Interesting story from a High School in Texas that has offered the IB Diploma program for the past 10 years.

John Tyler Principal To Discuss IB Withdrawal

I’m still not sold that this program is good for our district. Remember, we have one of the best AP programs around and IB will simply cannibalize it as has happened in many districts around the country. Contrary to beliefs of some, this program is not for everyone. It is rigorous and is generally only completed (and attended) by elite students.

Of the 95 diploma candidates Texas’ Tyler High School has had in 10 years, less than half (41) earned IB diplomas.

Lisa Harper, the IB coordinator at Tyler HS states: “If you’re not earning diplomas, what’s the point of the program?”

I’m still disappointed that we continue to pump dollars into this program especially without a vote from our elected school board. An $80k-$200k budget expenditure which also causes a change in curriculum certainly calls for one. I certainly don’t see that as micro-managing.

We have more important issues that need to be addresses at other schools within the district.

On another front, schools around the country are finally catching on to the shortcomings of Newsweek’s H.S. Rankings developed by their education columnist (and IB fanatic) Jay Matthews. The principle behind the rankings are so flawed, that High Schools around the country are begining to write Newsweek in order to boycott the list.

Yes folks IB is all about ‘mission’.

Please read the articles and essays at this website to get the real truth about why you do NOT want IB to take over your school, which is what would eventually be demanded.

Bow NH Fights IB

I am following with great interest the Novi Board of Education’s discussion of an International Baccalaureate program. Every Novi taxpayer should be following this issue closely.

The premise is that an IB program would be good for Novi students – and a “product differentiator” in helping attract additional enrollment to Novi from other school districts. (It should be noted that this same premise was used when Novi Schools agreed to pay big dollars for additional full-day kindergarten classes. Yet, this “product differentiator” has had no significant effect on Novi’s student enrollment).

Clearly, I support investigating the benefits of any new academic program that will benefit Novi students. Recall that we recently cut $3 million from the 07/08 fiscal budget. More cuts are expected in the upcoming school year. During these very tight economic times, we should consider the following:

1. If we add an academic program (IB or anything else), what program(s) needs to be cut to afford this additional expense? Do we eliminate more from special education support services? Cut literary specialists at the elementary level? Layoff more folks from custodial services? Do we finally look at eliminating Block Scheduling from the high school? Do we sell the unused Bosco property?
2. How much does the implementation of IB cost? Shouldn’t we, as taxpayers know how much this program costs before we start training personnel? Why is this issue being fast-tracked through our School Board with little debate? Why is only one trustee asking tough questions (and getting unclear answers)? There was more debate during three board meetings in late 2007 when the issue of webcasting board meetings for the community was discussed (a simple $700/year budget item).

And regarding IB in general, many questions need to be answered. For example:

1. Data indicates that IB programs around the country compete (and in some cases eliminate) Advanced Placement programs at the high school. Is that what Novi wants? I thought we had a premier AP program. Why hurt it?
2. Stand-alone Standard Level (SL) IB courses are not recognized by most universities for college credit. An IB certificate is no more than a participation trophy. You get one for simply taking the IB exam, whether you pass or fail. Is that what we want for our Novi students?
3. Currently, Novi Schools are using Title II-Federal Grant Funds (our tax dollars) to train teachers on the IB program. Is this a good use of our federal funds? Budget dollars are tight. School administrators constantly remind the public about the budget problem. So, could we use these grant funds for a different educational priority – perhaps enhancing reading and writing programs at the elementary level?
4. The IB curriculum is directed by an arm of the United Nations. Is that what Novi wants? I thought Novi taxpayers pay high tax dollars because they want LOCAL CONTROL of their children’s curriculum? Do we need our curriculum approved by a group in Geneva, Switzerland and tests graded by folks in other countries?
5. Why does IB make it hard to obtain guides/syllabi for their courses by charging a fee, while AP course information can be downloaded for free?
6. IB personnel won’t disclose their financial records. Does Novi want to deal with an organization that is so secretive?

The IB curriculum continues to be a controversial topic around the country. I believe that our school board needs to ask tough questions before we proceed with any further funding. As with any major initiative, I expect that our board will indeed put this matter to a vote before moving forward.

