Getting rid of administrative perks, bonuses, and car allowances would help. OK, I am being a bit snide. I am also a bit concerned about these after school tutoring companies. I understand that the DOE mandates we have tutoring, but it seems criminal to spend so much for companies that have no true vested interest in IPS. I have yet to see one up and running at my school.
1. How about cutting the Central Office on Walnut.
Put those offices out in the schools accessable to the public. Maybe these downtown administrators will (by being near the students) understand what is really happening in the buildings.
2. Cut administration down to one principal and vice principal per school.
3. Cut teaching coaches. Put them back into the classroom serving the students and reduce their pay down to teachers.
1. Cut all compliance monitors! Begin trusting the principals to know when the grass needs to be cut and the bulletin boards need to be changed. 2. Cut afterschool tutoring payments by 60%. 3.Put all coaches--data, literacy, math,etc.--either back in the classroom or change their status to part-time. 4.FIRE all consultants ASAP!!! 5.If all else fails, expand school by one hour and cut one day a week for one year.
Dibels, SRA testing, district benchmarks and Rubicon. If the state demands these things then bill the state. This is useless data that keeps people employed downtown. It has nothing to do with learning or helping teachers teach. These companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Let the state drop ISTEP this year too. Why shouldn't they suffer like the rest of us??
The 3.5% cuts from the state education budget will have to be cuts from the General Fund.
Before we lose our grasp on the picture, let's review what cannot be cut.
Title 1 monies will not be cut. If you're a Title 1 teacher or your program position is funded by Title 1, don't let IPS tell you your job and/or your program are being cut.
Special Education teachers are paid with IDEA grant funds which are not mixed with IPS General Funds. Don't allow IPS to tell you that your position or your program are being cut. Several coaches positions are also funded by IDEA grant monies, not General Funds.
This crisis might be a good time for IPS to clean up the co-mingling of IDEA, Title 1, and General Fund monies. Some special ed teachers have been told that teaching a Title 1 or a gen ed class is OK; it's not!
All those outside tutors, as much as we disdain their parasitic ways, are paid with Title 1 monies, even Jimmy Hill and his Best Practices Consulting group. NCLB and AYP dictate the hiring of consultants who are supposed to help increase student achievement. Maybe the best we can hope for with these guys is that strict oversight is put into play with their work. Also, we could expect the School Board to be more intentional in their scrutiny about the prior results these tutoring groups have realized.
We should just forget about griping about the Cadre because they're being paid from Stimulus Funds which are not recurring monies. One more year, and the Stimulus Fund money will terminate. Besides the Stimulus Fund monies had short strings attached, as with most government gifts, that the money could only be spent toward Professional Development.
Positions funded through the General Fund include that $1.5M+ in salaries/benefits paid to the 'Top 10 Earners' in the district, the Ed Center elite, so to speak. Also, that group of 173 administrators who earn between $100K and $150K are paid from General Funds. That group would include the several Directors, the Compliance Monitors (the clipboard brigade), the high school principals. Basically, most of the people who earn more than $70K base salary are not teachers (a few exceptions for some long-time teachers w/advanced degrees). A total of 1,919 IPS employees earn more than $70K annually. The State DOE has recommended that administrative compensations be reduced! A total of 36% of IPS employees fall into the administrative/supervisory ranks and that's a nice chunk of change that could be reduced or eliminated in some cases. In checking the IN range of IPS salaries, it should be noted that instructional coaches receive the exact same pay as classroom teachers.
Now onto Athletic Directors. A couple of years ago, Dr. White recommended to the Board that ALL Athletic Directors receive a large salary increase. The Board approved this. Now, all Athletic Directors receive annual salaries of $86K+. With the reduction of several varsity football programs, many of the Athletic Directors' duties/responsibilities will shrink significantly, yet we've heard nothing about a reduction in their compensation, have we? That's an area to tackle.
Personally, I don't find the testing data useless at all. Granted, some of the emphasis put on them is silly, but I do think we need universal, standardized methods to evaluate the progress of students and schools compared with other students and other schools, nationally and internationally. In fact, if I were White, that's where I would focus on what programs to cut -- whether they're producing results that are better than before the programs. I'm not a fan of "across the board" anything. If a school is succeeding with two principals, fine. But if the extra principal isn't helping, then fire him/her. If a tutoring program isn't improving things, then stop it. I have my suspicions about which programs and employees are "feel-good" and which are actually effective, but I don't have access to the data that central office has. Unfortunately, they won't cut what doesn't work because they have vendors to keep happy. But there is a quite a bit that could be cut from the IPS budget without negatively impacting a single student or teacher. I'd start there.
If an employee is paid from General Funds, then that position could be on a slippery slope.
The State Dept. of Education has gone on record stating that the cuts should not mean reducing the number of classroom teachers. That was fairly clear from the State Board of Education.
The state DOE recommendations for cutting district budgets included: outsourcing transportation services, outsourcing janitorial services, sharing services with other districts, and reducing administrative compensation. If IPS follows the state's recommendations, then teachers would not be cut.
Closing schools with under-enrollment makes financial sense. Move the students to another building that has the space. Heating/cooling a building at less than capacity is wasteful. It costs the same to heat/cool a full building as it does an empty building.
We could certainly save a bundle of money by having transportation operated by an outside group. The salaries, the insurance benefits, the purchase of buses, the mechanical service on buses, etc. could be bidded out to an outside subcontractor. The same situation would apply to custodial services. Same goes for Food Services which could be subcontracted.
Did you realize that IPS has 815 employees classified as 'painters'? Save some money; when something really needs to be painted, hire a painter from the private sector -- cheaper in the long run. Painting companies are so hungry for business they'll give extremely competitive bids in these economic times.
When IPS decides to 'stick to the knitting' and fulfill its sole intended purpose, educating children, then the budget woes will disappear. We have spread ourselves way too thin and lost sight of our purpose.
These are the times when IEA leadership needs to flex its strong arms; however, I don't have faith that the current IEA president is up for this job. We need someone with the tenacity of a bull dog who latches onto your pant cuff and won't let go.
Close Donnan MS and move the kids to Manual. Manual is under capacity and can take our kids moved in there. It would be interesting to see our favorite news paper reporter thoughts after seen my students over at Manual.
As a parent, mayb cancel the lap top comptuers that every student at Manual will have instead of books. We already have books and the cost for these laptop computers the students will have to go to classes must be very expensive (with insurance and replacements).
Its seems to me books are cheeper than computers. We all grew up on books and turning pages. Why is it so educationaly ineffective that my daughter in March will stop doing it?
As we know, at the close of each Board meeting, the Board members are encouraged to make comments.
Here's what they had to say on 3/24/09.
________________________________________________
COMMISSIONERS’ COMMENTS Commissioner Brown spoke about the basketball season in IPS, and he noted several IPS graduates that are now playing in the NBA. The diesel mechanic program at Tech was also mentioned by Commissioner Brown, and he noted that students can start making $45,000 to $50,000 right out of high school if they have taken this course. With Commissioner Brown’s message, Commissioner Bentley stated that Corey Wade, a former Broad Ripple High School student, plays in the National Baseball League in Los Angeles. Commissioner Bentley said she attended the VH1-Brighthouse concert at the State House, and that she did a site visit at IPS School No. 84 with regards to its IB program. Commissioner Cohen said he went to see Miriam Wright-Edelman speak at Clowes Hall, and that he was happy to see several Tech students in attendance. President Busch extended thanks to Linda Poulter and Keith White for their wonderful work with VH1 and Brighthouse. President Busch said that she and several other Board members attended the annual Minority Business/Professional Achievers awards dinner, and that IPS’ own Dexter Suggs was recognized. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, the President declared the meeting adjourned. ___________________________________
Wow! NBA players, pro baseball player, concerts, awards dinners, Clowes Hall speakers, and pats on the backs of our own...Double wow! What profound comments!
Some great insight and commentary on this blog today! What a relief after two days of "ain't it great to be an IPS teacher!" babble the previous couple of days.
I really think this person's idea holds great merit:
"5.If all else fails, expand school by one hour and cut one day a week for one year."
I'd do that even if all else didn't fail. Take off one day of keeping the buildings open, paying huge transportation costs, etc. etc. The savings for the entire district would be huge.
In general, the extravagant administrative salaries and benefits (including free health insurance) need to be cut and all of the various "nitpicking" consultants, teaching coaches, etc., positions need to be eliminated.
Also, the trips to China and all of the various and sundry perks going to the administrators.
And how about eliminating the "Keep Jimmy Hill Rich Fund" and get permission from the DOE to use those wasted hundreds of thousands in the classrooms.
There is no need to cut classroom teacher jobs. There is plenty of "fat" in the IPS budget that can be trimmed without laying off ONE teacher or closing ONE elementary school.
