This Week
In the Ann Arbor Public Schools
March 17, 2008

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

This Week’s Good News!

• Pioneer German students were very successful at the annual statewide German language competition at the University of Michigan on March 14. The following students received prizes placing first, second or third in various categories and will be featured on the University of Michigan German Department web site:
  Elizabeth Qian- first place in reading, level 3; Julian Snow- first place in reading, level 4; Clare Riesterer- second place in reading, level 3; Joe Lipson- third place in reading, level 1; Noah Kaczor- first place in speaking, level 3; Noemie Heinen- second place in speaking, level 3; Jeff Johnson- honorable mention for speaking, level 4; Matt Bodner- third place in speaking, Level 1; Ryan King- first place in musical interpretation for performing the Mozart Concerto in A major for Clarinet-Allegro; Jessica Zhang- second place in musical interpretation for performing the Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg; Vivien Reece- second place in spelling, level 4; Mira Nelle- third place in spelling, level 3; Scott Marlatt- second place in spelling, level 2; Kevin Tang- second place for a website design in German, level 2; Miriam Michaels - third place in role-play, level 3; Dana Wilson- third place in role-play, level 3; Emily Corwin- Renner- second place in poetry, level 2; Emily Topham- third place in poetry, level 3; Julia Whiting- second place in poetry, level 3; and Nora Wixom- third place in art, level 4.
• Community High School's mock trial teams participated in the Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament over the last two weekends and had great success. The A team finished third at the State Finals Tournament in Lansing on March 15th. 52 teams from across the state participated. Students on this team are Chris Cain, Dylan Cinti, Galaan Dafa, Mira Fishman, Ari Goldstein, Hallie Morris, Jack O'Connell, Paul Princen, Hannah Reischl and Drew Stapleton. The B team finished 12th out of 41 teams in the Eastern Regional Tournament held in Pontiac, Michigan on March 8th. Students on this team are Dan Dormer, Jacob Garber, Nicole Holtzman, Joey Houghton, Samantha Kinzinger, Jacob Lachance, Max Lewis, Tim Smedley and Ryan Wint. The teacher coach is Cheryl Grace; attorney coaches are Griffith Dick and Robert West.
• Noam Raphel, an 8th grade student at Clague has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2008 Michigan Geographic Bee, sponsored by Plum Creek.  Bees were held in schools with fourth through eighth grade students throughout the state to determine each school's  Geographic Bee winner.  School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the national Geographic Society.  In each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependent Schools, and the US territories, the National Geographic Society invited student with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.  The 2008 Michigan Geographic Bee will be held in the Bernhard Center at Western Michigan University on Friday, April 4, 2008.  The state winner will receive $100, a globe, and a trip to Washington DC where she or he will represent Michigan in the national finals at the National Geographic Society headquarters, May 20-21, 2008.  The national winner will receive a $25,000 scholarship.  Congratulations to Noam, his parents, and Mrs. Linda Prieskorn and Mrs. Michelle Rodriguez the co-sponsors of the Geo Club at Clague.
• Last week, Kohl's of Ann Arbor made a large donation to the Head Start program at the Preschool. They donated $8,000 worth of books and stuffed animals. Every child that receives any type of services at the preschool building went home with a new stuffed animal and book. There were even enough stuffed animals left over to share with some of the other Head Start programs in Washtenaw County. What a great way to kick off "March is reading month"!!
• On March 14, Huron hosted the first preliminary round of the 10th Annual Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam, and it was awesome.  Eighteen poets participated, and although it was tough, a team was selected to send to the city-wide slam on Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. at the Neutral Zone. Everyone is invited to come out hear our Ann Arbor poetry.  Please applaud all of our poets when you see them.  Many thanks to Mr. Bret Trocchio, Amanda Pardo, Andrea Martin, Scott Beal and Mike Moriarity for helping judge; Sanad Alsaadi for reading the first, calibration poem of the night; Mr. Jeff Kass who is a wonderful emcee and giant supporter of all things poetry; all of the students, teachers, parents and friends who cheered them on, the library staff for sharing the space and Huron’s fantastic custodial staff for setting up and taking down.
