This Week
In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

January 14, 2008

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

This Week’s Good News!

• Seventy-five students from the Ann Arbor Public Schools will be working at the Michigan Presidential Primary polling places on January 15, 2008. There are 70 students from Pioneer, 4 from Huron and 1 from Community. Each student has completed 5 hours of training with the City Clerk's Office at City Hall and have been officially designated as Election Inspectors. They will work the entire Election Day shift, starting at 6 AM and staying until 10 PM, meeting all the expectations and responsibilities of the adult workers.  They are demonstrating a serious commitment to civic responsibility and should be commended for their diligence and interest in the democratic process. Some of them worked at the Michigan Gubernatorial Election in 2006 and now ALL 75 will be certified to work in the "real" election in November when Americans elect a new president! Pioneer teacher Claire Dahl reports that she is pleased to work with this fine bunch of students and applauds their energy. We've had large contingents of students work the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, so this is becoming "excitingly routine" for our kids!
  The Ann Arbor Election Inspectors are: Zakaria Abdulnabi, Tess Abraham, Eric Arbour, Emily Arsen, Esther Barrett, Gabe Casher, Caroline Chen, Jeri Chi, Yunus Church, Sarah Clark, Max Davis, Ilana Diamon, Megan Dooley, Nicole Dressler, Brian Eaton, John Everett, Evan Finch, Chelsea Gallagher, Martha Girsch, Ana Gordon, Charlotte Greiner, Kristen Hagemeister, Jon Henrichs, Morgan Hertz, Jeff Hollingsworth, Scott Hulbert, Jeff Johnson, Nate Juliar, Emily Kaldjian, Ryan Keating, Ashton Kidd, Adam King, Katie Kohrman, Madeline Kreykes, Melissah Lang, Heekyoung Lee, Jacob Leite, Amara Lopez, Thomas Louis-Goff, Tienming Louis-Goff, Allison Manz, Cole McFadden, Anastasia Mitropoulos-Rundus, Erica Mooney, Tony Natoci , Gwendolyn Peck, William Penner-Hahn, Lauren Perry, Jane Petoskey, Alana Pinsky, Maya Ragsdale, Max Rasmussen, Taylor Roy, Paulina Seromik, Yoni Siden , Shawn Sinawe, Alvin Siu, Sarah Soderborg, Alex Spatzier, Bennett Stein, Spencer Suboski, Elizabeth Sullivan, Alexis Therman, Thea Torek, Alan Torres, Emily Williams, Jessica Zhang, Maggie Zhang, Kelsey Zimmerman, Inge Zwaanenburg, Nicole Ramanathan, Phil Berkaw, Neal Kelley, Alex Perlman and Ryan Sanii.
• The first Junior Rotarians of 2008 are: Lillian Estenson, Harsha Panduranga and Marshall Thomas of Pioneer High.
• Louise Huffman, representing the ANDRILL research team of scientists in Antarctica, has announced the winners of the Antarctica Flag Design Contest. No one owns Antarctica. There is no native population, no government and no flag. Students were asked to submit a design that would best represent this unique and fascinating place.  Flags from around the world were submitted to the ARISE (ANDRILL Research Immersion for Science Educators) team in Antarctica. At McMurdo Station during the ANDRILL Open House, the community voted on the flags it would most like to see flying over Antarctica. Over 100 designs were submitted from around the world. Two students from Ann Arbor were selected to be in the top seven winners!!!  They are: Vishnu Kannan, Lynne Gulick's class-Logan Elementary and Angelina Bielby, Kathy Trudell's class, Bach Elementary.  The winning designs are on display at Logan Elementary School.
• The Huron Business Professionals of America (BPA) with advisor, Diane Stocker-Bendersky, received an astounding number of placements at the Region 6 Leadership 2008 Conference held at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn. Their total number of 1st place wins doubled over last year’s.  Over 20 schools participated in the daylong event. Eighty (80) Huron students, 5 advisors and 2 chaperones traveled to Dearborn to participate in the Business Professionals of America 2008 Regional Leadership Conference on January 4th, 2008. Huron had 64 students qualify for the State Leadership Conference to be held March 13th-March 16th, 2008 in Grand Rapids, MI.  A Total of 101 Awards were given to 64 Huron students: 45 First Place wins, 15 Second Place wins, 14 Third Place wins, 8 Fourth Place wins, 11 Fifth Place wins and 8 Sixth Place wins. Visit the BPA chapter site to get a detailed list of winners and the competitive events they placed in.  Two members also received the Diploma Torch Award. This award is related to community service projects. To find out what each specific student placed in their individual events, go to: http://huronbpa.org/wordpress/2008/01/04/2008-regional-leadership-conference-results/, and a link to see the group photo:
  http://huronbpa.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/bpagroup.jpg
• Thurston Elementary School, 4th Grader, Adela Baker was one of 13 out of 200 selected as a finalist in the AATA Environmental Steward Essay Contest.  