Oh for goodness sake. Never, ever, ever will IPS move to a 4-day week and the repeated mention of it here really undermines any intelligent discussion. And get rid of computers? Are you people out of your mind? I hope and pray it's all the same person who spouts this stuff. I know someone said the IP address shows the blogmaster pretends to be several people, but I don't know how to check that. All I know is that when one moronic thing is posted it seems to bring about several, and I just can't fathom that there are really that many ignorant teachers posting here. IPS is an inner city school. Some poster(s) obviously don't want to be part of that, and that's not my business, but surely people realize how completely impractical it is to shut down an inner city school for one day a week and leave those kids out in the street. And I would rather double my class size than give up my computers. I mean, hell, shouldn't we at least try to give these kids a decent shot at a future? Parents and taxpayers read this blog. This is the kind of thing that makes us all look backward and ignorant. No matter what grudge you hold against central office, you owe it to your fellow teachers to not make us all look like ignorant fools. There are a lot of intelligent posts here, but you don't like those. You actually prefer the ignorance and ugliness. Either let the real teachers post, or shut down the blog. But this charade you have going is tiresome and distracting from every single discussion that has any merit.
Ditto to the above poster re: instructional technology via computers. Technology is not just the 'wave of the future', it IS the future! Case in point, sit back from your computer monitor for a nano second and think; we, a group of adults, are gathered here on this blog sharing ideas/arguing/bickering/speaking our opinions all because we're proficient in the use of computer technology. Most, if not all, of communication today is based on the foundation of computer knowledge and proficiency. So, let's forget dropping computers in an attempt to cut the budget.
Frankly, sticking with the DOE's recommendations of: 1) outsourcing transportation and janitorial services, 2) sharing services w/other districts, and 3) reducing administrative compensation would likely take care of the budget cuts we're facing. Now, we just need to get IPS to crunch some 'honest' numbers regarding these recommendations.
While IPS is crunching numbers, maybe we should think on the fact that IPS has become a major source of jobs for many folks, other than teachers; that is not our purpose. Our purpose is to provide education to students, not to provide or 'make up' jobs for community members. We're not in the business of economic development for workers in transportation services, janitorial services, food services, etc. We've spread our decreasing funds with an ever expanding workforce of employees who do not provide educational services. Those positions can be subcontracted/outsourced to the lowest bidder.
Just a thought. If anyone thinks subcontracting transportation services is a poor idea, please remember that the transportation workers are the ones who shut down the entire IPS district when the Colts won the Super Bowl. Sure, it was fun for a day, but stop and think about the ramifications; a group of classified employees decided unilaterally to shut down a major school system for their pleasure. Not cool! If transportation were outsourced, that would never happen.
Here's an idea to consider. The 'top 10' highest paid IPS people earn collectively over $1.5M. Reduce their administrative compensation by 10% which would result in an immediate savings of $150K.
Of course they'd shout to the high heavens, threaten any and everyone, and gnash their teeth, but stop and think for a moment. Do you really believe that any one of those ten people would quit, would walk away, would not show up for their jobs, or would leave IPS in any way?
No, not one of those ten people would leave. They can't afford to leave. They could never find a replacement position that paid so well! They are not that special, not nationally known for their leadership prowess, not big names in the education scene.
To bring home this thought, think about Willie Giles trying to find another job; think about Jane Kendricks trying to find another job; think about Li-Yen Johnson trying to find another job; even contemplate Eugene White trying to find another job w/equal pay. They would be adrift in a sea of more accomplished counterparts, and they know it!
Does IPS really need to deal with paying wages, paying health insurance, dealing with union issues, and assorted issues with 310 custodians?
Probably not. Cleaning our buildings is a service that could be subbed out to a janitorial services contractor. The savings monetarily would be far greater than the Board could imagine.
Presently, IPS must deal with benefits, wages, health insurance, sick leave, personal issues, hirings, firings, and a whole host of related issues that could be eliminated by outsourcing janitorial services. Heck, I'll volunteer to empty my classroom trashcan at the close of the day if I have a designated dumpster directly behind the school.
How about taking sealed bids for IPS food services?
The food is already prepared at a central location. There are no nice, sweet grandmothers cooking breakfast and lunch in the back of the cafeterias in IPS like in the old days. The meals arrive on 'wheels' from a central IPS location.
As far as who cleans our buildings, it really does not matter. We don't have enough money to pay for 'who we like' to clean up after us. As soon as we get over the idea that IPS is not in the business of friendship building and growing jobs for community members, the quicker we can get to the business we were hired to do; educate students. So many of us are sitting on the fence; we want our cake and eat it, too.
Well, if IPS subbed out their janitorial services, then we would not have to worry about Willie Giles using them to work on his personal residence like he did in Kansas City before he was relieved of his administrative duties. See below. _______________________________________________
Source: CHERYL W. THOMPSON Staff Writer The Kansas City Star
"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
I am worried that Dr. White and his "Bobble-Headed Board will use their collective knowledge to make the cuts to the budgets without input from the teachers. We need to start communication with the Board now, and allow the Board to hear from the teachers working in the classrooms.
Compliance Monitors are necessary (obvious problems at our school like hordes of truant students openly hanging out) were ignored by our administration until they started being reported. However this job could be done by parent volunteers, not administrators who make 90,000+ per year!
According to this article from the National School Boards Association journal (2/08), the Over/Under Program cost $1 million to set up. Have no idea what it is costing to maintain it in its second year. Do you think it has been worth the $1 million?
Also, sure didn't know about the O/U program having aides for the classes. Did not know about their day having 90 additional minutes of instruction.
------------------------------------------------ Indianapolis to “cluster” kids who have repeated grades twice
Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) will target its toughest academic cases next year: the more than 1,400 students who have been held back at least twice before eighth grade. Officials have started to assign all of them to separate classes at four sites for fifth- through seventh-graders and to more locations for struggling younger students. "We cannot reduce our dropouts in middle school and high school—we've got to start early," said Assistant Superintendent Li-Yen Johnson. "When they cross that second-grade threshold and they cannot read, they've already started on the downward trend of being a dropout." Getting these students caught up is critical to the district's success, said Superintendent Eugene White. Children are going to start with blank slates, he said, and teachers are going to provide basic instruction and build from there. The students in the program will be assigned to one school and will attend that school no matter where their family moves within the district. Older students would be together in the same classes. IPS hopes that will eliminate the shame of, for example, 13-year-old fifth-graders by moving them into a school with students their own age. Those students will have a teacher trained to work with struggling students and will have more staff to support them, including aides, therapists and counselors.
But there is a downside: Those schools where the struggling students are clustered will likely be unable to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. And it could cost $1 million to set up the program while IPS is trying to cut money from its budget to offer raises to staff. Another round of budget cuts is looming as property tax caps limit the district's revenue starting next year. The district plans to pay for portions of the program with federal Title I money, said Minetta Richardson. She is the district's director of Title I, a federal program that provides money to help struggling students. That money will be used to add about 90 minutes to the school day for the children, she said, so they could get additional instruction in the most important subjects. The district, School Board President Mary E. Busch said, will have to take the hit financially and in the annual ratings of failing schools because the students who are lagging deserve the help. "We'll do what we have to do," she said. "We've got to save our young people. We've got to save them."
I think they could save a lot of money for that over/under program by using the behavior specialists we have in the system instead of bringing in Greg Abati. Most of what he had to say has been presented by people like Dr. Cindy Jackson who is an I.P.S person and very good at presentations. It is a little like the verse in the Bible that says, "a prophet is without honor in his own country". Other districts/groups would pay to have Dr. Jackson come and present to them.
There is an over/under program where I teach, and it does not sound like the program described in the long post above. The guidance counselor has to split the day with another school, and I have not seen any classroom aides at all. Some of the over/under classes are huge. Their day is the same length as all the other regular students. It is not 90 minutes longer. I have not seen any "therapists" either. I can bet that Mary Busch has not set foot in an over/under class at my school.
In my opinion, we should be thankful for the Over-Under (O/U) program. What is the alternative? We will have a whole bunch of kids who drop-out on their 18th birthday who are unemployable. That might be a bigger cost to society in the long run. BTW, the length of day is the same but O/U students get longer Math and English classes of 90 minutes. Think about it for a minute. These are students who have been neglected by the indifference of previous year's teachers who simply passed them on to get rid of them. That is really who is to blame here. It is Elementary teachers and principals who did not want THEIR precious AYP or ISTEP scores affected by a kid that did not know multiplication facts or how to diagram a sentence, let alone read. This is also the true result of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). A whole group of students are being left behind because of the high stakes of testing and schools having to make annual progress. Improvement cannot be immediate nor will it be immediate. The O/U program is fighting not only a steep learning curve but the fact that these students have had it their way for years and are more than a little shocked that their world has suddenly changed and certainly challenge that change as much as possible. O/U teachers are charged with getting these students up two grade levels in one year. This is a monumental task for any student but especially for the O/U student. We need to keep this program and for good reason. We need to save these students. It really is as simple as that. How could you honestly argue against that? The reason for O/U's existence is the "way it has always been done" or "it was good enough for me so it should be for these students too." Unfortunately, the old way of teaching these students will not work. It has been proven by the fact that they are not making it. It is time to care and do something about it not run from the problem and pretend that these students will miraculously get it somehow. And just so you know I am not an administrator. I am an O/U teacher disgusted by the fact that students who should be in 9th grade are in 7th and cannot read above 3rd grade level or are barely aware of the existence of negative numbers.
