Friday, December 11, 2009
Can We Do Better?
Someone e-mailed IPS BS the other day and said all teachers do is complain and if they don't like their working conditions they should go start their own school. IPS BS didn't think that suggestion was too far fetched. So what do you think, if money wasn't an option, would you go create your own public charter or private school? What would your focus be? How would you manage it?
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How much independence is there at the Charter schools? I have no idea, just wonderin'.
ReplyDeleteIndependence, at a Charter School? Ha!! You must be kidding me!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.journalgazette.com/article/20091101/LOCAL10/311019878/1216/LOCAL1006
The principal's salary would be the same as a teacher's salary. I would not have any of the do nothing jobs like all of the different academic coaches. Teachers would have time to teach and not simply administer various kinds of tests, benchmarks, scrimmages etc. Avid would be eliminated. A dress code and discipline policy would be developed that could be and then would be enforced. No male would be allowed to wear ruby red Gucci slippers.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that the staff would represent diversity of all kinds. This would include but not be limited to years of experience. Eugene White has constantly bashed veteran teachers which is only his way of saving money to pay more administrators. A school should have a good mix of young teachers and veteran teachers.
ReplyDeleteTwo posts up has a good point. At least for the first sentence. I think everyone in the building should be paid equally. From janitor to the principle.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how that charter school in New York is doing, the one that paid the teachers $150,000 a year and the principal made less than $100,000. It sounded like a really good concept to me. Even if it had to be modified a little bit because we have a lower cost of living and tax base, I still really liked the idea of paying awesome teachers awesome money as well as streamlining the duties of running the school. I would think this would create a really exciting environment for students and teachers alike. But I haven't heard anything about it. If it works well, I hope it gets duplicated here.
ReplyDeleteOne idea I've always pondered is, instead of separating classes into behind or ahead etc., separating classes into self-disciplined and lacking discipline. The kids with self discipline could be allowed to wear regular clothing, maybe bring a bottled water to class, be given more independent learning projects, and generally be treated like young adults. The discipline problems could be in their own smaller, more supervised classes, but all of a sudden they would not be the cool kids. They might shape up for their own self interest. I think IPS schools are run like prisons, and I think it cheats the majority of kids who would rise to the challenge of excellence if they had the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone is to be paid the same, from the janitor to the "principle" - then a good principle would be for everyone to know the difference between a principle and a princiPAL.
ReplyDeletePay everyone the same? Sounds vaguely like Socialism. I prefer merit or bonus pay over lowering all employee standards to the lowest common denominator.
ReplyDeleteI would actually like a merit or bonus system as well. But I mentioned it here one time before, and it didn't go over very well, LOL!
ReplyDeleteIf IPS is spending about $9000 a year per student, yes, I think I could start my own school and run it for $180,000. I'd take 20 students, pay myself $100,000 and run the class on the rest. We'd all have laptops and take a lot of field trips.
ReplyDeleteYou could do like the current charter schools. Recruit from the cream of the crop. Admit motivated students on grade level with supportive parents. After ADM day, send all students needing ESL services, special education services, social work services and those who lack motivation and appropriate behavior back to their home schools and then brag about how the rest of the students achieve.
ReplyDeleteWhatever. You don't know much about charters like Herron High School.
ReplyDeleteWhen is IPS going to buy a clue? Study halls did not work when I went to high school. It was a place to sleep, pass notes and copy someone else's homework. Poor Title 1 teachers--this mess is being dumped on them!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, there are a few charter schools that I think are really good. The accellerated one, the one in Irvington. One of the ones in Fountain Square is supposed to be really good too. (I forget the names of these.) I have no problem with charter schools as a whole, but I think they have their pros and cons like everything else. Some of the charter schools are worse than any school in IPS.
ReplyDeleteNobody did homework when I was in high school either, but we're still giving it.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see the study hall standards. We'll need to do study hall pre and post testing. Huge binders of study hall materials will need to be printed. We will need to attend hours of illuminating professional development on study hall pedagogy. IPS will no doubt be recognized by the Study Hall International Technologists as a world class system. I think this is truly the panacea we have been waiting for.
ReplyDeleteTech has over 500 students who are failing Algebra I at mid year. What a mess.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that Dr. White's son works as a Dean at Tech and the place in out of control. If Gene would spemd less time up Dr. Johnson's ass maybe our school would not be out of control.
ReplyDeleteHerron High School is a mess. They can't keep staff. They don't have staff or training for special education students and just ignore them.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I have a friend with kids at Herron, and she she can't say enough good about it. Takes all kinds, I guess.
ReplyDeleteIrvington Charter School? Are you kidding me? That place is a mess!
