David Erik Nelson

I spent the last two columns talking about what we should be teaching in our schools [1]. As we teeter on the brink of another school year, I want to take a second to talk about how to best teach these things. And, fair warning, my suggestion – as a former teacher and school administrator, not just a current chattering gadfly – is one you’ve already heard a thousand times: small class sizes.

But in the next twelve minutes I’m going to give you a way to argue for small class sizes in a patois that business folks can get behind.

As I’ve mentioned before, the vogue among conservative politicians – both at the state and national level – is to argue that their business acumen makes them uniquely well-suited to govern in our economically troubled times. I don’t reject this claim out of hand, because I agree that there are many business practices that adapt well to the public sector.

The problem, to my eye, is that the practices these erstwhile businessmen want to import to the public sector are largely from the management offices, rather than the sales floor.

Why Management Thinking Doesn’t Work in the Public Sector

As Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman outlined brilliantly in a lil blog post at the beginning of this year, many of the techniques fundamental to making a business profitable make no sense when dealing in the public sector. Krugman’s post is short (certainly by Ann Arbor Chronicle standards; a pitiful 238 words!), but worth your read.

He highlights a tried-and-true technique for pumping up a flagging business: Concentrate profits while offloading costs. For example, fire half the workers at your candy factory, speed up the line, and keep pumping out roughly the same number of boxes (albeit at lower quality). As far as your balance sheet is concerned, profits have remained stable while costs have decreased; that’s good management! Of course, the workers bear the stress of the layoffs and the consumers bear the crappier quality, but those are “externalities”; they accrue off your books, and are “somebody else’s problem.” [2]

But governments – even at the local level – can’t really work this way, because all of a government’s customers are intimately entangled in its business. After all, a government’s customers make up the vast majority of its workers, as well as its bosses. If most of your customers are workers in your factory, then they know how badly quality has sunk, and they’re gonna want to stop buying. Meanwhile, if your bosses are stuck buying your crappy product and know it, they’re gonna fire your ass. Oops.

Boardrooms, Sales Floors, and Classrooms

That said, there are plenty of business lessons that are a perfect fit for our schools. What disappoints me is that when these CEO-politicians bring their “hard-won business smarts” to the schools, they bring everything but the things that actually made them successful businesspeople. They trot out “metrics” and “dashboards” and “maximized throughput” and “economies of scale” and “incentives” and “efficiency” – all the 50-cent biz-school jargon – without bringing the one piece of wisdom that every businessperson I’ve ever met knows in his or her heart:

Business is about relationships

Let’s talk about sales. I used to sell hiking boots. That was the last time anyone called me a “salesman” – but I’ve sold myself at every meeting, during every interview, with every handshake. I’m selling to you right now.

“Sales” is the word we use to dismiss “rhetoric” as beneath us, but rhetoric is the thing we – the magical talking chimps – use to Get Things Done.

Rhetoric – the brilliant, single-word slogan “Change” – got our first African-American president elected. We were sold on this man, and frankly, we’ve done okay [3]. Kennedy’s salesmanship put men on the moon. Jimmy Carter’s salesmanship has nearly eliminated the god-awful guinea worm. Sales built our railroads, sales bring down rates of teen pregnancy, sales of the M.A.D.D. and truth.org variety cratered dangerous teen drinking and smoking [4].

Sales hinge on relationships: We trust the salesperson, we believe he or she shares our interests and goals and dreams, and so we buy.

Always Be Closing

The most basic sell is “hand selling.” The salesperson and customer interact one-on-one, and the salesperson makes recommendations that are responsive to the customer’s needs. Any solvent shoe store owner can train just about any human of average social intelligence to hand sell. Think about asking someone on a date; that’s the hand sell at its foundation: “How are you doing today? Can I interest you in a handy me to have around your life?”

A step up is pitching to a group of, let’s say, a dozen or twenty folks. Not everyone is great at this, but almost everyone can learn to do it well enough. This is making a pitch to investors, arguing before a jury, playing an open mic night, giving a class presentation, reporting to a team of colleagues or board of directors.

The trick is that relationships really need to be formed person-by-person; this happens naturally when you’re speaking one-on-one, but is much more challenging when you’re talking one-to-many. That’s why we have all those chestnuts of public speaking: Make eye-contact with individuals, work the room, refer to audience members by name, touch people’s shoulders and elbows, etc. It’s tricky, but given thirty minutes, you can form a personal connection with twenty people as you make your pitch. It’s a learned skill, not a natural-born talent.

But once you cross that magical line from “small group” to “crowd,” there’s a major psychological shift. A “crowd,” after all, is just a single thrown beer bottle away from being a “mob.”

Not a lot of folks can wow a crowd. Realistically speaking, once you’ve got more than a small group – once you’re in the size of those big real estate and investment seminars – you can’t really sell anything, because you can’t form those personal relationships. The folks in those audiences aren’t being convinced to buy, they’re just being tipped over the edge, because they’d already sold themselves on the idea before they showed up.

You might notice these numbers I’ve picked out, and the sharp tacks already see where I’m going: Tutors and music teachers and coaches “hand sell.”

Teachers in normal schools basically need to be able to pitch a boardroom – traditionally, that is, when classes sizes were capped under two dozen.

Anything above that – like stadium-seating college lectures – requires either a pro-grade snake-oil salesman or substantial buy-in from the crowd before they even come through the door.

Kids in compulsory public schools often aren’t willing buyers; they need to be sold. And even Lee Iacocca couldn’t sell 40 reluctant buyers in a single group. That takes goddamn sales magic, and the only cats with that kind of voodoo are politicians and snake-oil gurus. And there isn’t a single such talent in this great nation who’s ever going to settle for $42,000 per year plus medical and a pension – not when his or her earning potential starts in the low six figures and only goes up, up, up.

The Problem With Our Schools

The problem with education in America – to the degree that there is a problem [5] – is that we’re putting fair-to-middlin’ sales staff into a nearly impossible sales situation. No shoe store owner in the world expects his or her staff to sell shoes forty pairs at a time; if there’s that many folks coming through the door, then they hire more sales staff. They don’t expect shoe buyers to sit in rows six deep and stare at the ceiling while someone yammers to them indiscriminately about chunky heels or high-performance cross-trainers, without regard for what kind of feet they have and what kinda walking they need to do.

My son’s kindergarten class had 23 students this year. That’s kind of a big room to work, but a competent public speaker can do it, and his teacher was just such a salesperson. Good for her. My wife’s high school classes in Redford are hovering in the mid-30s, with pressure to add more [6]. My wife is a brilliant human being with a masters in education and experience in tough schools with tough kids. She loves her subjects, expects a lot from her students, and takes no shit. But she isn’t Barack Obama or Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey, for chrissakes, and none of those folks ever dedicated their lives to a five-figure career with shrinking benefits.

So, that’s my pitch to you, Governor Snyder. Do you want to reform our schools with solid business practices? Then start by putting your frontline sales staff into sales situations where they can actually close deals instead of throwing them in front of a distractible mob and then acting shocked when they don’t make their numbers.

Of course, I’m a little loathe to put this notion in your head, sir, as I’m 90 percent sure that if you do read this, your only takeaway will be “Hey! Teachers are a lot like salesmen; we should make ‘em work on commission!”

Notes

[1] TL;DR: Compassion, mutual caretakership, lateral thinking, perseverance, humility.

[2] That might sound hollow, but bear in mind that in a world where you have to please banks – which is the world of all but the smallest businesses – looking good on paper is the entire game. Real world results have little bearing on decision making when those decisions must please the dark gods of corporate personhood served by the damned, scuttling minions inhabiting the cubicles of Comerica and Bank of America.

[3] Not super-awesome, but it’s a solid performance in terms of what we were promised. For what is clearly an apples-to-something-similar-to-but-clearly-not-an-apple comparison, check out the GOP Promise Meter. Incidentally, as a One Love kinda hippie, I consider most “compromises” to be solid wins. It’s a big tent, and I just want it to get bigger and bigger and bigger until we’re all mad-crazy group-hugging in the shade and singing “Give Peace a Chance.” Amen.

[4] On the dark side, a nation of freedom-minded Christians sold themselves the transatlantic slave trade. Nazi Germany sold Europe 11 million corpses, and sold them the ovens to go with them. Our last president sold us two futile wars.

[5] Americans have this “common sense” notion that our schools are terrible. That claim . . . I don’t even know where to start with that claim. Right on the face of it, the sentence “America’s schools are terrible” simply makes no sense.

First, there are no “American schools.” We don’t have a federal school system, we don’t even really have state-by-state schools; we have a school system of individual local districts of varying size, influence, resources, standards, practices, and goals. Aggregating data about those schools, looking at the final number, and saying “Christ, our school system is a wreck!” is tantamount to aggregating climatological data from across the country, looking at the final number, and concluding that it’s impossible to grow berries in the United States because, once you factor in the dearth of precipitation in Arizona and the overabundance of overcast days in Alaska, we’re just too dark and too dry for a strawberry to take hold here.

Beyond that, our school systems seek to do something that’s not quite unique, but nonetheless rare worldwide: We want to offer everyone a diverse, holistic education at the same level in a system that doesn’t break children off into vocational tracks and doesn’t throw anyone away.

Anyway, I’m not saying we don’t have problems; I’m saying that the answer to “Why aren’t our schools like Japan’s and Singapore’s?” is “Because we aren’t Japanese and this isn’t Singapore.”

[6] FYI, the maximum class-size advised by the United Nations is 35. Class sizes of up to 40 are far from unheard of in Detroit, even at the elementary level, and word on the street is that high schools might be looking at up to 61 students per class this fall. In other words, we’re steadily sliding toward the same place that rural India and Kenya are diligently working to climb out of. Hell, even Afghanistan – which has been besought by war (civil, holy, and otherwise) since 1979 – can keep their average down to 55 students per teacher. In other words, I’m not precisely sure we should call this latest round of “reforms” in Detroit Public Schools “progress.” For a nuanced perspective on class size, especially as it pertains to the developing world, give this 2007 report from USAID a read.

The Chronicle relies in part on regular voluntary subscriptions to support our publication of local columnists like David Erik Nelson. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already sold on The Chronicle, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

AAPS board president Deb Mexicotte led the trustees in their budget discussion at the May 16 committee meeting. The formal budget presentation from the administration will come at the May 23 meeting.

That still leaves a $7 million gap to be addressed as the district faces a $17.8 million deficit for the 2012-13 school year, which begins July 1. There was general agreement on the board to use some amount fund equity to meet the budget targets, but no agreement about how much to use. Hypothetically, the entire $17.8 million shortfall could be covered by drawing on the fund equity the district has to start FY 2013, which is $18.73 million.

But without some cuts and revenue enhancements, that fund equity would be close to just $1 million by the end of the year, which is a half percent of the district’s currently proposed  expenditure budget for FY 2013 – $194 million. In addition, it would leave insufficient reserves to manage cash flow through the summer. And by the end of the following year, fund equity would be projected to be negative $23.5 million.

At the May 16 meeting, most trustees expressed support for leaving Roberto Clemente Student Development Center in place in its current form for at least another year, while evaluating the program’s educational effectiveness. Much of the board sentiment on Clemente was reflected in an exchange between trustees Simone Lightfoot and Glenn Nelson near the end of the three and half hour budget discussion. Lightfoot asserted that Clemente’s parents are “not caught up in test scores – they are just happy that their children want to go to school” and that their students are getting “some basics in place – social and mental.” Nelson responded, “I’m willing to grant that in that part of education, they are doing a good job, but for $18,000 [per-student cost], I’d like both the academic and social/emotional learning.”

The administration’s budget proposal called for the elimination of between 32 and 64 teaching positions, but trustees were in broad agreement that there should be no cuts to teaching positions, if at all possible. Nelson suggested that by hiring less-experienced new teachers to replace retiring teachers, the district would still be able to save roughly $960,000, without incurring any rise in class sizes. Trustees expressed support for that approach, which board president Deb Mexicotte dubbed the ”Nelson model.”

While trustees showed a consensus about maintaining teaching staff levels, they were divided on the issue of transportation. Lightfoot suggested a “hold harmless” approach to transportation this year – as the districts forms an administrative committee with broad stakeholder participation to develop a sustainable transportation plan. Taking almost an opposite view on transportation was trustee Christine Stead, who advocated several times during the meeting that all non-mandated busing should be cut. Based on the board discussion, busing for Ann Arbor Open will likely be preserved via a cost-neutral plan that relies primarily on common stops at the district’s five middle schools. Also likely is that the 4 p.m. middle school bus and the shuttles to and from Community High School will  be cut. Some board members also indicated an interest in “phasing out” busing to the magnet programs at Skyline High School.

The board took no formal votes during their committee-of-the-whole-meeting on May 16. However the board’s consensus on various issues, convey to the AAPS administration, will inform the final budget proposal. That final proposal comes to the board for a first briefing and public hearing on May 23.

In addition to the budget discussion, the May 16 committee meeting included four and a half additional hours of discussion on: discussing gifted and talented programming in the district; outlining the superintendent evaluation review process; and creating a framework for a broad-based committee to study the sustainability of transportation in the district.

Budget Discussion Process

Board president Deb Mexicotte began by outlining an approach to the budget discussion that would first identify areas of consensus on the proposed budget reductions. After that, it focused the board’s conversation on areas where opinions diverged. The idea was to determine “what [the board] will be able to tolerate” as it addresses the $17.8 million budget deficit. AAPS superintendent Patricia Green added that her administration had brought additional information to inform the discussion.

The board held three rounds of discussion. In round one, trustees briefly considered each of the 27 proposed reductions put forth in the administration’s budget proposal , and were encouraged to reach consensus on items that could be eliminated with very little or no discussion.  During this round trustees agreed on cuts to 13 budget items totaling $1.9 million.

In round two, trustees discussed each of the remaining 14 budget items in detail, but did not try to come to consensus about how to balance them against each other. This round ended with an administrative presentation and lengthy board discussion on the Roberto Clemente Student Development Center.

In round three, trustees tried to reach consensus on a subset of the remaining suggested reductions – in the context of the required fund equity that would otherwise be needed to balance the FY 2012-13 budget. In the end, trustees were able to agree on another $2.8 million of cuts.  They disagreed on the question how much of the remaining $7 million deficit to address by using fund equity versus deepening the budget cuts. Almost all the consensus cuts came from the administration’s core budget proposal (Plan A). The exception was a 10% cut to the district-wide discretionary budgets, which was part of the suggested second-tier of additional cuts (Plan B).

The Chronicle has organized this report by first listing the cuts the board adopted with little or no discussion. After that, discussion and general agreement reached by the board on the remaining proposed reductions are grouped into the following categories: Clemente, transportation, teaching staff, and other district-wide cuts. The report concludes at the same point the trustees’ discussion ended – with a brief discussion of next steps in the process, and general agreement that AAPS should pursue revenue enhancement via advertising.

Line Item Cuts – Round One

The board’s first pass at line item reductions yielded $1.9 million in savings. Mexicotte led trustees through a comprehensive list of the 27 proposed budget reduction options one by one and asked if there was consensus to retain each item on the list of cuts. She started a list of any items on which the board wished to have more extensive discussion on chart paper set on an easel at the front of the room.

Via this method, the board agreed to the following 13 reductions with very little or no discussion:

1. Eliminate four high school counselors ($400,000);
2. Eliminate middle school athletic directors ($37,500);
3. Eliminate funding for athletic entry fees ($58,000);
4. Move lacrosse to club sport status ($93,000);
5. Outsource noon-hour supervision ($75,000);
6. Eliminate district subsidy for summer music camps ($60,000);
7. Reduce budget for substitute teachers ($200,000);
8. Combine bus runs for Bryant and Pattengill elementaries ($16,560);
9. ITD restructuring ($200,000);
10. Move Rec & Ed director and office professional positions to Rec & Ed budget ($205,000);
11. Eliminate the early notification incentive for retiring staff ($40,000);
12. Enact Phase V of energy savings capital improvements ($500,000); and
13. Reduce health care costs ($100,000).

Regarding the reduction in counselors, Stead asked for clarification on whether the positions would come from attrition or retirements, and which schools would be affected. AAPS deputy superintendent of instruction Alesia Flye said that three of the four positions would be reduced via retirements – one each at Forsythe and Scarlet middle schools, and Huron High School. Those three schools can reduce one counselor and still meet the contractual counselor-student ratio of 1:325, Flye said, but a staff reassignment would be needed to fill the position left by retirement at Scarlett. The fourth counseling position would be eliminated  at Pioneer High School – a suggestion that came from that school’s administration.

Trustee Susan Baskett questioned whether the reduction in counselors would have an effect on the district’s ability to enact the new counseling and guidance programming, which was presented at the February 2012 committee of the whole meeting.  Flye said it will be a challenge to deliver some of the new plan’s services, and that a reduced number of counselors at each building could be problematic down the road.

Trustees got clarification that the athletic entry fee was beyond the fees associated with regular conference participation for all sports. Baskett asked whether students would have less exposure to recruiters. AAPS deputy superintendent of operations Robert Allen answered that recruiters would still be able to come to many events.

Mexicotte tallied up the total amount saved from the above cuts, and it came to $1,985,060. Trustees agreed to employ all four of the revenue enhancement suggestions proposed by the administration (Schools of Choice, Medicaid reimbursement, MPSERS offset, and best practices incentives), totaling $6 million.

That left $9,814,940 as the remaining amount the board was still looking to cut as it moved into the next phase of discussion.  [$17.8 million – $1,985,060 – $6 million = $9,814,940].

Roberto Clemente Student Development Center

At the May 16 meeting, four people addressed the board during public commentary on the topic of the Roberto  Clemente Student Development Center. AAPS administration also presented a new set of information for board review, including a set of options for relocating or restructuring the school, and a large amount of data on achievement, attendance, graduation rates, staffing, course offerings, and cost comparisons between the six district high schools. Additional board discussion on Clemente, including its summer school program, followed the administrative presentation.

Allen introduced the proposed reduction to Clemente as potentially saving $400,000, which included savings related to the building, principal, office professional, custodian, and utility costs. Moving the Clemente summer school to Pioneer would save another $80,000.

Clemente: Public Commentary

Barbara Malcolm, a community liaison at Clemente, asserted that the board members are no longer representing the community that elected them. She said she has been appalled by “actions, lies, and deceit” and that the school board has lost much of its credibility in the community. Malcolm said the district still faces the same level of attacks on blacks, poor people, and disenfranchised students as it did when she was a student at AAPS. She said it was shameful that Mexicotte has called Clemente “racist” and “a one-way street.” Calling superintendent Patricia Green an “outsider” who was “not part of the community, only paid by it,” Malcolm accused Green of dismantling a pillar of the community. Malcolm asked Green at least to “own” a statement Green had made at the beginning of her tenure as superintendent that Clemente was not on the chopping block. She argued that AAPS needs to educate all students, “not just those who do well on standardized, biased tests.”

Charlae Davis said that if the process is sloppy, the outcome will be sloppy, and said she had serious concerns with the budget proposal process. She argued that denying families and students a role in the planning process is a form of oppression and said the process has been “victim-blaming.” She asked board members to consider whether they would be satisfied with this process if their own children were at Clemente.

Georgina LeHuray shared the story of her grandson’s switch to Clemente and the positive effect it has had on him. She argued that test scores are the wrong measurements to use in evaluating Clemente, and asked what will mean the most to these kids in 10 or 15 years – test scores or [the support] they get from these people at Clemente. LeHuray urged the board, “If you save one kid at Clemente, it’s worth every damn tax dollar we put on these kids … Do not fail these kids. Appreciate what you’ve got at Roberto Clemente.”

Clemente staff member Pat Morrow asserted that AAPS has failed the children who attend Clemente. She argued that achieving high test scores is not as relevant as getting a high school diploma, and said that sending Clemente students back to the comprehensive high schools would be setting them up to fail. “We can get kids into colleges, Morrow said, “and they can go onto be productive citizens.” She said the board needed to let the Clemente community know right now what its fate is.

Clemente: Short-Term Focus

Green said the presentation her team brought to share was developed in response to questions from the previous committee of the whole meeting about what the options the district had to make changes to Clemente. Lightfoot noted that she was not comfortable getting this information for the first time at 11:20 p.m.

Flye reviewed how Clemente is made up mostly of 9th and 10th graders, but includes some upperclassmen as well. The goal of the program, she said, is to help students return to their home school by making use of smaller learning environments, among other program features. Flye said that the administration’s short term goal was to maintain the philosophy, initiatives, and structure of the Clemente program, with the long-term of possibly redesigning the program.

Green added that the district has been talking about the possible redesign of alternative programs, and noted that A2 Tech’s name change came out of those talks. She noted that when she had been interviewing for the position in Ann Arbor, she heard that cutting alternative programs had come up during last year’s budget discussions. Green also addressed an accusation made repeatedly at recent board meeting public commentary sessions about a statement she made on Clemente’s future: “When I had visited over there early in the year, at the time I was asked, ‘Are you planning on closing the school?’ I said there had been no conversation about that – it was very early in September. None of these conversations had taken place.”

Clemente: Restructuring Options

Flye described four options for restructuring Clemente:

1. Relocate Clemente to the A2Tech building and run both programs separately;
2. Relocate Clemente to A2Tech and create a blended version of both programs;
3. Relocate Clemente to a dedicated space in either Pioneer or Huron; or
4. Integrate Clemente students into their home high schools, with the Clemente program principal coordinating support of Clemente students in the comprehensive schools.

Flye then explained why (option 1) and (option 2) were not seen as desirable. She briefly touched on how (option 4) was envisioned, and then went into detail about how (option 3) could work.

Flye noted that there might not be enough space to keep the programs fully separate in the same building (option 1). She also said that the principals of A2 Tech and Clemente had said it would not work well to blend the programs (option 2), because the two programs have such different areas of emphasis. Clemente targets mostly 9th and 10th grade students, Flye said, while A2 Tech targets older students.

If Clemente students were integrated into their home high schools (option 4), Flye said that some instruction could be delivered by Clemente staff, that some instruction could consist of “touchpoint” classes delivered with technological enhancements, and that” wraparound services” would be offered.

On the topic of relocating the Clemente program to Pioneer or Huron (option 3), Flye and Green suggested that modified schedules could be used to keep Clemente students totally separate from other students if that was desired. The modified schedules might include separate lunch periods, or alternative starting and ending times. At the comprehensive high schools, Clemente students would benefit from an enhanced set of opportunities, they said, including sports, arts, career and tech education and other electives, while maintaining Clemente’s mentoring approach and weekly “rap sessions.”

AAPS executive director of physical properties Randy Trent led the administration in describing the spaces within Pioneer and Huron that could house Clemente. At Pioneer, he said, there are seven classrooms in the D wing that could be available, along with an eighth room upstairs that could be used if necessary, an administrative area, a separate entrance, and a large lecture facility that could be used for the weekly rap session. Clemente would displace math classes currently using the space, which Pioneer’s administration said would be a good change for the school, Flye added.

At Huron, the available space would be an isolated area with eight classrooms would be on the third floor of the arch, Trent explained, noting that students would have to walk through the entire building to reach the space. Flye allowed that world language and language arts classes would be impacted by the classroom shift at Huron. However, she reported that Huron’s administrative team had indicated it would not be a problem to relocate those classes and provide office space to accommodate the Clemente program.

Stead questioned how much would be saved by relocating the program intact under (option 1) or (option 3) versus blending the program with A2 Tech under (option 2) or integrating Clemente students in to the comprehensive high schools under (option 4). Allen answered that only the blended program in (option 2) would save the targeted $400,000. The other three options would save around $200,000 – because those options preserve Clemente’s administrative costs.

Lightfoot asked if there had been any consideration of ways that $200,000 could be saved while leaving the Clemente family as it is – like marketing the program to bring in more School of Choice students, or opening it up to more 8th graders. No, Flye answered. Lightfoot asked when such alternatives would be considered. Mexicotte responded to Lightfoot by saying that the board would use the meeting to decide whether to move forward with one of the options presented by administration, or make no change to the program.

Clemente: Data

Flye presented the board with data on Clemente’s student achievement, attendance, graduation rates, staffing levels, and course offerings, and comparative data on student achievement, graduation rates, and cost per student for all six AAPS high schools.

Chart 1. Average cost per student at Ann Arbor Public School high schools. (Image links to higher resolution file.)

AAPS director of student accounting Jane Landefeld said that it was challenging to determine the degree of student academic growth at Clemente, because students enter the program at all times of year and stay for different lengths of time. Landefeld said she had reviewed the transcripts at the end of the second trimester for each of the 87 Clemente students enrolled at that time, and determined that 39 of the 87 (45%) then had higher GPAs than they had had when entering the program. However, she also noted that many of Clemente’s classes are slower-paced, and so “it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges in terms of which classes they are taking.”

Trustee Andy Thomas questioned the relevance of graduation rates – because the goal of Clemente is to return students to their home school for 11th and 12th grades. Landefeld confirmed that students do not graduate from Clemente because “Clemente is a program, not a school.” She explained, however, that “somewhere along the way, the state listed it as a school, so if a student ends at Clemente, they are considered graduating from Clemente.” Stead suggested that AAPS should communicate to the state that Clemente has been misclassified as a school.

Chart 2. Michigan Merit Exam scores by subject by AAPS high school. (Image links to higher resolution file.)

Nelson asked about the capacity of Clemente’s building. Trent explained that the building has 18 classrooms, which can fit up to 15 students each, with some larger rooms as well. Nelson noted that many classes at Clemente have fewer than 15 students. Flye added that Clemente strives to keep class sizes averaging 10-12 students. Landefeld stressed that Clemente gains students throughout the year, so the number of students fluctuates. There are  currently 104 students in the Clemente program, according to the analysis of student growth presented by Landefeld.

Mexicotte said that when she was first elected to the board, Clemente’s enrollment was around 170 students. She pointed out that for the purposes of current discussion, the board has been using a population of 100 students.

Clemente: Long-Term Focus

In the long term, Flye said, Clemente and other alternative programs in AAPS could be redesigned to offer expanded distance learning opportunities made possible through digital technology, and additional course offerings. The administration could also continue to explore the implementation of a middle college concept, and more flexible day and evening schedules. Flye concluded by saying that AAPS will continue to develop early interventions for at-risk students.

Clemente: Board Discussion

Baskett asked if there was any discussion of team-building – in a scenario where Clemente students are moved back into the comprehensive high schools in any way. Flye said the schools would welcome them, and that team-building with staff and students was acknowledged to be a very important part of the process.

Thomas said he had a number of concerns, beginning with the fact that decisions about Clemente should take program effectiveness into account, as well as potential cost savings. Regarding the student achievement data presented, Thomas said that on one hand, the fact that 0% of Clemente students are proficient in writing [See Chart 2] seems like “a pretty strong indictment of the Clemente program.” However, he said, the real question is, “At what level are students when they enter the program, and where are they at the end of one year, two years?” Thomas said that student growth is not being clearly measured except by GPA, which he argued was an “imperfect” measure.

Thomas also expressed concern about the timeline of implementing any changes in the Clemente program by fall 2012, and said that the district needs more time to prepare. He suggested that AAPS keep Clemente intact for one year, during which it completes a comprehensive evaluation of the program based on data, not anecdotal evidence. “And if that costs $200,000 or $400,000 plus transportation costs, that’s the price that we pay for not dealing with this earlier in the year,” Thomas said.

Stead said her thoughts on Clemente were similar. She said she was willing to trade off all transportation to preserve education as the district’s primary mission. She said she could support a change to Clemente that is led by a focus on the program, and would be discussed for a year by the principal, parents, families, and students involved. She felt like the district is now “trying to retrofit” a solution.

Directing her comments to two Clemente students still in attendance at the meeting [at 12:30 a.m.], Stead called the Clemente achievement data “extremely concerning,” and said, “You can roll your eyes and say it’s not important, but I can tell you – these numbers are important.” She agreed that Clemente warrants further review and discussion, and that while there is not time to fix it this year, “We need to do right by these students.”

Lightfoot said that she believes Clemente has done a “great job,” and that she is interested in the district considering better marketing of the program so that perhaps AAPS can “get it up to capacity” and bring in new revenue.

Nelson said that how he will vote on preserving Clemente will come down to where the money comes from, saying, “If it comes from the 32 [teaching positions districtwide], I just can’t go there. I really believe in those 32 [teaching positions].” If the money for Clemente would be taken from fund equity, Nelson said, he would “want to be convinced by the evaluation people that in fact there is reason to think there is something different we are going to know eight months from now because I find the achievement data very disturbing.”

Responding to Lightfoot directly, Nelson questioned how AAPS could effectively market this program when the test scores at Clemente are so much worse than at the comprehensive high schools. Nelson questioned whether performance at Clemente was actually decreasing the achievement gap and asserted, “The averages for African-Americans would go up if you took these students out of the mix.”

Lightfoot said that she was also upset by the data, but noted that African-Americans’ scores are low throughout the district, not only at Clemente. She asserted that Clemente’s parents are “not caught up in test scores – they are just happy that their children want to go to school” and that their students are getting “some basics in place – social and mental.” Nelson responded, “I’m willing to grant that in that part of education, they are doing a good job, but for $18,000 [per-student cost], I’d like both the academic and social/emotional learning.”

Trustee Irene Patalan said the test scores as well as the money do concern her, noting that the per-student cost at Clemente is closer to $19,000 than $18,000. She said she feels an urgency to help the students at Clemente be successful as soon as possible, and that she would like a recommendation from the AAPS administration about which option to take.

Patalan also mentioned that her children had been in alternative programs within AAPS, and that she was very much an alternative school supporter. She shared some of the history of the district’s “Middle Years Alternative” program that was housed within Forsythe but had almost complete autonomy. Patalan said she is not afraid of “putting programs together and sharing spaces.”

Baskett said that she was tired and would refrain from commenting. But Mexicotte asked her to please share her thinking now. Baskett obliged, saying that if the district moves to change the status of Clemente now, it will not be done right. “The driver will be money, and not the quality of education for all our children,” she said, “I think, Irene, you are wrong on this one.”

Thanking the administration for the presentation, Baskett suggested that an evaluation of Clemente should include a qualitative element, saying, “When you talk about measuring climate, we need to capture that as well.”

Mexicotte began by clarifying that the comments ascribed to her during public commentary were things that she had reported having heard over the years about Clemente, not comments that she had made personally.

She continued by saying that while she appreciates that Clemente students have positive feelings about their school, the achievement data have troubled her for many years. “Are we going to say that these data points are not going to be what we are judging our achievement gap on across the district?” she asked. Mexicotte said that if the district wanted to decide not to judge “growth to proficiency” with test score data, then it would need to decide what else to use as metrics.

Mexicotte suggested the district needs to set expectations about test scores, and what kind of cost per student figures it would like to see. She suggested that the district study Clemente over a two-year time frame to determine if it should be marketed, moved, or adjusted in some other way, and noted, “If the program is really something we want for our students, we shouldn’t be gatekeeping as hard as we are.” Mexicotte also suggested that art and music should be brought back to Clemente in its current location.

Outcome: The board agreed to leave the Clemente program intact for at least one year while assessing its educational effectiveness. Stead suggested that in terms of the targeted savings in alternative high school programming, AAPS administration should have a conversation with A2 Tech one more time to see if any savings can be found in that program.

Clemente: Summer School

Green explained that the impetus behind moving Clemente’s summer school is to have all the secondary summer school programs located at one site – Pioneer High School.

Baskett noted that part of the transition to Clemente is the summer school program, which is not just academic. Allen said that not all Clemente students attend summer school, and that $20,000 out of the $100,000 Clemente summer school program can be preserved to add services to the traditional summer school program, which focuses on credit recovery. Flye reported that Clemente principal Ben Edmondson has said that Clemente summer school students are also working primarily on credit recovery, and that summer school helps to provide a consistent routine for them.

Thomas said moving the Clemente summer school to Pioneer is an opportunity to achieve some efficiency. Flye noted that moving the program would also give students more opportunities in terms of course selection. Green added that the board should decide as soon as possible what the location will be – because Clemente needs to start preparing its summer program.

Trustees asked for clarification on the costs related to summer school. Landefeld explained that there are only fees for courses that are taken for extra enrichment, as opposed to courses taken for credit recovery, and that scholarships are available. Baskett asked if there is busing for summer school. Allen said there is no busing for summer school in general, but that Clemente students would be transported, and that it would likely cost less to bus them to Pioneer than to the Clemente building.

Outcome: The board agreed to move the Clemente summer school program into Pioneer High School to achieve an $80,000 budget reduction.

Teaching Staff Reductions

The administrative budget proposal includes the elimination of 32 FTEs (full-time equivalent positions) in teaching staff in Plan A, 48 FTEs in Plan B, and 64 FTEs in Plan C. Trustees were in agreement that they are not interested in cutting any teaching positions.

Nelson suggested retaining the number of teachers, but hiring new teachers to replace those who are retiring. He asked for confirmation on comparative salaries, and Allen confirmed that there is roughly a $30,000 spread between retiring teachers (whose salaries and benefits cost nearly $100,000 each) and new teachers (whose total cost to the district is roughly $70,000).  Nelson suggested that 32 FTEs at $70,000 would be $2.24 million, which means that if the number of positions were preserved, but less expensive teachers were hired, the district could save $960,000.

Stead, Thomas, Patalan and Mexicotte all agreed about the importance of retaining teachers. Stead said this is one area where the primary mission of the district is clear, and that she could not justify cutting one more teacher. Thomas said he is willing to compromise on everything else, but that cutting teaching positions would be unacceptable, even if it means dipping into fund equity.

Transportation

Trustees considered a variety of cost-saving measures in transportation services. There was disagreement among trustees about how much transportation they were interested in cutting this coming year – from none to all of it. Two people addressed the board during public commentary on the topic of transportation.

Transportation: Public Commentary on Busing to Ann Arbor Open

Ann Arbor Open Coordinating Council (AAOCC) co-chair Sascha Matish passed out a set of handouts to the board outlining the impact of eliminating busing to Ann Arbor Open on subgroups of the school’s population. She noted that busing is used by 95% of the school’s 22 African-American students, and 68% of the school’s 57 economically disadvantaged students (who receive free or reduced-price lunch). Matish also passed out an aerial map of the Ann Arbor Open area, and requested that the board view a video created by the AAOCC of morning traffic near the school to give trustees a sense of the traffic back-ups already facing families on a daily basis. Again, Matish suggested that cutting busing would severely compromise student safety.

The other co-chair of the Ann Arbor Open Coordinating Council (AAOCC), Jill Zimmerman, also addressed the board. Referring to a set of bar graphs distributed to trustees, she noted that Ann Arbor Open’s MEAP scores are higher than the district averages in math and reading. She also pointed out that districtwide, the percentage of students scoring “proficient” or “advanced proficient” in 8th grade is lower than the percentage of students scoring “proficient” or “advanced proficient” in 3rd grade. However, the gap between 3rd-grade achievement and 8th-grade achievement is smaller among Ann Arbor Open students than it is across the district. “When we are talking about equity and closing the achievement gap, what Ann Arbor Open does matters,” Zimmerman asserted. “Our kids are doing better, and we think it’s because of what we are doing.”

Zimmerman also briefly reviewed an alternate busing proposal created by the AAOCC, which was sent to board members and AAPS administration before the meeting. The alternative proposal relies on common stops at middle schools and would more than halve the cost of busing to Ann Arbor Open.

Transportation: 4 p.m. Middle School Bus

Nelson said that he has consistently heard from middle school parents about the value of the after-school middle school program. Thomas suggested that the middle school principals could use some of their discretionary funds to keep the 4 p.m. bus if they wished.

