Royal Oak Schools News

School Board Trustee Election: 2009
I do not follow Royal Oak School District activities enough to offer helpful observations about Board issues or candidates. In addition, I live in one of those 80 or so homes west of Woodward, between Lincoln and the Zoo, which many think of as part of Huntington Woods. And I pay school taxes to the Berkley District -- where I don't vote because I don't follow that Board either.

Nevertheless, I did sit through the Candidate Forum for Royal Oak School Board Trustee, and I have some impressions to pass along.

There are three candidates running for two 4-year openings: Carrie Beerer, Jeff A. Brinker, and Arthur Makarewicz. I have met only Makarewicz, who ran for city commissioner in 2007. Carrie has 5 children in Royal Oak Schools; Jeff has 2.

The questions asked of the candidates dealt with such matters as budget, special education, privacy concerns re security cameras, MEAP scores, and the advancement, or not, of Arts and Music. More general questions were, "Will your day job interfere with your ability to serve on the school board (which is a volunteer job)?" and "Should a school superintendent be paid more than a governor?"

The three candidates waffled on that last one, to which the correct answer is, "That is a stupid question."

With no detailed knowledge about school issues and only superficial familiarity with one of the three candidates, I would vote -- if I could -- based on how I reacted to this single exposure to them.

Beerer is my first choice. She is articulate, and integrates every answer into an obvious conceptual framework formed from years of involvement in the education community. I know that school board members generally discount thinking of their service as a political stepping stone, but I see a future city commissioner in Carrie.

Neither Brinker nor Makarewicz has the inside knowledge that Beerer has, but Art seemed to have studied a bit more than Jeff, so he's my second choice. For whatever reason, Brinker's heart didn't seem to be into the event, and his soft speaking voice made him seem withdrawn. -- Oct 2009

Remember: WROK will run this forum on Comcast and WOW at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and at 10 a.. Monday, until the election. The School District Trustee forum will follow that for city commissioner.

The forums were cosponsored by the League of Women Voters Oakland Area and the Chamber of Commerce and conducted at Royal Oak High School

Chinese Teachers go and come
The two Chinese teachers who have been at Keller Elementary and at Middle School, Shang Yuanyuan and Tang Wei, are returning home soon, but two new teachers from China will arrive for the coming school year, Wang Yu and Zhang Fang. The Chinese language and culture exchange has been arranged by Carol Hansen, the School District's Executive Director for Student Services, working with the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Relatedly, twelve students from Royal Oak High School will be touring in China for twelve days, June 27 - July 7, 2008. The students "have been preparing for months under the guidance of ROHS teacher Steve Chisnell," according to Superintendent Dr. Thomas Moline.

Coincidentally:
Some U.S. schools now regularly host visiting educators from China, Singapore, and Japan, who want to know how American teachers are able to produce such creative students. They have noticed that American schools produce Nobel Prize winners and theirs don't. The Chinese have been particularly impressed by the fact that every Nobel laureate of Chinese descent was educated outside China. -- An article by Jay Mathews, education reporter and columnist, defending and praising American Education, except for poor performance in inner cities and poor rural districts. Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2008:

City Commission or School Board
Invisible service goes unrecognized
VersagiVoice has several times pointed out that a dedicated elected city official -- commissioner or mayor -- spends 12 to 20 hours a week to accomplish the position's responsibilities. They are seen at work by the few residents who attend commission meetings and by the several hundred residents who watch on cable TV. They are mostly not seen at committee meetings, doing homework, serving constituents, visiting city hall -- so such work goes unrecognized and unappreciated.

Elected city officials at least get measly compensation -- what? $20 a meeting for commissioners, $30 for the mayor?
Elected School Board members work as hard and get no pay at all for:

Twice-a-month meetings, averaging 2-3 hours, with -- like the city commission -- an occasional 5-hour marathon.
As necessary to conduct/complete business, the Board may meet three times a month, but the extra meetings, usually dedicated to a limited agenda, don't last as long as regular meetings.
As happens at city hall, the school board conducts Saturday morning workshops to address budget or this or that specific issue.
Each board member attends at least one PTA meeting a month.
Each board member serves on at least two committees.
Optionally and not, board members attend out-of-district seminars sponsored by such organizations as the Michigan Association of School Boards.

In common, school board members, city commissioners, the mayor must perform much invisible service if they expect to be useful participants in the public deliberations.

In common, school board members, city commissioners, the mayor suffer criticism of their public decisions by residents who are not always informed about the detailed knowledge acquired through all that invisible service.

In common, school board members, city commissioners, the mayor are more-than-occasionally accused of being arrogant and power-mad when only a few of them are. The majority of these volunteers, paid and unpaid, simply want to serve their community by participating in those public arenas which matter to them.

