Browsing Tag
Deb Mexicotte
THE DISCIPLINE GAP. Put simply, the term describes the gap between the number of minority students (primarily Black and Hispanic) and white students who are formally disciplined and/or expelled from the public schools they attend. Data from…
EDITORIAL: The “Voice” Of The AAPS Board Of Education
THE AAPS 2012-2013 audit represents the best of times and the worst of times. When auditor Plante Moran delivered the audit to the Board of Education on November 13th the BOE discovered that the AAPS has a $9.42 million fund balance. Prior…
EDITORIAL: The Ann Arbor Public Schools & Transparency
Saline, Michigan public school Superintendent Scot Graden has been blogging about his job, public education and a variety of other education-related issues since 2007. In 2009, writer Mark Stock published a piece in The School…
AAPS Documents Reveal Middle and High School Classes Have 40+ Students
by P.D. Lesko
Between 2003 and 2010, while total enrollment in Ann Arbor’s middle and high schools fell, average class sizes increased significantly, and so have actual class sizes, resulting in classrooms stuffed with 10, 12 and sometimes…
Who Are Ann Arbor’s Own 1 Percent? Hint: Many Work for Local Nonprofits & In the Public Sector
The New York Times recently published a feature about the 1 Percent. Reporters Shaila Dewan and Robert Gebeloff write: "Now, the colossal gap between the very rich and everyone else — the 1 percent versus the 99 percent — has become a…
Ann Arbor School Board Members Take Big Money From Unions To Campaign But Vote Against Contracting With Unionized Company For HVAC
By Chris Savage
On December 14, the Ann Arbor Board of Education members approved a new HVAC Journeyman contract with Flint-based D.M. Burr, Inc. D.M. Burr's bid was $66,727 less than the bid of Johnson Controls, the next lowest bidder…
30? 40? 50? — Ann Arbor School Officials Have No Idea Exactly How Many Kids Are In District Classrooms
by P.D. Lesko
Class size: one time when size does matter. Research on the success of K-12 students has concluded definitively that class sizes impact the performance of all students. Kids learn better in small classes. According to…