Behind the Headlines

New Bedford Academy in Lambertville, Mich., has closed for the week because of high numbers of students reporting illness.

Report from The Monroe Evening News.

– Paula Wethington

By Danielle Portteus

The weather is warming. Flowers are blooming. Potholes are being filled. It must be spring.

On my way to Ida High School yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing a Monroe County Road Commission vehicle filling in the potholes along Lewis Ave. Yes!

I also noticed some flowers coming up in the grassy patches and flower beds around town.

By Charles Slat
I dropped by an Michigan Merit Exam/ACT test preparatory workshop Saturday and realized that a lot of people still might not have gotten the message that the state makes available a $4,000 scholarship to students who do halfway decent on the Michigan Merit Exam.
Some parents, particularly in these tough economic times, are tempted to say there’s no way my kid will be able to go to college. He can’t afford it and neither can we.
Obviously, $4,000 won’t pay for a degree from a four-year university. But it will cover the tuition for two years at a lot of community colleges, including Monroe County Community College. And a lot of MCCC degrees can lead to a career that pays a lot better than ones that require just a high school degree.
And if a student goes to MCCC for two years, then transfers to a four-year school, he or she will essentially get a four-year degree at about half price.
The Michigan Merit Scholarship: It’s a no-brainer.

By Danielle Portteus

There is an article in today MEN about the House Education Subcommittee on High School Alternatives public hearing last night.
I was surprised to see the number of administrators and teachers at the event. To be honest, I expected to see about 10. In reality, there were about fifty. Of that number, only a handful were teachers.
There were two concerned parents.
The changes were approved to the Michigan Merit Curriculum in April 2006 and began being implemented last year. I’ve spoken with a number of parents, teachers and even administrators who dislike the curriculum and call it too rigorous.
Only a few people spoke out against the curriculum changes and most of them were high school principals.
A grandmother, who’s grandson isn’t even in high school yet, got up to the podium and with much emotion, explained why she felt her grandson would not be able to graduate from a Michigan high school with the current mandates. He is a special needs student who uses a resource classroom to help improve his scores in core classes. His grandmother said that though he struggles with core classes, he excels in sports and art. She said she doesn’t feel that just because he isn’t a straight A student, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be given a chance to succeed.
She recommended changes be made to make the curriculum more individualized, especially for special education students, so that each student can be successful in completing the requirements.
She said she would move him out of the state, if she had to, in order of him to receive his high school diploma.
Immediately, people in the audience made comments and whispered to those sitting around them. I’m sure school officials don’t want her grandson to leave the state.

State Reps. Angerer and Hopgood said the comments from the meeting will be taken back to Lansing and could impact future legislation.

By Charles Slat
I ran across this in cyberspace — a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Hubble telescope. Using Hubble and independent images, you get a video trip to a distant nebula.
Keep in mind that the place you’ll visit is just 7,200 light-years away. Keep in mind that one light-year is about 5.879 trillion miles.
So, even if you squint or use binoculars, it would be really, really hard to see this place.

State Rep. Kathy Angerer pushed for a public hearing in Monroe County on the Michigan Merit Curriculum and the high school graduation requirements.

Hate ‘em, love ‘em.. tell the House Education Subcommittee on High School Alternatives tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Dundee Middle School, 420 Ypsilanti St.

It should be an interesting meeting. The public hearing should last two hours.

Subcommittee members include:
(Chair) Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D- Taylor, represents the 22nd district
Steven Lindberg, D- Marquette, represents the 109th district
Robert Dean, D- Grand Rapids, represents the 75th district
Paul E. Opsommer, R-DeWitt, represents the 93rd district
Judy Emmons, R- Sheridan, represents the 70th district