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time believing any charter school could match the clusterfuckedness of IPS.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! I bet they get their checks on time!
ReplyDelete" I can't wait to see the study hall standards..." YES!!! There will be a curriuclum we have to teach and the kids will refuse to do it because they don't get a grade in it and their parents will back them. The teachers will be blamed at the end of the school year for its failure.
ReplyDeleteI know two different families with children at Herron. Both need special education services. Neither receive them. This is a violation of federal law. Unfortunately both families are so soured on IPS that they are unwilling to try IPS again. Who can blame them?
ReplyDeleteA highly qualified master's level special educator applied to Herron last year for their advertised position as Special Education Coordinator. Herron was excited to have this person apply.The job fell through because Herron could only offer salary in the low $40's. Qualified and experienced special educators cannot afford financial suicide by working for Herron.
ReplyDeleteExplain to me again why kids who do not possess basic math skills must take Algebra? They cannot graduate without it; yet they will end up paying people to file Form EZ tax returns for them, will pay huge interest on payday loans, will be unable to understand basic economics and will end up not graduating, therefore not able to receive further training in a vocation...how many times, unless you are a math teacher, have you had to graph an equation in your daily life?
ReplyDeleteHerron has problems just like any urban school system, they just play the game of making the student's parents "resign" their children from Herron, so it will not appear on their record. So, IPS gets a out of control student that attacked a teacher, and then has the entire process of expelling the student. I understand confusion about not having a "general education degree", we need to make them ready for the real world. The study halls will be a joke, thirty-five students in a classroom, many will refuse to do any work. I have noticed in the last five years that we now have students with a deadly pent-up anger at their lives and poverty. These are the same students that strike out at teachers and anyone who tries to help them. Not their parents or even to try to better their lives. I noticed one of these students is now in jail, we didn't try to have them conform to society, we made adjustments and excusses. Now this student will be behind bars for a long time as society and the legal system don't play that game.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to do what works. The "conform" approach doesn't work for me as a teacher (I'm more of an individualist), but I've seen it work with other teachers. To me, there is not just one "right" approach or philosophy. The problems come when we keep on doing things that don't work for us. Some of my coworkers tell me my approach is "coddling" but if I get better academic results and fewer discipline problems, why would I change my approach?! Do what works!
ReplyDeleteThis questions seems more appropriate for this question. Especially with Manuals articles in the paper almost weekly. Seems the school is in Hot Water. Cannot imagine Dr. White leaving it as is? So, so here is the question.
ReplyDeleteI heard the other day that Manual's enrollment was somewhere under 850 students really around 800. I know the schools capacity is around 2300.
Does that mean me and my fellow teachers at Donnan and I will soon be moving over to a reconfigured Manual Community School (as they have done with Howe, Arlington, Washington, Marshall, Broad Ripple)? That would seem to go with
Seems almost like the writing is on the wall. All we are waiting for is Dr. White's announcement. This would allow for some elementary schools to close and move them into Donnan.
With the budget as is. Has anyone heard anything?
I think teachers who lower class expectations because they are in IPS are cheating students. But I also don't think you have to come in with guns blazing. No kids respond to that, not in the city, country, suburbs, rich or poor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster above who mentioned Herron as a school who makes parents "resign" their kids. I saw this first hand many times. Kids who are unable to pass standardized tests are put on "academic contracts" and eventually forced out because the parents don't have enough social capital to know that a kid cannot (and should not) be kicked out of a school for low academic performance. Herron violates laws every day by not providing services to special education kids and by bullying parents of low performing kids to withdraw. That is why their test scores are higher than average. IPS does not have the luxury of forcing out the low performers.
ReplyDeleteThe "highly qualified master's level special educator" should be more than grateful he/she didn't get the job at Herron. He/she would have had a caseload of 50+ kid with only aids to assist. Not an expert but pretty sure that is illegal.
ReplyDeleteIrvington Charter School lost their contract with Ball State University and have some major problems. The City of Indianapolis is watching them and is very concerned with the management and lack of licensed teachers.
ReplyDeleteCompletely and utterly not true. Irvington Charter did not lose their contract. They applied for it through the mayor so they didn't have to pay Ball State for another 5 years. (Which is why MOST charter schools go through the mayor). They could have renewed it with Ball State if they wanted to, and Ball State NEVER would have denied them. They are one of the better schools in Indianapolis (according to ISTEP, NCLB and AYP), and if a list of Marion County schools were listed in order of most-to-least likely to be taken over or shut down, Irvington Community would beat 75% of the schools in the county, and 90% of the high schools. Check for yourself. http://mustang.doe.state.in.us
ReplyDelete