• Community High School's Ensemble Theatre participated in Michigan Educational Theatre Association’s “All Star Showcase” at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on March 13th.   Twenty schools from across the state featured their most talented performers and technical theatre students at the event.  Beth Reinstein, Kayleigh Robb, Mary Claire Sullivan, and Rosi Sullivan performed the musical number  "Our Finest Dreams" from this past fall's production of “Little Women: The Broadway Musical,” and Sonya Major performed "Be a Lion" from the musical “The Wiz.”
• Mitchell School held it's 3rd Annual Science Fair this week.  127 students participated.  All students received award ribbons.  The top projects from each grade were awarded a trophy.  Trophies went to Kindergartener Mary Bashshur, First Grader Kendall Adams, Second Grader Kyle Chapman, Third Grader Spencer Steiff, Fourth Grader Tori Neff-Aldrich and Fifth Grader Trevor Vincent.  We thank our judges from the UM K-Grams program led by Michele Madden!
• Congratulations to  Northside teacher Nick Mosher, ELMAC intern Matt Pennewell and their fourth/fifth class!  The class entered the Miller Creek Film Festive.  The class production was shown at the Michigan Theatre on Friday, March 14, along with the other entrants.  They won the Millie (the “Emmy” of this festival) for their category!  It came with an unexpected cash award.  More exciting was the number of Northside community members who attended.  We must have had at least 50 Northsiders there!  Northside PRIDE!
• Slauson students led by the 7th grade leadership advisory raised $2,140.35 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Michigan.  Maria Murphy, the 7th grade leadership advisor, worked with students and teachers to make sure we met the goal of doing better than last year.  We are proud of our students for their hard work.
• The Pioneer synchronized swim team came in second and the Huron team came in third in the state meet held last weekend.
• Everyone is cordially invited to participate in the reception for Ann Arbor student artists in celebration of Youth Art Month Sunday, March 30.   Some of you may have noticed  the lively art that has been decorating business storefronts in downtown Ann Arbor.  Every year, the Ann Arbor Schools' Fine Arts Department and the Main Street Association has collaborated to display student artwork during the month of March.  There are two reception times:  the Pioneer cluster is from 2-2:45 and the Huron cluster is from 1-1:45 at Palio's.  We would love to have you attend to meet the many families that come to celebrate!  It is a wonderful event complete with music from Clague middle school students.
• Johnna Coleman and Casey Hermoyian from Skyline High School have been selected as two of the thirty science educators from the country to participate in the summer ASSET Astrobiology program sponsored by SETI, NASA and the California Academy of Sciences.   The ASSET experience is intense and exciting, interactive and content rich, with presentations by leading astrobiology researchers from the SETI Institute, NASA, and the California Academy of Sciences. Scientists share the latest in astrobiology research on the origin of life on Earth, the extreme conditions in which life exists, Mars exploration, the formation of planetary systems around Sun-like stars, and the search for life in the universe.
• Scarlett counselor Susan Buchan has been slected to participate inThe East-West Center's 2008 "Travel and Teach" program in Cambodia July 6 - 22. This program provides U.S. teachers with a multifaceted professional learning experience through knowledge-enhanced immersion, enriched by one-on-one interactions with people in local communities.
• Cathy Campbell, a seventh grade teacher at Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor always wanted to work with research scientists in remote locales and this July she will be living her lifelong dream by joining three research scientists at Toolik Lake Research Station, in the Brooks Range of Northern Alaska for four weeks. They will measure carbon, water, and energy fluxes in Arctic tundra along with measuring and comparing a variety of biotic and abiotic factors that influence energy flow through tundra ecosystems.
