Swimming Lessons

My heart aches tonight for a child I didn't know. 

Billy Dunn was about to turn 19, and he loved fishing and swimming, and he drowned in Ford Lake.

Billy knew how to swim, but I have had friends tell me how--even though they were good swimmers--they almost drowned in open water.

Billy Dunn

In fact, the Talmud (the compendium of Jewish law) says that one of the obligations of being a parent is teaching your children to swim.

Summertime is a great time for swim lessons!

Since Memorial Day is this weekend, it seems like a good time to say: Summertime is a great time for swim lessons!


Here are some options:

The Ann Arbor YMCA is offering Free SPLASH Safety Around Water classes at local pools at apartment complexes in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor this summer. Find out more here.

They also have private and group swim lessons for adults, and private and group swim lessons for kids, and private and group swim lessons for teens.

The City of Ann Arbor pools have joined the USA Swimming Foundation’s water safety initiative, Make a Splash. The USA Swimming Foundation launched Make a Splash in 2007 with the goal to teach every child to learn to swim. We aim to spread awareness of the importance to learn to swim and be safe around water. As a Make a Splash local partner, we are dedicated to providing quality swim instruction and the common goal of saving lives and getting children in better shape.

Rutherford Pool, Ypsilanti--offers four levels of swim lessons

Goldfish Swim School

One more thing--think about becoming a lifeguard or a swim teacher if you like hanging out around the pool! It's a great summer job, and you might be able to save a life.

May Billy Dunn's memory be a blessing.



Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!

Discovering (and Remembering) My First Grade Teacher, Mrs. Delfosse

My first grade teacher, Doris Delfosse, died recently. My mom sent me her obituary. (Thanks Mom!)

There were some things in it that I knew about her.

I knew that she was a devoted and well-loved first grade teacher.
I didn't know that she taught for over 35 years.
I didn't know that she was the president of the Rye Teachers Association.

I have a vague memory of doing grave rubbings with her.
I didn't know she did that as part of a big Thanksgiving-focused unit. Every year.

We lived in one of the first towns settled on the east coast (1660).
It has the Square House, which at one point was the local inn, and "George Washington and Lafayette slept there!"
I didn't know that Doris Delfosse was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, or that she volunteered to share American history and early American homemaking skills at the Square House.

And I really didn't know that Mrs. Delfosse, herself, created an important part of American history, and opened the door for women who came after her.

Here's why reading obituaries can be so enlightening. From the obituary:

Doris Delfosse... 

"was the first working woman 'allowed' to adopt a child in the state of California in 1966, after proving to the adoption agency and courts that a woman could indeed work and raise a family."

That's right. Doris Delfosse loved teaching--and children--so much, that she went to court to force the system to allow her to adopt, because she wanted to keep working. She didn't want to be a stay-at-home mom, she wanted to be a teacher and a mom.

[This reminds me a bit of a case that is coming shortly to the Supreme Court--the case of April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse--expanding the idea of who is a "fit" parent.]


Here's something I remember about Mrs. Delfosse's class. If we got in line to go somewhere (perhaps a special, like art or gym) and then we had to wait for some reason, she kept us occupied by having us imagine that our tongue was a person with jobs to do, like sweeping the ceiling and the floor of our mouths (with our tongue). Nowadays they are called "oral motor exercises," and I imagine that she learned them while working with kids with speech delays--but we just thought they were fun.

Here's to you, Mrs. Delfosse--thanks for your devotion to kids.

Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!

Lincoln's Loss: Christian Lorinczy

Unlike Anna Hendren Schwalb's death in a motorist-pedestrian accident, which I described as "rare but not that rare," 13-year-old Christian Lorinczy's death at Lincoln High School is exceedingly rare.

When we think of deaths from electrocution, we think of lightning strikes--or industrial accidents.

We don't think that a 13-year-old, playing catch by the side of a high school football field, is at any risk at all from electrocution. Potentially, they might twist an ankle, at worst.

I did an internet search to see how frequently this might have happened and basically--it doesn't. I found three somewhat similar accidents in the past seven years, and two of them were in India: one was related to an illegal electricity connection and another related to a live electric wire passing through a wall when it shouldn't have been there.  The third was at South Georgia Technical College where a fountain had bad electrical wiring beneath it--and where, in fact, another student had been shocked a month earlier. That family settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1.4 million, but that large settlement will never bring their daughter back.