• The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority recently conducted an Environmental Steward Essay Contest. Three finalists have been selected from Ms. Priscilla Bates' 6th grade ELA class at Forsythe. The students are: Maya Gianchandani, Cody Zeisler and Dana Feldman. Ms. Bates' class entered the most essays, with 31 entries. The class will receive a local bus trip on one of AATA's new hybrid electric buses and a pizza party. Congratulations to Ms. Bates, and all of her students!
• Forsythe Choir teacher Alice Tillman has six students, Jessica Mielewski, Maria Meyer, Krystalyn Goode, Carmen Flesher, Clare Lauer and Corrina Marshall who were selected to participate in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association State of Michigan Honors Choir.  They will be performing in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 26, 2008 at the Michigan Music Education Conference.
• Forsythe students and staff collected $544.00 during the month of December. The character quality for the month of December was caring. The money was donated on behalf of " Forsythe Cares" to Peace Neighborhood. The collection was coordinated by counselors Pat Carson, Jackie Stouppe and Mark O'Boyle.
• Clague Media Specialist Michelle Rodriguez was one of 90 teachers in Michigan, the only one from Ann Arbor, to receive a MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) Grant, funded by the Michigan Department of Education titled "Champions of Technology".  She will be putting together a team of five staff members who will get extensive training and then they will come back and share with the staff.  Michelle is to be congratulated on her effort and success.
• Clague teacher Jeff Gaynor was accepted to give a presentation at the Michigan Council for the Social Studies 52nd Annual State Conference.
• John B. Boshoven, Counselor for Continuing Education at Ann Arbor Community High, was recently named Chairman of the Counselor Advisory Board for the Joyce Ivy Foundation. Ann Arbor Public School Counselors also serving on the board include Denise Eaddy-Richardson and Nicole Nunlee, Huron High, and Kim Pennington, Pioneer High.
  The Joyce Ivy Foundation was established to provide exposure, counsel, encouragement and financial support to young women in Michigan who have the intellectual potential to attend an Ivy League or equivalent institution but are hindered by financial challenges or other concerns about traveling away to school.
  For the summer of 2007, the Joyce Ivy Foundation named eleven high school sophomores and juniors from around the state of Michigan as summer scholars. The full and partial scholarships that were granted enabled these young women to attend two-to-eight week programs at Harvard, Smith, Brown and Johns Hopkins, and Columbia with several earning college credit for their studies.
  For 2008, the Joyce Ivy Foundation is targeting to double the number of full and partial scholarships to be awarded for the Pre-College Summer Programs. These scholarships cover the cost of tuition, room and board, as well as related expenses such as books, fees, and travel to and from campus. The Joyce Ivy Foundation's partner universities and colleges for this summer are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, Smith, MIT, Stanford, Emory, Carleton and Yale. All Joyce Ivy applicants are now required to also apply for financial aid to the Summer Program Institution. Receivership of a Joyce Ivy Foundation scholarship is contingent upon both the student being accepted at one of our partner colleges and universities, as well as the student applying for financial aid at these schools. The Joyce Ivy Foundation application deadline for 2008 is March 17th, with decisions announced April 30th. Applicants are urged to apply early, as pre-college financial aid budgets tend to be consumed relatively early in the admissions cycle. Applications and further information are available online at: http://www.joyceivyfoundation.org.
• January is School Board Recognition Month. The foundation of school leadership is ensuring equal learning opportunities for all students.  Our trustees are committed to providing a world-class educational program for our students.  Too often we neglect to recognize the dedication and hard work of these men and women who represent us.  The men and women serving Ann Arbor Public Schools are:
  Susan Baskett, Trustee -- 5 years of service     
  Karen Cross, President -- 9 years of service
  Randy Friedman, Treasurer -- 6 years of service
  Helen Gates-Bryant, Trustee -- 4 years of service
  Deb Mexicotte, Trustee -- 5 years of service
  Glenn Nelson, Secretary -- 6 years of service
  Irene Patalan, Vice President -- 3 years of service
  
  I invite you to recognize and celebrate the work of your school board trustees.     

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent