Tuesday, October 5, 2010

More Teacher Firings

You should get ready for this. Since IPS lost 950 students, plans are being drawn to fire more teachers, but the administrators will still get to stay because they have to oversee programs. Makes you feel proud to be part of IPS, doesn't it?

58 comments:

  1. Who in their right mind could possibly be proud to be part of this jacked up school system?! I'm here for a paycheck and benefits. I do my job the best I can and I go home. As long as the pay and benefits are good, I'll keep doing it. If you can find someone to do my job better, fire me and hire them. Until then, I'll just keep getting paid. I figured out years ago that this system was hopeless. I'm actually surprised its even still here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. To understand why IPS isn't as successful as it could be, see Post #1.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No kidding. If you are just in it for the money and the insurance, the kids will know. Your fellow teachers will know and talk about you at lunch as to how you manage to keep your job.

    It's cliche but "they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" It's really true. I love my students. And they know it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I understand the attitude of Post #1. When a teacher works hard with difficult students and little support, it is degrading to be told by the superintendent how worthless you are. Eugene White takes pleasure in debasing and verbally abusing his staff. It takes a huge toll.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And this is the reason you must cultivate in yourself the attitude that you do not work for Eugene White, the bobble headed board, any of myriad less than competent administrators, any down right awful administrators, you work for the kids and their future. And when your kids say those little things like "You make me feel like I learned something" or "your lucky you have Mr/Mrs/Ms So and So, they will teach you something" or a parent tells you that you have really helped their child and how much they appreciate it...that is your true evaluation by the people who really matter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The teenaged boy at Manual will need to go to the School Social Worker or Guidance Counselor and speak to that person privately about what this VP said. I know that's going to be difficult for the child, but nothing will come of this until the student speaks to an adult who is trained to handle situations such as this. Self advocacy is an important skill that our kids need to learn, and the quicker the better.

    This same VP had his 'hands spanked' a couple of years ago while at Arlington. He made unwanted comments to a female faculty member who finally 'had enough' and reported it. As a result, the female faculty member and this VP are no longer allowed to work in the same building. Guess what? She was moved to another school the following year, not him.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Staff members are urging him to do so but it is a big step for a teen age boy and Manual is not as accepting as some of the other high schools. The fact that the vice principal felt free to make such a bigoted, illegal statement shows the climate there. Of course, the same vice principal's suggestion that a student go to the cafeteria and steal a book was advising a student to break the law.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You just don't get it, do you? If several staff members saw it, they can certainly contact authorities and report it. If the child wants to report it, he can do so, and staff members can corroborate it. But right now, it didn't happen. It's just a rumor. Like saying that you are the person who tried to kidnap that Perry Township girl this morning. There. See? It's just made-up bullshit. Just like what you're posting. No matter how much you want to ruin someone's career based on false accusations, there are systems in place to protect decent people from rumormongers. If you have facts, then you have a moral responsibility to report them. If you do not, you have a moral responsibility to shut the f- up.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @You just don't get it, do you?

    I understand exactly. If an incident is NOT reported and documented, for all purposes it did NOT occur. Just talking about it here or in the teachers' lounge does not make it true. Maybe it happened; maybe it didn't. But, until hard evidence in the form of a documented report is put forth, nothing happened.

    ReplyDelete
  10. All this talk about things 'supposedly' said to a student reminds me of teachers I've worked with who gripe, bitch, complain, you name it about certain students' poor classroom behaviors, but yet when I told them to get off their bottoms, document the behaviors using precise language and place the documentation on the Six Steps of Discipline, they did nothing. Some people would rather complain to others than take the necessary steps to do something. Either they lack courage, are lazy, are just gossips, or want someone else to do their dirty work for them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree with the above comment. When teachers don't use the Six Steps of Discipline it hurts all the teachers and all the students. And it is hurting my school.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It has only been about 20 years since enrollment at IPS was around 100K. Now it's down to what, about 33K? Who do you people think you are kidding? I hope you all have personal savings and retirement plans because you sure as hell can't count on this system being around long enough for many of you to retire. If any of you think you would still be doing this job without a paycheck, you're liars. Even though I happen to be an IPS employee, I will be glad to see the day when IPS no longer exists. It's been little more than a warehouse for failures for decades. In the meantime, like I said, I will continue to get paid while watching the idiocy. BTW, I never said I was a teacher. I'm smart enough to know I wouldn't last a week doing that. The reason I stay is simple. I get better hours, better pay and better benefits for much less work. However, IPS still gets much more from me for much less money than if my services were bought outside the system. If this job goes away, I'll just have to work a little harder, but I won't be out of work for long.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I only have one year left to go, a multi-million dollar trust fund in the Isle of Man and four other pensions. My weekly check goes into IRA's and investments that are very secure. I didn't lose any money in the recession, except for that darn Valic account. Mary Louis needs to lose about forty pounds or start wearing flowing dreses that cover the chubby thights.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anyone who has had the misfortune of working with Larson has heard and seen worse than this. And yes some of it is documented, but it still continues. And he is not the only one in IPS with a long history of inappropriate behavior.
    That loyalty to the people in his mafia out weigh what is in the best interest of students.
    If Prunie or Dexter told him to eat dirt he'd do it gladly.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Tired of this.October 06, 2010

    The reason I stay is simple. I get better hours, better pay and better benefits for much less work.

