ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? Soda consumption, TV and video/computer games, and the frequency of meals heavily influenced students' weight in an Indiana University study that examined the impact of a school-based obesity intervention program over an 18-month period.
More soda consumption and screen time meant students were more likely to be overweight or to gain weight. The more frequently students ate meals each day, the less likely they were to stay overweight or gain weight during the study, which examined the Healthy, Energetic, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools program.
Dong-Chul Seo, associate professor in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, said participation in team sports also contributed to students' ability to achieve a healthy weight.
"Schools and families may be able to successfully focus on these modifiable risk factors, decreasing the burden of childhood obesity," he said.
HEROES, implemented by schools in southern Indiana, northwestern Kentucky and southeastern Illinois, is sponsored by the Welborn Baptist Foundation and based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Coordinated School Health Model. HEROES is intended to enhance schoolwide wellness culture through changes in physical education, nutrition, the physical environment, health promotion efforts for school staff and family, and community involvement. Researchers from IU's School of Public Health-Bloomington and the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community have been evaluating the HEROES initiative for the past four years.
"Predictors for Persistent Overweight, Deteriorated Weight and Improved Weight Status During 18 Months in a School-Based Longitudinal Cohort" involved 5,309 students at 11 schools.
Seo said the findings confirm the connection between higher levels of soda consumption and persistent overweight and deteriorating weight status, and they support the recent and controversial New York City ban on sales of supersized soda and other sweetened beverages.
The finding about the relationship between the number of meals students eat daily and their weight contributes to a scant amount of evidence in this area.
"Thus, encouraging students to maintain a regular meal pattern with at least three meals a day appears to be a good strategy to help students achieve healthy weight," Seo said.
The research found that the overall socio-economic status of a school had an impact on students. Those attending schools with lower socio-economic status were more likely to be overweight or to gain weight during the study period. This could reflect the greater opportunities students have for nutritious food offerings and physical activity at schools with high socio-economic status, Seo said, or it could reflect peer influence.
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Tonight Judge Jeanine had Charles Wood and his family in-studio to discuss the situation surrounding his son?s death in Benghazi and the administration?s response to it.
Gotta say the hug at the end was a testimony to this grieving father?s character. What a great man and a great family.
Occupancy, Absorption Levels Hold Serve as Market Indicators Find Recovery Continuing at Slow but Steady Pace
Demand for office space in the U.S. held steady in the third quarter as leasing activity and absorption of available office space continued to pick up momentum following a lackluster start at the beginning of 2012, CoStar Group reported this week in the company's Third-Quarter 2012 Office Review & Outlook.
The overall U.S. office vacancy rate edged down and net absorption rose to 15 million square feet during the quarter from 13 million square feet at mid-year 2012. The relatively little new office supply and continued low levels of new office construction supported the balance in supply and demand.
Meanwhile, office tenants continued to enjoy a 'holiday' from rent increases as office rents in most market have yet to budge much from their market trough tipping point, according to analysts for Property and Portfolio Research (PPR), CoStar?s analytics and forecasting division.
"The recovery is only one-third of the way there in the office sector, we still have two-thirds to go," said Walter Page, PPR director of research, office, who was joined by PPR's Managing Director Hans Nordby and Manager, U.S. Market Research Aaron Jodka, in dissecting the third-quarter numbers for CoStar clients.
If there was a surprise for the quarter it was on the upside. Page said he had expected demand to fall off a bit in the quarter, based on anecdotal reports of companies postponing hiring and expansion decisions due to economic and political uncertainties created by this fall?s hotly contested presidential election and the unresolved budget impasse.
"But it held up, and we expect it to continue to hold," Page said, buoyed by the improvement in job growth over the last couple of months.
CoStar expects leasing activity to exceed 135 million square feet nationally for the third quarter, eclipsing the 130 million square feet of office space leased during the second quarter.
"We've started to see pretty good leasing momentum," Jodka said. "It was a weak first quarter, but we've started to see more decision-making by tenants -- not at the rate we would have expected if it were not an election year or if the economy were performing better -- but we're seeing office-using job growth translate into leasing decisions and momentum , and that's a good sign."
Energy industry driven metros such as Houston, Dallas and Denver, and even previously challenged growth markets such as Atlanta, have posted solid gains in leasing and absorption, both in the third quarter and year to date, fueled by growth in law firms, consulting, insurance and other typical downtown tenant, Jodka noted.
On the other end, consolidation among pharmaceutical companies and other office tenant downsizings have dampened demand in Northern New Jersey. Absorption remains soft in Los Angeles outside the submarkets dominated by media and entertainment companies.
Companies Continue to Pursue Modest Office Hiring
While U.S. GDP slowed to 1.3% in the third quarter from 1.7% in the prior quarter -- hardly the kind of growth arithmetic that induces companies to hire more workers -- office-occupying jobs continued to increase on a year-over-year basis at a faster clip than the national average, Nordby said.
"We're expecting office-using employment to be about 30% better than the overall average in employment. If you believe there's a recovery, then you like the office sector," Nordby said.
Although the U.S. office vacancy rate edged down to 12.6% in the third quarter and is down just half a percentage point from a year ago, PPR continues to expect the vacancy rate to fall another 1.8% through 2016 as supply diminishes and the economy rebounds, by far the steepest drop among commercial property types.
For now, two main factors are constraining office demand. The average amount of office space leased by tenants has shrunk 21% over the last 10 years in a fundamental shift in the way companies use office space due to a variety of factors, including the economic downturn, and the rise of telecommuting and smaller, more collaborative work spaces. Secondly, tenants are still expanding into leased but under-utilized space resulting from layoffs during the recession.
Meanwhile, office tenants that have been active in the market are upgrading their space at the current lower rents. About 70% of net absorption has been in top-tier, 4-Star and 5-Star buildings. However, PPR expects absorption to shift to the middle and lower of the market, similar to the mid-2000s recovery, as the choicest buildings fill up.
Page also pointed out that office demand is improving in metros hurt by the housing crisis, such as Atlanta and Phoenix, with housing clearly less of a drag on their local economies than in previous years. Even in Orange County, where the subprime mortgage collapse caused the office market to crater, mortgage lenders are once again beginning to lease large block of space, Jodka said.
Office Construction Beginning to Stir
Although there?s very little new supply of office space coming on line -- the nation actually removed more space from the inventory than it added in 2011 -- construction of a few new projects totaling 14 million square feet has started in the last two quarters. Most of the new office construction consists of build-to-suit buildings for medical or pharmacautical tenants such as PNC?s 800,000-square-foot headquarters building in Pittsburgh.
However, office construction is becoming a bigger story in a few markets such as San Jose, CA; Boston, Washington, DC, Houston, New York City, Austin and Charlotte, NC. Although up to 85% of the space is preleased in some markets such as Boston, speculative projects have been a higher percentage of total construction in San Jose, DC, Austin and Charlotte.
"We expect that sluggish phenomenon to continue over the next several years until the economy really gets going and profits start to translate into employees and uncertainty starts to wind down," Jodka said.
While the office sector had the greatest increases in vacancy and has not recovered as fast, its recovery probably has more legs going forward because of the lack of construction, Page said.
Bad news: My productivity went down ? way down ? this week. Good news: I?m getting pretty far in Super Mario Bros. 2.
There?s a reason I don?t allow myself to keep a gaming console and videogames in my house, and I was reminded of that as I logged some serious hours with the Nintendo 3DS XL.
This $200 portable gaming device offers a 3-D gaming experience without the need for special glasses.?It improves on the company?s previous model, the 3DS, with larger screens that make it easier to view and interact with the content, but it still has limitations, including low-resolution screens and limited 3-D viewing angles. Plus, the 3DS XL?s extra features, including the 3-D camera and Internet browser, aren?t that great.
Nintendo?s handheld also faces competition from Sony?s PlayStation Vita. That portable gaming system lacks 3-D, and costs $50 to $100 more than the 3DS XL, depending on if you get the Wi-Fi or cellular version, but it includes a higher-resolution screen and more processing power, which might appeal to the more serious gamer.
But for people like me who simply want a more robust gaming experience than what a smartphone offers, the 3DS XL is incredibly fun and addicting.
The 3DS XL is about the size of a small paperback book and weighs just under a pound. It features rounded edges, so it easily slips into a bag or jacket pocket, and feels comfortable to hold in both hands.
The clamshell device features dual displays, which Nintendo touts as being 90 percent larger than the previous Nintendo 3DS. The top non-touch display measures 4.88 inches diagonally, and the bottom touchscreen measures 4.18 inches, while the 3DS?s screens measure 3.53 inches and 3.02 inches, respectively. The PS Vita has a single five-inch touchscreen with a 960 x 544 pixel resolution.
When I borrowed a friend?s 3DS, my eyes strained a bit to take in all the details of a game. For example, I was playing Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, a charming puzzle game that?s filled with great visuals as you travel through a fictional city called Monte d?Or. But it felt very cramped on the 3DS display, and I really had to focus to see some of the details of the background buildings, whereas the viewing experience on the 3DS XL was easier on the eyes.
That said, the larger bottom screen felt like the bigger luxury. The top display is used primarily to show you the game play, whereas the bottom screen allows you to control and select certain functions using touch. But that wasn?t always easy with the 3DS?s smaller screen, and I often had to use the included stylus. With the 3DS XL, I could just use my fingertip, which was more convenient.
Unfortunately, Nintendo didn?t increase the resolution of the screens along with the size. The top display has a resolution of 800 x 240 pixels, and the bottom has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. When blown up on the larger screens, the pixels are more noticeable, so images and text don?t look particularly sharp or smooth. The 3DS XL?s displays were still clear and bright enough that I could see them, but it?s an adjustment, coming from the higher-resolution screens found on today?s smartphones.
The 3-D effect is not the same 3-D you?d experience at the movies. Instead of objects flying off the screen, the 3DS XL creates an effect where parts of the image go deeper into the background while some items remain in the foreground to create the illusion of 3-D. It?s a pretty neat trick, though it works better on some games than others.?