We don't know the cause yet of the electrified fence/ramp at Lincoln Schools. Well, we know there was a short circuit in some wires in a pole. But we don't know why--yet.  I understand that the pole was last touched by the district (electrically speaking) about eleven years ago. So I speculate. I speculate that maintenance that would normally have been done earlier, was not done because of financial stress. I don't know what it takes to maintain a school's building and properties, but it seems like it takes a lot of work.  Given the number of financial cuts that every district in the state has taken over the past several years, many schools have deferred maintenance. If it does turn out to be related to deferred maintenance, now would be a good time for every school district in the state to take a look at their maintenance schedules.

If the issue is related to deferred maintenance, I hope that Christian's death will help our school district understand the importance of maintenance. I hope that Christian's death will help our legislators understand the real risks of cutting, and cutting, and cutting school funding. But that is just--at this point--speculation. Updated information (as more information is known) can be found at the Lincoln Consolidated Schools web site.

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

I don't know Christian Lorinczy. But I know his family will miss him. I know his friends will miss him. From his obituary:

Age 13, went to be with the Lord his Savior Thursday, October 2, 2014. He was born February 28, 2001 in Ann Arbor, the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Newland) Lorinczy. Chris attended Lincoln Middle School and was in the eighth grade. He faithfully attended South Side Baptist Tabernacle and was an active member of the teen department. He loved all sports, especially Tigers, Lions and University of Michigan Football. Survivors include: his parents, Peter and Elizabeth Lorinczy of Belleville; two sisters, Autumn and Kayla and two brothers, Alexander and Eli, all of Belleville; paternal grandmother, Mary (Duane) Lilly of North Adams; maternal grandparents, Paul (Marjean) Newland of Ypsilanti; and several aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parental grandfather, Peter. 

Donations may be made at Chase Bank to help assist the family with funeral expenses. Donations can only be made in the form of check or money order. Donations can be made to the
Christian Lorinczy Memorial at:
2025 Rawsonville Rd
Belleville, MI 48111
(734) 485-3520

May Christian's memory be a blessing.

Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!

AAPS Budget, Public Hearing, Rick DeKeon Wednesday May 28, 2014

Wednesday, May 28th, the Ann Arbor school board will have a public hearing on the proposed AAPS budget. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

Here are some options:
1. Go and talk during public commentary
2. Watch the board meeting on t.v. (CTN Comcast Channel 18, and also available for online streaming, but not for on-demand replay--yet. The replay schedule is: Thursday @ 1:30pm, Saturday @ 8am, Sunday @ 1pm)
3. Email the school board with your thoughts at boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

The board will vote on the budget at their next meeting, in two weeks.

Essential Reading

Here is the proposed AAPS 2014-2015 budget.

Here are the proposed expenditures and revenue enhancements. (Looks like a summary sheet, essentially.)

Here is the proposed budget plan. (How the budget gap will be closed.)

Compare the governor's, senate's, and house's education proposals and their impact on the AAPS budget. (There are also some slides from the new finance director--Marios Demetriou,
Assistant Superintendent, Finance and Operations--that, to be honest, I did not completely understand. Explanatory text would be nice.)

Major Proposals

How do you feel about the proposal to freeze all staff salaries, with no step or salary increases for any group? (Teachers, for example, took a 3% pay cut last year that was supposed to be a one-year pay cut. This would not be restored.)

How do you feel about the outsourcing of custodial work? (The main expected savings here has to do with the fact that the district has to pay into the state retirement fund for employees--if the positions are privatized, the state retirement fund doesn't have to be paid.)

Here are some things I've written about privatization in the past:

Transportation Lessons, 2010-2012 (February 2012)

Just Say No to Privatization (January 2010)

What do you think about Christine Stead's suggestion that the district should investigate whether there would be any possibility of suing the state for the constant cuts the district has had to make, since we are not being "held harmless?" (I LOVE IT.)

Let the school board know how you feel!

Special Bonus! 