Stead reiterated her theme that she does “not see transportation as being more important than education.” She noted that transportation is not required, not funded, and is not more valuable than a teacher. She argued that the community could come together and provide transportation, but could not come together and provide teaching. Baskett argued that there are many people in the community who would not be able to come together to provide transportation, saying, “You can call a carpool on your iPhone. Other families do not have phones.”

Mexicotte said she was inclined to leave the 4 p.m. middle school bus in place for another year, because a few years ago the district completely restructured middle school and lost a lot of extras and opportunities.

Transportation: Mid-day Shuttles to/from Community High School

Mexicotte noted that students get themselves to Community High School, and Baskett asked how many students this affected. Stead asked if AATA could be approached to provide shuttles, and Margolis answered that AATA buses don’t run often enough to make it work. Stead asked if Community students could Skype into classes at the comprehensive high schools. Allen allowed that yes, that would be possible.

Thomas said he was in favor of this reduction, and noted that Community shuttles are a “big-ticket item.”

Transportation: Busing to Choice Programs – Ann Arbor Open, Skyline Magnets, Roberto Clemente

Green presented a proposal crafted in the previous week by her staff that offered a cost-neutral alternative to continuing Ann Arbor Open busing – by consolidating routes at middle school common stops. Lightfoot expressed frustration that a new proposal was drafted for the Ann Arbor Open portion of the transportation cuts only, and said that she wants to be sure the district is doing the same for everyone, not just “the squeaky wheel.” Baskett commented that the administration’s proposal was very similar to one crafted by Ann Arbor Open parents and presented by them to the district.

Several trustees expressed discomfort about eliminating busing at Ann Arbor Open – because of the inequity of that would arise from offering busing to all other students of the same grade levels (K-8). Nelson disagreed, saying that he was fine with cutting Ann Arbor Open busing to reach the cost savings goals.

Regarding transportation to Clemente, Thomas said he believes AAPS will have to maintain transportation to the building if it stays open – because there is no other way to get there.

Baskett said that providing busing to the magnet programs that are part of Skyline High School was a promise that the district made to the community, and was meant to ensure better diversity in the magnet programs. Baskett asked how many students in the magnet programs rely on transportation provided by AAPS. Landefeld explained that about 30% of Skyline students are bused, roughly 100 per grade level on average. Thomas said he’d consider eliminating magnet transportation before eliminating all high school busing. Mexicotte pointed out that not everybody who takes a bus to Skyline is in a magnet program, and suggested that the district should keep transportation for the magnet programs for now, but consider phasing it out.

Lightfoot said the she feels like she’s “operating in the dark” when it comes to transportation choices, like she has to “choose now and see the fallout later.”

Transportation: Skyline Starting/Ending Times

Lightfoot said she did not like moving Skyline’s start time up by 15 minutes, because she has a concern about the earliness of high school days in general. Baskett said that as the district makes use of its newly forming, community-wide committee on transportation, the decision about Skyline’s starting and ending times could be revisited and reversed. A change to Skyline’s starting and ending times would require a memorandum of understanding with the teachers’ union, as noted earlier by Allen.

Transportation: High School Busing/All Busing

Almost all the trustees expressed general concern that there was not enough advance time this year to eliminate high school busing or all busing in a responsible way. Stead disagreed, and continued to push for the elimination of all busing as a way to leave more money in the district’s fund balance.

Stead said she would be more inclined to work on creating an entirely new program for transportation, and to begin concerted conversations with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to work on that as soon as possible. She added that she wanted to remind the board the district had a “horrible experience” with transportation this year. The district had to adjust transportation spending by $800,000 mid-year, while maintaining a “fragmented” system with “little bits of transportation here and there,” she said.

Outcome: Trustees agreed to maintain busing to Clemente and to the Skyline magnet programs. Busing to Ann Arbor Open will likely continue under a modified plan, which will save the district $98,000. The board plans to cut the 4 p.m. middle school bus ($85,284) and mid-day shuttles to and from Community high ($230,184), as well as achieve $266,400 in savings by moving the Skyline starting and ending times up by 15 minutes.

Other District-Wide Cuts

The board also agreed to cuts to police liaisons, site-based budgets, and district-wide discretionary budgets.

Other District-Wide Cuts: Police Liaisons

Stead suggested that removing the police liaisons would cause increase safety issues. She cited five bomb threats at Forsythe Middle School and two bomb threats at Skyline High School as evidence. Baskett pointed out that the bomb threats were unsubstantiated. But Stead argued that students are staying home from school and getting physically sick with worry because of them.

Thomas said that it is not clear to him that having police liaisons is having any effect on the bomb threats in any way whatsoever. Stead countered that when she has talked to principals, they believe that the sheer presence of the officers helps to reduce disciplinary issues. Nelson stated that he believes five teachers will have a greater impact than three police liaisons for the same cost.

Stead argued that the city will not hire these police officers if AAPS releases them, and that the robberies in her area have gone up as police numbers across Ann Arbor would be decreasing.

Baskett pointed out that overall, crime in Ann Arbor has actually decreased, and that these three police liaisons have seniority in the Ann Arbor police department and would be reassigned within the community. She said that a police officer could arrive any building in the district in less than 10 minutes, and that she would rather have teachers than police officers. Patalan said she agreed with Baskett, Nelson, and Thomas.

Discussion: District-wide Discretionary Budgets

Mexicotte reviewed the administration’s proposal on discretionary budgets. She said that a 5% cut to these budgets – which cover building-level costs such as professional development, paper, and supplies – would save $250,000. A 10% cut would save $500,000. Thomas suggested “bumping that up” to possibly as much as a 15% cut. However, Allen and Flye suggested that would have a dramatic effect on the ability of a building to function effectively.

This was one area in which the board included a reduction from Plan B of the suggested reductions – Plan A of the budget proposal had suggested cutting discretionary budgets by 5%, and Plan B took the reductions to 10%.

Discussion: Site-Based Budgets

Site-based budgets in AAPS fund have been available to school improvement teams (SITs) to use as they see fit. Patalan said that while it was a small amount of money, she appreciated that each SIT was able to decide how to best use it to serve that school locally. Still, she said, she understands the need to cut it.

Outcome: The board agreed to eliminate police liaisons ($350,000) and site-based budgets ($250,750). They agreed to cut district-wide discretionary budgets by 10%, saving $500,000.

FY 2012-13 Budget – Next Steps

After the board worked through the list of possible reductions for the third time, Mexicotte tallied up the cuts tentatively agreed to by the board. The cuts totaled $4,805,678, leaving a $7 million of deficit [$17.8 million deficit, minus $4.8 million in cuts, minus $6 million in revenue enhancements]. She asked the board if they would be willing to use $7 million of fund equity to balance the budget. Their responses were mixed.

Part of the board’s decision about how much fund equity to use will be based on projections of school funding – this year and into the future. One person addressed the board at public commentary on the topic of school funding.

Next Steps: Public Commentary on School Funding

Steve Norton reported that the state of Michigan is currently projecting funding for the School Aid Fund (SAF) to increase, but cautioned that the board should not assume this unexpected revenue will accrue to benefit local districts. Norton pointed out that the state may choose to save the extra SAF funding to reduce the pressure on the state’s general fund, which is forecasted to be lower than expected this year and next.

Norton also suggested that the community begin a conversation about private giving to support schools. He noted that the East Grand Rapids public schools educational foundation has raised $350,000 in one year to offset the budget cuts facing their district. Norton said it’s hard to get people to dig deep, but that “we are at a point that if we can’t get the rest of our citizens to move forward with a countywide enhancement, and can’t convince legislators [to provide adequate school funding], maybe we should move forward to do something ourselves.” Norton suggested as an example that the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation could launch a campaign to cover the cost of transportation.

Next Steps: Fund Equity

Mexicotte said that Norton had made a very good point during public commentary, and that there is no guarantee based on past history that the SAF would see any increase. At this point, she said, if the board does not give different direction to AAPS administration, a balanced budget would be achieved by taking $7 million coming out of the fund balance.

Thomas said he would be willing to use $7 million of fund equity, but Stead was adamant she would not be. When pressed, Stead said she might find it acceptable to use up to $5 million, and added that it was “poor planning to sit here for six, seven, eight hours.”

At 1:15 a.m., as the board appeared unable to make further progress, Mexicotte responded, “If this is as far as we can get now, it’s as far as we can get.” She explained that the administration would take the board’s input from the meeting, and present a final budget on May 23. After that, she said, the board can have additional discussion and move forward.

Nelson said that starting from a $17.8 million deficit and getting to within $2 million of addressing it is not bad for one evening. He thanked Mexicotte for her facilitation, and said that he was open to staying longer to continue discussion, but also fine with waiting to continue discussion on May 23. “Then the administration can come back and give us … an option with $7 million use of fund equity, and then those of us who want to can argue for $5 million.”

Nelson also noted that Senate Bill 1040 – a retirement reform bill which as of May 17 was passed by Michigan state senators and is moving on to consideration by the state House of Representatives –could be helpful in resolving the budget. “There is a chance that more than $2 million could come out of it, and with luck, we could be done,” Nelson said.

Stead disagreed, saying that part of what’s driving up the mandated employer contribution rate to the state retirement system is that many districts are laying off staff. She said she is very concerned about how things will look a year from now, because current layoffs are not part of the figures being considered.

Lightfoot said that while she would prefer not to use $7 million of fund equity, she could support it if the district committed to make the next year be strictly focused on planning to be more prepared to make cuts in the future.

Next Steps: Advertising

Just before the meeting wrapped up, AAPS superintendent Patricia Green said she had one quick question for trustees, and asked if they would give her and her staff direction on the revenue enhancement ideas that administration had previously presented.

AAPS director of communications Liz Margolis reviewed the suggested advertising possibilities – digital billboards, scoreboard advertising, and website banners. She said she felt the trustees had given clear direction against pursuing the creation of billboards on the properties of Wines, Pioneer, and Huron, but reiterated the suggestion for allowing banner ads across the top of the AAPS website.

Margolis said that the company AAPS would work with has worked with Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (PCCS), and when Margolis had talked to the Plymouth-Canton director of community relations, they spoke positively of the partnership. The first-year revenue from allowing banner advertising would be at least $22,500, said Margolis, and would be projected to increase to $250,000 by the third year. She noted that Plymouth-Canton’s revenue has increased by 30% every month, and that the terms of the agreement will be shifting from a 60/40 revenue share with the advertising company [in favor of AAPS] to a 50/50 split if the district does not commit soon.

Maintaining a commitment to local advertisers had been a concern expressed by trustees at their March 21 meeting, when the advertising proposal had been presented to the board.  Margolis said that it would cost about $500 a month for a rotating ad, which would price it equal to what it costs to run ads locally in other venues. This would give local advertisers another daily advertising spot, she said, and the ad company would also bring in regional and national ads to the AAPS website. Finally, Margolis noted that many community members have suggested the district engage in website advertising, and added that AAPS would have full discretion to have any objectionable ads removed immediately.

Margolis also sought approval to begin the process of re-equipping the high schools with new scoreboards, which would be paid for by an advertising company and would show ads during sporting events. She said the high schools would be eager to receive the new scoreboards. In a follow-up discussion after the meeting, Margolis explained to The Chronicle that the scoreboard equipment, valued at $270,000, would come at no cost to the district. After enough ad revenue is earned to pay back the cost of the equipment, future ad revenue will be split 50/50 between the district and the advertising company, she said.

Outcome: The trustees agreed to pursue website banner ads and the scoreboard advertising.

Present: President Deb Mexicotte, vice president Christine Stead, secretary Andy Thomas, treasurer Irene Patalan, and trustees Susan Baskett, Simone Lightfoot, and Glenn Nelson.

Next regular meeting: Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 7 p.m., at the downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 South Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104. [confirm date]

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor Public School Board. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already supporting us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

At the meeting, 33 parents, students, and staff responded to proposed budget cuts that would affect transportation, Roberto Clemente Student Development Center, and music camps. The total time allotted for public commentary by the AAPS board is 45 minutes. So speakers wanting to address the school board at public commentary at the April 25 AAPS school board meeting were limited to 1 minute and 22 seconds, which was rounded up to a minute and a half.

Brian Marcel and Scott Menzel gave the AAPS board an update on the transportation services provided by WISD to the district as part of a consortium of other districts.

After hearing the budget presentation, board members shared some of their individual thinking on how best to address the projected $17.8 million deficit facing the district next year. AAPS is sponsoring two community budget forums to get additional feedback on the budget proposal. Both start at 6:30 p.m. The first will be held on May 7 at the Pioneer High School Cafeteria Annex and the second one a week later on May 14 at the Huron High School Cafeteria.

Support of the upcoming technology bond millage came up multiple times at the meeting as one way local residents could have an impact on the funding crisis facing local schools. AAPS district voters will decide that issue on May 8.

Also at this meeting, longtime environmental educator Bill Browning was honored by the board for his years of dedication to the district, as well as his recent $30,000 donation to the AAPS Science and Environmental Education Endowment Fund.

Presentation of Proposed 2012-13 Budget

AAPS superintendent Patricia Green led off the formal budget presentation with a set of prepared remarks. She reviewed the effect that Proposal A, passed in 1994, has had on “the defunding of education as a state priority.” She said the resulting budget cuts have caused the district to feel a great sense of loss and tremendous pain. Green noted that AAPS students score higher on the ACT and SAT than state and national averages, and that the district is also recognized nationally for success in arts and athletics, but that “all of this excellence is in danger if the state does not address the structural deficit they have created.” Green urged all AAPS families to contact their legislators to ensure that retirement costs are fairly addressed, and that K-12 schools receive their rightful funding.

AAPS deputy superintendent of operations Robert Allen then gave the board a formal presentation on the administration’s proposed budget for 2012-13. His presentation reviewed the assumptions underpinning the proposed budget, and reviewed the proposed reductions presented at the board’s April 18, 2012 committee of the whole meeting.

2012-13 Budget – Assumptions

Allen reviewed the funds held by the district, and noted that all funds have restrictions on their use, except for the general fund. He explained how schools are funded, and reviewed how student count is determined. Of the slides he presented, one piqued more interest from trustees than others – a slide that showed the per-pupil allocations AAPS has received from the state over time. The district is currently receiving $9,020 per pupil, which is less than the 2001-02 amount of $9,234.

Trustee Christine Stead pointed out that the actual amount is much lower when you adjust for inflation. And Andy Thomas suggested adding a column to the chart that shows the increase in the mandated employer contribution to the state pension system, MPSERS, alongside the decrease in foundation allowances. “It would give a very realistic portrayal of why we are sitting here after midnight getting ready to talk about some very difficult issues.”

Allen noted that, in 2001-02, the district was paying an amount equal to around 12% of employee wages into MPSERS, but that the rate has skyrocketed in the past decade. The mandated employer contribution rate is currently 27%, Allen said, and is projected to increase to more than 31% for FY 2013-14, and to more 33% for FY 2014-15.

Allen said that while legislation is currently being considered to reform MPSERS, the effect of any changes would be long-term. In response to a question from trustee Glenn Nelson, Allen said that for each percentage point that the MPSERS rate increases, the cost to AAPS is roughly $1.1 million.

Finally, Allen showed a slide of three-year projections and highlighted the impact on the district’s fund equity, if the district did not make any budget reductions. “If we don’t cut anything,” he said, “we could make it one more year.” Nelson suggested checking the accuracy of base budget numbers, given the projected changes to special education reimbursement.

In response to Allen’s review of potential revenue enhancements, Nelson asked if the enrollment projections included the School of Choice students. Allen said that although the district is expecting an increase in SOC students based on the move to all-day kindergarten, the projected increase in enrollment is not reflected in the budget’s enrollment projections. Nelson also contended that the “best practices” incentives offered by the state are not best practices as defined by educators, but function instead like “political ransom.”

Stead noted that Michigan school districts are facing the largest funding reduction in state history, and said it would really change the whole conversation if communities were able to regain local levy authority. Trustee Irene Patalan said that while sales in Michigan are projected to increase, she did not trust that the state will use the sales tax as promised to fund K-12 education.

The Chronicle has organized the bulk of this article according to the budget topics addressed at this meeting – transportation, Roberto Clemente Student Development Center, band and orchestra camps, staffing, the tech bond, and discretionary budgets.

2012-13 Budget – Transportation

The proposed transportation budget reduction options discussed at the April 25 meeting were:

• changing Skyline’s school day starting and ending times by 15 minutes to streamline bus use ($266,400);
• eliminating the 4 p.m. middle school bus ($85,284);
• eliminating midday shuttles from Community High School to comprehensive high schools ($230,184);
• eliminating all transportation of choice (i.e., Ann Arbor Open, Skyline, and Clemente) ($266,400);
• eliminating all high school busing ($545,000);
• and eliminating all busing except for special education busing ($3.5 million).

Transportation: WISD Update

Earlier in the evening of the April 25 meeting, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD)’s superintendent Scott Menzel and assistant superintendent Brian Marcel presented the board with an update of the transportation services provided to AAPS as part of the WISD transportation consortium. Their presentation highlighted the results of a parent satisfaction survey they had conducted, from which they concluded there are an “unacceptable” percentage of parents who are unhappy with the service. [.pdf of WISD transportation update]

A key issue, Marcel explained, is that routing is done with the previous years’ student data – because the district’s student accounting software, PowerSchool, does not “roll up” student data until August. That is, in the district’s software, students aren’t moved to the next grade level until August. Multiple trustees questioned this process, and suggested ways to achieve greater accuracy in routing. Marcel also provided volume data for the phone calls received by the WISD about busing, and discussed plans to be better prepared to respond to calls in the coming year.

Nelson clarified that the district’s participation in the WISD transportation consortium has an effect on the special education reimbursement from the state. In Michigan, 70% of the cost of special education vehicles is eligible for state reimbursement. Marcel explained how the state reimbursements had shifted – as the responsibility for transporting special education students had shifted from AAPS to the WISD.

A few board members expressed disappointment with the WISD’s report, and requested additional information. Trustee Andy Thomas asked if the WISD was aware of any industry standards in terms of cost per student mile that would allow AAPS to benchmark the efficiency of the consortium, and also asked Green to have AAPS staff review the effect of the transportation changes to absenteeism in the district. Lightfoot also questioned the cost of services provided by the consortium. Patalan asked for the WISD’s suggestions on how to save money in transportation.

Board president Deb Mexicotte said the presentation had given the board a lot to think about, and said, “Hopefully we can do better next year.”

Transportation: Ann Arbor Open and Community

Five parents spoke to the board during public commentary regarding the proposed cuts to busing that would affect students attending Ann Arbor Open and Community High School.

Bruce Tasonjy, whose daughter will be attending Community in the fall, said that the cuts to busing will make it hard for single parents to keep their jobs. He also suggested cutting salaries across the board, instead of laying off so many employees.

Sascha Matish, Jill Zimmerman, Carol Sickman-Garner, and Carol Chase discussed the ramifications of cutting busing to Ann Arbor Open. Matish said parents at Ann Arbor Open are sympathetic to the difficulty of the job facing the board, but noted that Ann Arbor Open serves 500 students ages 4 to 14, who deserve the same services as their K-8 peers. She argued that cutting busing would limit Ann Arbor Open to families who live nearby the school and are able to transport their children to and from school each day.

Zimmerman suggested that Ann Arbor Open could make other cuts that would equal the cost of transporting to and from the school. She and Chase said Ann Arbor Open parents would welcome the district’s suggestions for alternative ways to meet the targeted budget reductions, and that parents can also suggest alternatives that would achieve budget reductions while doing less damage to the school’s institutional integrity. Zimmerman also pointed out that students who are interested in pursuing open education might find local charter schools more interesting if AAPS does not offer transportation to Ann Arbor Open.

Finally, Sickman-Garner said that if the board does decide to eliminate bus service to Ann Arbor Open, the school will need help from the district to ensure student safety during drop-off and pick-up. She pointed out that twice every day, 500 students and their families are converging on one building with a small parking lot in the middle of a neighborhood. She asked if there had been any consideration of the impact of eliminating busing on the neighborhood surrounding Ann Arbor Open, as well as the cost of possibly upgrading traffic lights, redoing the school’s parking lot, or hiring additional crossing guards.

Transportation: Board Discussion

Trustee Simone Lightfoot said she would like to see the district form a transportation committee that includes representation from parents and kids who are affected, and said she would be willing work with the committee. During the agenda planning portion of the meeting, Mexicotte said she would place the possible creation of a transportation committee on the board’s next committee of the whole agenda.

Thomas said that it seems to him, in looking over the budget projections, that the question is not whether but when to eliminate transportation. He said, that like taking off a bandaid, “You know it’s going to hurt no matter when you do it. In my view, transportation appears to be a dead duck.” Regarding transportation at Ann Arbor Open, Thomas recounted his memory of living on the Old West Side, seeing Ann Arbor Open parents standing in line with tents, barbeques and camp chairs, to be able to register their children for the school. Citing the extreme dedication and determination of Ann Arbor Open parents, Thomas said he firmly believed that these parents would figure out how to organize carpools to get their kids to school.

Lightfoot asked for clarification on why only Skyline’s and not other high school’s schoolday times would be changed. Allen responded that Skyline’s day ends later than the other high schools, and would not allow for buses to take Skyline students home and then return in time to take middle school students home.

Lightfoot also said the board needs to be sensitive to all parents, even those who don’t show up, who “don’t love their children any less.” She said she felt the board had a tacit agreement to “hold harmless” transportation this year, make it right, and put alternatives in front of parents. Lightfoot expressed frustration that when people talk about keeping budget cuts out of classrooms, they don’t think about the need to get kids to the classrooms. “I would like us to take the elimination of busing off the table, and figure out real, sustainable solutions after we can study it.”

Patalan said she shared Thomas’ vision of the future of transportation, and asked, “Where is AATA with this – they provide something we need.”

Patalan also said taking away transportation from Ann Arbor Open makes her uncomfortable because it serves younger children (K-8), but that if busing is taken away, she would look to Ann Arbor Open to be a model to the rest of the district as to how to work with their coordinating council/PTO to get their kids to school. “I am asking them to lead this community,” she said.

Trustee Susan Baskett said that she appreciates that folks at Ann Arbor Open will work out transportation issues, but argued that some people “don’t always want to be a charity case.” She gave an example of having a beat-up vehicle that is unreliable making a parent unable to be part of a carpool. “If we say we believe in alternative education, our actions are not speaking with out words… If we value it, we have to put money behind it,” she said.

Baskett also pointed out that the elimination of the 4 p.m. middle school bus could have a disproportionate effect on children at-risk. Allen noted that the elimination of the bus would impact both academic and athletic programs at the middle schools. Baskett said the impact of eliminating this bus should be thought out fully, and pointed out, “Some things we are willing to study with a committee and some we are not.” She also requested more information behind the reasoning for eliminating the midday shuttles at Community.

Jill Zimmerman, an Ann Arbor Open parent who stayed at the meeting past 2 a.m., asked to be recognized, and Mexicotte said she could speak to the board very briefly. She said that she appreciates that Thomas thinks Ann Arbor Open parents are super-dedicated, and that Patalan thinks they could set an example for the district, but pointed out that it would a hard burden for Ann Arbor Open parents to lose transportation. “It’s one thing to wait outside for a few days in a tent [to register for the school]; it’s another to have to be at school every day,” Zimmerman said. Lastly, she pointed out that the kids who will leave Ann Arbor Open due to a lack of transportation will be its most vulnerable kids.

2012-13 Budget – Roberto Clemente

The board is considering closing or restructuring Roberto Clemente Student Development Center to achieve targeted cost savings of $400,000. At the April 25 meeting, 23 people addressed the board to express disapproval with a proposed budget reductions which would affect the school – 16 students, 4 parents, 1 teacher, 1 social worker, and Clemente’s principal, Ben Edmondson. Almost all of the speakers reflected on the way that Clemente functions more like a family than a school.

During the April 25 meeting, comments made by individual board members about the Clemente meeting indicated a general willingness to consider relocating the program into the building currently being used by A2 Tech.

Roberto Clemente: Public Commentary from Students

One of the themes that came across in the students’ statements to the board was the importance of second chances. Many students gave examples of their grade point averages before and after moving into Clemente from their traditional programs, and credited the school with their turnarounds. Xavier Lawson defined himself as a former “at-risk kid,” and said that because of Clemente, he and many other students who had previously been “in the [achievement] gap” were not any longer in the gap. Alexzandra Botello agreed, saying, “I became a student at Clemente.”

A handful of students gave very humbling statements about how staff at Clemente had helped them to realize how their previous attitudes or behaviors were only hurting themselves. They talked about how they had taken responsibility for themselves and were preparing to attend college. Students expressed concern that moving Clemente’s location would cause a regression in their positive behavior. Many asked that board members visit Clemente to see firsthand how unique and well-suited the environment is to this population of students.

Multiple students also credited Clemente with being a “lifesaver.” Marcus Buggs said that without Clemente, he “would be dead or in jail.” After witnessing his father’s fatal shooting at age 9, and with his mother currently in jail, Buggs credited Clemente with “making [him] a man – a person who can take of [his] family, and other families – who can go to college and change the world.” Buggs will be attending Western Michigan University on a 6-year scholarship, beginning in the fall of 2012.

Finally, the most prevalent theme was the family atmosphere fostered at Clemente; multiple students called Clemente home, and the school community a family. Cierra Reese said that “each teacher is like a parent to each student. Taking away this program is like taking away a child’s home.” Meghan Lau said that consolidating Clemente would be like “Closing the road to success for people who have finally found their way there.” After she was overcome with emotion, principal Ben Edmondson offered to finish reading Lau’s statement: “It’s like shutting a door to your house and not being allowed back in…” London Renfroe-Lindsey directed her comments specifically to AAPS superintendent Patricia Green, reminding Green that when she visited Clemente, she had promised that Clemente would be safe from budget cuts. Renfroe-Lindsey asked “This program has more to offer than meets the eye…What would drive you to take that away?”

After public commentary had concluded, Thomas asked a clarifying question of Clemente students regarding the medals that some of them were wearing around their necks. Students explained that the medals signified the attainment of certain grade point averages.

Roberto Clemente: Public Commentary from Parents

Parents noted Clemente’s small class sizes, mentorship program, universally high expectations, and exceptionally caring staff as critical to the school’s success and did not want to see any changes to the program or its location. “We want success just like anyone else wants success,” said parent Jeri Jenesta. Andrea Martin noted that without Clemente, many of these students would not get a diploma, and that if they don’t graduate, “we, as taxpayers, will be taking care of them the rest of their lives.” Chris Miller’s comments regarding her son summarized many of the sentiments shared: “He is not a number. He is not a statistic. And, he is not a dollar sign.”

Roberto Clemente: Public Commentary from Staff

Clemente principal Ben Edmondson stood beside each student as they spoke, but said little himself other than that he was proud of his students and thankful for the opportunity to be their principal. Edmondson also read the rest of one student’s statement when she became too overcome with emotion to speak. Charlae Davis, a social worker who identified herself as the co-founder of a mentoring program used by Clemente students, urged the board to “humanize the discussion,” and noted, “In a world of policy, if you find programs that are experiencing success, you ask how you support and replicate them, not eliminate them.”

Longtime Clemente teacher Michael Smith questioned the district’s commitment to closing the achievement gap, noting that some of the students he teaches enter his classes reading significantly below grade level. He noted that Clemente’s current building was purpose-built for students needing the structure, discipline, and family atmosphere it offers, and called it a “rescue mission” for students who had been “lost or forgotten by the district and this community.”

Roberto Clemente: Board Discussion

Lightfoot asked why Community High School had not been considered for closure or restructuring, as the other two alternative high schools had been. “It has this reputation as a sacred cow,” Lightfoot said. Allen answered that Community’s student population is much larger than the populations of Clemente and A2 Tech, and therefore could not be combined with other programs. Also, Allen said, A2 Tech and Clemente have similar goals, while “the program at Community is slightly different in terms of who they cater to.” Lightfoot said it should have been more clear that the district was looking at restructuring “alternative programs with fewer than 250 kids in them” rather than all alternative programs.

Thomas said he was “sick” about letting a financial decision drive a programmatic decision, such as moving Clemente onto the A2 Tech campus. He expressed concern about being able to effectively merge the two programs when they are operationally very different. “There is a huge climate gap with the way they do things at A2 Tech versus how they do things at Clemente. Will it be that they share teachers and classrooms, or will it be A2 Tech on one side of the building and Clemente on the other side, as though they are still five miles apart? I am willing to keep an open mind, but I am really concerned.”

Lightfoot said she would like to see the Clemente program continue without being “morphed.” She was less wedded to it continuing in the very same building. “The thing that makes the program work is the individuals implementing it,” she said.

Patalan said she “absolutely supports Clemente,” and that it is “saving kids’ lives and helping them become the wonderful citizens we all want them to be.” She pointed out that AAPS has had programs share buildings before, that she believes that having Clemente share space with A2 Tech is doable. She said she trusts the principals to work it out.

Baskett questioned, “What is our commitment to alternative education? We know it is important to us, and we know it costs more. So, if we are going to do it then we have to play the price for it, and I think our children are worth it.” She said that this proposal is “bigger than putting two groups of kids in a building” and that “for some of them, to take their building away is traumatic enough.” Finally, Baskett said that after the “transportation debacle” of last year, she did not trust administration to get the Clemente/A2 Tech restructuring worked out by the fall.

2012-13 Budget – Band and Orchestra Camps

The board is considering cutting $60,000 of funding to support band and orchestra camps. The district’s funds offset the costs of travel and staffing at the camps, and are complemented by funds raised by music students and their families to cover the camp costs.

Band and Orchestra Camps: Public Commentary

Five people spoke to the board regarding the proposed cuts to the district’s band and orchestra camps. David Baum, co-president of the Pioneer Band Association, asked the board not to cut funding for the band camps. He noted that more than 850 students attend the camps, and said that they are the springboard into the academic music program each year. Baum argued that cutting the camps would lower the quality of the band and orchestra programs, and will eventually lead music students to choose to leave the district.

Patton Doyle, an AAPS alum, credited the AAPS music program with teaching him problem-solving, and noted that the true power of the AAPS music program is not the success of one school, but the program as a whole. Doyle is currently studying physics at the University of Michigan.

Maggie Fulton, president of the Pioneer Orchestra Parents Society (POPS) asserted that many students don’t have the family resources for lessons, and that they would be disproportionately hurt by the elimination of this experience. She said music staff members have told her the program will not be able to happen without the district’s subsidy, and argued that the subsidy “provides a demonstrable return on the investment.”

Two current AAPS students spoke on behalf of the band and orchestra camps. Charlie Geronimous said band camp inspired him to work harder and be a better musician, and brought kids together in ways not seen anywhere else. Judy Pao added that orchestra camp helped her to transition to high school a lot easier, and that she felt like she was in a family on the first day of school.

Band and Orchestra Camps: Youth Senate Report

The Youth Senate is invited to give a report to the board each month. This month, the report focused entirely on the possible elimination of district funding for band and orchestra camps.

Youth Senator Enze Zing urged the board not to overlook the impact of smaller budget cuts in the face of needing to reduce the overall budget by $17.8 million for the coming school year. Zing, who is also the co-president of the Pioneer Symphony Band, reminded the board of Pioneer’s standing as the only two-time Grammy award-winning high school in the U.S. Zing argued that the rigorous music camps, which take place in August, encourage students to keep up with practicing over the summer, and that the music programs would “crumble” without them. She also suggested that the camps offer freshmen student an immediate social entree on the first day of high school, as well as giving upperclassmen a way to transition back into school after “a languid summer.”

Zing asserted that not having the music camps to adjust to school would cause students to experience higher stress levels, leading to lower grades. The falling grades, she continued, would lower the school’s overall success and cause some parents to pull their kids out of AAPS. The associated loss of funding from these departures will cause a vicious cycle of additional budget deficits and more cuts to programming, Zing said. She suggested asking students for alternative ideas before eliminating the music camps.

Band and Orchestra Camps: Board Discussion

Allen suggested that additional fundraising could be done to cover the cost of the camps. Thomas pointed out that there is no reason to think that the camps would need to be eliminated, and said that booster clubs may be able to help fundraise the $60,000, saying that works about to about $70 per student. “We can do this,” Thomas asserted, noting that scholarships exist for families for whom an additional $70 would be a financial hardship. Allen noted that students do already do some fundraising to pay for the cost of camp attendance, and that the $60,000 paid by the district has been used to fund the support staff, teachers, and administration who participate.

2012-13 Budget – Staffing

The proposed staffing budget reduction options discussed at this meeting were: reducing teaching staff by 32 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions ($3.2 million); and eliminating four counseling positions ($400,000).

Thomas said it is absolutely unacceptable for the district to cut 32 teaching positions after having cut 65 last year and more the year before that. “I don’t want to reduce by one teacher,” he said emphatically. Thomas suggested using more fund equity to be able to save the 32 teaching FTEs. Patalan said she shared Thomas’ feelings about losing teachers, and said that while making those cuts this year could be done, it would not be acceptable to cut more teachers every year.

Allen noted that the counselors are currently being staffed at 250 to 1, but could be staffed at 300 to 1. In response to board questions, he said the reductions would be for two middle school counselors and two high school counselors. Baskett asked how the new counseling and guidance program rolled out this February will be affected by the proposed reductions, and what other impacts the counseling reductions will have. “They do more than write college entrance letters,” she said.

2012-13 Budget – Tech Bond

On May 8, AAPS district voters will decide whether or not to pass a millage to fund a $45.8 million technology bond. The AAPS administration’s reasoning behind asking for the bond can be found in previous Chronicle coverage: “AAPS Pitches Case for Tech Improvement” A detailed description of what the bond would buy and how the millage would work to fund it can be found in “AAPS to Float February Tech Millage” [The board subsequently decided to put the bond on May's ballot instead of February's.]

During her report from the Parent-Teacher-Organization Council (PTOC), Amy Pachera thanked Allen for coming to a recent PTOC meeting and explaining the details of the proposed budget. She noted that schools across the state have their hands tied, and that “low-hanging fruit was cut years ago.” Pachera asked the community to vote on the upcoming tech bond as a way to have a real impact on the budget. She noted that 100% of the money raised by the bond will go to AAPS, unlike local tax dollars, of which only 30% are returned to the district.

Nelson and Stead each remarked on how the budget will be affected if the tech bond does not pass, noting that certain infrastructure within the district will need to be upgraded with or without the dedicated funding, due to changes in state law on data management and reporting requirements.

During items from the board, Mexicotte made a similar plea. She reported that she and Green had attended part of a recent state summit on education, and had found it disappointing. “It continues to be quite illustrative,” she said, “to go to Lansing and hear our leaders speak without ever acknowledging or connecting the dots between the desperate situation we districts find ourselves in and their lack of leadership in bringing us to this place.” Mexicotte pointed out that passing the tech bond is one way that AAPS can help itself, and closed the meeting by speaking directly to voters: “I want to urge you to take back that bit of control that we have over funding and our experience with our students… It’s a modest bond, but it’s one that will make a real difference… Vote yes – it’s local, it’s helpful, and it’s for our students.”

2012-13 Budget – Discretionary Budgets

The proposed budget would cut 5-10% from discretionary funds, for a savings of $250,000-$500,000. Allen explained that “discretionary” might not be the best term to describe these budgets, which are really building-level departmental budgets. Trustees asked for clarification about what was included in these budgets.

Green listed items included in these budgets as: dues and fees; paper; mail and postage; materials; office supplies; field trips; some textbook costs; hourly teacher rates; and printing. “There is discretion in there,” she said. “The discretion is in ‘Do I need all of these supplies, or this amount for postage?’” Allen added, “It’s really all those things you use when you run a building… The discretion is in how to balance them – all categories are needed things.”

Thomas argued that reducing discretionary budgets by 15% instead of 5% or 10% would net another $500,000, which he proposed could be used to keep Clemente going another year, and keep the middle school late bus, which all the middle school principals feel strongly about.

Lightfoot asked where programs such as Read 180, a reading support program, fall in the budget, and if they were at risk of being cut by lowering the discretionary budgets. Allen said software such as Read 180 is paid for out by the instructional department. Green added that there is absolutely no consideration being given to cutting Read 180 funding.

Patalan asked where the funds for School Improvement Teams are located in the budget, and Allen said those funds come out of the central budget. Deputy superintendent Alesia Flye added that most buildings use their money to pay for substitute teachers so building SIT team members can be brought together to meet.

Association and Student Reports

Five associations are invited to make regular reports to the school board: the Black Parents Student Support Group (BPSSG), the Ann Arbor Parent Advisory Committee for Special Education (AAPAC), the Parent Teacher Organization Council (PTOC), the Ann Arbor Administrators Association (AAAA), and the Ann Arbor Education Association (AAEA). The Youth Senate is also invited to speak once a month, as are representatives from each of the high schools.

At this meeting, the board heard from the BPSSG, the AAPAC, the PTOC, the AAAA, the youth Senate and representatives from Skyline High School. Brit Satchwell, outgoing AAEA president, was present but passed in lieu of giving a report. The Youth Senate’s report was entirely related to the possible elimination of district funding for band and orchestra camps, and was presented above.

Student Report: Skyline

Skyline juniors Sam Keller and Hannah Lee reported on the activities of the Skyline’s Student Action Senate (SAS), and described how SAS delegates are chosen from the smaller learning communities within Skyline, and how the SAS is organized internally to work on issues of student concern or interest.

Patalan commented that it was great to have students have a voice and work in leadership positions. Nelson and Stead asked clarifying questions of the students regarding the delegate selection process and the key accomplishments and issues faced by the SAS.

Keller responded that the course fair held to introduce lower classmen to upper level electives had been very successful, but that getting the school to allow an open campus for lunch had not worked. Lee noted that a memorial to Skyline students who have died was an important achievement, but that attempts to change the dress code had failed.

Green commended the students on their presentation and asked if they would be interested in taking a leadership role in developing a leadership program called “Peaceable and Respectful Schools” to the elementary level. She also invited them to participate in the process of expanding student councils to a district-wide “house of delegates.” Keller and Lee said they were interested in being a part of the district’s new endeavors surrounding student voice.

Association Report: BPSSG

The BPSSG’s representative, Deborah Mitchell, noted a number of community collaborations between the BPSSG and other local organizations. In particular, Mitchell singled out the local teen center Neutral Zone as a group with which the BPSSG plans to increase engagement in the upcoming year.

Mitchell asserted that the 2012-13 budget, if passed as proposed, will disproportionally impact minority and low-income families, and noted the irony that this would occur as the district is focusing on reducing academic disparities related to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Referencing the 2011-12 budget cuts, Mitchell said that the coming year’s cuts are “like deja-vu.” She encouraged the district to make special efforts to engage minority and low-income families other than “boilerplate forums.”

Association Report: AAPAC

Maria Huffman reported for the AAPAC, beginning with an announcement that Medicaid will soon begin to cover autism services in Michigan. She pointed out that this may cause a rise in consumer protection issues as new behavioral analysts begin to offer services, and urged everyone to keep the focus on the wellbeing of children.

She noted that the passage of the tech bond would increase the participation of students with disabilities, as well as provide better support of Excent Tera, software that is used in case management of students with special needs.

Finally, Huffman asserted that data collection to be used in assessing whether or not students qualify for Extended School Year (ESY) services is the responsibility of the district. She noted that state law requires that regression and recoupment, critical stages of learning, and the nature of the student’s disability all must be factored into the decision on whether a student qualifies for ESY.

Association Report: PTOC

Amy Pachera reported for the PTOC. In addition to the tech bond endorsement discussed above, she announced that the PTOC would like to see the 18 water stations of the first Ann Arbor Marathon, be worked by AAPS. Pachera also noted that $6 of every entry fee to the race, which also includes 5K and 10K components, will be donated to the AAPS educational foundation, and that other education non-profits can also use the race as a fundraiser.

Association Report: AAAA

Michael Madison reported for AAAA, saying that he was originally going to talk about budget cuts, but decided to share something more “upbeat.” He then proceeded to thank a number of AAPS staff and board members for jobs well done. He singled out director of community education and recreation Sara Aeschbach and assistant superintendent for secondary education Joyce Hunter, who are both retiring this spring, and led the board in a round of applause for each of them.

Board President’s Report

Mexicotte reported on the board’s April 18 committee of the whole meeting. She noted that the board had a preliminary discussion on the budget. She noted that the idea of moving to a balanced calendar was tabled for now in lieu of considering a variety of strategies to use instructional time more effectively that would fit into the district’s strategic plan and other plans. Stead added that AAPS needs to find a way to spend more time with students to be globally competitive.

High School Start Times

Assistant superintendent of secondary education Joyce Hunter gave a brief presentation to the board that reviewed the pros and cons of moving high school start times, based on academic literature studying districts that have implemented later high school start times. She noted that moving start times later aligns the school day with teens’ natural waking hours, and has been shown to decrease depression while increasing academic achievement, with the greatest benefits being seen in “at risk” students. On the flip side, Hunter pointed out that transportation logistics and the effect on extracurricular activities were complex issues that would need to be addressed to be able to start the high school days later. She also noted that in some districts, a shift to later high school start times has been initially contentious among stakeholders in the community.

Hunter proposed that AAPS establish a steering committee to study later high school start times, with representation from human resources, the teachers’ union, and transportation. She also suggested administering a Zoomerang survey to parents and students, and consulting with experts such as University of Michigan professors who have studied this issue.

Mexicotte said that she saw high school start times as “bound up” with issues of scheduling, transportation, and support for extracurricular activities. She suggested that perhaps AAPS could move “7th hour,” during which many elective classes take place, to 8-9:00 a.m., and then students could elect to attend that hour or not. She noted that Dearborn public schools have a similar two-tiered system. Basket also expressed interest in a “split schedule” and urged the district to “make transportation work for us, not the other way around.”

Trustees asked about the timeline, and Hunter said the committee would be charged with making a recommendation one way or the other in time to implement a change in start times for the 2013-14 school year if that was the decision made. Baskett warned against “analysis paralysis” and said the committee should be sure to adhere to its timeline for decision-making on this issue.

Stead expressed concern about the impact on extracurricular activities, and Green noted that she would like students to be involved in the study committee for that reason, as well as for the fact that many students also hold part-time jobs after school. Nelson suggested looking at the reasoning behind the decision of some districts to move back to an early start after having had a late start for high schools, such as those in Minneapolis.

Patalan said the board’s recent discussion on contradictory research regarding moving to a balanced calendar made her question the research. “What I want,” she said, “is to look at the research that says not to do this… I do want more information… I am grateful for a committee to study this further, more in depth.”

Mexicotte repeated that she is interested in looking at high school start times as one piece of possibly broader adjustments to the high school schedule, which might include other shifts as well. As an example, she said that if AAPS moved from 180 to 220 school days, high school days could start later, but end at the same time they do now.

This was a point of information for the board, and no action was taken on high school start times.

Bid Awards

The board briefly reviewed a series of bid award recommendations with little discussion. The bid awards under consideration include work on asbestos abatement, indoor air quality testing, integrated pest management, parking, asphalt paving, and ADA (accessibility) improvements.

The bid award recommendations will return to the board for a second briefing and vote at the next regular meeting.

Consent Agenda and Reimbursements

The consent agenda, which contained only gift offers, was passed by a voice vote. A set of trustee conference reimbursements was passed unanimously by roll call vote.

Awards and Accolades

Numerous students, staff, and schools were singled out for accolades at the April 25 meeting.

Awards and Accolades: Bill Browning Recognition

On the 50th anniversary of the AAPS environmental education program, the board honored longtime environmental educator Bill Browning, who coordinated the program for 28 years. Current AAPS environmental education consultant Dave Szczygiel and parent Nancy Stone noted that thousands of students and parents have benefitted from his work. The AAPS environmental education program provides enrichment for every AAPS student grades K-6 through field trips, many led by volunteer naturalists.

Stone announced that in addition to the years of passionate teaching and commitment to the district, Browning has recently made a $30,000 donation to the AAPS Science and Environmental Education Endowment Fund, managed by The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. Szczygiel and Stone presented Browning with a “local geologic treasure,” called a puddingstone, on which was affixed a plaque recognizing his contributions.

Browning accepted his honor with humility, saying that it was not him that deserved credit, but those that came before him who worked to get environmental education included in the curriculum. Browning thanked the district, saying, “I had a wonderful, wonderful career here in Ann Arbor – I’m grateful.”

Multiple trustees spoke fondly of their personal connections with Browning, and thanked him for his dedication and vision. Baskett, who is now a master gardener, said warmly, “I was one of those kids on the big, yellow bus… You showed me my first wildflower – a trillium.”

Mexicotte said the district was lucky to have had Browning on staff for so long, and said that the legacy he had created would be passed on for generations.

Awards and Accolades: Superintendent’s Report

Green recognized students who had scored highly on the ACT, sports champions, poetry contest winner, homebuilding program students, and robotics team members for their accomplishments, among many others. She noted that schools are engaging students in a number of service projects, such as kindergarten students at Eberwhite Elementary School who counted coins as a fundraiser for the Dexter tornado relief work. Green also noted the success of the local Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad, and a variety of staff accomplishments. Finally, she commended the district’s administrative professionals, who she said are “always there” for the school community.

Agenda Planning

Thomas requested a discussion of the partnership between Mitchell, Scarlett, and the University of Michigan.

Stead would like an update on the possibility of charging tuition to some SOC students.

Mexicotte suggested that the board should get as much non-budget-related work done at the next regular meeting as possible, and then have the “full, facilitated budget discussion” at the May 16 committee of the whole meeting, after the two community budget forums have taken place. (Which are now scheduled for May 7 and May 14.) She also suggested that the board should keep May 30 open as a date to add an extra board meeting if needed.

Items from the Board

The fact that it was after 2:30 a.m. did not dissuade trustees from reporting the following items at the close of the April 25 meeting, in addition to those comments noted above.

Thomas said that there are a few challenge grants on the table in the current One Million Reasons campaign of the AAPS educational foundation. He also noted that he recently attended the equity team meeting at Logan Elementary School and was impressed with their focused student approach. Finally, he invited everyone to the May 3 Life Sciences Orchestra concert in which he plays.

Nelson said he had stopped by the very successful college and career fair at Pioneer High School, and the University Musical Society partnership celebration. He also mentioned attending a couple of Neutral Zone events, and said they were a good reminder of the importance of the board’s community partnerships.

Patalan said that three people have told her there were delighted to have AAPS superintendent Patricia Green visit their school, and that they were grateful for the opportunity to get to know their superintendent.

Stead said that Green did a great job passing our awards to the 4th and 5th grade winners at the Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad, the largest elementary science Olympiad in the U.S. She noted that the event was more about participation than awards, and that all AAPS elementary schools will be participating next year. Stead also pointed out that it took 750 adult volunteers to make the event happen.

Present: President Deb Mexicotte, vice president Susan Baskett, secretary Andy Thomas, treasurer Irene Patalan, and trustees Simone Lightfoot, Glenn Nelson, and Christine Stead.

Next meeting: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 7 p.m., at the downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 South Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Ann Arbor Public Schools board trustee Glenn Nelson (light blue shirt), listening to parents at the AAPS budget forum on Nov. 10. (Photos by the writer.)

The forum served two distinct purposes: (1) to educate the public on school funding issues, including its specific challenges for crafting next year’s (2012-13) budget; and (2) to solicit ideas from the public on how the district can reduce its budget by $14 million.

The current fiscal year’s approved budget is $183.62 million.

The district typically schedules budget forums in the spring, but this year wants to involve the community earlier than that.

A second forum will take place Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria annex at Pioneer High School.

At Thursday’s event, Allen said that the district is projecting a $14 million deficit for the 2012-13 school year. Over the past five years, the district has made a cumulative total of nearly $50 million in cuts.

How the Budget is Developed

Green led off the forum with a review of the main strategies of the district’s strategic plan. That was followed by a brief overview from Allen on how the district is funded, including restrictions on specific funds.

Budget Development: Strategic Plan

Green introduced her cabinet members and other administrators present. She then read the district’s mission statement, and reviewed the eight core strategies of the AAPS strategic plan, noting that the budget will be linked directly to these strategies.

Budget Development: Fund Restrictions

Allen explained that the budget he would be discussing that night is the district’s general fund, or “operating budget.” He contrasted the general fund with a set of other funds that have more restricted uses. Funds with restrictions include: grant funds (Title 1 and special education funds); bond funds (capital projects such as building construction, technology, bus purchases); debt service (to fund debt service on bonds); sinking fund (capital projects such as land acquisition, remodeling current buildings); and special revenue funds (food service, Rec & Ed).

Allen added that a proposed revision to the legislation governing sinking fund dollars could greatly help AAPS because it would allow the district to spend the sinking fund more flexibly, for example, on upgrades to technology.

Budget Development: How AAPS Is Funded

Allen then described how Michigan school districts are funded, which is primarily through each district’s foundation allowance from the state. The allowance is a per-pupil allocation determined by blending student count data from September of each year with the student count data from the previous February, in a 90-10 ratio. Proposal A legislation, which was enacted in 1994, stipulated that state revenue is also factored into the foundation allowance at a variable level, Allen said.

AAPS deputy superintendent of operations Robert Allen (standing), meeting with participants of the AAPS budget forum on Nov. 10.

He the explained how the district’s foundation allowance is calculated. The district’s allowance in 2011-12 was $9,020 per pupil.

Of the $9,020, Allen began, $3,310 comes from local non-homestead property taxes (commercial, industrial, rental, seasonal homes, etc.). The state contributes another $4,476 ( from a combination of state homestead taxes, state non-homestead taxes, sales tax, income tax, lottery revenue, etc.). And, the final $1,234 comes local homestead property taxes.

Though Proposal A’s intention was to equalize school funding across Michigan, Allen expressed frustration that the state had “broken its promise” by not allowing wealthier, “hold harmless” districts to continue to fund schools at a higher level than the base foundation allowance. “Hold harmless” funding was eliminated in 2009, costing AAPS $233 per student.

Budget Considerations

Allen then outlined a number of factors that will affect the 2012-13 budget in more detail: the structural funding deficit, administrative costs, the state retirement rate, incentives funding, and fund equity. Community questions and Allen’s answers have been included in each subsection, though at the forum, questions were held until the end.

Budget Considerations: Structural Deficit

Due to the variable nature of the state contribution to the foundation allowance, Allen said, “As the economy goes, so goes our funding.” With property values and other state revenue decreasing, and the consumer price index rising, Allen explained, Proposal A has caused a structural deficit in the district’s funding allocation of $6-7 million annually.

He suggested that the public should be able to look to the state School Aid Fund (SAF) to see how healthy the state budget is. However, he pointed out that the state has recently begun to use SAF surplus to fund other things, even though the intent of the SAF, as created under Proposal A, was exclusively to fund K-12 education. What should have happened to the SAF surplus, Allen argued, was to be added to the per-pupil allocations of the roughly 1.6 million students across the state.

Budget Considerations: Administrative Costs

Allen then showed a few slides summarizing categories of the operating budget as percentages of the total FY 2011-12 budget of $183.5 million.

One of the slides broke out expenditures as a percentage of the total budget as follows: Instruction and Support – 79% (includes principals, teachers, teacher assistants, counselors, social workers, psychologists, media specialists, secretaries, and custodial and maintenance staff in buildings); Operations and Maintenance – 11%; Central Administration – 5% (includes superintendent, executive administration, directors, supervisors, and executive support staff in finance and human resources); Transportation – 3%; and Other – 2%.

In response to a forum attendee’s question, Allen noted that “executive administration” refers to the superintendent’s cabinet.

Regarding the slide showing categories of expenditures, one attendee suggested it might be helpful to see the instruction budget broken out by school. Allen was asked if the budget allocation for all high school students is the same – for example at Community versus Pioneer versus Huron. Allen responded by saying that there is no material difference between those schools and that the district spends about $8,000 per high school student. He added that AAPS spends in the mid-$6,000s on each middle school student, and about $5,000 on each elementary student.

The forum attendee then asked how the allocations for central administration and administration have changed. Allen answered that they have both decreased.

At the AAPS board’s first Committee of the Whole (COTW) meeting on Nov. 2, Allen reviewed a draft of the presentation to be presented at the budget forums, and trustees suggested adding a comparison of AAPS administrative costs with those of districts of similar size.

The Nov. 10 budget forum presentation included a slide based on that recommendation, which showed data taken from the 2009-10 Bulletin 1014, a state report available on the Michigan Department of Education website. Bulletin 1014 ranks districts on a number of financial data points, student count, and average teacher salary, among other metrics. It includes traditional public schools (551 of them) as well as charter schools (232 of them) in its rankings.

Allen pointed out that while AAPS is the seventh-largest school district in the state, it ranks 363rd in terms of per-pupil business and administrative expenses.

One forum attendee asked how AAPS administrative costs compare to similarly-sized districts, such as the 21 districts (as noted on the slide) with student populations between 10,000 and 19,999 students. Allen said he did not know.

Another forum participant asked whether the “business and administrative expenses” as defined by Bulletin 1014 included administration costs for individual school buildings, and Allen said no, that it refers only to AAPS central administrative costs. A third participant commented that if all the charter schools were removed from the rankings, AAPS would look even more conservative with respect to administrative spending.

Budget Considerations: State Retirement Rate

Allen highlighted the state retirement rate as “one of the biggest obstacles” in setting the budget. He stated that one of the stipulations of Proposal A was to pass on the cost of funding the state retirement system to school districts. He also noted that the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) is a defined benefit plan (not a defined contribution plan).