From the “what in the world are they thinking” category comes Michigan House Bill 5758. This bill was introduced by Rep. LaMar Lemmons of Detroit. It would require state taxpayers to pay the cost of Detroit school elections.

Maybe he should ask the Detroit Water Department to help subsidize this instead.

You gotta love it!

Not much activity here as of late… but I hope that changes shortly.

In the meantime, I wanted to bring up the fact that many athletics teams over at the High School are having quite a bit of success of late.

First, the varsity football team has secured a spot in the playoffs by defeating South Lyon last week. This is Coach Tab Kellepourey’s 8th season and he’s led Novi to the playoffs 7 times. A win on Friday will give the Wildcats at least a share of the KVC Championship. Tom Markowski of the Detroit News recently did a nice piece about the coaching staff. You can read it here. You can read more about the team on the football website at http://www.novifootball.org.

The girls swim and dive team is currently undefeated in dual meets and ranked #6 in the state. They swim against South Lyon, (ranked #4) for he regular season KVC Championship Thursday night @ Novi.

The boys soccer team currently has an honorable mention ranking in the last coaches poll. They play #7 ranked South Lyon tonight @ South Lyon for the KVC Championship.

The boys cross country team is ranked #7 currently and recently finished 4th at the Oakland County Championships.

Girl’s Volleyball is currently ranked #10 in Class A, is 19-1 overall and 8-0 in the KVC. The Detroit News did a feature article on them today.

Boys tennis team recently won the KVC Championship - winning all 9 lights of competition at the league meet. They are currently ranked #7.

Finally, the girls varsity golf team recently finished 2nd in the KVC - their highest finish ever.

Congrats to all of our student athletes, their coaches and our Athletic Director, Curt Ellis.

The Novi School board (at the behest of the Superintendent Peter Dion) is once again considering allowing district employees to enroll their children in our school district. An attempt to offer this same benefit failed about 3 years ago.

Michigan Public Act 227 makes it easier for children of employees to attend schools in the district where their parents work. This act, which was passed in July, 2004, is not automatic. Each school district can decide independently whether or not to implement it.

Per Assistant Superintendent Bob Schram, 25 of the 28 school districts in Oakland County currently offer this to their employees. There is certainly one major benefit to Novi. It brings more kids to the district–thus more revenue–at a time when the budget is tight.

Unfortunately, there are concerns that have yet to be addressed during the two school board meetings where this issue has been discussed: Read the rest of this entry »

The figures are in. I didn’t do a historical check on spending, but I’m fairly certain that we broke all sorts of School Board expense records this year.

First, the cost of the May 8th election for the Novi School District was $13,518.22. This is pretty much in-line with previous years. Where we saw the big spending was at the candidate level.

The figures break down as follows:

Dave Brown and Craig Parker spent under $1000 each, thus were not required to report. Both did, though, receive $375 from the Novi Education Association (teacher’s union), as did Jeff Nielson.

What are they thinking?

I know times are tough in Michigan today and balancing school budgets is a big issue. I’m all for supporting “our schools as they move through these difficult decisions.” But, while fingers are being pointed at Lansing, shouldn’t we be doing our very best to make ends meet?

This week Novi Schools committed to the expansion of full-day Kindergarten at 3 elementary schools: Novi Woods, Village Oaks and Parkview. This is on the heals of the 62 announced layoffs earlier. Parents on waiting lists were called and given the news.

This move increases costs and decreases revenue (from K-care) at a time we can least afford it. As mentioned earlier, the district should follow the lead of other area schools by eliminating all full-day kindergarten and expanding after-school care.

It will be interesting to find out how the school administration got approval from board members to make this move, as the 2007/2008 budget has not yet been approved. Certainly, this was not discussed at any public meeting.

Maybe folks wouldn’t be so critical if they weren’t being kept in the dark.

The State House last week passed an amendment to the “Michigan Election Law” which would move all school board elections to November. The bill (HB 4507) is currently being debated in the State Senate.

Should this pass, current board trustees Bruce Bagdady and Julie Abrams would most likely stay in office an additioanl 6 months.  Their terms are currently scheduled to end in June, 2008.

It should be noted that the bill (as it currently reads) does not mandate that bond issues be voted on during November elections… only School Board members.