Rick DeKeon
from a2schools.org

If you go to tomorrow's meeting. . . there is also a proposal to rename the Northside School Gym in honor of Rick DeKeon, well-loved Northside physical education teacher.

As the proposal says,

On behalf of Northside Principal, Monica Harrold, Northside staff, students, parents and alumni, it is my pleasure to present to you a recommendation, pursuant to Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education Policy 7150- Naming, to name the Northside Elementary School gym after former Ann Arbor Northside Elementary School physical education teacher and local coach Richard (Rick) Dekeon. 
Mr. Dekeon, a much beloved teacher at Northside for 25 years, passed away on November 8, 2013 leaving behind an incredible legacy that extends well beyond the Northside community.

Consider subscribing to Ann Arbor Schools Musings by Email!

After School Child Care: A Remembrance

As a working parent, few things are more precious than finding the right afterschool child care program. A program where the kids get exercise; and have fun with games, reading, and art projects too. A program where the kids are not glued to the television screen.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Rec & Ed has offered a robust child care program for many years, but to be frank, how good the program is in any individual year rests on two things: a) the quality of the staff and b) the school location where the child care program could be.

Space turns out to be really important. I actually had a co-worker who did an in-district transfer for her kids because the child care space at her districted school was so poor, and she chose a nearby school with much better child care space! The kind of space that the afterschool program gets depends on a combination of space available and the importance the principal places on having good space. In any case, while my children were in the program, the principal--who used the child care herself--felt that this program was very important. The space at Ann Arbor Open was excellent--three basement rooms that were large and had large windows.

In general, in the years my kids were at after school child care, the staff ranged from good to great. But there were a couple of years where not only were the staff excellent, but they also got along so well, and were such good friends, that the feeling was palpable when you walked in the room at the end of the day. That was a special time, and I believe that (at least at that time) Ann Arbor Open had one of the largest afterschool child care programs in the district.

Most of those staff people were in college, or thinking about college, or working on artistic pursuits, and eventually, most of them moved on. One of them even has a child at Ann Arbor Open now! But over the past few months, I was saddened to hear of the death of two former Ann Arbor Open childcare staff.

Jevon Walls worked at Ann Arbor Open both in the child care program and as a lunch supervisor. He connected well with the kids and died after struggling with substance use issues.







Carrie Holmes had a great sense of humor. She was really warm to the kids, and with my daughter she seemed to work endlessly on perler bead projects. (The kids can do the designs, but an adult has to do the ironing of the perler beads.) Thus she was with her on the day that my daughter accidentally put a perler bead up her nose, something we all (except my daughter) found pretty funny. Carrie fought brain cancer for years, and she had just gotten her teaching certificate.





Carrie and Jevon--may your memory be a blessing. 

"The Greatest Parapro Ever"

"Forget Davy Jones," my friend writes. "I'm bummed over Mr. Dixon, the greatest parapro* ever. He was so good with the kids and he was a singer, getting involved in school musical productions but also busting out spontaneously in the classroom."

Mr. Dixon, you were noticed, and you will be missed.

Here is the annarbor.com obituary:

DIXON, STEVE
Passed away at age 62, on Saturday, February 25, 2012. He was born 
in Ann Arbor on February 28, 1949. Steve was a graduateof Ann Arbor High and Eastern Michigan University and he retired 
from Wassana County Juvenile Court. At the time of his passing 
he was employed with the Ypsilanti Public Schools. He is survived 
by his wife, Gwendolyn Powell-Dixon; his son; and 5 siblings. 
He was preceded in death by his parents, Mrs. Minnie and 
Mr. William Dixon. Service will be held at Second Baptist Church, 
850 Red Oak Rd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48103 on Saturday, March 3, 2012, 
9 am viewing, family hour 10 am, funeral service 11 am.


*parapro=paraprofessional, teacher's aide

Theatre. . . Competition?!

Without much notice or fanfare, high school theater* groups around the state prepare one-act plays for a theater competition--the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association competition, or MIFA, as it is known--throughout January and February.

In the theatre competition, actors and crew operate under time constraints, as well as the requirement that the play be portable--and they get feedback from judges. They present at "districts," then at "regionals," and then--if they are lucky--to "states."

