This Week
In the Ann Arbor Public Schools
April 21, 2009

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

This Week’s Good News

• Welcome back.  I hope everyone had a wonderful break and found time to rest and rejuvenate.  It is hard to believe that there are only eight weeks left in this school year.
• Wednesday, April 22, is Office Professionals Day.  I would like to recognize our outstanding AAPS Office Professionals for their exceptional service to our school community.  We appreciate their hard work as well as the dedicated support they provide for their colleagues, the students and their families and the surrounding area.  Their knowledge and expertise are vital components of the exceptional service that our district provides to the Ann Arbor community. Please join me in thanking the AAPS Office Professionals, for all that they do, every day, for the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
• Wednesday, April 22, is also Earth Day and, in addition to the everyday things you all do to reduce, reuse and recycle, a number of buildings are also planting trees this week.  Custodial and Maintenance Supervisor, Ann Anglim, shares the wonderful news that seven of our district elementary schools received Green School Certification from the State of Michigan.  The awards ceremony was held yesterday afternoon.  The buildings received an outdoor flag to fly at their buildings and their official certificate should arrive this week.  This is right in time for Earth day this Wednesday.  Several of the buildings plan on raising their flag on Earth Day.  There are many wonderful things happening at these buildings on Earth Day and I hope you get a chance to stop by and see the enthusiasm our students have for the environment.
  The buildings were required to complete 10 of the 20 points to receive the Green School Certification.  Those completing 15 of the 20 points receive Emerald status and those completing all 20 points receive Evergreen status.
  The buildings are:
  Allen Elementary – 2nd consecutive year being certified and were awarded Evergreen status
  Bach Elementary – 2nd consecutive year being certified
  Eberwhite Elementary – was awarded Emerald status
  King Elementary
  Lawton Elementary
  Mitchell Elementary – 2nd consecutive year being certified
  Pattengill Elementary – was awarded Emerald status
  The staff, students and parents that worked so diligently on this deserve to be commended.  They have helped in reducing waste, increased recycling, spread awareness and made a firm commitment to our school environmental.  Great job everyone!
• Pattengill third grade student, Ron Chen, has been selected to lead a bicycle team, Kings of the Valley, in the Tour de Cure, a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association.  Ron was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 2007 and has challenged himself to go the distance for the other 23.6 million Americans with diabetes.  Ron and his family have participated in the Tour de Cure since 2008 and have raised over $6,000 for diabetes research and programs.  The Tour de Cure will be held in Brighton, Michigan on June 14, and more participants and support would be most welcome.  For more information visit:
  http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC325108030?px=4056194&pg=personal&fr_id=5607
  There is also a link to a speech that Ron made:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrUBrq78k4
• Clague eighth grade student Emily Anderson won the city-wide Middle School Spelling Bee held at Forsythe Middle School on April 3, 2009.  Emily competed against 30 other students for her honor.  Emily received a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary as her prize.  Second place was won by Mirritika Goush from Slauson, who received a Dictionary, Thesaurus, and English Language grammar trilogy. Thanks to all the students who participated. They all were winners. Many thanks also to the parental supporters and staff members: Michelle Rodriguez, Judy Sisson, Teresa Schneider, Eileen Kindschy, Dolores Tummonds, and Mark O'Boyle for running the clubs.
• Clague would like to congratulate its four medal winners in the Michigan Social Studies Olympiad XXII:   Claire Fishman - Photojournalism, Honorable Mention; David Pacurar - Historic Geography Powerpoint, Silver medal; Leon Pescador - Historic Geography Powerpoint, Silver medal, and Isabel Zheng - Theme Graphic Design, Bronze Medal.   The group was coached by Linda Prieskorn.
• On March 14th, 8th grade students from Clague, competed in the 2009 National French Contest.  Five students placed in the top 10 in the state, including Mingquan Ma (4th place), Sagar Anupindi (5th place), Valerie Peng and Daniel Skib (tied for 6th place), and Alice Wang (7th place).  The students were taught by long-term substitute Bryan Seymour.  Congratulations everyone!
• Congratulations to Julie Donnelly, English Language Arts Teacher and Department Chair at Clague.  Julie has just received word that the book she and her husband were working on has been accepted to be published.  The book is on teaching Guided Reading at the Middle School Level.  More on the title and publish date later.
