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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Want to see what the teachers are talking about? 

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

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

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Five Updates: Who's Covering the First Elected Board, What's Your First Choice, Where's the Money Gone, Who's Listening Anyway, Why Keep Testing

1. Ypsilanti Community Schools board voted 4-3 not to do a superintendent search--their superintendent's contract will automatically renew in April for another year if they don't do anything.

It's not that I have an opinion about whether the school board should continue with Laura Lisiscki as superintendent, but I first heard about this issue on a facebook group. As a rumor. The rumor turned out to be true.

It also turned out that heritage.com did cover the school board meeting, but that is not always a sure thing.

Who is routinely covering the school board meetings now? (Good question.) Does it matter that a discussion like this ends up with a 4-3 vote? (I would say that it does.) What is the best way to keep the community informed?

2. Ann Arbor schools has opened its doors to students from other districts. Part of me feels that this is poaching. On the other hand, the other school districts had already opened their doors to schools of choice.

But also--perhaps more interesting--you can also choose to send your kids to a different school within the district. Here's some information, the "window" for applications ends February 27th: http://a2schools.org/aaps/ins.child_accounting/space_available_transfers.

3. Local state representative Jeff Irwin explained how we can follow the money the other day on Facebook: 

I just finished my first meeting of the Appropriations committee. Chairman Al Pscholka offered some thoughtful and well-offered commentary at the beginning of the meeting focused on encouraging committee members to get educated on Michigan's budget. Then, we received a report from the House Fiscal Agency on state revenues.
This report highlights the impact of the massive changes that were made to business taxes in 2011. In summary, business taxes are expected to net just over $180M in the next budget. This represents only about 2% of the state's general fund. Just a few years ago, corporate taxes brought in around $2B per year in state taxes (about 25% of the GF). If you're wondering why tuition is going up, class sizes are going up and taxes on individuals are going up, now you have your answer. (Emphasis added.)

4. Ann Arbor Superintendent Jeanice Swift is on her second listening tour. I thought the first one was pretty successful, and I'm planning to attend at least one of these. I hope you will go to one too--so you can bring up your most important issues, whether they be transportation, testing, trimesters, trigonometry, tenth grade, or (I'm running out of "t" words here)...

All discussions run from 6:30-8 pm unless otherwise noted:

Clip art taken from:
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/0/6/8/6/11971488431079343407barretr_Pencil.svg.hi.png

Monday, February 9 at the Administration Building hosted by the PTO Council
Tuesday, February 10 at Scarlett Middle School
Thursday, February 12 at Slauson Middle School
Monday, February 23 at the Downtown Library, 4th Floor at 12noon-1:30pm
Tuesday, March 3 at Tappan Middle School
Monday, March 9 at Peace Neighborhood Center
Thursday, March 12 at A2 STEAM at Northside
Thursday, March 26 at Pathways to Success Academic Campus
Monday, March 30 at Community High School
Tuesday, March 31 at Ann Arbor Open

5. Last, but not least, we come to testing. 
This spring there will be the M-Step, which is Michigan's "not" Smarter Balance and "not" the MEAP and "not" the ACT [but 11th graders will still ALSO have to take the ACT]...the last minute, untested, unvalidated, uncomparable to last year's MEAP but being used because state officials couldn't agree on using Smarter Balance standardized test. And this will probably be replaced by something else next year. Read all about M-Step here.

Well--if you want to know what is going on with testing at the state level, then I suggest you subscribe to the Michigan Department of Education's Spotlight on Student Assessment and Accountability. 

If you were paying attention a few months ago, you might remember that several local superintendents voiced the concern that there was too much testing in the 11th grade. And so I was interested in this tiny concession that was published in Spotlight: 

Due to concerns around testing time, the Classroom Activity andPerformance Task components of the 11th grade M-STEP are optionalfor high schools. While there are some benefits to administeringthese components, they will not be required. There will be noaccountability penalty in terms of participation or scoring for highschools that choose to not administer the classroom activities andperformance tasks. This does not apply to the classroom activitiesand performance tasks in grades 3 through 8 — those are required.

Anyone want to opt out? Here is an article about some strategies.
Also, you can find some local resources (people!) at the Facebook page, Ann Arbor STOP: Stop Overtesting.

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News and Dismay, Now More Than Ever

I was rather dismayed to learn that the latest education reporter for the Ann Arbor News, Amy Biolchini, is moving to the west side of the state and September 12th is her last day.

Since I started blogging in 2009, the Ann Arbor News has lost several reporters off the education beat.

David Jesse went to the Detroit Free Press, where he's doing a nice job as a higher education reporter.
Kyle Feldscher chose to switch into reporting on courts and criminals. (I have a hard time believing that is more fun or interesting, but it definitely gets more page views and front page stories.)
Danielle Arndt moved to the west side of the stae.
Sense a pattern?

The point is--

the point is--

the point is 

that all of these reporters were fine, and could have been excellent education reporters. (Exception here: David Jesse had been, for a long time, and still is, but in a different venue.)

If only--

IF ONLY they had stuck around.

It takes time to develop sources. One reporter, in fact, is not nearly enough to cover the education beat in Washtenaw County.

Schools need the bright light of reporters digging.

And we only need look at the stories coming out of the Free Press' excellent charter series, or the information being uncovered about the EAA by Ellen Cogen Lipton and Eclectablog, to understand why.

Oh, and did I mentioned that the Ann Arbor Chronicle closed as well? Though their coverage of the Ann Arbor school board had ceased, at least there was the occasional piece about education.

On the Inside the EAA website, it says that the Freedom of Information Act is a "Tool for Transparency." For that to be true, somebody has to be there to use it...

All of this leads me feeling...dismayed. Now, more than ever.


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Ann Arbor Chronicle Column: Students and the Body Politic

Do you spend your time thinking about what it means to have a free press?

Then you might like my latest column for the Ann Arbor Chronicle: Student Press and the Body Politic.

And in this column, I talk a lot about the Washtenaw Community College Voice, the Dexter High Squall, the Community High School Communicator, and...my hometown high school newspaper, the Rye High Garnet & Black! (I could only find links for the latter to the 2011-2012 issues.)

Let me know what you think!