  Mrs. Campbell is one of twelve teachers selected through a nationwide search to participate in PolarTREC, an educational research experience in which K-12 teachers participate in polar research, working closely with scientists as a pathway to improving science education. While on field expeditions, teachers and researchers will share their experiences with scientists, educators, communities, and students of all ages through the use of Internet tools such as online teacher and researcher journals, message boards, photo albums, podcasts, “Live from the International Polar Year” calls and presentations from the field, and online learning resources. After the field experience, teachers and researchers will continue to share their experiences with the public and create instructional activities to transfer scientific data, methodologies, and technology to classrooms. PolarTREC is managed by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) and funded by the National Science Foundation. For more information and to participate, see the PolarTREC website at: http://www.polartrec.com/ or contact Janet Warburton or Kristin Fischer, ARCUS Project Managers, at warburton@arcus.org or kristin@arcus.org or 907-474-1600.
  Mrs. Campbell’s journey can be followed at http://www.polartrec.com/changing-tundra-landscapes.
• Cara Clites, the founder of the Pioneer Club "Doors and Windows" writes: "Back in 2005, four people started a club, called "Doors and Windows", to help the homeless in the Ann Arbor area. Our goal was simply to help in any way we were able to and to try to raise awareness of this problem throughout the Pioneer community. Over the last three years, our numbers have grown significantly, however we would like our membership to continue to grow after this year's seniors graduate. Most recently, we served dinner at the Alpha House family homeless shelter, eating with the residents and then leading the children's playtime afterwards. Everyone involved (especially our club members) have always had a good time at these events and come away with a better understanding of homelessness and its causes. Many of our club members conduct play groups with children of homeless families several times a month and help tutor them. In addition to serving dinner at the Alpha House, "Doors and Windows" sponsors bake sales, either donating the proceeds to Alpha House, or using it to buy hats/gloves/socks for the DeLonis Center downtown. We also run a toiletry drive and a canned food drive benefiying SOS Community Services in Ypsilanti.
• Community High Jazz Band techer Mike Grace shared a nice note from DeVeaux Gauger, “This past Saturday I had the pleasure of hearing some of your jazz students play at a wedding reception. As an avid music listener and musician, I was impressed by how good they sounded and I really enjoyed listening to their music. I think it is challenging to play in that environment where you get little audience recognition because people are socializing. But you’d never know it with these musicians, as they played great the whole time. These musicians played at a skill level beyond what one would normally associate with the high school level. They sounded great as a band, and the solos were well constructed and executed. I briefly spoke with the piano and sax players in between sets and these guys have exceptional poise and class. Please convey my thanks to these musicians for providing excellent music for my friend’s reception. And please accept my thanks to you for running a program that is turning out first class musicians in our community.”
• I want to recognize and compliment our Preschool staff for hosting a Health Fair last Thursday. The information presented was timely and very well presented. Great job on putting together so much information to keep us safe and healthy.
• Thanks to our schools who hosted members of the 2008 Leadership Ann Arbor team organized by the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce. Each year the Chamber introduces new member of our community to the various services Ann Arbor has to offer. Education Day is an annual event with the highlight of the day hqfint the group tour schools This year they visited Abbot, Clague, Forsythe, Logan and the Preschool.
• Steven J. Lucchesi, Builders/Contractors/Designers recognized the good work of John Birko, Homebuilding teacher, “I commend you for all you have done for The Ann Arbor Student Industry Program. If you do not polish your apple I will. You have been an inspiration to all who come in contact with this program. I am very proud of what you have done with the students in the two years you have been on board. Your dedication to the program is unlike others in the past. I have not met a person so dedicated to his job as an educator first over all the other tasks you must perform on the job site in order to complete the homes on schedule. The fact that your students have won in competitions and have received scholarships is and will always be a direct mirror of you dedication in teaching them the skills they need. I for one as past president of the program and current president of construction will forever be your biggest cheerleader. Thank you Mr Birko for for all you do.”

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent