these decisions: it wants students to interact with one another and faculty to establish a durable and supportive community. I try to imagine how the families and educators at Greenhills would react if they were forced to operate under the rules embodied in the Oxford proposal and HB 5923.

So whatever your personal choices, let's keep working for those same ideals for all children: small class sizes; public programs; parents being able to work with school officials and professionals; no high-stakes testing.

Ann Arbor: Important Budget Forums

You know the space on this blog is valuable, right? Maybe not in terms of money but in terms of those intangibles, like prestige and idealism.

And I'm telling you this because there are some really important budget meetings coming up. They are "informal" meetings with school board members, and I really hope you will show up for at least one of them! And that's why I'm using this important space with these budget announcements!

They start tomorrow night, Thursday, March 28th, and they go into April. The AAPS budget for next year has a big deficit--the schools need your help and ideas.

I had a conversation with Christine Stead (school board member), and I asked her--I had some ideas from the past that I don't think got much attention, should I still come?  She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Yes, and bring those ideas back as well."  So I will! Plus I might bring a few new ideas too.

Note that there are meeting times in the evening, during the day, and even on a Saturday! They are trying to accommodate different schedules, and that's a good thing. Please don't pass up this opportunity.

From the School Board: 

Community Dialogue Meetings on the AAPS Budget

The Board of Education of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) invites members of the community to participate in one or more meetings on the AAPS financial situation.  The District must cut  $17-20 million from the general operating budget in the coming year due primarily to the decisions of state policymakers.  The Board would like community input to develop the principles we should follow in making cuts, and strategies to lessen the need for such cuts in the future.
The Board of Education is encouraging two-way communication with the community and board members will be in attendance to engage in conversation.   The format is such that open discussion will occur.  The content of each meeting will depend on the interests and questions of the attendees.  We anticipate discussion will include topics such as:

• Potential measures to increase AAPS resources

• Ideas for improved practices in AAPS

• Discussion of respective value of various programs and services

• Ideas for measures that would lessen the negative consequences of budget cuts

Community Dialogue Meeting Schedule:

March 28, Thursday, 7-9 pm
Clague Middle School, Media Center
2616 Nixon Road, Ann Arbor
Board members expected to attend:  Andy Thomas, Glenn Nelson, Deb Mexicotte

April 9, Tuesday, 7-9 pm
Slauson Middle School, Media Center
1019 West Washington, Ann Arbor
Board members expected to attend:  Christine Stead, Glenn Nelson, Deb Mexicotte

April 16, Tuesday, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Downtown Ann Arbor Public Library – 4^th Floor Conference Room (A)
343 South Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor
Board members expected to attend:  Irene Patalan, Glenn Nelson, Deb Mexicotte

April 20, Saturday, 9-11 am
Scarlett Middle School, Media Center
3300 Lorraine Street, Ann Arbor
Board members expected to attend:  Susan Baskett, Glenn Nelson, Deb Mexicotte

---

Additional community forums will be scheduled in early May to discuss the draft AAPS budget for 2013-2014.

Pat Green's Salary Issue, Redux

Christine Stead, AAPS School Board member, recently commented about the Superintendent's salary on her blog, saying, "This topic seems to generate more interest than any of the way more important topics surrounding education right now."  

And, of course, she is right. There are many (many, many) more important topics related to education than the paltry just-under 1/3 of a million dollars Pat Green gets in compensation.

I know, you think I'm using the word "paltry" facetiously. I am not. Do you realize that the Ann Arbor Public Schools budget comes in between 185 and 190 million dollars?! Baby, it's big!

Given its size, not only is Pat Green's salary pretty much a drop in the bucket, but it also provides something of an explanation as to why the board wanted someone with excellent skills, and thought they might need to offer a lot of money to do so. [Do I think they were right? About the skills part, yes; about the money part, no--but I don't blame them for trying to get the right person.]

And as I've said before, it's not Pat Green's fault that she gets paid well. Can anyone out there seriously tell me that if they were offered a job that paid $245,000 that they would say to the person offering them the job, "Oh no, that's too much. I think you should pay me a lot less?" Give me a break. I don't think so. So that's on the school board. 

I'm not sure who negotiated the language in Pat Green's contract that says, 

"The district shall pay the Superintendent a base annual salary of $245,000 (the “Initial Salary”). The District retains the sole right to adjust the base annual salary of the Superintendent during the term of this Contract; provided, however, the District will not decrease the Superintendent’s base annual salary during the term of this Contract."  (emphasis added)

But--it takes two to tango, so I guess that the school board--or their attorney--is also responsible for that.

I felt a little bit differently, too, after hearing from a recently-retired staff person who explained to me the school board's rationale this way. She said to me, "I loved Todd Roberts. I thought he was fantastic. And I thought, if paying someone a lot of money is what is required to get someone who is really great and will stay around, that will be worth it." [Attentive readers may remember that Todd Roberts left Ann Arbor Public Schools for greener pastures--a job in North Carolina that offered more money and was believed to carry a whole lot less stress.]

So is Pat Green that person--the one who is really great? And why, nearly two years after Pat Green joined the district,  are people still focused on a salary that the school board gave her, as if she is the villain for accepting it?

I've been thinking about some things that maybe are, and maybe are not, related.

Consider, for one, the rumor that Pat Green only works 4 days a week. I heard that rumor nearly a year ago. I've read the recent refutation. And to some extent, I believe the refutation. That's because I can't imagine anyone in her position not answering emails and phone calls on evenings and weekends. (She's not alone in this. So, too, do lots of teachers, lots of engineers, lots of businesspeople, social workers, doctors, nurses, hairdressers, etc.) If you are asking, "Does Pat Green work at least 40 hours a week?" I am quite sure the answer is yes. But the rumor that I heard had a slightly different twist. It was that staff people had been told not to schedule any meetings after noon on Fridays, so she could leave early. That, quite honestly, seems more believable to me. It would be easy to put that rumor to rest, and the solution does not involve sending your Director of Communications to refute the rumor for you (which is what she did). The solution involves being in the schools, or deliberately scheduling visible meetings, on Friday afternoons. When, after all, school is in session. 

Consider, for another, the ongoing grumpiness about one of Pat Green's early decisions--to put up a glass wall between her office and the rest of the Balas building. What kind of signal do you think that sent? An annarbor.com commenter named local described it well on 5/10/2012: 

Anyone been to Balas lately, can't get in to see Dr. Green. She had a glass wall built to her office to keep out the same people she works for, the residents of Ann Arbor. Her inability to connect with the people of Ann Arbor is becoming more evident every day.

What about the fact that Pat Green is rarely seen in school buildings or at school events? For instance, last year, when the district proposed closing Roberto Clemente, one of the complaints from teachers and families was that she had only visited the school once or twice. This is a complaint that persists. She doesn't go to many weekend events (Friday night football games, for example)--perhaps because she is often out of the district. That, however, doesn't explain the lack of visits to schools during the school day.

In other words, I think some disgruntlement persists around her pay, not because of the amount, but because people don't see her doing the "public persona" part of her job.

So her salary has remained a flash point, even though it's a drop in the budget bucket. Therefore, it's nice that Pat Green recently said that she will take a pay cut because "as a leader of the school district, you don't ask people to take compensation cuts and not do it yourself."

It's especially nice because, the way that I understand her contract, the school board could not impose cuts if they wanted to (which they could do for some of the other non-union positions) because of the contract language. In the article in which she discloses that she plans to take a pay cut, Pat Green wouldn't talk about what the amount would be yet, and I understand that too. The budget is very much in draft form, union negotiations are going on, etcetera.

But I seriously doubt that she was thinking about a 20% pay cut, which is essentially what the administrators' union just proposed. (They proposed a $50,000 pay cut.) My breath was taken away by that proposal. 

And then I thought about what the recently-retired administrator had said to me, and I thought, "Wow. The majority of the members of the administrators' union (mostly principals) really must not respect or support Pat Green." Because the administrators understand that $50,000 is only .026% of the budget. If they liked her work, they would find value in spending that $50,000 on her salary. They might still propose a pay cut, but it would more than likely be proportional to the cuts teachers and/or administrators will take. 

What is it people say? Actions speak louder than words.

Back in the day. . . Labor Day Weekend 2011, when Pat Green started, I wrote that we should not judge her on her salary. I wrote: 

Do judge Patricia Green on her body of work.
To you, Dr. Green, I have these words of advice: Really listen to your constituents--a lot of the time they know more of what is going on than you will.  Show up at meetings and be present in the community.  Putting up videos and sending deputies to community meetings is no substitute for your presence. 

Prescient, eh? [No, I'm not Canadian. But I do like the "eh."]

Yesterday's EAA Hearing Available on Video

I am so very grateful for all of the work of Michigan Parents for Schools.

Yesterday, Steve Norton taped* the House EAA Expansion Bill hearings (HB 4369), and I really appreciate it!

Steve  has set up a Vimeo page and you can watch and hear Rustem, Covington, and others.

Find it here.

*Sticklers for correct technological wording may feel I shouldn't use the words "taped" and "video." Too bad.

Ypsilanti Schools Shuts Down Facebook Page

To cut to the chase:

The new Ypsilanti Community Schools Board (the Ypsilanti/Willow Run consolidated school board) current Ypsilanti schools had a facebook page used for sharing information about upcoming events and activities. As you might expect, people commented on it.

When some board members from the new, consolidated school board--which is also functioning as the school boards for Ypsilanti and for Willow Run until the end of June--proposed the (truly idiotic) idea of hiring two superintendents (and yes, the same ones from the old districts), the facebook page came alive with comments. Some ones (I assume, some members of the new school board) didn't like the facebook page criticism and so they took down the page.

[Update: Commenters in annarbor.com say it was Superintendent of the Ypsi Schools Dedrick Martin who made the decision to take down the facebook page. I'm not really sure who did it, but he did say that communication has been a weakness of his. If it was him, that would make sense--communication really is a weakness of his.]

Luckily, an anonymous reader had copied the comments before it was closed down (Thank You!), and I'm posting the comments here. It's worth watching the video--which I hope come through on this site!

Also, some community members have started a new facebook page: Ypsilanti Community Schools Supporters. Feel free to give them a "like."

Monday via YouTube

• The Board of Education interviewed three candidates for superintendent for Ypsilanti Community Schools. The Board will meet on Monday, February 18, to discuss these interviews.

  

  20130214 WRCS YCS BOE Sharon Irvine Interview
  

  "20130214 WRCS YCS BOE Sharon Irvine Interview", a playlist created by WillowRunBoE

"}" class="UFILikeLink" id=".reactRoot[4]"Like ·

• Meredith Schindler, Eric Kasza and Katrina Nembhard like this.
• 
  Meredith Schindler The interviews were interesting and informative - thanks to YPS for posting this. Enrollment figures released by the district last year, and presented at a board meeting then, were alarming. Enrollment has declined 13% in the last two years, and would have declined even more except for the large school of choice student population that came from Willow Run. With us combining with Willow Run, these numbers will become more alarming unless something different is done to stem this tide.

  Monday at 11:51am

Yesterday near Ypsilanti

WR-YPS unified board of education decides more time needed to make superintendent hire decision. Tuesday, Feb. 19 meeting is cancelled.

• Michele Towler likes this.
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  Pattilyn Oldfield McCarty I think that if they feel they need two people to do the job, they should have written two jobs descriptions, clearly outlining the two jobs. Choosing two people to fill one position is not making a decision.

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  Andrew Irvine This is crap. They've had MORE than enough time to find the right person. They just don't want to have to pay out the contracts of the current superintendents. People are losing patience quickly. Bates needs to either crap or get off the pot.

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  Shannon Grosshans I am confused, why do we need two, we can not afford two... How can they pay two when the districts had to become one for money reasons. I guess this will take more money out of educating the children!

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  Andrew Irvine Shannon, they don't need two. They just don't want to have to pay out the current ones if they don't hire them. It's just another band-aid by the cowardly Board. I, for one, am sick of them making choices that are clearly wrong for the district because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or swallow their pride, when they created the mess in the first place.

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  Karen Bates Than why don't you submit helpful suggestions rather than name calling and ranting on facebook?

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  Andrew Irvine Why do I need to submit a helpful suggestion when the solution has been here all along? Here's a suggestion...hire the best person available for the job. She's right there in front of your face.

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  Nancy Harvey Amen, Andy. This whole situation is a nightmare. How can this district succeed with a continued legacy of bad decisions? We are doomed to failure. Nothing has changed. It's the same old thing on a different day.
  I encourage everyone to read the coverage in annarbor.com and especially the comments.
  I also encourage everyone to watch the video of board meetings on YouTube. When you do, I ask you to pay particular attention to the after-interview board conversations which makes perfectly clear what this board thinks of its constituency. Then, make up your own mind. Do you think the board has made good decisions? Do you think they respect the people in their community? Can you trust them with our most precious resource-our children?
  This is a critical moment.

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  Nancy Harvey Also, Karen, I respect and admire you for sticking up for your dad. He should be proud of you.
  But, your idea of submitting helpful suggestions is just not possible. Many, many, many people have done just that. But, this board decided that they know better than the rest of us. They do not acknowledge our messages to them and they publicly berate parents who dare to make their views known. It doesn't seem possible to me that this is actually happening in 2013-but it is and it is scary.

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  Karen Bates I do not want my comments to be read as posted by the daughter of David Bates. I am attended Ypsilanti schools for K-12 and I am another member of the community that cares about the future of education in Ypsi. I admit that it is difficult to read all of the comments on facebook and the Ann Arbor News about my dad but my views do not come from the brain washed perspective of a child. Sometimes I do disagree with decisions that he makes but that doesn't mean that I turn to my blog and berate him. Nothing is going to be accomplished by angry rants on the internet. That is merely what I am trying to point out.

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  Nancy Harvey I agree, Karen. And your opinion is just as valid as any other person's. But all other avenues of communication have been denied to us. Your suggestion is logical and I agree with it. Unfortunately, the situation is illogical and we have been told that our opinions do not matter and won't be considered. We don't know what else to do.
  I am sorry that you have to deal with these kind of situations and I honestly wish that you didn't have to. I know for certain that I would not have been able to respond to criticisms of my family members when I was your age. I would not have been as rational and as eloquent as you are.

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  Andrew Irvine You also said that people should be making suggestions. That's been happening for a long time, but those suggestions have not only fallen on deaf ears, they have been met with hostility. It has been made very clear that the current board is not going to listen to the very people who voted them into office. Surely, you can understand people's frustrations, and I think a little venting is acceptable.

How A (Zombie) Bill Becomes A Law in Michigan, Featuring Schoolhouse Rock

Here is what we say happens through the legislative process:

from Schoolhouse Rock, "I'm Just A Bill."

But in Michigan, the Republican leadership in the legislature apparently does not want to follow any regular bill-making process. Instead, in order to avoid committee hearings, discussions, or the required five-day waiting period, for the so-called "right to work" legislation, the Republican leadership did a "full text substitute," replacing some appropriations bill language with entirely different language. I saw someone on facebook calling this a "Zombie Law!" [I like calling the legislation "freedom to freeload" legislation myself, since it basically says you don't have to pay dues to a union that represents you, even though the union is doing the work of negotiating on your behalf.]

I feel that Rep. Dillon's speech gets to the heart of the matter. This is a travesty of the democratic process.

Need a class assignment?
Students: Compare and contrast the process explained in the Schoolhouse Rock video with the process described in Rep. Dillon's speech. 


 Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, speaks on the floor of the Michigan House on 12/6/2012.

*Further, because it is tied to an appropriations bill, citizens are barred from pursuing a referendum.

Ann Arbor: Stop Overtesting Our Kids!

Ann Arbor: There's a new group in town. 

This is a group dedicated to reducing the amount of standardized testing and "assessments" that are going on throughout the year.
This is a group that believes there is a better way to spend the school day than testing, testing, testing.
This is a group that is organizing parents, teachers, students and taxpayers to oppose the amount of testing going on.
I'm a proud member of this group,  

Ann Arbor STOP: Stop overTesting Our Pupils!