• Community High student Alyson Halpert, journalist and co-editor of The Communicator, was selected by the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association to be the Michigan Journalist of the Year.  This highly competitive award is for students in journalism, yearbook, photography, and video programs around the state.   This is the first time that an Ann Arbor student has earned this award.  Congratulations Alyson!
• The following Community artists who have been selected to exhibit in the Ann Arbor Art Center “ Potential Show.”  This show was juried by Dan Price, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Michigan, and represents the finest work by Washtenaw County High Schools.  The winners are:  Devin Alfather – drawing, Emma Rand – drawing, Elisa Brown – drawing, Lisa Raymond – drawing, Tanner DePriest – photography, Allison Ferguson – drawing, Helen Allen – drawing, Hannah Sorscher – photography, Casey Binder – photography, Cassidy Moravy-Penchansky – photography, and Cody Pan – painting.
  The exhibition will be open from April 3 – May 10, 2009,
  With an opening reception and awards ceremony onSaturday, April 4TH from 3 – 5 pm
  Ann Arbor Art Center, 117 W. Liberty
• The Skyline High School Women’s Swim Team conducted a book drive for middle school and high school patients at Mott’s Children’s Hospital.  Over 300 books were collected and delivered to the hospital.  The team was treated to a tour of the hospital including the Med Flight helicopter.  Team members who attended are Sylvie Isaac, Coach Maureen Isaac, Grace Taylor-Loring, Senait Dafa, Elena Ghormley, Maddi Byle, Jess Knight, Stefani Tepas, Kendra Bennett, Austin Warrington, Grace Pritula, Meredith Bell, Tasha Major, Hanan Alwan, Nicholette Christodoulou, and Lexie Beemer.
• Soulfege, one of Pioneer High Schools nine extra curricular vocal music ensembles finished second at Varsity Vocals' International High School A Cappella Competition this past weekend in New York City at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.  Soulfege won the Midwest Region in March and placed second Saturday, April 18th in New York City. The singers in Soulfege, members of the Cantando, Bel Canto and A Cappella Choirs at Pioneer, are Mara Abramson, Olivia Bassett-Kennedy, Stephanie Bielek, Rebekah Lauer, Sonya Major, Rachel Mann, Haley McNabb, Ashley Park and Hannah Pearlman.
• Two Pioneer musicians were nominated to be members of the Michigan Jazz All-Stars!  Being invited to be a member of the Michigan Jazz All-Stars is the highest recognition a High School Jazz musician can receive!  Potential members are selected during the State Jazz Band festival. Adjudicators nominate individual players during the festival, then a panel of adjudicators (blindly) listen to each nominee and select the finest of the entrants.  The Pioneer musicians are:  Ella Campbell, who plays Alto II Saxophone and Max Hully, who plays the Trombone.
• On Wednesday, April 1, the Thurston 5th graders completed their eight sessions of Ballroom Hustle that was taught during their gym class by Calvin and Jackie Siebert, known to the students as Mr. and Mrs. Smooth.  This is the second year of a program that was started to give students alternative ways to enjoy exercising.  The Finale on April 1 included a dinner and party for students and their parents.  Everyone participated in a dance or two.  The Ann Arbor news photographer enjoyed the food and took lots of pictures that may appear soon.
• On Friday, April 3, the Thurston Student Council sponsored a Movie night and collected $112.00 to be donated to the Ronald McDonald House.  There were two movies shown and over 200 students participated.
• On Monday, April 7, thanks to student teacher, Miss Melissa Jaeger, Mrs. Vanderhoff’s 5th grade class had a special visitor.  Tyler Clary, U of M sophomore who recently broke Michael Phelps' record time, visited them.  The students asked questions about swimming and about college life. He had lots of great things to say about balancing schedules and working hard to reach your goals.  It was a great motivational talk for our 5th graders.
• Thurston Elementary hosted an International Teacher Exchange with two educators from Kibangu English Medium School, Ubungu, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Educators, Leah Rugemalira and James Bitesigirwe, came to Thurston and spent the day observing in various classrooms; Allie Dey (1st), Elnora Sipp, David Borgsdorf and Lussier/Kerwin (2nd), Dr. Sherry Murphy and John Leidy (4th) and Michael Johnson (5th).  Their goal was to observe and gain knowledge in the American-style public school system. They observed and gathered information, which they will take back to Tanzinia to implement some of the best practices and teaching strategies that are happening in our Ann Arbor Schools.