For example, I thought it was better integrated on Super Mario Bros. 2 than on Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. With the latter, there were certain scenes where the 3-D looked like a muddled mess. In those cases, there is a slider switch to the right of the top display that allows you to adjust the depth of the 3-D, or completely turn it off.
I was worried about getting a headache or feeling dizzy from the 3-D, but, surprisingly, I never felt sick the entire time I used the 3DS XL. It did take a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the 3-D, and you do have to look at the screen straight on to see the effect. If you move your head or the handheld, you lose the 3-D image.?
Game play was a lot of fun. Some might wonder why not just play games on your smartphone, but having dedicated control buttons really makes a difference.
In the past, I downloaded several games to my iPhone, such as Mega Man II, but abandoned them after a few tries because trying to maneuver characters and complete actions using the onscreen touch controls was too hard. But the 3DS XL has a circle pad, a directional pad and four control buttons, and they all make game play so much easier, whether I was trying to run, jump or shoot.
This is part of the reason why I could play Super Mario Bros. 2 for so long. After about five hours of play (not continuous), the battery called ?game over? and needed a recharge.
Games are available as traditional cartridges, and range in price between $10 and $40, or you can purchase and download them over Wi-Fi right on the device, through the Nintendo eShop. I just about passed out from excitement when I saw The Legend of Zelda in the catalog, and readily paid the $5 to relive one of my favorite childhood videogames.
In addition to games, the eShop offers apps and 3-D videos, and downloaded content is saved on the preloaded four gigabyte SD card. Also, if you have one of Nintendo?s older DS, DSi or 3DS models, most games are compatible with the 3DS XL, but DS and DSi games will be displayed in 2-D.
The 3DS XL is more than just a gaming handheld. It?s equipped with three cameras ? the two on the front cover can capture 3-D images, and there?s one above the top display. But with a resolution of just 0.3 megapixels each, the picture quality is pretty poor.
The device also offers a basic Internet browser, but I would only use it out of desperation. Web sites, including Web-based email, don?t scale very well on the screens, and it requires a lot of zooming to be able to read text. There?s no Facebook or Twitter integration, but Nintendo includes its own social feature that lets you connect with other 3DS players.
If you?re looking to level up your game play beyond what?s offered by your smartphone, the Nintendo 3DS XL makes a fun companion.
by SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated PressAssociated Press
Ricky Gilmore, 49, shows the pair of pants he was wearing when he dragged himself four miles down a road for three days last week near Tocito, N.M. after a man and woman he met while he was hitchhiking left him without his wheelchair, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 in Farmington, N.M. (AP Photo/The Daily Times, Augusta Liddic)
slideshow ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? A paraplegic man who says he was stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair dragged himself about four miles down a dirt road over three days before a motorist stopped to help him.
Tattered and dirty, Ricky Gilmore's blue jeans tell part of the story. His body tells the rest ? the skin on his left leg and buttocks is shredded, his wrist is sprained and his kidneys are in bad shape from going without food and water.
"Ah man, I'm just a big mess. I ache and I'm just in the first stages of healing," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday from his hospital bed at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, N.M.
Gilmore, 49, is being treated for acute kidney failure from dehydration, a sprained wrist and a blood infection. He spent two days in intensive care and it could be at least another week before he can go home.
The Farmington Daily Times first reported Gilmore's story. He was found along a seldom traveled road on the Navajo Nation about 10 miles from his home in Newcomb, which is on the eastern side of the reservation.
Gilmore said he was dropped in the desert by a couple in a white truck who he met while he was hitchhiking. He had invited them to his home for steaks and they later went for what Gilmore thought was going to be a joyride.
When he declined to share his alcohol with them, Gilmore said the man grabbed him by his feet and threw him out of the truck while parked along the desolate road.
It was early evening and Gilmore had nothing ? no wheelchair, no food, no water, no coat ? to help him endure the flat desert scrubland.
"It was dark and I was shivering and the wind was blowing so I just crawled to a bush and dug in right there. It was cold that night," he said.
With the sunrise, survival mode kicked in.
"I started dragging myself. I did the same thing all day and I only got about two miles," he said.
Two people passed by. Gilmore tried flagging them down but they only honked and kept going.
After spending a second night at the side of the road, Gilmore said he woke up sore and thirsty and didn't want to move.
"I could have easily gave up and said forget it, but I said I'm not going to freeze out here and I just kept on going," said Gilmore, who lives by himself and lost the use of his legs in a car crash years ago.
On the third afternoon, a man in a blue pickup truck stopped and called for help. Gilmore said doctors told him his body temperature was 94 when he was found.
"I don't think I would have made it another night," he said.
The Daily Times reported that Gilmore filed a report with the Shiprock Police Department. There were no officials at the department after hours Tuesday who could confirm details of the report.
Gilmore said he's bandaged up "big time" and morphine is helping with the pain. Still, he had a nightmare Monday night in which he found himself sitting at the edge of a freeway waving his hands at the passing traffic, but no one looked at him.
His plan is simple for when he gets released from the hospital: "Go home and pray, take inventory and just get a good night sleep in my own bed and heal."
Indiana men's NCAA college basketball player Jordan Hulls talks to reporters at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Indiana men's NCAA college basketball player Jordan Hulls talks to reporters at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Indiana men's NCAA college basketball head coach Tom Crean speaks at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Ohio State men's NCAA college basketball player Deshaun Thomas talks to reporters at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) ? Tom Crean didn't really understand what he was getting into when he took the Indiana job four years ago.
Now, the mess is gone. Just look at the Hoosiers.
They are the top team in the Big Ten and Cody Zeller is the Preseason Player of the Year, according to a vote by conference media, results that were hardly surprising given their jump last season.
All the Hoosiers did was orchestrate a 15 1/2 -game turnaround that matched the biggest in Big Ten history, going 27-9 on the way to the Sweet 16.
It's fair to say they've come a long way since Crean took over for Kelvin Sampson in the wake of the phone-call scandal that gutted the program.
"We had hit rock bottom," he said Thursday at Big Ten media day. "We had all kinds of issues that were inside the program. You don't take the job at Indiana thinking you're going to deal with what we were dealing with, but we did. And we weren't going to leave. That wasn't an option."
Crean said he actually had a chance to leave after his first season at Indiana, a 6-25 nightmare in 2008-09 that included a 1-17 conference record, and he would have earned what he was making in his previous job at Marquette. It took him "about 10 seconds" to say no.
Now, the Hoosiers are back on top in a conference that appears to be loaded.
Michigan and Ohio State were picked to finish second and third after sharing the regular-season title with Michigan State last season, and the way Crean sees it, those three are the teams to beat until someone unseats them.
The Hoosiers have as good a chance as any, with the 6-foot-11 Zeller back after averaging 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds as a freshman. He was a unanimous pick for the preseason all-conference team, with Michigan's Trey Burke, Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas, and Penn State's Tim Frazier also making it.
"The target of being an Indiana Hoosier has never changed," Crean said. "Indiana is synonymous throughout the country for being known for a lot of things in basketball. It was always a big, big game. It was always a big deal when you were playing Indiana or Indiana was coming to town. And I think that hasn't changed. Will it grow some? Maybe. But I think the bottom line is a year ago, when there really weren't those outside voices talking in a totally positive light where the team was at, that didn't phase them. They continued to work."
The Hoosiers are facing no easy task.
Michigan is right there. So is Ohio State, even if its best player (Jared Sullinger) and one of its all-time leading scorers (William Buford) are gone after a Final Four run.
The Buckeyes still have three starters back. And Michigan State coach Tom Izzo likes his team's chances even though Draymond Green is gone.
"We have a chance to put together a pretty good team, and unfortunately it's in a tough conference this year and that's going to make a difference," Izzo said.
Strength of the conference was a big theme on Thursday, only this year it seemed like something more than coach-speak. There seems to be some weight to it.
"We're going to have to back it up," said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, whose team is coming off a 26-win season and Sweet 16 run. "We're going to have to play well, that's for sure. There are certain teams now in our league that have that 'X' mark on their back, but that's good. I think that's good, that quality competition, that interest, the outside interest of people saying, "Well, we think this team is pretty good." This team is pretty good. That's OK, that's great for the league."
For Indiana, it's been a tough climb back toward the top. The Hoosiers won just 10 games in Crean's second season and 12 in his third, before turning it around a year ago. Zeller's arrival was the extra kick the program needed.
"It's pretty crazy to think about how far we've come," senior Jordan Hulls said. "It speaks volumes of how Coach Crean and his staff have really instilled their lives into getting Indiana basketball back to where people are used to seeing it. Being part of the losing seasons and then now, last year having a pretty good year and then expectations for this year, it's pretty cool to be a part of that."
NEW YORK (AP) ? Alicia Keys, after giving birth to her son two years ago, said she wanted to create tools for children. Now she's launching an app for kids.
"The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee" is about a young New York City girl's relationship with her wise grandmother. Keys produced music for the interactive app, which will be released Thursday for $3.99.
"It's a new adventure for me, and I'm really enjoying it," the Grammy Award winner said in an interview Wednesday.
The app is loosely based on Keys' relationship with her grandmother. It's centered in LeeLee's bedroom, and it allows users to read books, play music and write in a journal.
"It does remind me of my world," the New York-born singer said. "The piano, the journal, music's such a big part of my life, the city, all of that."
Keys is launching the app through her company AK Worldwide and Bento Box Interactive. She said raising her 2-year-old son, Egypt, was part of the app's inspiration.
"I was just getting introduced to kind of the TV shows and the DVDs and all the things you start kind of introducing your kids to, and I thought how cool it would be to be a part of something that really allows them to hear music from different places, different cultures, different sounds," she said. "That's what we're able to do with this."
Keys is a 14-time Grammy winner. Her fifth album, "Girl On Fire," is out Nov. 27. Maxwell, Jamie xx, Bruno Mars and John Legend are among the featured acts and songwriters.