By Charles Slat
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about Frank Upham, whose idea for a flag-marketing campaign led to the creation of the Pledge of Allegiance. I got a bit of feedback from that column, most from people who thought it was a pretty interesting story.
But Monroe residents Richard and Jeanne Micka provided some additional information that shed a little more light on the tale.
The Mickas related how Elizabeth “Aunt Bett” McWebb, Monroe’s own author of the Little Brown Bear stories, would talk about an uncle of hers who was a real crackerjack.
Mrs. McWebb, of course, was special in her own right — a masterful storyteller in addition to being a kind and gentle lady. She truly was one of Monroe’s treasures and was known for enthralling hundreds of schoolkids with her tales. That’s one of the reasons there’s that Little Brown Bear monument to her near the Dorsch Memorial Library in downtown Monroe.
What the Mickas told me, that I didn’t know, was that Frank Upham — the guy behind the masterful Pledge of Allegiance flag marketing campaign — was that crackerjack uncle of Mrs. McWebb’s. And that’s one of the reasons the Mickas made sure the National Flag truck came to Monroe to honor Aunt Bett after she passed away.
You may recall that Aunt Bett’s full name was Elizabeth Upham McWebb.
Now you know the rest of the story.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

In Saturday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News, there will be a story and at least one photo of the Monroe Advanced Robotics Competition taking place at Monroe High School.

Now while the story does focus on what’s taking place at the high school and why, there also was a very clever publicity event scheduled at the Phoenix Theater at Frenchtown Square mall.

You see, there’s this new movie called WALL*E, a Disney-Pixar science fiction film that stars a robot who goes about his tasks on Earth, when he meets and falls in love with another robot.

And the press release that was sent to The Monroe Evening News explained this publicity tie-in. The robotics teams participating in Monroe were invited to “bring their robot to the movies” for a special screening. The plans included reserved seating up front for the robots, while their team members / handlers / students enjoyed the show. And a concession stand display was intended for the robots, with bolts and batteries such as they might prefer in lieu of popcorn and soft drinks.

Now, I don’t know who thought up that idea, because a similar publicity event also was scheduled at Phoenix Theater in Farmington Hills.

But it was a very clever concept to cross-promote the student contest and the movie!

I attended the Michigan CSI (Cyber Safety Initiative) presentation at Bedford High School Tuesday night with a story on the event in yesterday’s MEN.

I wanted to add a few things to the story.

First here are some warning signs for parents when it comes to their child’s Internet usage:
1. You child spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night.
2. You find pornography on your child’s computer.
3. You child receives phone calls from people you don’t know or is making calls, sometimes long distances, to numbers you don’t recognize.
4. You child receives mail, gifts or packages from someone you don’t know.
5. You child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor whne you come in to the room.
6. You child becomes withdrawn from the family.
7. You child is using an online account belonging to someone else.
8. While online, your child is using a microphone or Webcam you didn’t know he/she had.

If you notice any of these signs, the following are some safety tips for parents:
Create clear and simple ground rules for children to follow.
Place a computer with Internet access in a location that is visible to other members of the family and NOT IN THE CHILD’S BEDROOM.
Explain to your children that they should never give out identifying information- name, address, school name, telephone number- in any public forum such as a chat room or bulletin board.
Discuss the importance of telling you or a trusted adult if something ever makes your child or teen feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused while online.
Become familiar with blocking and monitoring programs.
Get to know the Internet and any services your children use.

Some Web sites that might be helpful are:
http://www.netlingo.com/top20teens.cfm – This Web site has the top 20 acronyms every parent should know when it comes to message boards or instant messaging.

There is a wealth of information on the Michigan Attorney General’s Web site regarding the CSI program. The Web site is www.michigan.gov/ag.

Should school within an intermediate school district be united under a common calendar?

The Michigan State Senate passed legislation last week saying they should and I agree.

After speaking with Monroe County Intermediate School District Superintendent Don Spencer, it would be much easier for schools to share programs such as foreign languages using the common calendar.

However, under this legislation, schools who are on trimesters would be exempt from the common calendar- which means half of the districts in Monroe County, beginning next year, would be exempt.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

Another point Mr. Spencer addressed was the length of the school year. Should Michigan schools change back to the 180 day minimum?

Mr. Spencer told me students in other parts of the world go to school for much longer than 180 days. For example, Japanese students go to school for more than 230 days.