School districts are mandated to contribute to MPSERS at a rate set by the state, Allen explained. When Proposal A was first enacted, the state retirement contribution rate was 4%, he said. To calculate the district’s obligation, that percentage is applied to the district’s total employee salaries.  This year, the rate is 24.46%, and is projected to increase to 27.37% in FY 2012-13, and 28.87% in FY 2013-14.

Allen added that staff reductions across the state are compounding the problem, because there are fewer employees left who are contributing to MPSERS. Contributions from fewer employees means a higher rate of contribution is required, in order to fund the defined benefits of the retirement system.

Allen stressed that the district has no control over this cost at the local level – there is no opportunity to negotiate with bargaining units for a lower rate. “This is an area where the legislature needs to make some changes,” Allen said, pointing out that every 3% increase in the state retirement rate adds $3-4 million to the district’s structural deficit.

A forum attendee asked for further explanation of the district’s obligation to MPSERS. Allen clarified that AAPS is required to contribute to MPSERS an amount equal to 24.46% of the total amount the district spends on salaries. Again, he stressed that the rate is non-negotiable, and that the mandated retirement contributions are above and beyond the salary costs themselves.

Budget Considerations: Incentives Funding

One forum participant asked if the district applied for and received the one-time “best practices” incentive funding being offered by the state. Allen said the district had applied, was approved, and that the first payment would come this month.

The participant then asked whether that money had been factored in to the projected budget deficit, and Allen said no. He explained that the 2011-12 budget will be amended three to four times throughout the year, and that the incentives funding will be included in the first budget amendment.

Budget Considerations: Fund Equity

Allen explained that the district’s fiscal year and the state’s fiscal year are on different calendars, meaning that there are two months in which AAPS does not receive state aid. Because of this, he said, AAPS needs to have $16-18 million saved to operate for those two months. If it did not have that money reserved, it would need to borrow money from the state and incur interest expenses.

Even if the interest were only $200,000, Allen noted, “that’s two teachers.” He also pointed out that having had money in fund equity two years ago, when the state reduced school funding mid-year, meant that AAPS did not need to lay-off teachers in the middle of the school year, as many surrounding districts were forced to.

Budget Suggestions

Forum participants formed smaller groups at individual tables. But before opening up the table discussions, Allen offered his own view on ways to address the budget. He stressed that the problem of the structural deficit needs a permanent fix, and encouraged everyone to lobby the state to change the ways schools are funded.

Allen also suggested that the district should focus on: increasing student enrollment; exploring additional opportunities for consolidation or collaboration with other schools and universities; and exploring new revenue options as well as cost savings. Finally, Allen emphasized the importance of considering the effect of any budget cuts on equity among all students.

Allen said that the AAPS bargaining units have worked collaboratively, and that the district has controlled health benefits costs. But, he said, “There are only so many cuts you can make, before your community looks elsewhere.” If students leave the district, the district loses funding, which causes more cuts and more transfers out of AAPS, Allen said. “It creates a downward spiral.”

Community participants then met at round tables in groups of four to six, with one member of AAPS administration (or AAPS board member Glenn Nelson in one case) present at each table to facilitate and take notes. Allen pointed out the summarized audit data on the table for review, as well as the five-year history of budget reductions by category included in the table packets, and thanked people for coming.

Community suggestions on the budget, as reported out by administrators present at each table, addressed the following areas: additional information requested; how to better include parents in the budgeting process; suggestions for budget reductions and priorities; and suggestions for revenue enhancement.

Suggestions: Additional Information Requested

• More detail about what created the structural deficit
• A handout of legislative contacts
• More concrete information about what to say and how to say it to legislators
• A list of what is “off the table,” or things the district has decided already to keep intact
• What other districts have done to reduce their budgets that has been successful
• How much it costs to run Skyline
• Administrative costs broken down by building
• Instructional costs broken down by building
• More “narrative” about revenue streams such as grants – how can we get grants
• Link dollar amounts to items on the strategic plan
• Amount spent on mandated programs versus amount reimbursed for such programs
• Budget breakdown by smaller categories with more detail
• Explanation for inequities regarding transportation
• List of contracted services and associated costs
• More information from a taxpayer perspective
• Re-create “user-friendly budget” document
• The value of property held by AAPS
• How AAPS compares to other districts in terms of cuts being made

Suggestions: Inclusion of Parents in Budgeting Process

• Post this budget presentation on the district’s website
• Explain that legislative reform to MPSERS needs to be done carefully – some proposals be considered would be detrimental to teachers
• Communicate with parents via the neighborhood centers
• Give specific information sooner in terms of what cuts would mean
• Get the PTOC more involved
• Contact school PTOs and PTSOs directly
• Include budget information in e-mails from the school – parents would be more likely to read it
• Attend school coffee hours to discuss the budget and get ideas
• Be more proactive in getting budget information out – send it as an e-mail with a link to the budget
• Put a budget survey online
• Explain the information better
• Address lack of trust (related to last year’s principal-sharing proposal  and the  2009 county enhancement millage)
• Address feeling that cash from parking fees is being “siphoned off”
• Trust parents to be more helpful in a volunteer capacity
• Engage Michigan Parents for Schools, which has many tools and direct e-mail contacts

Suggestions: Budget Reductions and Priorities

• Don’t touch teacher benefits – neighboring districts spend much more
• Remove instrumental music from 5th grade, for possible funding by the AAPS educational foundation
• Be mindful of equity – lower income students are more affected by all cuts
• Cut varsity athletics to keep class size down
• Continue collaborations with local universities
• Close elementary schools that are not at capacity
• Protect teachers and transportation – they were already cut
• Consider closing one or more of the six high schools
• Combine or close Clemente or Ann Arbor Tech
• Close Mitchell, then run Scarlett as a K-8 magnet school
• Consider principal-sharing
• Don’t get substitutes for absent high school teachers – just have a big study hall for all students whose teachers are out
• Don’t rely on lobbying – timeline is not soon enough to get action this budget cycle
• Adjust start times to combine transportation geographically
• Cut high school busing and work with AATA to provide transportation
• Ask parents to bring in supplies to buildings
• Reduce administration
• Reconfigure schools with small populations
• Pool health care costs with districts throughout the county
• Bring in more student teachers to increase collaboration with universities
• Don’t duplicate high school class offerings – hold classes at only one location, and bus students around as necessary
• Be careful of reducing class choices at high schools, as it may reduce enrollment
• Consolidate human resources and information technology with other local districts
• Do not share principals at Title 1 schools
• Do not close buildings this year – not feasible without more planning
• Cut the glossy brochures
• Possibly cut curriculum coordinators or others in central administration
• Figure out how to bring back students who leave for charter or private schools
• Help business community understand that we are educating the work force

Suggestions for Revenue Enhancement

• Lobby the state – the School Aid Fund should be used only to fund K-12 schools
• Help parents to lobby the state more effectively
• Encourage alumni to give back by donating to the AAPS educational foundation
• Ask AAPS educational foundation to lobby for funding change [Another participant ventured that 501c3 organizations are legally prohibited from lobbying.]
• Try to get students from Greenhills
• Offer in-district choice between high schools to increase enrollment
• Open up more Schools-of-Choice seats to increase enrollment
• Open up high schools to Schools-of-Choice enrollment
• Increase grant funding
• Rent out AAPS facilities (pools, planetarium, theater) without interfering with instruction
• Increase volume of parent communications with legislators
• Encourage the AAPS educational foundation to raise more money
• Make better case for tech bond
• Need more active grant searching
• Rent or long-term lease district-held property
• Increase user fees for field trips, athletics
• Increase football parking fees on Pioneer’s lot
• Conduct a better energy analysis – the heat is on at buildings in evenings
• Increase pay-to-play

Next Community Forum on the Budget

Allen closed the forum by inviting all members of the community to a second budget forum on Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria annex at Pioneer High School. Green thanked everyone for coming and for sharing their thoughts.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already supporting us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

The information sign outside Skyline High School welcomes incoming freshmen. Registration for Skyline's 9th graders is Aug. 26, for 10th graders it's Aug. 25, and for 11th graders, it's Aug. 24. Tues., Aug. 24 is also the same day the school board has added an extra meeting – at the Balas administration building – to work on an RFP to hire a search firm to help with the hiring of a new superintendent.

As part of the plan, the board settled Wednesday on the idea of hiring a search firm to assist with the selection of a new superintendent. To review an RFP (request for proposals) for a search firm, an additional board meeting has been set for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the Balas administration building main conference room, 2555 S. State St. Update: The date and time for the additional board meeting has been changed to Monday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Early in Wednesday’s meeting, Roberts thanked the board, the staff, and district parents for their support of his work over the past four years. He named the district’s parents specifically as a “great strength” of AAPS, and said that during his tenure, he has felt both “supported and pushed – as it should be – by the community of parents to be the best that [he] could.” Referring to the district’s budget challenges last year, Roberts noted that the collaboration, partnership, and shared sacrifice has set AAPS up for a good year this year. He said he is sad to leave, and reassured everyone that he will be here this fall to get the district off to a great start.

President Deb Mexicotte said the board would be sad to see Roberts leave, but that they are happy that he and his family have this opportunity. She thanked Roberts and wished him “all the best and continued success.”

Also at this meeting: the final projects being funded by the 2004 Comprehensive School Improvement Program (known as “the Bond”) were reviewed; the board welcomed Elaine Brown, the newly-hired director of Student Intervention and Support Services (SISS); Chartwells provided an update on the district’s food service program; and two local programs offering students alternative paths to a high school diploma were presented for the board’s consideration.

Superintendent Search Process

In his first report to the board as the newly-elected Ann Arbor Administrators Association (AAAA) president, Michael Madison thanked Roberts for his leadership, and said it will be hard to replace him. Madison, who is principal of Dicken Elementary, encouraged the trustees, saying they were “up to the task” and that they had the principals’ support. “Whatever you decide to do, we back you 100 percent.” [The AAAA was the only association to report at this meeting.]

Before beginning an open-ended dialogue about how trustees felt the board should proceed, Mexicotte took a minute to review the legal obligations of the board regarding the superintendent transition.

Search Process: Legal Obligations

The board was briefed by legal counsel before the meeting, Mexicotte said, and clarified the following legalities:

• The AAPS is required to have a superintendent — and only one — at all times;
• An interim superintendent cannot overlap an active superintendent;
• There cannot be “co-superintendents”;
• It is the board’s responsibility to select and evaluate the superintendent;
• All the work related to superintendent selection must be done by at least four board members at a time; no sub-quorum meetings are allowable;
• The board is allowed to use assistance in identifying applicants, i.e., by hiring a search firm; and
• Some qualifications of applicants can be reviewed in closed session, but any decisions must be made in open session.

Board secretary Glenn Nelson clarified that an interim or new superintendent could arrive at the Balas administration building a week or two before he or she was to begin work as part of a transition process, as long as at any point in time, it is clear who the one superintendent is.

Search Process: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Mexicotte then posed a set of questions to the board, and opened up the floor for their general comments on any of the following: What do we need now? What will we need through June? What should our criteria be for a superintendent and for interim leadership? When should we begin a permanent search process? If we choose to have an interim, would that person be eligible to apply for the permanent position? How will we be continuing the work of educating in the meantime?

At first, board members began to respond by sharing pieces of Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analyses – it appeared they had completed the analyses individually before the meeting.

Nelson suggested that updating the strategic plan and continuing to study the high school climate data were opportunities. He named community engagement as a challenge, especially with the renewal of the special education millage on the horizon. He urged the board keep these things in mind as they structured the superintendent search.

Board vice president Irene Patalan reminded her colleagues that Michigan will have a new governor soon, which could prove to be either an opportunity or a challenge. She also suggested that the board should not “drop the ball” on continuing to expand collaboration efforts throughout the county. She maintained that AAPS should continue to strive to be a leader in the state.

Trustee Susan Baskett cautioned that the board should be mindful not to lose the goodwill of the community, categorizing that possibility as a threat. She pointed out that Roberts has established trust with the community that “could be threatened if we don’t do this right.” Baskett suggested that the board should be sure to maintain excitement regarding the new school year, plan thoughtfully, and take care to protect its ongoing initiatives.

Trustee Simone Lightfoot added that it is a challenge to maintain focus at the state level regarding school funding. She said she wants to be sure that any “new money” the district gets from Lansing gets saved, or used very carefully.

In the spirit of opportunity and challenge, Patalan said, she wanted to be sure the new trustees know there is a positive aspect of going through a superintendent search. “As a board member, it’s noble,” she said.

Nelson added, “As the longest-serving board member, we are in quite a different position as previous searches, and a much better one. We don’t have the turmoil and problems associated with previous resignations.” Also, he pointed out that interviewing the final pool of candidates was really interesting. “They were insightful people,” Nelson said, “it was like sitting in on a seminar on K-12 education. I learned a lot.”

Search Process: Hiring Timeline and Scope of Search

Mexicotte transitioned to the question of setting a timeline by pointing out that many of board members’ comments to that point were “the beginning of our discussion on criteria.” So she narrowed the discussion to the question of setting a timeline.

She reminded the board that AAPS has a stable superintendent until November, and noted that a national search for a district of the size and complexity of AAPS could take as long as nine months. Mexicotte also pointed out that the last superintendent search – which she, Baskett, Patalan, and Nelson were a part of, to replace former superintendent George Fornero – was “difficult and time-consuming.” With this as background, she asked board members to speak to what kind of search they might want to conduct, and when they should start looking for an interim superintendent, a permanent superintendent, or both.

Treasurer Christine Stead proposed that the board select an interim to take over when Roberts leaves in November. A realistic expectation, she said, would be for a new superintendent to start by the next fiscal year, in July 2011. Stead said it was her opinion that a national search should be done for the permanent superintendent, but not for the interim.

Baskett agreed, suggesting that the board could use September to find a consultant, and establish criteria for the interim and permanent superintendents; collect community input in October; appoint an interim in November; and call for applications for a permanent superintendent in January. She noted, “I don’t think anyone with a good conscience would leave their district at this point in the year.”

Nelson said he believed that a national search was useful and important. He pointed out that even if the board ends up choosing an internal candidate, that person would know he or she won while competing against a wider group. Nelson agreed that a national search would demand a timeline such as the one outlined by Stead. In selecting an interim, Nelson suggested that the board be “as expeditious as possible. It would be nice if it were all done somewhere in October,” he said. Nelson explained that his reasoning was based on the fact that while Roberts would be very good while he’s here, he’s moving on.

Patalan pointed out that since Roberts is here until November, an interim could learn from him for over a month if the board moved efficiently.

Lightfoot added, “I’d like us to look nationally, but welcome local.” She pointed out that with the economic downturn here, it could be a great service to hire someone from Michigan.

Search Process: The Search Firm – To RFP or Not to RFP?

Stead suggested seeking support for vetting interim and permanent candidates within the next week by seeking “an advisory firm who would partner with us for guidance.” Baskett agreed that a consultant would be helpful, and Nelson and Patalan agreed even more strongly. Nelson stated that a “search is a specialty kind of thing,” and suggested the board move quickly to get “expert help.” Patalan said simply that “the partner search is paramount.”

Mexicotte reviewed how the last time the board did a superintendent search, they engaged a search firm very early on. She pointed out that a search firm could even be used to “articulate an interim selection process.” Last time, she continued, the board interviewed search firms in a study session. Mexicotte suggested that the board try to get a search firm in place by the Sept. 29 board meeting.

Baskett said it was doable to get a firm in place by Sept. 29. Last time, she recalled, the board did a conference call during the interviews. “We could use Skype now,” she added. Nelson stated that he also likes Sept. 29 as a target date for appointing a professional search partner.

At that point, the discussion segued to a discussion of challenges that the board had experienced in selecting a search firm when hiring Roberts, and whether or not crafting a request for proposals (RFP) could mitigate those challenges this time around.

The key point of contention last time was due to the fact that AAPS was interested in engaging the community in the search process, which is not common practice. Mexicotte recalled that last time, the board repeatedly had to articulate to each firm what a search process with AAPS might include. She continued, “We had some search firms say ‘this will be a little different in Ann Arbor — engaging the stakeholders.’”

Baskett agreed, “Some of the firms last time forgot that we were the client. We need to be clear with the search firms that we are in charge. We are ultimately accountable — we need to live with our superintendent and our constituents.”

Mexicotte asked the three other board members who were part of the last superintendent search whether they felt the community engagement piece worked well last time. Baskett, Patalan, and Nelson all said that they thought it was a valuable part of the process. Mexicotte pointed out that if the board wants to have the community be involved this time, then “we don’t want [search firms] to come with a plan that has no community involvement, for example.”

Stead argued that issuing a formal RFP would lead to a better match, and volunteered to “take a crack” at writing up the scope of work. Roberts asked whether an RFP directed at finding a search firm had been issued during the last superintendent search, and suggested that if there was one, it could be pulled out and revised. Amy Osinski, executive secretary to the board, answered that last time the board did not issue a detailed RFP, but instead simply invited search firms to make a pitch during their interview.

Patalan questioned whether the board should really ask Stead to do the work of writing an RFP. She suggested simply inviting four firms to present at the next meeting instead.

Nelson disagreed. “I’m thinking differently,” he said, “Last time we did that, and it was clear that at least one firm was not a good match.” Stating that it was a waste of both the firm’s and the board’s time to go through a fruitless interview, he suggested that “having an RFP sets that stage that we’re in charge.”

Stead added that an RFP could include the board’s suggested timeline, as well as a delineated list of roles and responsibilities to make it clear that the firm will be in an advisory role.

Mexicotte said she tends to think, if the board is able to articulate what it means by “community engagement” in an RFP, then the selection of a search firm can become “more about the chemistry.” With apparent tongue in cheek, Mexicotte said she would like to schedule an extra regular meeting to “do that noble work” referred to earlier by Patalan, and approve the RFP. She asked Stead whether the draft RFP could be done within a week.