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Online:
http://www.mamamae.com
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Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership.
Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb attacks, prompting some Israelis to wonder whether it had been emboldened by the Qatari visit on Tuesday that broke the Islamist group's diplomatic isolation.
In recent months, Hamas has largely held its fire when other militant factions have launched cross-border rocket attacks, but the sudden upsurge in violence stoked fears that the hostilities could escalate further.
Hamas accused Israel of stepping up air strikes in the Gaza Strip, a move it said was meant to convey Israeli anger over Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani's visit, and pledged to "continue to hold a gun ... until Palestine is liberated".
Israel said it was "astounding" that Qatar, a U.S.-allied Gulf state, would take sides in the Palestinian dispute and endorse Hamas, branded by the West as a terrorist group. Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 from fighters loyal to the Fatah faction of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Some analysts saw the Qatari ruler's trip, the first by any national leader to Gaza since Hamas took over, as an attempt to build bridges between the group and the West and coax it into the peace camp amid Arab turmoil across the Middle East.
A Palestinian official said Egypt was trying to mediate a truce.
"The contacts Cairo made resulted in a verbal promise by Hamas to calm the situation down and Israel said it was monitoring calm on the ground and would refrain from attacks unless it was subject to rocket fire from Gaza," said the official, who is close to the talks.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Previous rounds of cross-border attacks have usually fizzled out in days, with both Israel and Hamas seemingly aware of the risks of ramping up the low-intensity conflict.
Israel's three-week-long invasion of the Gaza Strip, launched in 2008 with the declared aim of curbing rocket launches, drew international criticism over a heavy Palestinian casualty toll.
Though hostile to Israel, Hamas has mostly sought to avoid direct clashes as it shores up its rule in the face of more radical challengers and seeks potential allies abroad.
NETANYAHU VISITS ANTI-MISSILE SITE
In a second day of violence, a Hamas militant was killed on Wednesday in an air strike, which Israel said was intended to stop rocket launches. On Tuesday, Israel killed three Hamas men, saying they had either launched attacks or were about to do so.
In southern Israel, three agricultural workers were wounded when a Palestinian rocket exploded near them.
An Israeli military spokeswoman, said 79 projectiles had been fired at Israel and that the Iron Dome system had intercepted eight of them. She said several homes had been damaged by Palestinian rockets.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking a renewed mandate in Israel's January 22 election, visited an Iron Dome anti-missile battery near the southern city of Ashkelon on Wednesday and threatened stronger Israeli military action in Gaza.
"We did not choose this escalation, nor did we initiate it, but if it continues, we are prepared for a much wider and deeper operation," he said, pledging to press on with "targeted attacks" against militants preparing to fire rockets.
Israel kept schools shut in communities near the fenced Gaza boundary and residents were urged to remain indoors.
Hamas has refused to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist, and is ostracized by the Quartet of Middle East mediators comprising the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.
However, Hamas has said it would accept a truce with Israel in return for a state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Osborn)
Getting to the chinstrap penguin colony along the Antarctic Peninsula isn't for the fainthearted. To reach the finger of land that juts out from the frozen continent?s western coast, you have to first face the stormy Drake Passage.
But the risks are worth it. Gliding through the waters of Orne Harbor, you may encounter humpback and minke whales, leopard and fur seals, and cormorants and other seabirds. Greeting you onshore is the sight of hundreds of squawking penguins tending their young. Still unimpressed? Then hike up the 935-foot Spigot Peak for awe-inspiring panoramic views of the world?s last great wilderness.
Slideshow: Check out which places are on the ultimate adventure travel bucket list
Challenging experiences like?Quark Expeditions? guided trip from Argentina to Antarctica remind us that the toughest journeys are often the most memorable. And in an age where time is treated as a commodity, arriving at a destination through toil and sweat is becoming a lost art.
Adventure plays a key role in?T+L?s bucket list?of 101 experiences every traveler should know?gleaned from our network of correspondents and tastemakers. But not every escapade requires traveling to the ends of the earth or pushing your body?s limits. David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku restaurant empire, favors fly-fishing in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Other all-American adventures include driving down the dramatic Pacific Coast Highway, with a stop at the Redwood Grill for a pulled-pork sandwich, and paying a visit to the millennia-old sequoias in?Yosemite?s Mariposa Grove (documentary filmmaker Ken Burns?s pick).
For thrill-seekers, there are the serious adrenaline rushes: whitewater rafting through the Class Four rapids of the Salmon River?s Middle Fork in central?Idaho?or heli-skiing in?British Columbia?s Bugaboo Mountains. And you don?t always need to leave the big city behind. You can channel your inner race-car driver at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, zooming from zero to 60 mph in 3-1/2 seconds in a Ferrari F430 GT.
If you?re seeking a gentler pace, consider a stay at?Campi Ya Kanzi, a community-owned lodge in eastern?Kenya?where Masai trackers lead guests through the savanna and cloud forest.
Read on for more life-changing adventures and our tips on how to tackle them.
From offsetting your carbon footprints to educate yourself regarding neutralizing emissions,a number of us don?t stop hearing about the environment nowadays Canada Gooose Outlet,have to worry about a number of us Despite the fact I have at no time really understood any concerning going to be the terminology,a resource box has become most people frightfully uninspiring and rather a bore. I think going to be the last straw was for those times when I heard about going to be the cow farting emission gag. I honestly aspect to consider a resource box was an big April fool?s gag But apparently on no account cattle have to settle for fart and adequate about ?em will emit harmful gasses to learn more about going to be the atmosphere. Well there your family have it; going to be the answer is eat a good deal more beef. Which on appear will keep using significantly more energy for more information about a healthy lifestyle cause significantly more flatulence amongst humans- which of you will have died anyway having to do with mad cow disease. Today I?d like to talk all your family about environment friendly garages. One having to do with my own personal favourite days relating to going to be the year is the fact that Earth Day, this auspicious occasion comes to you and goes each year all around the going to be the March Equinox and is always that a day to explore remind persons throughout the earth that ? This day is devoted for additional details on the preservation to do with the harmony everywhere in the nature and all alike draws upon going to be the achievements about the most recent,going to be the measurement about a period of time and instantaneous communication all through space?. I fall asleep my own personal case. Garages all over the going to be the several hand, are ach real Maintaining an all in one good garage can be beneficial to educate yourself regarding your lively bonnet well-being and jacket pocket,certainly not for more information about mention going to be the ?E? word.
To make your garage a good deal more ?E?-friendly,outlined in this article are an all in one number of tips:
1. Leave your car as part of your garage.
Don?t continue using your car to understand more about commute-take going to be the train! If all your family have a recent study transport ?use aspect If element robs like a resource box does where I keep your computer Use element and declare complaints about a resource box
2. Leave your mower in your garage.
Let your turf do well a little longer (For an all in one even though some a little longer that is-we don?t want for more information regarding attract snakes).
3. Ride your bike Use your bike for additional details on tend to be shopping at least just walk, where all your family members by no means single purpose get for more information regarding exercise (I are aware of that all your family members are going to want element)-but your family be capable of getting in order to get cheerful to learn more about ?E? whilst saving money. Perfect!
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Willougby Council is seeking Tenders from suitably qualified and experienced operators for the management of The Willis Recreation & Sports Centre.
The management options available at The Willis include tennis coaching and court hire, recreation / fitness programmes, multi-sport synthetic courts, catering and community function areas.
The Centre, located on a major arterial road in Sydney?s northern suburbs presently houses 13 Tennis courts, 2 Futsal courts as well as space for other community services.
Tender Documents which contain essential information and submission schedules may be obtained from?Tenderlink free of charge.
Tenders must be in the Tender Box located on Level 4, 31 Victor Street, Chatswood by?11:00am Wednesday 14 November 2012. Tenders received after the closing time will not be considered.
For more information please contact Kate Day, Willoughby Leisure Manager via mobile?0434 155 005.
Apple decided to broadcast its event live this time around (provided you had an appropriate Apple device), but those that missed it as it happened expectedly aren't out of luck. Apple has made the video of the event available for replay at your leisure, although you'll once again need to view it in either the new Events channel on your Apple TV or in Safari on OS X 10.6 or later (at the source link below). Of course, you can also catch up with the event courtesy of our liveblog for our own running commentary on the proceedings.
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America?s Got Talent?s Nick Cannon, CNN?s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, Television Personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, Women?s Health Magazine Editor-in-Chief Michele Promaulayko and Men?s Health Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko are chosen as the founding members of the #SocialFitness Jury.
The Shorty Awards are thrilled to announce the expansion of the Real-Time Academy with the launch of a #SocialFitness Jury (http://rtacademy.org/social_fitness) that will grow awareness to those making healthy choices in their lives through their influence on social media.
Why the #SocialFitness Movement matters: Since the @ShortyAwards launched the #SocialFitness Category (http://shortyawards.com/category/socialfitness) last year as an official part of the Shorty Awards, tens of thousands of influencers have started using the hashtag to bring awareness to individuals using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the social web to share milestones, healthful recipes, safe weight-loss strategies, exercise tips while gaining support from friends and followers.
Five exceptional and influential individuals have been chosen to select the winner of the #SocialFitness category and leverage their own followings to show that even when trying to live a healthier life, the little things matter.
Who are the jury members? (in alphabetical order):
Nick Cannon (@NickCannon), America?s Got Talent ? Canon currently stars as the host of America?s Got Talent, is a recurring character on Up All Night, cameoed on an episode of 30 Rock, and is hosting this year?s New York City Kidney Walk. If you follow Nick on Twitter, you?ll notice he not only uses social media, but embraces by talking to fans and giving them an inside look at his life. With three million-plus followers, Nick Cannon is a celebrity that does social media right.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@SanjayGuptaCNN), CNN ? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy? and Peabody-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN. He anchors the weekend medical affairs program Sanjay Gupta MD, and plays an integral role in reporting on health and medical news for Starting Point with Soledad O?Brien, Anderson Cooper 360?, CNN documentaries and all CNN platforms including CNN.com and CNNHealth.com. He is a practicing neurosurgeon and a member of the staff and faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine, and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital. In addition, to his work at CNN, Gupta is a contributor to CBS newsmagazine ?60 Minutes,? and a best selling author. In 2013, TNT will debut Monday Mornings, a one hour medical drama based on Gupta?s first novel. The show is executive produced by Sanjay Gupta and David E. Kelly.
Kerri Walsh Jennings (@KerriLeeWalsh), Olympic Gold Medalist ? Walsh Jennings began her career on the indoor volleyball court at Stanford University and garnered a number of records before transitioning to the sand where she has become one half of the winningest team in beach volleyball history with partner Misty May-Treanor. Married to U.S. volleyball player, Casey Jennings, Walsh Jennings is also the proud mom of two young sons and just announced that she is expecting a third child.
Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz), two-time Daytime Emmy? Award-winning host of the two-time Daytime Emmy? Award-winning ?The Dr. Oz Show,? is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, complementary medicine and health care policy. He has authored over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books, has received several patents, and performs more than 100 heart surgeries per year. Over the last year, Dr. Oz has worked to move his social media platforms to new heights, and both Facebook and Twitter have increased immensely in size as a result. He?s also established engaged followings on Tout, Pinterest and Google Plus. These platforms are integrated in a substantial manner in the new season of The Dr. Oz Show in an attempt to make the show more interactive and conversational. He recently launched ?You Feel,? a unique, interactive, socially-driven media wall that asks the question, ?How are you feeling today?? By asking users to answer this fundamental question, The Dr. Oz Show extends its conversation beyond the television screen to check the pulse of its community. Through ?You Feel?, users can post messages, photos, and videos to tell us how they feel today.
Michele Promaulayko (@MichProm), Women?s Health Magazine ? Michele Promaulayko is Vice President/Editor-in-Chief of Women?s Health, the fastest growing international women?s lifestyle brand. Promaulayko, who has been at the helm since January 2009, has responsibility for all facets of the brand, including the magazine, website, digital applications, books and 19 international editions. Under Michele?s leadership, Women?s Health won a 2011 ASME National Magazine Award in the category of General Excellence in Fashion, Service, and Lifestyle. In 2010, Women?s Health was for the second time included on Adweek?s annual Hot List, securing the No. 2 spot, and was named Magazine of the Year by Advertising Age in October 2009. Promaulayko authored the popular Look Better Naked: The 6-Week Plan To Your Leanest, Hottest, Body?Ever and since 2009 has expanded the portfolio of Women?s Health-branded books to include The Women?s Health Big Book of Exercises; Slim, Calm, Sexy Yoga; The Women?s Health Diet; Slim, Calm Sexy Diet and The Women?s Health Big Book of Abs. Prior to Women?s Health, Michele was Executive Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for eight years. Michele has been an expert on television programs such as TODAY, The Early Show, Rachael Ray, CNN, EXTRA, Fox News, and The Tyra Banks Show.
David Zinczenko (@DaveZinczenko), Men?s Health ? David Zinczenko is General Manager of Rodale Inc.?s Healthy Living Group and EVP/Editor-in-Chief of Men?s Health. He also serves as the Editorial Director of Women?s Health and Organic Gardening and oversees Rodale?s Book Division. Under his direction, Men?s Health has grown into the world?s largest men?s lifestyle magazine brand. He is the author of the bestselling series Eat This, Not That!, which has more than 8 million copies in print nationwide with 15 installments, and the successful Abs Diet series. Zinczenko is a regular contributor to NBC?s The Today Show and has appeared as a health expert on Oprah, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Good Morning America, Nightly News, 20/20, CNN and the Rachael Ray Show.
Why is health inspiration important?
This year?s #SocialFitness jury members will interact with Real Health (http://realhealth.anthem.com) bloggers to share ideas about how to inspire their communities to be healthier ? and to help shape who they nominate for the 5th Annual #SocialFitness award. Real Health is a new social media project from the Health. Join In. (http://facebook.com/healthjoinin/info) brand channel, creating two-way conversations with consumers to engage them in the stories of everyday health heroes championing preventive health. Site contributors film videos (http://www.youtube.com/user/healthjoinin?feature=results_main) and write about how they accomplish important health tasks in spite of the obstacles of daily life ? challenges like getting kids to eat healthy, being a new parent, or caring for an aging loved one. Meet the site?s contributors who will be interacting with jury members:
Kath Younger (@katheats), Kath is a mom, registered dietitian, and food and lifestyle blogger, who runs a whole grain bread bakery. She has been writing about her life through the lens of food at Kath Eats Real Food everyday for five years. After being pregnant for the last nine months, Kath is excited to get back into the healthy habits she once enjoyed including running, cooking, and wearing her jeans again! Kath wants to figure out ways of living a healthy lifestyle again including obstacles like balanced nutrition, ample exercise and sleep, stress reduction, and more.
Harold Shaw (@VetRunnah), Harold is a grandfather, runner, and a retired U.S. Coast Guard Warrant Officer and former Special Education Teacher. Harold is preparing to run the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon. Harold recently had obstacle after obstacle get in the way of achieving his health goals and running this race. Over the past year, Harold has lost 50 pounds, started running again, and generally improved his overall well-being. Harold is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.
Rosemary Lichtman & Phyllis Goldberg (@SandwichBoomers), Rosemary, a psychologist, and Phyllis, a marriage and family therapist, work as coaches and enjoy life as active seniors. They have been friends for 40 years and they have supported each other through difficult times. About 10 years ago, Rosemary and Phyllis decided to combine their friendship and professional lives, blogging about nourishing family relationships and offering mentoring. Rosemary and Phyllis write about how they balance healthy aging with strengthening their relationships with family and friends.
RJ Jaramillo (@rjsingledad), RJ is a single parent of three, a cook, and entrepreneur. RJ is on a mission to help fathers (those without children and mothers are also welcome) get healthy and stay healthy. RJ believes healthy is the new manly. He considers himself to be a ?weekend warrior,? a father who makes time for the gym, running, and many other activities.
Toni Church (@tonee78), Toni is a mom and a registered nurse with a passion for running, health, and fitness. Toni has been passionate about running and fitness since she was 19, but her passions were put on the back-burner while she started her family and went to nursing school. After the birth of her second daughter, in 2008, Toni fell back in love with fitness and running while working to get her pre-baby body back. Toni has always wanted to run the New York City Marathon and this year on November 4th, she will finally get the opportunity.
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Source:?PR Wire
Tags: David Zinczenko, Dr Oz, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Kerri Walsh Jenning, Michele Promanlayko, Nick Cannon, Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences, Social Fitness, The Shorty Awardsnews, Nick Cannon
The New York Times offers an 1,100-word profile in its Real Estate section about potential evolution in Brooklyn Heights, as a number of new projects change the face of its brownstone persona. The story by Constance Rosenblum opens: ?That enclave of impeccably restored brownstones lining narrow, leafy streets has long been immune to the buzzy changes washing over communities beyond its borders. But thanks to a more buoyant economy, changes are nibbling at the neighborhood?s edges that will bring luxury accommodations through the pipeline.?
The piece discusses the impact of five projects: the Bossert Hotel?s conversion back to a hotel, 20 Henry Street?s 38 luxury condos, 30 Henry Street?s five floor-through condos, 72 Poplar Street?s 14 family-size condos and 70 Henry Street?s five-story rental conversion.
Robert Perris, district manager of Community Board 2, notes, ?Brooklyn Heights is very much a community in which people belong to the same institutions, like the Casino and the Brooklyn Heights Association. These new projects don?t necessarily destroy that. In a way, they simply expand the size of the pie.? (Photos: NYT)
There is no denying that owning and operating a boat is extremely fun and exhilarating, particularly here in Florida. However, things do happen ? often when least expected. Sinking, heavy storms, fire, theft, and collisions are just a few of the constant hazards you face as a boat owner.
Most states require a minimum amount of?liability insurance?on your boat, and if you have a boat loan, your lender will likely require you to carry?insurance?until the boat is paid off in full. Owners in Florida may also find that some marinas and yacht clubs will not allow uninsured boats to dock. Regardless of requirements, it is always a good idea to protect your investment.
Coverage for Your Boat or Watercraft:
Similar to?auto insurance, boat or watercraft insurance policy coverage and limits vary from company to company. However, the main types of coverage for boat insurance are liability and property damage.
Here is a rundown of what to expect out of your Florida boat insurance policy:
Property Damage Liability??? ?This insurance coverage?will pay costs from damage to other property from any accident deemed your fault. This can be damage to another boat, dock, other structure or vessel.
Bodily Injury Liability? ? ?This coverage will pay for expenses to an injury to others from an accident in which you are found to be at fault. Medical bills, pain and suffering, defense costs and lost wages may all be covered.
Physical Damage? ?? This covers damage to your own boat and its trailer. If you hit a dock or other structure and your boat is damaged, the cost of repair will be covered by your insurer.
Some other optional and popular solutions for your Florida boat or watercraft include:
Uninsured Boaters??? Covers you in the event of an accident with an uninsured boater.
Medical Payments??? Medical expenses for you or your passengers will be paid up to the policy limits.
Personal Property??? Pays for damage to personal property on the boat or when it?s being transferred on or off the vessel.
Roadside Assistance??? Covers the boat during towing and most often the towing vehicle.
Accident Aftermath??? Covers debris removal from an accident.
There are exclusions when it comes to Florida boat or watercraft coverage and like your home or auto insurance,?it?s always important to check with your provider to determine what policy is best for you.
What do you think about Web marketing? Do you study the industry all the time in order to promote your business? There are a plethora of resources which you can use to learn about website marketing, ranging from videos to magazines. Do you know how to get yourself started? Consider these suggestions on how to find your way.
