Search
Login
Register

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
March 11, 2008

Contents of this issue:
  • Contractor says DPS owes almost $600,000
  • State implements new graduation rate calculation
  • GRPS University Prep Academy has more applications than seats
  • Huron County teachers win DTE Energy grants
  • Grosse Pointe school board to vote on adding Chinese classes
  • Comment and win an iPod
  • New issue of Michigan Education Report released
CONTRACTOR SAYS DPS OWES ALMOST $600,000
DETROIT — A company hired by the Detroit Public Schools to clear the 33 schools it closed last year says the district owes it almost $600,000, according to The Detroit News.

DPS Facilities Chief Nate Taylor has stated publicly that Aramark Education failed to comply with the contract; however, the company says it was locked out of the schools it was supposed to clear and wasn't provided with boxes, according to The News. Aramark also said DPS didn't pay vendors, which lead to movers walking off the job at least twice at certain locations, The News reported.

Aramark's Midwest technical director, Salvatore Filardi, wrote a letter to DPS Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Allman stating the district owed the company $595,559. Filardi attached documents proving the company did its job, but had trouble working with DPS. In November, Filardi sent a letter to the district's contract administrator outlining problems the company faced in clearing out buildings, including a lack of lists of items needing to be transported to other schools. Aramark eventually spoke with building principals, who then provided the information, according to The News.

"Move managers and moving crews were regularly hampered by limited or no access to school buildings," Filardi said, according to The News. "The moving teams spent a significant amount of unproductive time waiting to access entire buildings and individual rooms."

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "DPS botched move, firm says," March 7, 2008
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/SCHOOLS/ 803070398/1026

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Legislators: Listen to Detroit Parents," Feb. 5, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8205

STATE IMPLEMENTS NEW GRADUATION RATE CALCULATION
MUSKEGON, Mich. — Michigan public schools are making plans for the implementation of a new formula to calculate high school graduation rates, according to The Muskegon Chronicle.

The new computation is a requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act and is expected to lower most schools' graduation rates by an average of 10 percent. As opposed to counting the number of high school seniors who graduate, schools will now count the number of freshmen who graduate in four years. Officials agree that this is a better indication of the actual dropout rate and will help better direct schools towards programs that could help, The Chronicle reported.

"I think overall there's a shared belief that this methodology of looking at the long-term will give us a more accurate picture of what's happening in our high schools," Leslee Fritz, spokeswoman for the state's Center for Educational Performance and Information, told The Chronicle. "That will help us design strategies to make sure every student who starts high school finishes high school."

The new calculation was used with last year's graduating class and the results will be made available this summer, close to or concurrently with the release of school report cards. A school with less than an 80 percent graduation rate will not make Adequate Yearly Progress. Schools that repeatedly fail AYP can receive certain sanctions under the NCLB, but only if the school receives funds for having a large percentage of its student body qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. However, other schools will still have to battle public perception of the quality of their schools, according to The Chronicle.

"We are expecting both the statewide rate and the graduation rate for a number of districts will likely go down," Fritz told The Chronicle. "It will appear publicly that schools are headed in the wrong direction."

Many principals are concerned about the effect new graduation requirements will have on the number of students who drop out of high school.

"There's a concern all principals would have that the graduation rate might have a down-spike early on because of these (course) requirements," Reeths-Puffer High School Principal Dan Beckeman told The Chronicle. "The schools are working hard to realign their curriculum to meet the needs of their students. They all come in with different intellectual abilities."

SOURCE:
The Muskegon Chronicle, "Formula aims to pinpoint dropout rate," March 6, 2008
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/03/new_formula_aims_to_pinpoint_d.html

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Graduation Rates an Imperfect Measure of School Excellence," Jan. 7, 2002
http://www.mackinac.org/3932

GRPS UNIVERSITY PREP ACADEMY HAS MORE APPLICATIONS THAN SEATS
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Public Schools received almost 100 more applications for the new University Prep Academy than available seats, according to The Grand Rapids Press.

The district received more than 220 applications for the 128 spots for the school. GRPS officials hope they will be able to fill spots in other specialized academies, developed through Superintendent Bernard Taylor's public-private partnership, The Press reported.

"Clearly, these are people who are interested in some of our theme schools, and now our job is to educate them about some of the other programs around the district that they might be attracted to," district spokesman John Helmholdt told The Press.

The school is backed by local business leaders and is modeled on a school in Detroit that has a 95 percent graduation rate and where 90 percent of students go on to college. University Prep Academy will feature small class sizes, individual learning plans and an emphasis on parental involvement. The school is operated by GRPS, but because the school is a pilot program, it can be flexible with the school calendar and hiring, according to The Press.

The district is also accepting applications for its other new theme school, the Ellington Academy of Arts and Technology, The Press reported.