I can't believe people would rather see lowest-bidder janitorial work and food service etc over cutting the many useless layers of management at all levels and their outrageous pay and benefits.
You get what you pay for. Not all of us are teachers that doesn't make us non-essential and your union has done us no good either. I'm not in any of the departments listed, it just seems disgusting and very "Not me, cut someone else" of all of you.
There are a lot of dead weight teachers that can and should go to.
A school district can outsource certain job categories without impacting the delivery of instruction within the classrooms.
Among those jobs are transportation services, janitorial services, food services, building maintenance, etc. This has absolutely nothing to do with these person's abilities or skill levels; it has everything to do with saving taxpayers' money.
People in food service careers, transportation careers, janitorial service careers are afforded opportunities for employment with every major private provider of those services. Teachers are trained for one thing, and the only place they can wotk is for a school, either public, private, or charter.
Think of all the places janitors, drivers, mechanics, food service folks can find jobs: airports, huge downtown office buildings, hospitals, restaurants, private industry, bus companies, and the list goes on. In fact, many of these places offer higher wages than IPS.
Schools are about one thing; educating children and we've simply spread our available money for that purpose way too thin. It's not a popular idea, but it's also an idea that would save IPS a large amount of money annually.
IPS is not a singular school, rather it is the state's largest urban school district. Please stop comparing the daily functions of a "school" with a "school corporation/district."
IPS at one time tried outsourcing some services, such as janitorial, and it was a hot mess.
You can't outsource food services simply because of the way IPS receives federal dollars to offer school-based meals, most of which are served twice a day at no charge to the majority of the district's students who are poor.
IPS already contracts with First Student to provide transportation because the district doesn't own enough buses of its own to run the routes. Who else should the district contract with as First Student has a monopoly on student transportation services?
While we are outsourcing food service, let's eliminate hot lunches. That will bring costs down because we will no longer need to pay for hot lunches to be transported all over town. A cold lunch of fruit, vegetables, and a sandwich is also healthier than the pizza pockets and chicken nuggets we serve kids today. When students eat 2/3 of their meals at school, we have an obligation to make them healthy meals. While we are outsourcing transportation, let's consider putting secondary students on IndyGo buses. It will cost much less to outsource transportation for grades K-6 only. The older kids could use their IPS school id's as a bus pass, and IndyGo could bill IPS per child, per ride, perhaps at a negotiated reduced fare. Their bus stops are well lighted and clearly marked.
I don't know if its the same person or not, but I actually laughed out loud when I noticed that the person criticized in the post above me posted that moronic posts come in clusters. The post above the insult suggests eliminating (federally funded) hot lunches. I actually get frustrated by the personal insults here, but I have to admit, whoever is posting about getting rid of computers and hot lunches and moving to a 4-day week isn't exactly brimming with brilliance! I thought downtown was out of touch, but some of these posts sound like they come from someone who has never had any experience with public education whatsoever.
Sure, let's serve the children in IPS cold lunches instead of hot ones. Afterall, that's the practice at the Marion County Jail, where inmates get a bologna sandwich for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Children don't need no stinkin' hot lunches. (All said with an eyeroll and shaking head in disbelief).
Yeah, some of these suggestions are kind of "out there." While, as a teacher, I think I should be one of the last sacrifices in a budget cut, I'd advocate teacher layoffs or salary cuts before elminating hot lunches and computers. I mean the students are why we are here, right? Can you imagine cutting patient care at the VA to protect doctor jobs and salaries? I do think if we all pitched in, we could do without many services, but I don't think teachers will do so. For example, if every teacher tutored a little every week, we could stop paying special tutors, but I bet you wouldn't get 20% of teachers to agree to do this. Similarly if we all took on an administrative duty or two. Again, you wouldn't get much cooperation, you'd get "that's not in my contract, call the union!" But that's how the parochial and charter schools do without so much administration. Each teacher takes on a little non-teacher duty.
"whoever is posting about getting rid of computers and hot lunches and moving to a 4-day week isn't exactly brimming with brilliance! I thought downtown was out of touch, but some of these posts sound like they come from someone who has never had any experience with public education whatsoever."
This comment was made by someone who seems to consider himself/herself to be an all-seeing, all-knowing guru of all things IPS. Praise be to your exalted genius name!
What's wrong with tossing around a few unconventional ideas?
Regarding cutting the week to four days: that is being discussed in school districts through the country.
How many IPS parents work 9-5, Monday-Friday jobs? A minority. Many (most) work evening and night shifts, weekend shifts. A large percentage don't work at all.
Well, No Child Left Behind (NCLB, or as the Feds like to call it, NickelB), requires Title I schools that have been flagged as failing to provide tutoring, services paid through federal funds to outside companies that have been approved by state DOEs.
The reasoning is students in failing schools need outside resources, or help, to help boost their achievement since the school itself supposedly isn't doing the job. That is a loose translation that teachers are failing students (which I don't agree with).
The irony here is those same teachers who are so-called failing poor and disadvantaged students can simultaneously be hired by these for-profit tutoring companies to provide tutoring services, particularly if the tutoring is done afterschool. Make sense?
I agree, any budget cut must be far away from the classroom, i.e. not eliminating teaching positions. But to suggest we eliminate computers, which are an effective tool for instruction and learning, and hot breakfast and lunch for children is beyond ridiculous.
About 30 years ago, IPS contracted with what was then called Metro, the precursor to IndyGo, to transport high school students. This was the arrangement as the different phases of the busing order was implemented by a federal court judge, yet the district didn't have a bus fleet of the same capacity. The bus transfer central location was downtown on the Circle, which the city routinely complained about. Seems the city movers and shakers didn't like all of those marauding teenagers Downtown. Hence, the partnership between Metro and IPS didn't last much longer into the middle to late 80s.
The OU program is a joke. The only reason it will be allowed to stay around is because it was created by Dr. White and he put Prudence Bridgewaters in charge of the program. Gene White will never eat crow. Therefore, the program will be around until he is gone. 5 million per year down the drain...
I have friends who teach in districts (both urban, although smaller, and rura) that do this to save cost. It is just a matter of the students and teachers adjusting. They actually like it better than the traditional week. In addition to those who talk about the kids being out on the street. I remind them we are and educational institution (not a sitting service). The parents will adjust.
The parent did not suggest getting rid of computers. Rather just questioned giving each student a laptop. So, our inclass computers and computer labs are safe.
I also think giving laptops is questionable. The insurance and upkeep sounds expensive for a whole high school. I also think that trying to keep these monitored on the internet outside of school will be challenging. I don't think IPS wants to get sued for giving access to some sites. There are other concerns such as these (along the same type of lines) that need to be properly addressed as well.
I don't mind in school but to give take home computers and take actual books away is questionable to me. Not sure that the benefits will out weigh the many possible negatives.
Well sorry about grammar and spelling (doing this quickly while on my second job between customers. I am working on this new years eve.
What is the urban example? The city or district? I'm interested in how that is working? And as far as the laptops, my problem is that IPS already takes more funding per student and gives each student less for it. I know we as teachers aren't supposed to acknowledge that, but we all know that's true. So I think its important that the budget cuts take from the excess (administration, unnecessary programs and services) rather than from students (laptops, hot lunches, etc.)
I'd take a 4 day week over being laid off, salary frozen, or whatever else they have in store.
I also think giving kids with a welfare mentality (someone else will take care of it) laptops is/was a bad idea. Anyone who has seen the state of the labs, especially the O/U labs after they've been allowed to run wild in one would agree.
If IPS thinks they've got a lot of people leaving the district for the township schools and charters NOW, just see what happens if they try to change to a 4-day school week or take away laptops or hot lunches. I don't imagine that those other cities had charter schools that parents could easily switch to, did they?
See, I'm the other way around. I would take frozen salaries over making IPS more and more like a jail and less and less like a "good" school district. It would be cool if we could each decide, wouldn't it? If those of us who would prefer to take it from the kids would all teach in their own schools together and all of us who would prefer the pay freeze and keep the hot lunches, laptops, 5-day week, etc. to work in the other schools together. That would certainly be an interesting experiment, wouldn't it?
Tell me, how does a five-day school week benefit kids over the concept of a four-day school week?
Kids would love the extra day away from school. School is boring to the vast majority of them and it seems like "jail" to them no matter how talented and exciting a particular teacher thinks he/she is.
A kid who knows he/she is not going to have to be in school for five long days might be more inclined to be more focused on school the four days he/she attends.
Too many teachers seem to think they are supposed to be surrogate parents to these kids - Mommy and Daddy Dearists. You aren't their parents, you are their teachers. It's not your job to wet nurse them.
Following your logic, why not have school seven days a week, 24 hours a day? That way you could really try to micromanage their lives and really try to be their Mommies and Daddies.
Um, do you really think that anyone who opposes a 4-day school week is trying to micromanage children and be their surrogate parents. Because that's kind of insane.