One year the requirement is to pick a comedy, and the next year the requirement is to pick a serious play. Directors can choose a musical or a straight play; a play that was written as a one-act, or cut a play down.

This year, at least four local schools are participating, and in fact, a regional competition is occurring at Skyline and a state competition is occurring at Chelsea Dexter High School, although Dexter has not submitted a MIFA play. (This year, Community and Huron are not performing one-acts, but Huron will be doing Sweeney Todd the weekend of February 9th and look for Community High School's PG-version of Avenue Q in the spring.)

This coming weekend (February 3d and 4th, 2012), both Skyline and Pioneer high schools are doing public performances. Both of them are on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m.

Pioneer High School is performing Spring Awakening, a play following the lives of ten teenagers as they move from adolescent to adult.

Skyline High School is performing Amadeus, about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.


Chelsea High School and Milan High School are also performing.

Update 2/6/11: So is Lincoln High School. Lincoln High School is performing J. M. Barrie's Half an Hour.

You may recall that Milan High School had four students die over the last year, and at least a couple of the deaths were suicides. The play that they have chosen is called The Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note, and I understand--from someone who saw the play at districts--that the play opens with projections of news stories about the students who died. Intense? Yes. But also an important memorial to them. I've never seen the play but I think using the arts as a way to work through emotional issues is a terrific idea.

As for Chelsea--well, I'm still looking for the title of their play--and I will hope to update this.

As far as I can tell, neither Milan nor Chelsea has public performances, but I could be wrong about that.

If you get a chance to go to one of the public performances, they're short and you will probably find that the way the set and crew are integrated into the performance makes the experience more interesting. The theme for this year is "serious drama," and the topics are. They are appropriate for high school students, but these are probably not the right plays for your eight-year old.

Update 2/6/11: The current schedule for the regional event at Skyline High School has Skyline, Pioneer, and Lincoln performing there, but not Chelsea or Milan.


*theater or theatre, I can't decide which to use. Read more here.

May's Sad News

Men's 1600 meter race; May 31, 2011
Larry Steeb Memorial Track Meet, Ypsilanti High School

Today I was at the Larry Steeb Memorial Track Meet (named after a Whitmore Lake coach, but held this year at Ypsilanti High School).
I was presented by many students, coaches and parents wearing yellow ribbons in recognition of great sorrow for the family of Maya Long, whose mother was injured and whose father died in a domestic violence incident. You can read about it here. Maya is a junior and an extremely talented runner for Huron High School.

Last week I got news of the death of Seth Harsch. Seth was a junior at Huron High School, a football player and a railroad fan. When I knew him as a preschooler he was fun-loving and generally had a smile on his face. Yet he took his own life. You can read his obituary here.

And Ian Jenkins, a Milan High School sophomore, died just over a week ago in an accident--the fourth Milan student to die this year. Ian was a wonderful hockey player who had just been drafted into the Ontario Hockey League.

All in all, these events add up to a very sad month of May.
Let the families at Huron High School and Milan High School know you are thinking of them.

If you are a survivor of domestic violence, you can get help at 734-995-5444.
If you are considering suicide, or know someone who is, get help by calling 734-662-2222 (Ozone House for youth) or 734-996-4747 (for anyone).

Deja Vu

I woke up yesterday morning to WEMU reporting that a young woman had been stabbed outside of Ypsilanti High School. And then I come to find out from this annarbor.com article that a young woman's "boyfriend" lured her to a remote location after she told him she might be pregnant, and left her for dead. It's a good thing that some people still walk outside in the cold weather.It appears that this woman will survive.

And now, I've been blogging long enough (though not really all that long) that this reminds me of last year's death of Huron High School student Anna Marie List.

In March of 2009 I wrote this piece about Dating Violence. There is help in town, you know. Safe House Center's number  is 734-995-5444. Ozone House's 24-hour line (for teens) is 734-662-2222.

Domestic violence organizations talk about power and control, and the "wheel" below is modified for teens, but based on the work of a domestic violence organization in Duluth, MN. If you know of a relationship that seems to involve a lot of tension around power and control, you can call the Safe House Center hotline for advice on how to intervene.

Loss

For Tyne Mosbey and Jake Rachford, recent Community High School graduates who lost their lives in a house fire this past week. May their memories be a blessing.

