4 Reasons Why You Will Mostly See New Custodians in the Ann Arbor Schools Next Year

With the rapid privatization and outsourcing of custodial services in the Ann Arbor schools to GCA (assuming that goes through), you can expect that most of us will not see the same custodians in our schools in the fall.

Here are 4 reasons why.

1. Some of them will retire.

2. Some of them are very angry at the way they have been treated by the school system, particularly given the fact that they have taken pay cuts over the last few years, and they were given very very little notice that this would happen. Some of them would therefore prefer to take unemployment and look for other jobs.

I spoke to someone in that situation. She said to me, "I bought a house in Ann Arbor, I pay Ann Arbor school taxes, and now I'm treated this way?"

3. Most custodians would have their pay cut if they go to GCA Services--not to mention that they will lose their retirement benefits in any case.

4. It is not in GCA's interest to hire the majority of the custodians back. One person told me--I have not verified this yet--that if they hired more than 50% of the custodians back they would need to recognize the AFSCME union. (Even if this is not true, though, it is obviously true that if the custodians were happy with their union, the more custodians they hire from the union shop the more likely the custodians are to try and organize. GCA is recognized as fairly negative to unions, so that is not something they will want to do.)

[See, for instance:  GCA Services Enters Federal Consent Decree to Remedy Wide Ranging Accusations of Labor Law Violations]

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014, some of the labor groups held a press conference before the school board meeting. You can listen to what custodian Toni Lemons had to say here.

[I think you will have to download it. This was my first try at embedding an audio file but I am not yet wholly successful.]

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Guest Post! Helen Keller and Education for People Who Are Blind: Ann Arbor Library Exhibit

I was on my way into the main branch of the Ann Arbor District Library for this school board meeting when I noticed that there was an interesting exhibit.

Hall Braille Writer. Picture by Patti Smith.

The Exhibit & My Interest in Helen Keller

Called Child in a Strange Country: Helen Keller and the History of Education for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, the exhibit is up through Wednesday, June 25th (coincidentally, the next school board meeting), in both the lobby and on the third floor of the library. So yes--that means you can see the exhibit before you go into the school board meeting! Convenient, huh?

Most people don't know that I have had a special interest in Helen Keller ever since Skyline High School did The Miracle Worker as its very first play, when everybody in the school was a ninth grader. My daughter played the role of Annie Sullivan, and as a result, I learned a lot about Helen Keller.

Guest Blogger Reviews the Exhibit--With Pictures, Too!

"Wait," I thought--"I know somebody who teaches children with visual impairments, and she's a blogger. I wonder if she would review this for me? And she did, and she took pictures, too! 

About the guest blogger: Patti Smith is a special education teacher of the visually impaired and learning disabled. She lives in Ann Arbor with her fiance and their two cats. She also blogs at teacherpatti.com.

Thank you, Patti! And I hope the rest of you enjoy the review and pictures, and then are motivated to go see the exhibit.

One of the things that I do in my job as a special education teacher is to try to show people what it is like to have a disability. Of course, a ten-minute demonstration in no way compares to a lifelong condition, but it’s often an eye-opening experience for the participant.

Moon Type. Picture by Patti Smith.

Because I work with students who are visually impaired (and some who are deaf-blind), I am often asked about Helen Keller. Most people have seen the movie and remember the “water, Helen, water” scene at the end. What many people don’t know is that Helen lived a very full life—meeting with presidents, becoming an advocate for women’s rights, having deep and fulfilling relationships, and traveling around the world. Perhaps most importantly, she taught the world that students with disabilities can be taught and can go on to do great things.

Currently, the Ann Arbor District Library has an exhibit on Ms. Keller. On loan from the American Printing House for the Blind, the exhibit features a brief history on Helen’s life as well as a larger display of the educational tools that are used to teach students who are blind and visually impaired.

A Braille slate writer. Picture by Patti Smith.

The exhibit features everything from the earliest tactile books to the latest Braille writers. The original tactile books were raised letters embossed on paper. In the early 1800s, Boston Line Type was developed by Samuel Gridley Howe. This system used angular Roman letters and did not capitalize its words. Around the same time the Lucas Type was developed, using a raised system of straight lines, curved lines, and dots that was based on shorthand. William Moon developed a system that reduced words to their simplest forms and read from left to right on one line, right to left on the next. These codes, while useful for reading, all shared the same problem—there was no simple way to write using any of them.

A tactile modern puzzle map of the U.S. from 2001.
Picture by Patti Smith.

The raised dot code known as the Braille Code eventually became the standard system for people who are blind. One could both read and write using the six dot code. This code includes all letters of the alphabet, numbers, scientific notation and math (the Nemeth Code), and almost 200 short form words and contractions.

Seeing this exhibit reminded me of how far we have comes in terms of special education. In Helen’s day, most students with disabilities were not educated. Today, we have students who are deaf-blind sitting in classrooms alongside their peers and learning the appropriate curriculum. It’s cliché to say “you’ve come a long way, baby," but if the shoe fits….

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Why Play Nice, Play Fair? No Need In Right-to-Work (For Less) Michigan

Last week, a lot of bad stuff happened at the Ann Arbor school board meeting.

The two most disturbing actions?

1. The school board voted to outsource the custodians' positions to GCA Services (owned by the private equity firm Blackstone) effective July 1, 2014. Yup, that's a fortnight from now. (Trustees Lightfoot and Baskett voted against this.)

2. The school board voted that if the teachers didn't accept a salary freeze through a Memorandum of Agreement (union/board) by July 23, 2014 (that's Monday), the school board would terminate the union contract. This would have the effect of freezing the current wages and at the same time, when the contract was (presumably) renegotiated, many of the terms and conditions in the would not be allowed under the new work rules in Michigan--in particular, tenure and seniority rules. This measure was approved unanimously.

Welcome to the brave new world of school funding cuts and more cuts.
Welcome to the brave new world of a right-to-work state and union busting.
Welcome to the brave new world of taking our tax dollars and using them to fund for-profit, private firms.

State Funding

In better news: at the board meeting, Christine Stead did a nice job of explaining the vagaries of state funding (the conference committee budget basically hobbles Ann Arbor, Dexter, Saline, Ypsilanti Community Schools, and some others) and helps a few local school districts (the lowest-funded districts, like Milan, Whitmore Lake, and I believe Manchester). The state budget also sends a lot of money to for-profit charters and virtual schools, which get $175 in additional funding per pupil vs. $50 for Ann Arbor. [On Stead's blog, you can read about the AAPS presentation this week to the State Board of Education as well as some proposals for ways to improve school funding.] Their ideas--good ideas--are to have charter schools also have to pay state retirement, and to allow local school districts to ask for local tax levies for operations--currently that is not allowed under state law. And the district did join the superintendents of other districts in a press conference that day. Ann Arbor is a huge donor district (most of the taxes we raise go to support other districts) and yet we are getting the lowest increases in funding.

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

Anyway--back to the custodians.

In 2010, during another round of privatization discussions (we've been through this with food service and transportation, remember) I posted this on this blog:

At the budget meeting that I went to, several people at my table raised concerns about privatization. They wondered what the actual (not projected) savings were when the food service was privatized (the facilitator didn't know). They talked about how satisfaction (on the part of people who eat the lunches) had gone down. And they wondered about the effects on the "lunch ladies."
"Well," our facilitator said, "I believe that the new company hired everyone who wanted to be hired, for the same wages, and the only thing they lost was retirement benefits."

It's more than a little bit troubling to hear someone who makes more than $100,000/year (the facilitator referred to above is an AAPS administrator) talk about someone who is living on $25,000/year and say "they only lost retirement benefits." I'm pretty sure if I talked about yanking her retirement, she would be pretty upset, and she's not living near the poverty level.

Retirement costs, in fact, are the main reason for privatizing (since the custodians already gave major concessions a couple of years ago). Basically, if somebody is an AAPS employee, AAPS has to pay their retirement costs (state law)--and if they are not, they don't.

I found Jeanice Swift's letter to Ann Arbor parents about the custodian privatization to be disingenuous. [Read it here--with my comments.] I'm still not clear why she felt she needed to respond to the emails she and the board were getting about custodians losing their jobs and face pay cuts with "everyone gets an interview" and "pay cuts will not be as significant as perceived." An interview is not a job, and if you only make $25,000 a year and you get a 10% pay cut plus lose your retirement? I think that's pretty significant. Saying, "all the other districts are doing it too?" My parents didn't take that as a good reason to do or not do something. Speaking for myself, I'd prefer the honesty of  a letter that said simply, "this sucks and it's because of the state legislature's decisions, and we are trying to keep the cuts away from the classroom."

The other very disturbing piece of this has to do with the timing. The outsourcing was approved by the board as a special briefing. Any time you see the words "special briefing" you know that means that they are not following their own approved process. They are rushing things through. While I feel O.K. about that for ordering the Huron High School band uniforms, which would be done anyway and for which the money was already set aside (another item on the agenda), I'm not O.K. with that for decisions like outsourcing custodians. [I've written about this before in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. I'm starting to see a pattern here.]

The custodians had come to the school board with a proposal for a worker-owned co-op, and the board--with straight faces--tried to tell them that if they had only proposed that a little earlier...oh gee they really wished they could do it but their counsel told them that since the RFP had closed they couldn't...

Since it's a special briefing item, though, you know the board was working on a ridiculously short timeline. The union was told about the RFP and the agenda item less than a week before the RFP made it on the agenda.  The RFP was posted for only a week. How long do you think the top 3 companies knew that the RFP was coming? A different timeline could have led to a different result.

[By the way, teacher Chloe Root has started a petition out asking the board to reconsider. Sign it here.]

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How about those teachers? 

We might describe the resolution passed by the school board as a Faustian bargain--on the part of the district.

Last year, with Superintendent Pat Green, the AAEA (teachers' union) agreed to a salary freeze, advertised as "one year only." At the time, I wondered about that--figuring that the state's school aid fund probably wasn't going to look better next year, so why make a one-year only plan? But Pat Green was on her way out, and I believe she only cared about getting the budget out the door, whatever it looked like. I don't know what the teachers' union was thinking.

In any case, Jeanice Swift walked into a situation where now she had to ask the teachers to again take a salary freeze, and my guess is that the teachers' union was not too happy about that. There is, really, an alternative to a salary freeze though--and it's having larger class sizes. Parents wouldn't be too happy about that, we already know it is one reason people have left the school district, but it exists.

Apparently, the teachers' union has not been all that willing to concede the salary freeze again. And yes, it's true that the teachers have had many types of cutbacks for many years. So after going into executive session, the school board came out and voted--unanimously--to terminate the teacher contract unless the teachers agree to having a total wage freeze, as agreed to by a Memorandum of Agreement by this Monday, June 23d. Under termination, teachers still get the a wage freeze, but lose some of the items in the contract.

And here's where Faust comes in--maybe. Several things have changed in state law in the past couple of years, including right-to-work and some changes in the teacher tenure law. There are items in the contract that cannot be retained if the teachers' union loses this contract and starts a new contract--primarily around tenure, seniority, and right to work/union dues.

So the school board--and the Superintendent--are essentially bullying the teachers and forcing the teachers to say "uncle." But that's at the risk of having much worse relations with the teachers in the future. Could this have been avoided?

Maybe it's not such a risk. I have a perception that the teachers' union is dispirited and disorganized. Expect the number of retirements to rise...

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Let's Privatize the Teachers

Now if you are wondering: why don't they just privatize the teachers? Could they privatize the teachers? That's what the charter schools do. Retirement costs are the main driver of the reason to privatize, right? The districts  have already outsourced the substitute teachers, the food service workers, the school bus drivers... Everybody knows the "first they came for the Socialists" passage by Pastor Martin Niemoller, right?

They would, probably, if they could--and maybe soon they will be able to.

But for now, they can't. I had to ask Steve Norton of Michigan Parents for Schools about this--and it turns out that he had been wondering too, and had looked it up (thank you Steve for being an education policy wonk!!). This is an excerpt from his email, and my takeaway is that "the devil is in the details."

Under current law, school districts must hire teachers directly - i.e., teachers must be direct employees of the school district. The language is a consequence of this part of the revised school code:
380.1231 Hiring of teachers; teachers' contracts generally.Sec. 1231.
(1) The board of a school district shall hire and contract with qualified teachers....
Unlike other sections that cover background checks, etc, this section does not mention or include public school academies (charters). In the sections that create charters, they are given explicit permission to hire outside individuals or firms to provide comprehensive services to and operate the charter. Thus, outside management companies may be hired by charters to run the schools, including hiring teachers. 

In an attorney general opinion from 1997 (? I think), the AG determined that direct employees of any school board, including the boards of charter schools, MUST participate in MPSERS. However, contract employees MAY NOT participate in MPSERS. 

Since charters are allowed to contract out instructional services, they can avoid paying into MPSERS on those employees. Local school districts are not allowed to do that, and so they must therefore pay into MPSERS for teachers and all direct employees. 

This is the reason that even "self-managed" charters like Ann Arbor Learning Community technically "lease" their employees from a private firm, which allows them to classify teachers as contract employees and thus avoid paying into MPSERS on their behalf. Very, very, few charters participate in MPSERS. 

By the way, the original version of the charter uncapping bill, SB 618 of 2011, included a new section (section 1231A), which would have allowed local school districts to contract out for teachers. That provision was not removed until the bill got to the Senate floor, as part of a compromise to get it passed. (Emphasis added.)

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Dreaming

I dream a world, where those same cuts need to happen, but the district shares the possibility with the custodians that this might happen three months in advance. Then the custodians have time to organize the employee-owned co-op. They lose their retirement, but they get to maintain their dignity. We get to keep our money from going to fund yet another for-profit business. That requires the timing to be different, and I believe it could have been different.

I dream a world, where the district asks the teachers' union to find those same cuts as a salary freeze or in some other way, and gives the union time to figure that out.

