Utica Community Schools Mi

'Meeting of minds' targets school crossing safety

&Quot;We have looked at the Wayne State program, the sheriff, myself and SEMCOG. We believe it is definitely a good program for educational training," Grabow said on June 22. "This will help teach the children, whether they are at home, during the afternoon, during the evening, or walking to school, how to cross the road safely. This is the most important thing for our students." Last January, representatives from the Utica Community Schools informed the township they would no longer pay for crossing guards to be stationed in front of the two schools.Parents have asked representatives of the Township to pick up the tab, which they did. However, faced with their own budget line problems in the current fiscal year, the township is reluctant to continue the practice.The agenda of the meeting of June 29 consisted of a review of the issue of custody crossed by Grabow, the status of K-8 schools by enrolling in the Safe Routes to Schools Program, SEMCOG Traffic Safety Audit Services Beck's primary, the results of a traffic study of the Macomb County Department of Roads, the examination of a training program offered to students at Wayne State University, the remarks of Sheriff Anthony Wickersham, involvement PTA to promote the program Grabow, a period of time recommended for the formation of the Wayne State University, the entrance to the training sites and open discussion. "What we did is we brought in the representative from Safe Routes to Schools to do a presentation based on the program," Bruff said. "With the intent that hopefully the schools would register for Safe Routes and then be eligible and then go through the procedures and then be eligible for some federal funds for both infrastructure projects as well as the fitness side of it." "We have looked at the Wayne State program, the sheriff, myself and SEMCOG. We believe it is definitely a good program for educational training," Grabow said on June 22. "This will help teach the children, whether they are at home, during the afternoon, during the evening, or walking to school, how to cross the road safely. This is the most important thing for our students." Last January, representatives from the Utica Community Schools informed the township they would no longer pay for crossing guards to be stationed in front of the two schools. Parents called on township officials to pick up the tab, which they did.

Parent from Utica Community Schools, Dr. Christine Johns-Haines ...

Gee, whiz.  Can’t the Crapola-Journal get anything right?  Their education reporter, Toni Baloney, was/still is(?) in Michigan culling some feel-good stories about JCPS superintendent candidate, Dr. Christine Johns-Haines, while we’re left to Google this nice lady and find the truth for ourselves.

Looks like investigative journalism is dead.  Or maybe the C-J and the Jefferson County Board of Education are happy to just play patty-cake and hope nobody is paying attention to what’s really happening in Dr. Johns’ school district, Utica Community Schools.

This morning, I received a super-terrific gift in the comments section for the June 6th post, “Utica Community Schools: A five-year-old crunched the budget numbers and somebody’s dog ate Dr. Christine Johns-Haines very recent three-year contract extension”

The information in this Utica parent’s comment confirms that our board of education will absolutely love Dr. Johns!We talk about high school graduates who are not prepared college work, teachers receive raises despite academic and bad budget news, funny things happening to the money or what we in Jefferson County, as call, as usual.

Here is his / her comment and the fat is mine:

"The Michigan House passed a reform of teacher tenure today. Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, was one of the few Democrats who voted for the package. On the House floor, he told colleagues of a school in his district where only 5 percent of students were understanding math at grade level, and only 11 percent were reading at grade level. “Yet every teacher at that school was rated ‘exemplary’ by the school administration,” he said. “That’s an insult to educators.” From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110610/POLITICS02/106100382/House-targets-teacher-tenure#ixzz1Osj7wq5p

Almost every teacher in UCS is “well qualified.” I t is noteworthy that at Utica High School, with a graduation rate of 98 percent, less than 17 percent of students were deemed college ready. Eisenhower High School, which scored the highest in the Utica district with a 29.5 percent college readiness rate and a 99 percent graduation rate, was No. 20 in Michigan. After the layoffs and school closures, guess what, the remaining teachers get an INCREASE in pay because, you guessed it, their contract says they get MORE MONEY per student over their comfort level. Yes, they get paid more where they state they can teach less. I know, it sounds crazy, but that is the way it works in the education industry. Everyone just plays along and takes their share of the $260 Million Dollar pie.