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Principal Principles, Perspectives, and Publicity

Pioneer Perspicacity 

(I was looking for P words--and I had to look perspicacity up, but it's a good choice because essentially it means you are sharing your perspective!)

It turns out that nowadays, when I go out on a Saturday night, people come up to me and ask me about the latest school news--news which, in fact, I hadn't even heard. . . what happens to you when you go out on a Saturday night?

Friday afternoon, Pioneer parents got a short letter from the school district:

Dear Pioneer Families,I have  notified the Pioneer community today that Ms. Cindy Leaman has agreed to serve as Principal of Ann Arbor's A2 Virtual+ Academy beginning January 6, 2014. 

Ms. Tamber Woodworth will serve as Principal for the remainder of the school year. Ms. Woodworth has agreed to return to Pioneer where she served previously as both a class principal and principal prior to her retirement. 

I know we will all work together to support our students at Pioneer.Thank you,Jeanice SwiftSuperintendent

I hadn't heard about it because I'm not a Pioneer parent.

But of course I was interested!

1. You might recall that filling the position of Pioneer principal was the subject of much controversy last fall, when Pat Green didn't fill the position for quite a while, and wouldn't talk about when she would fill it either. Not only did the interim principal have a long-term sub filling his classes, but the cloak of secrecy made parents mad, especially regarding the timing of filling the position. A little bit of communication regarding timing would have gone a long way!  In any case, 51 weeks ago (just under a year) Cindy Leaman was moved from Clague Middle School to fill the Pioneer position.

2. Since it's been just under a year, of course there speculation about this latest move. Talking to Pioneer students and parents, their opinion of Cindy Leaman has ranged from "she's fine" to "she's fine unless you engage with her in any way" to "she's like Dolores Umbridge." (I know--harsh, right? Principals get the brunt of people's opinions, and often it's not in a good way.)

3. Tamber Woodworth will be the interim principal. She has served as interim principal in the past at both Pioneer and Ann Arbor Open, and I think she was a permanent principal at Tappan as well. At Ann Arbor Open and at Pioneer, she seemed to not try to make too many changes while she was there as an interim. That worked well at Ann Arbor Open. She is being brought out of retirement for this position! (And I think there are some restrictions in state law on working for the district you retired from, so she's probably a contractor.)

4. I'm not going to speculate about whether, for Cindy Leaman, the move to running the new Virtual Academy is an upgrade or a downgrade. But as far as communication goes, it's my opinion this whole thing was mishandled. First of all, in general I think that principal moves at any of the schools are significant enough that they should be shared--by the district--with the entire listening audience (probably through AAPS News), in addition to the letter home to Pioneer families. 

In particular, in this case, the Virtual Academy is a brand new entity for the district, and so I think this position is actually adding a principal position to the district. And people don't understand what the Virtual Academy is. (My understanding is that Michigan law now states that students anywhere can take online courses anywhere in the state, and if the district doesn't offer online classes then students will go elsewhere and take their money with them--but that may be oversimplified.)

My point is--please--
Share information about principals with the entire district.
Share more, rather than less. Educate parents, and they will feel more comfortable, and less panicky, about changes. Who is Tamber Woodworth? Why was Cindy Leaman chosen to run the Virtual Academy (does she, for instance, have a background in technology)? What is the Virtual Academy?

Past Principal's Possible Plagiarism

Meanwhile, last week, on Facebook, I got another piece of news: that Sulura Jackson, the former principal at Skyline, was accused of plagiarism in her new district! [By the way, in the illustration the Indy Week chose to use, there is a picture of Skyline's first graduation, and my daughter is the one on the left.]

At the Indy Week, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Billy Ball writes,

What they [teachers] found is startling: Multiple documents obtained by the INDY that show Jackson—before and after her arrival at Chapel Hill High—lifted entire passages and letters from books, online articles and teaching resource guides. She used those passages without citation in staff memos, letters to students and even recommendation letters for colleagues, frequently passing them off as her words.

. . . In some cases, Jackson, who won a Michigan secondary school association's award for top high school principal of 2010–2011, used uncited text pulled from various sources. In others, she seems to use entire letters, such as an online welcoming letter for students posted by an Arizona principal. Sometimes she seems to have attempted to disguise the copied text by changing a single word while retaining the overall form and structure. Other times, entire passages were printed unchanged.

Sulura Jackson at Skyline graduation. Photo from the
Ann Arbor Public Schools website.

And as if that weren't (quite) enough, the friend who posted it on Facebook said that he had noticed Sulura Jackson doing the same thing during the first year that students were at Skyline! And (he's a person who saves things), he sent me an email with the piece in which he noticed the copying. He says he didn't say anything at the time because he didn't want to make any trouble for his daughter.

He wrote me that in the second Skyline newsletter,

When I read the first paragraph of Sulura's letter it was clear to me that she hadn't written it. It took under a minute on Google to find that it was from a tourism press release (I think it was from "pure Michigan" or whatever it was called back in 2008).

Here are the first few lines of the paragraph:

When autumn arrives in Michigan, the state slowly explodes into a frenzy of color; the entire state is in its annual blaze of glory. There is no better place to see the dynamic colors of a trillion trees aflame than along Michigan highways, country roads and coastlines.

And here is a similar passage, attributed to Michigan.org, the state's web site:

It's when 19 million acres of woods slowly explode in a frenzy of color. It's when an entire state is in its annual blaze of glory. It's when autumn arrives in Michigan. And there's no better place to see the dynamic colors of a trillion trees aflame than along our highways, country roads and coastlines. So let's head out to the forests. And let's prepare to be amazed. On the fall color tours of Pure Michigan. 

So as you see, it's not exactly the same--but it's close.

My question is, "Is this plagiarism?"

My friend said to me, "That's not plagiarism! How many ways can you write a cover letter or a condolence letter? The real issue is probably that the teachers don't like her!" Which could be true--there were certainly plenty of teachers who didn't like her at Skyline.

As for the suggestion that Jackson cite sources: It would be really weird to cite sources in a letter that goes into a school newsletter.

On the other hand--if Jackson got hired in North Carolina based in part on her capacity to communicate in writing, and she didn't actually write the stuff, then there is certainly some misrepresentation there. If a student turned this in, would it be considered plagiarism?

