Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, state Rep. Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and state Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, plan to propose requiring that districts disclose disciplinary problems during reference checks and ban the practice of creating shadow personnel files to hide reports of problems.They also want to require districts to alert the state to "gray area" cases in which a district thinks a teacher acted inappropriately but opted against trying to dismiss the educator because of fears it could not prove misconduct.
"We have a duty both morally and legally to make sure our teachers in this state are of the highest caliber," Bennett said.
State investigators can review cases or detect patterns only when they know about problematic behavior, he said.
The state teachers union and school boards association said they had not yet seen a proposal but that they support the general principles Bennett outlined.
They did, however, raise concerns that new rules could create complicated situations for school districts or overrule carefully negotiated union contracts.
If you are a teacher and have violated the trust of your students, you should be fired, plain and simple. You are entitled to due process, but once you've had fair and impartial adjudication, you need to go and school districts should not be hiding you.
It's WHO you know to get a teaching job in this city, not what you know. Honestly, IPS doesn't care who you know- if you want to teach, they will hire you. That's what I've always liked about us. I've seen so much hiring of relatives and "buddies" in township schools to make one sick. Maybe that's why the majority of these violations against students are outside of IPS I believe. Many of them in the "nicer" areas up north? Give the district credit here.
ReplyDeletei'm aware of multiple cases in IPS which reflect what they're talking about in the article. i also personally went to lawrence township schools as a kid and saw that they are every bit as corrupt as IPS they're just better at putting up a facade.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. There is, especially now, a lot of nepotism in IPS, and the good ol' boy network. Willie brought Douglass Anne,(plus his girlfriend Sondra). Eugene brought Jane Kendrick and Prudence, and SHE had been a principal in IPS before and had been fired for stealing. Greenwood's son just became Assistant Principal, and Eugene has hired both of his children. Further, Shirl Gilbert first brought Eugene nearly twenty years ago and made him Deputy Superintendent. It's definitely who you know in IPS.
ReplyDeleteEugene did not hire both of his children. his daughter was a teacher in the district b4 he became superintendent.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind have open information. I just hope that when you make it open the media makes a big deal of someone being innocent and falsely accused when teachers who get that win.
ReplyDeleteI just renewed my license. As of July you don't need a background check to renew; now that scares the hell out of me. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think we are fooling ourselves. I've heard the same thing that one of the above posters wrote for years( " other school districts are just as corrupt as IPS they are just better at putting up a facade.") It is a perception problem that extends beyond the inner-city students to the staff. Some ignorant people think just because you are in IPS, you are not that great a teacher and probably couldn't get a job anywhere else. There is the perception that all the administration in Pike, Wayne, Warren, Washington, Lawrence, Fishers, Hamilton-Southeastern, Carmel, etc. are so stellar because after all " they're not in IPS." Those of you who believe this are so sadly mistaken. EVERY school district in this state has their share of B.S.!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteEvery school district in the entire US has its share of "BS" and local corruption. It's just easier to hide the BS/corruption or conceal the BS in a larger district than in a smaller district.
ReplyDeleteSooner or later, the BS rises to the top where everyone can see it and smell it.
The best protection against BS/corruption is a strong, independent, courageous, and nit-picky school board. We do not have a school board that meets any of those criteria. At present, our school board is weak, dependent, afraid of losing their community status, and gullible.
Before teaching in Indiana, I taught in a coastal eastern state. Before I was hired there, I was required to pass an FBI (national) criminal history test which involved fingerprinting me and running it through the FBI. I paid $20 for that criminal history test, but I figure it was well worth it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did my grad classes at IUPUI this past year I felt like IPS teachers were looked down on by teachers from other townships. Maybe it's the salaries?? Maybe the working conditions?? Maybe the negative media crap?? Now I feel that we have the best, most caring, creative teachers anywhere. I am proud of my district and the job we do considering all of the BS that we tolerate. I'm glad to be a part of such a great group of educators! See you all Monday!
ReplyDeleteStart at the top...
ReplyDeleteIt's IPS School Board election time...three seats/terms are up and will be on the ballot in May.
What should we be looking for in our School Board Members?
In a job I formerly had for several years (not teaching), I was around a lot of school boards and superintendents/administrators in Indiana.
