This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

January 25, 2010

This Week’s Good News!

• The Preschool and Family Center has met the program standards and been awarded accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.   This is a major accomplishment and a verification of program excellence and family-centered educational practices.
• U.S. News and World Report magazine published its list of top high schools in the country and Huron and Pioneer were awarded Silver status and Community was awarded Bronze status.  Only one high school in Michigan, the International Academy, Bloomfield Hills Public Schools, received Gold status.  In determining the status of each school, academic and enrollment data from over 21,000 high schools in the nation were analyzed.    The methodology was based on the key principles that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.  State proficiency standards were used as the benchmarks. Another component assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work, using Advanced Placement scores.
• On January 19, 2010, two-fifth grade classes from Haisley Elementary had the opportunity to attend Wayne State University's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The keynote speaker was Dr. Benjamin Carson, the world-renowned neurosurgeon who proved to be an amazing motivational speaker. Mr. Davis and Mr. Weindorf's classes had a wonderful time and a field trip they will never forget. The fifth graders were enthused to hear Dr. Carson's story of growing up in a single parent home in Detroit, being challenged by poverty, poor grades, and other challenges.  Yet, through the support of his mother, who challenged her son to strive for excellence, and the teachers who took a personal interest in him, staying after class, going over everything he hadn't done correctly, making sure that every mistake was corrected, young Ben persevered!  He is now the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and has succeeded in performing surgeries that could be considered miracles. A signed copy of Dr. Carson's book titled "Gifted Hands" is now proudly displayed in Haisley School's Media Center. A thank you goes to Mr. Cee-Jay Davis for arranging this opportunity for Haisley students through his contacts at Wayne State University, as Haisley students were the only students attending from outside of the Detroit area, and certainly the youngest. They will never forget this experience!
• To kick off Logan Elementary MLK assembly, special area teachers introduced  "Pennies For People" to the Logan community.  Kudos to the special area teachers for organizing such a tremendous humanitarian relief effort for those in Haiti!  By the end of the assembly, parents had donated over $300.00!  Students will be bringing in their pennies over the next two weeks then all proceeds will be delivered to the American Red Cross.
• I want to acknowledge and thank all of our schools for the wonderful programs presented in tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is inspiring to note that his humanitarian principles and world vision are still relevant today and I am glad that we take some time to reflect on and honor his life and legacy.  I attended a wonderful program at three schools: Tappan, Pioneer and Haisley and heard about the excellent programs at other schools as well.  Thank you all for your leadership in honoring Dr. King.
• Proud Thurston teacher and Pre-School Parents, Michael and Joanna Johnson, shared the following account of learning from their pre-school student about what he learned in school about Dr. King.  They wrote:

  Every year, my family celebrates the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday by participating in community service, listening to speakers, observing a performance and by having a family conversation.
  This year we had planned for the same schedule except we didn't count on Kellen being so knowledgeable about who Dr. King was and what he stood for. Instead of having a conversation between adults and teenaged children, our family set at the kitchen table for dinner and listened to Kellen teach us about what Dr. King did.
  According to Kellen, "Dr. Luther King wanted everybody to like each other.  He wanted you to be nice to your friends and to other people.  He liked little kids and wanted all kids to go to school."
  He also said, that he wished that Dr. Luther King was still alive and that he wasn't taken away from us
  He told us that Dr. Luther King had a dream and that he too has dreams that people become friends because he has a lot of friends in pre-school like Braxton, Henry, Drew and Graciella.  He then shared with us an activity that included him tracing his hand, gluing his picture in the middle and describing what Peace meant to him.
  I have to admit, I was impressed beyond measure.  "Thank you" for exposing our child to Dr. King and countless other wonderful things in the special way that you do.  That is definitely taking differentiation to a new level and we appreciate it.  Here I was ready to teach him something about Dr. King and he turned it around and reminded me of the importance of listening.
  We are still in AWE!  I hope that other families were able to have a conversation like ours and welcome them to share it with you.  You two are a wonderful team and we are extremely blessed to have you guiding our children.  Keep up the exceptional work!

