Uncomfortable Question

Can white women successfully educate/teach young black men?

Missing in Action

What stories (good or bad) aren't being told about IPS?

Are You Thankful?

IPS B.S. wishes all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We may not have much to be thankful for with the IPS administration, but hopefully there's a student that you've reached and made all the difference in their life. That is what teaching is all about.

Eugene Is One Vote Away From Leaving

Decision to drop football at 3 Indianapolis high schools standsIPS chief said he'd quit if board intervened
by
Andy Gammill
Indianapolis Star


The Indianapolis Public School Board narrowly avoided having to see whether the superintendent would follow through on a threat Tuesday to quit over the district's football programs.

Board members split 4-3 against taking a board vote on Eugene White's plan to cancel football at three schools, instead choosing to leave that authority with the superintendent. A vote by the full board would have been the last appeal for supporters of the programs at Manual, Marshall and Washington high schools.

During Tuesday's debate, White said he would quit if the board insisted on getting involved in management decisions at that level.

In a rare show of division on the board, Kelly E. Bentley and two other members questioned the superintendent's decision and said the board should be the one to make the call.

White disagreed and in a heated exchange told Bentley that the final decision would rest with him.

"If you're not going to let me run this district," he said, "please let me know, and I'll just go elsewhere."

After the meeting, White said he would have resigned had the board vote gone the other way.
Bentley responded to White's ultimatum by suggesting that he respond to her more politely and reminding him that he was not an elected official. She suggested other board members were scared to vote publicly and said the board's decision was "an insult to the democratic process."

Board member W. Diane Arnold said the board should vote on the issue and said the superintendent's process had alienated community groups.

"When we continue to not listen to community partners," she said, "we're not putting children first."

But four board members backed the superintendent, saying that they had hired White to make tough management decisions and that the issue of football teams did not rise to the level of a matter the board should consider.

Board member Mary E. Busch, the longest-serving member and an education professor, said the board must not interfere with the superintendent's program changes.

"I think what we're doing now as a board is micromanaging," she said, "micromanaging of the worst kind."

Marianna Zaphiriou said a School Board policy already had given the superintendent authority to make changes in high school athletics and it wouldn't be fair or right for the board to step in.

"This is a change in a program and falls under the purview of the superintendent as an administrator," she said. "We hired the superintendent to do a job."

White outlined several reasons for his decision to cancel football, including that participation had dropped too low. Five years ago, White warned the district's sports teams that if they didn't have certain levels of participation, they would be disbanded.

He said he was following through on that proposal, which was approved by the board.
For a school to continue to have a football team, those guidelines said, they must have 45 players in the program. Arlington, Manual, Marshall, Northwest and Washington high schools did not, but White said two of those programs would be spared.

He said IPS losses last season were humiliating to students and that dropping the programs at three schools would allow resources to go to other schools.

A loud crowd of alumni and parents, mostly from Washington, occasionally jeered at the superintendent and the majority of the board.

After the meeting, two police officers blocked access to the hallway where those board members had retired.

As the board prepared to vote, one member of the audience called out, "Wait for Election Day."
Washington alumnus Bob Zink said he was disappointed in government processes if the board could avoid a vote on such a hot-button topic.

"All that did was say to the superintendent he's got an open board," he said. "If he wants to leave, let him leave. What they're saying is he's a czar."Additional Facts

How they voted

Voting for the superintendent to decide on football cuts: Michael D. Brown, Mary E. Busch, Elizabeth M. Gore and Marianna R. Zaphiriou.

Voting for the board to decide on football cuts: Kelly E. Bentley, Michael R. Cohen and W. Diane Arnold.

Have You Seen the News

All IPS salaries have all been posted on the Internet. What some administrators make to do absolutely nothing is almost criminal. Read them and weep.

You Should Be Thankful

With all the people out of work in this economy, should IPS teachers be thankful they have a job and stop complaining about working conditions?

Have You Heard the News?

Rumor has it the news media is trying to get a copy of all the salaries in IPS so it can publish them. That doesn't bother IPS B.S. because we're all public employees so our salaries are public record, but you have to wonder what the reaction will be when people find out that Willie Giles makes $150,000 a year, Jane Kendrick makes $120,000 and Jane Ajabu makes $116,000?

Manual on Automatic

From Friday's Indianapolis Star

Three Manual High School students were arrested Friday for allegedly conducting a marijuana deal on campus, school officials said.

One of the students, a 17-year-old, also faces a gun charge after officials found a loaded .25-caliber handgun in his pocket, Indianapolis Public Schools spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley said in a statement.

School officials were alerted after a student told a teacher he had witnessed a drug deal. School police rounded up the three students and found each was carrying marijuana, the release said.

All three were charged with possession of marijuana. One faces additional charges of carrying a handgun without a license on school property, escape and resisting arrest, Bewley said.

The school did not release the ages of the other students. All three were suspended pending expulsion, Bewley said.