I will post links to their obituaries if/when they become available.

2/2/2011: Here is Jake Rachford's obituary and funeral information.
2/3/2011 and 2/4/2011: Here is Tyne Mosbey's obituary and  funeral and visitation information

Milan: Sad News

There have been three deaths in the Milan Area Schools in the last few months--the deaths of senior Eric Harrison and junior Brian Copiacu are believed to be suicides. The death of junior William Bowers is believed to be an accident. Milan has just under 1000 students in their high school, so this has to have a huge impact.

The Milan News-Leader has a story here.
More information is available at milanareaschools.org.

Teens and families of teens: Ozone House has a crisis line: 734-662-2222.
U of M Psychiatric Emergency Services also has a 24-hour line: 734-996-4747.

It Gets Better: Dan and Terry

Have you seen the "It Gets Better" Campaign? It's an anti-bullying, anti-suicide campaign, with LGBT Adults, describing why and how life got better the day they left high school. You can find more at youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject.

It does make me wonder: does high school have to suck if you are different? What difference can a kind administration make?

This one is from Dan and Terry (and I think they started the project). Dan is better known as Dan Savage of Savage Love. Who, by the way, is talking for FREE at EMU Oct. 13, 7 p.m., Grand Ballroom, Student Center.

Supica Family: Lawton, Slauson, Pioneer

Some of you may have heard the sad news that two members of the Supica family were killed (daughter Samantha and mother Theresa) and two teenage daughters were injured. Here is the annarbor.com article about the deaths, which occurred on the way to a field hockey event. Updated 3:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.: The two injured sisters are named Sydney and Shelby Sloane, and they Sydney played field hockey for Pioneer High School this past year.

UPDATE 6/26/2010: Obituary for Theresa and Samantha Supica

UPDATE 6/25/10
Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, July 3d, at Knox Presbyterian Church, 2065 S. Wagner Road, with private interment. The family will receive friends on July 3d from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools is responding with a gathering and crisis team. Here is the information from Slauson principal Dr. Curtis:

To bring the communities of Lawton, Slauson and Pioneer together during this time of grief, a gathering is scheduled for tonight, Tuesday, June 22 at Slauson on the front deck from 7pm – 8:30pm. We will have district crisis team members available for support as well as cards and paper to send support to the Supica family.

I will add more information as I find out more.

Updated 10 p.m.
Here is another article.


Donation information:
Please consider a donation to the Supica Benefit Trust by going to http://hockeyhasheart.com and click on HHH Forms, Donation Forms, and in the "Comments or Special Request" box, enter "c/o Supica Benefit Trust". Donors of $50 or greater will receive an official tax receipt later in the year.
Checks are also welcome. Make your check out to Hockey Has Heart c/o the "Supica Benefit Trust" and send or drop off the check at the TCF Bank on W. Stadium and Pauline or any TCF location.
TCF Bank
1900 Pauline Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48103-5002

Ann Arbor: Meetings, Transportation, Strategic Planning, Loss

The Ann Arbor Board of Education has two "regular" board meetings, as well as the performance committee meeting, scheduled for the next 10 days. It is unusual to have two full board meetings so close to each other. (And they also had a board meeting on May 26th, which you can read about in detail in the Ann Arbor Chronicle.)

There are no agendas posted at this point, but I am assuming that the issue of transportation consolidation is going to be on at least one of those agendas...which one? Meetings are not usually scheduled for Friday at 5. [Update 6/2/10 7:40 p.m. The agenda for Friday is still not posted, but I've been told to expect that the focus will be on transportation/consolidation.]
There is also a Performance Committee meeting scheduled and, since the Ann Arbor Chronicle article says that Superintendent Todd Roberts is going to be evaluated in June, I am thinking that process will start at the Performance Committee meeting.

1. 6/4/2010, Friday, 5 p.m., AAPS Board Meeting, Balas Main Conference Room (this is the non-regular, or added, "regular" meeting)
2. 6/9/2010, Wednesday, 7 p.m., AAPS Board Meeting, Ann Arbor District Library 4th Floor Meeting Room
3. 6/10/2010, Thursday, 6 p.m., Performance Committee, Balas Superintendents' Conference Room (This doesn't say executive session, but then again the agenda is not yet posted. Evaluations are generally done--at least partially--in executive session.

