Citizens for Responsible Schools

6/16/2010: So, Randy Friedman, one of the Board Members responsible for the Skyline Debacle, who thankfully resigned in April of 2010, may have had another side of his character exposed recently. See the AnnArbor.com article about his company's license being revoked by the DEA. Robert Corso, DEA Detroit Chief is quoted in the article as saying, "Harvard Drug Group should have known, based on the large, frequent quantities, that their customers were diverting oxycodone into arenas that were not legitimate."

We will paraphrase here: "The School Board (including Friedman) and others should have known, based on the absurd scenarios that were being invented by AAPS administration to justify Skyline being built, that the school's operating budget could never be met." Many did know. Glenn Nelson in fact was responsible, along with Peter Ways, George Fornero and others, for creating numbers out of thin air (see the FOIA-ed emails). We have a hunch that Friedman knew too.

Member Glenn Nelson's predictions from a few years ago about asking the County for money to bail out the AAPS became reality. The Washtenaw County Intermediate School District asked for a millage to throw good money after bad. Yes, some of the money was togo to districts other than Ann Arbor, and some was to go to special ed, but the AAPS would have gotten the majority of the funds and for what purpose? To pay for years of miserable management.

Why did Glenn Nelson go this way? Because the administration of the AAPS lied to the community (see the FOIA-ed emails and the quotes in the Ann Arbor News) to pass a bond to build a school it knew it could not pay to run.

Several years ago, Glenn Nelson said in a School Board meeting that perhaps the AAPS would have to request more money in the guise of a county-wide ballot, since it could not ask for more on its own account. It was clear that Member Nelson would find a way to get more money. This is the same Glenn Nelson who was part of the "financial engineering" needed to sell the budgets and the new school.

From a May 22, 2006 Ann Arbor News Editorial:

Like many districts, Ann Arbor faces tremendous financial challenges. To balance its budget, the district has had to tap its savings account over the past several years. Most recently, district officials have proposed $12 million in budget cuts over the next three years. And, of course, construction of the new high school - and the redistricting, staffing and programming required for it - will remain an important task for the new superintendent.

Schools statewide have grappled with economic issues that have hurt their bottom line. But in Ann Arbor, district leaders haven't shown an ability to manage these difficulties effectively. The inept handling of the new high school construction - a delayed, over-budget mess that required outside consultants to help fix - make clear the need for a leader with financial prowess.

Without careful stewardship of its $181 million budget, the district won't possess the financial resources to give our students the best academic programming possible. Taxpayers have been generous in funding this district, but that generosity rightfully comes with expectations - ones that haven't been met by the current administration or school board members. As a result, the school board and administration have a credibility problem - and we're not sure they understand how much of a problem that is.

School officials should not make the mistake of trying to spend their way out of the district's financial problems by asking taxpayers to support additional millages. If they believe they can ask for more public support at this point, they need a reality check. And a new superintendent who can prove that fiscal responsibility is a top priority.

3/5/2009 Click to read: Ann Arbor Schools Tackle Looming Deficit in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. No surprise. The main economic problems faced by the district are of its own making, building a big-box school they knew could not be paid for even before Pfizer left town and the nation's economic woes began.
1/2/2009: "Skyline" cited as a failure by the Michigan Environmental Council.
Click the small image to see the full slide from the MEC report:
1/2/2009: Roundabouts still a problem. From time to time , downed street lights appear, evidence of the accidents no one seems to be reporting. Wait till all four years' worth of student drivers and buses clog the roundabouts.
1/2/2008: Roundabouts disappear in snow. Though roundabouts might have been the best solution to a terrible situation, they are only useful if visible. There has already been one vehicle with over $2000 damage from hitting the curb and a sign because the roundabout was not plowed well enough to know where the lanes end.
12/2008: In a very George Fornero-esque move, the AAPS administration continues to insist on a rights-violating decision to install cameras in Pioneer High School. "Student safety" is the AAPS version of "national security" as an empty justification to violate privacy rights.
10/8/2007: Work continues to try to replace one neighbor's trees and fence torn down by the district's architect and contractors in order install the sidewalk no one will use. If this private citizen is lucky, he will lose a few hundred square feet of his yard, the 70-foot trees will be replaced by 5-foot tall trees, and he will be able to rebuild his own fence himself.
10/8/2007: Remember the summer 2006 "exchange" of letters from Liz Margolis to Peyton Wolcott on her watchdog website about curruption in public school systems nation-wide? Several letters from Ms. Wolcott asking for real information to back up Ms. Margolis' accusations remain unanswered two years later. See: http://www.peytonwolcott.com/TeamEight.html
8/2007: Several 70' tall trees along Maple Road on private property are torn up to put a sidewalk in (that was promised to go no further than the school property) all the way up to Blueberry Lane to the north, when there are not enough students north of the school that might walk to warrant such an act.
4/18/2007: At the School Board meeting today, Liz Margolis announces that the district has a Marketing Campaign run by her, the AAPS webmaster and a secretary to attract students to the district. The budget is $50,000 for these "experts" to increase class size. Read more.
4/4/2007: Ex-Superintendent George Fornero demonstrates his inability to understand the Public in Public Education. See what his current Board and district is dealing with.
4/3/2007: Citizens for Responsible Schools now is the top hit on Google when searching for "George Fornero". No wonder.
3/27/2007: A recent series in the Ann Arbor News shows George Fornero and the AAPS administration not telling the truth. Now, the Board is blaming him. Rightly so, but where were they for the past 3 years?
1/24/2007: The Ann Arbor News reports on Pfizer's leaving town. What in all this can you blame the district for?
1/24/2007: Some humor in naming the school.
10/27/06: A second Bond Coordinator in as many years resigns.
10/22/06: Another accident and Trustee Patalan's head in the sand.
Read the Michigan Education Report's More School Construction Problems in Ann Arbor. Click here and search on the page for "Ann Arbor". Another MER report.
Ann Arbor News reports on the AAPS's inability to manage funds and projects
- 10/15/06: Editorial that begins and ends with the word Unbelievable
- 10/14/06: Article about the status of wetland "mitigation" on the site and the CRS statment.
- Article about the status of wetland "mitigation" on the site.
7/06: National website reports on AAPS's problems: A Cautionary Tale: Ann Arbor, Michigan's Experiement with the Team of Eight Concept"
7/25/2006: Board sends Fornero off as though he had done a good job.
7/06: Another petition from residents ignored. Ann Arbor News reports that attendance boundaries were approved by the Board on 6/15/06 despite 300 signatures and threats of legal action. (For previous example of ignoring hundreds of petitioners, click here)
7/06: Incoming Superintendent, Todd Roberts, says the AAPS needs to hire a CFO. Either he should have been told that it already had one, or he let slip something the public didn't know.
7/06: Earth to Board Member Friedman.
How was the new Superintendent "picked"? Read an Ann Arbor News article.
Glenn Nelson's new plan to bail out the AAPS's waste with yet more taxpayer money, reported on by the Ann Arbor News
Deceit to get the bond passed, driven by consultants
Keeping the Board of Education in the dark about delays in construction
The Ann Arbor News calls it "Bunker mentality"
Read the timeline of how this school district imploded
New blog on the AAPS, workers in the district and other things
AAPS-Talk (listserver about the Ann Arbor Public Schools)
Click here to read AAPS administration emails manipulating Board members and the public to sell the 2004 bond.
5/22/06: The administration held information back from the public and its own Board in order to promote the bond in 2003 and 2004 during an obviously looming financial crisis.
5/22/06: Click here to read just a few actual AAPS administration emails from the documents FOIA-ed.
5/27/06: Read the timeline of how this School District imploded.
Here are remarkable examples of mismanagement
9/18/05: The Ann Arbor News reports on Board's President, Karen Cross's abuse of power. Click here to read School Board President Crosses Line.
4/25/05: Click to see the wetlands that were destroyed to build a LEED certified, ir "ecologically friendly school."

Not only were there extremely important issues about traffic safety, environment and the demographics, but the Ann Arbor Public School District ignored rational, reasonable public input, as well as input from experts on traffic and the environment. This was true during 2004 and earlier, but is now finally coming to light as the district is dealing with a fiasco of a new high school and multi-year, multi-million dollar budget deficits.

That may be the most troubling issue of all: how the AAPS and the Board of Education proceeded with embarrassingly inadequate information, have refused to accept input, and have avoided answering hard questions.

Read the Archives. in which there is much more information on the original issues concerning Ann Arbor's new high school and the administration's (including ex-superintendent George Fornero) ineptitude, mismanagement, or worse.

Tell the Board of Education, your state representatives and Ann Arbor's Mayor about the AAPS plan's serious drawbacks. Even as the plan steamrolls along, write to the Ann Arbor News. Links for contacting these and others are on the Write a Letter page.

	Fighting Mismanagement in the Ann Arbor Public Schools District "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers" — Thomas Pynchon

Main Archives Page (New High School) Environment Land Use Traffic School size Demographics Safety Archaeology Alternative sites In the News About CRS Write a letter ! Contact Us Home Page	Citizens for Responsible Schools now is the top hit on Google when searching for "George Fornero". No wonder. Click here. 6/16/2010: So, Randy Friedman, one of the Board Members responsible for the Skyline Debacle, who thankfully resigned in April of 2010, may have had another side of his character exposed recently. See the AnnArbor.com article about his company's license being revoked by the DEA. Robert Corso, DEA Detroit Chief is quoted in the article as saying, "Harvard Drug Group should have known, based on the large, frequent quantities, that their customers were diverting oxycodone into arenas that were not legitimate." We will paraphrase here: "The School Board (including Friedman) and others should have known, based on the absurd scenarios that were being invented by AAPS administration to justify Skyline being built, that the school's operating budget could never be met." Many did know. Glenn Nelson in fact was responsible, along with Peter Ways, George Fornero and others, for creating numbers out of thin air (see the FOIA-ed emails). We have a hunch that Friedman knew too. Member Glenn Nelson's predictions from a few years ago about asking the County for money to bail out the AAPS became reality. The Washtenaw County Intermediate School District asked for a millage to throw good money after bad. Yes, some of the money was togo to districts other than Ann Arbor, and some was to go to special ed, but the AAPS would have gotten the majority of the funds and for what purpose? To pay for years of miserable management. Why did Glenn Nelson go this way? Because the administration of the AAPS lied to the community (see the FOIA-ed emails and the quotes in the Ann Arbor News) to pass a bond to build a school it knew it could not pay to run. Several years ago, Glenn Nelson said in a School Board meeting that perhaps the AAPS would have to request more money in the guise of a county-wide ballot, since it could not ask for more on its own account. It was clear that Member Nelson would find a way to get more money. This is the same Glenn Nelson who was part of the "financial engineering" needed to sell the budgets and the new school. From a May 22, 2006 Ann Arbor News Editorial: Like many districts, Ann Arbor faces tremendous financial challenges. To balance its budget, the district has had to tap its savings account over the past several years. Most recently, district officials have proposed $12 million in budget cuts over the next three years. And, of course, construction of the new high school - and the redistricting, staffing and programming required for it - will remain an important task for the new superintendent. Schools statewide have grappled with economic issues that have hurt their bottom line. But in Ann Arbor, district leaders haven't shown an ability to manage these difficulties effectively. The inept handling of the new high school construction - a delayed, over-budget mess that required outside consultants to help fix - make clear the need for a leader with financial prowess. Without careful stewardship of its $181 million budget, the district won't possess the financial resources to give our students the best academic programming possible. Taxpayers have been generous in funding this district, but that generosity rightfully comes with expectations - ones that haven't been met by the current administration or school board members. As a result, the school board and administration have a credibility problem - and we're not sure they understand how much of a problem that is. School officials should not make the mistake of trying to spend their way out of the district's financial problems by asking taxpayers to support additional millages. If they believe they can ask for more public support at this point, they need a reality check. And a new superintendent who can prove that fiscal responsibility is a top priority. 3/5/2009 Click to read: Ann Arbor Schools Tackle Looming Deficit in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. No surprise. The main economic problems faced by the district are of its own making, building a big-box school they knew could not be paid for even before Pfizer left town and the nation's economic woes began. 1/2/2009: *"Skyline" cited as a failure* by the Michigan Environmental Council. Click the small image to see the full slide from the MEC report: 1/2/2009: Roundabouts still a problem. From time to time , downed street lights appear, evidence of the accidents no one seems to be reporting. Wait till all four years' worth of student drivers and buses clog the roundabouts. 1/2/2008: Roundabouts disappear in snow. Though roundabouts might have been the best solution to a terrible situation, they are only useful if visible. There has already been one vehicle with over $2000 damage from hitting the curb and a sign because the roundabout was not plowed well enough to know where the lanes end. 12/2008: In a very George Fornero-esque move, the AAPS administration continues to insist on a rights-violating decision to install cameras in Pioneer High School. "Student safety" is the AAPS version of "national security" as an empty justification to violate privacy rights. 10/8/2007: Work continues to try to replace one neighbor's trees and fence torn down by the district's architect and contractors in order install the sidewalk no one will use. If this private citizen is lucky, he will lose a few hundred square feet of his yard, the 70-foot trees will be replaced by 5-foot tall trees, and he will be able to rebuild his own fence himself. 10/8/2007: Remember the summer 2006 "exchange" of letters from Liz Margolis to Peyton Wolcott on her watchdog website about curruption in public school systems nation-wide? Several letters from Ms. Wolcott asking for real information to back up Ms. Margolis' accusations remain unanswered two years later. See: http://www.peytonwolcott.com/TeamEight.html 8/2007: Several 70' tall trees along Maple Road on private property are torn up to put a sidewalk in (that was promised to go no further than the school property) all the way up to Blueberry Lane to the north, when there are not enough students north of the school that might walk to warrant such an act. 4/18/2007: At the School Board meeting today, Liz Margolis announces that the district has a Marketing Campaign run by her, the AAPS webmaster and a secretary to attract students to the district. The budget is $50,000 for these "experts" to increase class size. Read more. 4/4/2007: Ex-Superintendent George Fornero demonstrates his inability to understand the Public in Public Education. See what his current Board and district is dealing with. 4/3/2007: Citizens for Responsible Schools now is the top hit on Google when searching for "George Fornero". No wonder. 3/27/2007: A recent series in the Ann Arbor News shows George Fornero and the AAPS administration not telling the truth. Now, the Board is blaming him. Rightly so, but where were they for the past 3 years? 1/24/2007: The Ann Arbor News reports on Pfizer's leaving town. What in all this can you blame the district for? 1/24/2007: Some humor in naming the school. 10/27/06: A second Bond Coordinator in as many years resigns. 10/22/06: Another accident and Trustee Patalan's head in the sand. Read the Michigan Education Report*'s More School Construction Problems in Ann Arbor. Click here and search on the page for "Ann Arbor". Another MER report. Ann Arbor News* reports on the AAPS's inability to manage funds and projects 10/15/06: Editorial that begins and ends with the word *Unbelievable* 10/14/06: Article about the status of wetland "mitigation" on the site and the CRS statment. Article about the status of wetland "mitigation" on the site. 7/06: National website reports on AAPS's problems: A Cautionary Tale: Ann Arbor, Michigan's Experiement with the Team of Eight Concept" 7/25/2006: Board sends Fornero off as though he had done a good job. 7/06: Another petition from residents ignored. Ann Arbor News reports that attendance boundaries were approved by the Board on 6/15/06 despite 300 signatures and threats of legal action. (For previous example of ignoring hundreds of petitioners, click here) 7/06: Incoming Superintendent, Todd Roberts, says the AAPS needs to hire a CFO. Either he should have been told that it already had one, or he let slip something the public didn't know. 7/06: Earth to Board Member Friedman. How was the new Superintendent "picked"? Read an Ann Arbor News article. Glenn Nelson's new plan to bail out the AAPS's waste with yet more taxpayer money, reported on by the Ann Arbor News Deceit to get the bond passed, driven by consultants Keeping the Board of Education in the dark about delays in construction The Ann Arbor News calls it "Bunker mentality" Read the timeline of how this school district imploded New blog on the AAPS, workers in the district and other things AAPS-Talk (listserver about the Ann Arbor Public Schools) Click here to read AAPS administration emails manipulating Board members and the public to sell the 2004 bond. 5/22/06: The administration held information back from the public and its own Board in order to promote the bond in 2003 and 2004 during an obviously looming financial crisis. 5/22/06: Click here to read just a few actual AAPS administration emails from the documents FOIA-ed. 5/27/06: Read the timeline of how this School District imploded. Here are remarkable examples of mismanagement 9/18/05: The Ann Arbor News reports on Board's President, Karen Cross's abuse of power. Click here to read School Board President Crosses Line. 4/25/05: Click to see the wetlands that were destroyed to build a LEED certified, ir "ecologically friendly school." Not only were there extremely important issues about traffic safety, environment and the demographics, but the Ann Arbor Public School District ignored rational, reasonable public input, as well as input from experts on traffic and the environment. This was true during 2004 and earlier, but is now finally coming to light as the district is dealing with a fiasco of a new high school and multi-year, multi-million dollar budget deficits. That may be the most troubling issue of all: how the AAPS and the Board of Education proceeded with embarrassingly inadequate information, have refused to accept input, and have avoided answering hard questions. Read the Archives. in which there is much more information on the original issues concerning Ann Arbor's new high school and the administration's (including ex-superintendent George Fornero) ineptitude, mismanagement, or worse. Tell the Board of Education, your state representatives and Ann Arbor's Mayor about the AAPS plan's serious drawbacks. Even as the plan steamrolls along, write to the Ann Arbor News. Links for contacting these and others are on the Write a Letter page.