I would have to say, though, that in the Indy Week article, the thing that bothers me the most is the thing that always bothered me when she was Skyline principal. Jackson never was willing to admit to being wrong, even when she changed or modified something because she was wrong. So, too, in the Indy Week article she says,

Reached by the INDY Monday, Jackson acknowledged she will use form letters, books and articles to inform her writings, but she denied any wrongdoing."I'm not under the impression that I can't use that," Jackson said. "This is not anything that I'm selling. This is not anything that I'm using for personal gain."

So what do you think? Is it plagiarism? 

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New K-12 Education Reporter

I started a post on school security (coming soon to a blog near you!) about a week ago, with these words:

"First of all, welcome to new annarbor.com K-12 education reporter Amy Biolchini. Amy is not a new annarbor.com reporter, but she is new to the K-12 education beat."

Already you probably see the problem.

I started writing this a couple of weeks ago--when we were still expecting there to be an annarbor.com. And now there will only be mlive.com. I think Amy will continue to be the K-12 education reporter for Washtenaw County. 

I see Advance Publication's move as a cost-cutting measure that will mean less news in Ann Arbor--and already, there was a lot less than there was ten years ago! In short, I'm bummed. Sigh. I am, actually, happy to see the name annarbor.com gone--I always thought it was a dumb name and then when people would try and write it as Ann Arbor.com, with the space between Ann and Arbor but still with .com--well--even dumber. But whatever mlive wants to call their local print product, to me it will not be the Ann Arbor News. 

As for the reporting, the truth would be to call it uneven. Some of it has been excellent, some of it terrible. The copy editing has been awful. The main problem of the writers, in my opinion, is that there are too few of them and also too few editors. I don't expect that problem to be solved by going to mlive.

And now--whoopee--we get to be experimented on once again.

If you are interested, Mark Maynard has some more comprehensive thoughts. So does Ben Connor Barrie at Damn Arbor.  

Please, would somebody with lots of money like to buy the Ann Arbor News from Advance, the way the Boston Globe and Washington Post have been sold?

Ann Arbor Schools Budget: Summary, Thoughts, Feedback

The Ann Arbor School Board is scheduled to vote on the AAPS budget at the Wednesday June 12th meeting. In this blog post, I try to share as much background information as I can--including posts I've written and articles others have written, as well as school-provided background information.

Remember, you can still contact the Board of Education with your concerns and ideas: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Remember also, that even if they don't cut something (say, for example, high school transportation, reading intervention, or seventh hour) they will need to make up the cuts somewhere else.

Before you take a look at all these links, let me reiterate my opinion that the issue that will affect the most students negatively, and likely lead to reduced student enrollment most directly, is cutting high school transportation. I hope the board decides that is not a wise decision and chooses to preserve high school transportation.

Ruth's posts (not including posts about state funding decisions):

Paying for Seventh Period? (May 29, 2013)

Are We Operating in a Data-less World? (May 16, 2013)

But Is It Working? (April 28, 2013)

Budget Forums: Three Down, One to Go (April 18, 2013)

Ann Arbor Chronicle:

Column: Disparate Impact of AAPS Cuts (June 7, 2013) by Ruth Kraut--yup, yours truly :)

AAPS Trustees Get Draft Budget (April 24, 2013 Board Meeting) by Monet Tiedemann

AAPS Mulls Redistricting to Save Costs (December 19, 2013 Board Meeting) by Jennifer Coffman--keep your eyes on this for next year.

Annarbor.com 

Most if not all articles are by Danielle Arndt

Principal's Union Contract Negotiations

Teacher Layoff Notices (Note: a lot more teachers get layoff notices than will actually be laid off due to specific credentialing and to seniority)

School Board Tweaks Proposals (Cuts to high school busing, 7th hour tuition proposal)

School Board to Pursue Forum Suggestions

Class Sizes, Transportation, Seventh Hour Priorities at Budget Forum

Morning Only High School Busing Proposal

Surviving the Budget Cuts ($5,000 school board food line)

$5,000 School Board Food Line Item (survives)

AAPS Budget Forum

Surviving the Budget Cuts

Paying for Layoffs: Unemployment Insurance

Revenue: School Billboards

Budget Report Brighter ("Only" 8.67 Million Dollar Deficit!)

Administrator's Budget Proposal

Budget Forums

All notes taken by school board president Deb Mexicotte

BOE Budget Forum #1

BOE Budget Forum #2

BOE Budget Forum #3

BOE Budget Forum #4

Ann Arbor Schools background information:

2013-2014 Budget Projections (April 24, 2013)

2013-2014 Proposed Budget Reductions (April 24, 2013)

2013-2014 Potential Budget Reductions (February 27, 2013)

Find budget reporting (by quarter) here.

2012-2013 Budget Proposal (May 23, 2012)--useful as a comparison, perhaps

[By the way--take a look around the Board Docs. There is lots of good information there!]

Around the County

Superintendent Searches and Related Information

Ann Arbor is in the middle of a superintendent search. I've written about it here. You can take a survey about what you would like to see in a superintendent You might find some of the "desired character traits" can be read in two ways. There is also an opportunity for comments. Take the survey here.

Dexter has been employing an interim Superintendent and it looks like they have identified a preferred candidate for the permanent position--Dr. Chris Timmis, currently Superintendent in the Adrian Public Schools. The school board president's letter, posted on the school web site, starts out like this:

Superintendent Search UpdateThe Board of Education would like to share current information about the superintendent search process. If you have any questions, feel free to ask a member of the School Board, or you may ask one of the building principals or union leaders who will contact us to get an answer.

Later, he writes:

Dr. Timmis embodies most of the characteristics the district and community identified as important for our next superintendent. He is a visionary leader who has shown the ability to solve existing problems and to be an innovative leader by thinking outside the box for meaningful improvements. As superintendent of Adrian Public Schools for the last five years, Dr. Timmis took his district from a low-performing, financially distressed district to one that has become a model in the state for rising student performance. Although the issues in Dexter are different from what Adrian Public Schools has faced, we see in him the ability to help Dexter move from good to great, and expand the opportunities for success of all our students.