Remember, if you have something to say, you can a) be there for public comment; b) mail or email comments specifying they should be considered public comment for the meeting; or c) email the entire Board of Education in one fell swoop at boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Tell them what you think about consolidation. Tell them what you think about Todd Roberts' work.

And here are a couple of other things to think about:
1. Larry Simpson, who is the head of the special education division (known as Student Intervention and Support Services), is retiring. Who will take over for him? According to the Chronicle article, there have been 5 administrators of special education in 13 years, and Simpson's tenure (4 years) is the longest. Obviously, that is a problem.
2. If you went to the winter budget meetings and, like me, signed up to be part of a strategic planning subcommittee, you might have been wondering what happened to those lists. Did they get lost? They were supposed to start in May, and now the board is discussing whether they should get started over the summer or in the fall. Are they trying to avoid engaging the public? It seems like it is "never" a good time. Summer is busy, fall is busy, then we get into December, and--well, my goodness--everyone knows that December is busy.
Listen up, school board and staff--the best time to start strategic planning is now. Strategic planning does not have to be intimately tied to the 2011-2012 budget, because strategic planning is long-term. It is not budget planning.
3. Buried (no pun intended) in the Ann Arbor Chronicle report is a mention of the death of Pioneer student Jasmine Thomas. As far as I could tell, there was no other reporting of her death. You can read her obituary here.

Mother's Day: Senior Year

Mother's Day, growing up, was not a big deal. We might make my mom a card (or not), and have dinner with one or both sets of grandparents.

Because I have a high school senior now, I find myself flashing back to my senior year. What was it like for me, applying to college? Did I have senioritis? Who were my friends? Yesterday, I found myself thinking about Mother's Day of my senior year.

The weekend of Mother's Day during my senior year, I was at a youth group weekend convention. As I was a senior, this was my last one. They were always a lot of fun, and this one was no exception. It followed the usual pattern--lots of activities during the day, and almost no sleep at all on Friday or Saturday nights. By the time I would get home Sunday afternoon, I would be extremely bleary-eyed. As I was not a napper, I would stay awake Sunday until bedtime, and then go to sleep. In the morning, I would not be at all caught up on my sleep, and would argue with my parents about going to school. They always won. This, I felt, was truly unfair, as many of my other youth group friends were allowed to skip school on those Mondays.
This time, I had determined, was going to be different. This time, I would stay home. I was a senior, damn it!
Monday morning my mom came to wake me up. I was sluggish. She came back again.
"No," I said, "I'm not going."
She sat down in the rocking chair in my room.
"Yes, you are." And then she said, "Aunt N. died last night. You're going to school today because the funeral will be Tuesday and you will miss school tomorrow."
My plans were foiled, but her words woke me up right away.
Aunt N.--my mother's first cousin and best friend--had been sick with breast cancer for quite a while. But I think I didn't really believe she would die, probably because Aunt N. had three kids, all fairly close in age to us.

I went to school that day.
Thirty years ago Monday.
My cousin says, "My mom made sure we would never forget Mother's Day."

May your Mother's Day be sweeter, and less bitter.

Bits and More Bits

A new private high school, for high-functioning autistic students, is opening up. It's "faith-based." Based on the name, Veritas Christi, I would say it's Christian.

The East-Cross blog is reporting some truly alarming potential state budget cuts for the coming fiscal year. And we thought this year was bad.

The Saline High School principal reports, on Twitter, that the school honored 251 students with straight As at a recent event. Apparently, that is 13.6% of the student body. I know that I was in the top 10% of my high school graduating class, and I didn't have all As. Proof of grade inflation. Yet I'm not necessarily opposed.

I've written about early childhood education, and now--this just in: Washtenaw County Head Start is beginning the enrollment process for the 2010-2011 school year with Early Bird Registration, Wednesday, February 17 from 9 am-4 pm at the Head Start Grantee office located at 1661 Leforge Road in Ypsilanti. This is for families living in the Ypsilanti or Lincoln school districts, and for families living in Washtenaw County that are working full time or who are full time students.  Families must bring a copy of the child’s Birth Certificate, Proof of Income, and Proof of Residence.  If the child has a current physical and dental exam, families should bring those as well. Families will be served on a first come first serve basis.  For more information call 484-7119.  

