January, 2010

Sec. 1249. With the involvement of teachers and school administrators, the board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall adopt and implement for all teachers and school administrators a rigorous, transparent, and fair performance evaluation system that does all of the following:

(a) Evaluates the teacher’s or school administrator’s job performance at least annually while providing timely and
constructive feedback.

(b) Establishes clear approaches to measuring student growth and provides teachers and school administrators with
relevant data on student growth.

Attacking the State’s Structural Deficit

The massive restructuring of the auto industry, which began in 2001, has dramatically and permanently
changed the economic landscape in Michigan. The resulting impact is a state budget with a structural
deficit.

During her tenure, the governor has aggressively attacked this structural deficit. She has issued 47
executive directives limiting state spending, saved more than $1.5 billion by requiring renegotiation and
competitive bidding of contracts and other cost-saving measures, and reduced energy usage in state
facilities by 23 percent. The governor has eliminated five state departments and nearly 300 obsolete
boards and commissions. State government has 10,900 fewer employees than when the decade began; the

By Mark Palmer
MASSP President

Do you assess an activity fee for participation in school clubs? If so, what is the fee? Is it assessed per club or annually?

Noting the Michigan Legislature should address the issue, a Court of Appeals panel has ruled e-mails sent by public employees are not automatically subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act unless the message is sent in the employee’s official capacity or it is applicable as evidence.

A new Senate Fiscal Agency report says Lottery monies paid to the School Aid Fund have grown despite Michigan’s economic problems over the past decade. While finding a 23 percent growth in revenue from the Lottery during that time, the report also notes the money still only equates to 6.6 percent of the Fund’s total. The report also noted the percent of winnings paid to schools has declined as the Lottery Bureau has had to increase prize amounts to remain competitive with other gaming venues. Shortly after the law was changed in the mid-1980s assigning all Lottery revenue to schools, the Bureau transferred 40.5 percent of their total revenue of just over $1 billion to the Fund.

Following heated debate over whether the statutes’ provisions should be a primary or secondary offense, the Senate this week approved legislation barring motorists from sending or reading text messages while driving. With primary offense supporters contending the measures lacked a sufficient deterrent to ensure compliance, a lack one member equated to putting “perfume on a pig,” an effort to make a violation a primary offense—meaning law enforcement officials could stop a vehicle for that offense alone—failed on an 18-18 vote. The measures were passed on 31-6 votes with secondary offense supporters arguing Michigan motorists would obey the law regardless of the penalties provided.

A new poll, commissioned by Lansing’s Gongwer News Service, shows voters are opposed to a key government reform proposal contained in the Senate Republican’s recently released reform package. The largest single cost-savings proposal in the package, which seeks to reduce the overall cost of government, is a proposed constitutional amendment that would reduce the pay of all public employees by 5 percent and require them to pay 20 percent of the cost of their health care benefits package. Pollsters found that should the measure make the ballot, only 40 percent of the electorate would be likely to support it with 49 percent of the respondents opposed.

Do you assess an activity fee for participation in school clubs? If so, what is the fee? Is it assessed per club or annually?

Tuesday I was invited to meet with the principals of Ingham County. It is always great to visit with them. We went through some of the recent reform legislation. I focused on those areas that impact the building principal right away. I was a little surprised, and pleased, at all the questions. I started with the changes to personal curriculum committee legislative language and then moved onto the Algebra II clarity language. I’m beginning to feel these two topics will be the focus of my career.

A great discussion was around the legislative language regarding performance and evaluation. As one principal said, “After reading the actual language this is a real paradigm shift.” He was right on target.

Michigan scores poorly in National Council on Teacher Quality review -- but isn't alone
By Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press
January 28, 2010, 5:35PM

There was a veteran professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism who started the first day of class by writing a giant C on the chalkboard and saying, “For many of you in this room, this class will be the first time you will see this grade.”

Had this been my high school algebra teacher, I would have proclaimed her to be a miracle worker and proudly accepted that C. Since it was the introduction to newswriting class, we were less thrilled.

Looking back, I suspect she was trying to say she had high standards and the students would be challenged to meet them.

High schools are a cornerstone of America’s rural communities. When they are strong, rural secondary schools provide twenty-first-century students with the high-level knowledge, skills, and technology they need to succeed in college, careers, and life. In too many rural communities, however, high schools are in trouble. In fact, more than one fifth of the nation’s two thousand lowest-performing high schools are located in rural areas. Despite progress in overall rural educational attainment, rural high school dropout rates are still too high and college enrollment rates are too low. With more than 3.4 million American students currently attending rural high schools, these troubling outcomes are more than a “local” problem; they are a national crisis.

As a budget cut, we are closing our off-campus Alternative Education High School. We will bring the program (in some form) into our high school.

Question: Do you have an alternative program inside your high school building? If yes, can students flow in and out depending upon their educational plan or is it strictly self-contained? What unique characteristics does your program have that is different than your "main stream" high school? Thank you

R. Morris, Grandville HS

Senate Republican Reform Proposal:
Preliminary Analysis and Commentary
Prepared by MASA
1/23/2010

4 Components Affecting Schools:

· Mandate Public Employee Healthcare Premium Contribution

· Limit School Administrative Costs to 28 Percent

· Mandatory Bidding for Non-Instructional Services

· Reduce all public employee pay by 5%

Mandate Public Employee Healthcare Premium Contribution

· Proposal Details:

o SB 1046 (Jansen)

§ Would cap public employers contribution to health care at 80% of the premium

§ Raises the cap to 85% of premium costs if the plan includes wellness incentives AND a health savings account

o SJR P (Jansen)

SCHOOL LETTERHEAD

Date: Complete Date (Double check to make sure the date and year are correct!!)

To: Name of Teacher (Use legal Name)

From: Name of Administrator (Use legal Name)

RE:  LETTER OF REPRIMAND

PARAGRAPH ONE--Describe the incident/indiscretion
Example: "On (complete date), it was reported to me/I observed etc. that (give the specifics)." Include contract violation articles and exact language as appropriate.

Read The Requirements of an Official Written Reprimand.  This following sample letter is on page 2 of the pdf.

The Requirements of an Official Reprimand

Month, Day, Year
Name
School Address

Dear:

A sample Letter of Reprimand is on pg 2 of this document.

Letter of Reprimand

Discipline Checklist

I have a teacher who is really struggling with classroom management issues. As part of his Individual Development Plan, I need to point him in the direction of training and/or resources to support his growth in this area. I am hoping for some solid suggestions.

Thanks!

Has anyone been looking at offering foreign language on-line? If so, what programs are you using?

A combination of the growing reliance on high-stakes testing and increasingly strict discipline policies is a driving force behind drop-out rates nationally, according to a study released by the Advancement Project.

The report, Test, Punish and Push Out: How "Zero Tolerance" and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth Into The School-to-Prison Pipeline, finds that a growing number of students are leaving school and ending up in the criminal justice system because the concentration on high-stakes tests is turning them off to education or because they are being arrested for actions that in the past would have been addressed within the school system.

Public school teacher absenteeism declines when principals have more control
January 22, 2010

(PhysOrg.com) -- Public school teachers took less time off when principals had more flexibility to dismiss them without completing elaborate documentation or attending a hearing, one of two new University of Michigan studies shows.

Senate Republicans placed a bull's-eye Tuesday on public employee pay and benefits as the centerpiece of their efforts to restructure the cost of government, calling for government workers to take a 5 percent pay cut and pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums.

The sweeping plan, which would accomplish the pay cut and health insurance contribution through constitutional amendments to be placed on the August ballot, would affect employees at all levels of government - elected officials like the governor and legislators, state employees, local government employees, teachers and others.

The Senate Republican plan omits any changes to the state's tax structure, but Mr. Bishop said he is interested in tax reform, just not to generate new revenue.

MASB is excited to invite principals to complete an online profile through their new board-superintendent matching process. This new process aims to more closely match superintendent candidate needs with that of a district.