Community Hich School will begin accepting applications for next
years Freshman class on Monday, April 11.  That's next week.  As a means
of addressing the problem of a huge line that we had last year prospective
students have been required to go through an "informed decision making
process," which included a meeting with Community students and teachers,
spending the day at the school going to classes and being shown various
classrooms and offices, and a few other things.  Also, this year fifty
percent of the new students will come from a lottery while the other fifty
will come from waiting in line.  Last year it was 80% line and 20%
lottery.
        The line started 24 hours before applications began being
accepted last year, and is expected to possibly start earlier this year. 
Last year, as the line was happening in a blizzard, people were let into
the building after the school finished for the day so they wouldn't freeze
outside.  This year applications will begin being accepted on a Monday in
order to minimize disruptions to the school during preceding days (unless
the line starts before the weekend).  Last year's demand for more
alternative schools prompted the school board to vote to add a second
alternative high school to the district, but a new, more conservative,
board scrapped the school when it was in its final stages of being set up.
        Is anybody here planning on trying to get into Community next
year?  What solutions are there to the problem of very high demand for the
small alternative schools?  Is a wait in line system really the best
method of alocating spots in these schools?

97 responses total.

aaypsi item 30 is now linked to genx item 18.

It strikes me that enough parents are willing to wait overnight in line to
enroll their kids, then enough parents ought to be willing to make enough]
noise to ensure that an additional alternative school remains a goal of the
school board.  100% lottery, and if you don't like it, then vote in a school
board who will make it unnecessary!

I don't understand why Community is the "alternative" and Pioneer and
Huron are considered the "norm". If the school board had any sort of clue
as to run a school system (which they don't, and it's not a requirement
for election either), they'd switch school-styles between the three.

There is a lot of politics behind this issue.  A whole lot.
Many parents did lobby the School Board for an expanded alternative
system.  But there are a lot of parents in the traditional schools
who see the alternatives as very threatening - soaking up the best
teachers, getting too much attention, and (erroneously) as getting
disproportionately greater funding.  So they started lobbying for
any "support" to be directed to the mega-schools.

It didn't take long for prospective School Board candidates to realize
that whoever jumped on the "big school" slate would get the "big school"
votes.  So the conservative slate made a lot of noise about down-grading
the importance of alternatives, and in the case of a couple of candidates,
even helped whip up the frenzy over how threatening the "alternative"
cause was to traditional schools.  The conservative School Board slate
won, bigtime. 

So now you have these elected officials trying to deal with the demand,
fully aware that *all* research related to this issue shows kids
learn better in smaller schools, and denying the administration's 
fiscal report showing Community High is no more expensive, per 
student, than the mega-schools. But they ran on an anti-alternative
platform.  What to do?

They went on retreat, formed a list of priorities, and ignored
the demand for expanded alternatives in Ann Arbor.  So if you
want to attend Community High School you'd better be in line
at least 2 days before the doors open.  Bring a lunch. 

It sounds like the misinformation or disinformation has to do with money.
All the campaigning was about the fact that CHS costs more per student
than Pioneer. I don't have any info, so I can only believe what people
tell me. Believe it! It doesn't matter what the facts are.
Everyone I know believes that CHS is more expensive, and most of them
resent it greatly. That's why we have a conservative school board that
almost everyone here seems to resent so greatly. That's why the second
alternative was killed. Prove to the Ann Arbor voters that CHS doesn't
cost more than Pioneer per student, and you may be able to change the
makeup of the board next election.

It seems to me that money is just a front for a reactionary political agenda
in this case.  It's easier to convince most people that their money is being
wasted than that their kids are in danger of being "corrupted" (whatever that
means).  If you look at the loudest voices behind this propaganda campaign, 
you might find out that it's the same bunch who shot down the Michigan Model
health ed. curriculum and any other liberal/progressive changes that have come
along in recent years.  I find them a bit scary.

I could dig out the specifics on cost per student but instead I'll
wait for Steve Gibbard to do it.  He's got the numbers, I'm sure.

Part of the pity about the emphasis on cost per student is that
in order to make the numbers clearly reflect how equal funding is
Community will be forced to drastically reduce or eliminate the number
of students from the big schools who come to Community for special
classes, such as Jazz band, certain math courses, and the fine
art curriculum.  There are many times more students coming in for
classes than going out, yet Community can't count these students
toward their costs.  So they'll soon be eliminated.  Sad, but 
necessary.

Also, the second alternative, as designed and presented to the School
Board, was going to cost *less* per student than any of the other
four high schools in town.  This was clearly stated and backed up 
by the administration bean counters.  The School Board didn't want to
hear about it so they ignored it.  It wasn't what they wanted to hear,
quite clearly.  That particular School Board meeting was a real stitch
to watch.

