School Community

FLINT, Michigan — The University of Michigan-Flint is expecting to see a roughly 50 percent cost savings from recent upgrades to lighting around campus.

Large glass, sphere-shaped lights at McKinnon Plaza were replaced with LED (light-emitting diode) lights, according to the university.

The plaza now has six double lights and nine single light poles.

Similar replacements were made at the University Pavilion parking ramp.

The savings for the plaza is expected to amount to about $6,000 per year and about $18,000 per year for the parking ramp.

The new lights are dark-sky compliant. They provide all down lighting, and no light pollution, said Tim Jagielo, UM-Flint Facilities & Operations electrician, in a UM-Flint news release.

The campus’ Parking Lot A and surrounding sidewalks will be the next areas on campus to get updated lighting, officials said.

FLINT, Michigan — A coalition of Flint congregations is hosting members from a nationwide parent-involvement initiative in the area this week in hopes to get local schools involved in a new program.

The group Flint Area Congregations Together, or FACT, this week is hosting leaders from the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, a California-based program which provides training and resources to help teachers work more closely with students’ parents and visit families in their homes.

“These are home visits that happen afternoons, evenings, weekends,” said Carrie Rose, executive director of the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, during a public presentation at Flint’s Sarvis Center Tuesday.

Typically, the home visits last 30-40 minutes and there are usually two per year, one in the fall and another in the spring.

Adopting the program would come at a cost — the amount depending on to what degree it’s implemented — mostly to reimburse teachers for time spent working in homes after school hours, FACT officials have said.

Paul Lumpkin, a Massachusetts father who now serves as a parent educator for the group, told of his early experiences with the group.

Lumpkin had just received custody of his two young daughters. The three lived in a shelter and a hotel room before finally getting an apartment, he said. Then a note came asking him to participate in a home visit from a teacher.

“You can imagine how shocked I was,” Lumpkin told the crowd of several dozen parents, teachers and community members gathered at the Sarvis Center.

But the home visit was one of the best things to happen for his daughter’s education, he said.

“That was the beginning of a flourishing relationship with that teacher that continues to this day,” Lumpkin said.

Nancy Fong, a teacher who works with the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, said her involvement with home visits has been incredibly helpful as a teacher.

“It brings you back down to where you understand what you came into the profession for,” Fong said. “Quite frankly, you don’t become jaded.”

In her visit to Flint, Fong said she sees a city where the program can work.

“You have the Mott Foundation, you have FACT, you have the community. … You can not fail … I’ve never seen so much support.”

The initiative is part of FACT’s ongoing efforts to improve education here.

Members of the group have embarked on fact-finding missions in which they observed practices from school districts across the country with demographics similar to Flint.

For example, parents, teachers and others traveled to California, New York and Virginia districts in 2009 that mirror Flint in poverty and minority population, but have higher academic achievement.

The trips were funded by a $166,000 Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grant.

FACT has been working to bring innovative ideas into local schools, especially the Flint School District, but have had mixed reactions from leadership there.

For example, the results of trips to other schools were shared with school leaders, though FACT officials shared concerns that their proposals weren’t being considered.

A row has erupted between Northern Ireland’s two main universities over how to stop student riots engulfing the Holylands area of Belfast on St Patrick’s Day.

The University of Ulster has accused Queen’s University of encouraging a “four-day party” by giving its students two extra days off to mark March 17 this year.

But Queen’s has hit back saying the UU alternative approach of warning trouble makers they will be expelled “will be extremely hard to execute”.

The deep disagreement has emerged as the universities attempt to reduce the potential for street disorder on St Patrick’s Day which falls on a Saturday this year, raising fears that the long-running problems will escalate.

The universities have adopted radically different tactics in their efforts to prevent any repeat of the mayhem that has marred March 17 celebrations in the Holylands area over the past three years. Alcohol-fuelled street disorder has plagued the area for years but St Patrick’s Day 2009 saw a serious deterioration in anti-social behaviour when riots erupted and 33 people were arrested.

Last St Patrick’s Day, around 14 people were detained by the PSNI for a variety of offences including possession of drugs, disorderly behaviour, criminal damage, excess alcohol and assault.

Queen’s, which traditionally takes the public St Patrick’s Day holiday, is encouraging its students to “go home” and has given them an extended weekend break with Friday, March 16 designated as a reading day and Monday, March 19 as a day off.