Read the full (and detailed) letter provided on the Dexter Schools web site.

There will be a public interview. According to the letter,

The Board will interview Dr. Timmis at a public meeting on June 4th at 7:00 PM at Creekside Intermediate School Media Center. If the Board decides to continue the process, a site visit to Adrian Schools will take place the week of June 10th to talk with Adrian Schools staff, Board members, and the community. Following the site visit, a date will be set for the Board to vote on whether to hire Dr. Timmis as our superintendent.

I'm glad they are. . . doing a site visit. . . and having a public interview. And I didn't find Chris Timmis' name coming up on any searches related to Broad Foundation information.

Ypsilanti Community Schools

Dedrick Martin--current Ypsilanti Public Schools superintendent, who was to continue as an assistant superintendent in the new district because the district was going to have to pay him anyway, has taken a job in St. Johns, Michigan. So now they are going to hire a Chief Financial Officer instead of an assistant superintendent. What do you think of that?

Schools of Choice

Saline is opening a limited Schools of Choice, with at least 50 kindergarten spots, at least 10 first grade spots, and at least 15 high school spots. There are some other spots available as well, depending on enrollment over the summer. Find out more here.

Lots of other schools have schools of choice as well, including Lincoln, Milan, Whitmore Lake, the new Ypsilanti Community Schools, Manchester. I think Chelsea has schools of choice this year (but I could only find last year's form); Dexter has opened to a very limited schools of choice (I think five students) and Ann Arbor had schools of choice but the "window" for applications has closed.

Additional Information

Chelsea Update, found at chelseaupdate.com, is a local news source, and at the top of the page there is a "Schools" tab if you are looking for Chelsea Schools information.

Dexter Patch is also a source of information about Dexter schools.

Good Reads

Why Minnesota's Governor Vetoed Teach for America Funding

This has absolutely nothing to do with schools, but it is about valuing our histories. This is a fascinating article about how historic treasures were saved in Timbuktu when northern Mali was taken over by radical Islamists.

Part IV: My Commentary on the Superintendent Resignation

First of all, if you want to read what other people think, take a look at these survey results:

Part I: Did you have personal experiences with Pat Green? Based on those experiences, how did you feel about her? Can you give concrete examples?
Part II: Do you have any thoughts/ideas about why Pat Green is leaving?
Part III: Looking to the future, what qualities do you think are important for the next superintendent?

Obviously, I don't agree with every comment in the survey, but much of what was written resonates with me!

Could I see that this was coming? No. I didn't necessarily think Pat Green would stick around for five years, but I was surprised this happened so quickly. However, the school board was about to begin the Superintendent Evaluation. In fact, I think that we can likely trace her resignation to this, as noted in the Ann Arbor Chronicle on March 27, 2013:

Earlier that evening [March 20th], the trustees met in closed session with Green to go over her interim mid-year evaluation. Because it was an informal evaluation, the board did not release an official statement. 

So do I tie Pat Green's resignation to this event? Yes, I do. 

[And by the way, thanks once again to the Ann Arbor Chronicle's detailed reporting--thanks especially to Monet Tiedemann and Jennifer Coffman, present and past Chronicle education reporters. If you would like to support their work, you can do that here.]

Certainly board members had heard from plenty of residents about communication issues. I imagine they had heard from plenty of teachers and administrators about her lack of engagement with the schools.

Publicly, at that same March 20th meeting, board member Christine Stead had suggested they use the evaluation rubric from the Michigan Association of School Boards that looks at these practice areas:

The rubric Stead presented was developed by the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and contains suggestions for rating superintendents as ineffective, minimally effective, effective, or highly effective in 11 categories: relationship with the board; community relations; staff relationships; business and finance; educational leadership; personal qualities; evaluation; progress toward the school improvement plan (SIP); student attendance; student/parent/teacher feedback; and student growth and achievement.

At least to me, Pat Green seemed very weak in community relations; staff relationships; educational leadership; evaluation; and student/parent/teacher feedback.

Recent Ann Arbor Chronicle articles gave other hints of trouble (beyond the criticisms about Pat Green's lack of communication with parents, teachers, and principals). At the March 13, 2013 meeting, the Student Intervention and Support Services report was met with a marked lack of enthusiasm. Again, per the Ann Arbor Chronicle:

While trustees were appreciative of the report, their feelings were best summed up by trustee Andy Thomas’s concerns: Trustees were “struck by the complete absence of any metrics” in the report and were disappointed by the absence of clearly defined goals and next steps.

[Oh--and by the way--the lack of data here leads directly into a conversation about how, whether, or when the district can/should reduce certain types of support for students with IEPs. Without data, how can you decide if you're doing the right thing?]

At that same meeting, in a discussion of the Roberto Clemente program (and the administration's recommendation to move the program to Pioneer), board trustees had this to say:

Several of the trustees were appreciative of the work that went into the report. Lightfoot, however, was troubled to have the “same suggestions we had last year.” Thomas said he had hoped the board would receive an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Clemente program. . . The trustees did have some concerns about the future leadership of Clemente. Forty percent of the projected savings, Thomas noted, came from the elimination of the principal position. He was skeptical of Flye’s assertion that the real value of Clemente had more to do with individual teachers and what goes on in the classroom than with the leadership of the school. 

And after the February 27th meeting, the Ann Arbor Chronicle reported the following:

1) On start times:

Alesia Flye, deputy superintendent of instruction, reported on the results of the district-wide survey on school start times. . . Trustees seemed unimpressed by the survey and the recommendation. Susan Baskett said she found the survey confusing and suggested the committee reach out to experts when crafting future surveys. 

2) About trimester vs. semester high school scheduling:

Stead said she was confused about the work of the committee. She said she thought they were looking into trimester versus semester scheduling because some parents had brought concerns about the kinds of gaps that occur in the core subjects. There was no data on the impact of the magnet programs. If magnet programs were so important and valuable, the board needed to see that data. If this was only about the budget, then the report that had been submitted was fine. But if they were trying to figure out which model was best, and if they had substantive data that showed the trimester model worked better for students, then they should move all of the comprehensive high schools to trimesters.

