Jackie Smith

3 days ago | mlive.com | Jackie Smith

ANN ARBOR, MI – Three Ann Arbor schools are ending the school year with brand new administrators at the helm. Long-time educators and administrators Samantha Cucu, Stephan Hogan and Valeska Bass have been newly named principal at Mitchell, Abbot and Pattengill elementary schools, respectively, and assumed the roles earlier this month.

4 days ago | mlive.com | Jackie Smith

ANN ARBOR, MI – A group of physician assistant students waited casually one morning in a hall outside of exam rooms in Concordia University Ann Arbor’s north building. Some were seated on the floor — packets of material strewn neatly about and bags or small cases with equipment like tuning forks and reflex hammers in their laps. All of them waited for their turn to test skills in a mock neurological exam.

5 days ago | mlive.com | Jackie Smith

DEXTER, MI – Dexter schoolteacher Kelly Parachek wears a lot of hats. After beginning her teaching career in the 1990s, she took a break before returning to the classroom in Dexter Community Schools in 2010. Now, the lover of students’ “aha!” moments is a fifth-grade coordinator and classroom teacher at Creekside Intermediate School and co-chair of its student council. “My favorite part is the relationships with students,” Parachek said.

1 week ago | mlive.com | Jackie Smith

DEXTER, MI – A roughly $242 million bond proposal to help Dexter Community Schools finance a range of infrastructure upgrades and learning space improvements will go before voters in next month’s May 6 consolidated election. The measure, if approved, would allow the district to borrow funds and pay it back over 30 years. But according to the ballot language, it wouldn’t increase what residents pay in taxes, keeping Dexter schools’ total millage rate to cover debt at or below 8.5 mills.

1 week ago | mlive.com | Jackie Smith

ANN ARBOR, MI – It’ll be at least a couple months until the massive Arbor South development at State Street and Eisenhower Parkway gets the final green light after Ann Arbor planning commissioners agreed to postpone site plan talks on Tuesday. The plan calls for 14 new buildings over 23.5 acres, including more than 1,000 residential units, a 150-room hotel and 93,500 square feet of commercial space, in a mixed-use layout encompassing two existing office buildings at 777 and 789 Eisenhower.