SOURCE:
The Grand Rapids Press, "University Prep Academy applications surpass school's available openings," March 6, 2008
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/university_prep_academy_applic.html

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Dearborn: A Traditional Public School District Accepts the Charter School Challenge," in "The Impact of Limited School Choice on Public School Districts," July 24, 2000
http://www.mackinac.org/2977

HURON COUNTY TEACHERS WIN DTE ENERGY GRANTS
BAD AXE, Mich. — The DTE Energy Foundation has awarded eight mini-grants to Huron County teachers to fund projects that help promote and develop an interest in math, science and the environment, according to The Huron Daily Tribune.

Huron County teachers received a total of $3,250 for class projects. A small reception was held for the eight teachers at the Huron County ISD building. Tim Kerry, production manager at the DTE plant in Harbor Beach, attended the event and thanked the winners for helping to guarantee an educated workforce, The Daily Tribune reported.

"We established this (mini-grant) program and the year-old Math Enrichment Grant Program to partner with educators like you to promote math, science, energy and environmental studies that can excite students," Kerry said, according to the Daily Tribune. "Your work in fostering interest and excitement in math and science is essential in ensuring we have the workforce we'll need in the future."

The DTE Energy Foundation's mini-grant program was established in 1990 and has awarded more than $750,000 to public and private school teachers within the company's service area, The Daily Tribune reported.

SOURCE:
The Huron Daily Tribune, "Huron County Teachers," March 6, 2008
http://www.michigansthumb.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19366053&BRD=2292& PAG=461&dept_id=476228&rfi=6

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Schools take a second look at nonprofit foundations as revenue sources," Aug. 15, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8829

GROSSE POINTE SCHOOL BOARD TO VOTE ON ADDING CHINESE CLASSES
GROSSE POINTE, Mich. — Grosse Pointe Public Schools is considering following the trend of districts throughout metro Detroit by proposing the addition of Chinese language classes to the curriculum, according to the Detroit Free Press.

If it is approved at a board meeting at the end of March, Mandarin Chinese classes will be available for middle and high school students starting in the fall. The district has been examining the possibility for some time, and after four months of surveys and parent meetings, the feasibility committee decided it would be a worth addition, the Free Press reported. Chinese is "starting to crop up in a variety of places. And I think in our world's economy, it's a viable language to be offering," Normayne Day, a Grosse Pointe mother who served on the feasibility committee, told the Free Press.

About 140 students have requested it for the fall. If it's approved, there would probably be two classes at Grosse Pointe South High School, one at Grosse Pointe North High School and one each at two of the district's middle schools. The district has already received resumes and applications for the teaching position, and state universities are working to produce teachers who are qualified to teach the Chinese courses sprouting up throughout the state, according to the Free Press.

SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "Chinese classes just need the OK," March 2, 2008
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NEWS02/803020569/1004/ news02

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Undereducated Today, Outsourced Tomorrow," Nov. 16, 2004
http://www.mackinac.org/6886

COMMENT AND WIN AN IPOD
MIDLAND, Mich. — Go to http://forum.educationreport.org and post a comment for a chance to win one of three iPods.

NEW ISSUE OF MICHIGAN EDUCATION REPORT RELEASED
MIDLAND, Mich. — A number of intermediate school districts in Michigan spend thousands to provide a vehicle or vehicle allowance for top administrators, according to state-required financial reports. Michigan Education Report lists those districts and the dollar value of the personal use of the vehicles in an article in the spring 2008 edition, now available online at www.educationreport.org.

The new edition also features articles about the lack of data available to school districts trying to seek competitive bids for health insurance, increased income and spending reported by the Michigan Education Association, efforts to change special education laws, and opposing viewpoints on the question of linking students' standardized test scores to individual teachers.

Michigan Education Report is published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Readers are invited to comment on articles in this issue, and about Michigan education in general, at the Report's forum site, http://forum.educationreport.org. The names of all individuals posting comments will be entered in a summer drawing for an iPod.

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education Report (http://www.educationreport.org), a quarterly newspaper published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.