 The trustees took issue with the way the charts broke down the additional costs associated with Skyline. Thomas said he had assumed that the higher cost of Skyline could be attributed to the trimester system, but based on the information presented, nothing showed that it was more expensive to run trimesters than semesters with a seventh hour. The increased cost of Skyline came from its lower enrollment number and its student-to-teacher ratio.

Nelson said using the actual enrollment and the actual FTEs obscures the analysis rather than helps it. 

4) More on high school scheduling: 

Several of the trustees thanked the committee for the “prodigious amount” of work that went into compiling the information. . .While Lightfoot appreciated the work, she was concerned that “the folks on the front line” haven’t really provided the board with solid recommendations. . . Stead had some sharp words for the committee. She said  four members of the committee wrote to the board to ask to have their names removed from the report, saying the report does not represent their opinions. She argued the report did not represent the collective work of all members of the committee. 

5) Budget Shortfall

Allen was joined by Hoover in presenting the second quarter financial report... The board was upset to learn that the district was nearly $2.5 million over budget for FY 2013 and needed to adjust the original budget.

So, in summary, what I believe happened is this: the board had high hopes for Pat Green's financial and educational acumen, and they were willing to pay for it. However, she came into the community with many key positions vacant, and she had to get to know a new community. It took Pat Green a while to fill those key positions, and to get oriented to the district, and the first year was filled with many new beginnings. I think it's a good thing that there was no rush to judgment. 
After 18 months, the board had heard from many people about Pat Green's lack of communication skills. They also began to get full reports and data from the new administration--and what they saw was much less than they expected. Thus, a harsh mid-term evaluation led to an off-the-record discussion about resignation, and that explains the very short "retirement letter" from Pat Green, as well as the letter from Deb Mexicotte--about which my friend said, "It was a fawning letter, and it looked like it took a long time to write. It looks like the kind of letter you write when you are creating a 'no harm' exit. Deb Mexicotte must have known about the resignation for a while."

And all of this, I must emphasize, is just me reading between the lines. You might draw different conclusions. By the way, I'm not asking anybody to confirm or deny anything. I don't think it would be helpful to the district, or to the people involved. There is a reason that personnel decisions are generally not subject to the Open Meetings Act. Soon, look for a post on what we should be looking for in our next Superintendent. In case you haven't noticed, it's a key position.

By the way, don't be too hard on the school board. Setting aside the fact that they are practically volunteers, I think we should recognize that if Pat Green had, in fact, been the "whole package" the Board thought she was when they hired her, we wouldn't have minded her high salary (at least, not very much). 

How Cool Is This?/My Head Is Going to Explode

How Cool Is This?

From the BBC News:

So it's here. School Report News Day 2013 is upon us - and about 1,000 schools are due to take part, making the news that matters to them.
They will appear across BBC News - on TV, radio and online and on regional news programmes.
The project is now in its seventh year, and is bigger than ever. School reporters are in Canterbury to witness the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and we also return to the Olympic Park in London to examine the legacy from the 2012 games. And there's more - the BBC School Report website has full details of the range of topics being covered.
It is all a far cry from when we began. A small team started School Report with the aim of giving teenagers the opportunity to make the news they thought mattered. Giving them hours of BBC airtime was nerve-wracking, but it proved to be a success.

Wouldn't it be great to have something like this across the nation in the US?

My Head Is Going to Explode

And then on the other hand there is this, from a Michigan Parents for Schools facebook post: 

Just wanted to call everyone's attention to something new: Rep. Lisa Lyons, who gave us the EAA bill, recently introduced a bill which would exempt real estate property from the State Education Property Tax. That would remove something like $1.8 BILLION from the School Aid Fund. (It would mean that no one, homeowner or business, would pay the 6 mill SET on their real property.)
What, exactly, is the agenda here? We need to make this known. The bill has been assigned to the Tax Policy committee, and we'll be watching closely. [Ed. Note: This is HB 4452]

 Yup. My head might explode. Who thinks of these things, and why? Do they hate kids?

Somehow I Missed Some Dexter and Chelsea News...

While I wasn't looking, Dexter's superintendent, Mary Marshall, left town for a Superintendent position in Pentwater, Michigan.

According to a December 20, 2012 article in the Dexter Patch:

Marshall, who will leave the district after 19 years for a job in Pentwater, Mich., served as a high school teacher, assistant principal at Dexter High School, sixth grade teacher, Creekside Intermediate principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent at Dexter Schools.

The interim superintendent, Dennis Desmarais, was the former superintendent of the Riverview Community School District. According to a January 18, 2013 article in the Dexter Patch:

Desmarais brings 38 years of experience to his role as interim superintendent. In his time as an educator he has been a teacher, track coach, cross country coach, head football coach, high school assistant principal, athletic director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. He retired as superintendent from Riverview Community Schoois in 2011.

From the article, it sounds like he has a six month contract.

Which raises an interesting question about the Ypsilanti/Willow Run Superintendent Search: Why didn't they look, explicitly, for an interim Superintendent, someone with the potential to be a change artist?

In other news: Lisa Allmendinger has been running Chelsea Update (chelseaupdate.com), a news site. I guess she is now launching Dexter Update (dexterupdate.com) as well. Looking at Dexter Update, I found that four Dexter schools buildings as well as the transportation facility still do not have power this evening. Kids, you might have another snow day. Looking at Chelsea Update, I found that they are covering the Chelsea school board meetings (and I think Dexter school board meetings as well). That's a good thing!

2012 Washtenaw County Education-Related Election Information

I'm rather busy with the petition drive, but the election is coming and we do need to vote.

Therefore, I am going to try to put up all of the school board candidate websites in the county that I can find, as well as articles that compare and contrast the candidates, and candidate forums. This will take a few days and I will just keep adding things, so check back early and often!

Ann Arbor (Two candidates, one position available)

Dale Leslie's web site
Deb Mexicotte's web site

Annarbor.com description of the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum
Ann Arbor Chronicle description of the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum: this article also has links to the background questionnaires they filled out for LWV, as well as links to the Community TV (CTN) broadcast.

Chelsea (Four candidates, two positions available)

Laura Bush (no, not that Laura Bush)
Dana Emmert
Kathy Keinath
Steve Olsen

Chelsea Update Part 1 of Meet the School Board Candidates
Chelsea Update Part 2 of Meet the School Board Candidates
Chelsea Update Part 3 of Meet the School Board Candidates
Chelsea Standard article on the Chelsea School Board Candidates

Dexter (Two candidates for the two full terms; two candidates for the one partial term)

Larry Cobler (unopposed)
Bonnie Everdeen (unopposed)

Chris Gordon (for partial term)
Barbara Read (for partial term)

Dexter Leader election preview

Lincoln (Five candidates, two positions)

Meet the Lincoln School Board Candidates Thursday October 25th at 6:30 PM in Community Center at Brick Elementary.

Bradley R. Labadie's facebook page
Connie Marie Newlon
Thomas Rollins
Joseph Washburn
Yoline Williams

Ypsilanti Courier article about the five candidates (The headline says four, but the article identifies all five.)

Lincoln also has two school-related millages on the ballot

One is a millage to continue operating funding for the district, and the other is a very small (.1) millage that funds community education, youth recreation, and senior programs.

Annarbor.com article about the millages
Ypsilanti Courier article about the millages

Manchester (three candidates, two positions)

Melanie Nau
Sheryl Purol
Marlene Wagner

Milan (two candidates, two positions)

John L. Leacher
Kerri A. Moccio

Milan News-Leader article about the candidates

Saline (four candidates, two positions)

Saline High School student group STRIVE (Students Reinvesting in a Valuable Education) is hosting a school board candidates' forum, Thursday October 25th, Saline Middle School auditorium. 6:30 p.m. [Side note: I think it is so cool that a student group decided to host a forum?]
 
Diane L. Friese
Paul Hynek
Karen Delhey
Smita Nagpal

Saline Patch article
Saline Patch: Friese and Nagpal run together
Saline Patch: Delhey and Hynek run together

Saline Reporter article on the four candidates

Saline Post article: Would the candidates support a bond proposal? 
Saline Post article: Why do you want to serve?
Saline Post article: Guiding beliefs and principles
Saline Post article: Foundation for Saline Area Schools director?
Saline Post article: Board/Administration Relations?

Whitmore Lake (two candidates, two positions)

Kenneth James Dignan III
Bob Henry

Willow Run (one candidate, one position)

Mark Wilde


Ypsilanti Courier article about Ypsilanti, Willow Run election

Ypsilanti Courier article about what happens to the school board if consolidation passes

Ypsilanti (two candidates, two positions)

D’Real Ryan Graham
Daniel L. Raglin


Ypsilanti Courier article about Ypsilanti, Willow Run election

Ypsilanti Courier article about what happens to the school board if consolidation passes

Washtenaw Community College (three candidates, two positions)

Richard Landau (for six-year term)
Diana McKnight Morton (for six-year term)
William Hazen Figg (for six-year term)

Patrick McLean (unopposed for partial term)

 State Board of Education (two eight-year terms)

Todd A. Courser		Republican
Melanie A. Kurdys		Republican
Michelle Fecteau		Democratic
Lupe Ramos-Montigny		Democratic
Andy LeCureaux		Libertarian
Karen Adams		U.S. Taxpayers
Gail M. Graeser		U.S. Taxpayers
Candace R. Caveny		Green
Dwain Reynolds III		Green

I Was on the Radio about our Petition Drive!

Tonight, I was on the radio! I was talking about our petition and the overtesting of students.

Read it here--it doesn't look like there is a "listen" option.

Sign the petition here.

I was also quoted in annarbor.com about the same issue!

I'm not sure I've ever been on the radio before--if so, it has been a long time. And I actually didn't even get to hear myself. I think I missed it when I ran in to pick up my son from a friend's house. Which maybe is just as well, I probably sounded dorky. (If you did hear it, tell me what you think.)

As I said to the radio reporter, "We don't need students spending time learning how to take standardized tests. We need them to spend time learning how to talk to radio reporters!" [Yes, he laughed.]

While we're on the subject of the radio, we have two local radio stations that I really appreciate for their focus on issues like this. Guess what? Both of them are having their pledge weeks this week.

Share your love for their support of local and state news. Get a tax deducation. Make your pledge to:

WUOM, Michigan Radio

WEMU, Eastern Michigan Radio

When is retraction the right decision?

Yesterday, I wrote a post criticizing our new superintendent for saying that she didn't have a position on school prayer. This was based on a summary of a meeting that I read in the Ann Arbor Journal. The idea that a person with years in educational administration didn't have a position on school prayer seemed so unlikely that I actually titled the post, "Did she really say that?"

Then I got an email from Liz Margolis, AAPS Communications Director, saying that the summary was incorrect. I updated the post with Liz Margolis' comments.

Later that night, I got a comment on the post from Ahmar Iqbal, one of the school board candidates, saying that the summary was incorrect, and essentially affirming what Liz Margolis had said.

At this point, I started wondering--should I pull this post? I'm not really sure about the protocols here, because I'm relatively new to blogging. I think it's one thing to leave a post up if you make a mistake that has a small bearing on the post--but if the main point is completely incorrect, then it seems to me it should be completely retracted.

(I admit that I was a little saddened by the idea of retracting a post--especially since I had put in some great vocabulary words! Words like obsequious and crestfallen! But just because I think I wrote something intelligent and funny doesn't mean that it shouldn't be retracted.)

Although some news organizations seem to have taken the point of view that once a post is posted, it can never be retracted, it can only be "corrected," not everyone agrees. In the science world, retractions from scientific journals happen frequently enough that there is now a blog, Retraction Watch, dedicated to identifying how and why scientific papers get retracted. Common reasons for retraction include falsification of data, plagiarism, and mistaken analysis of data. In fact, Retraction Watch just made it onto one of my favorite NPR shows, On the Media. You can find the link to that discussion here.

Obviously, my posts are not scientific papers, but at this point I had begun thinking that what had happened was akin to "mistaken analysis" and should be retracted. After all: was it my fault for relying on a secondary source (a news report) and not a primary source (being there)?

And then, this morning, I got on the computer and saw another comment. This comment is from Albert Howard, another school board candidate, and--in fact--the one who asked the question. And his recollection supports (more or less) the version in the Ann Arbor Journal. [The Journal, by the way, has not--as yet--posted a correction.]