    Sounds like you do as little as possible. Really great work ethic to be passing on to the students.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You don't get it, do you? When a teenage boy asks that you not reveal to the world that he is gay then it would be unprofessional and disgusting to violate his wishes to do so. He will be the one outed not the witnesses. His parents are aware of the situation and IF the teen decides to come out and complain, he will do so. This is a vice principal with a history of verbal abuse and other unprofessional behavior. Why can't the adult administrators do what is needed?

    ReplyDelete
  17. How can the adult administrators do what is needed if they have no facts? What if it was you who was being targeted? Would you want administration to take action without proof?

    ReplyDelete
  18. How can you complain to the adult administration when it is a person in the administration who is committing the infraction?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Okay. I will use small words. You have to have proof if you want him to get in trouble. You are a nobody on a blog. That means zip. People are good until they are proven bad. If you cannot prove him bad, he is good.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You can't get him in trouble, because he is being protected. Apparently the student has confided this information to teachers, but if they report it they will soon find he trains his guns on them. The only way anything will happen is if the student files a complaint. I'd skip the IPS complaint procedure totally, and get an attorney. But as another poster has mentioned the student doesn't really want to "come out" in that environment.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your free anonymous advice is worth exactly what I paid for it which is NOTHING. You insist on defending the offensive administrator without even giving any consideration what a life altering decision this teenage boy has to make. Get a life and get a heart and get a little compassion.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh my gosh. You can't possibly be this stupid. You just can't. Go ahead and explain how you think this should go. If everyone at IPS (except for the vice principal you're making accusations about) was perfect and noble and good, how would this scenario go. How would the VP be disciplined if there is no evidence to corroborate he did anything wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  23. The funny thing is, the person making baseless accusations against the VP is almost certainly one of the people who scream that the teacher's union is necessary to protect teachers from baseless accusations!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh my gosh! You are so right! lol!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. What do we have now? Downtown paying someone to come up with all of this bull shit.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Speaking of teacher firings, what ever became of the Facebook situation with the Broad Ripple teacher?

    ReplyDelete
  27. I ask you, Why bother with the six step discipline when NOTHING is done. In our building, if you write a kid up for profanity even if you've written them up several times, nothing is done. Nothing has been done about a student who punched someone else. One student who was pending alternative placement is now back in the classroom only after 5 days. Good job! No, I will continue to complain about students and not write them up because I know that if I have 5 write ups for a phone I will be told, "YOU should have better classroom management" Even though I am the ultimate broken record and tell the students time and time again to put up the phone.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The above poster is 100% correct. Most building administrators will NOT enforce the six step discipline policy. The building administrators have no respect for Eugene White either. I have seen students with 30 to 50 step 3 write ups but they never go to the next step where the administrator is supposed to take action. Teachers have learned that using the six step process is ignored or used against the teacher so many have quit using it. Just another waste of time and yet another policy not followed by the IPS administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Bottom line they need to start FIRING ineffective principals who do not do his/or her job! Our elementary school has become a breeding ground for unruly, disrespectful students, who are allowed to run around the school building and walk out of class without permission. There are no punishments or consequences at this school building. This building needs to be closed immediately! To top it off this is SUPPOSE to be a FULL PURPOSE SCHOOL.............what a crock of SH_T!!!! Wish I could tell you what FPP really stands for but I don't use that sort of language!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anyone watch Channel 8 last night? Their report on year-round school said it would add $12 million dollars to the IPS budget and the District is already $4 million dollars in the red. Isn't that what I heard? Anyone?
    What does research say about year-round schools? Are they effective?

    ReplyDelete
  31. If you're relying on the principal for common classroom discipline problems, you're setting yourself up to be frustrated. My first year of teaching, a wonderful veteran teacher told me, "when you send discipline out of the classroom, you send your authority out of the classroom." You have to be more creative than simply writing up everyone and sending them to the office for punishment. You have to ask yourself why you're having so many behavior problems in the first place? Are there other teachers you are comfortable discussing this with? They might be able to share some ideas. There are also books that brainstorm ideas about classroom management. Anyway, I'm sure you're frustrated, and your principal should be more supportive of you, but the principal is not to blame for daily classroom management.

    ReplyDelete
  32. No, the year-round schools have not been proven to be effective, but they are trendy in urban schools.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "If you're relying on the principal for common classroom discipline problems, you're setting yourself up to be frustrated. My first year of teaching, a wonderful veteran teacher told me, "when you send discipline out of the classroom, you send your authority out of the classroom."

