- Roy Schroeder (IPS-3)
- Micheal Brown (IPS-5)
- Andrea Roof (At-large)
- Ramon Batts (IPS-3)
- Glen Eric Sandifer - (IPS-3)
- Leroy Robinson (At-Large)
- Bill Jackson (At-Large)
- Josephine "Jo" Coleman (At-Large)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Who's Running?
Here's a list of who has filed for school board so far.
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Does anyone know how to find how the school board districts are divided? I assume you have to live in a certain area to run for the district positions. I can't seem to find a map anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe map is at http://www.indy.gov/eGov/County/Clerk/PDF/PDF%20Copy/SchoolBoardDistricts60wPcts.pdf
ReplyDeleteAndrea Roof's campaign website is www.annieforschoolboard.com
ReplyDeleteSomeone please file to run against Micheal Brown. The head puppet for Eugene White. Brown's interference in the discipline of his family members is reason enough not to re elect him.
ReplyDeleteGood to see so many candidates! Good luck to you all!
ReplyDeleteA few more candidates filed today:
ReplyDeleteFor IPS Dist. 3: Josefa Beyer
For IPS At-Large: Ronnie Hampton and Chequrita Booker
It won't matter when Bennett takes over after the ISTEP and assigns us to a "corporation." The Board will done away with folks!
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if we are assigned to a corporation?
ReplyDeleteI wish IPS educators who have children in the district could run. We are left with virtually no say in what happens to our child. Ignored by administrators (because we are IPS employees) and have no recourse (the law does not allow us to run for election on the school board since we work for it).
ReplyDeleteThis is totally off the subject........ but does any one know the 8 IPS schools that are being reconstituted for next school year? Also, what principals are being fired and moved around?
ReplyDeleteWHY ISN'T ANYONE RUNNING AGAINST MICHAEL BROWN????????
ReplyDeleteNO HOPE for improvement on the board if he remains.
I hope my elementary school is reconstituted. It is probably the only way I'll ever get out of there, since filing for a transfer THREE times hasn't worked.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a few elementary principals are getting put back in the classrooms and then they'll hire new principals. Why pay some of them $90,000 when you can get a younger, motivated administrator for $75,000?
ReplyDeleteWhy put these $90,000 annual salary principals in classrooms? For that money, we could have 2 teachers! Plus, some of these principals talka good game, but could not handle some of my classes I have had in the past.
ReplyDeleteThere is hope for the School Board, even with Brown still on it. Even if we can get ONE voice of reason on the Board, it's better than nothing.
ReplyDelete"What happens if we are assigned to a corporation?"
ReplyDeleteProbably similar things like they did with the Reading First Schools. You'll be micro-managed to death instead of reporting to your principal. There will be "experts" looking over your shoulder every minute telling you what and how to instruct. Of course salaries will have to be cut and there will be plenty of *ss- kissing to save one's job...much like the corporate world. Don't expect to be treated like a professional with eight years of college but more like a disposable Wal-mart employee. It would be like the "education version" of Dunder Mifflin. But they'd save money through pay cuts and probably manipulate test scores to show that their "ideas" work-much like some white collar crooks.
In business you can replace a resource if that's the weak link to your productivity. However in education our resources can't be replaced. We must make do. We have few options if any. When I didn't pass a college test it wan't my professor's fault...it was mine. HE kept on teaching, it was I who had to adjust. This logic escapes our policymakers... very conveniently and knowingly. It's all part of the corporate takeover.
They would have their salaries dropped to wherever they fit on the teacher payscale as long as they are notified early enough.
ReplyDeleteI hope the new board says no to Dr. White's travel expense (travel and high end hotels).
ReplyDeleteThe $30,000 they budget for travel would pay most of the expenses for a first year teacher.
Maybe Kg. and first grade teachers might not be expected to teach their own art. See Channel 6's website.
All school boards in America should be elimated. What logic is it to invite a bunch of people with little knowledge of teaching to make decisions about teaching and learning??
ReplyDeleteadministrators who are dropped to teachers do not get salary cuts. i have personally seen resumes from a couple and they keep their money even while doing a piss poor job "teaching". the administrator jobs are given out as favors usually anyway. there are far too many and that is where a lot of money goes.
ReplyDeleteThis illustrates the problem with IPS voters and parents. You do not wait until the day before the filing deadline to start talking about running for the school board. The ground work should have already been done and the filing merely a kickoff for the campaign. The incumbents always have the inside info and the tacit backing of the superintendent and administration if they have been good 'yes' people......Micheal Brown will get all of the behind the scenes help from Eugene White and his toadies because Brown is scared of White and Brown wants to be able to make sure that the discipline policy does not apply to this family members.
ReplyDeleteThe school board isn't supposed to represent teachers. It is supposed to represent voters and parents. The idea is that public education is supposed to be "run" by the whole community, or the "public." I think when there are several charter school options (like there are in Indy) then a school board does become unnecessary. People can vote with their feet.
ReplyDeleteI'm in college now, and we give student evaluations at the end of a semester, which are considered in evaluating the instructors. Also, too many failures certainly does reflect bad on college professors. But the big difference is that in college, we're dealing with legal adults who have control over which college, which classes and which instructor they will have, and students are already motivated by the need for a degree (motivated enough to pay for it). K-12 is completely different. Our jobs aren't to "profess" knowledge and then evaluate who successfully grasped it or not. Our jobs are to spur inquiry and curiosity, make relevant connections between the lesson and the student's real life, meet the child where they are academically so that the lesson is neither beyond or beneath each student's ability, break down complex concepts into easily digestible pieces, and then evaluate each student's progress. We need to keep up on new research on our subject matter and on education research in general (just like any other cutting-edge profession) so that we can keep up on methods and technology available to us, and how to incorporate new information into our classrooms. So yes, when a child fails, we need to evaluate whether everything that could have been done was indeed done. Fortunately, the more charter school options we have, the less we have to rely on administration or school boards to make sure schools are doing as much as possible. Choice makes the whole system more parent/student centered, which is what it should have been all along.
ReplyDeleteI think I would rather keep a school board, even if some of the members may not always know everything about education, etc. I know of a mid-sized city in NY where the Mayor is taking over the public schools, dissolving the board, and creating an "oversight" committee staffed only by people the Mayor appoints. That sounds like a little too much power for one person to me...At least we have SOME choice in the people we elect to the IPS School Board, even if the candidates may not be our FIRST choice.
ReplyDeleteThe post about dissolving school boards has merit. In my experience of 30 years of having worked with school boards in a job-related capacity (not a teacher, educator, school employee, etc.), I have found school board members to be "in over their heads" in many cases.
ReplyDeleteThey come into those positions often with little understanding of school financing, the educational process, the intricacies of school budgets, etc.
So, they essentially (often somewhat blindly) follow the lead of their superintendents-who don't always have the best interests of the public in mind.
I never thought I would live to see the day that I would say this: but I think appointed boards would be better than elected and no boards would be best.
"I hope the new board says no to Dr. White's travel expense (travel and high end hotels).
ReplyDeleteThe $30,000 they budget for travel would pay most of the expenses for a first year teacher.
Maybe Kg. and first grade teachers might not be expected to teach their own art. See Channel 6's website."
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I did look at this article and was appalled.
The superintendent seems to be communicating the message: "Well, I am so important that I deserve to stay in first-class motels when I go on my taxpayer-funded trips to tourist areas."
What a massive ego! What an absence of conscience when IPS employees are facing job-cuts.
Are you seeing this, IPS school board?
Thanks to Channel Six for doing this report - the kind of report The Indianapolis Star (and most of the other media in Indy) completely avoid.
I have been a channel 13 viewer for my news; but now I will switch to Channel 6.
And no, I am not a teacher or an IPS employee.
The Channel 6 story posted on its website actually had PDF's showing receipts for Eugene's spending of taxpayers' dollars. I am still amazed at his dinner tab over $1000.00 at Shula's Steakhouse. It was paid for by IPS.
ReplyDeleteNow, if I host a dinner party to network/hobnob/show off, etc., and it costs me over a $1000, then that's fine because I'm paying for it with my own money, but when Eugene hosts a dinner party to hobnob/showoff, and the taxpayers must pick up the bill, then something is wrong!
Dr. White is treating a public sector job like a private sector job. He's a public servant; he's not a private sector CEO.
He's also not a king or any other type of royalty.
ReplyDeleteBut, apparently, he seems to think he is.
Here's the story from Channel 6 News.
ReplyDelete_________________________________________________
INDIANAPOLIS -- As school districts across Indiana cut teachers, chop student programs and generally do more with less, some school officials are traveling out of state and staying at swanky hotels and resorts on the district's dime, even as the state suggests districts cut trips to save money
6News' Kara Kenney requested recent travel records from more than a dozen central Indiana school districts to examine school board and superintendent travel expenses.
Many districts responded that they weren't spending money on conferences or out of state travel, including Franklin Community Schools Superintendent David Clendening, who attends conferences, but only in Indianapolis.
"I don't think you have to travel several states away to make a difference in growing kids," Clendening said.
But some districts disagree with that sentiment. Last summer, Zionsville Community Schools Superintendent Scott Robison traveled to Palm Beach, Fla., for a conference, staying at the Breakers Hotel and Resort.
Robison then headed directly to the Ritz Carlton in Chicago for another conference. The total cost of the trips was more than $2,000. It was paid for with money that Coca-Cola paid to the district for exclusive sales rights -- funds administrators can spend on nearly anything.
"I've been to places where professional learning has occurred, and it's been extremely important to my performance in this role," Robison said.
Robison said taxpayers did not foot the bill for additional trips to California and Texas, but that other education groups paid those expenses. He also attended conferences in Indianapolis.
Zionsville is far from immune from funding constraints brought on by property tax caps and the recession. The district recently started a cost-cutting committee to try to find ways to cut $2.7 million from its budget.
"My professional learning is all board-approved," Robison said, when questioned if the trips send a mixed message with the district in cost-cutting mode.
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White and his board spent about $15,000 in the last six months going to conferences in Indianapolis, Chicago, Boston, Portland and Phoenix, the latter an eight-day conference.
"It's a good time to be in a warm climate to combine the conference, which is about four days, with a vacation opportunity," White said.
The travel budget for White and the school board is $30,000 a year. White emphasized that it's small compared to the $33 million the district has to cut.
"When you look at it in context … it's a minute amount of money," White said, adding that taxpayers will not pay for his vacation expenses. "I think it might be unnecessary if all they're doing is going to a conference, but (it's not) if you're using those kind of opportunities to improve your district, or if you're actually involved in a leadership role."
White is on the executive committee of the Council of Great City Schools, an organization he said helps IPS greatly.
But with the district facing a massive budget problem, White is staying at high-end hotels on taxpayer money.
"I'm not going to leave town and go somewhere where I'm going to get hit in the head or go somewhere that's a second or third-rate hotel when I don't have to," White said. "When it gets to that particular point, I probably won't go."
Many organizations offer conferences in Indianapolis. Records indicated that many districts take advantage of meetings close to home.
Clendening said webinars and local conferences are a great way for administrators to learn for a fraction of the cost.
"We have the luxury of Indianapolis being a hub for learning … we have excellent universities nearby," he said. "I do think we want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars."
I'm proud that Kara Kenney is a sorority sister of mine!! YOU GO GIRL!!!!
ReplyDeleteDr. White has said many times that the board does what he tells them to do. Do not expect this board or the next to be different.
ReplyDeleteDr. White is not going to go out of town and stay in a hotel where he might get hit over the head - thus the high end hotels.
ReplyDeleteIf he stays in hotels that have the little strip of paper over the toliet that says, "For Your Protection" - he won't have to worry. He can sleep with that paper and if anyone breaks in, he can hold up that paper and say, "Stand back, Buddy...I have this for my protection...have you ever had a paper cut?"
Dr. White has become a Republican in a thin disguise.
ReplyDeleteHere's poor kid who grew up dirt poor in Phenix City, Alabama in a single-parent home, according to his frequently published bio. He's managed to work his way to the top of the public education chain, and now he's feeling his oats and thinks he's the CEO of a major corporate entity. His behaviors are not congruent with the public sector's purse, but moreover, his behaviors are congruent with the fat cat private sector Republicans.
So, what is the man? He sure ain't one of the people. And, to be sure, he isn't Robin Hood robbing from the rich to give to the poor; he's robbing from the poor to give to himself.
"Fortunately, the more charter school options we have, the less we have to rely on administration or school boards to make sure schools are doing as much as possible. Choice makes the whole system more parent/student centered, which is what it should have been all along."
ReplyDeleteThere are OVER 30 charter schools in this area. We have school choice. They are only in areas where parents are poor or uninvolved. Places like Speedway and Zionsville where schools are properly funded don't have them. How many charter schools are in the Vigo County School System? You can take your child anywhere you want. Plenty of charter schools and school choice and people still think we can do better. Obviously, MORE charter schools and or "school choice" doesn't help the child no one at home cares about. How about giving teachers more say so and making the homes accountable?
BLOG MASTER Please start a new topic...........like naming the 8 schools that are being reconstituted next school year and the principals who are getting the boot!
ReplyDeleteYes!! Inquiring minds want to know. We need to know, since the date to apply for a voluntary transfer is rapidly approaching.
ReplyDeleteNow I lay me down to sleep,
ReplyDeleteI pray,O Lord, our interim principal we'll keep.
His tone is quiet, instead of our usual riot,
Please don't let him have a stroke, in his quest to show that rules aren't a joke. For even those whose lightbulbs are a bit dim, are beginning to realize that the rules WILL be enforced by him.
What do you mean by "reconstituted" in the above post? I doubt anyone will get the boot since there have been quite a few turn in their retirement notice.
ReplyDeleteKara Kinney is a reporter for Channel 6 news, which is also a media outlet where Abdul appears regularly and contributes to a political blog, which he sometimes cross references. Abdul makes numerous records requests to IPS.
ReplyDeleteSo tell me, how does IPS-BS fit into this schematic? Looks more and more like Indy Undercover. Ya'll remember that one, right?
I used to listen to Abdul in the beginnning because he commented on pop culture and he was funny and seemed neuatral about local politics. Then Mitch and Ballard got elected and he's like their PR apologist. His daily rant against the district was growing tired when township, charter, and private schools all did similar things but kept them out of the media. As large as our district is there are going to be "rats." Most of what he's said about IPS like, bus drivers taking kids to shoplift during school hours, getting sued by atheisists or witches , or IPS being in violation of Title One regulations are unfounded YET reported as fact on his show. Sounds like someone downtown turned down his application to teach at the Law Magnet High School or something so he went to a "chatter" school. Now he's grouping ALL public schools together because Mitch's school funding formula is hurting schools, students and families. He can't spread his half-truths without his screen caller, even on his website he censors rebuttals.I guess if I hung out at the Columbia Club I'd tow the company line as
ReplyDeletewell.It's better for "business."
And, what is wrong with the Columbia Club?
ReplyDeletewhere would you "tow the line"...unless you are pulling it someplace, perhaps you mean "toe the line"?
ReplyDeleteThe rules have been enforced in our school this week. It has been a wonderful week to work.
ReplyDelete"And, what is wrong with the Columbia Club?"
ReplyDeleteNot sure the poster meant anything NEGATIVE.I didn't read it that way. I guess if that's where you frequent then you are less likely to be critical of your "pals"and lobbyist friends you dine with. Brizzi, Durham, Plowman and the rest....
Hey, person two posts above. WHY have the rules suddenly been enforced in your school this week? Don't 'cha wonder why the powers that be, (including a certain frog-faced moo-cow), aren't wondering the same thing?
ReplyDeleteTeachers go to national conferences every year and stay in high end hotels too. These may be held anywhere in the United States. Only difference is teachers pay for hotel, registration and air fare out of their own pockets. I
ReplyDeletewould like for IPS to once pay my registration fee, at least! Educational conferences are wonderful places to grow and learn.
It's so nice to finally have a "respectful and responsible" "MALE" in charge of our school building. Hope he stays until the end of the school year. Our school is finally returning to peace and normalcy. :) A Very Happy Teacher
ReplyDelete"Obviously, MORE charter schools and or "school choice" doesn't help the child no one at home cares about."
ReplyDeleteThat's not obvious to me at all. As long as there are morons still saying "let's hold homes accountable" for the failure of our multi-billion dollar school system, we don't have enough school choice. Until people stop applying to charter schools, we don't have enough. We need to weed out ALL teachers who don't think its possible to educate disadvantaged children. I'm serious. If you say it once, you should be fired. It makes my skin crawl every time I someone say it, and it's even worse when self-described "teachers" say it. Teachers CAN and DO make a difference every day. They reach children who don't care about education, and they teach children that inferior "teachers" have ignored. I hope charter schools completely take over. They are innovative, and they believe in the power of teachers and public education. I would not want to send my kids to a school where teachers didn't believe in their own power, and I wouldn't want to teach in such an environment. It's toxic.
I can see both sides -- that the freedom/authority/accountability of public education should go to the parents or that the freedom/authority/accountability belongs with the state. What I don't see is the idea that one side should control education while the other side should be accountable. If the teacher or school district has control of lessons and teaching methods, then they need to be fully accountable for the results. We can't hold parents accountable for a system in which they have no control. If we give them control (through school choice) then I don't think we need state mandates, schoolboards and heavy administration. It's the doublespeak that bugs me, more so than any single position on the subject. The above comment about giving teachers control and holding homes accountable is a perfect example of that doublespeak. The control and the accountability should be in the same hands.
ReplyDeleteI think the doublespeak also applies to people who complain about IPS administration and then act like teachers who work for charter schools are traitors or sellouts.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the poster two posts up. I think everyone agrees that any school works best when the teacher and the parents are on the same page. There are two ways to establish that. Either teachers can maintain control of the classroom and attempt to teach each student in a way that relates to his/her culture, parental expectations, ability, goals, etc., or parents can maintain control by choosing schools or teachers that meet their expectations. What is not advisable (or even possible) is to expect parents to cheerfully and enthusiastically surrender their children over to a school system that they think is harmful to their children. No parent in any district does that or ever has in the history of education. The fact that this kind of suggestion gets repeated so often by teachers shows how corrupt our education system really is.
ReplyDeleteAnother great day to teach as our quiet spoken man enforces the rules. It's wonderful having all the drama gone.
ReplyDeleteKUDOS!!!! to Mr.Durbin...........he is doing a GREAT JOB as Interim Principal at #60!! Love his soft spoken demeanor with the students and staff....we need more principals like him in IPS!
ReplyDeleteMr. Durbin has always been great! Won't it be sad to see him leave?
ReplyDeleteMr. Durbin should be voted Principal of the Year!!!!! He has done so much for our school in the last 3 weeks. He will truly be missed at #60!
ReplyDelete"I hope charter schools completely take over. They are innovative, and they believe in the power of teachers and public education.'
ReplyDeleteSigned Mitch Daniels and
Tony Bennett
"What I don't see is the idea that one side should control education while the other side should be accountable. If the teacher or school district has control of lessons and teaching methods, then they need to be fully accountable for the results."
ReplyDeleteWho is REALLY accountable in our current system? Who gets called out in the media? Low scores put heat on everyone EXCEPT the homes and especially the students. If you think ALL kids REALLY try their best on ANY test especially ISTEP you are misinformed. I don't have a problem with accountability but as it stands ONLY schools are accountable while kids can take their lousy scores and lousy work habits to the schools of their choice??? This system is bound to fail then.
"I think the doublespeak also applies to people who complain about IPS administration and then act like teachers who work for charter schools are traitors or sellouts."
ReplyDeleteNO they are usually in the check out line in front of me using food stamps to pay for their groceries. I feel for them.
why are they allowing ramon batts to run again? he is another michael brown and worse.
ReplyDeleteLOL! previous poster. not sure, but hopefully ramon bats won't be driving. heard his license is suspended because he won't TAKE CARE of HIS KIDS. child support is a mutha!
ReplyDelete