The good news is that Novi Schools would save $12k - $14k per year (the approximate cost of the May elections). On the downside is the fact that School Board members would now start their term in the middle of a budget (and school) year.

Your thoughts?

In a cost cutting move planned to alleviate a $5 million dollar deficit, the board unanimously approved the layoffs of 44 employees (as recommended by the school administration). This is in addition to 7 pending resignations. The layoffs (which take affect after the school year) include approximately 30 teachers. Additional reductions are being considered and will be discussed at the next school board meeting.Our elementary schools took the brunt of these cuts. Since the board abdicated the entire responsibility for determining cuts to the school administration, it had little choice but to accept what was given to them. In hindsight, it might have been better to ask for $6 - $7 million in cuts so that they could choose those things most palatable to the residents of Novi.

I was surprised that the administration presented so many issues to the board at one time. There was not adequate time to digest the information, get public input, and debate the pros and cons of each issue. Understandably, very little analysis was offered by any of the board members, as there was little time to review. Union rules dictate that a certain amount of notice must be given before layoffs can take effect. This might explain why there was such a rush to approve the layoffs. But why not have this meeting on May 10th instead?

Although this special budget meeting had been scheduled for about a week, the district’s only attempt to alert the public was to place a notice on the Educational Services Building. Don’t Novi residents deserve better?

Prior to this school year, the board had always convened 2 monthly board meetings–both taped and televised. At the request of the superintendent, one of these meetings was replaced with a round-table “work session”. Taping and televising was eliminated under the guise of “cost-cutting”. In this format, board members are seated amongst our Superintendent, school administrators and principals. Surprisingly, these meetings (for the most part) are led by the superintendent and not the board president.

No public comments are allowed during these “work sessions”. This was made clear to me by the Board President. It is at these meetings where most of the discussion surrounding issues to be voted on take place. In addition, the released minutes are not much more than a carbon copy of the published agenda.

School Board Secretary Julie Abrams stated that she would not support cameras at these meetings, as she felt more comfortable speaking her mind away from them. I guess her wishes trump the public’s right to know. Of course, you’ll just have to take my word for this, as I have no proof to share and I doubt she’ll document her comments in the minutes.

Other meeting highlights and observations:

• Spanish at the elementary schools has been eliminated, while Chinese at the High School (which has low enrollment) has been spared.
• 25% of the district’s custodial staff will be cut. Another 25% is being strongly considered. One board member showed some concerns and asked if a plan was in place to get all of the necessary cleaning done. Unfortunately, no one was able to offer any concrete answers. It should also be noted that custodians typically served pseudo-security guards during nights and evenings.
• Jim Fry, our Director of Technology, will have his time reduce by 25 to 50%. During the bond campaign we heard the administration boasting of this man’s credentials. I hope that half of his time is still enough for him to recommend how to wisely spend the technology dollars the newly passed bond will bring.
• Switching from full-day Kindergarten to 1/2 day + k-care (as other districts do) was not considered. Novi is one of the rare districts that provide full-day kindergarten at no cost (without federal subsidies for Title I schools).
• The eliminating of block scheduling at the High School was not brought forward. We would see a significant savings to the district if we did away with this. I understand that there is a committee considering this, but certainly not soon enough.
• The elimination of the additional planning session for team teachers at the Middle School was not considered.
• The sale of the unused Bosco property was not considered. I don’t know how much equity we have in it, but I’ll bet it’s significant enough to make a dent in this shortfall (if not totally eliminate it).
• Other recommendations (including pay-for-play, reduction of H.S. hall monitors and H.S. busing, increased community ed. fees, elimination of any new athletic uniforms in 2007/2008… etc.) will be discusses at the next school board meeting.

There are too many important issues being discussed away from the public. I respectfully ask the board to reinstate taping and broadcasting of ALL board meetings as well as allow for public comment. Also, publish minutes that are of some value. Those candidates who ran on the mantra of improving communications should see that this happens.

I find it shameful that after supporting a $26.4 million bond, we’re being kept in the dark. In addition, our elected school board members should be given adequate time on important issues like this to allow for sound decision making. We expect “critical analysis” and background as to why certain decisions are being made.