ReplyDeleteI really found a lot of the same dynamics in many other districts regarding the school board/superintendent relationships as I see in IPS.
The pattern: school board members feel overwhelmed with the complexity of many of the issues they are asked to deal with. The superintendent (and other administrators) recognize this and begin to "take the board under their wings."
This develops an unhealthy co-dependent relationship in which the board members find it much easier to simply accept and submit to the judgments of the so-called "authority figure" (superintendent, etc.) and the administrators are made to feel secure that the board will usually back them and keep them in their positions.
Someone running for a school board position should vow to maintain objectivity and independence. He or she should do the brainwork and the legwork to determine what is really best for students, parents and the taxpayers. He/she should be a person of courage, honesty, integrity and morality.
I hope people like this will decide to run for upcoming elections for IPS school board positions.
Ditto to the above post.
ReplyDeleteFor the three school board seats up for election, my wish for these three people includes:
1) a CPA,
2) an attorney, and
3) the owner of a large private business.
None of these people would be affiliated with any local or state college or university. They would be at ease and comfortable with reading long line-item budgets, would not be intimidated by education 'experts' or educational jargon, and would have the courage to ask hard questions and deliver hard comments.
I have no problem with stricter background searches but the suspension without pay until the case is investigated is scary. Some times these investigations take forever and we know many students make false claims as revenge. The inappropriate teachers make us all look bad.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of crazy and vindictive principals using the "child abuse" argument to falsely accuse teachers they don't like so that they can get rid of them. One of these incidents was in IPS a few years ago. A good teacher was essentially "crucified."
ReplyDeleteExample: a teacher tugs on the arm of a child to get him in line to go to the restroom. The principal - looking for an excuse to get rid of the teacher - claims the teacher "abused" the child by tugging too hard.
Also, some kids are compulsive liars and will make up all kinds of false accusations against teachers.
Obviously, there has been actual abuse at times and these people need to be out of teaching.
But, not all accusations are to be believed.
I taught in a school where a teacher was accused and convicted of sex crimes involving a relation with a student. No one was the least bit surprised, however prior to the student coming forward no one had credible evidence, just that "feeling" that something was not right. We can't just fire people or accuse them because we have intuition feelings about them.
ReplyDeleteAbout IPS hiring practices. Gene White likes for people to rely on him. When Jane Kendricks was Superintendent in Anderson, she and Dr. White would do adminstrative retreat with principals. When she was told to leave Anderson, no other school district would hire her. In comes Dr. White to help her. Forget that she is useless. She relies on him. Prudence Bridgewaters is the same. She got caught stealing money from the student activity account to take her girlfriend on trip. She was fired in comes Gene White to let her back in. He loves for people to reply on him. When it comes to IPS it is all about kissing ass and eating pussy.
ReplyDeleteIn IPS, we need to be more worried about those in the Ed. Center doing each other. Shouldn´t there be a law or board policy against that??
ReplyDeleteI heard a teacher was caught with drugs at Northwest. Is that true?
ReplyDeleteIt reflects so poorly on IPS to have people write like the poster two comments above...the vulgarity in the last sentence is uncalled for...come on, we are not kids trying out our knowledge of potty talk....
ReplyDeleteI agree that the choice of words is poor but the facts are the facts. We need a thorough housecleaning at the Ed. Center but the school board has no backbone or desire to improve IPS
ReplyDeleteIn response to the above post: You are completely correct, and that is why we need to get some intelligent and ethical people to run for the open spots on the board. If you scrutinize the budget at all, you will find millions of dollars spent on ghost positions and positions that have been made up to accommodate Dr. White's whims. We have people (with virtually no responsibilities) assigned to schools and making six figure salaries, relatives of "yes men" (and women) being promoted instead of more qualified people with ethics and backbone, and consultants draining the pot and never even showing up.
ReplyDeleteThis administration's agenda is simple:
1. Me First
2. Increasing my power, influence, and bank account
3. Friends and family
4. Folks I can intimidate easily
5. Yes men and doormats
6. Tromping on teachers
7. Me again
8. Union bashing
9. Intimidation techniques
10. More about me
You will notice that on the real IPS agenda, children do not even appear.
"Children come first." Not in IPS. Not under this parasitic administration.
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