• On Friday January 8th, 2010, the Huron Business Professionals of America (BPA) Chapter traveled to Henry Ford community college to compete in the annual BPA Regional Leadership Conference 2010.
  Of the 57 Students that attended, 45 students won a total of 94 awards! -- with 36 - 1st place wins and 25 - 2nd place wins.  This was one of the most successful regional conferences to date.  Of the 40 competitions in which Michigan students can enter, the Huron Chapter placed 1st in  20 of those events. These events include both individual and team competitions. A list to recognize those students who won at BPA Regionals can be found at:
  http://a2huron.org/huron.bpa/regionals_contest_winners_2010
  The following is a summary of awards won:
  Total number of awards (including torch): 94
  Torch number of torch diplomat awards* (community service) : 6
  Total number of competition awards*: 88; 1st place awards**: 36; 2nd place awards**: 25; 3rd place awards: 13’ 4th place awards: 10;  5th place awards: 4.  Number of individuals who qualified for states: 45;  Total number of participants: 57.
  *These are individual awards. Per competition, Huron entered 40 competitions and placed first in 20.
  **Huron entered 7 team competitions.  4 Teams placed 1st, 3 Teams placed 2nd.
  Business Professionals of America members are provided an opportunity for the development of leadership skills, personal and professional growth, and career-related competencies. Involvement in Business Professionals of America will enhance social awareness, civic responsibility, and understanding of the business community. The state leadership conference (SLC) is the highlight of the Michigan Association year, and helps more than 2,000 members accomplish these objectives.  The Huron BPA Advisor is Diane Stocker-Bendersky.
• Thirteen Bach School 5th graders and four 4th graders placed FIRST in Michigan, in the Knowledge Master Open held on Jan. 20, 2010. Congratulations on a fine, cooperative effort.  The K.M.O. is a team academic contest that tests students' ability to answer questions about all the school subjects. The Bach School K.M.O. Team scored 466 out of a possible 1000 points.  The average score in Michigan was 420 and the mean nationwide was 466. Nationally, Bach placed in the top half of all teams.
  The members of the team were:
  4th Graders: Basil Rutkowski, Joe Velick, Emilia Stehouwer, Philip Valtadoros.
  5th Grade: Jonathan Choi, Riley Van Alsburg, Hannah Rubenstein, Cameron Novar, Samuel Malcolm, Arely Salazar, Chassidy Chisholm, Jacob Arvidson, Halley Banaszak-Holl, Claire Colvin St.Cyr, Lena Thornton, and Julia Sheehan
  Mrs. Ezekiel is the coach of the Bach KMO team.  You can learn more about the KMO at www.greatauk.com.
• Forsythe 6th Graders Scored in Top 20% in National Knowledge Contest.  A team of 10 Forsythe  6th graders placed 4th in Michigan, out of 17 teams, in the Knowledge Master Open.  The Knowledge Master Open, also known as KMO, is a knowledge contest that tests a team’s ability to answer questions quickly and accurately, in all the subject areas.  You can learn more about the KMO at <greatauk.com>.
  The Forsythe team scored 636 points, out of a possible 1,000.  That was well above the state average score of 544. First place in Michigan went to Boulan Park Middle School, in Troy. Their  score was 740.  The only other Ann Arbor team was Tappan; they scored 587 and came in 6th in the state.
  On the national level, Forsythe was in the top 20% of all schools competing.  Their 636 score again was well above the national average score of 541.  The top school in the U.S. was keeling Middle School in Texas, with 806 points. Forsythe  placed #54 out of 283 teams in the country.  Coach Dan Ezekiel says that this is a good finish, and the team hopes to do even better next time.
  The team members who participated in this month’s competition are:
  6th Grade:  “The Terrific Ten:  Elaine Chamberlain, Charde Madoula-Bey, Joshua DeGraff, Joshua Nacht, Reshma Desai, Kelsea Pyne, Tara Dorje, Maurits Sier, Sylvie Isaac and Kotone Tsuji.
