These are our notes for the Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education Study Session on March 16. The meeting was held in person at Forsythe Middle School. The meeting also aired on Zoom and on Xfinity Channel 18. The district typically posts the recording split into segments the day after the meeting or Xfinity Channel 18 will often replay it. The agenda for tonight’s meeting is available online.
Note, we are recording the meeting on Channel 18 and will take notes as we have time to watch it.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7p. The Channel 18 recording picked up at the start of Public Commentary
Roll Call
The Channel 18 recording picked up at the start of Public Commentary. Attendance is based on my observations
Present: Lazarus, Kelly, Johnson, Gaynor, Querijero, DuPree
Other Attendees: Swift, Parks, Hilton, Heyward, Deangelis, Cucu, Sportsman, Koschmann, Wimberly, Linden, Karr, Fidishin
Agenda
The Agenda is available on Board Docs. This is the approved agenda and will include any updates and results of any votes.
Motion to approve the Agenda by Kelly, seconded by Johnson. Carries unanimously
Events from our Sponsors
![]() Kindergarten Round Up & Preschool Open HouseSunday, February 23 | ![]() JLC Book SaleMarch 26-29, 2025 |
Public Commentary
As in the past, we will not be covering public commentary. Text of comments submitted in writing are available on BoardDocs.
Lazarus reviewed the rules for Public Commentary: Public comments pertain to district matters. Comments about individuals are expressly prohibited. Board members do not respond to public comments. We will listen carefully and followup as appropriate. There were 3 signups.
Clarifications
Lazarus: Thank you to everyone who submitted comments. I know it’s sometimes hard to speak in this format. All comments submitted in writing are on BoardDocs
Swift: We’ve said for a few weeks we are looking to achieve a very low number of cases in the districts, no outbreaks, or clusters of cases. We are opening activities which we have really moved up that rate of activities this week. We look to see low number of cases continue as we open more activities. As we sit here this evening, the Huron choral cavalcade is going on. Those are the type of activities we want to achieve while our cases remain low.
Lazarus: Yes, I know my daughter is participating in that Huron Cavalcade and not very happy with me right now.
Study Session Items
Student Social Emotional Wellness & Well Being
Swift: We have a number of folks joining this week and joining via Zoom. They’re in contact with many students daily during the day and it is good not to continue that at night.
Social emotional wellness and health is what matters most. If that part of the child’s development is not right, it is a tremendous inhibition on their learning and growth.
Ms Parks is leading this presentation team.
Parks: We are pleased to share an updated on our student social emotional wellness and wellbeing. Pre-pandemic we were doing work to have supports in place for our students. Our guests represent a cross-section of types of supports including community based organizations.
Guest speakers:
- Ms Samantha Cucu – Zones of Regulation – Assistant Principal at King & former AAPS Intervention Specialist
- Dr Emily Sportsman – SAEBRS (Social Academic and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener) Pilot – School Psychologist – Pioneer High School
- Mr Harold Wimberly – AAPS Intervention Specialists – Intervention Specialist, Scarlett Middle School
- Dr Elizabeth Koschmann – TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) – TRAILS Program Director
Parks: We’ll provide an overview of SEL & mental health supports, talk about ongoing work to assess student well being, highlight support and interventions incorporated before and in response to pandemic, look ahead to supports post-pandemic.
Parks: Prior to 2020 we were putting supports in place after the devastating loss of several students. Restored counselor at middle school that were decreased during lean years, added counselors at K-8, added more intervention specialists at high school and more at elementary. Increased collaborations with community partners. The pandemic afforded us a chance to gauge how well these supports worked for our students. The pandemic illustrated that while we’ve done a great deal of work, there’s still more to do. We know we’re not meeting the needs of every student which is our goal
There are Multiple Tiers of Support
- Tier 1 – Universal – Supports for all students. – 80%
- Tier 2 – Early intervention – 15%
- Tier 3 – Individualized and intensive interventions including community based supports – 5%
Hilton: Tier 1: We use a range of practices & programs across Preschool-12th grade. Programs are listed on slide. Second Steps (Y5), Leader in Me, Responsive Classroom, Zones of Regulation Link Crew (HS), Mindfulness, restorative practices, SEL lessons. All of these programs are designed to help develop positive and productive relationships with staff and peers.
