The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, October 10, 2011 - 5A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, October10, 2011 - 5A

AAPS expelling
students of
different races
at unequal rates

Report finds
African-American
students suspended
more than others
By K.C. WASSMAN
Daily StaffReporter
Parents of students in the
Ann Arbor Public School sys-
tem received a letter last week
detailing statis-
tics of student
behavior and $ A
disability ratios J
based on race
and ethnicity. s
The Sept. 27
letter written by
Elaine Brown, assistant super-
intendent for student interven-
tion and support services at Ann
Arbor Public Schools, included
data from the 2009-2010 school
year which revealed the school
system suspended and expelled
more African-American stu-
dents compared to students of
other races and ethnicities.
According to the letter, the
district is expanding the Posi-
tive Behavior Intervention Sup-
port model - a program that
aims to establish an academic
environment that increases
scholastic growth - in more
schools to try to decrease the
ratio of disciplinary actions
taken against students.
"(The school system) is pro-
moting and teaching and imple-
menting what good behavior
should look like, so we can
address some of the concerns
we have about suspension
and expulsion," Brown said.
"Therefore, if you (are) proac-
tive about it, then you eliminate
some of those poor behaviors."
As part of the Individuals
with Disability Education Act,
the state must collect data to
determine if there is an unequal
amount of students in a racial or
ethnic group with disabilities,
I the letter states. The data is bro-
ken down into four categories:
"identification of children with
disabilities," "identification of
children with disabilities in a
particular impairment catego-
ry," "placement of children in
particular education settings"
and "incidence, duration, and
type of disciplinary actions,
including suspensions and
expulsions," the letter states.

The state is required to
inform parents if there is a sig-
nificant disproportionate of any
race or ethnic group in the four
areas.
Data from the 2010-2011
school year also revealed that
the school system exceeded the
maximum ratio of 3.0 for a race
or ethnic group that is consid-
ered "cognitive impaired." The
ratio of African-American stu-
dents with cognitive impair-
ments for the 2010-2011 school
year was 3.11 - a decrease from
4.37 during the during the
2009-2010 year, according to
Brown.
Brown said this high ratio is
"nothing new," and the school is
working to decrease the ratio to
meet the IDEA guidelines.
"This year we're still working
on reviewing and revising our
processes and procedures and
trying to improve and get off the
so-called list," Brown said.
According to Brown, if the
district exceeds the accept-
able ratio, it must spend 15 per-
cent of the total grant money it
receives from IDEA to improve
the numbers. Brown said 15
percent of the grant money
totals to $400,000 for the 2010-
2011 school year.
To decrease the ratio of Afri-
can-American students with
cognitive impaired disabilities,
Brown said the school system is
reevaluating its cognitive test-
ing procedures.
"We're constantly monitor-
ing our (Individual Education
Programs) so that we're using
the most appropriate assess-
ment and that we're not using
any biased assessments so that
we can make sure and ensure
that we are doing the most
appropriate things for all stu-
dents," she said.
Andrea Horvath, the mother
of a sophomore at Commu-
nity High School and a kinder-
gartener at Ann Arbor Open
School, said she was confused
upon initially readingthe letter.
"When I read it, I had to
read it two times to understand
exactly what it meant," she said.
Horvath also expressed con-
cern about the issues addressed
in the letter.
"If that's what the statis-
tics are, then it's probably a big
problem," Horvath said.
[]Read the fetter sent to parents
Ron MithiganDaifycom

SPEECH
From Page 1A
to be the graduation speaker and
to get an honorary degree."
Abramson will be the first
woman to speak at a University
commencement ceremony since
then-CNN Chief International
Correspondent Christiane Aman-
pour spoke at Spring Commence-
ment in 2006. Coleman said the
University made a "special push"
to choose a woman to speak this
year.
"I sent my note out to the fac-
ulty and the community to nomi-
nate people to think about women
as they were nominating, and we
got some fabulous candidates
" Coleman said. "And having
Jill Abramson get this fabulous
position, I just thought was such
a happy and wonderful coinci-
dence."
The University's Board of
Regents is expected to approve
Abramson as the speaker and an
honorary degree recipient at its
monthly meeting on Thursday.
Abramson became executive
editor of The New York Times
on Sept. 6 - succeeding former
executive editor Bill Keller -.
and is the first woman to lead
the newspaper in its 160 years
of existence. She has worked at
the Times since 1997 and previ-
ously served as the newspaper's
managing editor and Washington
bureau chief.
"It's a huge honor to have this
job, and I've been focused in these
beginning weeks on appointing
my team of other editors to lead
the news report and that's been
exciting," Abramson said.
Rick Berke, the national page
editor of The New York Times
and a former Daily managing
editor in the late 1970s, said in

