During remarks at his last meeting as a board member, Allen said union leaders, including President Paul Helder, did not bring a potential contract agreement to member teachers in February.  District teachers just finished their second school year without a contract.

“Imagine that: seven people deciding the fate of over 1,700.  That does not sound like a democracy, it sounds like a dictatorship, ironically one of the things of which [the union] accuses (Superintendent) Dr. Taylor,” said Allen, a one-time board president. He said the union’s tactics have mirrored a 2003 warning presented by a staffer at Michigan Association of School Boards

Allen, who has served since 2002, also discussed what he saw as successes during his tenure: the passage of a school bond, making needed building and program cuts, more schools meeting state and federal standards and looming high school reforms.

In an interview after the meeting, Helder told 24 Hour News 8 Allen is entitled to his opinion.  But he said there never was a tentative agreement he could have presented to his membership.  And the union president said he would literally be willing to be locked in a room with negotiators until a contract is settled.

“We’re offering right now again: go into a building, chain the doors — we’ll get flat food, you can slide it under the door,” Helder said.  “And we’d like Dr. Taylor there as well.”

Also Monday night, the board approved pink slips for 141 teachers.

The district typically recalls most of the teachers who receive the slips, although because of lower than expected retirements and the elimination of 95 full-time positions, that may not be the case this year.

Those 95 positions will be cut through not replacing retirees, moving some teachers from full- to part-time and laying off some teachers.  Helder said he expects roughly 30 retirements this year.
Also Monday night, Superintendent Bernard Taylor offered a moment of silence for two members of the school community who lost their lives recently, including Nathaniel Jones, who was shot Thursday afternoon near Fuller Avenue and Kalamazoo Street SE.

GRPS has announced LEED certification, a nationwide environmental designation, for Gerald Ford Middle School. It’s the third district building to receive the honor.  A fourth has applied for it.

The board also approved the lease of Park School, 1150 Adams Street SE, to Michigan Family Resources/Head Start.

Keep it here for the latest.

–Tony

The district celebrated the honor with a ceremony Monday morning.

Six Michigan schools applied for the designation.  The honor is given to those schools that meet extensive criteria — including “academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structure” — developed by the group.

Bottom line, state coordinator Steve Hoelscher told 24 Hour News 8, is those surveying the schools are looking for models of middle school education.

“Is this a place where I would want my child to attend?” Hoelscher said.  He said the winning schools should be places any teacher from around the country could visit to see an example of best practices in education.

GRPS board meeting, May 4, 2009.

A team of Grand Rapids Public Schools students took top honors in nationwide math and language competitions at the National Academic Games tournament in Tennessee.

GRPS’ “senior team” — Kierstdea Furey, Theodore Petzold, Terrance Carrothers, David Casaletto and Michael Myckowiak — took first place in “equations” and “linguishtik” at the competition, held in April in Knoxville, Tenn. and billed as the largest such tournament in the country.  Myckowiak and Petzold earned perfect scores in the two competitions.  Furey earned a perfect score for “linguishtik.”

 The district’s junior team took third place in “equations” and the elementary team took third in “on-sets” and fourth in “linguishtik.”

Two from the elementary team — Jack Culp and Adrian Bonilla — earned perfect scores in “equations.”

The students were honored at Monday’s GRPS board meeting.

Thomas Ankenbauer, of Portage, and the teacher he deemed to be “most influential,” Christopher Adrian, of Kalamazoo, will travel to Washington to be honored in late June.

“Every year for nearly half a century we’ve been honoring America’s best and brightest students and every year they continue to make outstanding contributions to society while reaching milestones in their academic pursuits,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement. “This year’s ‘Presidential Scholars’ continue that trend.  They are shining examples of excellence in academics and in the arts and are role models that all students should emulate.”

Two students from each state are selected for the honor.  Michigan’s other winner this year is Aparana Anathasubramaniam, of Troy.  Andrea Jarrett of Saline was selected as one of 20 in the U.S. named scholars in the arts.

The students are selected based upon their “academic success, artistic excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.”

A 29 -member Commission on Presidential Scholars, appointed by the president, makes the determination.

