Pioneer PTO meeting: School board members say Roberto Clemente move will be 'rethought'

Previous coverage:

• 'Not on the backs of Pioneer': PTO rallies community to discuss budget proposals
• Report: Officials say moving Roberto Clemente to Pioneer is better than moving it to A2 Tech

Community members came out to a special Parent-Teacher-Student Organization meeting at Pioneer High School Tuesday night looking for answers to some of their budget questions.

While not all of the questions asked by members of the more than 100-person crowd could be answered, the audience did receive a favorable response to their inquiry about relocating the Roberto Clemente Student Development Center's program to the already packed corridors of Pioneer High.

Many people asked, "Why Pioneer?" when it came to selecting a new possible home for the alternative high school program, which was designed to help teens succeed both academically and socially in a smaller environment than the district's comprehensive high schools could offer.

Three Board of Education members attended the meeting at Pioneer, Christine Stead, Simone Lightfoot and Susan Baskett. Stead answered the question community members posed about Roberto Clemente.

She said when the administration made its recommendation to the board on the Roberto program in March, it was presented that logistically, from a facilities standpoint, the move to Pioneer made the most sense.

But in the past month, Stead said the board has realized looking at this issue from a square-footage perspective may not have been the best way for the administration to consider it.

"Yes, I believe (the move) will be rethought," Stead said, while Lightfoot and Baskett nodded their heads in affirmation. The answer received applause from members of the audience.

Central administration estimated moving the Roberto Clemente program to Pioneer would save the district $200,000 to $348,677.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools is facing a budget shortfall of $8.67 million for the 2013-14 academic year. This number is about half what the district expected. Officials initially projected the AAPS would need to reduce its operations by more than $17 million to balance the budget.

The district's administration will present its budget, complete with cuts for the upcoming school year to the Board of Education Wednesday, April 24. It is not clear whether the proposal to relocate Roberto Clemente to Pioneer will remain among the recommendations that officials bring forward or not.

Wednesday is just the beginning of the budget process. The board is not expected to pass a budget until the end of May.

When the central administration made its recommendation for Roberto Clemente in March, it was expressed that Pioneer Principal Cindy Leaman supported the move. However, on Tuesday, Leaman voiced a number of concerns and reservations.

She said based on enrollment trends, the 25 in-district transfer students that are joining the school and other predictable student data, Pioneer is anticipating nearly 1,750 students for fall. If Roberto Clemente's 90 students also are moved in, Leaman said enrollment will top 1,800 kids.

"10 to 15 teachers will have to travel if this happens," Leaman said, explaining that rather than having their own classrooms, teachers would be required to teach from other educators' rooms while those individuals have prep hours. "That is the reality of the rooms. There just aren't enough available … Having capacity and having realistic classroom space are two different things. You have to be careful with those words."

Leaman said there are a couple of teachers forced to travel already due to space issues.

An information sheet the PTSO distributed at the meeting states that requiring teachers to move classrooms during the day is harmful to students who benefit from having consistent locations in which they can find their teachers for extra help.

Some members of the audience said they found the administration's report on Roberto Clemente appalling and misleading. Baskett agreed.

"It's been my opinion that the information from administration on Roberto Clemente ... has been censored... It was very obvious that those who presented the data did not have the background that you all have," Baskett said to the community members present.

Lightfoot also was critical of central administration. She compared the situation to asking her children if they cleaned their bedrooms and having them say "yes."

"But then you walk by and see that it's not really as clean as they said," Lightfoot explained. "Pioneer has some of the most tenured teachers in our district... We don't have the information many of you think we would have or should know, but that's not how it works. The day-to-day comes from central administration.

"What I need to do a better job is the solutions that come from you all. We need to hear your take because you all aren't afraid to say what needs to be said... Even the best of the best at Balas (Administration Building) don't have the perspective you all have."

Lightfoot added, for example, the information about teachers rolling from classroom to classroom because there isn't room. "We had no clue about that," she said.

According to documents released by the district, 51 percent of Pioneer's classes exceed 30 students, 42 percent of Huron's classes are over and 17 percent of Skyline's have more than 30 students. Parents and teachers at Tuesday's meeting pleaded for equity among all high schools.

A popular suggestion among attendees was to close Balas and to disburse the central administrators to buildings with extra capacity. This idea also was previously mentioned by the Ann Arbor principals union.

"This would get them out from the enclave ... and put them on the front lines where they are going to live it, going to see it," said Michelle Stalmack , a mother of three current AAPS students and one Pioneer graduate.

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.