IPS B.S. is requesting submissions for print on the blog. There's no word limit and the subject should concern some area of IPS that needs improvement. IPS B.S. won't print your name unless you want it to. You can send your submissions to ipsbs@hotmail.com.
How about improving kindness in IPS?
ReplyDeleteHow about improving trust in IPS?
ReplyDeleteHow about letting teachers TEACH instead of TEST?
ReplyDeleteHow about the fact that downtown boasts "going green" yet sends tests/forms to schools and makes the school copy it for the whole student population? This is the first year that our school has had a major paper shortage. Downtown going green isn't really working if schools are running out of paper to copy all of the tests and other forms they make us copy!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone noticed, IPS had to pay for printing of Benchmark testing. The most recent set of Benchmarks printed by IPS cost a whopping $411K. Now multiply that figure by 4 (the number of Benchmark tests mandated by the State) and you can get a rough idea of how much expense the State is costing us. Yes, we now have NO paper in the individual schools.
ReplyDeleteIf IPS indeed intends to 'go green', then why does the district not use the Online administration of the ISTEP and the ECA's?
ReplyDeleteKids love computers, and, who knows, the novelty of using a computer for a test might keep them more engaged.
Subject: The Board Inaction Plan
ReplyDeleteComputers are great for muliple-guess test formats, but the open response sections are critical in displaying the application of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThose can't be adequately evaluated via computer technology.
I'm not sure I follow. Why can't essay-type questions be done via computer? Most testing outside of k-12 is done on computers, regardless of whether its multiple choice, essay, fill in the blank, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf Open Response sections cannot be adequately evaluated via Online testing, then why does the IDOE encourage the use of the Online administration of the ISTEP and the ECA's?
ReplyDeleteI disagree totally with the 2nd above poster. Using the paper/pencil versions of the ISTEP and the ECA's is prehistoric and shows a lack of progressive thought. Our students LOVE working on computers.
I suggest we use $1M of the stimulus monies to buy out White's contract. The stimulus money is designated for Professional Development, and I can think of no better way of spending $1M toward developing IPS into a more professional school corporation.
ReplyDeleteSpecial Education students with IEPs calling for keyboard or computer use have been permitted to use them for the old GQE testing. This went well and included the open ended short answer questions. This should not be used as an excuse to continue using the old pencil and paper method.
ReplyDeleteThe O/U Program is a complete travesty as it's now organized.
ReplyDeleteWhy not place all the O/U students and their teachers into one building? They'd at least have plenty of available resources such as Social Workers, several counselors, etc. As it now stands, the O/U programs are spread across the city into all the community high schools. The community high school administrators spend an extraordinary amount of their precious time and efforts in dealing with these unfortunate students who seem to have more behavior problems/issues than the regular ed students. Also, the O/U students' scores are low, rock-bottom in fact. These low scores continue to drag down the scores of the community high schools which eventually will mean they'll be forced to close by the State for not making AYP. It's almost as if placing the O/U programs at these schools was an intentional design to force the closing of the community high schools. Many of us feel the community high schools are the School Board's dumping grounds at present.
I read nothing in the archived Board meetings about Board discussion of the formation of the Over/Under Program in IPS. I understand that the O/U Program was birthed Jane Kendricks.
Those scrimmages also use a lot of paper and take a long time to score. That is one task that many coaches have now been given to do. Those should also be done on computers. Again, if we didn't buy all those books that kids can hardly drag around, that won't fit in their lockers and that have to be updated every couple of years we could supply kids with laptops; what they pay in fees would go toward the laptop (those that pay fees) and it would still be cheaper than all that paper and textbooks. Textbooks could be on CDs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we pay a ton of money to McGraw-Hill to write those benchmarks, don't we? Don't we have people qualified to write benchmarks based on the pacing guide for our own district?
ReplyDeleteSpotlight on Dr. Willie Giles, Deputy Superintendent for IPS (Dr. White's right-hand man, his lieutenant, his toadie)
ReplyDeleteFrom Kansas City Public Schools
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Giles' escapades in Kansas City presented chronologically:
Oct. 10, 1995 District begins inquiry of Acting Superintendent Willie Giles who is named in complaints of sexual harassment.
Oct. 20, 1995 Board member Ed Newsome call press conference, Scolds colleagues Murphy, Giles.
Oct 21, 1995 Acting School Superintendent Willie Giles OK’d hiring relative (his daughter-in-law) who had been convicted of stealing $41, 000 at former job. Giles denies any violations.
Oct. 24, 1995 Board suspends Willie Giles; appoints Associate Superintendent Larry Ramsey as new acting chief.
Oct. 25, 1995 KC desegregation impasse official; Case back to court.
Oct. 27, 1995 State goes after KC school funds; District could lose tens of millions in 1996-97 year. Curbs in desegregation program, eligibility sought.
Nov. 4, 1995 Civic leaders discuss KC School District ills.
Nov. 10, 1995 White student enrollment declines in KC School District.
Nov. 22, 1995 "School staff gets different structure. Acting Superintendent Ramsey cancels 6 jobs, reduces KC District’s bureaucracy."
Nov. 28, 1995 Giles requests public hearing of allegations.
(more to come. . .)
All that money spent on outside consultants could be saved if we used the resources available within our district; we are bringing in people such as Greg Abati when we have people in our system who are invited to present in other places because they have the knowledge to do so. For what we pay outside consultants, we can train some of our own people; many do not need training - they could bring the same info are already on the payroll.
ReplyDeleteThe IPS School Board surely knew about Willie Giles' questionable past with nepotism in Kansas City when they put him in charge of supervising Dr. White's son. Giles is the man who saw nothing wrong with hiring his daughter-in-law, back in his KC days, who was documented as stealing $41K from a former employer. Now the School Board has authorized him to supervise the Superintendent's son. This whole thing sounds corrupt.
ReplyDeleteFrom Indiana Barrister:
__________________________________________
All In the Family
If you’re an IPS teacher who is being let go because of budget cuts, you’re going to love this. My Indianapolis Star counterpart Andy Gammill is reporting on his web blog that IPS is changing its nepotism policy to hire Superintendent Eugene White’s son.
Reginald White is being hired as a coach and behavior dean at Tech High School The younger White will report to Deputy Superintendent Willie Giles instead of to the elder White. And Giles will report directly to the school board.
Now I’m not suggesting Reginald White is not qualified to do the job. What I am saying is that it doesn’t look good when on the one hand the Superintendent tells parents that teachers are being fired because of a declining student population, and on the other hand, the Superintendent’s son is getting a job.
I find it hard to believe that out of the hundreds of teachers that work for the District, or the ones that were let go, IPS could not have chosen one of them for the job and avoided losing a teacher.
But then again, there are a lot of things about the IPS administration I find hard to believe.
Posted: 05|29|09 at 6:52 am by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
From The Kansas City Star via Google
ReplyDeleteMore on Willie Giles who was hired by the IPS School Board in 1997.
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Source: CHERYL W. THOMPSON Staff Writer
The acting superintendent of the Kansas City schools approved the hiring of his daughter-in-law, who admitted stealing more than $41,000 from her previous job, The Kansas City Star has learned. Willie Giles, who also is accused of sexually harassing his longtime secretary and using district personnel to help build his new home, signed the paperwork to hire his daughter-in-law, Phylencia Giles, in January 1994, district records show. He also gave her a two-step salary increase - from $67,000 to...
Published on October 21, 1995, Page A1, The Kansas City Star
Is there no end to the shame of the Ed. Center???
ReplyDeleteNope, the "Bobble-Headed Board" just keeps voting "yes" to every thing that a normal person would question.
ReplyDeleteTo Abdul Hakim-Shabazz:
ReplyDeleteThank you for all you are doing for IPS teachers and I mean that very sincerely.
Does Abdul Hakim-Shabazz qualify to run for the school board?
ReplyDeleteI don't know where the man lives, but he'd be an excellent Board member. He's an attorney, is extremely articulate, sees more than one side of an issue, is always on top of what's happening in Indy, and is not afraid to take a stand.
ReplyDeleteAbdul is officially a resident of Illinois.
ReplyDeleteBob Segal (Channel 13) has been doing a story recently about the absurd things our tax dollars are being spent on by state/local government. The blogmaster (or whoever has copied all those facts/figures from the board report) needs to contact Bob Segal (or Rafael Sanchez 6 on Your Side) or both of them and get this type of stuff out there on the news! I think it would reach many more people and they would be in major shock of the corruption going on in IPS administration!!!!
ReplyDeleteHouse Named National Public Citizen of the Year
ReplyDelete12-15-2009 (Washington, DC)
Harold House, a special education teacher at the Career & Technology Magnet, has been named the 2009 National Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Each year, NASW honors a person who is not a social worker whose accomplishments in the community exemplify the values and mission of professional social work. He will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in April.
House has helped to raise more than $200 million for community programs that assist vulnerable youth, and he has assisted more than 2,000 children to secure much needed psychiatric treatment. Much of his work has been with incarcerated children and their families. His efforts have gone far to address the dropout rate of troubled youth and the disproportionate confinement of minorities in secure facilities.
In 2009, Harold was named a recipient of the International Heartspring Award for Creativity and Innovation in Special Education. In 2008, he was honored with the Upton Sinclair Award for Influential Educators.