        I've got the numbers -- somewhere.  If I've got them on my hard
drive I should be able to get them as soon as I have time.  If they're on
paper somewhere, I will probably never find them (but I can always get
them from the school).  Anyway, the figures I have are from last fall when
all that was going on and do not reflect the budget cuts that have
happened since then.  The situation last fall was that, if every five
classes taken at Community by a dual enrollee was counted as one
additional Community student, and every five classes taken at another
school by a Community student was counted as one less Community student,
Huron spent the most, Pioneer the least, and Community was somewhere in
the middle.  Mei Mei Uy, when presented with these figures, changed the
motion to not include dual enrollees, calling the numbers with dual
enrollment too hard to calculate (despite the calculations already having
been done).
        On the subject of the line, as of about 45 minutes ago nobody was
lining up yet, but there were some car loads of people parked out in front
of the school and more cars driving around the block.  If the line does
start early nobody will be allowed on school property until after 4:00
Friday, according to Dean Bob Galardi, and people will only be allowed to
spend the weekend in the building if the temperature goes below 20 degrees
or possibly if it is raining or snowing.  If there is reasonable weather
the school can not afford to pay security guards to handle the crowd
inside the building.

The receptionist where I work is serving a shift for a parent who wants her
kid to get in. I was also approached by a research assistant who wanted to
make sure an important document makes its way out tomorrow, as she'll be
standing in line...

This is sick.

For anyone that will be waiting to look at the school, don't forget to
stop by the school paper office.  With the current batch of writers
starting to leave, The Communicator will be needing new people to keep it
going.  So stop by.  And don't forget to bring your ideas for new TOP TEN
LISTS!

scg, No offense, but I think it may be partially your fault people began 
lining up five days early.

        I had the cost figures earlier when the disk got filled.  I would
post them now but I'm too tired to look them up again, so I'll post them
tomorrow.  Last time I drove past the line, about half an hour ago, there
were more cars out there that obviously had people in them, but still *no
line*.  It should be stressed that *nobody* has lined up yet.  There are
only people waiting for the line to start.  And vidar, if the line did
start five days early, why would it be my fault?

There are a lot of Pioneer kids who want to take classes at CHS simply 
because they know that CHS has decent teachers in some subject, while
Pioneer does not. Why does Pioneer have poorer teachers than Community?
Why are kids who don't want or need the other features CHS offers forced 
to fight their way into CHS (displacing kids who would benefit more from 
all of CHS's features) just to avoid the teacher problems at Pioneer?

Actually, from what I hear, CHS is more...realxed than Pioneer.  You
do not get killed for walking w/o a hall pass, and there is a longer lunch
hour.  They want an easy year or so, and they want looser teachers.

I went to a private school and have believed since I was like 6 years old
that the public school system as it exists today is totally unworkable.
I am often criticized for this belief, but when I see situations like this,
I can only hang my head, sigh, and wish that more people had the means to
opt out of the public school system entirely.

By the way, when did things get so bad at Ann Arbor public schools?  When
I was in highschool I recall hearing that they were up there with
Birmingham and Grosse Pointe as the best around.

re #16: probably because they forgot that students are the reason
        the schools are there, IMO.

Re#13: This item.  And I only said *partially* your fault.  I also said
"may," which, as much as you want to think it does, does not mean "is".

Maybe those of us who recognize the obvious misinformation coming from the
board should do something to get more folks to pay attention.  With sufficient
numbers, it might be possible to get accountability if not to get rid of
certain unnamed obstacles on the board.

I've heard of people complaining to the Superintendent about the line.
The person(s) they should be complaining to is the School Board.
If it was not for the assinine plots of the School Board, some of this
stuff would not be happening.  Secondly, the line would be much
shorter,

        For those who haven't heard yet, the line actually got started at
around 4:30 this morning.  Within about four or five hours those who were
going to get in through the wait in line part (half of the admission is by
lottery) were probably there, and many of the people who came after that
were deciding to just take their chances with the lottery rather than
spending four days in line.  Many people expressed unhappiness with the
situation, and Dean Bob Galardi said he will be supporting a full lottery
for next year.

I agree.  The stand-in-line system, when taken to this extreme,
is very unfair to a whole lot of people, like single parents and
those without a network of family members and employees who can
participate in such an endurance contest.

I'd bet Dean Bob will get Joetta's job at Huron next year.  Don't
quite know why he wants it but I think he'll get it.

