Irate Trustee Brands News Series 'Asinine'

An irate Ann arbor School trustee branded as "asinine" two articles published this week in The News which blamed some of the exodus of people from Ann Arbor to nearby communities on the Ann Arbor Public Schools - and he tried to persuade his colleagues to make a formal response to the articles. Trastee Ted Heusel could get no support, however, for a formal rejoinder. (In the articles, many of the people interviewed said they left Ann Arbor because of discipline, racial and drug problems in the public schools here). Heusel charged The News was "irresponsible" for running the series, and said the board is "irresponsible if we don't respond, I think we should stand up and fight for what we believe in." Trustee Richard M. Wood disagreed, saying "There is no more difficult response to frame than to an inane letter. It just gives credence to idiocy." Trustee Cecil W. Warner agreed, saying "there's not i ly much you can say without getting into a verbal attack." Warner suggested that the article must be refuted by "positive means" - such as 1 licizing students' achievements. School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. said he was reluctant to respond to the articles, 1 ing some people would 1 tably interpret it as a defensive gestare." He said he hoped many people still believe , however, that "it is a privilege to live in the Ann Arbor School District." He added that a large number of calls are received each summer at this time of year asking whether students living outside the school district can be 'enrolled ás tuition students. No tuition students are accepted, however. Westerman said in his annual report this year, it will include more "evaluative data" on the school district. The "Ann Arbor Realtör," the official publication of the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors, also responded to the News' articles in a newsletter dated today. "It's unfortunate that the recent Ann Arbor News articles which ran under the banner of 'Exodus' tended to mislead some to believe the bottom has dropped out and you'd better sell quickly while there are still people here," the newsletter said. "The fact is Ann Arbor's population continues to expand at a rapid pace. Home sales in Ann Arbor are at an all time high ... The fact is that those people who choose to leave Ann Arbor can very easily sell their homes at a big profit," the realtors' newsletter 1 ed. The realtors added: "We like to assess our school system on the basis of documented achievement," though they conceded that many of the school problems and other problems are "some of the growing pains of becoming a city."