Zoned Regulation Approach. Ms Cucu will present, currently Assistant Principal at King, previously intervention specialist.
Cucu: I think it’s been a year since I spoke about my LEGO lunch club. Zones of Regulation features 4 zones in colors that correspond to energy, emotions, alertness. All zones are ok, but it’s what you do with those. If I’m tired, can’t focus that’s blue zone and great before bed. If it’s morning, I need to pump that up for school. If it’s an adult, we can have a cup of coffee, but kids need other tools – stretching, activity, drinking water. Zones are universal and provides a framework to discuss. Parents see relief that it applies to all children and doesn’t “other” children who need extra support. It’s supporting the whole child.
DeAngelis: Introducing Dr Sportsman school psychologist at Pioneer about a pilot around the risk assessment tool SAEBRS.
Sportsman: We’ve been piloting SAEBRS for 2 years. Includes financial support from Washtenaw County Mental Health mini grant and support of Pioneer PTSO. Existing methods didn’t identify all students who need support (attendance, teacher referral). We screen what we value – hearing, vision, reading. Now we can screen for social emotional. SAEBRS is a short electronic survey that takes about 2 minutes. Breaks help needed into social, educational, and emotional. In February identified 220 students whose responses indicated they may need some supports. For example, referrals to cognitive behavioral therapy, more in depth assessments, even medical intervention. We expect long term impact such as improved academic, less behavioral interactions including justice systems, and more. We can’t just take care of sick fish, we also have to clean up the tank. We can look at data by needs and demographic sub-groups. We brought Pioneer students into process including BSU, Latino Student Union, peer to peer counselors, health classes. Generated ideas on decreasing academic stress, building connections, etc.
Lazarus: Can we move to tier 2 can we ask questions since this is a study session?
DuPree: About SAEBRS you can analyze by demographics. Have you seen trends that stood out?
Sportsman: Yes, we analyzed demographic data from last school year winter and spring. Some trends we saw were less surprising that females had higher number of students as having a hard time. Black students had higher level of risk than other subgroups. Those are just a couple examples of trends we’ve seen.
Gaynor: About SAEBRS when I taught middle school, I spent 2-3 weeks having students write mid-year reviews on those three areas – social, academics, emotional and write about strengths, weaknesses, goals, then met with each for an individual conference for 5-10 minutes. How does this work with a 2 minute survey. What information can you get effective, helpful results in minutes, when we took weeks.
DeAngelis: Is there a sampling we could provide the board? not tongith, but
Sportsman: Yes, I have a more in-depth presentation I put together last year with our findings. To quickly address your question, a universal screener is short and quick. But ask specific questions. It’s not diagnostic, or in depth. Doesn’t tell us why. For example, I argue with others – always, sometimes, never.
Events from our Sponsors
![]() Kindergarten Round Up & Preschool Open HouseSunday, February 23 | ![]() JLC Book SaleMarch 26-29, 2025 |
Swift: Dr Sportsman thank you so much. I’m asking on Trustee Baskett’s behalf. Do students self-identify their need through this SAEBER?
Sportsman: Yes. We use mySAEBER which we believe is most useful for HS. Since students have so many teachers, teachers have so many students. At other grade levels SAEBR has teacher reporting. We could even administer last year when we were virtual.
Swift: For Ms Cucu about zones of regulation, how are parents engaged in that component?
Cucu: When we implemented school wide, we introduced it at back to school night. As teachers teach, ther is something that goes home for families. Plus specific language from teachers.. We sent home resources, so they have the definitions of the zones and can communicate with the same language as everyone at school.
Swift: Regarding the 80/15/5. That would represent the # of students you expect to fall in those tiers – is that correct?
Parks: Yes. Tier 1 is 80%. We expect Tier 1 to have a positive impact on 80% of students. For Tier 3, about 5% of students will need those supports.
Swift; I’ve always been told as you move up, its more time and intensity.
Parks: And level of personalization.
Swift: I know a question everyone has I think you’ll get to later is how do we see the impact of COVID having shifted those percentages.
Johnson: That made me think. The stat that 220 students were identified by SAEBRS. Pioneer has about 2000, about 1800 – is that at 10%?
Sportsman: Our goal is that every student can take it, but we miss some. Students absent for long periods. We found about 20% students were identified.
Johnson: I googled as you talked and see this is a broader program. Do they have benchmark data? How do we compare?
Sportsman – I’ll share that in the slides I’ll send as follow-up. SAEBRS helps school prioritize which students are in the greatest need, but doesn’t give an absolute cutoff.
Johnson: That makes sense. Helping the individual student is always most important, but seeing trends can sometimes be helpful, but sometimes not.
Sportsman: We noticed a slight improvement from winter to spring with the seasonal effect.
DuPree: I looked up information on (cutout) Do any of the questions serve as screener for dating violence. About 1 in 12 report this experience.
Sportsman: That is not one of the specific question asked. But it is important when we follow up to dig deeper and cover that topic. It just points us who we need to check in with. And we need to followup with that. If a student is telling us they feel depressed, we want to use something like Columbia suicide risk. This measure doesn’t diagnose or assess for suicidality. It just points to those we should follow up. But sometimes we identify students who are already well-supported. But it also identifies those we need to check in with.
Heyward: Tier. 2: Intervention Support – Early intervention for students who require more support. Cognitive Behavior Therapy Groups, TRAILS, restorative circles, achievement team meetings, intervention specialists. Our district intervention specialists supports students with strategies and tools to improve academic and social behaviors. Academic supports, collaborating with parents, partnering with community organizations.
Wimberly: I’m one of original intervention specialists at Scarlett that started in 2013. The role has evolved during COVID-19 pandemic. More involvement around trauma and family needs. I’ve picked up adverse childhood experience and understand how trauma affects students and family. Small group support inside and outside of school. Boys groups, girl groups, CBT, mindfulness. Outside of schools I’ve had groups at the church where I’m a pastor and have small groups and some kids from Scarlett who live in Ypsi come over. We’ve increased parent relationships. Not just talking about students but asking how they’re doing. Our parents are really struggling. Giving them a chance to share and let out what they are feeling. Often times our kdis and parents need to be heard. Support outside of school has increased tremendously. We have a food pantry and give out food. Our intervention specialists help with food and cleaning, hygiene supplies to meet family needs.
Holiday support. About a year ago we started a Love box for parents and students around Christmas holiday. I got a trailer of new clothes & shoes for all ages plus new toys. We could put together 432 bags toys & clothes, plus food. Over 300 families came through the line. We also noticed assistance with housing – finding or keeping. With 34 years in Washtenaw County, I have a lot of connections. We’re providing educational and life skills program outside school. I have a robotics program for MS & a leadership teaching kids about credit and building business plans. And can pay the kids for completion of the program. The IS team understands our work doesn’t start and end with the bells. We work evenings and weekends. The building of a relationship with students and parents relies on time.
Lazarus: I have a question. First, thank you for everything you do. You must be the busiest person. My question is how many Intervention Specialists do we have in the district.
Heyward: We have 12 – 3 at HS, 5 at middle schools and 4 at elementary buildings.
Lazarus: Can you explain the program you pay students to finish? What is that program?
Wimberly: The first is Raise Up – leadership program with 12 weeks of leadership skills, money management, business plan, look for job, how to interview. We’re in our 9th week. It’s every Saturday and pay $300 at the end of 12 weeks. They have to take what they learn and share with a group of 4/5th grader mini 2 hour workshop. The second program is a robotics program that teaches young African American boys about character building and using robotics as a component and draw them in. A number of AAPS students are involved in that program.
Lazarus: I notice you are one of the leaders leading with empathy and I think that’s why you are so successful.
DeAngelis: Dr Koschmann was the first to come to the table after a year when we had some tragedies and has done amazing work with TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students)
Koschmann: I have 35 slides, but have 10 minutes so you can refer back to the deck as you need to. It is now statewide and national program. TRAILS is about recognizing that effective mental health treatment can improve and save children’s lives. But many factors make it difficult to access. It is really focused on equity especially those not adequately served by mental health space. Schools are central to this mission. Health sector will never be adequate. TRAILS is about bridging research to practice.
Within TRAILS there are also tiers. Tier 1 is wellness promotion, Tier 2 is early interventon, Tier 3 is crisis management.
We have partnered with many staff. Curriculum was built with AAPS staff.
- 60 staff trained in SEL.
- 57 staff participated in TRAILS self-care
- 123 staff trained in CBT & Mindfulness
- 145 staff trained in suicide risk management
We’ve also seen the toll of COVID on staff as well and also look at wellness of staff in the building. Span all levels of buildings.
More recently we’ve been looking at a suicide prevention program. 52% of students identified for depression triggered suicide protocol. That was a start of a partnership to make sure staff was trained and next step process for referrals.
Tier 2 check out our website –trailstowellness.org. We train community providers first, then school staff, then they work together. Our materials are downloaded daily from all 50 states and other countries.
We have $5.5 million in the current fiscal year from Michigan. That money sis spent out to the country. WISD is identifying 10 buildings through the county. It’s hard to make the case for AAPS buildings since you were our test cases.
DuPree: The program is amazing. During summer school, there were a couple trails programs available for students and my son participated. How do you get past the stigma of using mental health services especially in some groups especially in black and communities of color. How o you break that.
Koschmann: It’s a big problem and we don’t have a perfect solution. Books, screening films, resources. community education, newsletters. And increasing awareness so more families understand what is and isn’t mental illness. It’s not a sign of weakness or something to be ashamed of.
Swift : I remember after our most difficult mental health year, you were first on scene to help us find solutions. 7 years later this is something we are proud of and you don’t get enough recognition for. Trustee Baskett has asked a couple questions. How does one access the TRAILS program.
Koschmann: Right now, there is an opportunity for schools to contact ISD and express interest. From Michigan DOE it goes to ISD who selects schools to participate. We know how much schools are juggling, but connecting to the ISD is the best way. There is a contact us page on the website.
Swift (for Baskett): How successful are we with connecting students with mental health resources. There are concerns with how few services are availble?
Koschmann: Unmet mental health need is driving my career. We are failing. This is why TRAILS exists. The wait to get int to see a private practice or community practitioner, is very long. If you need more than your insurance covers, or don’t have the right insurance, you are looking at 8, 10 12 month wait. We also have many populations that feel unsafe, underserved by mental health. Often times mental health isn’t driven by empirical data. This helps schools deliver help.
Kelly: When we talk about how hard it is to connect students to this kind of work and general education teachers to bring new curriculum to classroom, is there talk about pushing community supports into classroom.
Parks: We don’t have an articulated plan in that way. We do have supports that are a part of the day to day school experience with community based groups – for example RAHS, Girls Group. They aren’t specific to mental health but more wholistic approach.
DeAngelis: Tier 3 Interventions and will back track a bit on mental health work with other community partners. This is highest level of intervention with individualized plans. Referrals are often made or support coming into building. Especially for students demonstrating highest risk we build individualized plans. We try to support families in finding support. We triage where child might be on spectrum of mental health concerns. Our counselors, intervention specialists, etc are trained for this. We do this every day. Supporting students and families in crisis. We do this work as well as anyone. A few years ago after the 2016/2017 where we lost 9 or 10 students that year. We use a CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management Training) protocol. One crisis that often comes up is students demonstrating significant mental health challenges.
After Oxford shooting, MAASP reached out to us to state wide presentation on the work we’ve done to support students struggling with mental health.
Mental Health supports we provide are:
- District Wide standard for assessing students in crisis
- Training & Support measures to ensure AAPS provides positive supports
- Consistent & fully embedded crisis response protocols
- Tools provide medical professionals with a more comprehensive assessment of student need when making referrals
- Includes Columbia Suicide screener
- Dewey Cornell Threat Assessment (new layer that looks to assess harm to others)
- Contact with community partners
Swift: You talked about the training. It was a heavy lift to get all of our staff trained on a single protocol. We had a number of community partners come in. Now the providers use the same protocol. It was district wide. We were the first system in Michigan to come up with that protocol and align with mental health providers.
Events from our Sponsors
![]() Kindergarten Round Up & Preschool Open HouseSunday, February 23 | ![]() JLC Book SaleMarch 26-29, 2025 |
Heyward: Family supports are also an important component. During pandemic with remote learning, our teaching and learning network held monthly sessions for parents and families as a support mechanism. There were regular professional development offerings to support families, staff, students with self-care. School teams keep working with community partners. Ann Arbor Community Centers, Wasthenaw Council for Children, RAHS (Scarlett, Pathways, Pioneer), Community Mental Health, UM Peer to Peer, Girls Group, UM Depression Center.
