This Week
In the Ann Arbor Public Schools
March 2, 2009

To: The Staff of the Ann Arbor Public Schools
From: Todd Roberts, Superintendent

This Week’s Good News

  • Welcome back from mid-winter break.  I hope everyone found some time to rest and rejuvenate.
  • I would like to recognize and thank our music teachers, Fine Arts Coordinator Robin Bailey and Master of Ceremonies Linda Carter for a wonderful evening of music at Hill Auditorium on Orchestra Night.  The student performances were amazing and the event was well planned and
  • Forty-nine Ann Arbor Public Schools seniors are 2009 National Merit Finalists.  Huron has 28, Pioneer 16 and Community 2.  They are:
    Huron:  Ashley Buxton, Kari Chen, Emily Chiao, Alan Duanmu, Angela Feak, Leah Gillett, Mykolas Grabauskas, Charles Hack, Saul Hankin, Emily Hsiao, Siddhant Jagadish, Guangye Ji, Jacob Kim, Henry Kuang, Seth Levine, Jeffrey Li, Jenny Li, Yi Li, Christopher Liu, William Liu, Charles Lu, Chethan Reddy, Michael Song, Thomas Thompson, Matthew Vander Roest, Leeda Wang, Nicholas Wang and Xiaoran Zhang.
    Pioneer:  Ignatius Chen, Katherine Fang, Lauren Franzblau, Aparna Ghosh, Johana Godfrey, William Jackson, Gaurav Kulkarni, Sang Min Lee, Sang-Yoon Moon, Sameera Nadimpalli, Kyle Saunders, Joshua Stein, Nicholas Thomas, Anne Warren, Dana Wilson and Jessica Zhang.
    Community:  Paul Princen and Katherine Thomas.
  • The Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation announced its second tier of grant awards for this school year totaling $6,965.  Combined with the grant awards issued earlier this year, the total amount awarded is $39,653.  Recipients of the awards are:
    Stone High School Positive Peer Influence, Stone High School, $850
    Growing Readers, Ann Arbor Open @ Mack, $500
    Skyline Science Enriching Elementary Curriculum, Skyline High, $423
    See Me, Hear Me, Skyline High, $1,328
    Pioneer Theatre Guild Educational Collaboration with U-M, Pioneer High, $750
    With One Voice:  Building Community Through Songwriting, Mitchell, $500
    Burns Park Summer Learning Program, Burns Park, $750
    Second Grade Book Club Expansion, Bryant, $864
    Open Events for Science, Bryant/Pattengill, $1,000
  • Huron twelfth grade business student, Guang (Sean) Ji, won 1st place for his Entrepreneurial Business Plan entitled "Sunenergy" and took home a $1,000.00 check plus an additional $200 for his excellent presentation skills in presenting his business plan ideas in a PowerPoint slideshow to judges and audience members.
    The Center for Entrepreneurship at Eastern Michigan University presented their second Business Plan Competition for members of the SESI Midwest Region Entrepreneurship Conference on Friday, February 13, 2009 at the 12th Annual SESI Midwest Regional Entrepreneurship Conference.  Diane Stocker-Bendersky, Business Department Chair took four business students to participate in the 1/2 day entrepreneurship workshops and afternoon competition events.
    Students competed for cash prizes -First place $1000.00; second place $700 and third place $500.  Finalists were asked to present their plans in a PowerPoint slideshow to judges and conference attendees.
    Sean Ji's wind and solar powered business plan showcased an energy retailer that provides customers with green energy and produces such products as solar panels and wind turbines that allow customers to not only become energy independent but also save the environment.
    Other Huron business students that submitted business plans for competition were:  Chenxi (Robert) Pan – Academic Release; Joonas Keppo – Xbudget; and
    Seyed eh Parisa Alaie – Morvarid Bakery.
  • Logan students Alvin Chen, David Lee, Nicholas Pierce and Louie Klaus won First Place in the k-3 division at the Michigan Chess Association’s Elementary/ Primary Team Championship tournament.  The team won four matches and tied one match, resulting in a team score of 4.5 points. This was the largest statewide tournament in the Michigan Chess Association’s history and this is Logan’s first state championship in chess.
  • The Skyline High School Theatre placed second at the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association final competition at Chelsea High School.  Entering as a class "C" school Skyline was outscored by the three-time champion, Olivet High School.  The paint crew received an award for "excellence" in scenic painting and Richa Saran received an "excellence" in performance for the role of Martine.
  • Thurston fifth grade Shining Star, Dhanuj Girish, from Mr. Johnson's class, was recognized at the University of Michigan Women's Basketball Game on February 16, as the fifth grade winner of the "What Physical Activity Means to Me!" Contest.  This is the second year in a row with a winner from Thurston.  Dhanuj (Dan) is also the young man who won the Later Elementary NAAPID Elementary Poster Contest and First Place in the Shining Star Science Fair Project Contest.
  • Ann Arbor Breakfast Optimist Outstanding Youth Achievement Awards Pioneer High School 2008-2009 February 18, 2009
    Academic achievement, leadership, industry and community service have earned two Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Juniors the Harold Eastman Outstanding Youth Achievement Award from the Breakfast Optimist Club of Ann Arbor.  Honorees are Diane Wang and Solomon Rajput.
    Diane Wang previously attended King Elementary School. At Pioneer, Diane carries a grade point average of 4.0.  She participates in the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Program (HOBY) and the World Leadership Congress.  She won the Gold Presidential Volunteer Award and First Place in the State at the United Nations Euro Challenge.  Her accomplishments were acknowledged in the Sophomore Who's Who Publication.
    Diane is her class representative to the Student Council, President of the Community Volunteer Club, an Officer of the National Honor Society, and Chairperson of the Steering Committee for Orientation Guides.  She is also a member of the Spanish Honor Society and the Global Improvement Society, and participates in Operation Smile, a children's charity treating facial deformities such as cleft lips and cleft palates all around the world.
    Diane plays the violin in the Pioneer Chamber Orchestra and tutors other students.  In the field of sports, Diane enjoys swimming and volleyball.  She belongs to the Ann Arbor Chinese Christian Church and the Ann Arbor Chinese School.  She likes to volunteer, travel, meet new people and try new things. She also enjoys playing and listening to music.  Diane works as an intern at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory under the auspices of the University of Michigan.  Her future plans include studying biology and/or business.  After graduation she would like to attend a college or university (preferably Harvard) and live in Boston.
    Solomon Rajput previously attended Pattengill Elementary School where he won many awards in the Science Olympiad.  At Pioneer Solomon carries a grade point average of 3.97.  He has held the Offices of Freshman and Junior Class President, and is the Founder and President of the Global Improvement Society. Solomon works on the School Newspaper and has attended a Journalism Camp as well as several Leadership Camps. During the summer of 2008 he served as an Ambassador with the People to People Program and traveled to Australia.
    Solomon belongs to the National Honor Society, the Steering Committee for Orientation Guides, and the Student Council.  He interned for the Barack Obama Campaign and the Michigan Campaign for Change.  He also volunteers for the Red Cross. In his spare time Solomon enjoys fencing and ballroom dancing.
    Solomon is still considering what university to attend but will probably go to law school afterwards.  He wants to help humanity on a massive scale, possibly through law or politics.
  • Tahani Othman, Media Specialist at Lawton and Jeri Schneider, Northside Media Specialist, were invited to present on "Multicultural Issues Through Literacy" to tutors for America Reads on February 17th and 18th.  America Reads is a program that connects U of M undergraduate students with predominately African-American and Latino elementary students mostly in Detroit.
  • Skyline teacher Tom Pachera received ITEA's Distinguished Technology Educator (DTE) designation at this years annual conference in Louisville, KY.
  • A bit about the Award:
    ITEA's Distinguished Technology Educator (DTE) designation is a coveted mark of distinction in Design & Technology Education. It recognizes technology educators who have demonstrated a high level of competence and conscientiousness in the field of Design and Technology Education.
    The International Technology Educations Association (ITEA) created the Distinguished Technology Educator (DTE) program to provide a means for recognizing outstanding performance and accomplishments in the field of professional technology education. As one of the highest honors for professional achievement in technology education, the DTE designation recognizes the attainments of technology educators.
    Consideration for the award is based upon documented evidence of leadership/management skills, continuing participation in association education programs, and demonstration of leadership in association, community, and personal activities.
    The Distinguished Technology Educator program acknowledges the essential principles of adult learning. It incorporates into the process recognition and credit for work experiences and other accomplishments. The program recognizes those areas of technology education the DTE Board has determined to be most reflective of successful professional attainment.
  • Pioneer baseball coach Jerry Holley was selected to coach the West All-Star Baseball Team.
  • Pioneer’s Don Sleeman has been nominated to be the 2009 Men's National Track Coach of the Year.
  • Huron teacher Jonelle Gillette represented the Ann Arbor Public Schools on the Michigan Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) for the second year.  Ms Gillette made a positive difference in the achievements of children with disabilities by reviewing proposed policies and standards and participating in public comment as well as advising the SEAC on unmet needs.
  • Three Ann Arbor teachers participated in a panel discussion on literacy and language in the subject matter areas, hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Education, for preservice teachers.  Brit Satchwell, Marci Harris and Carmen DiFranco graciously participated in the discussion to help our future teachers.
  • Thurston third grade teacher Pete Krebsbach wrote the following piece in praise of Thurston vocal music teacher Yael Rothfeld:
    Yael Rothfeld, Thurston Vocal Music Teacher: Genius or Evil Genius?
    Simultaneously being a teacher at Thurston and a parent of a 4th grader at Thurston leads me to this dilemma.  Yael uses a colored belt incentive system to encourage the acquisition of recorder playing skills in 4th graders.  Students are awarded a different colored bit of yarn to adorn their recorder upon successfully learning a song, culminating in the coveted black belt.  The system works marvelously, but perhaps a bit too well, with the competitively oriented kid like my son.  For weeks our household was subject to coping with up to two, though not continuous, hours of tooting (not the most sonorous instrument) a day.  The recorder went to and from school on our daily commute together.  Along with the tooting went a plethora of verbal monologues about who had which belt and when the next belt would be acquired.  So, my feelings are naturally mixed.  I even heard another Thurston student tell me they were forced to disperse their tooting proclivities outside in not warm temperatures.  In the end I’ve got to lean heavily on the genius side for Yael.  After 4 months of neglecting parent led piano lessons my son showed a veritable leap in note reading acumen during a recent lesson.  What are a few grey hairs when the results are so splendid?
  • On Thursday March 5, 2009, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., at WISD, The Ann Arbor Public Schools, The Ann Arbor Storytellers’ Guild and The Ark are presenting a workshop by Illinois Storyteller Sue Black.  The cost is $15.00.  To register, please contact Judy Schmidt, 971-5763.
  • Two community budget forums are planned for this week.  Deputy Superintendent for Operations, Robert Allen and I will host these forums to give staff, parents, students and community members an overview of the district’s budget planning for the 2009/2010 school year.  The forums are scheduled for:
    Tuesday, March 3, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Scarlett Middle School
    And
    Thursday, March 5, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Forsythe Middle School.

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent