I am certain that several long-time members of the School Board know all this, because I personally submitted several letters detailing problems at Northside which I had first-hand knowledge of during the first 2 years of her tenure. But there has been no action taken to date that has improved the situation for Northside students. More and more unhappy families who have other educational choices seem to be taking them.

Speaking of buildings: maybe the district should consider selling Angell to UM. UM gets blamed for taking property off the tax rolls, it wouldn’t be an issue with this property (already off tax rolls). It’s close to central campus, and has parking (albeit probably a tiny amount!). And it wouldn’t be competition for students.

For some time we have been hoping for forward thinking to come out of Balas. Instead of closing and selling buildings, could we take a more business-oriented approach to the problem of under-attended schools? There is consistently a wait list at the district’s magnet schools, Ann Arbor Open and Community High School. This means that there is more demand than supply. Why not change some of these underperforming schools, under the right leadership, into magnet schools, thereby meeting that demand? There would be some students moving to the magnet programs from crowded classrooms, there is also the potential for new enrollment from outside the district. It’s worth a try. We have tolerated under-enrollment for years, I think we can find the will to give new ideas a chance to work.

As Ruth Kraut previously noted in the other comment thread, The Chronicle has been explicit and forthright about the nature of its AAPS coverage. Kraut’s column is an occasional one; she has written three since June of this year, which launched after we ended our regular coverage of AAPS board meetings. From the editor’s note to that column:

Editor’s note: This marks the launch of a new column in The Chronicle, focused on Ann Arbor Public Schools and other educational issues. Readers might know Ruth Kraut from her commentary on Ann Arbor Schools Musings, where she’s been writing about these issues for several years. For recent background on The Chronicle’s coverage of AAPS, see “Milestone: Why You Keep Running a Marathon.”

If I’m not mistaken, Northside has historically drawn heavily from UM’s family housing, and historically had high numbers of English language-learners. (A neighbor teaches there, and has had many languages represented in his classrooms.) Did the district change where Family Housing kids go, or did UM maybe change how they place families in housing? (e.g. maybe more families with children are now in a section that busses to Angell, or something like that) I suppose a shift in those numbers could happen even without explicit changes by AAPS or UMFH.