Hilton: Moving Forward at AAPS. It is about continued training and development and strengthening of SEL practices, programs, and protocols. Includes threat assessment protocols, training for staff, collaboration with community partners and agencies. Looking at additional SEL support especially at elementary level. All working together to better support and serve students and community.
Parks: As we conclude, we also want to highlight importance to make sure we are focused on supporting students just like with academic support. We’ll have a continued focus on where our biases impact our ability to support students. Equitably provide supports for every student to thrive. We know we’ve done a lot of great work, but know we have more to do.
DuPree: What was the name of assessment used for harm to others –
DeAngelis: Dewey Cornell
DuPree; WISD had a presentation on assessing school threat. One thing they had was a continuum of threat. How does the assessment you have see the difference between levels. How to determine of student is finding enjoyment of disruption of class or causing fear vs someone angry in the moment.
DeAngelis: The tool is designed to do what you suggest. Determine at what level student is presenting as a threat to the school community.
Sportsman: These tools help practitioners determine next steps in an empirical data supported manner.
Swift: Ms Parks & the team we often talk about the African tradition of asking the questions how are the children at greeting. Thank you for leading this effort. You represent an army in all of our schools. There isn’t an evening where my phone doesn’t go off that one of you is at a home supporting a child or family.
Lazarus: Thank you Dr Swift & everyone on the screen. I’d like to say thank you for everything you do every day. When we talk about what we do as a district, we care beyond. This is a great example of what we provide our students, families, and community. Please keep up the great work.
My one question. Now that the community has this wonderful presentation to understand services we provide to studenst and families. How do they access this information and services? Do they go to principal, teachers, etc? Is there a magical individual to speak to?
Parks: Teachers, principal, counselors. A benchmark to when we are closer than ever to getting supports right is when they don’t have to come to us, we go to them. That’s what we’re working to get to.
Learning Forward Academic Updates
Swift: We are able to carry out our critical mission of teaching and learning and critical growth because of the care and attention to SEL. Ms Linden, Mr Karr & Dr Fidishin walk us through.
Sunday was two years since we closed schools on March 13, 2020. We have been through a number of iterations of delivering teaching & learning. I had a chance to be with elementary caucus yesterday morning. I believe our teachers and support staff and school leaders will be evaluated well in history for how they flexed and moved and changed in these 2 years. Folks have learned so much along the pathway and are bringing it all to the next chapter of 2022 and beyond. Instead of walking you through the chapters since you were with us, they’re bringing the snapshot of now and how we’re looking forward with our critical mission of teaching and learnng.
Linden: I get to highlight the great work going on across AAPS team. There ‘s no better way to show gratitude to our teaching and learning team. We are just 3 of a much larger team and hope to do them proud in sharing highlights.
We’ll review how teaching & learning has evolved since 2020, share ongoing work to create equitable learning, and explore intervention and acceleration moves.
- March 2020 – pandemic began, school closed
- September 2020-March 2021 – Virtual
- March 2021-June 2021- Hybrid
- September 2022-now – in person
We pivoted a bit within each segment and took learning with us.
- AAPS Framework for equitable instruction – 2nd edition this year
- Equity centered staff development
- Teaching & Learning Networks
- Centering Students
- Digital Ecosystem for access
- Family/Community Supports
- Transforming Culture
If we do all well, the culture becomes an equitable place where everyone gets what they need.
Framework for equitable instruction. Equity is at the heart of what we do. We have recognized and been transparent about underserved groups. it’s about determining learning with each student in mind. We have not arrived, but it is what we strive to achieve. They see themselves among our diverse staff. Instruction is meaningful. Universally designed instruction (UDL) means it is designed for entry points from multiple places based on background student brings. It is also about expression – how the express their learning in their voice. There are strategies for those new to English but help all such as using visual support learning, Active and engaged instruction – a modern view of how learners lear. What is their agency in learning, what tools do they have to express & tap into learning. We plan to dive in more deeply.
Karr: Equity centered staff development – All district professional development with Dr Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz – a total of 6 sessions. All leaders professional development with Dr Chris Emdin (USC) on belief habits and removing barriers. Not this year but last year we worked with Dr Rich Milner from Vanderbilt. These are all equity centered development.