I'm not trying to micromanage anything. I have a belief about education that you disagree with. The objective data on the impact (positive or negative) of 4-day weeks is pretty thin, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. Fine. The thing is, you know as well as I do that parents and taxpayers would disagree with you too. And whether you dislike Mommy and Daddy Dearest or not, as long as the township schools and charter schools keep 5-day weeks, so will IPS. And if they don't, students will move. And so will teachers.
To the education resolution question above, I resolve to be more patient, more positive and more creative. While I don't agree with all the comments here (or even most, lol) I do credit this blog, along with a couple of other things, as being catalysts for a kind of "renewal" of my outlook and remembering why I got into education in the first place. This break has been great for reflection, and I am kind of excited to get back into the trenches. (Check back with me in April, and see if I still feel renewed, lol)
4 posts up, it seems like jail to them because they're treated like they're already in. police are sent in to rooms for disruptive kids, things that would have been settled by a playground fight or whatever in past days now ends in court dates.
All of the credible research shows that urban children benefit from more, not less, school time - longer days and even Saturday school. Look at the KIPP charter school and year-round models. And there is a ton of research on the negative effects of summer break, the so-called summer slide, for urban and disadvantaged children.
So why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?
Wow, You can tell the adminstrators' post from the classroom teachers that are working hard everyday in the classrooms. We have major budget issues and we do not want to look at other methods of resolving the issues that we face. The methods that we are currently using now are "working" so well! NOT! It would be great if this site would address issues and look for resolutions instead of the attacks on each other.
Believe it or not, I think the person who posted the attacks (calling people idiots, co-dependent, micromanaging, etc., and accusing all urban children of having welfare mentalities, etc.,) is actually most likely the blogmaster, not an administrator.
1. Maybe I've overlooked it, but I haven't seen any posts on this blog topic that said all urban children have "welfare mentalities?" Where is that written? I don't recall any posts describing any "mentalities" of urban children.
2. About this comment:
"So why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?"
I didn't see anyone advocating for less instruction time. If you read more closely you would find that what is being discussed is adding more instruction time to the four days to amount to the same amount of instruction time in a five-day week.
Okay, I just made the post right above and in re-checking the posts, I made a mistake. Yes, there was a mention of "welfare mentality." I apologize for missing that.
I certainly disagree with that kind of stereotyping.
"All of the credible research shows that urban children benefit from more, not less, school time - longer days and even Saturday school. Look at the KIPP charter school and year-round models. And there is a ton of research on the negative effects of summer break, the so-called summer slide, for urban and disadvantaged children."
Year round schools have the same number of days as regular schedules schools. Just more spaced out with a shorter summer. (My daughter has attended both.) I think she has done better in the year round concept her state testing definetely has been better. I would not mind a four day school (with longer days). I would also not mind a high school (a real one, not a magnet) going to this. I think my daughter would once again do better. Shorter focus time and breaks is beneficial more than people know. Families just adjust vacation and family time differently.
So, go to four days a week (we the parents will adjust). And heck put the whole district on year round school. Who knows it might work. (Again parents and families will adjust.)
So why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?
There's an interesting article on MSN today about how to recognize a toxic work environment, and if it's driving you crazy. With an open mind and no prejudice, I read it and compared it to our situation in IPS....and sadly, every component in the article matched to IPS.
I agree with the poster above. Parents wouldn't "adjust," they would simply change schools. Especially if some of these policies were made district-wide, as opposed to magnet options.
This year Ihave many,many students who should still be in fourth grade. There is no way they could have been passed as they can't even subtract and multiply. There were four students I didn't pass to the next grade but they were sent on anyway. Just wanted to throw that in when people say the teacher from last year shouldn't have passed them. I didn't.
More "time on task" does not necessarily translate into better learning. That's been proven time and time again since the 1980s.
It's quality, not quantity.
Plus, a four-day week does not mean less time on task. Just condensing five days into four days - same amount of hours in the classroom
Also, IPS kids already go to school many more days than many of the Indy Metro schools.
My kid is a high school student (in another district) and he gets this Monday off.
As I understand it, most of the charter schools have waiting lists. I don't see a great influx of kids into charter schools just because an adjustment would be made to four days.
Charter schools are the big "scary monster" in many of these discussions. But many are a joke and are failing miserably. The public is beginning to realize this. ------------ FYI: I have an earned Ph.D., but not from Indiana Wesleyan.
As a parent and a county business person...why all of the comments about Indiana Wesleyan? I have many friends...CPA, Teachers, Nurses, and Bankers who are proud graduates of Indiana Wesleyan University.
I happen to be a graduate of the "Great Purdue" University. However, slamming an academic institution that holds the same state and national accrediations as IU, Purdue, Ball State, Marion College, Notre Dame, etc. is really meaningless.
Last time I checked, it is not the University you came from...but what contributions you make to society after graduation that really matters.
Don't get it twisted...I love my Purdue! However, can we "PLEASE" stop slamming our universities. If I have my thoughts correct, there are many teachers in IPS, Franklin Township, Warren, Wayne, Lawerance, Washington, etc. with IWU degrees.
I may not have attended these institutions...however, I respect my professional peers who have attended.
Spending time shooting down others or their university only illustrates the massive amount of ignorance and social hatered we have in our own city, state, and country.
Then again, we have the nerve as a nation to talk about other countries and how we are preceived by them. No wonder many countries think we're truly ignorant. Look how we talk about each other!
Simply Shameful! (If I did not spell something correctly...sorry I guess I attend a class at Purdue!)
I agree with the post above! Yet we believe we're actually better than the Freedom haters in power in Iran who are crushing student and civial protest.
I guess their corrupt leaders read this blog and thought that if Americans can post such negative and aweful things about each other, then why can't we put our thoughts and words into action!
O...yeah...they can tell others how to treat their citizens when they can't even treat themselves with common kindness!
It's common knowledge that Indiana Wesleyan is a diploma mill. Stating what is obvious and commonly recognized is not saying anything "awful" or "shameful" about another person.
It is just stating the plain truth about a weak (co-called) university.
They're AWESOME ALWAYS! I am so very proud to be a Purdue Graduate. I would not change anything with my personal choice of selecting this school. However, saying that IWU is a diploma mill is really not being totally honest or truthful. Simply because they have fast track courses the same as others...does not make it a diploma mill. To be very honest, my graduate school (Purdue) is modeling many of their graduate courses to meet the demand of their students.
If a university has been granted by a national and state body makes it a legal and up standing university. I may not like the fact that they offer speedy courses...however, it is not fare to call them a diploma mill.
It may not be in our professional opinion to attend. But we should agree that name calling is not good. After all...most of Marion County Schools have a ton of teachers that have attended this place...including some of the best and wrost teachers in your building.
To the poster above, I don't think charter schools are a "scary monster" but I don't think they can be ignored either. There are only a handful of Indianapolis charter schools that I think are "good schools" but I think in the next 10 years, we will see a major shift away from traditional boundary schools as the default in Indianapolis. As charter school organizers gain more experience, we will see more and more of the better programs and less and less of the bad ones. The only hope IPS has of retaining a majority of the student population is by expanding its magnet programs. Otherwise, charters will continue to attract more and more students away from IPS. I think offering an optional magnet with a 4-day school week might work. Maybe it would be more popular than I am giving it credit for. But putting any unpopular policy in effect "across the board" would be suicide for IPS when people have the option to go elsewhere.
Interesting idea, this 4-day week. Would teachers be willing to take the 20% pay cut that it entails? Or would you want to use the fifth day for training, optional enrichment activities, etc? If this is implemented, the "off day" should be Monday. We already lose 4 Mondays a year to holidays.
Get rid of the O/U program???? Some of you teachers are complete idiots. You must be one of the teachers that passed some of these students or simply gave up because you couldn't make a difference. What is the alternative for these kids if they have to rely on people like you? Too many kids fall in between the cracks nowadays and as long as there are educators out there willing to make a difference and teach these kids, the program should remain intact. At least they have a safe place to go during the day and have the opportunity to advance where they were given up on before.
Getting rid of administrative perks, bonuses, and car allowances would help. OK, I am being a bit snide.
ReplyDeleteI am also a bit concerned about these after school tutoring companies. I understand that the DOE mandates we have tutoring, but it seems criminal to spend so much for companies that have no true vested interest in IPS. I have yet to see one up and running at my school.
1. How about cutting the Central Office on Walnut.
ReplyDeletePut those offices out in the schools accessable to the public. Maybe these downtown administrators will (by being near the students) understand what is really happening in the buildings.
2. Cut administration down to one principal and vice principal per school.
3. Cut teaching coaches. Put them back into the classroom serving the students and reduce their pay down to teachers.
Just off the top of my head.
1. Cut all compliance monitors! Begin trusting the principals to know when the grass needs to be cut and the bulletin boards need to be changed.
ReplyDelete2. Cut afterschool tutoring payments by 60%.
3.Put all coaches--data, literacy, math,etc.--either back in the classroom or change their status to part-time.
4.FIRE all consultants ASAP!!!
5.If all else fails, expand school by one hour and cut one day a week for one year.
Dibels, SRA testing, district benchmarks and Rubicon. If the state demands these things then bill the state. This is useless data that keeps people employed downtown. It has nothing to do with learning or helping teachers teach. These companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Let the state drop ISTEP this year too. Why shouldn't they suffer like the rest of us??
ReplyDeleteRequire all certified "office workers" to sub in uncovered classrooms on a rotating basis.
ReplyDeleteThe 3.5% cuts from the state education budget will have to be cuts from the General Fund.
ReplyDeleteBefore we lose our grasp on the picture, let's review what cannot be cut.
Title 1 monies will not be cut. If you're a Title 1 teacher or your program position is funded by Title 1, don't let IPS tell you your job and/or your program are being cut.
Special Education teachers are paid with IDEA grant funds which are not mixed with IPS General Funds. Don't allow IPS to tell you that your position or your program are being cut. Several coaches positions are also funded by IDEA grant monies, not General Funds.
This crisis might be a good time for IPS to clean up the co-mingling of IDEA, Title 1, and General Fund monies. Some special ed teachers have been told that teaching a Title 1 or a gen ed class is OK; it's not!
All those outside tutors, as much as we disdain their parasitic ways, are paid with Title 1 monies, even Jimmy Hill and his Best Practices Consulting group. NCLB and AYP dictate the hiring of consultants who are supposed to help increase student achievement. Maybe the best we can hope for with these guys is that strict oversight is put into play with their work. Also, we could expect the School Board to be more intentional in their scrutiny about the prior results these tutoring groups have realized.
We should just forget about griping about the Cadre because they're being paid from Stimulus Funds which are not recurring monies. One more year, and the Stimulus Fund money will terminate. Besides the Stimulus Fund monies had short strings attached, as with most government gifts, that the money could only be spent toward Professional Development.
Positions funded through the General Fund include that $1.5M+ in salaries/benefits paid to the 'Top 10 Earners' in the district, the Ed Center elite, so to speak. Also, that group of 173 administrators who earn between $100K and $150K are paid from General Funds. That group would include the several Directors, the Compliance Monitors (the clipboard brigade), the high school principals. Basically, most of the people who earn more than $70K base salary are not teachers (a few exceptions for some long-time teachers w/advanced degrees). A total of 1,919 IPS employees earn more than $70K annually. The State DOE has recommended that administrative compensations be reduced! A total of 36% of IPS employees fall into the administrative/supervisory ranks and that's a nice chunk of change that could be reduced or eliminated in some cases. In checking the IN range of IPS salaries, it should be noted that instructional coaches receive the exact same pay as classroom teachers.
Now onto Athletic Directors. A couple of years ago, Dr. White recommended to the Board that ALL Athletic Directors receive a large salary increase. The Board approved this. Now, all Athletic Directors receive annual salaries of $86K+. With the reduction of several varsity football programs, many of the Athletic Directors' duties/responsibilities will shrink significantly, yet we've heard nothing about a reduction in their compensation, have we? That's an area to tackle.
Personally, I don't find the testing data useless at all. Granted, some of the emphasis put on them is silly, but I do think we need universal, standardized methods to evaluate the progress of students and schools compared with other students and other schools, nationally and internationally. In fact, if I were White, that's where I would focus on what programs to cut -- whether they're producing results that are better than before the programs. I'm not a fan of "across the board" anything. If a school is succeeding with two principals, fine. But if the extra principal isn't helping, then fire him/her. If a tutoring program isn't improving things, then stop it. I have my suspicions about which programs and employees are "feel-good" and which are actually effective, but I don't have access to the data that central office has. Unfortunately, they won't cut what doesn't work because they have vendors to keep happy. But there is a quite a bit that could be cut from the IPS budget without negatively impacting a single student or teacher. I'd start there.
ReplyDeleteI am not a teacher in IPS, but an employee of the district, will this cut cause for some of the high schools with low attendance to close?
ReplyDeleteAlso, will other positions that are not teachers/supervisory roles be up for elimination?
If an employee is paid from General Funds, then that position could be on a slippery slope.
ReplyDeleteThe State Dept. of Education has gone on record stating that the cuts should not mean reducing the number of classroom teachers. That was fairly clear from the State Board of Education.
The state DOE recommendations for cutting district budgets included: outsourcing transportation services, outsourcing janitorial services, sharing services with other districts, and reducing administrative compensation. If IPS follows the state's recommendations, then teachers would not be cut.
Closing schools with under-enrollment makes financial sense. Move the students to another building that has the space. Heating/cooling a building at less than capacity is wasteful. It costs the same to heat/cool a full building as it does an empty building.
We could certainly save a bundle of money by having transportation operated by an outside group. The salaries, the insurance benefits, the purchase of buses, the mechanical service on buses, etc. could be bidded out to an outside subcontractor. The same situation would apply to custodial services. Same goes for Food Services which could be subcontracted.
Did you realize that IPS has 815 employees classified as 'painters'? Save some money; when something really needs to be painted, hire a painter from the private sector -- cheaper in the long run. Painting companies are so hungry for business they'll give extremely competitive bids in these economic times.
When IPS decides to 'stick to the knitting' and fulfill its sole intended purpose, educating children, then the budget woes will disappear. We have spread ourselves way too thin and lost sight of our purpose.
These are the times when IEA leadership needs to flex its strong arms; however, I don't have faith that the current IEA president is up for this job. We need someone with the tenacity of a bull dog who latches onto your pant cuff and won't let go.
Close Donnan MS and move the kids to Manual. Manual is under capacity and can take our kids moved in there. It would be interesting to see our favorite news paper reporter thoughts after seen my students over at Manual.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, mayb cancel the lap top comptuers that every student at Manual will have instead of books. We already have books and the cost for these laptop computers the students will have to go to classes must be very expensive (with insurance and replacements).
ReplyDeleteIts seems to me books are cheeper than computers. We all grew up on books and turning pages. Why is it so educationaly ineffective that my daughter in March will stop doing it?
Save the money as part of the budget cuts.
From the Board minutes of 3/24/09
ReplyDeleteAs we know, at the close of each Board meeting, the Board members are encouraged to make comments.
Here's what they had to say on 3/24/09.
________________________________________________
COMMISSIONERS’ COMMENTS
Commissioner Brown spoke about the basketball season in IPS, and he noted several IPS graduates that are now playing in the NBA.
The diesel mechanic program at Tech was also mentioned by Commissioner Brown, and he noted that students can start making $45,000 to $50,000 right out of high school if they have taken this course.
With Commissioner Brown’s message, Commissioner Bentley stated that Corey Wade, a former Broad Ripple High School student, plays in the National Baseball League in Los Angeles.
Commissioner Bentley said she attended the VH1-Brighthouse concert at the State House, and that she did a site visit at IPS School No. 84 with regards to its IB program.
Commissioner Cohen said he went to see Miriam Wright-Edelman speak at Clowes Hall, and that he was happy to see several Tech students in attendance.
President Busch extended thanks to Linda Poulter and Keith White for their wonderful work with VH1 and Brighthouse.
President Busch said that she and several other Board members attended the annual Minority Business/Professional Achievers awards dinner, and that IPS’ own Dexter Suggs was recognized.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Board, the President declared the meeting adjourned.
___________________________________
Wow! NBA players, pro baseball player, concerts, awards dinners, Clowes Hall speakers, and pats on the backs of our own...Double wow! What profound comments!
Some great insight and commentary on this blog today! What a relief after two days of "ain't it great to be an IPS teacher!" babble the previous couple of days.
ReplyDeleteI really think this person's idea holds great merit:
"5.If all else fails, expand school by one hour and cut one day a week for one year."
I'd do that even if all else didn't fail. Take off one day of keeping the buildings open, paying huge transportation costs, etc. etc. The savings for the entire district would be huge.
In general, the extravagant administrative salaries and benefits (including free health insurance) need to be cut and all of the various "nitpicking" consultants, teaching coaches, etc., positions need to be eliminated.
Also, the trips to China and all of the various and sundry perks going to the administrators.
And how about eliminating the "Keep Jimmy Hill Rich Fund" and get permission from the DOE to use those wasted hundreds of thousands in the classrooms.
There is no need to cut classroom teacher jobs. There is plenty of "fat" in the IPS budget that can be trimmed without laying off ONE teacher or closing ONE elementary school.
Oh for goodness sake. Never, ever, ever will IPS move to a 4-day week and the repeated mention of it here really undermines any intelligent discussion. And get rid of computers? Are you people out of your mind? I hope and pray it's all the same person who spouts this stuff. I know someone said the IP address shows the blogmaster pretends to be several people, but I don't know how to check that. All I know is that when one moronic thing is posted it seems to bring about several, and I just can't fathom that there are really that many ignorant teachers posting here. IPS is an inner city school. Some poster(s) obviously don't want to be part of that, and that's not my business, but surely people realize how completely impractical it is to shut down an inner city school for one day a week and leave those kids out in the street. And I would rather double my class size than give up my computers. I mean, hell, shouldn't we at least try to give these kids a decent shot at a future? Parents and taxpayers read this blog. This is the kind of thing that makes us all look backward and ignorant. No matter what grudge you hold against central office, you owe it to your fellow teachers to not make us all look like ignorant fools. There are a lot of intelligent posts here, but you don't like those. You actually prefer the ignorance and ugliness. Either let the real teachers post, or shut down the blog. But this charade you have going is tiresome and distracting from every single discussion that has any merit.
