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MEAP Data Reveal That 5th Graders At One-Third Of Ann Arbor Schools Perform At Levels Consistent With Schools In Nation’s Poorest Inner-City Districts
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT SHOULDN’T be predicated on which of Ann Arbor’s 21 public elementary schools a child attends. The AAPS elementary curriculum is standardized throughout the District, and teachers are uniformly compensated, qualified,…
Ann Arbor Educational Foundation Funds Grants, Pulls Back From Funding After School Buses
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift considers “both organizations, the AAPSEF and the PTO Thrift Shop as tremendous partners in our work on behalf of Ann Arbor children.” Mary Cooperwasser, a former…
AAATA Fiscal Year Begins With Service Hour Costs Trending Up & Ridership Trending Down
WEMU AS WELL AS The Ann Arbor News recently reported on data contained in a Peer Comparison Report released by Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority officials which focuses on a comparison of per passenger costs with “peer public transit…
Interview: Ingrid Ault Talks About Why You Should “Think Local First”
1. Talk a little about Think Local First and how the organization has grown since its inception.
In 2003 our founder Lisa Dugdale gathered the original 25 businesses that started Think Local First of Washtenaw County. In the past ten…
Council Members Sending Private Electronic Communications During Open Meetings
WARD 5 COUNCIL member Chuck Warpehoski, in violation of Council rules and, perhaps, Michigan’s Open Meetings Act law, has used email and Twitter on multiple occasions during the months of November and December during open meetings. At the…
“Retired” Ann Arbor City Employees Earning $100K+ While Collecting Taxpayer Funded Health Care/Pension Benefits
AS OF DECEMBER 1, 2012, Ann Arbor city engineer Homayoon Pirooz “retired” with a pension funded by the taxpayers of Ann Arbor. However, in a scenario that has become common, Mr. Pirooz did not retire. He took a new job—a full-time position…
Emails Reveal Editor of Local News Site And Council Member Crossed Ethical Lines With Communications
NO THEY’RE NOT exchanging racy comments. However, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered 130 pages of emails between David Askins, the editor of a local news site called AnnArborChronicle.com, and Ward 1 City Council member Sabra…
The Number Of Rapes and Forcible Fondling Complaints At The University of Michigan Rose Sharply In 2012
THE NUMBER OF forcible rapes committed on the University of Michigan’s campus and/or reported to the University’s police dropped from a high of 75 in 2005 to a low of 8 in 2010.
Between 2011 and 2012, however, the number of forcible…
Council Member With The Worst Record of Attendance Is Elected Mayor Pro Tempore
AT THE NOVEMBER 18th City Council meeting, five Council members and Mayor John Hieftje voted to elect Ward 4 Council member Margie Teall Mayor Pro Tempore. Teall, who has served on City Council since 2002, has the worst meeting attendance…
City Administrator Defends Refusal of SPARK Board, On Which He Sits, To Release Audit Statements To The Public
Please Note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board.
ANN ARBOR CITY Administrator Steve Powers (below) sits on the Executive Committee of Ann Arbor SPARK. SPARK is funded with public money from both state…