IPS Productions Proudly Presents

IPS B.S. was talking the other day to some fellow teachers about movies that involve schools, "Lean on Me", "Stand and Deliver", "Teachers." If you could make a movie about IPS, what would you call it and who would be cast as whom? Let's have a little fun today.

You're Fired!!!

Get ready for some massive firings at the end of this school year. One of the things privately discussed at the IPS Board weekend retreat was how many teachers will be let go. Start looking for a new job now and get out before they get you. Notices are expected to go out right before Christmas. All hands abandon ship!

Friday Night Lights Out

IPS is cutting football at three high schools; Manual, Washington and Marshall. The kids will lose sports but some folks will still keep their jobs.

Manual coach Cedric Lloyd will become co-head coach at Broad Ripple, with
current coach Bob Ashworth. Three assistant coaching positions will
also move from Manual to Broad Ripple.

Washington coach Henry Jordan will be a co-head coach at Northwest, with current coach Aaron Sauter. Three assistant coaching positions will move from Washington to Northwest. Marshall, which would have become a varsity program next year, will have four coaches join Arlington's staff. The seventh and eighth grade programs at Marshall and Washington will continue.

"I knew going into this year that we had to see some return on our investment and that didn't happen," White said. "We're not going to entertain excuses anymore."
The remaining six assistant coaching positions will go to Tech (four) and Howe (two).

Reinventing IPS

The Star has a story this week about how Lawrence Township Schools are "reinventing" themselves.

Lawrence school board looking to 'reinvent' district

Lawrence Township School Board is considering a measure to increase student
achievement and could cut more than $3 million from its ailing budget.
Administrators presented several ideas to the board during a work session
Monday, said Superintendent Concetta Raimondi. Nothing has been decided, and
further discussion will take place at the board's 7 p.m. meeting Nov. 23.
The district has worked two years on what it calls an "elementary redesign" plan,
Raimondi said.

"We're trying to reinvent the district to be high performing, high functioning," Raimondi said. Even though national trends for the last two decades have placed sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students in one middle school, more recent studies show that sixth-graders have better test scores and thrive better in an elementary setting.

"Our sixth graders are not flourishing as we'd hope," Raimondi said. The studies show sixth-grade physical and emotional maturity is closer to their fourth- and fifth-grade peers rather than eighth-graders, Raimondi said. A decline in enrollment should leave enough space in elementary schools to keep sixth-grade students there one more year, Raimondi said.

It would also allow the district to consider closing one of its three middle schools, a move administrators estimate will save $3.5 million and could close the district's more than $3 million budget gap. Savings would come from cutting utilities, teaching, staff and administrative positions. The elementary and middle school shift could happen as early as the 2010-11 school year, Raimondi said. Administrators also presented several other options for the board to consider, but putting sixth-grade students back in the elementary schools was the most seriously considered.

Other options included closing one or two elementary schools, which would save
$800,000 to $900,000 a year but only address budget concerns, creating a
ninth-grade campus and using the current high schools as an upper campus for
older students and a lower campus for younger students, Raimondi said.

"We are looking at options as I'm sure every school in the state is with the economic forecast," Raimondi said. "The ultimate goal is for student achievement and to achieve the best scenarios for the students."

Should IPS try to reinvent itself or reincarnate itself?

Two Questions To Start Out the Week

(1) Which superintendent is best? Pat Pritchett or Eugene White? Explain your response.

(2) What IPS high school is the safest???

Hostile Takeover

The state of Indiana could be moving to takeover several I.P.S. schools next year. Anyone want to speculate which ones will be, or should be, taken over?

IPS ALERT!!!

Two IPS students were arrested this week for bringing weapons on school property.

In the first incident, a 15-year-old freshman at Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School was arrested Nov. 4 for allegedly showing an unloaded handgun to students. The weapon was discovered after school when a coach was told by students that the ninth-grader was showing off the unloaded .38-caliber revolver in the weight room. The student gave the weapon to the coach after confessing it was in his possession. The student also showed the gun to classmates while in the cafeteria, but no students came forward to staff at that time. At no time did the student threaten anyone with the gun.The student was arrested for carrying a handgun without a license and possessing a firearm on school property. He is currently suspended pending expulsion. "Attucks is a safe campus, and working together our students, parents and staff will keep it that way," said Principal Robert Faulkens.

On Nov. 5, an Arsenal Technical High School police officer stopped a 16-year-old student to question him about a fight that had occurred on campus two days earlier. The officer searched the student and found a .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun loaded with one bullet. The student, a sophomore, was arrested for carrying a handgun without a license, possessing a firearm on school property, and dangerous possession of a firearm for carrying a loaded handgun on IPS property.

The student also was identified as having participated in the fight earlier in the week. He also was charged with disorderly conduct and rioting. "This arrest should send a message to students that carrying a handgun on campus is a one-way ticket to jail," said Principal Sarah Bogard. "We won't tolerate any activity that will put students, staff or visitors at risk."

Decision 2009

IPS B.S. wants to know what you think about tonight's referendums. Beech Grove won, Perry is pretty much tied and Franklin lost. What does this tell you?