    This is absolutely true in grade school, but once they hit high school they need to be sent out if their behavior robs other students of the chance to learn. Generally if my first intervention works, I ask you to stop, and you do, we are done. However if you continue to disrupt or argue with me that you have the "right" to do what you are doing, you are going to the dean. We only have 45 to 55 minutes with kids and can't have one child take up 25 minutes of that time.

    This is what makes the dress code enforcement such a nightmare, it is a battle of wills between teachers and students, with no help from administration or colleagues who don't enforce the policy. As a teacher it is not my job to make my colleagues enforce this policy, nor is it my job to whine about them not doing it. However if some of these lazy ass administrators did simple things like walk into every classroom with clip boards and tally sheets and check dress code compliance, then send teachers quick non-threatening notes saying "when I visited your classroom I noticed three students with hooded jackets, and two children with the wrong colored shirt, please be more vigilant in dress code enforcement." don't you think it would get around and people would step up their game?

    ReplyDelete
  34. The thing is, I'm one of the teachers who doesn't enforce it. You're right, if administration enforced it, I would too. But I don't want to send these kids out of my class if I can help it because I need them in my classroom if I want to teach them. So I pretend I don't notice things. Instead of enforcing the dress code, I wish they'd do away with it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. IPS downtown must think its no big deal for building administrators to talk to students abusively. The vice principal at Broad Ripple yelled in a student face that he was going to throw him the fuck out of school. Everybody knew about this including the parents and they also know that this vp will forever more be protected by LD. How can we expect our young black men to behave any differently when their role models are the likes of these men? It sickens me that our young men have nobody to look up to except bullies and thugs.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Same vp, in the hall with a combative kid, the kid had finally calmed down and a school police office escalated the altercation by elbowing the kid. The kid went off again and started yelling, and was subdued by police, and arrest was threatened. Several moments later the other police office came back to this VP and asked if they were really pursuing the arrest (acknowledging the elbowing by the other office was a provocation) and tough guy VP had the kid arrested. What did this teach the kid, expect unfair treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The Principal sets the tone for the whole school building. If you have a weak principal who does not enforce the dress code or strict disciplinary action(when deemed necessary) then you will have an out of control school building. Teachers may have great classroom management but it is up to the Principal to make sure every child is safe and that the learning process is not interrupted by rude, unruly students who are a menace to society and to the school system!

    ReplyDelete
  38. I agree totally with the above post!

    ReplyDelete
  39. If IPS got rid of all the "rude, unruly students who are a menace to society and to the school system", there would be a lot more school closings. They would probably only need one or two buildings. Test scores would go up though!

    ReplyDelete
  40. While some of my students fit into the "rude, unruly" category, most are wonderful, eager to learn and respectful students. They are as sick of the rude and unruly students impeding their educations as teachers are. They also see that there are no consequences for this type of behavior as building administrators ignore it to keep their stats looking good. The truly rude, unruly, bullying and boorish behavior comes primarily from many of the administrators that Eugene has hired.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Lots of the magnets are just sending us their rude, unruly students now. I'm sure their test scores will go up as ours go down.

    ReplyDelete
  42. The Principal sets the tone for the whole school building: Now, now...don't talk about Bogard that way. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  43. I wasn't talking about Bogard..............when I made that statement!

    ReplyDelete
  44. One of the IPS high school prinicpals appears to be entering the early stages of dementia.
    Even her close friends are noticing changes. She needs to retire.

    ReplyDelete
  45. There is one elementary principal who needs to be fired, due to her building being out of control! Guess things might get better when the male Principal comes in January. One can only hope and pray!

    ReplyDelete
  46. The male principal isn't coming for the current, crazy school, he's preparing for the SLOW transition for the "revised" concept school. Dream on.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Yes, he is coming!

    ReplyDelete
  48. He's coming for Reggio, not sixty-oh. Be respectful. :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. You forgot..............be responsible! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Check yourself. :)

    ReplyDelete
  51. Is this the program they started during the war because they couldn't have regular schools?

    Check.

    ReplyDelete
  52. That explains why this program is taking over this particular school building, because this school building now is like teaching in a war zone.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Ahhh, looks like we get to be entertained by the rantings of #60 staff again.
    We've missed you!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Thanks! We're glad we provide you with a chuckle now and then. :)

    ReplyDelete
  55. It will be curious to see what impression school #60 leaves with the Reggio principal when he reports to work in January.

    ReplyDelete
  56. It is amazing that this program is being spun as some new innovative aproach. It has been around for decades.

    ReplyDelete
  57. @It is amazing that this program is being spun as some new innovative aproach. It has been around for decades.

    The Reggio program has been around for years. Also, the year-around calendar using the 45/15 approach was being employed by schools as far back as the early 1970's on the East Coast. Most of those early 45/15 schools disbanded the approach after several years of not realizing any significant improvement in the achievement levels of the students. Next thing we know, IPS and Eugene White will revisit 'open classrooms', 'new math', 'block scheduling','schools without walls', etc. and tout these approaches as 'best practices' and 'cutting edge strategies'. Just watch.

    ReplyDelete

Followers