A related thought.
Too many residents and voters go beyond disliking or distrusting individual elected officials and carry their distrust about government to an unreasonable suspicion that the school board or the city commission or -- in both cases - the administration is a conspiratorial and untrustworthy entity. I am reminded that during decades of collective bargaining work I encountered both management and union negotiators who considered the other side "the enemy." Those negotiators were so paranoid that they could not function reasonably in the stimulating but adversarial environment that is characteristic of collective bargaining.

Even we libertarian-minded souls who prefer v-e-r-y limited government recognize the need for some government; therefore, we tend to tackle each issue on its merits, not on the basis of which individual or which governmental entity initiated or opposes the issue. -- FJV: 30 May 07

This tabulation is derived from a special edition of *Your Schools*, published by the Royal Oak School District.
	2007	2006	2005	1998	1995	1966
Enrollment	5,381	5,631	5,879	6,723	7,362	20,149
Buildings	8	11	12	14	18	24
Total Budget*	$?	$?	$?	$?	$?	$?

The tabulation --
part of an excellent overview of the district -- clearly demonstrates the physical impact of declining enrollment. What doesn't show is how the financial picture tracks, or doesn't track, declining enrollment. Elsewhere in the text, the report mentions rapidly increasing costs like "insurance premiums and retirement obligations."

Other highlights from the special newsletter:

Outstandingly positive metrics re No Child Left Behind

98.57% graduation rate for 2004-2005

96.62% District Average Daily Attendance

Specific construction/remodeling report for Royal Oak High School, Royal Oak Middle School, Upton, Keller, and Addams.

September 2006
More information: 248 435-8400

In MEAP results
Royal Oak Schools beat Berkley Schools
Decades ago, we have been told by long-time Huntington Woods residents, that city's largely Jewish population transferred its school students from Royal Oak to Berkley, claiming dissatisfaction with the education available in Royal Oak, and there was concern expressed about the safety of those students who had to cross Woodward to get to school. Old-timers in Huntington Woods and Royal Oak recall, too, that Jews and Gentiles referred to the Huntington Woods school bus as "the Jew canoe."

Into the late Seventies and early Eighties, there was still some sense that Berkley schools were superior and -- within Royal Oak itself -- that Dondero was academically inferior to Kimball. Those were impressions, one gathers, not measurements.

Now come the 2006 MEAP scores, which show the Royal Oak School District outperforming Berkley, Clawson, Ferndale, and the Statewide public school averages in Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, and Writing. See the news report in the 04 August 2006 issue of The Mirror for the scores.

Qualifying for Tenure in Royal Oak Schools
During one of several discussions about education, vouchers, school boards, school bonds, collective bargaining, and the like, the question arose about how teachers, specifically Royal Oak teachers, qualify for tenure. Barbara Evoe, Executive Director of Administrative Services for Royal Oak Schools, provided the information summarized below.

Royal Oak Schools complies with the Michigan Teachers’ Tenure Act. Tenure, as it is commonly referred to, is an employment act, which among other things stipulates probationary periods for teachers. In Michigan, a beginning teacher must complete a satisfactory probationary period of four full years to attain tenured status. A teacher who has previously acquired tenure in another Michigan public school district must serve a probationary period of two years.

With regard to the matter of collective bargaining, which applies to public education, the Michigan Teachers’ Tenure Act is a standard that all schools districts must adhere to. Whether written in a contract or not, the act applies.

Academic credentialing is done through the Michigan Department of Education. In its administrative rules, the State Board of Education has defined certification requirements along with time periods to meet these standards.

The above information relates to K-12 teachers. For additional information, and information specific to Michigan's post-secondary instructors, your readers will find the Michigan Department of Education's website, www.michigan.gov/mde, to be helpful.

If the school debate were on an Internet chat room
The recent rash of news reports concerning Whittier and Northwood schools is being interpreted in two ways: 1) The school district (Board and Administration) is completely ignoring the wishes of parents and voters, and 2) No public body is able to satisfy everybody, and there will always be objections to whatever the body decides.

If VersagiVoice were a chat room, there would be a v-e-r-y long "thread" of comments concerning school issues. Unfortunately such threads almost always contain anonymous personal attacks, and the tendency to nit-pick factual interpretations to death is apparently irresistible. The current school debate, though, can be narrowed to a few meaningful focal points. -- August 2006

About the timelines related to notification of closing Whittier and passing the latest bond proposal:
Superintendent Moline offered a PowerPoint presentation re consolidation which he maintains proves adequate notification was provided. . . . LocoMoms counter that the consolidation plan in- place when the previous bond was defeated assured the existence of Whittier. They say the notification came too close to the latest bond vote ("less than two months") to permit the public to pick up on the details.

Unfortunately, the varying interpretations about timelines have led a few to question the veracity of Trustees, Administration, LocoMoms, media -- take your pick.