I dream a world where the district's timelines for working with employees are more reasonable, and where the district doesn't try to hide things from the public, or push important items through on special briefings...

Wait--that's not my REAL dream.

In my REAL dreams, all schools are adequately funded, Michigan is not a right-to-work-for-less state, AND the school board uses reasonable timelines.

That first set of dreams? They could be a reality, if the school board and the superintendent would decide to treat their employees with respect, and not as commodities.

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

Lingering Question

Was this a conscious choice on Jeanice Swift's part, to shorten timelines in order to keep the public and the employees out of the process? Or did everything take longer than she thought it would and with a new finance person and her first budget, everything got done at the last possible minute?



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Consider Running for School Board

Did you like what the AAPS Board decided about the budget, the custodians, or anything last night? (I have no idea at the time of this writing what they decided...) Do you want the power to influence the direction the school board takes?

Maybe you should consider being a school board candidate.

Board of Education Prospective AAPS Candidate Information Meeting - June 12, 6pm

The Ann Arbor Public Schools will have four seats open on the Board of Education - four year teams each starting January 2015. The election will be held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

In Ann Arbor, prospective candidates are invited to an information session with current school board members and members of the AAPS Administration team to learn what the duties and responsibilities of a Trustee are as well as have the opportunity to ask questions of current Trustees and the Administration.

All Local School Boards: Election Information and Timeline

NOTE: This will be the very first election for Ypsilanti Community Schools! Good candidates are especially needed! 

Also note: Due to new state law, school board elections can only take place on even-year November elections, so don't miss the opportunity!

	July 22, 2014 – 4pm	Filing due for November Board of Education Affidavit of Identify and nonpartisan nominating petition. (A $100 nonrefundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition)
	July 25, 2014 – 4pm	Withdrawal deadline
	November 4, 2014	Election Day

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AAPS Budget Vote Wednesday 6/11/2014: Custodian Outsourcing, State Budget Realities

A Packed AAPS Day on June 11: Planning, Executive, Board Meetings

This coming Wednesday, the Ann Arbor school board is expected to vote on a budget. Front and center will be the question of out-sourcing the positions of custodians.

That question finds itself on the agenda of the Planning Committee first, at 9 a.m. on the 11th.
Location: Balas Administration Building, Main Conference Room
Members: Christine Stead (Chair), Glenn Nelson, Irene Patalan
Then in the evening there is an executive session at 5 p.m. According to the agenda, the purposes of the executive session are:

Closed session of the board for the purposes of:Section 8(h) - considering material exempt from disclosure under attorney/client privilege informationSection 8(c) - strategy and negotiation sessions connected with a collective bargaining agreement, requested by the Superintendent.

 I'm not sure what is going to be part of the discussion there, but it could be related to the custodians since there is a union contract for the custodians (personnel issue) involved. And in addition, the district's budget proposal involves salary freezes for every staff person, and so really there are several unions involved.
Location: Ann Arbor District Library - 4th Floor Conference Room A
343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor

The regular meeting will begin early, at 6 p.m.
Ann Arbor District Library - 4th Floor Conference Room A
343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor

This meeting will be Broadcast live on CTN Comcast Channel 18
Replays: Thursday @ 1:30pm, Saturday @ 8am, Sunday @ 1pm
VIEW LIVE STREAMING: http://a2edutv.pegstream.com/

Custodians and the Expense Side of the AAPS Budget

The "fun" will begin with public comment. Right now the Custodial RFP, the Food Service RFP, and the Budget are all scheduled for special or second briefings, and then they are on the Consent Agenda. 

So, first of all:

1. The Custodian RFP has been on a very fast course. The RFPs were due on Monday and the vote is scheduled for tomorrow. The goal is to decide on the cost savings in the budget. This is a special briefing.

The Custodians, meanwhile, have come up with an idea of a "worker co-op" that would save most of the money from the budget [the bulk of the savings come from the district not having to pay for retirement costs]. In fact, the custodians assert that it "could save AAPS more money than it currently projects to save in the draft 2014-15 Budget (first reading) by eliminating 100+ AAPS jobs as there would be additional savings from not having to set aside an $200,000 for unemployment compensation currently shown in the budget."

Let's ask the school board to put the expected savings in the budget, but to table voting on the RFP to see if they can work something out with the custodians. They don't need to vote on the RFP the same night as the budget, and I have argued before that process is really important and the board shouldn't try and rush things through with "special" briefings. [And there are 4 special briefings at this meeting: the custodians' RFP; A2Tech and STEAM construction projects; the Pioneer High School cooler; and MHSAA membership resolution. Really? Do all four of those need to be special briefings?!]

Read about the custodians' idea here in their pre-proposal. 

2. Second of all, an astute reader noted in the comments of this blog the other day, 

Reader comment on this article:
Last Year's Candidate, Brian Osborne, Takes Superintendent Job in New Rochelle, NY

As you see, key decisions are embedded in the budget.
In any case, there is a lot to look at on the expense side of the budget. Email your thoughts to: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us

And/or show up for public commentary or to listen to the budget discussion! It's sure to be an interesting...and long...night.

On the Income Side of the Budget:

A budget was voted out of the state conference committee, 4-1, and according to Gongwer: 

This would provide a $50 per-pupil increase to all districts, with a new equity payment of up to $125 per pupil for districts with a foundation allowance less than $7,251.
The effective minimum allowance would be $7,251 with the basic at $8,099.
The budget in total is higher than what Mr. Snyder and both chambers originally suggested. It is a 4.1 percent increase from the current year budget at $13.87 billion ($114.9 million General Fund, a 51.1 percent decrease).

According to MIRS: 

And Rep. Brandon DILLON (D-Grand Rapids) said lawmakers were moving backwards. Dillon added that under the plan a cyber school in his district would see a $175 per-pupil increase while Detroit public schools would see a $50 increase. 

[As an aside--this proposal--which will probably be signed by the Governor--also says that state schools will need to use the MEAP next year, rather than Smarter Balanced. That's going to be a lot of work in a short time for Michigan Department of Education employees.]

So, I can't really tell--because I can find the agenda for the board meeting [here] BUT AT THE MOMENT THERE ARE NO DOCUMENTS ATTACHED [and yes, I am shouting because it is less than 24 hours before the meeting]--or at least if they are there I don't know where to look for them--

So, I can't really tell based on the last budget documents presented, but I *think* that the district was using the Governor's proposed budget numbers and I *think* the conference proposal is a few dollars better than that--but I'm not sure...

Tomorrow--will you be at the board meeting?

If you can't be there...will you email the board your thoughts? boe@aaps.k12.mi.us




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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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Last Year's Candidate, Brian Osborne, Takes Superintendent Job in New Rochelle, NY

Last year's superintendent candidate Brian Osborne has taken (is officially going to be offered tonight, I believe) the Superintendent's position in New Rochelle, NY.

New Rochelle is in Westchester County (my home county); has a school population that is about 45% Latino; and over 60 languages are represented in the schools.

Brian Osborne, as you may recall, was offered the superintendent of Ann Arbor position, and turned it down.

Jeanice Swift then accepted it. Which reminds me--we are coming up on her one-year anniversary now. What do you think so far? [I'm pretty happy.]

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If you are interested in Brian Osborne and New Rochelle, here are some links:

From New Rochelle Talk: New Rochelle Expected to Name Brian Osborne as New Schools Superintendent (They quote my earlier post extensively.)

Maplewood Online Forum: Superintendent Brian Osborne's Resignation Letter

Maplewood Online Forum: Superintendent Leaving

And by the way--the cost of living is a lot higher in the New York suburbs, but...it looks like their last superintendent got about $279,000 in salary. That is much higher than he would have gotten here, and given the salary cap on superintendents in New Jersey, that is also much higher than he would have gotten in South Orange-Maplewood.



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June 2014: Infographics, Podcasts, and Partners--Maybe?

June Experiments

Last June, you might recall,
I joined a post-a-day "blogathon."

I had the goals of challenging myself to see if I could do it, and also seeing if it would increase my readership. It did both. I also learned some interesting blogging tricks and ideas, and I met some bloggers internationally. (I had guest posts from Singapore and Japan!)

But--it was exhausting. I do, after all, have a full-time job and kids.

So this year I am going to give myself a slightly different challenge, because--really--the reason that I started this blog had more to do with me than with schools.

Quick recap:
I was intrigued by blogging, but didn't fully understand it.
I felt the best way to learn about blogging was to learn by doing.
I searched for a topic and landed on local schools because
a) I already knew a fair amount about them and about education in general, and
b) I felt I wouldn't run out of things to say.

But--there are some blogging techniques I have not learned yet, and since this blog is supposed to be educational for me as well as for you, during June I am going to try to:

a) create at least two infographics, and 
b) record two podcasts or videos and post them.

Maybe I'll do more, but I'm hoping this will keep things fresh and fun--and by posting this, I'm hoping to keep myself accountable. [If you are good at this stuff, let me know because I may need to ask you some questions!]

I know that you are wondering--how can I cheer Ruth on?

Well. . . comments are nice.

Also--if anyone is interested in guest posting or coming on as a regular contributor, please let me know.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I have made this offer before, but I'll just point out that:

a. My youngest child is in high school. I could really use more information about the elementary and middle schools, and I also see that my time on this blog will have a natural end. . . you may be a few years behind me.

b. I don't have any kids utilizing special education services. I never have, in fact, so everything I learn about that system is from friends. . . but maybe you do have direct experience.

c. I do have teaching certification and an education background. But I am not teaching in any local school--public, private, or charter. But maybe you are.

d. I live in Ann Arbor and my kids have attended the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Let me tell you, the Ypsilanti, Dexter, Saline, Whitmore Lake, Manchester, Chelsea, Milan and Lincoln schools are crying out for more attention. And that's without even mentioning the need for coverage of charters! I'd love more out-county coverage.

e. History. Are you a history buff? There are lots of interesting stories in the education files at the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti libraries, as well as in the local history society files. Would you like to shine a light on some of these stories?



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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.

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Reflections on Ypsilanti Community Schools, Year 1: Take the Survey

It was--and is--a BIG DEAL.

Last year, Ypsilanti and Willow Run schools consolidated into Ypsilanti Community Schools, and it has been a year of firsts.

It's time for a little reflection. If you are a teacher, staff person, parent, student, community member with some thoughts about the district, I'm asking you to share your thoughts and ideas--the good, the bad, and what can be improved.

Take the survey! I will share results, probably sometime next week.

NOTE: You may have noticed that I removed the YCS logo. The district was concerned people might think this survey was endorsed, or organized, by the district. It isn't. It's organized by me alone. To share what the community is thinking. I hope there will be a wide cross-section of responses. 



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Mark Schauer's Education Platform

I went to a Mark Schauer fundraiser this afternoon. 

Mark Schauer is the Democratic candidate for governor. (I am hoping that you knew that already, but just in case you didn't...)

Find out more about Mark Schauer in general at markschauer.com.

Read about Mark Schauer's education platform here.

P.S. I also got to meet his wife, Christine Schauer. She herself is an elected official--the Calhoun County treasurer!

State Budget Discussions: School Implications, Again

Budget Season is Back

Steve Norton of Michigan Parents for Schools wrote last week:

After a three-week break in April, the State Legislature is back at it again. It's budget season in an election year, which means that lawmakers will be trying to satisfy voters by showing some support for key programs such as our public schools -- or at least give the appearance of doing so.

He notes that the state's revenue projections, coming out this week, will have a major impact. The first projection came out today (two more coming tomorrow and Thursday), and at least the first projections don't look too good for schools--given that they are clearly an afterthought for Snyder and Company.

According to this article, the House Fiscal Agency projects that "The state will bring in about $400 million a year less in revenue than officials estimated in January." [Note: revenues are growing. Just not as much as the projections from earlier this year, which were revised to be ever more optimistic.]

Further, according to the article,

Net state revenue is projected to dip just under 1% in 2013-14, the report says. While general fund revenue is expected to dip 3% — or $290 million — to $9.3 billion. The net School Aid Fund revenue is expected to increase about 1.5% — or $169 million — to $11.4 billion. Net revenue still is expected to increase significantly in 2014-15 and 2015-16, just not by as much as projected earlier.

And--there is significant competition for any money that is seen as "extra" for road funding and the Detroit bankruptcy. And also--the Detroit News is reporting that the Education Achievement Authority administrators are jet-setting around the country while the rest of the state loans them money.

Big, beautiful Michigan does not want to fund its
schools properly. (At least, its government doesn't.)
Map taken from:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Relief_map_of_USA_Michigan.png

School Funding Proposals

According to Michigan Parents for Schools, the current proposals for school funding are as follows:

Governor's proposal	House version	Senate version	Inflation projections
Minimum: +$111 (to $7,187), 1.6% increase Basic (maximum) +$83 (to $8,132), 1.0% increase	Minimum +$112,1.6% increase Basic +$56, 0.7% increase	Min +$300,4.2% increase Basic +$150,1.9% increase	2014 forecast: 1.3% Avg. 2011-13: 2.3%
These increases do not reflect other changes, like "best practices" and pension plan cost changes, which may raise or lower the per-pupil funding available.

Or, as Christine Stead (AAPS school board member) succinctly states in describing the impact on Ann Arbor schools (this helped me visualize the numbers)

One would think that our FY15 will be much better [ed. note: due to the economic recovery] and we can look forward to investing again in one of our most important economic drivers: high quality education. Until you review the state’s proposals ($$ shows the impact for AAPS):
Governor’s proposal: $55,000  Senate proposal: ($2,171,000)  House proposal: ($1,276,000) 

There is a serious disconnect in how our schools are funded, the state of our economy, and any local community’s ability to do anything about it (currently).

Multiply that by schools around the state. 

Talking Points

Michigan Parents' for Schools talking points:

At the very least, all districts deserve an increase in per-pupil funding that allows them to keep up with inflation. 

These increases should be calculated after the impact of other changes such as shifts in state pension costs, not before.  

Current law specifies that school districts should get a supplement in their per-pupil funding for every student from a family living below the poverty line. But we have never fully funded this provision, and the current spending level only covers half of what the law requires. We need to give our schools the resources they need to fight the impact of poverty, and all schools should be eligible for these funds. 

Right now, local school districts must take money from their general education funds in order to meet their important (and legally required) obligations to provide special education services. Our schools should not have to choose between meeting their moral and legal obligations to students with disabilities and having sufficient resources for all their students.

It's hard not to feel despairing about the impact we can have. 
But we need to keep trying.

Giving Input on Proposal A

Christine Stead is asking for some specific input. Here's why:

John [Austin, President of the State Board of Education], and the State Board of Education, has started a process to seek input from different organizations on the impact of Proposal A and the general funding experience for public education.  The process will shift to take input from community members and school systems over the next few months.  Presentations made so far can be found here.

I will accompany the Superintendent and CFO from the AAPS on June 17th to submit the AAPS experience and recommendations for changes to Proposal A.

If you have specific suggestions, Christine Stead would like to hear from you with your suggestions about changes to Proposal A. She writes, 

Folks can either email me or submit comments/questions to this site [k12christinestead.com]. I’ll do what I can to get answers to questions. I also don’t mind submitting folks’ comments to the State Board of Education as part of our testimony – especially if they lead toward solutions. You can use either email for me: steadc@aaps.k12.mi.us or christine.stead@gmail.com. 

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AAPS Assessment Task Force Member List

Here is the list of members of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Assessment Task Force

This spring, they are looking at elementary school assessments. (Maybe middle school too, I'm not sure about that.)

If you have thoughts or comments about testing, you should contact some of them!

I am lousy at formatting. If you want to see this in a nicely formatted, printable list, use this link.

Ann Arbor Public Schools 
Assessment Advisory Task Force 
April – June 2014  

Name,  Affiliation,  School(s)
I have put in bold all of the people who are parents or community members.

Jose’ Benki                                 Parent Bach 
Lisa Burlingame                         School Psychologist Tappan
Rose Marie Callahan                  Curriculum Coordinator Central Leadership
Amy Deller-Antieau                   Science Dept. Chair/Teacher Pioneer
Bruce Doughten                         Parent Clague 
Joan Doughty                             Exec. Dir. of Community Action Network King, Allen, Bryant,                                                                    Clague, Tappan, Pioneer, Clemente 
Marcus Edmondson                  Asst. Principal/Parent Huron 
Sam Firke                                   Parent Wines, Forsythe, Skyline 
Greta Furlong                           Parent Pattengill, Tappan, Pioneer 
Chuck Hatt                                 Principal Burns Park
Kathe Hetter                              Teacher Skyline
Michael Hopkins                      Parent Abbot 
Kelly House                               Teacher Wines
Jane Landefeld                           Exec. Dir. Student Data Central Leadership
Raven McCrory                        Community Member Angell, Community, Slauson 
                                                        AA Open, Huron 
Elizabeth Nelson                      Parent Eberwhite, Slauson 
Angela Newing                          Math Dept. Chair/Teacher Forsythe
Hyeuo Park                                Principal Bach
Jazz Parks                                  Principal Tappan
Catherine Peterson                  Parent Eberwhite 
Seth Petty                                  Teacher King
Laura Roth                                 Teacher Tappan
Francisco Sanchez                    Parent Haisley, Slauson, Community 
                                                            Pioneer 
Patricia Shure                            Community Member Tutors @ Skyline
Angela Smith                             Parent AA Open, WiHi 
Robyne Thompson                     Exec. Dir. of Secondary Ed Central Leadership
Susan Washabaugh                    Teacher Pioneer
Sean Waymaster                        Asst. Dir. of Special Ed. Central Leadership
Deborah Wolter                          Teacher Consultant AA Open

Facilitators 
Lee Ann Dickinson-Kelley Asst. Sup. of Instruction Central Leadership
Dawn Linden Ex. Dir. of Elementary Ed Central Leadership
Merri Lynn Colligan Ex. Dir. of Technology Central Leadership

Jeanice K. Swift Superintendent Central Leadership

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Why Did the WCC Faculty Take a No-Confidence Vote In the School President Last Week?

Last week, Washtenaw Community College's faculty took a no-confidence vote in the President of the school. WCC, you may know, is funded in large part by our tax dollars.

Why did they do this? And why did the vote pass by a huge margin? I asked the WCC faculty to explain.

Read on to get their point of view, and also to find the link to their blog.

For those outside of Washtenaw Community College, I'm sure that the most recent press about the vote of no confidence in President Bellanca's leadership could be alarming, confusing, or even amusing. 