So at this point, I think the conversation embedded in the original post itself is interesting. It brings up a lot of issues around recollection and reportage, or--as my husband said to me--the nuance of the conversation. I wasn't at the meeting, so I can't give you my first-person memory.

Recently, in the Ann Arbor Chronicle, Dave Askins wrote about conflicting memories of another meeting (Column: Video Replay Review for City Council). He wrote:

At issue is whether two seasons ago, back in February 2009, city of Ann Arbor CFO Tom Crawford recommended to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority that the DDA have a policy to maintain a minimum fund balance as a reserve, and specifically, whether a minimum reserve amount was specified. . . 
The remarks made by Crawford – which everyone seems to recall (albeit differently) – took place in plain view on the public field of play, at the Feb. 17, 2009 city council meeting. (Emphasis added.)

Askins argues that--just as we do in many sports--we should go to the video replay for a definitive account. Since in the business of blogging about the schools, I surely am an armchair quarterback, I absolutely agree.

I'm quite sure this "orientation" meeting wasn't videotaped--it wasn't a school board meeting (although regular school board meetings are.) So we now have four accounts of the same discussion. I honestly think the discussion of what happened is at least as interesting as what actually happened, so I've decided that I'm not going to retract the original post (for now--new evidence could arise!). Instead, I invite you to read it with the understanding that several people can be in the same meeting and hear different things. What does that mean for our process? I also invite you to comment on this post, or the other one.

Let's also not forget: this meeting, to provide necessary background to new school board candidates, was a good idea on the part of the school district, and I hope they continue it any time there is a contested election.

Schools and the Means of Education Shall Forever Be Encouraged

In case you missed it, the Ann Arbor Chronicle has a lovely piece by John U. Bacon, thanking teachers.

Here it is.

I took the title of this blog post from Thomas Jefferson's Northwest Ordinance (as cited in the article):

“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

Top Eleven List: Things to Think About Tonight. Or Tomorrow.

1. The tenure bills passed the House. All of them. One major change, given how many layoffs have happened this past year...the seniority rule of "last in, first out" changes (this was pushed by a group championed by Michelle Rhee, the highly controversial former Washington DC superintendent). Another bill limits topics that can be bargained to wages and benefits.  I think this could be a sea change for many school districts. Read more about it in this Grand Rapids Press article.
As far as evaluation goes, of course it is important. It also strikes me that many principals are lousy at it. Principals are typically trained to be administrators, not managers. If we're going to ask them to be managers, then we'd better make sure we're training them on that!
It also highlights for me how disorganized the teachers, and teachers' unions have been. And by the way, it has always surprised me how many Republican teachers I know. And there are plenty of teachers who live in districts represented by Republicans. So tell me--do those teachers agree with the new laws? Or did they just forget to press their Representatives? 

2. I've written previously about how Carolyn King broke the Little League barrier for girls nationally in Ypsilanti.  Well, it turns out that there is a very elite all-girls' baseball team (yes, not softball) called the Dream Team--and they are coming to play in an elite baseball tournament in Ypsilanti this very weekend! Read about it in this Detroit Free Press article. What's even better is that you can go watch them, as well as some other very good teams, this weekend--and it's free! These are very high-level teams. That story reminds me that my older son had a girl on his baseball team for several years, and she was just as good as the boys. . . better than some of them.

Details of the tournament, from the Detroit Free Press:

Check out the Dream Team
WHERE: The Michigan Major Elite will be held at the baseball fields at the Eastern Michigan Recreation Complex on 100 Westview Street in Ypsilanti.
ADMISSION: Free
WHEN: The Dream Team will play at least five games in the tournament, which features 28 teams of 13-year-olds:
Friday: Brighton Black on Field 1 at 2 p.m.
Friday: Great Lakes Cardinals (Canton) on Field 2 at 8 p.m.
Saturday: Boys of Summer (Ohio) on Field 3 at 10 a.m.
Saturday: Strongsville Stallions (Ohio) on Field 3 at 6 p.m.
Sunday: Consolation and championship games, beginning at 8 a.m.

3. Scarlett News--I was sorry to hear about the sudden death of the science teacher James Bryant. I had met him, but I had no idea that he was an Olympian!

4. The special education department (SISS) has at least two vacancies right now--Bill Harris is moving to Eberwhite to be a principal and there is another vacancy. Parents with special education concerns should make sure to keep an eye on the process of filling these positions. The other day I heard a story about a parent whose child has an IEP. The child was not doing well in school. They had a parent meeting a couple of weeks ago and one of the teachers says, "Oh, so s/he's a visual learner?" Umm. Yeah. That's what the IEP says. Teachers, read the IEPs. That's what they are there for--so you can tailor your teaching to the needs of the students you are teaching. Parents, don't be afraid to be your child's advocate...even if you have to keep repeating yourself!

5. I recently heard that the number of graduate students in the University of Michigan's elementary-school-age one-year Masters and Certification program (El-MAC) has dropped substantially. So maybe people are getting the idea that there are very few jobs out there. . . I've written before about how we are training too many teachers. 

6. I'm glad to hear that busing won't be cancelled for kindergarten or high school students in Ann Arbor. Although I understand the rationale for asking high school students to walk further, in my neck of the woods,  for Skyline students that would mean walking down a fairly busy street (Newport) with no lights or sidewalks while it is still dark out in the winter. It would only take one hit-and-run accident to change the whole cost-benefit analysis. I'm glad the school board has recognized this!

7. Speaking about millages. . . did you know that even though we approved the special education millage, it is still not enough money to keep special education funding flowing at the same rate as last year? Read the background here. Since special education funding is mandated, that means that money needs to come from somewhere--and yes, that somewhere is general education. What, you say? How could that happen? Well, I believe it was the WISD board that put this millage on the ballot. Why did they decide to ask for less money than last time? I believe it's because the WISD board operates behind the scenes. Nobody elects them; nobody goes to their meetings; nobody gives them any feedback about their ideas. By "nobody" here I don't actually mean "nobody." I'm referring to the general public that bothers to give the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dexter, Milan, Saline, Whitmore Lake, Lincoln, Willow Run, Chelsea and Manchester boards of education a piece of their minds. That public process sometimes keeps school boards (which are, after all, just groups of people) from making bad decisions. [Yes, not always. It was a bad decision to offer the incoming Ann Arbor superintendent such a high salary, and the school board was told that. On the other hand, the school board was also told it was a bad idea to cut high school transportation, and they listened.]  Scott Menzel, I hope you are planning on making the activities of the WISD more public. 