Do you like the current system of 1,098 minimum instruction hours or should their be a set number of days like it used to be?

I ran into a situation this morning where I should have known better.

My daughter is listed in a scholarship announcement in today’s print edition of The Monroe Evening News. The editors who were working on the page asked me to double-check, on deadline, how her parents’ names were listed.

The question didn’t sink at first. Then I realized what the concern was. There were only two parents listed after her name (mom and stepdad). In previous newspaper announcements, we have also listed dad and stepmom, even though they live out of state. And my co-workers remembered that.

So I scribbled down their names and hometown so that information could be added to today’s article.

My daughter and I had filled out so many scholarship and award applications over the past year that I don’t remember who was listed on what paperwork. We didn’t list family names the same way on every application, because eligibility for various programs depends on parents’ employment, income, residency or memberships – and you want to play up those connections when appropriate.

But family names are also important for the announcements that run on Community Page and Classroom Page. And if parents are listed incorrectly or not at all, that’s not a good situation.

Here’s what happens … when you or your child is filling out an application for an award or scholarship, that application also provides the biographical information that the awards committee relies on when sending its announcement to the newspaper.

You will not, in most cases, be provided with a separate press release form.

As a result, you will want to list the appropriate people with complete spellings and hometowns on the initial application paperwork. If the form is confusing or has limited space for details, it’s perfectly fair to attach a note that says “If she should earn this award, please announce her parents as …”

Harvard economist, Roland G. Fryer, is suggesting school districts pay students cash for high scores on standardized tests with the belief their performances will improve.

Some districts across the country have tried this approach. One district in Massachusetts paid children $25 for perfect attendance. Another in Dallas paid $2 for each book the children read.
I think it’s one thing if parents are rewarding their children for achieving good grades or scoring high on a test, but it’s another when school districts are paying for the achievement.

Should schools offer incentives such as money to entice students to do well? What should those incentives be? Are districts promoting the right thing? What do you think?

This week I covered two really cool events.
The first was St. Patrick School in Carleton’s downtown scavenger hunt. The principal wanted the students to see the history and family-friendly places that are downtown Monroe.

For the whole day, students worked in groups visiting different locations throughout the downtown and around the city. Along the way, they had to find items corresponding to the alphabet.

They learned about Custer, how their school got started and even how pizzas were made.

The other event was Airport Community School’s Pioneer Day.

Once a year, fourth-grade students from around the district travel to Sterling Elementary to step back in time and learn what Michigan was like during pioneer times.

Some students really got into it and dressed in costumes.
I was impressed by the number of kids who told me they would much rather lived during those times because life was simpler.

Simpler? How could waking up at 4 a.m. and working until 9 p.m. every day from the time you were small until the day you can no longer work be any simpler than today?

I was even more impressed some of the boys said they preferred playing with the toys from that time than playing with some of the games nowadays — including video games.

Both events were very creative ways to learn about history. I’m continuously impressed how interactive schools have become in recent years.

I guess I’m a little jealous.

Because both looked like so much fun, I wished I was back in school. Well, almost.

At least 321 employees of the Pontiac School District will be laid off at the end of this year because of declining enrollment and an anticipated cut of nearly $125 per pupil in state funding, 100 are teachers.
Some local districts has announced layoffs of some teaching staff, bus drivers and maintenance workers.

Gov. Granholm is proposing an increase in taxes. What do you think the state should do to cut down on the lay-offs?

We’re getting a few calls at the newsroom from people who need our mailing address because they plan to mail – rather than hand-deliver – a press release because they’d rather not make a trip downtown.

Go ahead and mail your announcements. But please keep in mind that, even if you are mailing a letter from the city of Monroe, it can take two or three days for mail to get to our office and be delivered to the right person. So plan ahead for the extra lead time.

If you need quicker delivery, you can fax or e-mail the announcements. If you need to phone in an announcement, it may be hit and miss for contacting a specific reporter or editor, but generally there are people in and out of the newsroom during business hours Monday through Friday. (Weekend and holiday hours are limited.)
Contact numbers and e-mail addresses are listed at www.monroenews.com.