Thomas Ankenbauer

Here are the “budget parameters” set forth by the administration in no particular order.  The board voted unanimously to adopt them:

- Schools that have fewer than 200 full-time students as of the fall count or are at or below 85 percent of capacity would be under consideration for closing or consolidation in the fall of 2010  (Full story here.)

- Elementary class sizes shall remain between 22 and 30, with kindergarten through third grade at the lower end of the range
 
- Reductions at the elementary level should be minimized as much as possible

- Secondary school class sizes should be between 25 and 35 (some electives such as band could be higher)

- Class sizes may be higher when technology is used to deliver instruction

- Elective classes at secondary level not retained unless 25 students or more are enrolled

- Staffing will be driven by student needs

- Increase use of technology

- Minimize the use of fund balanace to meet recurring expenses

- No increase in number of administrators

- Efforts to reduce cost of health insurance

***

GRPS CFO Lisa Freiburger says the decline in student enrollment from the fall count to the winter count appears to be weighted toward the secondary schools, which was not unexpected.  As we reported last week, the student drop from count to count this year was about half of what it was last year.

***

Tonight’s board packet includes the list of board candidates who will appear on the May ballot.  Former board President David Allen announced earlier that he would not seek re-election.  Board Secretary Arnie Smithalexander is running for re-election and Senita Lenear, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Jim Rinck but lost her bid to keep that seat in last May’s election, is also running.  Tony Baker, who beat Lenear, is running for re-election.  Three seats are open.  The candidates are:

Tony Baker
Wendy VerHage Falb
Senita Lenear
Arnie Smithalexander
Kevin Weiss

- The theme schools are sixth-grade programs — now connected to City Middle/High School — at Blandford Nature Center (now City @ Blandford), the John Ball Zoo (City @ Zoo) and the Center for Economicology (City @ Riverside).  Applications are due March 2.

- The Central High School campus has a School of Health Science and Technology, partnered with Spectrum Health and others.  Union hosts the Academy for Design and Construction, featuring a new public-private partnership with area construction companies such as Christman and Rockford.  GRAPCEP/Engineering and Biomedical School is now open to ninth-graders at the Creston campus.  Ninth-graders are also now welcome at the School of Business at both Ottawa Hills and Creston.  Applications are due Feb. 5.

- GRUPA is now accepting sixth- through eighth-grade students.  Applications for the GPRS school, modeled after a charter program in Detroit, are due March 2.

- City Middle/High School offers a college preparatory curriculum.  The district often notes the high school is the region’s top-performing school on state standardized tests.  City Middle/High is in the process of finalizing its use of the rigorous International Baccalaureate curriculum.  Applications for City Middle/High School are due Jan. 31.

The open houses feature information on all the specialty programs for all grades, but are split between the high schools and the City building.

Here are the dates and times, per GRPS:

9 – 12 Grade School Choice Open Houses
Tuesday, January 13 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm @ Creston High School
Wednesday, January 14 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm @ Union High School
Wednesday, January 21, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm @ Ottawa Hills High School                                               
Thursday, January 22, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm @ Central High Campus / Montessori Building

6 – 8 Grade School Choice Open House
Saturday, January 31 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm @ City High/Middle School

Her basic premise? Tenure protects bad teachers by making it more difficult for districts to fire them.

Washington Superintendent Michelle Rhee’s plan isn’t brand new. It has been featured in Newsweek. I caught a report on it yesterday on ABC World News Sunday and this morning, Rhee’s ideas were featured in the Grand Rapids Press, which just published a series on tenure issues in West Michigan.

Here are some of the details from Newsweek:

“Current teachers would actually have a choice. If they are willing to go on “probation” for a year—giving up their job security—and can successfully prove their talent, they can earn more than $100,000 a year and as much as $130,000, a huge salary for a teacher, after five years. If not, they still get a generous 28 percent raise over five years and keep their tenure. (All new teachers must sign up for the first option and go on probation for four years.) Rhee predicts that about half the teachers will choose to take their chances on accountability for higher pay, and that within five years the rest will follow, giving up tenure for the shot at merit pay hikes.”

ABC reports that Rhee thought she’d be seen as a hero but instead the idea “triggered a major labor dispute and stalled contract negotiations with the teachers’ union.” Union leaders have told reporters tenure is critical to protect teachers from being fired for no reason.

Money is of course an issue — Newsweek says Rhee is “tapping” Mayor Adrian Fenty and private philanthropists.

Is this a good idea? Could it work here?

Curious to hear your thoughts.
Tony

Word of a tentative agreement came out in late September, but because the fact-finder wasn’t available for several months, administrators said they were interested in finding someone else.

But now both sides have agreed to stick with fact-finder Mark Glazer.

If ongoing mediation sessions fail to reach a deal, a final contract could still be months away because of Glazer’s availability. But a GRPS spokesman says the agreement is a sign that the negotiation process is moving forward.

And both sides are expected to sit down once again Thursday for a mediation session. Another is set for the end of the month.

Teachers are in their second year without a deal and the union recently proposed taking a chunk of the district’s budget in exchange for taking over the payments of salaries and benefits for union members.

GREA President Paul Helder told the board Monday he’s encouraged by the district’s public statement in support of the idea. Administrators did express interest in the idea, calling it “out of the box,” but they did raise questions about the legality of handing over a large portion of the budget to the union.

It’s hard to say whether the idea will take hold Thursday or if it will once again spiral into a battle over the district’s finances. (GRPS administrators have already said that the union’s number — roughly 57 percent — isn’t quite right because while it covers classroom expenses that figure also includes money for things like textbooks.)

Your thoughts?
Tony

***

The Grand Rapids school board is putting off a decision on the sale of the former Lexington school building after a new offer came in Monday evening. Here’s a on full story that.

***

Teachers union President Paul Helder told the board Monday he’s encouraged by the district’s public statement in support of the idea of the union taking over salaries and benefits for teachers and its other members in exchange for a set piece of the district’s budget. Administrators have expressed interest in the idea, though they raised questions about the figures the union was using and legal issues that could be involved. The next mediation session between school board representatives and the teachers union is set for Thursday.

***

A total of nine new all-day preschool classrooms will open in the city after a $4.5 million, three-year federal grant. The new schools will be a collaborative effort among GRPS, Grand Rapids Community College, and the Hunting YMCA. The classes will be offered at GRPS’ Harrison Park Elementary, Martin Luther King Leadership Academy, Campus Elementary, Dickinson Elementary, and the new Cesar Chavez Elementary.

The programs are expected to focus on language and literacy.

***

The board did vote to hire a contractor for the renovations planned for Houseman Field as approved by the finance committee. It’s ultimately part of the plan to move the district from the current four comprehensive high schools to two. GRPS will renovate that existing facility instead of building new fields for the remaining two comprehensive schools.

***

Cesar E. Chavez Elementary is getting a gift from Grand Rapids law firm Barnes and Thornburg along with Wells Fargo:  $20,000 per year over the next three years to be used for “uniforms, cultural activities and special field trips.”

***

District arts advocates announced that money from an upcoming Vince Gill / Amy Grant will go to boost arts programs in the district.

***

Your thoughts on all of this?

Tony

A letter sent to teachers shows that administrators’ September 17 contract offer would have left few things changed for the 2007-2008 school year. (A district spokesman says the union has not made a counter offer but the district considers the offer rejected.)

Teachers with the most seniority — those who don’t qualify for so-called step increases — would get a 0.5 percent stipend.

But in 2008-2009, the current school year, the district offered a 1.5 percent raise and a 1.5 percent “stipend” offer to teachers at the high end of the seniority scale. The district offered an alternative 2 percent across-the-board raise for 2008-2009 that would not have included the stipend for senior-most teachers.

On health care, the district’s offer would mandate 8 percent teacher contributions to the cost of health care premiums. It offered an alternative plan to put teachers on a “10/20″ drug plan with GRPS giving the union a one time $25,000 stipend to go toward a reimbursement pool.

The district offered up the old Lexington property — assessed at $610,000 — for $690,000 and received a cash offer from a developer looking to turn the building into apartments.

Some neighbors are unhappy with the plan and are now asking GRPS to consider turning the property into a community center and health clinic. The developer’s offer has to come before the GRPS Finance Committee before it goes to the full board. We’ll keep you posted.

Your thoughts?

Tony