Broad Ripple: New and Improved or the same old stuff?
Tech: Style over substance? How does your garden grow?
Northwest: What's new, what is working, what is not?
You can add your own.
Monday, October 12, 2009
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Broad Ripple certainly is new and improved--just ask the focused students who got tired of the rebel rousers last year. However, BR still has a coterie of students who are going to have to be transferred back to their boundary schools or flunk out ( same consequence) before it will be perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe administration of Tech is only concerned with the plants and flowers on campus. The money that must have been spent on the constant upgrading. Too bad there is a shortage of textbooks!!! Discipline has gone to hell. It is now impossible to count the fights. One lunch period had 3 fights in the same day!!! When can we bring some order and rule enforcement back to Tech.
ReplyDeleteDo students at Shortridge take Scrimmages in Math and English like the rest of the school? Nobody has ever seen their scores if they do.
ReplyDeleteIf Broad Ripple is allowed to rid their school of the "coterie of students" that is claimed to be keeping their school from being "perfect" then
ReplyDeleteTech and Arlington better brace for more problems since those are the boundary schools for the students being removed from Broad Ripple.
What is a "coterie"?
ReplyDeleteFinally, a school with high standards and expectations for academics and behavior! BRHS, keep enforcing those ideals! Afterall, there isn't a student in that building that didn't willingly sign a school contract agreeing to abide by good behavior and maintain a C average in order to remain in the magnet programs housed there.
ReplyDeleteTech couldn't get any more out of control than it already is.....there needs to be some major changes in the Deans office.
ReplyDeleteGO RIPPLE! Finally a school in IPS that is doing it
ReplyDeleteright. Oh, would love to see the scores from Shortridge...some of the students who were asked to come couldn't even pass fifth grade.
OMG. BRHS is doing it right because they can dump the difficult students. There is not a school in the universe that would not succeed with that capability. You BRHS folks just go ahead and pat yourselves on the back. You should be very proud. Eliminate the challenges and take credit for the easy ones. Woooo Hoooo!
ReplyDeleteMust be nice. I wish our so-called elementary magnet school had a choice as to who went there. We get stuck with the mean, angry, out-of-control boundary students. We're really a magnet in name only.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to send all of the difficult students to the township schools, like Carmel. Then IPS teachers can truly teach the "good apples" and our difficult students can gain insight from the role models of Carmel. That way both sides win, Carmel is open to being a diverse school and IPS can overcome its hardships.
ReplyDeleteThe students at Arlington are still wearing their gold grills. Nothing much has changed with that.
ReplyDeletecoterie: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose
ReplyDeleteSome of you people scare me--do you read at all?
By the way, Ripple has lots of special ed. students and we know, after a while they will be capped at a particular number they can reassign. I work there and even I know this won't last. Fairytales are nice, but they are not reality!
Why are the topics started on this blog always negative or adverserial?
ReplyDeleteThe parents of Northweat voted with their feet. The enrollment there is so low that it is difficult to justify the having the school open. Even at that the administration there doesn't enforce the rules and the students are out of control.
ReplyDeleteWe all want to know what is going on at Shortridge? I can say what I heard..but that's just gossip since I am not there.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the benchmarks at Shortridge? Don't they have to do those like the other schools also?????? Ask the drill sargeant friend of Prudence since she knows everything but is making enemies of faculty and parents on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that the week before the Labor Day break, they were still teaching about the 'culture' and had not addressed any of the standards or even started the REAL teaching yet.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know anything different??
I have a friend who works with the data from the scrimmages from schools all over the district. Shortridge scrimmage results have not been seen by anyone. All the other schools have stacks and stacks of spreadsheets showing their scrimmage scores and comparing their scores with other district schools, but not Shortridge.
ReplyDeleteNow you shouldn't get your knickers in a knot and get all huffy because I asked what a coterie is....yes, I do read....a lot. That just didn't happen to be a word I had seen before. Are you saying that it is scary when someone asks a question...that we should all know everything...what about being a "life learner"?
ReplyDeleteI shall now be obsequious in light of your scornful, contemptuous and disdainful reply and sign off as a humbled educator. (ain't this blog fun, though? no hard feelings?)
"coterie: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose
ReplyDeleteSome of you people scare me--do you read at all?"
And Rebel Rousers, what are they? People who try to wake dead Civil War veterans? Rebel- opposing or taking arms against a government or ruler b : of or relating to rebels, the rebel camp
2 : disobedient, rebellious
The generally accept phrase is rabble rousers
Main Entry: 1rab·ble
Pronunciation: \ˈra-bəl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English rabel pack of animals
Date: 14th century
1 : a disorganized or confused collection of things
2 a : a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people
And actually the second phrase is more appropriate since the group of non-students/Students is generally disorganized and disorderly as opposed to any type of organized resistance (armed of otherwise) to the administration of the school.
If no one has seen any Shortridge scrimmage results, then maybe they didn't perform well. This is strange. The district has administered 3 separate scrimmages in English/Language Arts and yet no scores from Shortridge.
ReplyDeletenot surpising considering the Cosby method of teaching.Let's see how really effective it in the long haul.
ReplyDeleteWorth reading if you didn't see it in today's Indy Star...
ReplyDeleteOctober 14, 2009
Arm teachers against verbal abuse
If Vickie Winslow worked in almost any other setting, her employer might well be in danger of a lawsuit for allowing the type of verbal abuse that she and her colleagues regularly endure.
But Winslow is a public school teacher who has spent the past 13 years at Indianapolis' Manual High. As Star columnist Matthew Tully described Sunday, students call her a b---- 30 to 40 times a year.
She's far from the only teacher who faces such insults -- and worse -- from the teenagers she's trying to educate. Students at Manual regularly curse teachers and administrators with the harshest of obscenities. Threats of violence are common, and outright violence occurs with frightening regularity.
Tully documented that the act of simply cursing a teacher is unlikely to result in a student's discipline. Harsh treatment of teachers isn't confined to Manual, or to Indianapolis Public Schools. But the fact that such disrespect is tolerated in any school should itself be intolerable.
Ignoring such blatant disrespect undermines educators as professionals and as people.
It also helps corrode the learning environment for those students who are trying to gain an education. And it's a disservice to the very students who hurl obscenities at the adults in charge. How will they ever function in a workplace if not taught how to show respect to those in authority over them?
Early in his tenure as IPS superintendent, Eugene White launched an effort to improve discipline in the district's schools. That campaign clearly has far to go.
But it's also somewhat understandable that administrators are torn over how to handle the overwhelming flood of incidents. Time in a school day, after all, is finite. The student who snarls "---- you'' to a teacher is a less immediate threat than the teenager who screams "I'm going to kill you'' at a dean. The non-emergencies must wait when triage is the order of the day, the semester and the school year.
And so the cancer of disrespect grows. Until it consumes the patience and the passion of talented educators, who in time flee the urban environment or the profession altogether.
How does the culture change? When a community is roused enough to send reinforcements, in the dress of tutors, mentors and other volunteers, for the front-line warriors. When parents who do care step in to shepherd, and correct, the children of those who don't. When school districts declare that teachers are proud professionals who should not and will not have to face abuse that is unacceptable in nearly every other workplace.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, the cancer of disrepect (verbal abuse) was never in remission under Dr. White. The abuse has shaken the core of the educational community in IPS while "Pimp Daddy" dances the around his office in his mink coat and darling red Prada shoes.
ReplyDeleteMink coat ??? PLEASE say you are kidding!!
ReplyDelete"Early in his tenure as IPS superintendent, Eugene White launched an effort to improve discipline in the district's schools. That campaign clearly has far to go." IndyStar editorial from 10/14/09
ReplyDeleteWe should commit this quote to memory and share it with the upcoming QAR accreditation visiting teams from AdvancEd when they arrive in IPS next week. Clearly, the onus for student discipline improvement lies with the Superintendent. Either he was serious about his 'campaign' or he was not serious. Inconsistency and waffling do not improve anything, especially student behavior.
At present, our superintendent is little more than a figure head and possesses about as much 'bite' as a paper lion.
Yes, "Pimp Daddy" has a mink coat and wanted a full time IPS Officer to protect him from the white teachers, they scare the heck out of him.
ReplyDeleteViolent threat is one of the 'major misbehaviors' (an automatic step 4) on the 6 Steps of Discipline, but what happens when you make an online referral for 'violent threat'?
ReplyDeleteSome, not all, Behavior Deans and/or Principals try to make light/downplay the violent threat and tell the student to apologize or write a letter saying they're sorry. Somehow after a student has told me, "Motherf*****, I'm gonna kick your a**", a bogus and forced apology just doesn't work for me. If I were walking in the mall and a teenager spoke those words directly to me, he would be arrested if I reported it. Why are our rights as persons disallowed once we walk through the school house door?
I work at a IPS community high school. The principals are too scare to take strong action because Jane Kendrick will not tolerate such action. Lets not forget what happened at Arlington and Marshall when the principal took strong steps to clean up the school.
ReplyDeleteThe new graduation testing requirements - exclude high schools from AYP (there is no "test" to determine change in the number of kids from one year to the next of passing the test). This means that the only measures per AYP for grades 9-12 are attendance, and the graduation rate. Would this not give an incentive to keep kids in school (lower number of suspensions) rather than out of school. I think this might be a case of unintended consequences per the new state graduation requirements (new for the class of 2012).
ReplyDeleteSuspension Days do not count against AYP!!!! the problem is spineless admnistrators or Jane Kendrick as mentioned above.
ReplyDeleteAt one time it was rumored that the Urban League was considering a lawsuit against IPS because of what the Urban League considered too many suspensions of African-American students. That rumor surrounded Jeffery White's and Prudence Bridgwaters' issues/problems. Supposedly, Bridgwaters told Jeffery White to stop suspending so many students because the Urban League might sue IPS for inequitable practices. She more or less twisted his arm to get him to reduce the suspension level. That particular conversation with Bridgwaters was recorded by Mr. White in his office and was posted on Abdul's website.
ReplyDeleteWhen Dr. White was asked-point blank--about a threat from the Urban League, he said it was untrue.
ReplyDeleteBut Bridgewaters did say that it happened so that must make her a _ _ _ _!!
ReplyDeleteDID ANYONE ELSE HEAR THAT DR. BROWN'S SON WAS SUSPENDED AT NWHS? SUPPOSEDLY, HE SPRAYED A FIRE EXTINGUISHER ALL OVER THE GYM.
ReplyDeleteISN'T THAT ILLEGAL?
IS THIS TRUE????
Here is another case were Prudence Bridgwaters didn't want the student suspended. He raped is counselor and was arrested at Marshall several times last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indystar.com/article/20091007/NEWS02/910070398/0/NEWS02
A 15-year-old boy accused of raping a youth counselor at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center won't be tried as an adult, a judge ruled today. Marion Superior Court Judge Kurt Eisgruber, sitting as special judge, wrote in his decision that he decided against waiving the boy to adult court on rape and confinement charges because it wasn't in the best interests of the boy or the safety and welfare of the community.
The rape of the counselor in December inside the boy's room at the lockup led to his 12th referral in juvenile court. He has logged many violations since then inside an Indiana Department of Correction facility.
"We're extremely disappointed (with the decision)," said Mario Massillamany, spokesman for the Marion County prosecutor. "We believe the juvenile system cannot properly provide the remedies necessary to rehabilitate him -- or punish him." The Indianapolis Star generally does not identify youths charged with crimes as juveniles. Eisgruber's decision says the juvenile system has only intermittently addressed psychological issues borne of years of abuse and trauma, including the boy's sexual assault by a stranger in September 2007. Now he has an opportunity for more complete rehabilitation. The decision pointed out that even if tried as an adult, the boy likely would be released from prison before his 25th birthday, with less extensive attempts at rehabilitation.
He raped "his" counselor. Sorry for the mistake.
ReplyDeleteI will be amazed if there is any improvement in students at Tech. Treadwell Hall is out of control. Ten minutes after the bell to begin classes, the halls are still packed with students loitering, kissing and fondling, and cussing like sailors. Only rarely does a dean, administrator or school police make a "guest" apprearance. Where are they and where is the principal???
ReplyDeleteIn a letter published in the Indianapolis Star, Urban League President Joe Slash refuted the so-called claim that the organization was planning to sue IPS over its suspensions of students.
ReplyDeleteOn what grounds could the Urban League have sued anyway? It's not a civil rights or civil liberties organization.
I heard about Dr. Brown's son being suspended too. Why is everyone so obsessed about a previous event and not taking notice to this?
ReplyDeleteWho is Dr. Brown?
ReplyDeleteSchool Board President.resident (District Five)
ReplyDeleteBusiness
Pastor
Positive Force Ministries
P.O. Box 531522
Indianapolis, IN 46253 - 1522
Human Resources Supervisor
United Parcel Service
brownm@ips.k12.in.us
Residence
5820 Westhaven Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46254
317-297-0548
Michael D. Brown (Dr.)
OK, thanks for the answer. Brown, as in School Board President. Now I understand the significance. If his son is spraying a fire extinguisher in the lunchroom, then I'd say that daddy's Positive Force Ministry hasn't been such a positive force in the kid's life.
ReplyDeleteto the "rebel rouser" commentator...that was hilarious..."are they trying to awaken dead Civil War veterans?"... made me laugh - thanks for adding the levity... (is levity the right word?)
ReplyDeleteYes, levity is the right word! I really and truly love teachers! After I posted the comment, I really enjoyed how the debate turned to the correct word choice. I am proud to be a colleague. I really love it when we go to groups conferences and we spend 45 minutes arguing about how a rubric is constructed.
ReplyDeleteI luv ya'll!
I like when we develop a mission statement and spend 1 1/2 hours discussing where the comma should be and which precise word to use.
ReplyDeleteTo the above poster-YES! YES! YES!
ReplyDeleteAre you really sure you want to use three exclamation points?
ReplyDeleteAnd what is with this Rubicon thing? Are we all getting a trip to Italy? What does a river in Italy have to do with lesson plans?
Rubicon Atlas is the Curriculum Mapping computer program. English teachers in grades 7 through 12 are using it now as their pacing guide. Their lesson plans are also placed onto Rubicon Atlas.
ReplyDeleteMath teachers, PE teachers, and Spanish teachers will be using it soon.
So why isn't it Nile Atlas, or Amazon Atlas, or Mississippi Atlas?
ReplyDeleteI am obviously way out of the loop here - I don't know anything about Prudence Bridgewater coming out to observe anyone or why she would be doing that - is she like a "hatchet man" for Dr. W? I spend way too much time in my room writing lesson plans and teaching - I really need to get out more!
ReplyDeletePrudence does not have any power. Dr. Johnson demoted her for lying. Jane Kendrick is the only friend she has left at central office. Dr. White is sitting in his office looking like a fool for letting her back in the school district.
ReplyDeleteTell me what the hierarchy is downtown. How do I recognize these people when they come to my building? We have so many people in and out on a daily basis, I never even think about who they are any more. Are there any pictures out there I can study? Good Lord, I could wind up with someone important [in the sense that someone would have the power to fire me] in my class room and never even know it! argh... I was better off before I found this blog ~ at least in an ostrich sense of "better off". Thanks for whatever you tell me.
ReplyDeleteJust don't ever allow yourself to be in a classroom alone with Prudence. If she enters either get someone else in the room or leave the room for a public area.
ReplyDeleteHow would that work? since she is coming to observe people with out any warning. Oh wait you are suppose to be warned, get a rep to sit in your room while you are observed. Purchase a small concealable video camera that you can turn on easily.
ReplyDeleteBridgwaters' apparent purpose in IPS is to serve as Dr. White's "street sweeper". It appears that when he wants to get rid of someone or some group he sends Bridgwaters out on a "search and destroy" mission.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we be alone with Prudence? What have I missed?
ReplyDeleteShe lies and has made sexual advances to other female teachers. You woould think that Bridgewaters would have a girl friend and leave staff members alone. She lied to Jeff White, but he was too smart and taped the session for the public.
ReplyDeleteJeff White may have her on tape but I have pictures. Hey Prudence, remember our night at Pearls? Most of the bloggers are too young to know anything about this. I told you I would get your ass..
ReplyDeleteHoly cow... OK - if people have proof of her misconduct, why is she still employed with IPS [or anywhere]? Like I said, I need to get out more! Then some of those rumors I have heard about what happens in the Whale building are true...huh. I'm very disturbed by this.
ReplyDeleteDr. White loves her and thinks she will be able to do his dirty work and keep his name out of the mix.
ReplyDeleteDr White worked for Washington Township Schools before he came to IPS - didn't he? What did the people there think of him? Did this same kind of thing go on there as well? and, is it true the superintendent gets 10% of all the construction contracts as a consulting fee? Is that why IPS is always doing some kind of construction?
ReplyDeleteI'll bet Prudence has lots of girlfriends but I wonder if she has a main squeeze?
ReplyDeleteThat's ok when you bloggers start talking about other IPS employees, parents, etc., even if you are spreading a rumor or a half truth.
ReplyDeleteBut leave the STUDENTS out of this mess. I don't care WHO the parents are! I TOO am an educator and when the kids are brought into this then the
whole purpose for this blog is down the toilet. Spreading rumors about other adults is in poor taste but when it's about IPS students then it's gone TOO far.LEAVE STUDENTS OUT!!!
I agree. I've never transferred out of a school because of the students. It's many of the administrators that are what's wrong in IPS. Kids are kids. They'll only do what they know they can get by with. If an administrator refuses to support their staff, life is miserable for everyone. A school with no discipline creates low morale for the staff and an unsafe environment for the students. And YES, I am a teacher, at an out-of-control elementary school that has been mentioned numerous times on this blog.
ReplyDeleteCould that out of control elementary school be....................#60?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "Leave students out" poster but I also believe that there is no need to mention specific educators in a negative way...it is not going to bring about anything good and it seems that so much of it is based on hearsay. We could just keep to the issues and try to make this a place to get answers to questions that plague us...forget the shoes, the personal attacks...we are not making a contribution to solving any problems with the petty, silly accusations, innuendos,etc. No, I am not from
ReplyDelete"downtown" either.
Hmmm, Dr. Brown.....I think he's the person that FELL ASLEEP during our board meeting at our school!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent choice in leadership.
ReplyDeleteDr. Brown must have fallen asleep because he wore himself out harassing all of the teachers at Northwest.
ReplyDeleteSchool #60 is a hot mess. Rude principal, quite a few rude teachers, and a bad neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteIs Dr. Brown's office at Northwest? Why is he always there?
ReplyDeleteStop picking on Mike Brown. He lives fairly close to Northwest, and as for being tired, he works nights.
ReplyDeleteHey! While you're dissing school #60, don't leave out the mean, angry, wild kids.
ReplyDeleteSo, him ("Mike" Brown) being at Northwest all of the time has NOTHING to do with the fact that his son is a freshman there?
ReplyDeleteDoes he visit the other schools by his house then?
Sounds a bit shady to me.
Mike has always been a frequent visitor at the schools his son attends. Do you have a problem with that? What business is it of yours, anyway?
ReplyDeleteAs president of the IPS School Board, he needs to visit ALL schools if he wants to do his job correctly (and morally). Many of us have a problem with that. Not to mention many other things he has done that are so crooked, I feel guilty for even TYPING them.
ReplyDeleteHe has also been known to find teachers he wants his son to have, and "coerce" those teachers into passing his child.
As president of the IPS School Board, it is all of our business.
Is this "Mike" himself getting so defensive? You must be pretty close to him if you are privileged enough to call him "Mike" and not "Dr. Brown" or "Pastor".
Oh, for heaven's sake. Calm down. I'm just a teacher who has known Dr. Brown for a long time. And if you're trying to imply anything by your "you must be pretty close to him..." comment, you are way off base. If I did have any influence with him at all, I'd ask him to come visit the looney-bin I work in.
ReplyDelete