Stead suggested that she could have a draft RFP ready by Monday or Tuesday of next week. Of the two days, Lightfoot said Tuesday was better for her, and Patalan added that afternoon was the best time of day for her on Tuesday.

Mexicotte asked the trustees to contact her with their best hour-long slot on Tuesday afternoon, and reminded them that discussion at this extra meeting would be focused on what is important in selecting a search firm. Roberts suggested that if the RFP were completed on Tuesday, it could go out by Friday, and asked Mexicotte when the board would want the search firms’ proposals back. Mexicotte suggested that perhaps proposals should be back by Sept. 10, with the board set to interview prospective firms the week of Sept. 20.

[The extra, regular board meeting was set for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the Balas administration building main conference room, 2555 S. State St.]

Comprehensive School Improvement Program Nearing Completion

Two agenda items at the meeting were related to the wrap-up of spending the $240 million Comprehensive School Improvement Program (CSIP) funding (known as “the Bond”), approved by voters in 2004: facilities projects, and technology upgrades.

CSIP: Facilities Projects

As part of the bond, work has been completed or is being completed this summer at each of the district’s schools. Randy Trent, executive director of physical properties, presented an update to the board on the construction and renovation projects being completed this summer as the last of the CSIP initiatives.

Trent began by reviewing the accessibility/ADA exterior work being done at Allen, Haisley, Scarlett, and Stone schools, as well as the transportation building – each project includes the installation of a properly-sloped sidewalk with necessary handrails. In addition, he said, ADA signage has been completed outside of all classrooms, which includes Braille notation at proper heights.

Trent said the rest of the outside work being completed this summer is asphalt, parking lot, or driveway replacement [at Angell, Carpenter, Mitchell, Thurston, Clague, Scarlett, Slauson, and Tappan] or partial roof replacement [at Clague, Forsythe, Mitchell, Northside, Preschool, Slauson, and Huron]. The remainder of the inside bond work is at Pioneer High School, he explained, which includes renovations of the cafeteria, the book depository, the SISS suite, and administrative offices. Pioneer will also undergo a partial roof replacement, and creation of a student courtyard in the area which previously held portable classrooms. According to Trent, all work will be completed by the end of August, except for the outside work at Pioneer, which will be completed by October 2010.

CSIP: Facilities Projects – Thurston Driveway

Trent added that the one bond project that has fallen behind schedule is the Thurston driveway replacement. He explained that resubmittal drawings required to be sent to the state of Michigan were lost in the mail between the state and the traffic engineering firm. Once the error was uncovered, Trent said, the paperwork was sent again and the project has been cleared to continue as planned.

Trent also mentioned that a citizen complaint was filed against the project, but was dismissed by the state after review. Nelson asked whether the complaint had been filed by Kathy Griswold, and Trent confirmed that it had been. Stead asked whether the complaint caused the delay that the project is now facing, and asked whether there would be an additional cost associated with the delay. Trent answered that, though the complaint may have contributed, the main cause of the delay was the paperwork resubmittal. He said AAPS would bear some additional costs in terms of overtime pay, but that the driveway would definitely be completed before school starts, or even up to a week early, depending on the weather.

Griswold is a former AAPS school board member and member of the School Transportation Safety Committee, a co-committee of AAPS, the city of Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw County. She was present at Wednesday’s meeting, but did not address the board. However, in response to “being accused of delaying the project at the [board] meeting,” Griswold contacted Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office on Friday, and asked the governor to intervene. A press release issued by Griswold states that she requested that Granholm to direct the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG) to issue a stop work order on the project, and create a new site plan that still allows a new driveway to be completed before Sept. 7 – the start of school.

Griswold’s press release also states that the Thurston driveway design is the same as the design proposed to replace the King driveway four years ago, which she says was rejected by the King community. Trent offered this statement to The Chronicle in response to Griswold’s claims: “The plan at King school, just as at Thurston, was designed by traffic engineers as part of the district process. The King community rejected their plan for a wide range of reasons, and the driveway King currently has is not unsafe. Thurston approved their plan, so the district has proceeded with the new traffic plan there.”

CSIP: Facilities Projects – Questions and Comments

Lightfoot asked for clarification about what “working on punchlist” means. The phrase had appeared in the PowerPoint presentation Trent made at the meeting. Trent explained that the punchlist is the list of items the district approves after the contractors have finished their work. A common example, he said, is to be sure that grass grows in thick enough in the areas that the contractor seeded on the sides of an asphalt project.

Baskett asked whose responsibility it was to check off the items on each punchlist. Trent acknowledged that ultimately it was his responsibility, but that building principals also played a role in monitoring the completion of their schools’ projects.

Nelson asked why the preschool needed a partial roof replacement when it was just built recently as part of the bond. Trent explained that the Ann Arbor Preschool and Family Center was created by taking two older buildings owned by the district (Balas II and Balas III), and adding a new, central core to make the preschool. The two older buildings, he said, are what required the roof upgrades, as they were warehouses before they were administration buildings. Trent also pointed out that by renovating Balas II and Balas III to create the preschool, the district converted 40,000 square feet of administrative space into instructional space.

Patalan asked if the watershed project at Pioneer would be complete in time for the University of Michigan football season. The district contracts out the Pioneer lawn for football parking. Mexicotte tacked on the question, “And can you remind us how that project was funded?”

Trent answered that the Allen Creek watershed project is complete. “Grass is growing,” he said, “fences, trees, and signage are in place.” The project was paid for, Trent explained, with a combination of federal, state, county, and city funding. “The AAPS did not pay any part of the project,” he stated, “We just allowed them to do the work.”

Many members of the board expressed an interest in hosting some sort of celebration in recognition of the completion of the bond projects. Nelson noted that the bond was a major investment by the community that is now paying off, and Patalan recalled, “It was hard work to get this [bond] passed.”

As part of his AAAA report, Madison also thanked Trent and his team for “working so hard in such a small amount of time” to get the schools ready to start the new year.

Trent said that he’d like to do a presentation to the board when all the bond work is complete, saying he “may even wear a tuxedo.” Trent thanked everyone in the buildings, from the custodians on up, and also thanked Roberts for turning the project around and getting it back on track four years ago.

CSIP: Technology Upgrades

Robert Allen, deputy superintendent of operations, Monique Uzelac, director of instructional technology, and John Van Riper from the district’s technology department recommended three technology upgrades to the board:

• A 12-pair fiber expansion to Skyline High, which was part of the original plan for the district’s newest high school, and which will bring it up to par with the other high schools ($69,000);
• A 10 Gig switch upgrade, which Van Riper described as “a bigger pipe” needed to allow full delivery of instruction for all course offerings ($230,000); and,
• The replacement of approximately 700 laptops used at Pioneer and Huron, because those currently in use are five or six years old and are not able to run some of the newest software purchased by the district ($759,000).

Baskett asked how soon after this upgrade would AAPS need “an even bigger pipe.” Van Riper said the 10 Gig upgrade being requested would last for at least five years, if not longer. Lightfoot confirmed that all funding for these upgrades would be coming from the bond fund.

Uzelac explained that the laptops, which are the largest part of this proposed expense, have seen heavy use by high school students. “Technology in this district does not go unused,” she said. Allen added, “We have gotten our money’s worth out of this equipment.”

The board’s planning committee had reviewed this proposal at its August meeting. Patalan, who chairs the committee, agreed with the sentiment shared by Allen above: “Technology needs to be refreshed — it’s the nature of the beast.”

Outcome: The recommendations totaled $1,058,000 in spending, all coming out of the remaining bond funds. They came to the board as a first briefing item, and will be considered for approval at the board’s next regular meeting.

New SISS Administrator Hired

As part of his superintendent’s report at the meeting, Roberts introduced Elaine Brown as the new administrator of Student Intervention and Support Services (SISS). She comes from the Southfield Public Schools, and has been at AAPS for a week, Roberts said, adding, “We are very fortunate to have her.” Brown came to the podium for a moment and thanked everyone for being so welcoming. Mexicotte officially welcomed her to the district.

Food Service Update

Chartwells food service director for AAPS, David Lahey, along with his regional manager, presented an update on the food service they provide to the district.

Beginning with the first meal of the day, they described how breakfast at each school is different, depending on the interest of the building staff. Some schools serve hot breakfast, others offer only “grab and go bags,” Lahey said.

Baskett asked whether breakfast was available at every school, and Lahey answered that it will be this year. Last school year, he said, breakfast was served at every school except for Community High.

Chartwells’ regional manager explained that 18.6% of AAPS students are allowed a free or reduced-price lunch (FRL), but that they don’t all take advantage of it. The percentage of FRL-eligible students who choose to eat a Chartwells lunch at school is increasing, she said, likely due to higher economic need among these students. Baskett and Lightfoot asked for clarification about the percentage of AAPS students actually using the FRL program, and Chartwells staff said about 13-14% of all students are taking advantage of the option. So, there are still 4-5% of AAPS students who qualify for FRL, but who are not using it.

Overall, the number of AAPS students who participate in the meal program has increased each year, since the inception of the Chartwells program in AAPS, which Chartwells staff attributes to “kids now being more in tune with healthier choices.” In 2006-07, 33% of students participated. In 2007-08, that percentage rose to 36%, and in 2008-09 to 39%. During last year (2009-10), 40.5% of AAPS students participated in the Chartwells lunch program, according to Chartwells.

Chartwells’ staff then presented the results of a survey they did with students at Skyline, Pioneer, and Forsythe. The survey covered topics such as food quality, taste, and customer service. Nelson noted that students at Skyline rated Chartwells higher on the survey than students at the other two schools, and Chartwells’ staff responded that the company employs a different marketing campaign at Skyline called “environments,” which is more geared to cooking from scratch and having variety. The “environments program,” Chartwells staff said, would be rolled out throughout the rest of the district over the next school year.

Nelson said he appreciated Chartwells “making use of Skyline” to try out the new marketing approach. Stead asked how much variability there is in the offerings among schools, and Lahey answered that not much was different about the actual food. “It’s more about how the food is presented,” he said, such as using less wrapping.

Next, Chartwells’ staff presented the results of a survey they had given to school principals about their service. The principals were overwhelmingly supportive of Chartwells on all accounts, they said.

The report ended with a summary of elements of the Chartwells program, including using “Farm Fresh Food” three times a week; serving fresh fruit and vegetable bars; offering cooking demonstrations, especially at the preschool; and cooking on location without deep frying at the elementary schools.

In addition, Mitchell, Stone, and Clemente schools offer universal breakfast, where every student is allowed to eat breakfast for no charge. Mitchell and Stone also offer a dinner program Monday through Thursday that serves a combined 100 students who stay after school for enrichment activities.

Lastly, Chartwells’ staff highlighted the program’s community outreach. For example, they aid in the distribution of backpacks of food donated by the nonprofit Food Gatherers to students at Mitchell who take the backpacks home on the weekends. Chartwells also provided chicken dinners to each preschool family last year.

Stead commended Chartwells’ community involvement, saying that it was not expected, but much appreciated, for a vendor to be so engaged. Roberts also praised Chartwells, and Lahey in particular, saying “It’s not easy to provide food that kids will eat within our strict wellness policy.” Baskett thanked Chartwells for allowing nonprofits and local organizations to use school kitchens.

Allen then came to the podium. He pointed out that Chartwells has been very collaborative when making adjustments to their programs in response to feedback from the district.

Baskett asked about the status of the food vendor’s contract with AAPS, and Allen explained that it is a 5-year contract that has been renewed every year.

Lightfoot asked Allen whether having contracted with Chartwells for the past four years was a financially beneficial move for the district to have made. Allen answered that it has been beneficial. The money generated by the food service program, he said, has returned over $1 million to the district’s general fund over the past three years. Prior to hiring Chartwells, Allen added, the district’s food service program had an approximately $1.2 million deficit.

Lightfoot also brought some levity to the meeting by asking, “At what point do the cheese sandwiches kick in?” She explained that her daughter came home one day and said that she was offered only cheese sandwiches all day, since her parents had not paid their food service bill. Lahey said that the cheese sandwiches kick in if parents owe more than $12.50 on their bill, and Allen added that the district offers an automated system called Meal Pay Plus, allowing parents to see what their kids have chosen at each meal. Meal Pay Plus, Allen said, can also be set to alert you when the fund balance gets down to a certain level.

Lightfoot thanked Lahey and Allen for their responses. Mexicotte thanked Lightfoot for her question, saying that it offers proof there is no favoritism at play in the lunch payment system.

Two New Paths to an AAPS High School Diploma

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board heard presentations on two local programs offering optional paths to receiving a high school diploma — the Early College Alliance (ECA) and the Widening Advancement for Youth (WAY) Washtenaw program.

Diploma Path: Early College Alliance

David Duggar Dugger, director of the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University (ECA at EMU), returned to address the board on Wednesday after being cut off midway through his last presentation due to a tornado warning that interrupted the June 23 board meeting.

Dugger explained that the genesis for ECA came from looking at ways within Washtenaw County to collaborate to meet the needs of a subset of students. Describing ECA as “the right school for about 150 kids per year,” Dugger explained that ECA’s design is based on the design of Washtenaw Technical Middle College. The key element of the design is that students are given additional time, up to an extra year of high school, without affecting the district’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a component of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. He also noted that 30% of ECA’s student body is reserved for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Baskett asked how old the program is, and Dugger answered that it began in 2007, but that the model has been around for 15 years. Current ECA membership includes the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD), EMU, and the public school districts of Chelsea, Milan, Lincoln, Whitmore Lake, and Ypsilanti. Willow Run is joining in 2011, Dugger said, and AAPS has the option of joining in 2011 too, if the district commits to participating in the program by the end of September 2010.

Dugger explained that many students in ECA are not in public education at all – many come instead from homeschooling or private schools. A significant aspect of the ECA, Dugger added, is to “teach kids how to negotiate their way through bureaucracy.” The upside for EMU, he said, is that many students continue at EMU after finishing the ECA.

ECA is funded by a transfer of the state foundation allowance. If a student from a local district chooses ECA, the district retains 12% of that student’s state, per-pupil allowance, and 88% follows the student to ECA. Students apply to ECA through their home districts, and their home districts grant their diplomas, too. When they graduate (within five years instead of four), they not only have a high school diploma, but up to 60 college credits at no cost to them.

Stead asked who teaches ECA classes, and Dugger explained that students attend classes by dedicated ECA teachers drawn from participating districts, or EMU faculty. All classes are conducted on EMU’s campus. In response to a question from Baskett, Dugger said that ECA pays for books as well as any other required materials.

Baskett asked how parental input is taken into account in ECA, given that there is not a PTO like in high school, nor are parents paying tuition, as they might for a traditional college. Dugger said there is a parent group, but also each content instructor acts as a mentor for students and a point of contact for families.

Baskett indicated she thought that the quality of academic advising at EMU is poor, and asked if ECA connects students to EMU advisors at the conclusion of the program if students are continuing at EMU. Dugger said they do, and agreed in general about the quality of the advising. He also pointed out that the ECA essentially acts as an ongoing focus group for EMU because if there is a problem among ECA students, it is likely a systemic problem affecting the wider student body.

Regarding the portion of the program reserved for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, Baskett asked how that affects the lottery admission system. Nelson jumped in to say that there are essentially two separate lotteries. If more than 30% of the applicants are students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, there is a lottery among those students first, and the remainder are put into the general application pool. Then, there is a second lottery for the remaining program slots. If fewer than 30% of the applicants qualify for free or reduced lunch, they all get in, and the remaining slots are filled by lottery of all other applicants. Dugger thanked Nelson for his “two lotteries” explanation.

Nelson then asked about the role of the district’s high school counselors in advising students that ECA might be right for them. Dugger said ECA meets with district counselors regularly, but that students do not have to go through their counselor. Nelson was unsatisfied with that answer, calling it “not substantive.” Dugger acknowledged that counselors have perceived ECA as threatening, and that ECA tries to stress that it’s one of multiple options. He also pointed out that having the ECA, along with other high school options, can be used as a marketing point for Washtenaw County as a whole.

Outcome: This was the first briefing on the ECA. At the second briefing, should the board decide to join the consortium, AAPS would be awarded 25 slots for the 2011-12 school year.

Diploma Path: Widening Advancement for Youth

Rick Leyshock, WISD assistant superintendent of student services, and Monique Uzelac, AAPS director of instructional technology, presented another program to the board which would allow AAPS students an alternate path to a diploma — the Widening Advancement for Youth (WAY) Washtenaw program.

Leyshock described the program as part of the county continuum of high school options, and said that WAY targets students who have dropped out of school or are in jeopardy of not graduating on time. The program is entirely project-based, he said, through which students engage in self-directed learning within a virtual learning community. Leyshock explained that WAY will be a pilot program in 2010-11, and hopes to get 180 16- or 17 year-olds from throughout the county back in school. “If this works,” he said, “the program will be in high demand.” Roberts also mentioned that the WAY consortium would lease space at Stone School.

Lightfoot asked why this program would be attractive to a student. Uzelac responded by describing the roles of the program staff. In WAY, she said, students are called “researchers.” A part-time teacher mentors six students, and is in daily contact with them. Then there is a “project manager” who is responsible for 60 students’ entire educational experience. That person does home visits and intervenes as necessary to keep each student’s learning on track. A “technician” helps students to showcase their work and demonstrate their learning, and “experts” are highly qualified teachers who assess students’ work and determine their mastery of content standards. Students are then granted credits based on the standards they have met.

Lightfoot asked how WAY differs from the cyberschools encouraged by the federal Race to the Top program. The program is unique, Uzelac explained, in that student learning is organized around projects, not courses. The cyberschools, she said, are more traditional in that they are course-based. Lightfoot also asked how students who are already disengaged fare in terms of computer literacy. Uzelac answered that there is a face-time component to the program twice a week, in addition to a comprehensive intake process that includes an introduction to learning about the virtual world.