  James and Leah were impressed with the language the teachers use to interact with the students, as well as the way the students engage in conversation with the teachers. The Tanzanian system is a lecture system, with the limited English that most teachers have, and the cultural expectations that children are seen and not heard. Therefore, observing in the classroom was an eye-opening experience for our international visitors. Both Leah and James were so very impressed with their visit to Thurston that they plan to return on June 7 for planning sessions before the new school year begins.
• Over 100 Huron Band students participated in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) State Solo & Ensemble Festival held at Chelsea High School Saturday March 28, 2009.   In the Solo category, Huron students received 64 First Division ratings (on a scale of 1 - 5) and 6 Second Division ratings.  In the Ensemble category, all 18 Huron events received First Division ratings.  A “2” following a student’s name indicates that the student performed more than once within that category.
  The following Huron students received a Division I rating (Excellent) for an instrumental Solo:  Lucy Ai, Manuel Anderson, Megan Armstrong, Pelham Barron, Sridhar Bhagavathula, Emma Boyd, Emily Chang-2, Oscar Chen, Jonathan Chuko-2, Yeon-Woo Chung, Adam Clover, Brian Collins, Peter Dixon, Peter Dolce, Karen Dowling, Alan Duanmu, Chelsea Froning, Corinne Froning, Abby George, Patrick Gilchrist, Eric Giuffrida, Kristen Giuffrida, Alon Glazer, John Han, Saul Hankin-2, Elspeth Hayden, Robin He-2, Jakob Hildebrandt, David Hinz, Quinton Ho, Tommy Howells, Kathleen Huntzicker, Brian Kim, Jong Hwan Koo, Jinwoo Lee, John Lee, Chris Liu-2, Melissa Liu, Ben Lougheed, Hannah McCabe, Kate McCall, Robert Pan, Sussy Pan, Sofia Porter-Castro, Mary Scott, Michael Shen-2, Bre’Anna Simpson, Annie Song-2, Christine Springer, Evan Stemmer, Callie Svaan, Katy Thompson, Michael Toner, Cathy Vogt, Jenny Wang-2, Lisa Wang, Andre Watts, Laura Wu-2,  and Andy Zou,
  The following Huron students received a Division II rating for an instrumental Solo:  Beixi Li, Andrea Manoppo, Paul Miller, Michael Shen, Patrick Wan,  and Victoria Westhead,
  The following Huron students received a Division I rating for performing in an Instrumental Ensemble:  Manuel Anderson, Nick Baker, Cameron Brown, Tess Chamberlain, Emily Chang, Oscar Chen, Jonathan Chuko, Yeonwoo Chung, Adam Clover, Brian Collins, Kaily Daida, Emma Dolce, Peter Dolce, Kevin Egedy, Dan Ehrlich, Madeleine Erba, Camden Ferris, Carrie Field, Abby George, Kristen Giuffrida, Ben Gugino, Saul Hankin, Robin He, Sarah Higdon, Jakob Hildebrandt, Kathleen Huntzicker, Donovan Hyter, Sean Ji, Jake Johengen, Jinwoo Lee-2, John Lee, Soohyun Lee, Chris Liu, Ben Lougheed, Andrea Manoppo, Kate McCall, Christine Mei, Chelsea Miller, Tara Murthy-2, Tomoe Noguchi, Sussy Pan, Mary Scott-2, Jaeheun Seo, Michael Shen, Hannah Smith, Nate Steiner, Evan Stemmer, Callie Svaan-2, Katy Thompson, Noah Walker, Andre Watts, and Nick Yeatts.
• Clague teacher are on the move again this summer.  Michelle Rodriguez, Media Specialist, has been accepted to attend the Library of Congress program this summer in Washington DC.  Linda Prieskorn and Jeff Gaynor have been accepted as Fulbright Scholars in the summer program in Turkey.   Cindy Leaman is going to China with the ACT Chinese Bridge Program in June.
• Thurston Principal shares a very nice letter from a substitute teacher.  He writes, “I had the pleasure to sub at your school on Thursday and I have to tell you that I was totally impressed. I believe it says a lot about a school when out of the 7 gym classes that I taught, I only had one student who showed some behavioral problems, and they were minor. I don't know what you or your teachers are doing, but keep it up!  I also loved how you involve the older students in helping with the younger ones. My helpers were totally awesome!   This is the first time I email a principal about my subbing experience, but I just had to tell you how wonderful I felt. You should really be proud!”