Judgment Day

We had a fun discussion around the dinner table this Thanksgiving. IPS B.S. comes from a family of educators and the big questions were about teacher performance. Would more money make you a better teacher and would you rather be judged by your district's performance, building's performance or classroom performance? The answers were all over the place. What do you think?

A Watch or A Warning

Indiana School Data Released Today:

There are 21 individual Indiana public schools which have been on Academic Probation for 5 consecutive years.

Of that 21, seven (7) are IPS schools.

Six Indiana public schools have been on Academic Probation for 4 consecutive years. Three out of those six schools are IPS schools.

Link to IDOE data released Tuesday:

Five years on Probation --- http://www.doe.in.gov/pl221/2010/Probation_Year_Five.xls

Four years on Probation --- http://www.doe.in.gov/pl221/2010/Probation_Year_Four.xls

Residency Requirement

Have you heard there are plans being drafted as part of "reform" that will require ALL new IPS teachers to live in the IPS District.

What Do You Think?

1. What do you think about IPS' "year-round" school plan that really isn't a year-round school plan?

2. What do you think about the Lee Tibbetts molestation lawsuit?

3. What do you think about all the recent news surrounding school bullying?

What do you think?

High School High

Does Eugene really want to open another high school when IPS just lost another 1,000 students? Is he high?

Stuperintendent White

Did anyone hear about Eugene's performance today in front of a group of lawyers? He was horrible.

• He said 270 teachers were getting laid off.
• He said IPS' problems stemmed from the IPS police force.
• No one could understand what he was saying.
• He talked about the shooting after a Tech game two weeks ago.
• He also blamed IPS' problems s on charter schools.
• He justified his salaries and the other administrators.

He was a real piece of work.

Did You See This?

Principals at Indianapolis Public Schools’ five underperforming high schools received six-figure salaries and generous raises in 2009-10, despite a dire budget situation that forced the district to cut teaching positions and student programs.

The salaries are even more disturbing in the context of recent comments made by IPS Superintendent Eugene White, who estimated that 60 percent of the teachers at those five high schools are ineffective, and blamed administrators for their failure.

“The teachers’ unions do get blamed for bad teachers,” White told the Inidanapolis Business Journal in a story published last week. “But the real, real, real fact of the matter is that bad teachers exist because administrators fail to properly supervise them.”

Yet for some reason, IPS rewards that type of administrative incompetence.

Principals at IPS’s five struggling high schools all received salaries of at least $100,000 in 2009-10. They are Richard Grismore, Emmerich Manual High School, $108,000; Jethroe Knazzle, Arlington Community High School, $107,000; Lawrence Yarrell, Northwest High School, $105,000; Stephanie Nixon, Thomas Carr Howe High School, $102,000; and Deborah Leser, George Washington Community High School, $101,000.

Each principal received pay increases in 2009-10, ranging from 3 to 14 percent. All of them, as well as 43 other IPS administrators, rake in more than Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who earns $95,000 per year.

Where's your raise?

More Firings!

Have you heard ? There are more firings on the way and this time it's principals. What are you hearing out there?

More Bad News

Not only is IPS closing two more schools, but Eugene White showed his ass at the Waiting for Superman discussion last month.

Music star John Legend pointed to Zionsville as a successful school district. White told Legend he didn't know what he was talking about and should stick to playing music.

If White wants to point a finger at someone who doesn't know to run a school district he should go stand in front of a mirror.

Rejection!!!

Did any of you hear the Administration submitted its plan for school improvement to the State and the State told them it sucked. Get ready for the takeover.

Is IPS Finished?

Now that the Republicans control the Indiana General Assembly, is IPS finished as we know it?