Ann Arbor school officials present plan for Mitchell-Scarlett partnership between district and U-M
Note: This story was corrected to give the correct spelling of Gloria Llamas' name and the correct school names of Amy Pufahl's children.
Margarita Barrientes’ once asked her husband, a teacher at Scarlett Middle School, at what point in the school year he began introducing new material to students. When he told her it was not until October, she was shocked.
“He spends all of September reviewing and catching up on information from last year and reviewing for the MEAP,” she said. “A whole month of the school year is spent reviewing.”
Barrientes, who has four children in Ann Arbor Public Schools, says it's time to try a different approach. She was among parents who spoke to the Ann Arbor Board of Education about the Mitchell/Scarlett-U-M Partnership Wednesday night. Most of the discussion during the meeting focused on the balanced calendar component of the proposed program, which would have the school year at the two schools run from early August until late June.
That aspect of the program was being brought before the full board for the first time, but district officials have already said that calendar will not be implemented next year.
The program is a partnership between Mitchell Elementary and Scarlett Middle schools and the University of Michigan School of Education. Teacher candidates from U-M would work with teachers at the Ann Arbor schools to learn about the craft of teaching and help increase student achievement.
The balanced calendar aspect of the plan, which would include one- to two-week breaks or intersessions placed throughout the school year, has been hotly debated.
Seven parents spoke during the public commentary portion of the meeting — four expressing relief the balanced calendar had gone back to the drawing board and three who were disappointed.
Amy Pufahl, a parent of three children at Pittsfield Elementary and Scarlett, said the balanced calendar was inconsiderate to families with children at feeder schools and Scarlett because they would not all have the same academic calendar.
“This calendar would mean having our family divided,” she said. “It would be a disadvantage to students because it would cut into family time.”
Gloria Llamas said she was glad the majority of people only had a quarrel with the balanced calendar portion of the program. Yamas, who has two children at Scarlett, said the current school year calendar no longer needs to be agrarian based, as it was when it was originally made.
Mitchell Elementary School Principal Kathy Scarnecchia talks to members of the Ann Arbor Board of Education about the proposed Mitchell/Scarlett-U-M Partnership Wednesday night.
Kyle Feldscher | AnnArbor.com
Beth Ballbach, a former AAPS teacher with two sons at Allen Elementary, said she and her family value their summers together and don't think the balanced calendar could be forced on families based on where they live.
She said it would make more sense to make Mitchell and Scarlett into a K-8 campus-like Ann Arbor Open School or a magnet school, so families could choose to go there.
Gerald Vazquez, principal at Scarlett, said the planning committee for the program has been traveling around the state to different schools that are on a balanced calendar to talk to officials there.
He said part of the partnership is looking at new ways to use staff, resources and time.
“A key component of this plan is leveraging time differently,” he said. “Overall, that’s the goal. We want to look at time in a different way, implement programs across the calendar year to enhance all students’ achievement.”
Many of the trustees on the school board expressed their disappointment in the decision to hold off on the balanced calendar for another year.
Trustee Christine Stead said implementing such a calendar would be a small step toward changing the attitudes around education that prevent the United States from competing at the highest level on the world stage.
“When you do something different and new, it’s not always received with, ‘Oh, how wonderful,’” she said. “We have a global achievement gap that’s very serious. I would caution against us being too hesitant to move forward.”
Catherine Reischl, an associate professor in the U-M School of Education, said the program is a part of a serious renovation of teacher education programs at the university. She said the partnership puts a focus on practicing education for teacher candidates and equity teaching for the district and its students.
Part of the program will involve bringing students from Mitchell and Scarlett to the U-M campus for workshops during the intersession periods. She said these visits could help encourage students to pursue college after graduation from high school.
“We’re eager to develop ways to get these kids on the U-M campus, to experience success and then (have them) say, ‘Of course I’m filling out that application to go to U-M or elsewhere,’” she said.
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Rhe Buttle
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 2:27 p.m.
Hey HarleyMama: when I attended the AA Public Schools, we had to BUY our own textbooks... (let's hear the moans and groans now... Unfair, discrimination, my head hurts, I can't buy a blitzl if I have to buy schoolbooks). Yep, want current, up to date school books? Parents BUY the books every year. That's what made Ulrichs and Folletts great... oh, sorry, Midwestern Book Supply Company.
Amy Lesemann
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 12:35 p.m.
Go to the recent article in Atlantic Monthly to see how abysmally poorly the US schools fare compared to the rest of the world. We try to say, yes, but our top kids...It doesn't work. Even our top kids are not as good as the average kids across the rest of the developed world. As a teacher, I see how much kids lose over the ridiculously wastefully long summer break. And then we all burn out during the desert of March and April. Spread the the time off more equitably through the year, create some programs to help working parents (or hire unemployed teachers...there are plenty!), and get rid of the agrarian based system that should have died long ago. Europe just cannot believe we still do this.
local
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 11:25 a.m.
@limmy opting out is great, then where do these kids go? Not every school in Ann Arbor has open enrollment. If you opt out and transportation isn't provided, are you going to drive your kids? You might because you are making the chose to opt out, but many parents don't have the transportation necessary to opt out. Is the district then required to provide them transportation? The idea is great, but the calendar is going to be a problem based on many of the post already stated. Do you need all year schooling for this to work? Don't most of these kids go to summer school anyhow? Ann Arbor clearly needs to think this through more!
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 11:23 a.m.
@schoolsmuse The closest thing that the district has released to a document outlining the proposal is the presentation given to parents at the forums held last month. Here's a link to the document that's on the district's website to that Powerpoint presentation: http://www.a2schools.org/labschool/files/111810parentforumpreso_opt.pdf As for financial information, none has really been made available yet. The only information I've heard to this point is that it will be a Title I funded program.
schoolsmuse
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 11:18 a.m.
Kyle, Where can we find the proposal? And does it have financial projections attached to it?
CLX
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 11:12 a.m.
I think it is unfair to say that a main objection is the inconvenience to the parents. From the discussion I heard, the objection was the district's lack of notice, lack of justification, and lack of parental input. The district made a very drastic change to the schedule without consulting anyone. It's not merely "inconvenient" to working families to have your children on two very different schedules. The district made no provision for those who didn't want to be stuck with this schedule, and were completely unapologetic about it. I think an opt-in system would be fair and worthwhile, but to think that parents should simply shut-up and accept such a dramatic change like good little children is ridiculous, yet that was exactly the attitude of the district - they were quite taken aback that they were being "challenged." And frankly, I'm skeptical that we need to institutionalize our kids any more that we already have - this from the same generation of adults who fought for "flex time" and work from home schedules, etc... We as adults work considerably more flexible schedules than ever before, but we're so anxious to stick our kids into even more hours of school?
sh1
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 11 a.m.
Research shows that the students who do best with year-round and/or extended school calendars are at-risk students and English Language Learners. I think this move is a step in the right direction.
Beth
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 10:57 a.m.
The problem for me isn't the shorter summer per se - if all of Ann Arbor were to adopt the balanced calendar, it would be an adjustment, but I could deal with that. My problem is that only some schools would be on the calendar, which means my children would be on 2 separate vacation schedules. Having a longer break in October doesn't help us if one child is in school during that time, for example and we'd have the same problem in August. There is talk of putting the other Scarlett feeders - Carpenter, Pittsfield, and Allen - also on the balanced calendar. The problem with this plan is that Huron would still be on the traditional calendar, so families would still be split. Also, Allen splits almost 50/50 to Scarlett and Tappan, so if Allen went to the balanced calendar the families that attend Tappan would then find THEIR children on 2 separate schedules. I know there are a lot of families that do want this kind of program, and I'm not trying to take away anything from them - I just want to see good choices for those families that want to opt-out. I think there is a lot of careful consideration that needs to go into the planning, so that parent concerns can truly be heard and addressed.
Chris Blackstone
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 10:29 a.m.
This program sounds great and I would definitely think of sending my kids to Mitchell / Scarlett (where I attended) for this program. It is interesting that the main objection is the inconvenience to parents. One would think that if we really care to improve education in the US we would be willing to look at alternatives to summers off.
xmo
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 9:44 a.m.
I know that as a student I would not like the year around school. Some of us are/were motivated by pursuits that the schools did not teach and the summer was the only time to follow our dreams.
skigrl50
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 9:41 a.m.
What will the district do about staff positions that are not full time at Scarlett and MItchell such as psychologist, social work, speech pathology, nursing etc. Would they be expected to work both calendars? I would hope not. I am glad my children are past this age otherwise I would be seriously considering pulling them out of AAPS for the middle school years. I still have not seen any evidenced based recommendations or hard data. How is this calendar going to affect the highly transient population at Scarlett? There is always a mass influx into the apartment complexes right around Labor Day, what about those kids that will already be a month behind?
limmy
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 9:39 a.m.
I think the balanced calendar is a good idea. But I agree with Beth that it should be an opt in program like Ann Arbor Open. I think there are a lot of people that would put all of their kids there. And I think that many people in that neighborhood would also stay because there will be a lot of benefits with the UM partnership program. Sounds exciting. I have no idea how it would be financed, though.
YpsiLivin
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 8:46 a.m.
jmac, The law makes specific exceptions for IB schools and year-round schools. There was also some talk of repealing it in order to qualify for Race To The Bottom funds.
local
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 8:18 a.m.
And can Ann Arbor guarantee that teachers are willing to work the new calendar? My guess, after taking pay cuts and seeing this board agree to pay new Super a huge pay increase, you might not see teachers signing up to volunteer to teach at these two schools. And due to the contract, I am guessing you can't force those existing teachers to stay at those schools if they don't want to. Another point, money?? Busing all year round, busing to UofM for class sessions? I think Ann Arbor jumped because UofM came in with a proposal and offered the money, but what if money disappears? Couldn't the UofM just work within the school calendar and simply flood those two schools with students in the educational field of study. Don't necessarily understand the need for different calendar.
jmac
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 8:05 a.m.
Could be wrong here, but I thought that, by state mandate, that publically-funded schools could not begin classes until after Labor Day. The charter school my kids attended had to change their academic calendar, which had them starting in mid-August, to accommodate this. How is it that the Mitchell/Scarlett proposal by-passes the Labor Day issue?
harleymama
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 7:13 a.m.
How about some text books for the kids at Scarlett? It amazes me that in Ann Arbor, one of the "brainiest cities in America", my 6th grader at Scarlett does NOT have a Science textbook because they can't afford them! When asked at curriculum night what is being taught and how it is being taught the teacher replied "what we want them to learn." Not here to totally bash Scarlett! They have a wonderful after school program that even has a late bus. If the schools were to stay open until late June and start in August a/c will be necessary. How many text books will be sacrificed for building renovations?
Basic Bob
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 7:07 a.m.
If this is such a great idea, try it at Wines/Forsythe or Burns Park/Tappan. Let them be the guinea pigs and lab mice. Then show us the results.
skigrl50
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 6:52 a.m.
Are they going to put air conditioning in at Scarlett and Mitchell?