Stories indexed with the term ‘varsity’

The Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) board of education welcomed its new superintendent, Patricia Green, to her first set of public meetings on Wednesday, July 13, and trustees gave direction to Green and her administration on three issues: the athletics budget; a statistics “dashboard”; and a technology upgrade bond.

After sharing divergent opinions over many hours of candid discussion, trustees directed AAPS administration to use their “best judgment” in making $475,000 worth of cuts to athletics district-wide.

They also informally requested that the administration create a “dashboard” of district statistics, as required to qualify for additional “best practices” funding from the state.

Finally, through a formal resolution, the board directed the AAPS administration to work toward placing a technology bond on the November ballot. The bond, if passed, would levy a new millage to upgrade computers and other technological devices throughout the district.

The direction given by the board on those three issues came as a result of an unusual combination of meetings on Wednesday.

First, during a planning committee meeting lasting from 3-5:30 p.m., a revised set of athletics cuts was discussed by that committee and relevant members of the administration. Then, at 5:40 p.m., the remaining trustees arrived and board president Deb Mexicotte called a regular board meeting to order, which was recessed immediately into a study session.

During the study session discussion, which lasted over four and a half hours, the board discussed four items – the athletics cuts, the “dashboard,” a technology bond, and the possibility of offering all-day kindergarten district-wide. At the conclusion of the study session, the board resumed its regular meeting for just five minutes in order to take formal action on only one of the items – pursuing a technology bond. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) board of education meeting (June 29, 2011): Days before their most recent meeting, Ann Arbor Public Schools board trustees were hit with a surprise — the $475,000 reduction in athletics approved as part of the district budget had led to the elimination of entire sports programs instead of the trimming of transportation, training, and coaching costs they had expected.

After hearing significant public commentary on the issue, trustees held a lengthy public discussion with the three AAPS athletic directors (ADs) at the June 29 meeting, and ultimately requested that they revisit the cuts. “We’d like some more thinking on this,” said trustee Christine Stead, “and a different answer.”

The athletic budget reductions will be the main topic of the board’s July 13 planning committee and board meetings at 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively. Both meetings are scheduled to take place in the main conference room of the Balas administration building, and are followed by a study session 6:00 p.m. The study session will focus on the possibility of requesting that voters approved new millages to support district-wide all-day kindergarten and technology upgrades.

Also at the meeting, multiple people spoke in support of continued AAPS support of literary arts programs at the Neutral Zone teen center, arguing that is a nationally-recognized program that deserves continued funding from the district.

Finally, the board renewed the district’s food service contract with Chartwells, approved three new employee contracts, and held the first public hearing on a new video being recommended by the district’s Sexual Health Education Advisory Committee (SHEAC). [Full Story]