Two Schools of Thought

Did anyone read this morning's paper? There were two interesting articles, one was an editorial on pay based on performance. The second was about an IPS who had to rummage through trash bins at Carmel schools to get supplies for her kids. What do you think?

No Layoffs

IPS says there weren't be any teacher layoffs with this year's budget. Eugene won't have to fire anyone a number of teachers have just up and left because their classrooms are out of control, the kids' learning level is at least two years behind and they get no support from the administration.

Place Your Bets

IPS B.S. is taking bets on what will happen at Thursday night's Board budget meeting.

1. The budget will pass 5-2.
2. Only Annie Roof and Samantha White will ask intelligent questions.
3. Marie Busch and her hair will look like a character from "Spaceballs".
4. Elizabeth Gore won't have read anything.
5. Diane Arnold won't have a clue.
6. Michael Brown will master the art of being asleep while pretending to be awake.
7. Marianna Zaphiriou will still be useless.
8. Mary Louise Bewley will post here.

Didn't We Do This Last Year?

From the Sunday August 30, 2009 "Behind Closed Doors" column in the Indanapolis Star:

The Indianapolis Public School Board adopted the district's $448 million budget this week, but don't ask board members for too much detail -- they never saw the actual budget before voting on it.

Member Kelly E. Bentley voted against the budget, saying the administration had not answered her questions about how money was allocated in it.

Another board member and the superintendent told her the summaries provided by the administration should have been more than enough. Bentley countered that the board's job was fiscal oversight.

"I think as a school board we have that obligation," Bentley said in the meeting, "and I'm not sure how resources get allocated to schools."

The district's practice has been to give board members the fund-by-fund budget numbers along with a breakdown of any changes or decreases by area. But the actual line- item amounts are in a separate budget that Bentley said board members did not receive.

Board member Marianna R. Zaphiriou told Bentley that she felt her request -- and the suggestion that other board members weren't asking enough questions -- was wrongheaded.

"Part of that implication is that some of us should feel uncomfortable, and we don't," she said. "I have no reason to want that level of information. I don't feel the need to request that information."

Superintendent Eugene White told Bentley she was welcome to make an appointment and go line-by-line through the budget with district finance officials. But he said he wouldn't waste the board's time by giving it the entire budget to review.

"We have not, and we don't intend to, give you the specificity of each of those items," White said. "It would be too prohibitive for you to go through that. . . . We're not going to bring that to you. We're asking you to approve the budget, and to go any deeper than that would take a lot of your time and be ridiculous."

The budget passed 6-1.

What's changed? Now IPS is spending $509,000,000.

Eugene Fought the Law

Is Eugene White breaking the law by not releasing the budget? Maybe. Check this out.

IC 5-14-3-3
Right to inspect and copy public agency records; electronic data storage; use of information for commercial purposes; contracts
Sec. 3. (a) Any person may inspect and copy the public records of any public agency during the regular business hours of the agency, except as provided in section 4 of this chapter. A request for inspection or copying must:
(1) identify with reasonable particularity the record being requested; and
(2) be, at the discretion of the agency, in writing on or in a form provided by the agency.
No request may be denied because the person making the request refuses to state the purpose of the request, unless such condition is required by other applicable statute.
(b) A public agency may not deny or interfere with the exercise of the right stated in subsection (a). The public agency shall either:
(1) provide the requested copies to the person making the request; or

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(2) allow the person to make copies:
(A) on the agency's equipment; or
(B) on the person's own equipment.
(c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), a public agency may or may not do the following:
(1) In accordance with a contract described in section 3.5 of this chapter, permit a person to inspect and copy through the use of enhanced access public records containing information owned by or entrusted to the public agency.
(2) Permit a governmental entity to use an electronic device to inspect and copy public records containing information owned by or entrusted to the public agency.
(d) Except as provided in subsection (e), a public agency that maintains or contracts for the maintenance of public records in an electronic data storage system shall make reasonable efforts to provide to a person making a request a copy of all disclosable data contained in the records on paper, disk, tape, drum, or any other method of electronic retrieval if the medium requested is compatible with the agency's data storage system. This subsection does not apply to an electronic map.
(e) A state agency may adopt a rule under IC 4-22-2, and a political subdivision may enact an ordinance, prescribing the conditions under which a person who receives information on disk or tape under subsection (d) may or may not use the information for commercial purposes, including to sell, advertise, or solicit the purchase of merchandise, goods, or services, or sell, loan, give away, or otherwise deliver the information obtained by the request to any other person for these purposes. Use of information received under subsection (d) in connection with the preparation or publication of news, for nonprofit activities, or for academic research is not prohibited. A person who uses information in a manner contrary to a rule or ordinance adopted under this subsection may be prohibited by the state agency or political subdivision from obtaining a copy or any further data under subsection (d).

Reading Isn't Fundamental

Have you gotten your books yet? There's a rumor running around that there are some schools that haven't gotten their books yet, although teachers have been forced to submit lesson plans.

To make matters worse, the books are here, they're just sitting in a warehouse right now.

What's IPS waiting on?

Figures Lie and Liars Figure

Are you looking for a copy of the IPS Budget? Try this on for size.

http://www.boarddocs.com/in/indps/Board.nsf/files/87ZGEJ4374BC/$file/Budget.pdf

$500,000,000 and only four pages long.

Tell Your Story

Crowded classrooms? No air? Transportation confusion? Incompetent central office administration? We want to know.

Day One

When your day is done, come post on how it went. Don't use an IPS computer. Our spies in the Central Office tell us the administration is really trying to track who comes here. You can post with your Blackberry or iPhone. This post was done last night and set on a timer to go off right now so the administration can't complain.

It's Your Fault

It's one thing if a student isn't learning, the teacher has some culpability. Now Eugene is blaming you even if the kids don't show up. You're aren't doing enough. You should work harder.

Gag Order

Eugene must be really, really, really paranoid these days. At the administrative retreat he told all the principals that he will fire ANY of them who contacts a board member about any issue at their school without his permission.

IPS BS likes most of the principals, so if you need to reach out an touch someone, e-mail IPS BS ipsbs@hotmail.com and we will make sure your concerns get to where they should.

Eugene and his flunkies, especially the fat one, can't stop us.

Another Afternoon with Eugene

Eugene White is about to go on the Amos Brown show and "talk" about IPS. Will they have a translator handy for those of us who speak English?

A Week Away

I.P.S. officially starts school in a little more than a week. Are you ready?