Contact Managing Editor Sarah Grether at
mailto:med@educationreport.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to
http://www.educationreport.org/pubs/mer/listserver.aspx?Source=MED
Related Topics: Education
Michigan Education Daily
Mon., March 15, 2010
"Some parents who attended a South Redford School District forum recently called on teachers to make wage or benefit concessions as a way to protect school programs." >>
Sun., March 14, 2010
"An ambitious proposal to overhaul Detroit Public Schools ran into opposition Thursday over the issue of dissolving the school board and allowing Mayor Dave Bing to take charge." >>
Sat., March 13, 2010
"At least 14 public school districts in the Muskegon area offer some type of alternative education, either on their own or through a consortium, but the programs are under both budget and academic pressure." >>
Fri., March 12, 2010
"Michigan voters may see a ballot initiative in August asking them to approve a sales tax on services, with the understanding that their approval would also mean education spending reform, the chairman of the House Education Committee said Wednesday." >>
Thu., March 11, 2010
"All Flint Community Schools administrators, including members of the superintendent's cabinet, are likely to receive layoff notices this spring, though the majority could be back next year." >>
Wed., March 10, 2010
"Sara McLaren is taking a once-in-a-decade opportunity to tie the U.S. Census directly to her civics and social studies curriculum at Niles High School." >>
Wed., March 10, 2010
"Research done by the dean of the University of Michigan school of education was featured at length in a New York Times magazine article recently about training effective teachers." >>
User Comments
JackI
Is it true that young ones today are losing interest on these subjects? Obviously, the White House is promoting programs that will help students on coping up with math and science subjects. But, The federal government thinks that the quality of math and science education can repair credit with the scientific community and improve US education with a few <a rev="vote for" title="U.S. Government Spends $250 Million on Science and Math" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/Payday-Loans/ ">payday loans</a> of sorts. In reality, it will take far longer to accomplish than they might think – US educators can't even get students to accept that "irregardless" isn't a word, and the difference between their, they're, and there – our students can't even learn their own language! It's a noble aim, to be sure, but throwing money at it may not work in the long run. >>
beggarsall
I am a teacher in the same county who is presently trying to quit the union. Like Caldwell, I strongly disagree with the MEA.

This article was timely.

Rob Olson
Pittsford Area Schools

>>
rickolson
I agree this is a change worth making. I describe some of the uneven effects of the idea on my blog at http://rickolson.blogspot.com/2009/08/statewide-health-insurance-plan-for.html which you may also wish to read.

The devil will be in the details, so this is one we will need to monitor closely.

Rick Olson from Saline, former school Business Manager >>
MichelleO

Nowadays, saving money is very crucial and properly investing the money can keep you and your family away from the effect of the financial crisis. The sad news is that a lot of the options for short term funding have been drying up. Short term funding is a necessary thing to have around, and going through traditional channels such as banks isn't an option for a lot of people anymore – basically it's only open to Ken Lewis. Installment loans are an option, but some people, including senior citizens, have been thinking about raiding their retirement fund. Getting into your pension retirement plan or 401(k) funds is the last thing you want to do if you don't qualify for any withdrawals yet. The penalties are substantial, and you'll end up needing installments loans to pay them if you use retirement funds for <a rev="vote for" title="Installment Loans Reliable Option As 401(k)s are Dwindling" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/05/17/installment-loans-reliable-option-401ks-dwindling/">short term funding</a>.


>>
QUEEN_BEE_09
I AGREE >>
colonelb
Godfrey-Lee on the west side of the state has been running all-day, every-day kindergarten for several years. >>
BenjaminY
We have a problem in Detroit Public School, their system had cash flow problem for years now. And honestly it getting worst in terms in progression with more children leaving to charter their schools almost every year. The state decided to give the Detroit school districts cash advance of $70 million so they would meet the schools expenses, as well as payment for teachers. Robert Bobb, the newly appointed emergency financial manager, requested the funds early in order for him to get the house in order before he had to start panicking. President Obama has been giving out large sums of money for troubled school districts, perhaps that’s where a generous portion of the aid came from. Getting Detroit Public Schools in working order is a worthy cause.

LINK TO READ FOR MORE INFO:
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/10/state-advance-detroit-public-schools-70m/


>>
colonelb
I am all for school choice and think its great that charters are finally moving forward. However, I'm wondering if the research accounts for a playing field that is not level. I can't take my school buildings and move them anywhere I want, nor can I simply slap up a pole building and make it a school. If anything, public schools need less state regulation and oversight so we can play by the same minimal rules charters do. If you want public schools to compete to improve, remove the barriers to doing so. I will gladly except less funding per pupil if the playing field is level.
>>
karen
The purpose is to encourage non excercising children to excercise but my daughter's highschool gave her an improper body fat percentage and made my healthy daughter who trains 20 hours a week in tap jazz and ballet believe she was overweaghit instead of a person with muscles.
I believe the public schools do not have the right to make the diagnoses with these kids because they are using one measurement and recording it from their arms that they have a certain percetnage of body fat with one arm caliper test.
Does any one have feed back?
>>
deepakp9
Specifically, 81 percent of students in religiously affiliated schools and 82 percent of students in other private schools have parents who report being "very satisfied" with their schools, compared to 55 percent of students in assigned public schools and 63 percent of students in chosen public schools.

High levels of satisfaction among private school parents also extend to opinions about their children's teachers, academic standards of the school, order and discipline at the school, the amount of homework assigned, and interactions with school personnel.

http://fitt.in >>