If you want to increase your eCommerce site?s PageRank, you should offer a temporary promotion. You could buy your PageRank if it is a good deal, since deal sites and consumer sites will want to link with you. The concept is similar to businesses selling an item at a loss, expecting to profit from the move in the future.
TIP! Displaying paid advertisements from reputable companies on your website can help to increase the credibility of your own business and also provide an additional revenue stream. When viewers see a big name company next to your name, they automatically associate it with you and they tend to trust you as well.
Consider giving your customers incentives so that they will order products more quickly. You could offer them expedited or free shipping, or perhaps a free gift wrapping service. You can give free shipping to the first 50 people who make a purchase of a particular item. Consumers like incentives to purchase, and offering good ones will encourage people to purchase your goods or services.
The best way to market online is to make sure you?re fully abreast of all the goings-on within the industry. For instance, if a new type of Smartphone is released, it may change the marketing game a little bit. Unless you?re aware of this, you might continue to try some dated techniques that will ultimately end up costing you traffic. But if you?re out in front of things, you can change with the game.
Your website needs to be as effective as possible in order to increase your marketing success. Experiment with various color combinations and layouts, to determine the best way to showcase your business and promote your products. Your website represents your brand, so make sure it reflects the image you want to project and is user friendly.
TIP! Offer something free with your business name and logo on it. For example, if you have written an e-book and want to offer that, submit it to a site that promotes them.
Try to make your website interactive. You can have more site traffic if people are communicating with others! By using this technique visitor will want to visit often. You can also get some free advertising out of it. Give out different graphics and badges that people can use to advertise your site.
Consider the type of structure and information that people will look for when they come to your website. If you can provide relevant information they can use, your marketing efforts are going to pay off. Also, solicit objective opinions regarding your website. Ask friends or family members about some of the things that you can improve. Do plenty of research and take notes, and use them to create a site that is actually helpful to people.
Start small when launching a new website to introduce your offerings. Starting with a small number of indexed pages will help your search engine optimization.
TIP! Internet marketing is not an endeavor that is formulaic; in fact, it can be said that it is equal parts art and science. Before you engage in Internet marketing, you should try to grasp both sides of the coin.
Handle customer complaints on your own. While passing off complaints to an outside firm may seem tempting, you?ll get improved results if you take care of them yourself. If an unsatisfied customer emails you about a purchase gone wrong, personally reply to the email, and try to help them out.
Give people a limited time offer. You can give free shipping to the first one hundred customers or those who purchase something by a certain date. Make this urgent with a clear end date.
Facebook and Twitter are important tools to incorporate for marketing purposes. Social media websites keep you in constant contact with your visitors, providing a fast, easy way to send out updates or promotions. However, beware of being overly promotional in your comments and tweets. Instead, provide valuable, insightful posts with the occasional marketing message mixed in.
TIP! Developing a glossary of common terms for your field of business will help customers view you as an authority. A glossary is beneficial to both potential and current customers and could help to direct new traffic toward your site.
Now that you know where to start with your Internet promotion plan, do you want to give it a go? Are you ready to apply what you read to your business? Will you be able to make a smart strategy? If you?re able to, then don?t hesitate and get started!
Ann Arbor Public Schools board of education regular meeting (Oct. 10, 2012): Student achievement and labor contracts were the main topics of discussion for the AAPS board of trustees.
Ann Arbor Public Schools?Grade 5 Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP)?scores for reading (left) and math (right). The green trend lines indicated African American student achievement under the old cut scores. Brown trend lines indicate achievement of caucasians. ?The gap between the achievement has been amplified by new cut scores, which are indicated by blue and purple trend lines for African American and caucasian students, respectively.
Deputy superintendent of instructional services Alesia Flye and director of student accounting and research services Jane Landefeld, presented a comprehensive report on student achievement. While the trustees were pleased and excited to have such a detailed report, and there were several positive points in the data, they also expressed significant frustration at the disparity between the achievement of various subgroups. African American students in the district showed significantly lower achievement on standardized tests than students in other ethnic groups. Trustee Simone Lightfoot described herself as ?fire mad? about some of the results in the report.
The conversation ranged from results and highlights to the challenges the district faces. Flye and her team indicated that the district would continued to work with this data and to implement the district?s established plans to address the achievement gap. But the presentation was a point of information only. [.pdf of AAPS achievement slide presentation with graphs and tables]
Also at the meeting, a proposal for a technology upgrade to the network infrastructure?prompted a conversation about labor contracts. The network upgrade was a first briefing item on which the board did not vote. But conversation about labor contracts continued as trustees heard a second briefing about outsourcing the noon hour supervisor positions. In a 4-3 decision, the board did not approve the a contract with PCMI, which had bid to provide noon hour supervisors at a 24.83% administrative cost.
Student Achievement Report: Overview
The AAPS administration brought a report to the board highlighting student achievement over the past five years. The ?comprehensive, lengthy document? shows how progress was measured and what needs to be tweaked and improved, superintendent Patricia Green said. She stressed that it was not a curriculum report, but rather an outcomes report. An outcomes report will become a yearly tradition, as a way of benchmarking what they the district is doing.
Jane Landefeld, director of student accounting and research services, Alesia Flye, deputy superintendent for instructional services.
The student achievement document is a compilation of data that would?ordinarily? reside in separate files. Green said she wanted to see all the data together ? to have an opportunity to look at all the pieces at the same time. The report has taken a number of months to put together, as data from June 2011 is still being incorporated. According to Green, time is needed to organize that data in a meaningful way. The report was broken into highlights and results for standardized tests, increased rigor for high schools, discipline and suspension data, graduation and attendance rates, and areas of focus.
Flye noted a theme of excellence throughout the report. Several overall student performance highlights were included: The Ann Arbor Preschool was named Best Preschool with Special Needs Services? by Ann Arbor Family publication. AAPS was named a State Academic Champion for excelling in academics with MEAP and ACT scores. Pioneer and Huron high schools were named as among The Best High Schools in America by U.S. News and World Report in May 2012. And Ann Arbor Tech received a Program Award as an outstanding Michigan alternative school.
Flye said that it showed the spectrum of high levels of instruction throughout the district ? from pre-kindergarten to high school programs.
The trustees, along with Green, thanked and congratulated the team that worked on compiling the data. Andy Thomas said that he had been looking forward to a report like this since he joined the board. Now that he has seen it, he looks forward to using the data to drive decisions. Glenn Nelson echoed the appreciation expressed by other board members, and said that he was glad they devoted so much time to talking about it. To him, it demonstrates the passion and the concern the staff and the board have for student achievement. Irene Patalan appreciated that the report was presented early enough in the school year to set the tone for the rest of the year.
Addressing the team that worked on the report, board president Deb Mexicotte said she hoped they felt the excitement that was around the table that evening to discuss the body of work they?d produced. Trustees don?t get to talk about student achievement in depth as often as they would like, because they spend so much of their time doing other business ? like handling the budget and contracts. The trustees would much prefer to be doing the business of student achievement, she said. Despite the frustration they may feel at some of the results, the trustees are excited, energized, and ready to move forward to what comes next. Mexicotte said they knew ?this is the springboard for greater achievement for our students.?
Student Achievement: Testing Results: MEAP
The first test discussed was the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). The MEAP is administered to students in grades 3?9. Students in grades 3?8 take reading and mathematics; students in grades 4 and 7 are tested on writing; grades 5 and 8 are given a science test; and students in grades 6 and 9 are administered a social studies test. Students are graded as: advanced proficient; proficient; partially proficient; or not proficient. The results of the test are used to monitor individual student achievement, as well as the performance of individual schools and districts.
The 2011/2012 MEAP data for AAPS compared to the state shows Ann Arbor students performing at higher levels than state average in all areas, at all grades, in all subgroups except for English language learners (ELL). Director of student accounting and research services Jane Landefeld noted that AAPS tests those ELL students when they are not proficient in English. When they are proficient, they are no longer considered ELL students.
The state adopted new cut scores in the fall of 2011, which Flye said were more reflective of career- and college-ready standards. The new cut scores were applied retroactively to the prior years? data so the results could be more accurately compared. Landefeld noted that the change in cut scores impacted the overall proficiency levels. While the test was of the same rigor, the scale was moved up. Scores that were previously judged as advanced proficient are no longer deemed proficient.
Student Achievement: Testing Results: MME
The Michigan Merit Examination (MME) is administered to 11th grade students. It consists of math, science, social studies, reading, and writing evaluations. The MME tests are college-ready assessments. The results of the test were also impacted by new cut scores within the past year. Across the board, reading and writing continue to be the district?s strong suit, with math and science lagging behind. Nearly every subgroup scored above the state average, except for economically disadvantaged, ELL, and Hispanic students.
Nelson hoped that the district computes how many students who don?t not score well on the MME ?? which supposedly would indicate that they would not do well in college ? go on to be outstanding citizens. He said that if students had ?grit? and social and emotional learning, they can succeed. He didn?t want students to be discouraged by test results.
Student Achievement: Testing Results: NWEA
The Northwest Evaluation Association, Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) test is a computer-adaptive test designed to chart student growth over time, as well as to inform educational decision-making at the classroom level and to evaluate the efficacy of programs. In 2011-2012, the NWEA was administered in September, January, and May for students in grades K?5 and 6?8 at Ann Arbor Open and Scarlett Middle School. In 2012-2013, the kindergarten assessment will be administered only in January and May.
NWEA results on ?slider charts? for grades K-5.
When Nelson asked why the September testing for kindergartners was dropped this year, Green explained that last year, the district saw kindergartners struggle with the stamina required to sit in front of a computer to determine readiness. While she maintained that they wanted as much initial data from students as possible, the experience of NWEA testing proved to be too much for entering kindergartners.
Flye said she has been working with Dawn Linden, assistant superintendent for elementary education, and the elementary principals to bring greater consistency to kindergarten round-up. Along with that consistency, they hope to bring assessment, which would allow teachers to have initial data before students even start school.
Similar to the other test results, AAPS students overall showed results that were roughly at the normative mean for reading. Mathematics saw a similar trend, except for students in 6th and 7th grade.
Thomas noted the students that were classified as ?proficient but not growing,? may be an opportunity for differentiated learning. He saw that as a way of ?biting off? the gifted-and-talented issue. If the district sees students at the top with no room to grow, then ?why not let them go higher?? Green and Flye agreed, with Green saying it feeds right into the strategic plan to provide individualized learning plans. The district doesn?t want to limit students and will work to customize instruction for them.
Some trustees took issue with the way the data for the NWEA was presented ? using ?slider charts.? Several trustees said that was not a helpful tool, and Christine Stead suggested using bar charts to show results better.
Student Achievement: Gaps in Achievement
Simone Lightfoot said she wanted ?to be so wrong? about looking at the data. Just barely half of the African American subgroup met state standards in reading on the MEAP at all grade levels. In math, scores centered around 20-30% of African American students meeting state standards. Data like this, she said, got her ?fire mad.? She was less concerned about beating the state average and more concerned with how AAPS does when compared to similar districts. Flye noted that they have benchmarked the data with other high-performing districts in the tri-county area ? and AAPS is a high-performing district on that comparison, she said.
Trustee Simone Lightfoot
Mexicotte shared Lightfoot?s dismay at the lingering disparities in student achievement. She said, however, that if the analysis had gone back more than five years, they would have seen the struggling students performing at an even lower level. The data also shows that for the 2011-2012 school year, while each grade in the district increased reading scores, African American students increased their scores more than the district overall.
Thomas tried to ?pull some gestalt? from the data. His observation was that while there are very significant gaps between various subgroups, it appears that the gap is narrower in the reading section than in math. The data showed him that additional emphasis on efforts in math could yield better results.
Flye recognized that challenges remain. She said that Thomas was right in his characterization ? that there is a narrower gap between reading scores than between math scores for African Americans. More interventions are in place for reading, and the district needs to develop interventions for math, she said.
Landefeld also described the impact of new cut scores that had been put in place. Using the new cut scores, many students who?d previously been analyzed as being on the edge of proficiency now showed up as being not proficient. While the new cut scores impacted all AAPS students, they impacted African American students more, she said. Flye echoed Landefeld?s characterization, saying it was worth repeating. Flye noted that the district is focused on its Achievement Gap Elimination Plan (AGEP), as well as the discipline gap plan.
Nelson said that it wasn?t rocket science to solve the issue. When students are in school, they learn. He would like to see a greater emphasis on early childhood education. If the district could work with students prior to kindergarten, significant gains could be made, and they could be brought up to the same level as other students entering the district in kindergarten.
Student Achievement: Comparisons
Thomas said the overall state data reinforces Lightfoot?s point about not comparing AAPS as a district to the state. At the state level, only 15% of students are proficient in science, which means that 85% of students in Michigan are not proficient. For a state that is trying to advance into the 21st century and become a ?mecca of high tech industry,? those scores are not a good omen, he said.
Nelson described AAPS as ?blowing away? the state standards ?in a relative sense?, especially in reading and writing. The problem, as he sees it, is that high performing groups are really performing well, and but the district hasn?t succeeded in getting all groups to the same level as the high-performing groups. He said that if a student wants to learn math, then AAPS is the place to go. He saw the gap between groups as more a function of high-performing groups doing well, rather than the lower-performing groups not doing well.
Lightfoot just wanted to get through the data, in order to be able to talk about solutions. Countering ?Nelson?s point about AAPS being the place to go to learn math, she said: ?You come to AAPS unless you are African American, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, or an English language learner.? There were no ways to look at the data to make it more palatable to her, she said.
Nelson agreed with Lightfoot?s feeling of distress around the data, but he said that if they looked at how underserved subgroups in other districts around the state performed, it would be a bad decision to attend school there. Ann Arbor is still outperforming many other districts, even in those subgroups, he said.
Stead also wanted to be able to compare the district?s results to global competition. While the MEAP is a Michigan-only test, the ACT and the SAT could be used to do a comparative analysis with other districts across the country. She was concerned about comparing the district to the rest of Michigan. According to Stead, Michigan has dropped from 18th in the nation to 38th in the nation in education since passage of Proposal A in 1994. She said that AAPS thinks of itself as a national-level district and needs to compare to other nationally-ranked districts.
Trying to offer some broader perspective on the report, Mexicotte said that the benefit of having all the data in one place, and being able to see growth year-to-year, is being to understand exactly what kind of work needs to be done over the next year. The data shows areas of great concern and great celebration, she said. She acknowledged, however, that each trustee would see the information through a different lens.
Student Achievement: Looking at Patterns
Green noted that patterns emerge in the data. In the sixth-grade MEAP data for the 2011-2012 school year, African American student scores dropped, while in other grades, scores have increased over the past five years. What happens between 5th and 6th grade for African American students? Green?s experience tells her there needs to be more attention paid to what happens to students in their sixth grade year.
MEAP Reading Grade 5. The red trend line reflects achievement of African American Students ? an improvement in the last year.
MEAP Reading Grade 6.?The red trend line reflects achievement of African American Students ? an improving trend that dipped in the last year.
Because the MEAP testing is done in early October, Thomas said, the testing ultimately reflects what was learned the previous year. So for the example of the dip in 6th grade testing results, it is a reflection of the 5th grade level, he said.
Green said that it reflects something about how 5th and 6th grade were linked together for that subgroup of students. They need to look more closely at what kinds of interventions, if any, are taking place.
Nelson ventured that there was greater student turnover ? students entering and leaving the district ? at the 6th grade level. The change in student body composition could conceivably have an impact on test scores at that grade, he said. He wondered if there was some way to see if the data reflected that kind of change of student body.
Lightfoot asked if the same kind of transitional challenges were seen when 6th graders remained at the elementary school level, instead of transitioning to middle school. Green said there were many different theories on which method was the best. She said the key was making those students feel like they belong, whether they?re in elementary school or middle school. She did note that her recommendation would be for a K-8 model.
Student Achievement: Role of Testing
The trustees talked over the role of testing. They acknowledged they?d been hearing from the public about the amount of standardized testing done in school. [For example, a Facebook group has been established: Ann Arbor STOP ? Stop Overtesting Our Pupils]
Thomas said that the board?s conversation and the report has been an excellent example of how the MEAP is looking in the ?rearview mirror? at district performance. It highlights the need for current-year assessments, like the NWEA. Thomas acknowledged the pushback from the community over the NWEA, but he said the usefulness of the MEAP data is limited. NWEA provides data over the course of the year, he said.
Green?described?the MEAP as not an individual student test, but as a way to judge the school and the district as a whole. The NWEA is specific to each student and allows teachers to personalize and develop individualized learning plans, one of the district?s strategic goals. Green said that even if it was through the rearview mirror, the MEAP results helps the district to recognize trends. Mexicotte said it was akin to using the right tool for the job. Patalan noted that the MEAP allows the district to see patterns, which allows for correction to negative patterns.
Flye reported that teachers in the field have said they appreciate the immediate feedback from the NWEA. It helps inform instruction in the classroom.
When Lightfoot asked if there were any tests that could be?eliminated?because the district uses the NWEA, Flye responded that the issue was being examined. Currently, the state assessments [MEAP, MME] are required. She suggested that maybe the district didn?t need to administer as many cycles of the test, or administer it to so many grade levels. The district is still in the process of determining the correct route, Flye said.
Susan Baskett asked about the ramifications of having students opt out of the NWEA testing. She wondered if a student?s academic career could be jeopardized by not testing, especially if the NWEA is so instrumental in targeting individualized needs for students. Flye described the test as a tool for systemic planning, and they?ve seen more value from the NWEA than from the state assessments.
Student Achievement: Increase in Rigor
Thomas noted that at the same time the state is reducing funding for K-12 education, the state is showing three-quarters of students not proficient in science. He wondered if those who control the resources see this as a crisis. Or do they see it as ?we need more ditch diggers,? he asked. Green characterized the state?s perspective as wanting to add more rigor ? which is why the cut scores have been changed. Part of the issue for Green is that it?s not clear to her what benchmarks the state is using to measure the district. Several different methods are used to talk about gaps ? from state averages to the Focus School designations.
When the state keeps changing the playing field, Green said, it is difficult to benchmark what is actually being done in schools. So the district has to stay focused on what the community values and make sure that all students have a rigorous curriculum. The district needs to identify what its expectations are of students, and work towards that.
Mexicotte said that when the state defines the crisis as ?rigor,? then it becomes the fault of the district. But the real crisis is at the state funding level and an underfunding of public education, she said. When she hears ?rigor,? she hears it as blame being laid at the feet of the school districts.
Stead made the point that the underfunding of public education was exacerbated under the current state administration. According to Stead, $1.7 billion in declining revenue was made up for by a $1.1 billion cut to public education. The lack of funding goes beyond Proposal A, and is unique to the current administration, she said.
Student Achievement: Suspension and Discipline
Flye said that since implementing the discipline gap plan, the focus has been on social and emotional learning of students. To do that, cooperative discipline has been implemented across the district with monthly monitoring. As a result, Landefeld said, the number of students suspended within the past year has been reduced. Progress has been made across the board ? from the elementary to the high school levels.
AAPS high school suspensions by ethnic group by year.
When Lightfoot asked for an explanation in the decrease in suspensions, Flye said the key was examining the data on a regular basis. She said staff at the building level are having monthly conversations about the social and emotional growth of their students. Green mentioned that when the discipline gap plan was released in Dec. 2011, there was a significant conversation about subordination, what defiance means, and how the focus has changed. Social and emotional development was crucial, she asserted. ?That?s why the district brought in?James Comer, an expert in child development, the week of Oct. 15, to speak to various members of the district.
Thomas and Lightfoot asked if there was a correlation between attendance and the changes in transportation made last year. For the 2011-2012 school year, they noted, changes were made in bussing and walking distances for students, and the board would be debating more changes to transportation service in the future. Landefeld said that to be able to determine that correlation, more years of data would be needed. Lightfoot stressed the ?need to talk to students,? because they?ll know best.
When students aren?t in school, Green pointed out, they can?t be taught. She said they were looking at what behaviors can be shifted, so students can be in school.
Student Achievement: Role of Truancy, Homelessness
Lightfoot asked that Derrick Padgett, the district?s sole truant officer, be part of the discussion about achievement. Noting that mental health is one of the top issues faced by chronically truant students, she asked about the correlation between single-parent households and mental health. Padgett explained that in his work, he sees a correlation between students having anxiety and single parent households. He noted that if busing were discontinued, students in subsidized housing could face problems getting to school.
Lightfoot asked Padgett if there was anything the board needed to know, to help support him in his job. Padgett responded by saying that it?s important to work as a community, using all resources for helping students. He asked that the district stay on top of changes to state law. He noted that if the children of welfare recipients are not attending school, welfare benefits could be cut off. It is important to make parents aware of this consequence, he said.
Baskett asked how serious an issue truancy is in the district. Padgett responded that two years ago, the district did not employ a truancy officer, and truancy was not considered to be an issue. Now the focus is on the possible connection between mental health and truancy.
Baskett requested that if Padgett identified any issues the board could control, to let trustees know ? because they would like to make sure they are doing right by the students. She realized his job is evolving, she said, and new things come up.
Flye mentioned one of the action items implemented this year was creation of a curriculum senate. The senate?s main focus is to bring all the key leaders together around one table to have conversations about addressing the needs of the whole child. Both Padgett and Azibo Stevens, district homeless liaison, is part of the senate. She also noted that the counseling department is now part of the instructional division, which was a previously missing important part of the puzzle.
Stead expressed shock that there were over 200 students in the district in the 2011-2012 school year that were classified as homeless. Stevens said that while 246 students received services under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, they expected to see even more?because?the district is working to improve identification rates.
Asked for his advice on policy or support, Stevens suggested that the board work to galvanize the community. More volunteers to mentor unaccompanied youth were needed. He said the students have a commitment to being in school, but they don?t have the guidance they need.
Student Achievement: Moving Forward
As the district moves forward, Flye said there will be an increased focus on developing personal curriculum. District staff will continue to work with data teams. She noted that sometimes data is?surprising?when it contradicts what everyone already?believes ??so training on DataDirector will be important for providing immediate information for teachers. Flye also noted that the AGEP and the discipline gap action plans will be continue to be implemented.
Outcome: This was an informational report, which will be updated yearly. No board action was required.
Tech Infrastructure Replacement
The board heard a presentation on the first very large purchase using the tech bond money ?? a district-wide replacement of the network and wireless infrastructure, costing $5,192,872. This work is an essential component to upgrading the district?s technology, according to Green. ?It includes cabling work and projector installation.?The work will be completed?in the course of 2013 and 2014, with a target end date in fall 2014.
Bids for the work were advertised on the state bid website and in the local newspaper, in addition to contacting known interested bidders. Four bids were received. A project team of Barton Malow and Ann Arbor Public Schools ITD staff conducted post-bid interviews with multiple bidders. As a result of those interviews, Sentinel Technologies was recommended for the contract award.
Executive director of physical properties Randy Trent outlined the proposal. When Thomas asked for an overview of the upgrade, Trent explained it was for switches to increase bandwidth. He said some of the equipment currently in schools right now was as old as 15 years. The hardware that will replace it will be the newest equipment available.
Outcome: This was a first briefing. The board will vote after a second briefing at the next regular meeting.
Contract Process Conversation
The conversation turned from the actual technology equipment that would be installed to the bidding process. Baskett wanted to know why the recommendation was for a company that was based in Illinois, as opposed to the company with the lowest bid, based out of Grand Rapids. Trent explained that ISI, the Grand Rapids company, provided an incomplete bid. The district pursued getting a more complete bid from the company, without success, he said. Sentinel Technologies has a satellite office in Ann Arbor and employs workers who ?live within an hour drive,? said Trent.
Baskett pressed further, asking why none of the companies indicated if they were a minority or women business enterprise. Lightfoot echoed Baskett?s question, saying she had trouble with the district?s professed commitment to certain things, but not reflecting that commitment in awarded contracts. She asked when the best time would be to have a conversation about the district?s commitment to minority-owned and locally-owned businesses. She?indicated?that might allay her own frustration and that of others.
Stead mentioned that just over a year ago, the planning committee spent about seven sessions talking over the topic. A reception had been held by a vendor to encourage minority-owned businesses to bid. She said that it might warrant a policy change, if the board wants to make it part of the requirement for contract bidding. Stead said the board needs to look at the law to see how it coincides with the lowest qualified bidder requirement ? saying she wasn?t sure if anything else could be added on to that requirement.
However, Thomas questioned the necessity of continuing with a particular hiring initiative, saying it would take a lot to convince him to go with anything beyond lowest qualified bidder. To him, things have changed considerably since the days of the ?good-old-boy network? of the ?60s and ?70s. He said the bid process is now much more transparent, because all bids must be submitted through the website. Anyone who wants to submit a bid can do that, he said. He said he wasn?t aware of anyone who felt they?d been prevented from bidding on a project.
Responding to Thomas, Lightfoot contended the good-old-boy network was alive and well. She was troubled that the district asks the community for support, then goes with the lowest bidder when it comes to awarding contracts, regardless of whether the bids are from local companies.
Baskett agreed with Lightfoot, and said she didn?t believe Thomas had all the information needed to make an informed decision. To her, it was ?not a matter of the lowest anything, but the best qualified of everything.? ?According to Baskett,?40?50% percent of local electrical workers are unemployed. Because part of the district?s educational program is career and tech ed, she believes that the district has a responsibility to allow those students to be gainfully employed. As resources become more constrained, she argued, they need every dollar at the table. If there is anything that could be done within the limites of the law and ethics, she believes it should be done.
Nelson weighed in, saying that for him, the district?s mission is to educate students to the best of its ability. They must get the biggest bang for their buck. He said people are most concerned that the board will be good stewards of their money ? which he?d had reinforced from the tech bond millage campaign.
Patalan said she was willing to trust Trent and his professional team when it came to doing due diligence in getting the lowest qualified bid. She agreed with Thomas in his contention that there is more transparency in the process now. Ideally, she would like to be able to do both things: be fiscally responsible and use local workers when possible.
Both Baskett and Lightfoot argued for having the discussion. Baskett pointed out that the board hadn?t yet received a performance report on the contractors. The lowest qualified bid doesn?t preclude locally- or minority-owned businesses, she maintained. She would like to put the discussion on the table to better understand the complications, because the support of everyone in the community is needed. Lightfoot argued for getting clarity on the board?s commitment to fairness and equity. She said having the discussion would help clarify that. She pushed for honesty in the board?s words and deeds.
Mexicotte noted that in the past, the board has had conversations about contracting and consultancy. She specifically referred to the board?s work on the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) [in 2007]. She recalled that the trustees talked about how they defined items such as ?local? versus ?southeast Michigan.? That conversation, however, was held at a different time by a different board. Mexicotte ventured that now might be a good time to look at the district?s policies and procedures on contracting, especially since the topic arises often. Her suggestion was to have that conversation at a committee of the whole (COTW) meeting. She said she liked to put things to rest, and she recognized trustees have had this conversation several times, but no one ?is getting any rest.? In consultation with Green, Mexicotte would look at the board?s calendar and determine when to schedule something.
Baskett appreciated Mexicotte?s desire to put the issue to rest. In her opinion, it would be best to have an hour or two conversation on the topic and come to an agreement. Stead indicated a?preference?to prioritize student achievement and semesters versus trimesters at the high school level ? over contracting policy. Lightfoot asked that contracting policy not be pushed too far into the future. Because some large contracts are coming up, she doesn?t want it to be the case that ?all the contracts are awarded before a contracting policy is established.
Noon Hour Supervision: Rejected
The board was asked to approve a contract with Professional Contract Management, Inc (PCMI) to provide noon hour supervisors to the district. The contract was?recommended by deputy superintendent for operations Robert Allen as a cost savings measure. Contracting with PCMI is an alternative to having AAPS employees provide the supervision. The board had been briefed on the item at its Sept. 19, 2012 meeting. At the meeting, Green introduced the topic to the board as a second briefing item, saying it had its genesis in budget reductions this past year. PCMI?s bid was the only one was received by the district. Green acknowledged that the proposal did not come in at the percentage they had hoped for.
AAPS deputy superintendent for operations Robert Allen
PCMI?s original bid was to charge the district 25.83% of the gross wages to be paid to the supervisors themselves. When several trustees at the board?s first briefing expressed dismay?at the high administrative charge, Allen negotiated for a one percentage point decrease ? to 24.83%. That one percentage point drop would translate into an additional $6,000 to $7,000 per year savings, for a total of $61,000 to $62,000 in savings. Allen noted that PCMI?s rate includes 7.5% for FICA, so PCMI?s take-home administrative fee is closer to 17.33%.
Lightfoot asked if Allen had talked with any of the noon hour supervisors who would be impacted by the shift to PCMI. She encouraged him to have conversations with the employees going forward. Allen said that while the supervisors were not represented by any particular union or leadership, he had spoken to some groups of long-term employees. Their main concern was about possible impact to their wages. Allen verified with PCMI that there would be no change in wages. There was also an interest in current employees being given right-of-first-refusal ? meaning they would be offered jobs with PCMI before any new hires were made. Allen reported that right-of-first-refusal would be incorporated into the proposal.
The savings to the district from contracting with PCMI would come from the elimination of payments into the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) ? for employees who would most likely not take advantage of the pension system. Because an employee must work 1,000 hours per year to qualify for the program, ?noon hour supervisors do not typically work enough hours to be vested in the system. The district, however, still pays into MPSERS for those employees.
Mexicotte said she had been thinking a lot about this contract since the board?s last discussion on the topic. While she understood that the district was trying to save money, she was fundamentally opposed to taking on a multi-year contract with an exorbitant administrative fee. She would rather take the public?s money and give it to MPSERS, a system that at least supports public employees. It was also troubling to her that it was such a seller?s market ? because ?there were so many other districts looking to save in any way they could. Even though the board has cut budget items to achieve even less than this amount of savings, Mexicotte said she was ?very reluctantly? not in support of outsourcing the noon hour supervisors.
Baskett and Stead were both concerned about the non-competitiveness of the bid ? as there was only one response to the RFP. Stead said that without another competitive bid, the argument was not as compelling. She would prefer to consider these kinds of proposals in the context of putting the budget together. Without that context, Stead said, it didn?t translate into the same real help for students. Baskett wondered if PCMI would drop another percentage point, if pressed. Lightfoot said she always struggles with outsourcing or privatizing, as it goes against her principles. She asked Allen to ?push harder and be meaner? in negotiations with PCMI.
AAPS trustee Andy Thomas
Thomas said that while he shared sympathy for the opinions expressed by Stead and Mexicotte, he believed they needed to ?glom onto any opportunity? to save money. To him, it was a win-win situation: ?The district pays less money, PCMI gets money, and employees and students are not disadvantaged in any way. Nelson noted that not only does the proposal not harm the students, but it helps them ? to the tune of approximately $61,000. As Mexicotte noted, the board has made cuts for less savings than the district would see by contracting with PCMI. Thomas said he was ?not willing to put hubris above economic realities.?
Patalan sided with Thomas and Nelson, saying that ultimately, it comes down to the budget. While the bid itself doesn?t feel right to her, $61,000 is a lot money to save, she said.
Mexicotte said she was willing to accept it was hubris, but also recognized that in the past, when the board had made cuts to save smaller amounts, 100% of the money flowed back into the district. That would not be the case, if the board were to accept PCMI?s proposal, she contended.
Outcome: After the noon hour supervision contract was moved from the consent agenda to a board action item, the proposal failed to be approved on a 3-4 vote. Voting for it were Thomas, Nelson and Patalan.
Sexual Health Program: Approved
The trustees were given a second briefing on two recommended sexual health programs. One is designed for preschool through 2nd graders. The other is a 15-minute video about puberty designed for 5th through 8th graders.
The program for younger children ? preschool through 2nd grade ? is called Body Safety Training. A sample lesson provided in the board packet highlights the concept of ?Boss of Body? ? e.g. ?Who?s the boss of your body?? ?Me!? The lesson focus on teaching children a ?Body Safety Rule? which they apply to decide if certain touches of their private parts are okay.
The program for the slightly older children ? 5th through 8th grade ? was updated in 2011. According to the staff memo in the board?s information packet, that makes the video more recent than any puberty video that has been previously approved by the board. The district?s Sexual Health Education Advisory Committee (SHEAC) described the video in positive, but not entirely uncritical terms: ?The video used relatable teens but the dialogue was a bit ?cheesy? and I think youth will pick up on that. ? I appreciate how the video points out the positive side of puberty. ? Information is clear. It?s presented well even if it is a little stilted at times. It?s much better than most I?ve seen.?
The trustees were appreciative of SHEAC?s work. Nelson said he was especially impressed with the quality of work. Patalan said that while she was not at the first briefing, she knows the students are in good hands with the committee. She acknowledged how important it was to teach young students because they absorb so much, and the sexual health curriculum is part of learning about life.
No member of the public spoke at either of the two required public hearings ? the first held at the Sept. 19 board meeting and the second at the Oct. 10 meeting. Members of SHEAC were on hand to answer any questions asked.
Outcome: The board unanimously approved the SHEAC recommendations as part of the consent agenda.
Seat Time Waiver: Approved
The board was asked to approve the district?s seat time waiver application. While the district?s seat time waiver program has been operating since 2007 as the Options Magnet program, this is the first year board of education approval was required. The state has indicated that if the board approves, then the state has approved.
A seat time waiver allows schools to count and receive funding for students who take more than two non-traditional classes ? online or community resource ? if they follow the requirements set by the program. The program serves a range of students: from previously home-schooled students to students who are looking to develop their own individualized educational plans.
Outcome: The board approved the seat time waiver as part of the consent agenda ? having already discussed the item when they were first briefed at the Sept. 19, 2012?meeting.
Communications and Comment
Board meetings include a number of agenda slots when trustees can highlight issues they feel are important, including ?items from the board? and ?agenda planning.? Every meeting typically includes public commentary on subjects not necessarily on the formal agenda or that are not covered elsewhere in The Chronicle?s meeting report.
Comm/Comm: Calculus of a Principal Hire
During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Pioneer High School math teacher Michelle Macke noted she had addressed the board its previous meeting a few weeks ago. She?d been trying to get the hiring process moving along for the open position of principal at Pioneer High School. [Kevin Hudson, who was assistant principal at the school, has been serving as interim principal since July 2012, when Michael White left the district.] She noted that the job has now been reposted. AAPS director of communications Liz Margolis had sent a note to Pioneer staff on behalf of superintendent Patricia Green, saying she felt there was a need to widen the applicant pool.?Candidates previously considered, she continued, were still in the pool, according to the note. On Oct. 16 the interview process would be re-started.
Because Kevin Hudson had been moved up to interim building principal, Macke reported, that had vacated an assistant principal position. And that position had been filled with a math teacher ? Robert Klemmer. Because the math department believed the arrangement would be temporary, a substitute was hired. In order to provide adequate calculus instruction ? which Klemmer had taught ? on Sept 28, more than 300 Pioneer students got a new math teacher. The schedules needed to be shuffled, because none of the 30 substitute teachers felt they could step in and teach calculus. So other Pioneer teachers took on the calculus classes, but that meant that other math classes were transfered to the long-term substitute. students. Kids have have a lot of extra anxiety about math, she said, and the situation is unacceptable to her as a math teacher and as a parent. She hated to say it in front of teenagers, but they?re prone to making excuses for not doing well, and this is another excuse they?ll use. She wanted to speak up for the 300 kids whose math teacher was changed.
Comm/Comm: Trimesters versus Semesters
During public commentary at the start of the board meeting, Alice Morgan introduced herself as the parent of three students in the district ? a junior and freshman at Skyline High School and a 6th-grader at Forsythe Elementary. She and her husband have lived in Ann Arbor for 20 years and own Satchell?s BBQ restaurant. She?s become increasingly concerned about the trimester system at Skyline. She wanted to focus on three main problems, two of which she called self-evident.
The first problem with trimesters is learning loss. Skyline students take courses in math, English and languages for just two out of three trimesters. That results a three and a half month gap in math or English during the year. And in extreme cases ? from one year to the next, can result in nine-month gap. Such a nine-month gap could result from taking math in trimesters one and two of a school year, then taking math in trimesters two and three of the next year. As she?s talked with prospective Skyline parents, she?s found that this is seen as an impediment to enrolling children at Skyline. She herself sees a problem with her own daughter?s experience ? because she?s is prepping for the ACT and she?s not taking math right now.
The second self-evident issue is that Skyline?s calendar is out of sync with the rest of the of district. That means that Skyline students can?t easily take classes at other high schools in the district, and vice versa. Other scheduling challenges arrise from the need to try out of spring sports in the middle of their exams. It doesn?t make sense that Skyline is different ? and it results in a profoundly different educational experience with a trimester system.
The third and biggest problem, she said is that it?s a ?scheduling nightmare.? It results in lots of student having to take core classes online, because it?s not offered in the right trimester. Students might not want to take the course online ? and they want to be in class with teachers and with their peers ? but they?re forced to take the classes online due to the scheduling constraints of the trimester system. Advanced placement (AP) classes are constrained by scheduling problems. ?It just doesn?t work,? she said.
Comm/Comm: COTW Update
As an update to the Oct. 3, 2012 COTW meeting, at which the board discussed its financial goals, Mexicotte handed out a summary document to the trustees. Working to amend Proposal A, a countywide enhancement millage, and increasing and maintaining enrollment were several of the ideas discussed and given actionable steps by the board.
Mexicotte had organized the document into three sections ? the questions trustees discussed, their commentary, and action steps ? so they could remember what they were thinking as they work through these items over the next year. She thanked the trustees for starting to lay the groundwork, as some movement had already been made on many of the items they had talked about. Mexicotte said she wanted to call the public?s attention to the document [which will be made public after the board approves it].
Comm/Comm: Executive Session Approved
The trustees unanimously approved an executive session of the board to be held on Oct. 24, 2012 at 5:30 p.m, directly before the regular meeting at 7 p.m. At the executive session, they will receive and discuss with legal counsel a legal opinion protected by the attorney client privilege requested by the superintendent and provided by legal counsel.
Comm/Comm: Student Reinstatement Action
Following an earlier committee conversation, Student A was unanimously reinstated, eligible to return to school on Oct. 25. Lightfoot clarified the recommendation that was laid out during the committee process time had been adhered to.
Comm/Comm: MASB Delegates Selected
Four of the trustees ? Baskett, Lightfoot, Patalan, and Stead ? volunteered as delegates to the Michigan Association of School boards (MASB) Delegate Assembly. At the assembly, set to begin Thursday, Nov. 8, delegates selected by boards of education across the state will decide MASB?s positions on a wide variety of issues affecting education ? including their position on proposed legislation being considered by the State board of Education. Nelson was identified as an alternate.
Present: President Deb Mexicotte, vice president Christine Stead, secretary Andy Thomas, treasurer Irene Patalan, and trustees Susan Baskett, Simone Lightfoot, and Glenn Nelson.
Next regular meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, at 7 p.m. at the fourth-floor boardroom of the Ann Arbor District Library?s downtown branch, 343 S. Fifth Ave. [Confirm time, date and location]
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