Information about Fall 1993 school schedules.

20 responses total.

I haven't seen any information about the Fall AA school schedule, but
it may have slipped by me, while we were away. Has this been announced
and, if so, where has it been published? (And, are there any controversies
about it? ;-)).

I don't think anything has been published about it yet.  However, I could
care less when school starts and Ends, because the school year will breeze
right past me and feel like two weeks passing.

I am glad for you, but we need to plan for our daughter entering middle
school for the first time. 

Since we just moved, I went over to the kids new school yesterday to enroll
them.  I asked about the starting date, if it was still Sept 1 like was 
mentioned in June.  The secretary said that they hadn't received the letter
informing them of this year's schedule yet, but they were proceeding on the
assumpion that it is.

I remember hearing that the teachers' contract was up for renewal this year,
which is probably why we haven't heard anything definate.  This might not be
good for us (parents and students) with all the stuff going on in Lansing.
The teachers will, of course, want more $$ and improved benefits and the school
board won't know what they will have available to bargin with.

glenda, why dont you call the board of education and ask them.  If they dont
know, no body does.  I havent heard anything about the possibility of a strike
and if there was going to be one, I would think it would have made the press.
The monies for this year, are there now.  Its next year thats up for grabs.

I had not called the board/school to ask them previously, seeing no reason
why several hundred parents had to each call individually to obtain the
information that should be distributed automatically (and early) to all.
However, since no one appears to know for sure here, I called, and the
data for Tappen middle school are:
  
Start Wednesday, 1 Sept. at 8:00 a.m., for half day to 11:10 a.m. Full
days thereafter. 
  
I did not ask about any other details, presuming that we *will* receive
them in advance by mail or otherwise.

I spoke to an Ann Arbor teacher today and she said they are planning to
start work but that a strike on Tuesday is a real possibility.  I wish it
wasnt almost always this way. . .down to the wire.  Its hell on parents and
on the kids.

Heard on the radio last night that Washtenaw Intermediate Schools had settled
their contract and the teachers had already radified it.  Called the school
admin to ask about school schedules as we still haven't received a letter
about it, was transfered to the school Damon and Staci will attend.  They were
surprised as we should have.  When I told her our name she said that she now
understood, since we just moved and had only registered the kids 10 days ago
they were still working on fitting the new registers into the class scheds.
Damon is no problem as he is going into 4th grade and they all attend 1/2 day
in the morning on Wednesday the 1st.  Staci is going into 1st grade and they
will only be attending 1/2 days until after Labor Day.  However, some will be
attending mornings on Thursday and Friday while some will be attending
afternoons.  The principal had those files as she was working on them at the
time, but was out of the school for a bit.  The secretary put down that Staci
will attend afternoons for those days (said that the principal will go along
with it as most parents ask for mornings) so that is what we should plan on
unless we hear otherwise.  Class listings will be posted on the front windows
of the school next week so we can see which teachers they will have and what
classrooms they will be in (as if we can find them without help, not knowing
the layout of this school).

We received a notice today that our daughter is in Mr. Sipp's
"advisory class" at Tappan. He wrote "I'll explain what that means
when you arrive next Tuesday...", but the letter was very brief and
he *could* have included a brief explanation of "advisory class" for
us parents. Let's see.. an "advisory" is a warning. Uh oh.

An advisory is a report about conditions, etc., like a weather 
report or a weather advisory.

   I never had Mr. Sipp when I was at Tappan, so I don't know what his
advisory is like, but Advisory my first year at Tappan did contain lots of
warnings.  Basically, don't do this because you will get detention, and don't
do that because you will get detention, and don't wait too long to do your
detention, because you will get more detention.  If we were late to Advisory,
and therefore missed any of these warnings about what we would get detention
for, we would get detention.  Actually, we also did some other stuff in
Advisory, such as lessons on how to make friends, and things like that.  As
a place for support and to find out what was going on in the school, it was
definately a worthwhile concept, but I could have used a bit less of the
social engineering aspect of it.  As for the detention part, that is the
whole school, not just Advisory, but advisory was where we were told how
to avoid it.

Another thing that Mr. Sipp said in his letter was that the advisory
class will meet when the students "arrive next Tuesday, September 1,
1993". (Alice noticed this - I hadn't.) Looks like an "advisory" is
needed. 

And *this* is what you pay taxes for!

Vittoria started school today, and came home sorry that it wasn't a full
day of school. She is bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. She
reported that *no one*, not Advisory, not teachers, mentioned "detention".
There must have been a change of emphasis, with the new principals. The
"D" word was mentioned once, Tuesday evening at a PTSO meeting, by 
one student, who gave a short presentation. No one booed. I wondered
about the Middle School concept (my elementary school was grades 1 to
8), but change itself is stimulating, and the whole atmosphere is more
advanced than it was at Pattengill. The facilities and equipment too. 

When I was in Jr. High (at Tappan) we didn't have detention, to my
knowledge.

Staci loves her class, I just wish that we could pronounce the teacher's
name properly without a language dictionary (I *think* it's spelled
Krzyzowski).

Damon came home all upset because Abbot 3rd graders got more work with
cursive writing than Burn Park 3rd graders did, so he is behind in something
again (he started 3rd grade at a mid 2nd grade reading level and managed
to not only catch up with the rest of his class, but to pass a lot of them
as well.  His CAT scores last April put him at 4.3 grade level in reading
when class level at that time of year should have been 3.8.  (And to
continue the brag, his math scores were at 98% equal to 8.4 grade level.)
Needless to say we are very proud of him, but understand his feeling of
"I've just worked my tail off to get caught up and you have to move on me
and put me behind again so I'll have to work harder than the others again
to catch up.)  We are giving him a lot of "you can do it, it won't be all
that hard" talks.  He really protested going in this morning and caused a
big scene and wouldn't walk with Staci and me.  He had calmed down a bit
by the time we caught up to him in the hall of school and accepted a big
hug and "I love you and only want to help you".  He came home for lunch all
excited, saying that he loved this school and could hardly wait to finish
eating so that he could rush back (another reason why he was huffy this
morning, he didn't want to come home for lunch he wanted to stay, but Staci
only goes in the morning this week and it is too new for her to handle walking
home alone, they'll stay for lunch starting next week so that I have time to
get things done, like unpack and find things, I HATE moving).  We'll see how
it goes tomorrow.

Just leave it all packed, unless you really can't do without something.
Very enlightening, on what you can do without.

   Well, I'm glad to hear that about Tappan detention.  I actually heard it
mentioned at the Tappan bike racks when I was there after school today, but I
didn't catch the context, so I don't know whether the students in question had
gotten detention or not.

The "d" word is not mentioned, but Ms. Brannon of Computer Awareness
has sent home a written Procedures list, which includes #15. "After
School Policy:", which provides that "Talking without being recognized:
15 mins after school each time.....Tardy: 15 mins. after school....."
Begins to sound like detention to me. Ah..there it is..."(If you do not
make up your detention time within one week, I will call home and make
the arrangements with your folks.)". Now it begins to sound a little
ominous, if not paranoid. 

Ms. Brannon?  I never had her as a teacher, but she was the newspaper advisor
(newspaper was, at the time, an after school club) and I was involved in that.
She was the best teacher type I ever had there.  I will probably soon see what
she does with late students in actual classes, because I am now helping her
teach the Newspaper class.

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