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K-12
EDITORIAL: Ann Arbor Public Schools Robbing Peter To Pay Paul With Schools Of Choice Expansion
DR. JEANICE SWIFT hopes to attract students from districts throughout Washtenaw County in the 2014-2015 academic year. AAPS has designated 100 seats in kindergarten, 100 seats in first grade, 25 seats in grades 3, 4, 5, 50 seats in grades…
EDITORIAL: Rape Culture In American Universities
COLLEGE CAMPUSES ARE dangerous places for American women. According to figures from a U.S. Department of Justice study, 25 percent of college women will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college…
Bill Sponsor Says Year-Round Schools Will Prove Popular
by Ron French
A BILL TO encourage struggling Michigan schools to convert to a year-round schedule was approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week, and now moves to the full House for consideration. The proposal, sponsored by…
Op-Ed: The Four Most Profound Ways Privatization Perverts Education
by Paul Buchheit
PROFIT-SEEKING IN the banking and health care industries has victimized Americans. Now it’s beginning to happen in education, with our children as the products. There are good reasons - powerful reasons - to stop the…
AAPS Administrator Contracts—Annual Bonuses, Golden-Handcuff Payments & 43 Paid Vacation Days
THE ANN ARBOR Independent used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get copies of the employment contracts between the AAPS Board of Education and the school district’s top-level administrators, including Superintendent Dr.…
Op-Ed: The Education Reform Conversation We Need Is Not the One We Keep Having
by Jeff Bryant
TWO VIDEOS CAPTURED just about everything you need to know about the status of the movement known as “education reform.” The first filmed event was a staged encounter between two prominent advocates for what is…
Testing Ann Arbor Public Schools On Its Release Of Public Records
In May 2012 former Superintendent Dr. Patricia Green told parents to use the Freedom of Information Act to access public records and information. The new Superintendent urges transparency and minimal reliance FOIA for routine requests. …
5 Big Education Stories to Watch in 2014
by Owen Davis
FOR PEOPLE LOOKING to “disrupt” public education, it’s become requisite to bemoan the “educational status quo” — a phrase meant to evoke images of poor kids striving against the impediments of failing schools and…
$1.5M Diverted From Public Schools Used For Ann Arbor SPARK Salaries, Marketing & Legal Fees
Using a tax increment financing scheme, since 2006, over $5 million dollars have been diverted from the cash-strapped public schools and given to Ann Arbor SPARK officials.
WHILE ANN ARBOR Public Schools officials, parents and students…
Eastern Michigan University Hires Van Scoyoc Associates To Lobby In DC
SPENDING ON LOBBYING was down across the board in 2012, but the education industry led the way in tightening the purse strings. According to OpenSecrets.org, “In 2011, the industry, which includes both for-profit and nonprofit colleges and…