Teacher Learning Networks – Teachers have been engaged in these. They are for teachers, by teachers. Goal is to transform culture and practice by making learning accessible. Identifying and implementing equitable instructional practices. Teachers are supporting each other by sharing strategies and resources. There are wide reports of the benefits.
SEL Learning & Mental Health TLN – is counselors, social workers, psychologists, and behavior interventionists, to make sure every student connected to caring adult. Supported with common SEL lessons and adults support through SEL development.
Linden: Student Centered Practices – This is the core and probably what you most want to hear about. How are we supporting students as we emerge from the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic has been uneven across district and students. Because of uneven impact we have to address individually. There is a piece on coaching for literacy and mathematics. It is happening every day in our classrooms. YOu’ll hear about intervention and academic support. We’ll also dig in to how High School Credit Recovery has evolved. Flexible learning paths are key – multiple means and addition time to complete. We’ve implemented quarantine learning facilitators providing live instructions to students at home. We’ll also provide preview on summer learning opportunities.
Karr – Equitable engagement: Guiding thoughts on setting students up for success. We want them to feel empowered and in the drivers seat. Safe, caring, culturally affirming learning environments. Familiar systems and predictable practices as they move class to class. Resources available in real time. This results in multiple modes of student engagement and success.
As we look at that, we are looking at scope and sequence to adjust and incorporate learning targets for success. Start from the known and move to where they need to go – Meeting Kids where they are at. Fully accessible curriculum using open education resources available online – any time, any where. Instructional tools offering voice and choice.
Schoology Learning Management, My On, Sora, Screencasto-matic and others. (this part of the slide was under the closed captioning)
Linden: I know we’re trying to be efficient with our time, but if you reflect on the slide, each of these components has a huge impact on teaching & learning. With students having access, we have a number of open education resources (OER) teacher driven curriculum resources. We can also share feedback and growth in representation of these resources. This is a new and modern innovation in teaching.
Targeted skills instruction. This is where teachers are analyzing students skills and gaps and forming small groups to bring students up to speed. They happen across the district daily. We also have a team of intervention and literacy specialists focused on K-2. This is a focus for us. Every elementary school has a BLE (Building Literacy Experts) who have a team of students they work with to get Tier 2 support. We also offer coaching to teachers to bring those skills to teachers to support Tier 1 students. We’re excited about the addition of math coaches.
At secondary level, there is a big shift towards credit recovery. As a student starts to slip, credit recovery process starts. They’ll have more time to master concepts. Adult supporting them with organization, the work itself, etc. to gain mastery. These are teacher and student created learning plans. It’s a lot of hard work on part of our teaching staff and want to thank them. There’s also a team of teachers who support outside of schoolday – weekends and after school, not just summer. We also have robust summer programming with summer and A2Virtual Pathways.
Live support for students with quarantine learning facilitators. To support students who are home for 2 weeks or so. Available K-5, and core content areas of grades 6-12. They don’t get new assignments, but support in classes they are currently taking. Schoology is a big part of this> Students at home can tap into assignments. These are teachers new to AAPS and come from across Michigan. This is a temporary process for us. Students log in when they are able. Many students are popping in to say hi even when they are back in school.
On Demand Tools for students – teachers also use to identify gaps. Or students can work on their own. MyOn, Dreambox, Lexia Core 5, Lexia for MS & targeted HS. These elements allow students to get on as often as they want or need to work on trouble areas. They’re not boring, they are fun, engaging and patterned on gaming.
Events from our Sponsors
![]() Kindergarten Round Up & Preschool Open HouseSunday, February 23 | ![]() JLC Book SaleMarch 26-29, 2025 |
Karr: Digital Ecosystem – You’ll get. a flavor of tools to help shape experience for students. Schoology is the heart of it and other tools connect there. Attendance, communication, discussion among students, assignments, progress monitoring with assessments and grades. The elementary resource portal has a variety of tools embedded in Schoology – MyOn, Sora, Kiddle, Nat Geo Kids, AADL, and much more. There is also organization by grade level. There is a similar version for MS & HS
Linden: Thank you to our library services department for leading the charge and supporting students, families, and staff with tech.
Karr: We have also seen the rise of creativity in how staff organizes information. An example with a virtual field trip linked to resources on MyOn. They can go to resources about their virtual field trip.