 

We'll be organizing; sharing strategies for opting out of tests; addressing research; and working to convince the school board and school administration to change their testing programs.

And no, we didn't plan it this way, but it's a telling coincidence that the night that we unveiled our new petition and facebook page was also the night before the MEAPs started in Ann Arbor.

If you live in the Ann Arbor school district, and you agree with us that there is too much testing in the school district, taking away valuable time from instruction, then consider doing the following:

1. Sign our petition, Please Stop Overtesting Our Kids!

Here is how the petition begins:

Dear Ann Arbor Board of Education, and the AAPS,
We, the undersigned, object to the over-use of standardized testing and assessments in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.The ever-increasing focus on standardized testing is hurting our kids and diminishing their education.Standardized testing has been shown to reflect one thing quite successfully: socioeconomic status. We do not feel that repeated measuring of socioeconomic status is a good use of classroom time. We feel there are too many tests, with too much overlap, cutting dramatically into classroom time that should be used for learning...

You will find the petition here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/745/249/873/please-stop-over-testing-our-kids/

2. Join the facebook group, Ann Arbor: Stop Overtesting!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/annarborstopovertesting/ 

 

There you will find some sample opt-out letters and lots of discussion.

Do we think we'll change things overnight? No. It may take some time. Don't be discouraged--we're in it for the long haul. 

Here's a little inspiration: 

Step By Step

Step by step the longest march can be won, can be won
Many stones can form an arch, singly none, singly none
And by union what we will can be accomplished still
Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none.

--From the preamble to the constitution
     of the United Mineworkers of America

Patricia Green "Declines to Comment"

Check out this morning's article in annarbor.com by Danielle Arndt about class sizes and difficulty enrolling in full classes. And what does our Superintendent Pat Green have to say about this?

"Superintendent Patricia Green declined to comment last week on what solutions the district is considering. She stated the administration will work these issues out with parents."

Check out last week's article in annarbor.com by Danielle Arndt about the search for a permanent Pioneer principal. What does Superintendent Pat Green have to say about this?

"Following Wednesday’s school board meeting, Green declined to provide a status update and would not confirm how close the administration is to hiring a new principal. She said the position is “still in process” and when a decision has been finalized, it will be communicated to Pioneer parents."

 What about the decision that information from the school district needs to be FOIA'd even when it is readily available? (Look for a specific example of this on the blog later this week.)

Back in May, annarbor.com reported that:

"Later in the meeting, Trustee Simon Lightfoot asked Superintendent Patricia Green about the process community members should employ to obtain information such as how much busing to AAO costs. Green said parents should use the Freedom of Information Act for these requests.

 Trustee Susan Baskett said FOIAs cost money and are 'not equitable to all.'"

Sense a pattern here? I do. And I don't like it. Superintendent Green, your responsibility is not just to the parents, but to the entire community. We are all taxpayers. We all understand there are budget issues. But--if you think that by failing to disclose a timeline for hiring a permanent Pioneer principal, or failing to explain how you will address overly full classes, that you will alleviate parent anxiety, you are completely wrong. What alleviates parent (and taxpayer) anxiety is open communication. Right now, we don't have that.

I find it completely ironic that the school board identified as its number one issue at the board retreat "trust and relationship building" within the board, while Pat Green appears to be completely unaware of how her actions affect "trust and relationship building" within the broader schools community.

Andy Thomas, school board member, has had a great idea of having monthly coffee hours. The first one is tomorrow, September 11th, 9:30-10:30 9:00-10:00 a.m. at the downtown Sweetwaters. (I will try to post upcoming ones in the top right section of my blog.) I hope you will go, and I hope you'll talk to him about the importance of open communications. It's even more important when budget cutting is on the horizon.

This Week's Observations: Banned Books, Technology, and Charters

Plymouth-Canton Schools (which actually do draw a small number of students from Washtenaw County have banned two books from an AP English class. The books? Toni Morrison's Beloved, which won a Pulitzer Prize, and which the New York Times called ""the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years." The second book is Graham Swift's Waterland, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
This whole kerfuffle came about because a couple of parents complained about the books. It's unclear to me whether proper procedure was followed. Did the interim superintendent follow procedure? Is there procedure? (I don't know the details though, so I can't say for sure about that. I understand that some of the school board members are very conservative.) In any case. . . speculation aside. . . the ACLU of Michigan has written the district a letter. According to the ACLU's press release,

the ACLU of Michigan reminded the district that although schools have broad discretion in setting curriculum, the U.S. Supreme Court has held repeatedly that banning books because they offend some runs afoul of the First Amendment. While parents have the right to guide their own child’s education, that right does not extend to restricting other students’ educational opportunities. (Emphasis added.)

In addition, I'll just note the tremendous irony of banning books in a high school AP class because of "mature subjects." I mean, AP classes are supposed to be like college. College is all about reading books that challenge us! In case you're wondering about the reasons that we shouldn't be trying to create colleges out of high schools, I think you just saw one reason in action--it makes some parents too uncomfortable.

Christine Stead, Ann Arbor school board member, has started a blog of her own. I'm planning to link to it in my blogroll, and you should take a minute to check it out at k12christinestead.com. She tells me she's new at blogging, so if you have ideas of subjects that you hope she will cover, or reflections about what she writes, feel free to let her know in the comments. (Bloggers love comments. :)  By the way, do I think it is competition? No. I'm a parent, not a school board member. It's more like have several restaurants on the same street--the more the merrier--that way you can choose if you want Chinese or Italian. There are, by the way, a gazillion education blogs out in the world. I've only linked to a few of them on my blogroll.

The Ann Arbor schools have joined the twitterverse! Follow them at @a2schools. Follow Saline schools at @salineschools. Follow Dexter schools at @dexterschools. And follow Ypsilanti schools at @ypsischools. Saline schools also have several sub-twitter feeds (the high school principal, the athletics department, etc.) Oh, and follow me at @schoolsmuse.

Some interesting things have been going on at the first charter school I ever profiled, Ann Arbor Learning Community, and they illuminate some of the issues around charter schools, even for schools that are locally organized, non-profit charters. Annarbor.com has an article, Parents fight for reinstatement of teacher at Ann Arbor Learning Community, which describes how a well-liked teacher was put on administrative leave. In examining this issue, let's leave aside the question of whether the administrative leave was the right decision--I don't know anything about their personnel matters.
The first thing that struck me has to do with teacher turnover--something that is often mentioned in critiques of charter schools. Not only has the "dean" of the school, Ticheal Jones, just left (in the middle of the school year!) for "personal" reasons, but according to the article, "Parents say the teacher’s forced absence is the third instance of this nature that the school has experienced in less than a year."
The second thing that struck me has to do with control of hiring and firing. In a typical public school district, the ultimate authority for hiring and firing would reside with the superintendent's office, but there would generally be a human resources department. And really, what is more important than the personnel you have teaching and working with the students? Here, it turns out, the hiring and firing is done by a group called Michigan Educational Personnel Services.

Carlie Lockwood, the vice president of human resources for MEP stressed that MEP works very closely with the dean, who is responsible for conducting teacher evaluations. But wait. . . didn't the dean just leave? I'm not sure why, or where that leaves things. There is an interim dean, and he was also recruited by MEP.

According to the article,

While AALC is a self-managed charter school, it contracts with Brighton-based MEP for its teachers and staff, said Malverne Winborne, director of Eastern Michigan University’s Charter Schools Office.
“MEP hires and places the employees,” Winborne said.
EMU is the authorizer of AALC, a K-8 school that was founded in 1997.

This is a typical arrangement for charter schools, particularly smaller charter schools--the schools hire someone else to do the hiring and firing of teachers (the teachers aren't really working for AALC, they are working for MEP) because the school (board) doesn't believe they have the skills or resources to do the hiring themselves. And by outsourcing this critical role, the school board gives up much of the local control that they ostensibly wanted in the first place.

And what does EMU's Charter Schools Office have to say about this? Not much, at least not publicly.

As much as we complain about the "transparency" issues with our local public district school boards, next to the charter schools they look crystal clear, and the charter school boards' transparency looks very muddy. In fact, that may be because as it turns out, those local charter school boards have precious little power or control. At least, right now, that's the way it seems to me.

The MEAP-ing and the Meaning of a B

Since the MEAP test is being given over the next few weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to meditate on the MEAP-ish meaning of the (letter grade) B.

If you know about the MEAP cycle, students now take the test in the fall. Schools get the results in the spring, and part of the school's score under the No Child Left Behind Act is based on the aggregated students' scores on the MEAP. Depending on the results, schools get graded as having made or not made "Adequate Yearly Progress," and they get a letter grade too.

Well, last year, Skyline High School got a B.
Skyline High School missed the cutoff for an A by just a little bit. Just a little bit.
You might be thinking, "Well, that's pretty good! What's wrong with a B+?"

Skyline High School missed the cutoff for an A because one group of students--students with disabilities--missed their cutoff. And guess what? They also missed that cutoff by just a little bit. Just a little bit.

if I remember correctly, the letter we got back in August said something along the lines of "by one student."

Surely, parents of students with disabilities had visions of the principal pointing to one particular student: "Joe, if it hadn't been for you failing that test!" As if students who qualify for special education services don't get enough negative attention! I know some parents who were outraged by the letter. And yet I don't think that's what Ms. Jackson meant. If "passing" meant 80 out of 100 students getting a good enough score, and only 79 students got that "good enough" score, well...any one of those 21 students who didn't score well could have changed the entire metric.

The whole thing reminds me of the old saying:
 
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; 
for want of the shoe, the horse was lost; 
for want of the horse, the rider was lost; 
 for want of a rider the battle was lost; 
for want of a battle the kingdom was lost, 
and all for the want of a horseshoe nail!

Here we have a situation where the scores got the school, essentially, a B+, and yet--we are labeling that B+ as failure.

The great irony of all this, to me, is that Skyline High School has implemented a Mastery Learning program that I think is excellent. It sets "mastery" at mastering 80% of the material on a test and is geared toward helping students do well in their classes. So, if you get an 81, you've mastered the material. And that's a B-. And we're labeling that B- as success.


So--which is it? Does a B designate success, or failure?

At Skyline's Capsule Night I got a much clearer idea of the MEAP scoring--and you can read about it here if you'd like. There are a lot of worrisome trends out there in the world of MEAP scores.
First of all, the "cut scores" for how many students need to show proficiency is going up. And up. Eventually, it's supposed to reach 100% under NCLB, and I think we all know the likelihood of that happening (0%).

The state could request a waiver from the federal government to NCLB, but there is a huge downside to that, as described very well--and succinctly--in Susan Ohanian's article about whether Vermont should seek a waiver.

Also at Skyline's Capsule Night, I heard what is in store for kids who are not succeeding at the MEAP, and essentially--it sounded like it came down to more test preparation, and more homework (geared toward test preparation).
So, I'll say out loud: I don't think that's a good solution. Sure, taking tests is a part of life, and it's good to get skilled at it.
But--test prep is boring. Test prep does not teach students to think or learn. Test prep turns students off from learning.
Homework that is busy work (aka "drilling") is boring. Busy work does not teach students to think or learn either. And when kids don't do that boring, busy work homework, that's when they get poor grades. [As an aside: Middle schools are notorious for giving students boring, busy work homework so that they "learn to get organized." Kids who aren't well organized end up with a lot of Ds and Fs because they didn't turn in that work, and some of them get used to failing.]
The worst part about all of this is that the reason for pushing kids into test prep and busy work homework has nothing to do with the kids: it's not really the kids who are getting evaluated. Although I've generally found my kids' MEAP tests to fairly accurately describe their knowledge, if my 7th grader does poorly on the MEAP, it doesn't affect him. It does affect the school and the teachers though...
There are solutions. They're not quick or easy. They involve lots of reading and project-based math activities. 
It's a great irony that the long-sought-after B is no longer a good grade.
It's an even greater, and sadder, irony that a test that was designed to evaluate students is now being used to evaluate schools and teachers.
And it's the worst irony of all, that nobody seems to know how to effectively fight back against this.