an interview with the Daily that
Abramson has had one of the most
successful careers compared to
other reporters and editors at the
Times. He added that Abramson
is the best person to deliver a
speech to students who will soon
step out of academia and into the
professional world.
"I think the timing is perfect,"
he said. "She's the brand new edi-
tor of what I selfishly think is the
finest journalistic institution in
the world ... I think she can be
an inspiration to a lot of young
people about getting to the top of
their career."
Charles Eisendrath, director of
the Knight-Wallace Fellowship,
played a large role in influenc-
ing Coleman's decision to choose
Abramson for the commence-
ment speaker.
Eisendrath pointed to the simi-
larity of Abramson being the first
woman executive editor of the
Times and University President
Mary Sue Coleman's being the
first woman to lead the Univer-
sity. When the Times announced
Abramson's promotion on June
2, Eisendrath called Abramson's
secretary that day to beat other
schools that would likely ask her
to give a keynote address.
"I knew if we didn't grab her,
Harvard would ... I wanted her
for Michigan," Eisendrath said.
An Honorary Degree Commit-
tee typically reviews potential
speakers and submits nomina-
tions to the University president,
but there was no time to get the
committee's approval, so Eisen-
drath went straight to Coleman.
"I called Mary Sue and said,
'What do you think? There's no
time for a committee delibera-
tion. You either have to say OK or
not OK."' Eisendrath said. "She
called back the next day and said,
'You bet."'

Eisendrath, a close friend of
Abramson, met her about six
years ago when she was a judge
for the Livingston Awards for
Young Journalists, an organi-
zation founded by Eisendrath
that grants awards to journalists
under age 35. When Abramson
heard about the Knight-Wallace
Fellows and their travels to plac-
es such as Russia, Turkey and
South America she wanted to get
involved, Eisendrath said.
"It was half a joke about trav-
el, but word at the time was that
the only place she gets to travel
are Washington, New York and
maybe L.A.," Eisendrath said.
Since getting involved with the
program, Abramson has traveled
with the fellows to Argentina
and Brazil. Last December, she
led a seminar in Sao Paulo, Brazil
about the WikiLeaks scandal and
the Times's decision-making pro-
cess about choosing what to print.
Amber Hunt, a 2010 Knight
Wallace Fellow and current Asso-
ciated Press editor for North
Dakota and South Dakota, met
Abramson on the trip to Brazil.
"She came across as such a true
fan of the Times and an honest-
to-goodness, gritty-as-hell New
Yorker to the core," Hunt said.
"It's clear she takes a lot of pride
not just in journalism, but in her
specific job. They have a strong
woman at the helm."
Hunt added: "It was quite a
surprise to watch the Times's
future No. 1 samba like a pro in
Sao Paulo."
In addition to traveling with
the fellows, Abramson has visited
the reporters in Ann Arbor and
invited them to The New York
Times office in New York City.
She's also helped shape the fel-
lowship by creating ways for the
journalists to learn multimedia
and online production skills.

"She's passionately interested
in helping young journalists,"
Eisendrath said.
In the past, the University has
invited successful journalists to
give a commencement address,
including ABC News anchor Rob-
ert Woodruff in 2008 and Auto-
mobile Magazine founder David
Davis Jr. in 2004. Other journal-
ists have received University hon-
orary degrees like Washington
Post columnist Eugene Robinson,
who gave the graduate exercises
address last spring.
Berke said journalists have an
interesting perspective about the
world and society because they're
"observers to history."
"Our jobs are to try to give
people a sense of what's going
on in the world from a closed in,
yet detached perspective, and I
think that kind of background
experience can be very valuable
when it comes time to talking to
graduates about life and the coun-
try and what might be ahead for
them," Berke said.
Jeremy Peters, a media report-
er for The New York Times and
a former Daily news editor,
wrote in an e-mail interview that
Abramson's speech will likely
resonate with students who are
about to "enter a world that is so
unpredictable."
"She has had a front row seat as
our society has undergone seis-
mic change over the last decade,
and she has seen it all through
the prism of a business that has
evolved more dramatically than
most," Peters wrote.
In the event of breaking news,
a natural disaster or other world
catastrophe, Abramson said she
is confident she'll still make it to
Crisler Arena to give her speech.
"I don't foresee that a news
event would prevent me from
coming," she said.

Big House Big Heart aims to raise $1M

15,000 runners
raise money for
cancer research
By AARON GUGENHEIM
For the Daily
While sweating, smiling and
listening to the pump of reggae, a
silent stampede of runners raced
down South University Avenue
yesterday on their way to the Big
House.
The runners participated in
Big House Big Heart, a series of
races devoted to raising money
for local charities and the Univer-
sity of Michigan Health System.
Proceeds from the event, which
featured a 5K, 10K and two one-
mile races, support three UMHS
programs: the Program for Neu-
rology Research & Discovery, C.S.
Mott Children's Hospital and Von
Voigtlander Women's Hospital
and the Cardiovascular Center.
Big House Big Heart started in
2007 with more than 5,000 par-
ticipants and a $150,000 contribu-
tion to charities. Since then, it has
grown in runners and donations
each year.
This year, the event had approx-
imately 15,000 participants and
775 volunteers, of whom 200 are
student-athletes at the University.
Colleen Greene, the logistics
chair for Champions for Charity -
the organization hosting the event
- expressed enthusiasm about the
growth of the event. The organi-
zation now raises money for 147
non-profits while also supporting
UMHS, Greene said. She added

that this year the organization
hopes to top $1 million.
Significantly, the race was
extended across the globe, with
500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
participating in the 5k and 10k
races via a virtual feed.
Sgt. Christopher Wright, a vol-
unteer for last year's race, helped
organize the run this year in
Afghanistan.
At the race in Ann Arbor, run-
ners finished on the 50-yard line
in the Big House. Brandon Bethke
was firstto finish in the 10Kwith a
time of 30:38.
Bethke is a post-collegiate run-
ner based in Ann Arbor hoping to
make the Olympics in 2012. He
qualified for the 5K the Olympic
trials with a time of 13:25 at the
Payton Jordan Invitational inPalo
Alto, Calif.
Bethke said he ran inthe race to
check his training progress, since
he's preparing for the Pan-Amer-
ican Games, with the next Games
scheduled to take place in Toronto
in 2015. He added that he was
excited to participate in the event.
"Running for a cause is what it
is all about," Bethke saidbefore he
shuffled off to take pictures with
eager fans.
LSA junior Thomas Yeh, anoth-
er participant, was supporting a
charity called My Team Triumph.
Theorganization,whichhaschap-
tern in eight states, pairs people in
wheel chairs with runners to push
them through the race.
"It is about being able to reach
out and help out," Yeh said.
Yeh added that the races pro-
vide a forum for disabled people to
experience something they other-


LSA seniors Leili Doerr and Marjorie Mygrants do post-race stretches in the Big
House after the Big House Big Run yesterday morning.

v

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wise couldn't.
This year, 45 runners from
MRun, a University running club,
helped push three wheel chair
users in the race. MRun also vol-
unteered with My Team Triumph
for the Dexter-Ann Arbor Half
Marathon and helped raise money
for the charity with a bake sale
and a team raffle.
For Karleigh Kroll, a student in
the School of Education, the race
was an opportunity to run with
friends.
"I have been wanting to run a
10K, and a bunch of my friends

were running it and I thought
it'd be fun," she said.
Though Kroll has been casu-
ally running for two years, this
was her first race and she didn't
train much for it.
"I pretty much just got up and
ran," she said.
Despite it being her first race,
Kroll said she really enjoyed it
and finished with a time of about
one hour.
"It was a lot of fun. If this is
what all lOK's are like, I'll run
them over and over again," she
said.


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