Ann Arbor School board president talks about upcoming year
Long-time board member Karen Cross, who had served as board president for six years, didn’t run for reelection this year and stepped down at the end of June.
Deb Mexicotte, also a veteran board member, was elected by the board to serve as board president this year.
She recently sat down with me and chatted about the upcoming school year. An edited transcript follows:
Q: What’s the upcoming year hold for the board?
A: “It’s going to be very interesting for all of us. We’ve gotten used to working in a certain way. Every board is a new board (but) we haven’t thought of being a new board in a long time. With (new board member Adam Hollier) joining, we’re going to be new this year. There’s danger that we’re going to think we’re the same board when we’re not.”
Q: Why did you want to be school president?
A: “What it really came down to where could I server best in the reconfigured board. Knowing the strengths of the board, I looked at where I could fit in.”
Q: What do you think the board will spend much of its time working on?
A: “The most obvious issue is our financial situation. We have an opportunity that’s been building for a while to go out for a county-wide millage that will help stabilize our funding. We’ve finishing our school improvement program. Getting that off the table this past year has allowed us to focus on other issues, like the social climate in our schools.
“We are working our strategic plan. It’s the focal point of what we’re doing. When we’re trying to shift dollars somewhere, it’s all about the strategic plan.
“Another item is our evaluation program for our staff, figuring out what is the best way to evaluate performance when we all believe standardized testing is just one piece of the total.”
Q: What will make a good year?
A: “If the enhancement millage passes, it will be a good year because it will work to stabilize our funds. “It will be a good year if we achieve phase two in the strategic plan. “It will be a good year if we increase enrollment. “We want to see progress in student achievement.”
David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2534 or davidjesse@annarbor.com.
Comments
David Jesse
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 : 9:39 a.m.
Schoolmuse: I agree both of these were short. They were intended just as a brief introduction to the reporting we'll do all year long on these issues and more. I'm sure we'll sit down with Brit and Deb again.
schoolsmuse
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 : 9:22 a.m.
David--One thing I am curious about--both of these interviews are very short, and given the web-format (not being limited by column inches), it seems like you could have given us much longer interviews. Are you planning on parcelling the interviews out over a longer time period, or is there some other reason for making them so short?
Amy Lesemann
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 : 8:46 a.m.
The school system seriously needs to address the lack of gifted programming. This damages its ability to compete with Dexter, Chelsea and other nearby school districts when professional people consider moving to the area. They are truly shocked to hear that Ann Arbor has no gifted programming in place for the elementary or middle schools.
David Jesse
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 12:27 p.m.
Matt: I hope to take a closer look at those strategies this school year and see where the district is in meeting those goals. Kathleen: Thanks for pointing out a few errors. I'm working on a story looking at how each district is spending its money. We'll also keep writing about the WISD millage. Stefanie: Thanks for fixing the tag. Don't know how it got there.
Kathleen Kosobud
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 12:07 p.m.
I hope that David Jesse will go back and re-edit this. There seem to be word omissions and other strangeness in the composition that make both Deb and David appear less articulate than they are. I'm pleased that Deb is now board president, and hope that future reporting will reveal her thoughts about how she hopes to guide the new board's course. I also hope that there will be a clear explanation of the WISD millage, and how it would help local school budgets. Finally, why is "beer" among the tags for this article?
Matt Hampel
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 12:02 p.m.
Mexicotte mentioned "working [sic] the strategic plan". Do you think they'll publish another update this year? There was one in September 2008, but it was pretty meaningless, with information along the lines of "Enhance curricula to prepare students to be successful in a global society: Started." I'd be interested in reading a detailed report, with concrete information instead of buzzwords.
Haran Rashes
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 9:57 a.m.
It seems that every other year contract talks prevent the School Board from releasing the school calendar in a timely fashion. Again this year, we have no idea when or even if there will be a midwinter break and families who want to travel are quickly being shut out of the inexpensive airline fares. While I understand the reluctance to comment on contract talks, the School Board and the Union need to understand that their failure to at least agree on a school schedule is hurting the students and families.
David Jesse
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 9:05 a.m.
Carol: Neither side is commenting on the talks, other than to say they expect to have an agreement before the start of school. David
Carol Burgener
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 9:03 a.m.
What I really want to know is how the contract negotiations are progressing. Why has there been no reporting on that?
Angela Smith
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 : 7:42 a.m.
Our schools and our kids are lucky to have Deb, a strong leader who gets things done. Here is to a great year!