David Jesse (along with some others) has been doing some extensive reporting on the Ann Arbor schools budget, and a limited amount of reporting on some of the other schools. The reporting is good; it is annoying that it is not easy to find all of the articles. Some--but not all--of them are under School Spending Report.

Noting the passing of: 

J.D. Salinger--Yes, I had to read Catcher in the Rye in middle school. I didn't like it. I tried again when one of my kids had to read it, and I still didn't like it. It seemed very male, and I really didn't like that he spelled crummy, crumby. Many years later, that still bugs me. 

Mary Daly--I was introduced to her writing in college, and it was hard! Beyond God the Father and Gyn/Ecology have hugely influenced feminist and environm

ental thought, and they were eye-opening for me. Talk about being a boundary-pusher! She was one. Howard Zinn--OK, I confess that I never made it all the way through A People's History of the United States, but I was happy to meet a teacher who used it in her social studies class. He had a lot of good ideas, and shared them in an accessible way. And until I read his obituary I didn't know he was a playwright, too. (That is the nice thing about obituaries. You find out interesting things about people.)

I have added the blog Foster Parenting Adventures to the blogroll on the right. The author is a school psychologist in an urban school district, and she recently became a foster parent, which is something I've thought about doing. I'd start reading with the first post.

Connie Toigo

I was sad to hear of the death of Connie Knott Toigo, the principal of the Ann Arbor Public Schools' Preschool and Family Center. Here is an obituary from annarbor.com.

And here is information about her memorial service.
Connie Toigo, principal of the Ann Arbor Preschool and Family Center, died on December 30 of uterine cancer. Her memorial service will be held at Skyline High School on January 17 at 1 PM. A scholarship fund is being established at EMU through the Education Department. Donations can be made to this fund, in her name, in lieu of flowers.

Teens Get Depression; Men Get Depression

The other night I was watching a very interesting documentary on PBS called Men Get Depression. The UM Depression Center was featured. Some takeaway points:
--Depression often first manifests for 15-25 year olds.
--Depression is a biological illness, just like diabetes or cancer.
--Depression in men and boys often shows up as anger and irritability.
--Many people self-medicate depression with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
--There are health disparities (differences between racial/ethnic groups) in depression.

You can read more at this web site, http://www.mengetdepression.com/
I was thinking about writing about this anyway, because I know too many people whose lives have been touched by depression.
Anyway, there is a group in Saline, called Saline Alive, that was founded by parents whose son died of depression/suicide. It turns out that they are having a meeting this week: Thursday, October 22nd. It's open to everyone, not just Saline families.

Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009

Time: 7:00 pm
Middle School Auditorium
7190 N. Maple Rd., Saline MI 48176

TOPIC: ADOLESCENTS & ADULT DEPRESSION
This session will provide information on:
Recognizing the signs & symptoms of depression in the adolescent vs. an adult
Understanding what role that the genetic factor can play in depression
The difference between self-harm and suicide risks

7:00 – 7:15 pm Saline Alive Update – Brad Bezeau, SHS Assistant Principal
7:15 – 8:00 pm Guest Speaker – Mary Grambeau Gass, LMSW
Mary is a member of the U of M Depression Center and has worked as a clinical social worker in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Department for 20+ years. Mary also has a private practice, where she treats children, adolescents and families in Ann Arbor. Mary has a special interest in treating adolescents and their families.
8:00 – 8:15 pm Questions and Answers
If you would like to more information please contact Brad Bezeau at bezeaub@saline.k12.mi.us

Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009

"Every American should have the opportunity to receive a quality education, a job that respects their dignity and protects their safety, and health care that does not condemn those whose health is impaired to a lifetime of poverty and lost opportunity." -- Senator Edward Kennedy

Ted Kennedy's fingerprints were on nearly every piece of important education (and civil rights) legislation that came out of the Senate while he served there, and you can read about that legacy here or here.

In 1972, Senator Kennedy championed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX has had a profound, profound impact on my life, and sometime soon I'll hope to write about that.