However, UU is staying open on both days. UU chiefs — who have posted video messages from its pro-vice-chancellor, the PSNI and residents warning students against getting involved in anti-social activities — are also warning that roll calls will be taken and students who fail to turn up could face disciplinary action.

UU chiefs have accused QUB of adopting a “laissez-faire” approach that could “facilitate a four-day party.”

“We do not want to be seen to facilitate a prolonged party,” said Una Calvert, UU’s community relations officer. “Queen’s have decided to give its students a reading day in the hope that they will go home but what we have found is that reading days do not work — students use them as a holiday.

“Given the events of 2009 which are seen as a ‘game changer’, we believe that giving students an extra day on either side of St Patrick’s Day may only prolong the party. But the reality is that nobody knows what is going to happen on the day. We also have four campuses to think of and we cannot have one rule for students in Belfast and another for those in Coleraine or Magee.”

Meanwhile, QUB said it acted on wishes of beleaguered Holylands residents and expressed disappointment that the UU had not followed suit.

A spokesman said: “We have a smaller number of students in the Holylands area and we are encouraging them to go home.

“The UU decision to potentially expel troublemakers on the day will be extremely hard to execute.

“It is a risk but we are hoping that QUB students will take the opportunity to have a long weekend out of Belfast. We do not anticipate that the Thursday will be the start of a long weekend of partying right through to the Sunday. We believe we are right to tell students to go home and the anecdotal evidence shows that they do go home at the weekends.”

Around 60% of the students living in the Holylands attend the University of Ulster compared to around 28% who go to Queen’s.

To date, no student has been expelled from university because of anti-social behaviour associated with St Patrick’s Day. However, it is understood a number have left voluntarily before being formally disciplined.

Last year, 42 complaints were reported to both universities about student behaviour around St Patrick’s Day. Of those, 19 complaints involved students from QUB and as a result 30 students received formal warnings while seven were fined. The UU said it did not collate information specifically related to St Patrick’s Day but said that 111 students had been reprimanded during 2010/11 — 41 of whom were fined and given a written reprimand.

Ray Farley, who represents residents in the Holylands, said they favoured the QUB approach. “In fact, we would have liked them to give them the whole week off to encourage students to leave the area,” he said.

Mr Farley has called on the Justice Minister David Ford to introduce new legislation to make it illegal for students to drink in the front gardens of their homes.

OTISVILLE, Michigan – LakeVille schools officials hope a decision to split its bond proposal into two pieces will produce better results Feb. 28.

After voters last year rejected a single $11.2 million bond, officials have opted to offer two ballot proposals for a pair of 15-year bonds.

The first is a .9 mill levy that would raise $7.5 million for a variety of projects, including roof replacements at three district buildings, energy upgrades and new surveillance systems at all school buildings and the bus garage.

The second proposal is a .65 mill levy that would raise $4.1 million to build a 500-seat auditorium and add a 35-space parking lot.

Superintendent Vickie Luoma said the decision to cut the bond proposal into two pieces was made because the auditorium project generated strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

“Separation of the proposals gives citizens an opportunity to vote for either, or both proposals,” she said.

If approved, a $5 million federal loan the district received from the Qualified Zone Academy will result in a significantly lower interest rate for the projects, Luoma said.

The district also reduced the original $880,000 price tag on athletic stadium renovations by trimming the number of track lanes and upgrading bleachers without new seats.

Otisville resident Robert Jennings said he wants to see both proposals approved.

“There are so many things involved in it. With the the way the economy is, it’s scary. Every school is in a financial bind, especially LakeVille,” Jennings said. “The community needs it, and so do the students. We’re a very large school district for square mile, but other than that we are a small school. People don’t realize the cost of building a school is going up.”

Students in the LakeVille school district also hope the bond issue will be passed in order to help with the track and the bleachers.

Eighth-grade cheerleader Taylor Mack, 13, said one of the reasons she hopes the track gets fixed to make cheerleading on the track easier.

“We haven’t had a track meet at home for seven years because the track is so bad,” Mack said. “We really need a new track.”

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — The day reserved to tally up enrollment in Michigan’s public schools raised more questions than it answered in Genesee County.

Of the county’s 21 public school districts, five failed to supply preliminary, unofficial student count numbers by the end of the day after several Flint Journal requests.

Typically, one or two schools will fail to answer requests for tallies on count day. Last February, Carman-Ainsworth was the only district that did not supply a count. As of Wednesday evening, Bendle, Carman-Ainsworth, Flint, Montrose and Mt. Morris districts did not supply preliminary counts.

Many officials from those district’s said they either were still adding up numbers late in the day or that top-level administrators were not available to supply information.

For example, Flint School District spokesman Robert Campbell said, “one or two schools” were still having counts added up late in the day.

Of the schools that did report counts, most saw small changes.

The biggest reported change came from the Flushing district, which lost 140 students from February 2011 to February 2012.

The tally of 4,135 students is down from 4,275 pupils in February 2011. The count is used to figure 10 percent of state aid to the school district.

Denise Churchill, Flushing schools child accounting secretary, said “The drop could be attributed to several things,” but she did not offer any specific examples.

The Grand Blanc School District saw a 137 student increase compared to this time last year.

“Obviously, we are pleased with all of our schools’ abilities to retain more students,” said Superintendent Norman Abdella. “Each school, each teacher, works very hard to make sure our students are successful. And its seemed to pay off.”

What surprised Abdella  a little was the unusually small decrease in students since the October student count day.

District Feb. 2012 Feb. 2011 Change

Atherton847904-57 Beecher1,5041,580-76 BendleN/A1,085N/A Bentley850 873 23 Carman-AinsworthN/AN/AN/A Clio3,5803,669 89 Davison5,5145,46153 Fenton3,5463,45789 FlintN/A10,123N/A Flushing4,1354,275-140 Genesee8028011 Goodrich2,1562,11937 Grand Blanc8,7178,592125 Kearsley3,1333,138-5 Lake Fenton1,8511,8456 LakeVille1,5861,660-74 Linden 2,9602,975-15 MontroseN/A1,477N/A Mt. MorrisN/A2,658N/A Swartz Creek3,9793,9709 Westwood Heights94391627

There was a difference of only 23 students between the October student count day and Wednesday.

“Traditionally, weve dropped considerably between fall count and winter count, but this year weve seemed to retain more,” Abdella said. “In the past weve been as high as 100 students down. Were pleased to retain so many students.”

The small shifts are a contrast from the shrinking enrollment many schools experienced in recent years as the Genesee County’s overall population and economy shrank.

For example, from 2001 to 2010, the county’s public schools lost roughly 10,000 students, moving from about 85,000 to 75,000.

Count day is used to determine districts’ official enrollment, and consequently how much government funding they will receive as funds are doled out in a per-pupil formula.

This school year, the state’s minimum per-pupil foundation allowance was $6,846. Lawmakers have yet to determine what next year’s foundation allowance will be.

However, the February count is less important than it has been in the past. This week’s count will be blended with October’s count to determine the year’s enrollment.

Starting this year, the fall tally accounts for 90 percent of the final count. Before this, the fall count was 75 percent, making the winter count worth 25 percent instead of 10 percent.

While an important day — with some schools luring students in with parties and prizes — the count Wednesday will only be preliminary.

Each district will have another month to account for absent students. And the numbers have to be converted to full-time-equivalent students, an important factor for schools with alternative education programs who typically have a high number of part-time students.

Linden Superintendent Ed Koledo is encouraged with today’s student count figures.

Today’s enrollment count resulted in 2,960 students for his district.

The school district counted 2,975 students last year during its February count day and 3,013 students in February of 2010.

Koledo said the school district was losing students for about three consecutive years at a higher rate, and sees this year that enrollment is leveling out.

“I’m encouraged, just as we seemed to be in the fall, we’re sustaining,” Koledo said.

Koledo cited families of the students moving out of the area and students graduating early for this year’s slight decline.

The Fenton School District saw an increase of nine students from the fall.

Doug Busch, director of finance and personnel for the district, said today’s enrollment count resulted in 3,546 students – an increase of nine from October’s 3,537 count.

“We’re pleased that our enrollment is increasing and think that we have a lot to offer to our students – great educational opportunities and a great staff,” Busch said.

The school district counted 3,457 students last year during its count day, and 3,490 students in February of 2010.

Busch said the district intends to analyze its count information later.

– Flint Journal Reporters Roberto Acosta, Dana DeFever, Amanda Emery, Sarah Schuch and Orrin Shawl contributed to this report.