ReplyDeleteDitto to the above poster re: instructional technology via computers. Technology is not just the 'wave of the future', it IS the future! Case in point, sit back from your computer monitor for a nano second and think; we, a group of adults, are gathered here on this blog sharing ideas/arguing/bickering/speaking our opinions all because we're proficient in the use of computer technology. Most, if not all, of communication today is based on the foundation of computer knowledge and proficiency. So, let's forget dropping computers in an attempt to cut the budget.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, sticking with the DOE's recommendations of: 1) outsourcing transportation and janitorial services, 2) sharing services w/other districts, and 3) reducing administrative compensation would likely take care of the budget cuts we're facing. Now, we just need to get IPS to crunch some 'honest' numbers regarding these recommendations.
While IPS is crunching numbers, maybe we should think on the fact that IPS has become a major source of jobs for many folks, other than teachers; that is not our purpose. Our purpose is to provide education to students, not to provide or 'make up' jobs for community members. We're not in the business of economic development for workers in transportation services, janitorial services, food services, etc. We've spread our decreasing funds with an ever expanding workforce of employees who do not provide educational services. Those positions can be subcontracted/outsourced to the lowest bidder.
Just a thought. If anyone thinks subcontracting transportation services is a poor idea, please remember that the transportation workers are the ones who shut down the entire IPS district when the Colts won the Super Bowl. Sure, it was fun for a day, but stop and think about the ramifications; a group of classified employees decided unilaterally to shut down a major school system for their pleasure. Not cool! If transportation were outsourced, that would never happen.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea to consider. The 'top 10' highest paid IPS people earn collectively over $1.5M. Reduce their administrative compensation by 10% which would result in an immediate savings of $150K.
ReplyDeleteOf course they'd shout to the high heavens, threaten any and everyone, and gnash their teeth, but stop and think for a moment. Do you really believe that any one of those ten people would quit, would walk away, would not show up for their jobs, or would leave IPS in any way?
No, not one of those ten people would leave. They can't afford to leave. They could never find a replacement position that paid so well! They are not that special, not nationally known for their leadership prowess, not big names in the education scene.
To bring home this thought, think about Willie Giles trying to find another job; think about Jane Kendricks trying to find another job; think about Li-Yen Johnson trying to find another job; even contemplate Eugene White trying to find another job w/equal pay. They would be adrift in a sea of more accomplished counterparts, and they know it!
Does IPS really need to deal with paying wages, paying health insurance, dealing with union issues, and assorted issues with 310 custodians?
ReplyDeleteProbably not. Cleaning our buildings is a service that could be subbed out to a janitorial services contractor. The savings monetarily would be far greater than the Board could imagine.
Presently, IPS must deal with benefits, wages, health insurance, sick leave, personal issues, hirings, firings, and a whole host of related issues that could be eliminated by outsourcing janitorial services. Heck, I'll volunteer to empty my classroom trashcan at the close of the day if I have a designated dumpster directly behind the school.
I disagree. I like knowing who will be cleaning in the building. I don't want anymore traffic from outsiders than we all ready have.
ReplyDeleteHow about taking sealed bids for IPS food services?
ReplyDeleteThe food is already prepared at a central location. There are no nice, sweet grandmothers cooking breakfast and lunch in the back of the cafeterias in IPS like in the old days. The meals arrive on 'wheels' from a central IPS location.
As far as who cleans our buildings, it really does not matter. We don't have enough money to pay for 'who we like' to clean up after us. As soon as we get over the idea that IPS is not in the business of friendship building and growing jobs for community members, the quicker we can get to the business we were hired to do; educate students. So many of us are sitting on the fence; we want our cake and eat it, too.
Well, if IPS subbed out their janitorial services, then we would not have to worry about Willie Giles using them to work on his personal residence like he did in Kansas City before he was relieved of his administrative duties. See below.
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
Source: CHERYL W. THOMPSON Staff Writer
The Kansas City Star
"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
You are so predictble, regurgitating the same ole, same ole, like a broken Mahalia Jackson record.
ReplyDeletePlease find some new material.
I am worried that Dr. White and his "Bobble-Headed Board will use their collective knowledge to make the cuts to the budgets without input from the teachers. We need to start communication with the Board now, and allow the Board to hear from the teachers working in the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteCompliance Monitors are necessary (obvious problems at our school like hordes of truant students openly hanging out) were ignored by our administration until they started being reported. However this job could be done by parent volunteers, not administrators who make 90,000+ per year!
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article from the National School Boards Association journal (2/08), the Over/Under Program cost $1 million to set up. Have no idea what it is costing to maintain it in its second year. Do you think it has been worth the $1 million?
ReplyDeleteAlso, sure didn't know about the O/U program having aides for the classes. Did not know about their day having 90 additional minutes of instruction.
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Indianapolis to “cluster” kids who have repeated grades twice
Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) will target its toughest academic cases next year: the more than 1,400 students who have been held back at least twice before eighth grade. Officials have started to assign all of them to separate classes at four sites for fifth- through seventh-graders and to more locations for struggling younger students. "We cannot reduce our dropouts in middle school and high school—we've got to start early," said Assistant Superintendent Li-Yen Johnson. "When they cross that second-grade threshold and they cannot read, they've already started on the downward trend of being a dropout." Getting these students caught up is critical to the district's success, said Superintendent Eugene White. Children are going to start with blank slates, he said, and teachers are going to provide basic instruction and build from there. The students in the program will be assigned to one school and will attend that school no matter where their family moves within the district. Older students would be together in the same classes. IPS hopes that will eliminate the shame of, for example, 13-year-old fifth-graders by moving them into a school with students their own age. Those students will have a teacher trained to work with struggling students and will have more staff to support them, including aides, therapists and counselors.
But there is a downside: Those schools where the struggling students are clustered will likely be unable to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. And it could cost $1 million to set up the program while IPS is trying to cut money from its budget to offer raises to staff. Another round of budget cuts is looming as property tax caps limit the district's revenue starting next year. The district plans to pay for portions of the program with federal Title I money, said Minetta Richardson. She is the district's director of Title I, a federal program that provides money to help struggling students. That money will be used to add about 90 minutes to the school day for the children, she said, so they could get additional instruction in the most important subjects. The district, School Board President Mary E. Busch said, will have to take the hit financially and in the annual ratings of failing schools because the students who are lagging deserve the help. "We'll do what we have to do," she said. "We've got to save our young people. We've got to save them."
I think they could save a lot of money for that over/under program by using the behavior specialists we have in the system instead of bringing in Greg Abati. Most of what he had to say has been presented by people like Dr. Cindy Jackson who is an I.P.S person and very good at presentations. It is a little like the verse in the Bible that says, "a prophet is without honor in his own country". Other districts/groups would pay to have Dr. Jackson come and present to them.
ReplyDeleteThere is an over/under program where I teach, and it does not sound like the program described in the long post above. The guidance counselor has to split the day with another school, and I have not seen any classroom aides at all. Some of the over/under classes are huge. Their day is the same length as all the other regular students. It is not 90 minutes longer. I have not seen any "therapists" either. I can bet that Mary Busch has not set foot in an over/under class at my school.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we should be thankful for the Over-Under (O/U) program. What is the alternative? We will have a whole bunch of kids who drop-out on their 18th birthday who are unemployable. That might be a bigger cost to society in the long run. BTW, the length of day is the same but O/U students get longer Math and English classes of 90 minutes. Think about it for a minute. These are students who have been neglected by the indifference of previous year's teachers who simply passed them on to get rid of them. That is really who is to blame here. It is Elementary teachers and principals who did not want THEIR precious AYP or ISTEP scores affected by a kid that did not know multiplication facts or how to diagram a sentence, let alone read. This is also the true result of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). A whole group of students are being left behind because of the high stakes of testing and schools having to make annual progress. Improvement cannot be immediate nor will it be immediate. The O/U program is fighting not only a steep learning curve but the fact that these students have had it their way for years and are more than a little shocked that their world has suddenly changed and certainly challenge that change as much as possible. O/U teachers are charged with getting these students up two grade levels in one year. This is a monumental task for any student but especially for the O/U student. We need to keep this program and for good reason. We need to save these students. It really is as simple as that. How could you honestly argue against that? The reason for O/U's existence is the "way it has always been done" or "it was good enough for me so it should be for these students too." Unfortunately, the old way of teaching these students will not work. It has been proven by the fact that they are not making it. It is time to care and do something about it not run from the problem and pretend that these students will miraculously get it somehow. And just so you know I am not an administrator. I am an O/U teacher disgusted by the fact that students who should be in 9th grade are in 7th and cannot read above 3rd grade level or are barely aware of the existence of negative numbers.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe people would rather see lowest-bidder janitorial work and food service etc over cutting the many useless layers of management at all levels and their outrageous pay and benefits.
ReplyDeleteYou get what you pay for. Not all of us are teachers that doesn't make us non-essential and your union has done us no good either. I'm not in any of the departments listed, it just seems disgusting and very "Not me, cut someone else" of all of you.
