Comments on: Election 2011: AAPS Board Candidate Forum

By: AAHuron

AAHuron — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:41:20 +0000

EdgeWiseInAnnArbor – My vote is for Mr. Thomas and Mr. Leonard. I’ve enjoyed listening to Thomas during the forums and would like to give him more time on the board. Mr. Leonard has my vote because of his experience working in the AAPS and knowledge of the public education system. This would be a great duo.

By: Steven Norton

Steven Norton — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:02:54 +0000

ChrisW – I’m not sure everyone would agree with you about the math curriculum, or about middle school advisory (my family’s experience has been very positive), but that’s not really the point.

The school board is a policy-making body, with a focus on making sure our schools expend resources on the kinds of programming our community demands. They’re elected representatives of the community. They are not, and we should not expect them to be, experts on education or instruction. That’s why they hire a superintendent who is, who in turn hires administrators and teachers who can build a strong curriculum.

I agree that our schools should engage more with the community – but not because I feel they need micro-management. Today’s schools are a very demanding place for teachers and administrators, and very few people outside the field understand the many (sometimes conflicting) responsibilities put on educators by good practice as well as state and Federal law. We all need to have a more realistic understanding about what happens in our schools before we can make truly informed decisions about them.

By: ChrisW

ChrisW — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 04:57:25 +0000

I don’t like how these debates cover only policy rather than actual educational issues. The math curriculum and text books in Ann Arbor are horrible. We have middle school kids spending 30 minutes a day in an “advisory” class with no structure at all. Both Chinese and Latin were dropped from the language program at the last minute.

Yes, bus stops are important — I’m angry about that too — but the curriculum is even more important and yet it never seems to be discussed in public. The schools refuse to keep parents in the loop as to how classrooms are chosen — do they put advanced math students together? They won’t even discuss it.

Many of the teachers in Ann Arbor are great, but many seem overwhelmed this year with growing class sizes. Updating PowerSchool seems to be an afterthought for many and it’s difficult to catch problems until they’re too late.

By: EdgeWiseInAnnArbor

EdgeWiseInAnnArbor — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:27:52 +0000

The more I hear from Ahmar Iqbal, the angrier I get. He has a Harvard Master’s in Public Policy and worked in Finance. For him to consistently repeat major factual errors (such as were pointed out in this article) that make the AAPS look unjustly bad strains his credibility. More and more I suspect he is deliberately perpetuating falsehoods to serve an agenda of killing public schools. When I’m feeling charitable, I allow that he may just really want the facts to line up with his ideology, and it makes him careless.

My feeling is that people who don’t believe in good government, don’t govern well. I’m not sure why he’s not trying to get involved in a private school instead of messing with the public school system.

I like Andy Thomas. He’s solidly helping the overall district performance.

I do wish the board would prioritize the needs of marginalized and low-income students for whom cutting busing impacts more. Simone Lightfoot has this perspective, but has been hampered by her somewhat combative manner.

Patrick Leonard seems very well intentioned but I’m not sure what he brings to the board.

I’m voting for Thomas, but I’m having trouble deciding between Lightfoot and Leonard.

Anyone have any advice?