School Board Mulls 4 Topics At Retreat

School board procedures, Communications, the quality of instruction and building needs were four main themes sounded over the weekend at a retreat of the Ann Arbor Board of Education held at Walden Woods Conference Center, north of Ann Arbor. It was the first time the board had held such a retreat. Seven trustees (Paul H. Johnson and Ted Heusel were absent) plus School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. and six other administrators attended about 20 hours of discussion from Saturday morning until 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The purpose of the retreat was to discuss in depth the present and future problems facing the Ann Arbor School District. School Board President Harold J. Lockett said the retreat had been "a more fruitful exchange of ideas than in any such time period in the past." "The meeting has allowed us to see in one sitting," Lockett said, "a view of the future we have to deal with. And we must let the community know what we feel so they can particípate in the changes that must take place. We don't have time to wait. . . or we will lose the ability to make choices." Lockett proposed that another weekend retreat be held before June to discuss many items which the board and administration did not have time for Saturday and Sunday, namely, human relations, budgeting, modular facilities, negotiations and personnel matters. The four main items discussed at the retreat were: - The need to streamline and discipline the procedures for taking action by the Board of Education and the administration. - The need to develop a greater openness in two-way communication b e t w e e n the schools and the public. -The need to improve and make changes in the quality of instruction in the schools. - The need to provide adequate and additional classrooms to meet the needs of the school district. Westerman gave the board a general outline of the building needs of the district, though he stressed they were not formal recommendations. He said before a bonding issue was scheduled, probab1y for June, "we expect them (the bonding items) to be reviewed by the various PTOs, the Model Cities Board and various community groups." No price tag was put on the building needs. The board is expected to discuss them further in future public sessions. Westerman said there were three types of building needs- non-classroom, renovations and remodeling, and classroom. A third high school to be located at the Maple Rd. and M-14 intersection was defined as a classroom need. The non-classroom needs included an addition to the main library and the Loving Branch Library; a branch library on Pauline Blvd. and purchasing a site on Plymouth Rd., and a school services building for building and grounds personnel. The renovations and remodeling needs included extensive renovations of Mack and Slauson schools; a new cafetería, 1 kitchen, office and counseling complex at Tappan; a shower complex at Bach School; renovations at the Jones ! ing, and various new facilities at Carpenter, Dixboro, Mitchell and Stone schools. Mack was callea the district's "oldest and least adequate" facility. The "middle school concept - which would involve the . organization of classes from ; grades K-6, 7-9 and 10-12 to grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12, was discussed during the retreat. Sam M. Sniderman, assistant superindendent for instruction, told of the need to change the program of instruction: "Our educational system must change from one of simply imparting knowledge to one of organizing and retrieving knowledge." He said teachers must help children put the knowledge they learn outside the classroom to I better use. The deficiencies of the I tional program of the Ann Arbor I School District, particularly in I relation to those children who are "slower" or have learning problems, were discussed in I tail. Human Relations Director Ronald R. Edmonds said the district has not been successful in dealing with 80 to 90 per cent of the children attending the Ann Arbor Public Schools because of the district's "cultural ethnocentrism," that is, it's emphasis on white, middle-class values. John W. Hubley, assistant to the superintendent for community services told the board there is a "widening communications gap between the various audiences in the community and the Board of Education." This gap can only be overeóme, he said, by "a more direct and open information program and by more direct and open participation by the community in helping to define educational needs and to suggest solutions to those needs." The administration was directed to formúlate a fiw-year inter-related model bringing together instructional needs, building needs and communications activities for future board discussion. Lockett said he will give a report of the retreat to the community "so the citizens will feel the spirit of Walden Woods."