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Open 7 Days a Week From 11 am to 12midnight Lunch Specials served from 11-3pm, 248.615.8866 • 248.615.8877 Mon-Sun 38259 West Ten Mile Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48335 Bar Available 28 February 2 •2006 (Between Haggerty Road & Halsted Road) State superintendent wants higher high school requirements. his might sound a little ambi- tious, but I think it's going to save this state,' Michael Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction, told the Jewish Coalition for Public Education (JCPE) at its Jan. 24 meeting. Flanagan was talking about the effort to establish Michael state high school gradua- tion requirements. The only one now is a required civics credit. The JCPE works to educate and engage the Jewish community in efforts to support public schools, with particular concern regarding issues of separation of religion and state. The JCPE is an independent group headed by Linda Finkel of Bloomfield Hills and Florence Herman of Beverly Hills and staffed by the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. "We've got to wake up; we have a perfect storm right now," Flanagan said — referring to lax standards, the state's economy and "a-global economy that's killing us." The state board of education is rec- ommending 18 credits in specified areas for graduation. The legislature must sign this recommendation into law; legislators in both houses are dis- cussing it now. Attitudes are another problem, Flanagan said, citing a Detroit News poll that showed less than a quarter of Michigan parents believe their kids need more than a high-school educa- tion. This might help explain why only 20 percent of Michigan students grad- uate college, and why a survey of 50 states and an in-depth study of five, shows that we lag behind in what is expected and what is produced in many of our schools. Flanagan hopes to increase the num- ber of Michigan students who graduate from college, though he said, "If we double it, we're still only at 40 percent." Methods of instruction also must be a ddressed, said Flanagan, because instruction is "more of a 'sit and git' than anyone intends?' He met with the heads of the 32 schools around the state that train teachers to tell them "we're going to rebuild this together," while also telling them that the days of auto- matic renewal of their certification as education schools is going to end. Flanagan is glad the issue of education has been raised to a high level statewide. "This is one time you can thank the media," he said. "There is large agreement from around the state" for tackling graduation requirements and other issues, he says, though he admits Flanagan working with the state House and Senate to craft and pass legislation will be more difficult. Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, executive direc- tor of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Southfield and Oak Park, praised the working relationship between his school and the Southfield and Berkley public schools, while identifying partic- ular problems that the state might help resolve regarding special education. JCPE member Howard Wallach of Farmington Hills explained the budget challenges faced by the Farmington Public Schools, where he serves on the board of education:He explained that the challenges are enormous even though the district is well ahead of many others. He called for "tweaking" Proposal A, which both funds schools and limits school funding, and active- ly engaging with legislators. In response to a question from JCCouncil board member Linda Stulberg of Farmington Hills, Flanagan said he was "embarrassed about our mistakes this past year',' which allowed for MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) testing during the Jewish High Holidays. He explained that next year the window for testing is from Oct. 2-20, which only overlaps one day, Oct. 2, with a Jewish holiday. He also said he doesn't see the state mandating Holocaust education as is done in 22 other states, though he says "the social studies content expectation should include Holocaust education?' Flanagan also clarified statements made early in his tenure last year that seemed to support creationism by say- ing it could be discussed somewhere in the curriculum. "I am not supportive of creation- ism," he told his audience. "It is clearly not science." 7-T