Re: 15  Community is more relaxed.  There are no class bells.
No hall passes.  No cops.  Lunch break is an hour long because 
there is no lunch service - either you pack it and eat it in the
halls or outside or you go out and purchase something quick-like.  
Community doesn't have a true library either, mostly just reference 
materials.  Students use the UofM libraries, mostly the Grad.
Classes run all day and into the evening.  It's not unusual for
a kid to be there at 8:00 a.m., take a few morning classes, have a
couple hours of break, be back for late afternoon classes, go home
then be back again until 9:00 p.m.  Sometimes the kids stay *all day*
by choice, because that's where they want to be.  (Amazing).
There are doors on the bathroom stalls.  Students are encouranged
to stay after hours and they aren't locked out.  There are CR's, 
forum, students involved with setting school policy, higher scores
than the mega-schools, and kids wishing they could do it all again,
from the beginning.

It's not for everyone, that's for sure.  But for some it is
just what they need and that should be respected.

If Dean Bob is really leaving for Huron, then maybe it's time for
Huron and Community to trade buildings.
(idea to be developed later)

Has anybody asked Bob if he wants the Huron job?  I've heard rumors, but
Bob certainly isn't talking like somebody who's going anywhere any time
soon.  It's definately something I'll have to ask him about tomorrow (it's
been on my list for a long time, but more pressing things keep coming up).

Community does have a tiny cafeteria service, which some people use.  Most
people, however, choose not to.

Re#22: Actually, there is *minimal* lunch service.  Not like anyone would
consider the food edible, but...

If there's a line, whatever's at the front of it must be too cheap.  If
people are willing to wait in a line, some of those people will be willing
to pay more to get whatever's at the front without waiting.  If there was
a special tax on tickets to popular rock concerts, the lines waiting for
the tickets to go on sale would be shorter.  If they charged a fair price
for bread in the old USSR, there would be enough bread to go around and
you wouldn't need to wait for it in a line.  If CHS is so popular that
people are willing to spend valuable time waiting in a line to sign up,
they should assess a registration fee. 

It's a public school, and as such has to provide equal access to its
educational services without cost.  Granted, the line isn't exactly the
most equitible system, but that's what the lottery part is for.

Another reason why I say 100% lottery and be done with it.

Yep.  What was the rationalization behind the half lottery, half
waiting in line scheme?

There should be a wristband policy in effect.

re: the cafeteria

Commie High's small foood service area provides Cottage Inn Pizza a couple
of times a week.  Seeing as my old schools provided some sort of cardboard
pizza equivalent, I would think that they are doing at least some things
right in the eatery area.

Poneer serves Papa Ramano's.  They used to serve Cottage Inn.  Decent food
id fine, I do not like the outrageous prices.

The Lottery lasted year was riged.  How else can one account for 50%
of the (now sophmore) freshman class acoming from MYA?
        100% First come, first serve was the fairest policy we ever had.
On top of that, it worked.  
        Coming down to a permanent enrollment process with the current
scholl board is impossible.  We merely vote on policy year after year,
aprroving the sstupider and stupider ones.  (I vote FC,FS)

re 31:
        Actually, the Community food service has Papa Romano's pizza every day.

re 29:
        The rationalization for the half lottery half line was that there
were people who felt that a line gave people control over whether they got
in or not, and was a true measure of committment, while there were others
who said there might be other reasons besides a lack of committment that
would prevent somebody from waiting in line.  The current policy was a
compromize.
        I supported the wait in line process until last year, at which
point it got past the point of fairness, I felt.  I argued,
unsuccessfully, for a full lottery with lots of hoops to jump through for
this year, but others didn't agree with me.  At this point it would be
very hard for anybody to justify how the wait in line system could be fair.

I visited the tent city on Community's front lawn today.  Spirits
are high even though there are close to 100 people hoping for but
45 slots.  I donated some cookies to the cause.  

For the first time I stated to see how maybe a voucher system
where schools had to compete would be a good thing.  Let the
clients have more direct control over the available products.

Well, all I know is that this year, Bob isn't going to be there to let
them sleep in the school.  
Mike Mouradian's Forum, of which I am part, will be out there offering
hot drinks and snacks around 1300 Hours tomorrow.  I got work to
do, but I'll be there as long as I can.
\
<|;-s}========
|

Hmmm...  Papa Romano's must have beat out Cottage Inn for the school pizza
account.  Even so, I am sure that the pizza is much better then what I had
when I was in shool.  <hrmph>

 I've been thinking about this in the last couple of days, and it seems to
me that if this concept of education is so popular, then why aren't there
more schools in Ann Arbor like this, or for that matter, why aren't all 
high schools like this, if people are willing to endure lines and such
just for a limited number of slots. 

Does anyone have a good answer for that?

Not really.  It is mass produced pizza, only semi-resembling food.  The price
is outrageous for the quality you get.

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