There are a lot of dead weight teachers that can and should go to.
"Behind every great fortune there is a crime."
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, but I doubt it.
A school district can outsource certain job categories without impacting the delivery of instruction within the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteAmong those jobs are transportation services, janitorial services, food services, building maintenance, etc. This has absolutely nothing to do with these person's abilities or skill levels; it has everything to do with saving taxpayers' money.
People in food service careers, transportation careers, janitorial service careers are afforded opportunities for employment with every major private provider of those services. Teachers are trained for one thing, and the only place they can wotk is for a school, either public, private, or charter.
Think of all the places janitors, drivers, mechanics, food service folks can find jobs: airports, huge downtown office buildings, hospitals, restaurants, private industry, bus companies, and the list goes on. In fact, many of these places offer higher wages than IPS.
Schools are about one thing; educating children and we've simply spread our available money for that purpose way too thin. It's not a popular idea, but it's also an idea that would save IPS a large amount of money annually.
IPS is not a singular school, rather it is the state's largest urban school district. Please stop comparing the daily functions of a "school" with a "school corporation/district."
ReplyDeleteIPS at one time tried outsourcing some services, such as janitorial, and it was a hot mess.
You can't outsource food services simply because of the way IPS receives federal dollars to offer school-based meals, most of which are served twice a day at no charge to the majority of the district's students who are poor.
IPS already contracts with First Student to provide transportation because the district doesn't own enough buses of its own to run the routes. Who else should the district contract with as First Student has a monopoly on student transportation services?
While we are outsourcing food service, let's eliminate hot lunches. That will bring costs down because we will no longer need to pay for hot lunches to be transported all over town. A cold lunch of fruit, vegetables, and a sandwich is also healthier than the pizza pockets and chicken nuggets we serve kids today.
ReplyDeleteWhen students eat 2/3 of their meals at school, we have an obligation to make them healthy meals.
While we are outsourcing transportation, let's consider putting secondary students on IndyGo buses. It will cost much less to outsource transportation for grades K-6 only. The older kids could use their IPS school id's as a bus pass, and IndyGo could bill IPS per child, per ride, perhaps at a negotiated reduced fare. Their bus stops are well lighted and clearly marked.
"No matter what grudge you hold against central office, you owe it to your fellow teachers to not make us all look like ignorant fools."
ReplyDeleteTo the person who wrote the above comment:
You've done a good job of that yourself.
I don't know if its the same person or not, but I actually laughed out loud when I noticed that the person criticized in the post above me posted that moronic posts come in clusters. The post above the insult suggests eliminating (federally funded) hot lunches. I actually get frustrated by the personal insults here, but I have to admit, whoever is posting about getting rid of computers and hot lunches and moving to a 4-day week isn't exactly brimming with brilliance! I thought downtown was out of touch, but some of these posts sound like they come from someone who has never had any experience with public education whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteSure, let's serve the children in IPS cold lunches instead of hot ones. Afterall, that's the practice at the Marion County Jail, where inmates get a bologna sandwich for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
ReplyDeleteChildren don't need no stinkin' hot lunches.
(All said with an eyeroll and shaking head in disbelief).
Yeah, some of these suggestions are kind of "out there." While, as a teacher, I think I should be one of the last sacrifices in a budget cut, I'd advocate teacher layoffs or salary cuts before elminating hot lunches and computers. I mean the students are why we are here, right? Can you imagine cutting patient care at the VA to protect doctor jobs and salaries? I do think if we all pitched in, we could do without many services, but I don't think teachers will do so. For example, if every teacher tutored a little every week, we could stop paying special tutors, but I bet you wouldn't get 20% of teachers to agree to do this. Similarly if we all took on an administrative duty or two. Again, you wouldn't get much cooperation, you'd get "that's not in my contract, call the union!" But that's how the parochial and charter schools do without so much administration. Each teacher takes on a little non-teacher duty.
ReplyDelete"whoever is posting about getting rid of computers and hot lunches and moving to a 4-day week isn't exactly brimming with brilliance! I thought downtown was out of touch, but some of these posts sound like they come from someone who has never had any experience with public education whatsoever."
ReplyDeleteThis comment was made by someone who seems to consider himself/herself to be an all-seeing, all-knowing guru of all things IPS. Praise be to your exalted genius name!
What's wrong with tossing around a few unconventional ideas?
Regarding cutting the week to four days: that is being discussed in school districts through the country.
How many IPS parents work 9-5, Monday-Friday jobs? A minority. Many (most) work evening and night shifts, weekend shifts. A large percentage don't work at all.
IPS isn't supposed to be a community daycare.
Well, No Child Left Behind (NCLB, or as the Feds like to call it, NickelB), requires Title I schools that have been flagged as failing to provide tutoring, services paid through federal funds to outside companies that have been approved by state DOEs.
ReplyDeleteThe reasoning is students in failing schools need outside resources, or help, to help boost their achievement since the school itself supposedly isn't doing the job. That is a loose translation that teachers are failing students (which I don't agree with).
The irony here is those same teachers who are so-called failing poor and disadvantaged students can simultaneously be hired by these for-profit tutoring companies to provide tutoring services, particularly if the tutoring is done afterschool. Make sense?
I agree, any budget cut must be far away from the classroom, i.e. not eliminating teaching positions. But to suggest we eliminate computers, which are an effective tool for instruction and learning, and hot breakfast and lunch for children is beyond ridiculous.
About 30 years ago, IPS contracted with what was then called Metro, the precursor to IndyGo, to transport high school students. This was the arrangement as the different phases of the busing order was implemented by a federal court judge, yet the district didn't have a bus fleet of the same capacity. The bus transfer central location was downtown on the Circle, which the city routinely complained about. Seems the city movers and shakers didn't like all of those marauding teenagers Downtown. Hence, the partnership between Metro and IPS didn't last much longer into the middle to late 80s.
The OU program is a joke. The only reason it will be allowed to stay around is because it was created by Dr. White and he put Prudence Bridgewaters in charge of the program. Gene White will never eat crow. Therefore, the program will be around until he is gone. 5 million per year down the drain...
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to chime in to all these comments.
ReplyDeleteA four day week is not that out of touch.
I have friends who teach in districts (both urban, although smaller, and rura) that do this to save cost. It is just a matter of the students and teachers adjusting. They actually like it better than the traditional week. In addition to those who talk about the kids being out on the street. I remind them we are and educational institution (not a sitting service). The parents will adjust.
The parent did not suggest getting rid of computers. Rather just questioned giving each student a laptop. So, our inclass computers and computer labs are safe.
I also think giving laptops is questionable. The insurance and upkeep sounds expensive for a whole high school. I also think that trying to keep these monitored on the internet outside of school will be challenging. I don't think IPS wants to get sued for giving access to some sites. There are other concerns such as these (along the same type of lines) that need to be properly addressed as well.
I don't mind in school but to give take home computers and take actual books away is questionable to me. Not sure that the benefits will out weigh the many possible negatives.
Well sorry about grammar and spelling (doing this quickly while on my second job between customers. I am working on this new years eve.
Have a good final few days everyone.
So does anyone have any school-related New Years' Resolutions?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the urban example? The city or district? I'm interested in how that is working? And as far as the laptops, my problem is that IPS already takes more funding per student and gives each student less for it. I know we as teachers aren't supposed to acknowledge that, but we all know that's true. So I think its important that the budget cuts take from the excess (administration, unnecessary programs and services) rather than from students (laptops, hot lunches, etc.)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year even to some of you who are IDIOTS!
ReplyDelete"Just wanted to chime in to all these comments.
ReplyDeleteA four day week is not that out of touch."
To this poster: amen and hallelujah to your entire post. My kind of thinker.
Nice to know there are some people out there thinking outside of the box on how to deal with this financial crisis.
I'd take a 4 day week over being laid off, salary frozen, or whatever else they have in store.
ReplyDeleteI also think giving kids with a welfare mentality (someone else will take care of it) laptops is/was a bad idea. Anyone who has seen the state of the labs, especially the O/U labs after they've been allowed to run wild in one would agree.
If IPS thinks they've got a lot of people leaving the district for the township schools and charters NOW, just see what happens if they try to change to a 4-day school week or take away laptops or hot lunches. I don't imagine that those other cities had charter schools that parents could easily switch to, did they?
ReplyDeleteSee, I'm the other way around. I would take frozen salaries over making IPS more and more like a jail and less and less like a "good" school district. It would be cool if we could each decide, wouldn't it? If those of us who would prefer to take it from the kids would all teach in their own schools together and all of us who would prefer the pay freeze and keep the hot lunches, laptops, 5-day week, etc. to work in the other schools together. That would certainly be an interesting experiment, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteTell me, how does a five-day school week benefit kids over the concept of a four-day school week?
ReplyDeleteKids would love the extra day away from school. School is boring to the vast majority of them and it seems like "jail" to them no matter how talented and exciting a particular teacher thinks he/she is.
A kid who knows he/she is not going to have to be in school for five long days might be more inclined to be more focused on school the four days he/she attends.
Too many teachers seem to think they are supposed to be surrogate parents to these kids - Mommy and Daddy Dearists. You aren't their parents, you are their teachers. It's not your job to wet nurse them.
Following your logic, why not have school seven days a week, 24 hours a day? That way you could really try to micromanage their lives and really try to be their Mommies and Daddies.
Read a book about co-dependence.
Um, do you really think that anyone who opposes a 4-day school week is trying to micromanage children and be their surrogate parents. Because that's kind of insane.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to micromanage anything. I have a belief about education that you disagree with. The objective data on the impact (positive or negative) of 4-day weeks is pretty thin, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. Fine. The thing is, you know as well as I do that parents and taxpayers would disagree with you too. And whether you dislike Mommy and Daddy Dearest or not, as long as the township schools and charter schools keep 5-day weeks, so will IPS. And if they don't, students will move. And so will teachers.
ReplyDeleteTo the education resolution question above, I resolve to be more patient, more positive and more creative. While I don't agree with all the comments here (or even most, lol) I do credit this blog, along with a couple of other things, as being catalysts for a kind of "renewal" of my outlook and remembering why I got into education in the first place. This break has been great for reflection, and I am kind of excited to get back into the trenches. (Check back with me in April, and see if I still feel renewed, lol)
ReplyDelete4 posts up, it seems like jail to them because they're treated like they're already in. police are sent in to rooms for disruptive kids, things that would have been settled by a playground fight or whatever in past days now ends in court dates.
ReplyDeleteAll of the credible research shows that urban children benefit from more, not less, school time - longer days and even Saturday school. Look at the KIPP charter school and year-round models. And there is a ton of research on the negative effects of summer break, the so-called summer slide, for urban and disadvantaged children.
ReplyDeleteSo why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?
Wow, You can tell the adminstrators' post from the classroom teachers that are working hard everyday in the classrooms. We have major budget issues and we do not want to look at other methods of resolving the issues that we face. The methods that we are currently using now are "working" so well! NOT! It would be great if this site would address issues and look for resolutions instead of the attacks on each other.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I think the person who posted the attacks (calling people idiots, co-dependent, micromanaging, etc., and accusing all urban children of having welfare mentalities, etc.,) is actually most likely the blogmaster, not an administrator.
ReplyDeleteA comment and a question:
ReplyDelete1. Maybe I've overlooked it, but I haven't seen any posts on this blog topic that said all urban children have "welfare mentalities?" Where is that written? I don't recall any posts describing any "mentalities" of urban children.
2. About this comment:
"So why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?"
I didn't see anyone advocating for less instruction time. If you read more closely you would find that what is being discussed is adding more instruction time to the four days to amount to the same amount of instruction time in a five-day week.
Okay, I just made the post right above and in re-checking the posts, I made a mistake. Yes, there was a mention of "welfare mentality." I apologize for missing that.
ReplyDeleteI certainly disagree with that kind of stereotyping.
To this poster:
ReplyDelete"All of the credible research shows that urban children benefit from more, not less, school time - longer days and even Saturday school. Look at the KIPP charter school and year-round models. And there is a ton of research on the negative effects of summer break, the so-called summer slide, for urban and disadvantaged children."
Year round schools have the same number of days as regular schedules schools. Just more spaced out with a shorter summer. (My daughter has attended both.) I think she has done better in the year round concept her state testing definetely has been better. I would not mind a four day school (with longer days). I would also not mind a high school (a real one, not a magnet) going to this. I think my daughter would once again do better. Shorter focus time and breaks is beneficial more than people know. Families just adjust vacation and family time differently.
So, go to four days a week (we the parents will adjust). And heck put the whole district on year round school. Who knows it might work. (Again parents and families will adjust.)
So why on earth would any educator worth their salt be advocating for a shorter school week giving teachers less time for instruction and children fewer opportunities for learning?
There's an interesting article on MSN today about how to recognize a toxic work environment, and if it's driving you crazy. With an open mind and no prejudice, I read it and compared it to our situation in IPS....and sadly, every component in the article matched to IPS.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster above. Parents wouldn't "adjust," they would simply change schools. Especially if some of these policies were made district-wide, as opposed to magnet options.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link to the MSN article. I went to the msn site but couldn't find it.
ReplyDeleteThis year Ihave many,many students who should still be in fourth grade. There is no way they could have been passed as they can't even subtract and multiply. There were four students I didn't pass to the next grade but they were sent on anyway. Just wanted to throw that in when people say the teacher from last year shouldn't have passed them. I didn't.
ReplyDeleteMore "time on task" does not necessarily translate into better learning. That's been proven time and time again since the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteIt's quality, not quantity.
Plus, a four-day week does not mean less time on task. Just condensing five days into four days - same amount of hours in the classroom
Also, IPS kids already go to school many more days than many of the Indy Metro schools.
My kid is a high school student (in another district) and he gets this Monday off.
As I understand it, most of the charter schools have waiting lists. I don't see a great influx of kids into charter schools just because an adjustment would be made to four days.
Charter schools are the big "scary monster" in many of these discussions. But many are a joke and are failing miserably. The public is beginning to realize this.
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FYI: I have an earned Ph.D., but not from Indiana Wesleyan.
As a parent and a county business person...why all of the comments about Indiana Wesleyan? I have many friends...CPA, Teachers, Nurses, and Bankers who are proud graduates of Indiana Wesleyan University.
ReplyDeleteI happen to be a graduate of the "Great Purdue" University. However, slamming an academic institution that holds the same state and national accrediations as IU, Purdue, Ball State, Marion College, Notre Dame, etc. is really meaningless.
Last time I checked, it is not the University you came from...but what contributions you make to society after graduation that really matters.
Don't get it twisted...I love my Purdue! However, can we "PLEASE" stop slamming our universities. If I have my thoughts correct, there are many teachers in IPS, Franklin Township, Warren, Wayne, Lawerance, Washington, etc. with IWU degrees.
I may not have attended these institutions...however, I respect my professional peers who have attended.
Spending time shooting down others or their university only illustrates the massive amount of ignorance and social hatered we have in our own city, state, and country.
Then again, we have the nerve as a nation to talk about other countries and how we are preceived by them. No wonder many countries think we're truly ignorant. Look how we talk about each other!
Simply Shameful! (If I did not spell something correctly...sorry I guess I attend a class at Purdue!)
I agree with the post above! Yet we believe we're actually better than the Freedom haters in power in Iran who are crushing student and civial protest.
ReplyDeleteI guess their corrupt leaders read this blog and thought that if Americans can post such negative and aweful things about each other, then why can't we put our thoughts and words into action!
O...yeah...they can tell others how to treat their citizens when they can't even treat themselves with common kindness!
It's common knowledge that Indiana Wesleyan is a diploma mill. Stating what is obvious and commonly recognized is not saying anything "awful" or "shameful" about another person.
ReplyDeleteIt is just stating the plain truth about a weak (co-called) university.
Hey Purdue person - how about those Boilermakers?
They're AWESOME ALWAYS! I am so very proud to be a Purdue Graduate. I would not change anything with my personal choice of selecting this school. However, saying that IWU is a diploma mill is really not being totally honest or truthful. Simply because they have fast track courses the same as others...does not make it a diploma mill. To be very honest, my graduate school (Purdue) is modeling many of their graduate courses to meet the demand of their students.
ReplyDeleteIf a university has been granted by a national and state body makes it a legal and up standing university. I may not like the fact that they offer speedy courses...however, it is not fare to call them a diploma mill.
It may not be in our professional opinion to attend. But we should agree that name calling is not good. After all...most of Marion County Schools have a ton of teachers that have attended this place...including some of the best and wrost teachers in your building.
To the poster above, I don't think charter schools are a "scary monster" but I don't think they can be ignored either. There are only a handful of Indianapolis charter schools that I think are "good schools" but I think in the next 10 years, we will see a major shift away from traditional boundary schools as the default in Indianapolis. As charter school organizers gain more experience, we will see more and more of the better programs and less and less of the bad ones. The only hope IPS has of retaining a majority of the student population is by expanding its magnet programs. Otherwise, charters will continue to attract more and more students away from IPS. I think offering an optional magnet with a 4-day school week might work. Maybe it would be more popular than I am giving it credit for. But putting any unpopular policy in effect "across the board" would be suicide for IPS when people have the option to go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteTo the Boilermaker: I'll grant you that "wrost" is a typo. Using "fare" where you meant "fair" is a flagrant foul.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea, this 4-day week. Would teachers be willing to take the 20% pay cut that it entails? Or would you want to use the fifth day for training, optional enrichment activities, etc?
ReplyDeleteIf this is implemented, the "off day" should be Monday. We already lose 4 Mondays a year to holidays.
Get rid of the O/U program???? Some of you teachers are complete idiots. You must be one of the teachers that passed some of these students or simply gave up because you couldn't make a difference. What is the alternative for these kids if they have to rely on people like you? Too many kids fall in between the cracks nowadays and as long as there are educators out there willing to make a difference and teach these kids, the program should remain intact. At least they have a safe place to go during the day and have the opportunity to advance where they were given up on before.
ReplyDelete