Compliments about Moline's courtesy are countered by complaints that, "Yes, he's smooth, but he is just as arbitrary and hardnosed as the rest of them." Those who admire and respect Moline maintain that "he came late to the party," arriving in the area after some of the damage had been done.

About the duties and responsibilities of School Board Trustees:
"They are supposed to represent us, their constituents," paraphrases the frequent attitude of parents and voters. . . . "My constituents are not the voters. My Board responsibilities are those of fiduciary agent for the school district," accurately reflects what VersagiVoice and voters have heard past and present trustees say.

The issue here might be mistaken as personal -- the attitudes of the speakers -- but the real question is a fundamental disagreement or misunderstanding about the functional/operational relationship between these elected officials and the electors. It is understandable that, faced with repeated unanimous rejection of their preferences, voters have come to believe that new school trustees are oriented/trained to think that their primary loyalty is to the organization, not to the public. If that is true, it would certainly explain why the School Board so often seems to be cavalierly indifferent to those who disagree with them.

"I don't see a hundred people gathering to support the Board's Whittier decision," exemplifies a common mindset.

"Seven-zero, seven-zero. They might as well not bother voting, since they all think alike."

Those who disagree vehemently with the decisions of individual city commissioners do not often attack the commissioners personally. About school trustees -- well about two or three of the current ones -- it is not rare to hear charges of arrogance and comments like, "They need to take some Dale Carnegie training."

About the impact of school closings on real estate values:
One of the arguments offered by dissenting residents is that the lack of a school in a neighborhood leads to reduced property values. For them, it is disturbing to read recent studies which show that schools (quality or location) are a low priority when choosing where to buy a home. (My notes fail to include the resource citations.)

"Don't worry about citations," I have been told. "Just look at the facts: Schools have been closing for 20 years, and Royal Oak property values have continued to rise."

Readers say
In a personal farewell message because she and her family are returning to England after six years in Royal Oak, LocoMom Belinda Amner makes a final comment on the Whittier Elementary situation.

Did they or didn't they do enough notification?
One argument made by the LocoMons is that there was insufficient notification that Whittier would be closed and had that closure been really known voters would not have approved the latest bond proposal. [See]

One response to VersagiVoice's reporting re the LocoMoms campaign to assure one elementary school remains in South Central Royal Oak came from School Superintendent Tom Moline.

Many people who have association with the schools in Royal Oak know about our 2003 consolidation plan. Attached is the PowerPoint that I have used in BOE meetings during my first year as Superintendent. The consolidation plan had been announced several times prior to my arrival.

On the first page of five of the presentation to which Moline refers, Whittier is among the schools named to be closed; the last page includes the statement, "Flexibility must be maintained as this plan evolves through planning to implementation," but does not apply that asterisked notation to Whittier. [See]

Advocates for a South-Central Elementary School get on the agenda
The suggestion that the City and the School District can cooperate to establish a new elementary school in Royal Oak's South End, to fill a perceived gap in serving the area's school needs, has been placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the School/City Liaison Committee, according to one of the women who seem to have taken the lead in pushing the cause. The meeting, to be held at the School District office, is scheduled for 5:30, Thursday, July 13th.

Belinda Amner writes: "I do hope that other residents will see that this "City Planning" issue is one that they can so easily speak up on, despite the palaver that has preceded this moment. I am suggesting that residents who support this proposal of maintaining the Whittier location please find their most optimistic side and "save the date" July 13th to be counted. To speak to the board and the city by their attendance.

"To all the people who provide me the pessimistic outlook that it is too late or even futile, I ask them again to consider their interest in the proposal; the future is long, who knows if this proposal will fit into changes over the next year or three..."

Nota bene: Is it meaningful or simply coincidental that the map on page 11 of the Summer 2006 issue of the city's Insight magazine neither names Oakland Elementary in a list of school buildings nor shows a symbol for that South End school on the map?

School District History
"One hundred and twenty-five men and women will form the teaching and executive staff of Royal Oak Schools for the year beginning September 8." -- Daily Tribune: Thursday, August 26, 1926

Teachers and staff were named for each school. Curriculum and positions included: English, Latin, Home Economics, Music, Manual Arts, Commercial Geography, Physical Education, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Athletics, Librarian, Nurse.

The 1926 article didn't report how many students the district was serving.

An archive-copy of the 1926 publication is available for viewing at the Royal Oak Historical Society Museum. [See]

"Don't worry about citations," I have been told. "Just look at the facts: Schools have been closing for 20 years, and Royal Oak property values have continued to rise."

Royal Oak School District website

2009 Board Election

Chinese Teachers

Trustees Duties

Enrollment since 1966

Royal Oak MEAPs beat Berkley

Qualifying for Tenure in Royal Oak

No Public Body can satisfy enveryone

Trustees duties

Impact of School Closings on property values

Did Loco Moms get adequate notification?

Advocates for a South-Central elementary school get on agenda