Shaping a Fine Arts Equitable Ecosystem. the success of the Upbeat program at high school with different members remote and come together for a rehearsal. You can see over 2500 student accounts..
Linden: This is an important equity move. So many students want to practice together outside the school day, but don’t have a ride. This lets them do it.
Karr: Some stats –
- myOn, 1.3 million minutes read, 176K books compelted
- Sora – 271K books borrowed, over 8million minutes read
- Pebble Go – Over 220K sessions
- Gale – almost 22K session – college level tool
- Dreambox – over 700K sessions
- Schoology – 11 million views of instructional content
- Zoom – 99K meetings (just this fiscal year)
These tools will continue to be important as we move forward.
Fidishin: Family & Community Supports – We’re proud of how we have connected with our families. we have enhanced considerably in ensuring daily home-school connections to forge ongoing positive relationships. This includes ability for increased parent engagement virtually. Options for virtual family/teacher conference, family literacy & math nights, Schools teamed to provide district-wide Title I Family Empowerment events.
Family resources for students with interventions & supports: We have several connections we have developed. Parent online support portal. We developed it early on for parent to directly connect to student intervention & support. Parent groups connecting together. Evidence based tips & strategies for remote education. Remote environment is different for all students especially those with IEPs. Tips to help families address different concerns. A website for families with resources in a wide variety of areas – academic, SEL, behavioral
Our Interventions & supports for students in form of Summer Academy to build on student skills as an additional layer of support to enhance what they learned through the school year. With a focus on students in specialized curriculum with universal design for learning.
Linden: I’ve been waiting for this slide – The English Language Development. Our new EL coordinator works closely with previous. With the shift back to in person. We don’t talk about our ELL team often. An increase in ELL from 1339 2020 to 1709 today. It is related to students who remain with us as English learners. In 2020/2021 didn’t have the opportunity to assess out of the program. We also have 570 former ELL who no longer need services. They have achieved mastery. We have 42 Afghan Refugee Students (2 more families in the last day) in 17 different schools. 673 immigrant students across district. In Refugee program they work closely with Washtenaw County & Jewish Family Services, and are a preferred district because of our level of services. The team works hard to communicate with families who are also ELL. They use TalkingPoints messaging to multilingual families.
Karr: Summer Programming – We are proud of robust summer programs in AAPS. We’ve got in person, remote, credit recovery, programming for exceptional students. In elementary, middle, and high school. All of them that have been known int he last 2 years continue to be available. Just today we’re updating the information and getting ready for launch and enrollment soon.
Linden: Next steps – We continue to focus on Equity Centered Staff Development to see world through broader eyes with live, blended, and on demand options, Student Centered Practices – addition of math coaches and interventionists. Adding 4 to team now from a grant. They will provide direct intervention and coach teachers. Also working with more engagement and expression. We know better engagement is key to growth. Adding to tiers of support. How we deepen connections with families. We think about successes of last 2 years and how to build on. Dr Love said it best that some things we thought weren’t possible were possible. Parents as real partners in learning had to happen in remote instruction. We will continue to shape Schoology system and make sure it fits the needs of our students and families.
Gaynor: I have a short comment. As difficult as it has been the last 2 years, one gratifying point is even when we hear from parents who are critical of what the district is doing, they give credit to the teachers and how hard they are working. We all know how hard they are working. I want to make that positive point first. To be honest my response to this is it is so general and theoretical, that I don’t have. sense of what’s happening int he classroom and won’t until I hear from many teachers. Our intentions are good. But. I don’t know what it looks like in a classroom and I’d like to find ways to dig into that.
Swift: I understand the point you are making and agree. We’ll do more to try to show glimpses of what it looks like on the ground.
Gaynor: Teachers spend hours talking how to teach, how to help individual kids, admit problems and shortcomings. I don’t know how to do it on this grand of a scale, but it is important and not just make glossy on theoretical level.
Lazarus: I t would be nice to know internal workings of everything presented to us tonight, but this presentation would be never ending. When you do this type of informational presentation, it needs to be generalized to ask more specific questions to provide more meat around that. If there is something you’d like to ask them to be more specific about.
Swift: I do hear and think we can be more clear. What does that small group look like, how do they get created.
Johnson: I think that was a great segue to my question. A question about reading tools, Lexia, I forget the names of all of them. And the number of hours kids are spending on them. An example of how a teacher might complement what a student does independently with the instruction. Are they getting help from teachers? How is tech being complemented by traditional instruction.