Trustees asked about other details of the program — do students take the MEAP? Will they get a diploma? And, is WAY searching for private grant money? The answers to all three questions was yes. Leyshock explained that the system of granting credit still needs to be worked out, among other program details. He explained that WAY is affiliated with Inclusion US, a nonprofit that is aligned with the Not School program in the United Kingdom. Inclusion US provides technical and management support of the program, and also serves similar programs in Clio, Livingston County, Wayne County, and the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District.

Any students who are enrolled in WAY bring 100% of their district’s foundation allowance with them to cover program costs. Of that foundation allowance, $3,100 per student goes to pay Inclusion US, and the rest pays for the program staffing. For now, Leyshock said, WISD is fronting the cost of the pilot, and part of what will be studied is whether the program is financially feasible. Roberts added that AAPS will be reimbursed for the staff costs associated with Uzelac’s time spent on WAY, as well as Stone principal Sheila Brown’s work on the program. That is in addition, Roberts reiterated, to the rental money for Stone’s space.

Patalan asked exactly who a student would interact with face-to-face within a week. Uzelac answered that each student is responsible for producing two learning artifacts each week, but may not see his or her mentor face-to-face. Mexicotte pointed out that these students are not currently engaged with any adult in any school.

Baskett asked what happens if a student does not have internet access, and Leyshock said the program would pay for it. Each student is also issued an iMac as part of participating in the program.

Both Mexicotte and Baskett asked which measures would be evaluated, and whether standard measures across like projects were already in place. Leyshock said that those elements of the program were being built right now, but that the first priority was “finding the kids who will get engaged and stay engaged.” The hope is to get 180 students enrolled before the state’s Sept. 29 count day.

Nelson asked if students currently enrolled in the district’s alternative high schools would see the WAY program as desirable. He asked, “What impact will this have on our current enrollment at Stone, Clemente, and Community?” Baskett expressed a similar concern, and also pointed that there are students at traditional high schools who might feel “pushed out.”

Roberts responded that the WAY program would not likely have any impact on Clemente or Community. Some Stone students might prefer the WAY program, he said, but the program is really targeting students who were not in school at all last year.

Roberts thanked the WISD, saying that there was a lot of effort being put in by people there to create collaborative, countywide options for kids.

WAY Washtenaw is already underway as a pilot project. The board will vote on whether or not to officially join the consortium at the second briefing of this item at the first September board meeting.

Superintendent’s Report

Roberts used part of his superintendent’s report to welcome everyone to a new school year. Administrative staff returned this week, he said, and teachers will be back Aug. 30 for three days of professional development. Per state law, students will start classes after Labor Day; this year’s first day for students is Tuesday, Sept. 7.

Roberts also briefly mentioned new federal stimulus funding coming to Michigan just announced by Gov. Granholm. According to Roberts, the funding could be passed on to local school districts within 45 days and could return funding to levels seen in 2008-09. This funding is unrelated to the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program. Michigan was not awarded additional funding through either the first or second rounds of the RTTT grant competition.

Transportation Consolidation Update

Near the end of the meeting, Mexicotte asked Roberts how the WISD transportation consolidation was evolving. Roberts answered that routes have been set for this coming school year and are available on the district’s website [.pdf of 2010-11 bus routes]. There will be very little change for AAPS students, he said, and some students may even see the same driver they had last year. Of the AAPS drivers who did not retire, Roberts noted, all but 10 of them were hired by WISD. Drivers will be bidding on routes next week, and drivers for each route will be announced by the end of August.

Roberts also noted that WISD hired all of the AAPS supervisors, and that the consolidated transportation program is housed at the AAPS garage, under the management of a new director, Tom Moore. Roberts commended the significant work put in this summer by the WISD’s Brian Marcel and Winnie Garrett in order to get the consolidation off the ground.

Agenda Planning

Mexicotte asked board members for input into planning the next few months of meetings, and Nelson reminded the board of the high school updates leftover from the tornado-interrupted meeting in June.

Balancing Goal-setting, Organizing, and the Superintendent Search

Mexicotte asked for feedback from the board on how to organize the board’s immediate meeting schedule, given the new demands of the superintendent search, and the reality of the upcoming elections being uncontested. As currently scheduled, the board has a study session planned to discuss its annual goals before the regular meeting on Sept. 15, and an organizational meeting set for Jan. 12. The purpose of the annual organizational meeting is for the board to elect its officers, and to decide who will sit on each of its standing committees as well as who will participate on each of the various administrative committees on which the board holds one or more seats.

Mexicotte suggested that the board consider moving its organizational meeting up to November, just after the election, or even to September “to get it out of the way” before the board delves head-on into the superintendent search. She noted that “it is unlikely that any one of us is likely to lose our position,” but acknowledged that a write-in candidate could still be elected in the currently uncontested race for five board seats this November. Saying that “a new goal has superceded goal-setting,” Mexicotte also suggested that the Sept. 15 meeting to discuss board goals might be better spent reviewing proposals from search firms.

Baskett asked whether it would make sense to set board goals as well as conduct the organizational meeting on Sept. 15. She argued that it would be a way to assure the community that “we’ve got it together.”

The other board members agreed that it would be a good idea to move the organizational meeting from January to the fall. Lightfoot stated, “Things we can foresee and knock out, I’d like to see us do that sooner rather than later.” Stead agreed: “This makes good sense.”

Nelson and Patalan suggested that, though there may be time for other business on Sept. 15, the priority should be kept on working to choose a search firm.

After receiving their feedback, Mexicotte told the trustees that she would meet with the executive committee to decide how to proceed.

High School Updates

Nelson added that it is important to be sure that the updates from Pioneer and Huron high schools are rescheduled as soon as possible. All three comprehensive high schools were supposed to report at the final board meeting of last school year, but that meeting was interrupted by a tornado warning and the agenda was pared down. Nelson pointed out that the high school updates contain substantive information, and it is also important not to send a message to the community that the regular work of the board has been suspended in light of the superintendent’s resignation.

Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge, a frequent speaker at local public meetings, was the only person to give public commentary at the meeting. He encouraged AAPS to continue to combine resources with other districts in the county and throughout southeast Michigan. Partridge also called on trustees to adopt programs that will stimulate students beyond the classroom, such as working on community farms, rocketry, or astrophysics. He noted that his work as 4-H president as a teenager, and growing up on his family’s farm, presented significant learning opportunities to him that he feels are missing in contemporary education. “Present this material not just to the best and the brightest,” he said. “I’m calling for innovations across the board.”

Consent Agenda Approved

A consent agenda containing three sets of draft minutes and a list of gifts offers made to AAPS was moved by Stead and seconded by Patalan. It was passed by acclamation by all trustees present, as Mexicotte noted, “nothing on the consent agenda requires a roll call vote.”

Awards and Accolades

Nelson noted the success of the building industry program, a self-funding program in which AAPS high school students learn building trades by assisting in the building of a house over the course of a school year. Nelson had attended the open house for this year’s new home, and reported that the house has now been sold. He praised the program for teaching students leadership and teamwork in addition to skilled trades, and expressed feeling “inspired by these students and the people who work with them.”

Present: President Deb Mexicotte, vice president Irene Patalan, secretary Glenn Nelson, treasurer Christine Stead, and trustees Susan Baskett and Simone Lightfoot. Also present as a non-voting member was Todd Roberts, superintendent of AAPS.

Absent: Trustee Andy Thomas.

Next meeting: Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010, 3 p.m., Balas Main Conference Room, 2555 S. State St. [confirm date]

Alec Washabaugh helps carry the boat as Meaghan Kennedy directs traffic. Both are students at Pioneer High School. Next fall, Kennedy will be heading to Indiana University in Bloomington, where she’ll attend school on a crew scholarship. (Photos by the writer.)

From behind me comes the warning from one of the coxswains: “Heads up!” Coxswains steer the boats on the water – and on land as well, because lifting and turning the long craft requires coordination.

A peek over my shoulder confirms that the command is directed at me – I’m standing near the middle of an upside-down 8-person rowing shell held aloft by eight women. My noggin is safe for a few seconds as they pause. To clear the boat completely, I’d need to hustle a good 25 feet in one direction or the other. But that seems like an overly dramatic and panicky move. Surely that’s not what boathouse culture demands? Instead, I simply kneel. The boat makes its way over me and down to the dock.

The learning curve is steep. A few minutes later: “Heads up!” The scene repeats itself.

I confirm with Pioneer senior Meaghan Kennedy, who’s standing nearby, that yes, maybe I should find another vantage point. Kennedy is coxswain for the men’s varsity eight-man boat and one of the team’s captains, along with twins Zach and Mackenzie Miller. Kennedy is waiting to guide her own boat down to the dock.

Who Pays for This?

The Chronicle’s report of the March 24, 2010 meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Schools board of trustees includes details on this year’s proposed budget, which features a new “pay-to-play” program for athletics [emphasis added]:

[Superintendent Todd] Roberts emphasized that it was a goal for extracurricular activities not to prevent any student from participating. The cost to participate in high school sports would be $150 for the first sport, and $50 for every sport thereafter. In middle school, there would simply be one $50 athletic fee for any number of sports played over one year. Scholarships would be available, he said, for athletics, as well as to cover the musical instrument fees.

Up to now, the fee assessed by the district has been $35 to cover insurance for sports sanctioned by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Rowing is not a sanctioned sport.

Coaches Griffith at Pioneer High School and Kraft at Huron High say the pay-to-play system will have an impact on their programs. Griffith told The Chronicle his rowers already pay $580 a year. For a fall and spring seasons rower, the proposed system would mean $200 more, pushing the total to $780. Griffith says that could give some of his 73 rowers this year pause. And if fewer students come out for the sport, that will nudge the cost higher still – the $580 cost is calculated by taking the budget set by the nonprofit Pioneer Rowing Club and dividing by the number of rowers.

Not a financial bailout. Huron High rowing coach Tom Kraft empties some water out of the launch from the previous day’s rain.

Kraft has similar concerns. The Huron Rowing Association is the nonprofit that oversees the capital investment and operations for the Huron High School team. Cost per rower per season is $275, which comes to$550 for a full year. Kraft notes that some scholarship money is available. One obligation that scholarships don’t cover, says Kraft, is the 400 points worth of fundraising effort each rower needs to contribute. There’s a point system for volunteering with various fundraisers – a deficit in points gets paid at a 1 point = 1 dollar conversion.

The school system supports the rowing program with funds for coaches and travel.

The rowers are not alone in already paying something to support their participation in athletics. All 38 varsity sports at each of the two high schools have associated booster clubs. The check that Pioneer golfers write to the booster club, for example, is $200. But in a phone interview, Liz Margolis, spokeswoman for Ann Arbor Public Schools, stressed that no student can be prevented from participating in a sport due to failure to pay a booster club fee. The same will be true of the pay-to-play system, Margolis said.

Out on the Water with Pioneer Crew: “A Fool Maid of Honor”

From the dock downstream, to the south, it’s about 500 meters to Argo Dam. Once the two racing shells – one 8-man and the other a 4-man – have made their way to the dam end of the pond, Coach Griffith checks in with them from our launch. Before we’d left shore he had searched the boat house for one of the bullhorns, but found only a megaphone – just a cone with no electronic amplification. He tests it out: “Is this at all a viable means of communication?” The indication from the rowers is, no, not really. But they make do.

Out on the water from foreground to background: Meaghan Kennedy, Zach Miller, Drew McMillan, Lucas Kennedy, Konstantinos Papefthymiou, Liad Lehavy, Nick Terrell.

Griffith starts them off with a two-pause drill. He wants them to interject “hiccup pauses” to make sure they get good “send” to the boat. The coxswains – Meaghan Kennedy for the 8-man and Zack Ackerman in the 4-man – are to call out the pauses to the crew.

We make our way back upstream well past the dock. Griffith admonishes the rowers, to “roll up together” better. We encounter some other rowing shells, and a kayaker who’s out on the pond that day, so Griffith hangs back with his motor launch. He doesn’t want to subject them to the wake from our boat.

We stop short of the US-23 bridge and turn around. The assigned drill – back up towards the dam – involves increasing the stroke rate every 20 strokes for 10 strokes at a time. This cadence is monitored by the coxswains, who are fed data from a rowing computer. The rowing computer works on the same principle as modern bicycling computers that count wheel rotations with a magnet.

Pioneer men’s team, foreground to background: Henry MacConnel, Josh LaHaye, David Chapman, Chris Darnton, Zack Ackerman (coxswain, hand only – look for the purple swatch at the edge of the frame).

In the racing shell, a magnet under the seat of the first rower – the stroke seat – tickles a sensor each time it slides past. The computer automatically calculates the stroke rate based on elapsed time.

Griffith has the boats practice their starts. “Sit ready! Attention! Row!” is the command sequence. He focuses his rowers on body angle – they’re laying back too far at the end of the stroke during the starts. With high stroke cadences, he tells them, they can cut off the lay back – there’s no need to go past vertical.

I switch out of Griffith’s boat and climb aboard a launch with women’s coach Suzanne Buzzell. “Buzz” did her collegiate rowing at Michigan State University. She’s putting an 8-woman boat through its paces. They’re working on building up to a stroke rate of 32 per minute. Buzz is focusing them on their “catches” – the part of the stroke when the oar blade first enters the water: “Keep the catches light! Let the blade fall right in! Effortless catches!”

Pioneer women’s team: Sarah Foster (coxswain), Hannah Graham, Annika Gage, Anna DeBoer, Claire Barrett, Rachel Bielajew, Ella Janowitz, Annie Oldani, Kendall Phillips.

And then, “Fool maid of honor!” Surely this was the distortion from the bullhorn? Or the way sound travels across the open water? [Unlike Griffith, Buzz had managed to snag an electronic bullhorn from the boat house.] A few more repetitions allow the actual words to settle acoustically in my ear: “Full blade of water.” Ah. That makes somewhat more sense.

At the end of the stroke, Buzz wants the blades coming out squared and clean: “Don’t throw up that water!” Although Buzz is focused on giving technical feedback, she explains to me that underlying the technical work is an aerobic- and stamina-building drill.

Well past the US-23 and railroad bridges not far from Barton Dam, we turn around. The kayaker, who’s been following at a distance, approaches and asks if he’s bugging us. No, he’s fine, says Buzz. She asks if he’s trying to race them. He confirms that he is. He’s fine just as long as he doesn’t run into them, Buzz advises.

The women in the boat want to hear from Buzz how they’re doing. Asks one, “Are my shoulders staying down?” Buzz’s frank assessment: “Yes – when I yell at you!” Another wants to know, “Is my handle height at the catch getting better?” Again, Buzz doesn’t tell give her the unconditional praise she’s probably hoping to hear: “When I yell at you – yes.”

Sarah Foster calls out the stroke count.

The practice for this boat wraps up with some start drills. The idea is to start with a five-stroke sequence with increasing power: half, half, three-quarter, full, full. That five-stroke sequence segues into 5 full strokes.

They’re trying to get the stroke rate up as high as possible. After several start drills, Buzz asks coxswain Sarah Foster for a report. They’ve been hitting between 31 and 32 strokes per minute with a high of 33.

Buzz tells them for the final drill she’d like to see a 36: “That’s doable,” she assures them. As they set off in search of a 36, Buzz exhorts them: “See how high you can get it. Have fun with this, ladies! Send it!”

The report back from Foster: 35 and a half. Asks Buzz, “Seriously?” Yep. Buzz tells them to stroke it into the dock. The 36 will apparently be left for another day.

But no.

Annika Gage, rowing in the second seat, wants to take another shot at 36. Buzz obliges, giving them 15 strokes after the initial five, to get to 36 strokes per minute. “Sit ready! Attention! Row!” And 20 strokes later Foster announces their victory for the afternoon: “36 and a half!”

Out on the Water with Huron Crew

It’s a week later now. Huron High coach Tom Kraft and I are waiting outside the boat house as assistants Ted Deakin, Jerry Hoffman and Mike Dove tell the team how practice will work that day. Kraft tells me that Dove should be credited with getting the Huron rowing program started. After helping with Pioneer for a few years, he’s now back at Huron.

Huron High rowers Peter Dolce (left)  and Matt Goolsby (right) before they were asked to “sit ready.”

The workout will be an experiment, says Kraft, combining the novice (first-year) rowers with varsity. Four novice rowers and four varsity rowers will sit in each boat. It’s a way for novice rowers to learn more quickly, Kraft says.

As we head out on the water, it’s windy – windy to the point that Kraft notes that the coxswains will need to be extra mindful, given the less experienced rowers in the boats. He also tells the oarsmen to be focused on the commands they hear from the coxswains: “If they ask you to row, you row, don’t make the coxies ask twice.”

After collecting the boats – three 8-man racing shells  and two coaches launches – near the dam end of Argo, the warm up starts heading north. They start with six people rowing, the other two just “setting” the boat – that is, balancing it. As they make their way up the pond, one of the three boats is clearly zipping along faster than the others. “Somehow that boat got loaded up with strong guys,” comments Kraft.

Kraft gives pointers: “Make sure it’s the outside hand doing the work!” “Get your hands out in front of your knees, sit up tall.”

After warming up, their first workout piece is seven minutes long with increasing stroke rates. In terms of stroke rate, here’s what it looks like:

1 minute  at 24 spm
2 minutes at 26 spm
3 minutes at 28 spm
1 minute  at 30 spm

-

Huron High School oar blade, just before the catch. In the center of the frame is Drew Baxter. Matt Schulte, sitting behind Baxter, is setting the boat during this warm-up phase.

With varsity-level rowers in every seat, Kraft said, they’d do 36-38 strokes per minute for an entire piece. For novices, 32 strokes might be all they could handle.

After the piece is done, Mike Dove gets them started on their second piece – it will be a five-stroke start.  “All boats sitting ready! Attention! Row!”

Kraft notes that for some of the rowers that is surely only their second-ever racing start. But then he observes, “They got through it. And nobody died!”

Regatta: Hebda Cup

Coming up on the schedule for the Huron and Pioneer rowing teams is the Hebda Cup in Wyandotte on April 24. There are around 20 races scheduled between 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. that Saturday. The drive to Wyandotte, from Ann Arbor takes around an hour.