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Corporate • Bar Mitzvahs • Weddings COTTON CANDY • CANDY APPLES FROZEN YOGURT • FUNNEL CAKES CONEY ISLANDS • FROZEN BANANAS • CORN DOGS • POPCORN • SNO•KONES 22 (810) 960-7617 VALE "porkers with persona ls Dj's & Dancers Band Bookings Photo Keepsakes Old Tyme Photos Glow Products Tee Shirts tithe Orchard Mall A o, Valet Parking Music Videos Big Screens Invitations Giveaways Karaoke (810) 932-5990 Morc Schechter Renee Cherrin Erlich • 4 • ■• sh . I 1 American Heart Association WE'RE FIC,I-ITING FOR YOUR LIFE JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER here were a few tense mo- ments in Lansing last week as the Legislature voted on a hodgepodge of changes for Michigan's school code. The vote capped off a year- long effort to reform the state's schools. For some there was not a sin- gle moment more stressful than when the state House of Repre- sentatives, at the last minute, voted 60-38 in favor of a moment- of-silence amendment to the school code. The vote was later repealed as a bargaining tool to win passage of other school legislation. How- ever, the mere fact that the leg- islation mustered enough support to pass scared some, es- pecially Jews who typically are opposed to any form of organized prayer in the schools. "If it passed once, it could eas- ily pass again," said Wendy Wa- genheim, the legislative affairs director with the American Civ- il Liberties Union. Before House members voted on the amendment last week, Southfield Democrat Maxine Berman delivered an impas- sioned speech against the mea- sure. "Let this be a lesson to the Jewish community and others who oppose mixing religion and education or religion and poli- tics," Rep. Berman said from the floor. "The religious right is ex- traordinarily adept at sugar-coat- ing its real agenda with nonthreatening words and phrases. If we are going to pre- vail in this battle, we must re- main vigilant on a minute- to-minute basis." Republicans, who control both the state House and Senate, com- promised on other schools issues as well, including charter schools. When the final votes were cast, lawmakers approved an amend- ment requiring oversight of a chartering agency and decided on a progressive increase in the number of university-authorized charter schools, capping the number at 150 by 1998. Perhaps the most controver- sial issue, the establishment of a mandated core curriculum, failed to win the support Democrats and others had hoped for. "When Proposal A came in, one of the selling points was that there would be a mandated core curriculum so all the kids in the state would have educational eq- uity," Ms. Wagenlaeim said. Opponents argued against a mandated core currictuum-be- cause they felt it would strip lo- cal districts of control over their own schools. Lawmakers also struck from the model core cur- riculum provisions on multicul- tural and bilingual education. Rick Simonson, the assistant superintendent of the Oakland County Intermediate School Dis- trict, said he is pleased with the legislation. "Our districts will see their school boards have more control," Mr. Simonson said. "In the past, if there was a school-related con- cern, it was addressed in Lans- ing. Now, those decisions will come from local school boards." From a student perspective, perhaps the biggest change in the wake of last week's marathon session was a provision that adds 10 school days — one a year for the next 10 years — to the state- mandated 180 days. "Let this be a lesson to (those who) oppose mixing religion and politics." Maxine Berman Another issue the Legislature was expected to address, but didn't, was schools of choice. The bill, which was still in committee when lawmakers voted on the school code last week, would al- low parents to send their children to any public school they choose without approval of their own school district. Under this school-choice bill, districts would not be able to pick and choose which children they let into their schools. Instead, a district would have to decide whether it wanted to be an open or closed district. O Publicity Deadlines The normal deadline for local news and publicity items is noon Thursday, eight days prior to issue date. The deadline for birth announce- ments is 10 a.m. Monday, four days prior to issue date; out-Of-town obituaries. a.m. Tuesday, three days pi-j- oy to issue date..