• On Saturday January 16, 2010 Skyline Orchestra Students traveled to Livonia Franklin High School to participate in the MSBOA District 12 Solo and Ensemble Festival.  They took 21 events with 6 events earning a II (Excellent) rating and 15 events earning a I (Superior) rating.  The following students received a II rating on their ensemble performances Katie Loreman, Rheilly Cole, Alex Wilks, and Jack Hu.  The following students earned a II rating on their solo Priya Menon, Erika Sasaki, Preetom Chakraborty, and Grace Taylor Loring.  The following students received a I rating on their solos and have qualified for MSBOA State Solo and Ensemble Festival at Chelsea High School in March:  Jack Hu, Senait Dafa, Emily Espinosa, Sherry Zhao, Shruthi Narayanan, Karen Duan, Brian Chang, Claire Gruber, Rose Brown, Ahliyah Kim, Rheilly Cole, Leah Awkward-Rich, Priya Menon. and Max Xu.
• Pioneer Band students received 111 first division and 23 second division ratings in SOLO competition, as well as 119 first division and 18 second division ratings in ENSEMBLE competition on January 16 at Livonia Franklin High School. Students throughout the state performed in this state qualifying event.
  The following Pioneer High School Band students participated in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA)  District Solo and Ensemble Festival on January 16. Students prepared a solo and/or an ensemble and performed for an MSBOA Certified Adjudicator.  Their performance was evaluated and a rating between "I" (Excellent) and "V" was assigned. The symbol (2) after a students name indicates that they had two events receiving that rating in the same category.
  Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "I" (Excellent) rating for their performance of a SOLO were:  Shreya Bahl, Aaron Baum, Alex Baum, Joella Bennett, Jeff Bertram, Rachel Bielajew, Jonathan Bower, James Boyd, James Campbell, Kate Centurione, William Chen, Jae Hyun Choe (2), D’Arcy Cook, Katie Copp, Rennie Cotner, Alayna Coverly, Elizabeth Cvercko, Ruby Emberling, Jonathan Evans, Jesse Fernandez, Kerryann Fingerle, Kevin Flannagan, Prasanth Ganesan, Corey Garff, Charlie Geronimus, Sachi Gianchandani, Nya Greenstone, Christopher Haddlesey, Christopher Hass, Saunders Hayes, Andrew Hess, Clare Higgins, Leila Hofer, Skye Huerta, Max Hully, Vijay Ilankamban, Andy Johnson, Kiley Judge, Jae Jung, Kayoon Jung, Jared Kaufman, Ryan King, Sara King, Caroline Laman, Christopher Landau, Amin Lanseur, Dylan Larkins (2), Leah Latterner (2), Tyler Leach, Edward Lee, Meekyoung Lee, Moritz Lehner, Levy Li, Siyan (Daniel) Li, Samuel Lichtman-Mikol, Hyeon Su Lim, Yuming Liu, Sara Long, Natalie Martin, Karen Matsuo, Megumi Matsushita, Kyle Mattimore, Hannah Maxbauer, Anna Mayne, Jack McKarns, Jordan McKay, Miriam Michaels, Luke Mykolenko, Sowdeepya Nadimpalli, Emily Northrop, Junghyun Kayla Oh, Henry Pakela, Julia Pakela, Konstantinos Papaefthymiou, Neil Parikh, George Perrett, Duncan Polot, Linda Relson, Carly Renner, Tim Rittinger, Molly Rogow, Natalie Roll, Nicholas Rombes, Sarah Rontal, Michael Saunders, Laura Schickling, Rebecca Shipan, Daniel Siler, Ken Simon, Antonia Smith, Gina Son, Mario Sulaksana, Michael Sullivant, Jacob Swanson, Nick Terrell, Victoria Tillman, Peter Wang, Xiao Wang, Devin Webster, Hope Wilson, Thea Yagerlener, Eric Yamakado, Jay Yamakado, Tina Yu (2), Ryan Yunck, Kevin Zhang, Alan Zhou
  Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "II" (Good) rating for their performance of a SOLO were:  Alexa Arvidson, Alex Bartko, Riley Bean, Caitlin Berrigan, Samuel Blackburn, James Boyd, Joel Burgener, Iris Chen, Amelia Diehl, Christine Etter, Skye Huerta, Grace Iverson, Kyle Kantebet, Olivia Lee, Sowdeepya Nadimpalli, Jennifer Nao, Patricia Nease, Veronika Olszewski, David Shao (2), Andrew Siddall, Hunter St. Pierre, Emily Topham
  Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "I" (Excellent) rating for their performance of an ENSEMBLE were: Shreya Bahl, Riley Bean, Joella Bennett, Rachel Bielajew, Jonathan Bower (2), James Boyd, Joel Burgener, Elizabeth Bush, James Campbell (2), Takeo Cauley (2), Iris Chen, Heewon Choi, Hyewon Choi, D'Arcy Cook, Rennie Cotner, Rosie Curtis, Liz Cvercko (2), Nick DeMarsh, Meera Desai (2), Jonathan Evans, Jack Fan, Kerryann Fingerle, Monica Fink, Corey Garff, Charlie Geronimus, Sachi Gianchandani, Meaghan Glanville, Celisa Gutierrez, Christopher Hass, Andrew Hess, Leila Hofer, Conor Howe, Max Hully, Esther Hur, Vijay Ilankamban, Andy Johnson, Kiley Judge, Jae Jung, Nathan Karr, Jared Kaufman, Ryan King (2), Sara King, Tanay Kulkarni, Megan Kymal, Caroline Laman, Christopher Landau, Amin Lanseur, Reina Larkin, Dylan Larkins, Leah Latterner, Tasha Le, Edward Lee, Harry Lee, Meekyoung Lee, Aidan Mase-Kemnitz, Karen Matsuo, Megumi Matsushita (2), Abbey Maxbauer, Anna Mayne, Jack McKarns, Isabel McKay, Jordan McKay, Miriam Michaels (2), Alex Mitropoulos-Rundus, Sowdeepya Nadimpalli, Jeni Nao, Emily Northrop, Alyssa Natoci, Jeongah Oh, Junghyun Kayla Oh, Veronika Olszewski, EunSoo Park, Bo Peng, Stefan Petrmichl, Timothy Rittinger, Natalie Roll, Niko Rombes (2), Sarah Rontal, Michael Saunders, Kaylee Schonsheck, David Shapiro, Michael Shin, Jeff Shipan, Rebecca Shipan, Ken Simon, Antonia Smith, Gina Son, Jacob Swanson (2), Nick Terrell, Victoria Tillman (2), Emily Topham (2), Peter Wang, Xiao Wang (2), Devin Webster (2), Hope Wilson, Eric Yamakado, Jay Yamakado (3), Angela Yang, Ted Xiao, Tina Yu, Annie Zhang (2), Megan Zheng
  Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "II" (Good) rating for their performance of an ENSEMBLE were:  Ben Bielajew, Andrew Choe, Katie Copp, Sam Deschamps, Ruby Emberling, Jonathan Evans, Grace Iverson, Younkyoung Lee, Rebecca Lennington, MacKenzie Miller, Amanda Osinski, Duncan Polot, Laura Schickling, Josh Sherick, Jeff Shipan, Thea Yagerlener, Ryan Yunck, Eric Zimmer
• Jane Nixon was named National High School Field Hockey Coach of the Year for 2010.  She has been the head coach of Pioneer since 1990 and has won 16 state championships.
• Skyline teacher Jason Smith received a technology grant from TI:ME, Technology Institute for Music Educators, for a project to integrate technology into the music classroom.  The mission of TI:ME is to assist music educators in applying technology to improve teaching and learning in music.
• Congratulations to Karen Metzger, Logan art teacher, who was selected as an " 2010 Educators To Japan" participant.  Karen will be in Japan June 27th through July 8th!  Karen is greatly excited about the educational impact this culturally rich opportunity will have on her K-5 art classes!
• Congratulations once again to our exceptional bus mechanics.  On January 20, the State Police Inspector finished a month-long inspection of the of the 131 school buses in the AAPS fleet.
  State Inspectors can: certify a bus for service; issue a yellow tag , detailing a repair necessary but not integral to safety, so the bus remains in service; issue a red tag, which removes the bus from service until repairs are made and the bus is re-inspected.
  Once again, the AAPS fleet inspection resulted in a perfect score, with no tags issued.
  3 years ago, no tags were issued
  2  years ago, one yellow tag was issued
  Last year, no tags were issued.
  This year, no tags were issued.
  In 4 years of inspections,  only 1 yellow tag has been issued for over 500 buses.
  This is an extraordinary achievement, and is a reflection of the hard work, dedication, and professionalism of our mechanics, crew chief, drivers, and staff.  All work together to place the highest priority on safety and preventive maintenance.  The drivers partner with the mechanics to inspect buses and correct issues daily.  The results speak for themselves.  I am terrifically proud of our collective achievement, because it means our students enjoy the fullest measure of safety on our district school buses.
  Special recognition is due to mechanics Bill Burgess, George Clair, Kevin Darlington, Mark Fazel, David Horvath, Dikran Khanian, and Jim Scherzer, and their Crew Chief, John Nikolich.
  They are truly an exceptional team, and their exceptional drive means safety and security for our students, drivers, and customers, internal and external.
• Thurston~ Preschool teacher Janice Alvarado Stewart sent a note about the Transportation Department:

  Following Brad's exceptional inspection, I thought it fitting to piggy-back on the success of our Transportation Dept.  Once again, Thurston's Preschool had a very positive experience from beginning to end.
  Barb and her staff are very professional, clear, prompt and accommodating.  She is easily accessible and very flexible when we need specialized bussing, we appreciate that she always makes sure our trips are a "go" and can accommodate our needs.  We had a great time at our performance and we arrived safely and on time thanks to Jor-Don (JD) and Mr. Ray.  Thank you, all for another exceptional traveling experience!

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent