Ann Arbor schools' work toward redistricting, building closures at standstill

Previous coverage:

• Redistricting: Ann Arbor schools seeks consultant, software to aid process
• Ann Arbor superintendent: School closures not realistic for next year
• Ann Arbor superintendent: School closures, redistricting 'cannot be ignored'

Ann Arbor Public Schools' work toward redistricting is stalled while officials wait for a partnership opportunity with the University of Michigan and for their new superintendent to arrive.

But the amount of work that actually has been done since the school board and central administration first discussed the task of assessing and preparing to consider school closures for next year appears to have been minimal.

Former Superintendent Patricia Green told trustees at a board meeting in December that rerouting and redistricting cannot not be ignored. She recommended AAPS hire a third-party organization to conduct demographic and feasibility studies throughout the next 18 months prior to approving any steps toward redistricting.

Officials completed reports to the school board on enrollment trends, capacity trends and facility replacement costs in January and February and they issued two back-to-back requests for proposals in April and May for a consulting firm to head up its redistricting analyses. However, neither RFP resulted in the type of response that AAPS officials desired, until a research division for the University of Michigan saw the bid advertisement, contacted the district and offered to do the work for free.

District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said no details about the research division or the possible partnership could be shared at this time.

"I'm going to have to hesitate on saying anything more, as we don't have an agreement with them quite yet," she said, explaining the parties still are in the discussion phase and the U-M research division would have to receive approval to work with AAPS from the university's internal review board.

Margolis said the research division is faculty-run with some graduate students on staff. She said the group has experience in analyzing the type of data that would be necessary for completing a redistricting study.

Ann Arbor school officials told AnnArbor.com in May that the district hoped to hire a consulting firm to prepare a variety of possible school closure scenarios for the board's consideration by late fall — October or November — of the 2013-14 academic year. Margolis in May said this timeline would allow AAPS ample time to engage the community and to extensively vet the different redistricting scenarios in the public, prior to possibly implementing one or more before the 2014-15 school year.

However, Margolis said Thursday because AAPS has been in "a little bit of a holding pattern" since February, the scenarios for the board to begin weighing will not be ready this fall and the likelihood of being able to implement any building closures in 2014-15 is "up in the air," despite the Board of Education's hope.

"We're waiting to hear from (U-M)," Margolis said. "We're basically on track to start when we do … but also, the board sets their timelines, but really the best thing right now is for us to have Dr. (Jeanice Kerr) Swift get involved."

Swift, the candidate chosen to be the next Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent, currently is negotiating an employment contract and start date with the district. The board voted 4-3 on July 31 to offer Swift, an assistant superintendent from Colorado Springs, the vacant superintendency. Green left AAPS after two years in July to retire.

Swift has experience with closing buildings at her current district in Colorado. She has gone through the emotionally charged process twice in the past five years. The most recent round of building closures — two elementary schools and one comprehensive high school — is wrapping up now.

"It sounds like there is at least a lot of good preliminary thinking on the table (in Ann Arbor) and I would want to get there and really work with the staff and with the board to see what the possibilities are," Swift said of the district's plans around weighing building use.

Swift told AnnArbor.com in an interview Friday that as of right now, she does feel making any major changes in time for 2014-15 would be ambitious. But she sees three options to be considered.

The first option is utilizing U-M's offer to assist with redistricting and moving forward with the plans that AAPS already has on the table, just "not on quite as rapid of a timeline," she said.

The second option, Swift said, would be turning down the university's offer and heading up the redistricting studies with an internal team of staff and volunteers. She said this also would require a slightly modified timeframe.

Swift said she has experience with both hiring an external consulting firm and using an internal team to lead the building reutilization projects that she aided in Colorado Springs. She said it can go well either way.

"The one (project) with the district leadership, from my sense, I think people tended to trust that more," Swift said. "But the consulting firm we had was from out of town, and so perhaps, with the university folks that would be a really great possibility because they are local. But it's something to think about."

For the final option, Swift said she could see having the district spend a semester or even a year under a new superintendent, and then formulating an entirely new approach and moving forward in an aggressive timeframe with potential redistricting and school closures.

"I appreciate the administration wanting to regroup after I get in there. I think that is an excellent idea and I will also want to get input from the board on the direction they're providing and from what we can find out about if the university folks are available," Swift said, adding that she feels if all parties can get in "some really deep discussions, we can still get to a plan yet this year that moves us forward.

"… It's going to be a little tricky to follow their original plan, … but I know we can make progress if we do it in multiple phases and are very careful to be methodical about this."

She said even with multi-year plans, there are steps in the redistricting or building-reutilization process that can be completed without a terribly long lead-time. She said moving classroom wings around or adding a grade level or two from one building to another building is not that complicated and can help with a gradual, smooth transition.

AAPS has been criticized by various community contingents in recent years for not seriously considering school closures. The Ann Arbor Administrators Association this budget cycle issued a public statement, a rarity for the group, asking central office staff to created grade-level target schools at the elementary level, among other reconfigurations.

Instead, the district has cut teachers, transportation, music and arts programming and extracurricular activities in piecemeal fashion to reduce its budget, when district documents show closing three elementary schools could save $1.5 million (15 teachers), closing a middle school could save $1 million (10 teachers), closing Community High School could save $1.4 million (14 teachers) and closing a comprehensive high school could save $3 million (30 teachers).

"While we have short-term needs and urgencies — and in my mind, certainly the budget situation is that — mid-range and long-range planning for the district is more important than getting something done tomorrow," she said. "I share the urgency. … This is a priority … and can and will be done quickly. But having balance is important."

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.