8. The Manchester School Board is conducting a non-traditional search for a Superintendent (they have informally identified a preferred candidate). The first interview will be June 21. Read about it here. In addition, according to the Manchester Enterprise article, the next regular school board meeting is scheduled for at 6:30 p.m. June 20 in the Ackerson Building and will begin with the budget hearing.

9. School of Choice enrollment for Ann Arbor fell short. Surprise, surprise. Remember when I discussed the school board and administration's rationale for not opening up the high schools to school of choice students? I was pretty critical of their reasoning. You know, Ann Arbor school board, there is actually still time to do that. And if not this year, there is always next year.

10. It looks like James Dickson has joined the Ann Arbor Journal/Heritage Newspapers and has been assigned the local schools beat. I believe he was one of the layoffs from annarbor.com a couple of months ago. I personally welcome any additional coverage of local school districts. They deserve much more coverage than they get, despite the best efforts of Kyle Feldscher (annarbor.com); Jennifer Coffman (Ann Arbor Chronicle); Tom Perkins (stringer for several local news sites); and other freelancers. I appreciate all of you!

11. Do you know what the #1 post on this blog has been? It's (very) hard for me to believe, but a lot of people apparently want to know why some female softball players wear bows. Yup, that's right. I invite you to read my post, No Bow Lesbo, to find out the answer. 

Courage in Student Journalism and Other Student Newspaper Awards

Back in the day. . . when I wrote for my school newspaper. . . it was a monthly. It was an after-school club. We laid things out by hand. My senior year I was the Girls' Sports Editor. (Yeah, they were boys' and girls' sports then.) My compatriot, the Boys' Sports Editor, is now Deputy Commissioner at the NBA. Hey. . . WNBA! You missed me!

But--back to reality. Nowadays, many student newspapers are written during class time, and the layout skills you need are not keylining and kerning, but web design and photoshop. Articles are published on the web as well as in hard copy, and (at least at the good papers) the news is published frequently.

I don't believe I ever wrote about last year's controversy at Dexter High School's The Squall newspaper, but it was a tempest! Essentially it came down to students writing about the real life of students at Dexter High School, and a subset of parents feeling that it was too squalid. Yes, there were intimations of SEXual innuendo (OK, that's really too strong a word--they were writing about teen pregnancy and about students "grinding" at dances), but, as noted by one of the co-editors in this annarbor.com article, they were not advocating for a certain type of behavior, but rather describing what was going on. I recall the principal at my high school being a heavy-handed censor, so perhaps it is not surprising that censorship is still an issue.

And that's why I am really, really sorry that I missed this award back in the fall. William C. "Kit" Moran, the Dexter High School principal, won the administrator's Courage in Student Journalism Award from the Student Press Law Center for standing by the students. (He also won the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association's Administrator of the Year Award in 2010.)

Principal Moran received the administrator award for refusing to censor The Squall despite fierce attacks from community members who claimed the paper was printing content inappropriate for its school-age audience. . . "I believe that journalism in America is crucial to our democracy," said Moran, a longtime English teacher and coach who has been principal at Dexter since 2006. "A free society needs a free press. This isn't new, but allowing this concept to be played out in high school may seem a bit radical. However, if we teach our students sound journalistic methods and ethics and allow them to act as journalists, we provide a rich and robust environment for their education." (Emphasis mine. Find the full press release here.)

That The Squall is a robust newspaper is very clear from today's release of student awards from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. They won many awards in Division III. Community High Schools' Communicator took many awards in Division IV. Kudos to both schools! Kudos also to their advisors, who are doing an excellent job.

Dexter High School winners:
Ray Carpenter, Conner Thompson, David LaMore, Nick Byma, Kelsey Heilman, Claire Berger, Travis Chaffee, Nicole Minzey, Tucker Whitley, Carly Cash, Taylor Schmidt, Sarah Molnar, Jennifer Stirling, Kaitlin Gotcher, Taylor Garcia

Community High School winners: Sarah Kerson, Mari Cohen, Eli Sugerman, Katie O'Brien, Gabriel Appel-Kraut, Murphy Austin, Jacob Garber, Liz McCubbrey, Julia DeVarti, Julia Kortberg, Brienne O'Donnell, Eliza Stein, Jordan Siden, Clare Lauer, Claire Berger, Olivia Kincaid, Jake Cinti, Kerry Fingerle, Annabel Weiner, Cooper DePriest, Kayla Stoler, Cody Pan, Ruthila Graff, Spencer MacDonald, Justine Samaha, Colleen O'Brien, Melanie Langa, Emma Share, Kyle Aaronson

(I probably missed someone or screwed up the spelling, and for that I apologize! You can read the full list here, under Newspaper Individual Contest winners.) I know that some of the other schools have good newspapers--I assume they just didn't compete. Half of life is about showing up, after all.

I will close with an excerpt from one of the first-place Community High School pieces, Sarah Kerson's "We Wore Purple. So What?" about Wear Purple Day (also known as Gay Spirit Day).

There were multiple Facebook events for Wear Purple Day, with hundreds of thousands of reported participants. The invites went out weeks before the actual event, fueling an excited buzz online.
At first, I joined in on the purple-stimulated anticipation. I invited all of my friends to the Facebook event and perused my closet for the perfect purple clothing. But as the day drew nearer, I grew more and more apprehensive: was this really it? Eight plus kids commit suicide and all we can do is coordinate our outfits? What change, if any, was this day going to bring?. . .

The kids October 20th was supposed to honor couldn’t take off their purple. They were purple. Their purple shirts were stitched into their skin. They lived with their purple every day. They were taunted and terrorized for their purple every day. They killed themselves because of the way others saw their purple. (Purple color added.)

 Read the rest of the piece here.