From the inside, issues with Dr. Bellanca's leadership have been building for some time. Faculty were prepared for change when former president, Larry Whitworth, retired in 2011. However, instead of getting a progressive leader interested in using the expertise of the staff and faculty, we were faced with a growing executive administration, staff and mid-level manager turnover, and a distinct shift in how conversations could take place on campus: marketing became the name of the game. 

About 18 months ago, it became more than obvious to the WCCEA union leadership that relationships were not improving and that seeking help from the Board of Trustees was needed. Quietly, requests for help were made by the WCCEA but ignored by the Board. 

After the unprofessional handling of Vice President Blacklaw's firing in March 2013, a united faculty sought help from the Board of Trustees again, but we were essentially told that we were afraid of "change." Bewildered, we took time to regroup, hoping for a shift in what was becoming a hostile work environment with a president who wanted to dictate instead of lead, with the Board co-signing every step. 

The growing number of executive administrators, recent resignations of three of our five academic deans, along with resignations of key staff throughout the college left us little choice but to bring forth a vote of no confidence to the faculty. With nearly 88% of the faculty supporting this vote, our issues are not imagined or vague as some on the Board want to believe. Now that the vote has occured, the WCCEA is ready to find a way through this and get back to what we do very well: teaching and learning. 

Please follow our blog at http://wccea.wordpress.com/.

Julie M. Kissel
Professional Faculty - English Department

WCCEA Representative

Following the vote of no confidence, the president of the WCCEA wrote this, in part, in a press release: 

Often,  faculties come to the point of calling for No Confidence Votes when their salaries or job security is on the line.  That is not the case here. What we are doing here is, I think, unique.  We are not focused on increasing our compensation from the school, and we are not asking for more time off.  We are asking for accountability from an administration that has failed to instill confidence and trust with the faculty.  People, whether they are faculty or not, are NOT comfortable speaking up.  People do Fear retribution.  Because of this, as faculty members at WCC, we are concerned about the health and future of the school… a school that many of us have served for decades.  

(Respectful) thoughts about the vote of no confidence and the situation at WCC are welcome in the comments.

Also--if you are thinking about running for the WCC Board of Trustees, now would be a good time to collect petitions!


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

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

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

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

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

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

That was then...

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

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

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

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

"Ruth, kindergarten is only eight months long. 

You have to look at the long haul!"

And so I did. 

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

Gabe and me: This is now!

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

Time flies when you're having fun!

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






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Why Girls and People of Color are Less Likely to Choose Science

One summer, in the middle of college, I worked for a Parks Council project in Central Park in Manhattan, supervising 24 high school students on a jobs training program. I wrote about this experience in the context of a proposed jobs bill by Obama back in September 2011.

In 1983, I scored a summer job working for the Parks Council in New York City.  I was a "supervisor" of two team leaders and 24 high school students for a CETA jobs program. There were 20 African-American kids and 4 Latino/Latina kids; the team leaders were a Latino community college student and an African-American student from Howard University. I was the only white person, for the first time in my life.
Do you remember CETA? It was the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, a federal program that offered people with low incomes, as well as the long-term unemployed, with jobs and job training programs in the public and non-profit centers.
I think because I was white, I got assigned to the tony southern end of Central Park. Some of the other New York City parks were not so nice, and they had longer commutes from my house. At lunchtime I could sit by myself, or with my boyfriend, and watch Dustin Hoffman eat his lunch with his friends. Yes, he would come to the park too. 

The animals had been removed from the Central Park Zoo by 1983.

Our headquarters were in the Central Park Zoo, which was mostly closed for renovation in 1982--a good thing since the original animal stalls were truly prison cells. There is a nice history of the zoo here. The only animals that I remember still being at the zoo were the sea lions. (Photo taken from here.)
The kids taught me slang--"I've got my main squeeze and my two side squeeze"--as well as why we couldn't rake leaves in certain areas (rats). I'm not sure what I taught them. . .
But one day we were on a field trip and one of the girls came up to me. She had just finished 10th grade and she was probably the most diligent worker in the group. Her mother was from Jamaica and worked as a nurse's aide.
"I was thinking," she said to me, "that maybe I could become an LPN [Licensed Practical Nurse].""Great!" I said. "That's a great idea!"
But in my heart, I thought, "Why be an LPN? You're smart enough to be an RN or a BSN. In fact, why not be a doctor? You're smart enough to be a doctor."
I didn't say that to her though.
Why didn't I say that to her? Well, probably partly because I was only 20. I couldn't even give myself career advice.But probably also because I wasn't trained to have Great Expectations from poor black kids.

I flashed back to this memory when I heard Neil DeGrasse Tyson address the question, "Why don't girls choose science?" It's worth--really worth--listening to his answer. [I couldn't figure out how to set this to start at 1:01:31, but that's where you want to start it.]



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