Linden: MyOn for example which gives us access to leveled readers and students can access other readings on their own. Teachers can assign books to students in MyOn. It’s been part of the recommendation to increase student reading at home. Having access to their own device and plethora of books at their disposal has been a big equity move for us. Teachers see it. If they see a student struggles with beginning sound, they might find a book that focuses on that, work in. a small group, assign a book for independent work time or at home. As a teacher sees what students are working on or struggling with, they can work with kids. Dreambox is really game based. They play lesson instead of complete a lesson. It’s about student screening and working in gap areas. They are blended learning. Intended to be used live and with independent learning.
Johnson: Those were great examples. Thanks
Kelly: It’s a lot. I’m a bit overwhelmed. I appreciate we might get a glimpse of a small group in action, but is only a video of that particular group. What I appreciated is the metrics how many teachers participated in PD, the tangible things like screenshot of family resource website. I appreciate it in this presentation and about student achievement. Is this the summer presentation, or will we see again in depth in a few weeks?
Swift: You will see more in April. The question I will reserve for that night is what are we doing differently now than we were pre-pandemic.
DuPree: More of a comment. Thank you for all of the work you are putting in. There’s a difference between fitting in and belonging. I see you are working towards establishing a sense of belonging. Fitting in, is being where you want to be but others don’t care if you are there.
Linden: Thank you for that. We’re blown away with the work of the teachers every single day.
Lazarus: I want to highlight the BLEs and the addition of math interventionists. I do want to ask about the 570 former ELL students that have “graduated” into proficiency. Is that normal?
Swift: It is a bumper crop.
Linden: We do graduate quite a few students per year. Anywhere from 4-500 a year
Swift: Part of the dynamic was the test wasn’t administered in spring 2020 and was voluntary in spring 2021.
Linden: We’ll see more this year. We continue to monitor former ELL for 5 years to make sure they maintain and don’t need additional services.
Lazarus: Do you feel the contributing factor was the tools is adding to success?
Linden: Two years ago we deliberately implemented sheltered instruction protocols with PD for all staff and centered on pieces ELL students need. It has had an impact. It was part of lesson design template. We had visuals, language development goals. It’s part of why we focus on universal design.
Lazarus: One additional question on data, you have zoom meetings. How many hours & minutes does that entail. <Laughing.>
Next Steps in AAPS, 2022 and Beyond
Swift: Over the coming weeks of March, April, May, June we will be updating next steps as we move forward. We’ve learned a great deal during the pandemic and will leverage. I want to highlight one area tonight. You’ve all been in good conversation with me and know there are more updates coming
I want to highlight importance of school counselors as it gets to the social emotional overview we got earlier tonight. They are a part of the team. Several times there was reference to 2016/2017 when we lost several students in a short time. We built structures that served us well during the pandemic. many other districts were trying to build them during the pandemic. We had those structures and pandemic put them to test. Middle and HS counseling teams have been part of the structure. 3 at MS, 7 at Comprehensive HS, 2 each at K-8 and small high school. We have not had at our elementary other than those services as part of IEP or 504 plan. We have not had general services at elementary. We are going to move forward in recognition of significant need. Beginning with 2022-2023 AAPS will staff at least 1 full time counselor or social worker at each elementary campus. We want to post these positions soon. They are hard to find particularly with this group we will be looking for those who love to work with children particularly young children. I’m excited to strengthen what you saw tonight and build a world class elementary support team. This will support and nurture the whole child. We are looking at a grant through the state. We don’t know the amount of reimbursement yet. You know I will keep you posted. I invite everyone with this background, getting ready to graduate, I invite you to apply.
No trustee questions.
Events from our Sponsors
![]() Kindergarten Round Up & Preschool Open HouseSunday, February 23 | ![]() JLC Book SaleMarch 26-29, 2025 |
Items for Agenda Planning
No items
Items from the Board
Kelly: I’ll just circle back to my item from last week about the WISD presentation on SEL. I just forwarded you links and notes and asked the WISD superintendent to provide us the recording and they agreed. Jsust waiting to get it
Adjourn
Trustee Johnson moved to adjourn by voice vote. Seconded by DuPree. No discussion. Meeting adjourned at 10:00p