No, White never intended to open a new high school. In order to placate an outraged public, he had to keep the two elementary schools open which would mean that Gambold had no purpose since he was hell-bent to reorganize Northwest as a community school w/grades 7-12. White compromised. Northwest gets to be a 'new' school with Gambold's 7th and 8th graders joining NWCHS. The two elementaries stay open, and vocal involved parents of students who are high achievers took advantage of the opportunity to force the Board's hand into using Gambold as a high school for their kids.
Your blog subject should read:
"IPS AVOIDS STATE TAKE-OVER OF NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL"
Reinventing Gambold Middle School into a high school for the gifted/talented is a very good thing; however, the idea for the high school for gifted/talented students is merely a surprise by-product of the School Board's prime intent which is to keep the State Board of Education from intervening at Northwest High School. After 6 years of failure to make adequate educational progress, the State, as we all know, may takeover the operation of a public school. Northwest is now at the 6 year level of being a chronically low performing school. By moving 7th and 8th grade students into Northwest, it technically will become a new school (a community high school - grades 7-12) which resets the 6 year time clock.
Read below the State Board of Education's recent Memo of explanation regarding 'failing' schools in Indiana. This should explain what IPS is doing and what IPS has done already with failing high schools, including Arlington, Howe, Marshall, and Washington which now technically are 'new' schools named Community High Schools with grades 7-12.
It will also allow Dr. White to hire some more administrators for his new high school.
Instead of reducing the budget as stated he will instead raise it. New school expenses, another set of busses to the new school running the streets and using more gas, new set of administrators maybe even coaches (hey maybe another extremely expensive one with a made up position).
If it was to avoid state take-over at Northwest. My question is this. Is not Manual also on the endangered list? Why not move MS'ers in into Manual. Consolidate the elementaries on the Southside into Donnan as well? Then close those elementaries and save money?
Opening Gamble does not protect Northwest. The State has to agree that the change will reset the clock, and it is not only NCLB, but, also, PL 221 that is in play here. They are not going to do that, especially when both Gamble and NHS have failing statistics.
Opening a High School specifically for Magnet Students and students from high performing programs allows the District to try to keep the highest performing students. If the state does take over NHS, then the operator will get the balance of the students in that drawing area.
Gambold wasn't failing until they moved the east-side kids in with the west-side kids this year. Major improvements in test scores had been made - safe harbor had been met, things were going just fine - there were many successes happening at Gambold prior to this year. Who ever thought moving east-side to the west-side and bringing that gang rivalry into the middle school needs to seek professional help. Gambold made AYP last year. It's a totally different place this year - my son says there are violent fights there nearly every day and he doesn't feel safe.
Just received a letter from the CFI principal stating that this new high school would allow for priority admission for kids from Sidener, CFI and Montessori schools. CFI 84 has already become an elitist private/public school with no diversity before grade 4. Dr. White told these same parents, at the BR year-round meeting that he didn't care if they left the system, he didn't want them...and here is is making a special school, just for them.
I thought the new Broad Ripple Magnet was the answer for CFI parents...it was just another attempt to re-vamp the school and send the problem kids elsewhere.
Sorry Dr. White, too little, too late. In a class of 24, 8th graders, at CFI 84, I know of at least 12 who have their applications in for non-IPS HS's. At least 9 have applied to the same charter HS.
My kid is at CFI at School 2. I am overjoyed that White is attempting to stem the flow of students from IPS to charter/private schools! Chris Collier is motivated, her staff are motivated, and her parents are motivated. Good leadership makes all the difference in the world!
What about the so-called IB program that has been at Northwest for years? Why has it NEVER graduated a single student with an IB diploma? Will this happen at this new high school?
Gambold is WAY out of control this year. It was so much better last year. Sadly those Harshman rejects have already turned the school upside-down. You can tell who they are. They are loud, disrespectful to everyone, and are clearly not there to learn. I know a handful of teachers left within months, maybe weeks.
IPS has the feeling of an organization gone awry, decisions seem to be made in an off the cuff manner, this doesn't seem to be working, don't figure out why try something different. The Rats downtown are scurrying to line their nests with cash and getting their life rafts ready.
My kids go to CFI #2 too. I don't know the exact percentages, but many, many students from the magnet schools don't go to IPS high schools. So if the IB program hasn't been successful at Northwest, that doesn't mean the magnet high school wouldn't be successful. I think theoretically, it should be very good for IPS and very good for the city of Indianapolis, which tends to to have an image of academic failure. I'm glad my kids are still fairly young. By the time my oldest child enters high school, it will be very obvious how the magnet high school compares with charter schools and private schools.
I also thought that when Broad Ripple reopened as a magnet school, it was intended to serve the gentry in that neighborhood that send their kids to 84, 91, and Sidener. But then it turned out to be a grades 7-12 school, so then I decided it was intended to be the arts completion school, to finish what was begun at school 70. But one elementary can't feed an entire high school, so they still had to enroll a significant "general population", which diluted the positive effects of the arts magnet. I suggest we renew the original goals at Broad Ripple, starting with grade 9 next year. Add one grade per year. After 4 years, it will be the high school that most C of I, Montessori, 70, and Sidener kids attend, with the advantage that it's very near those elementary schools. Of course, that does not solve the problem on the west side, where Northwest must be reconfigured next year. For that one, I say let the state take over Northwest. Let's call Bennett 's bluff. We don't have much to lose. Th building is small and old, the student population is small, and parents in the area have many options if they don't want to send their kids to the state-run guinea pig school.
Shortridge had the same problem. It was to be a Law and Government magnet but attracted so few students interesed in law and government that they had to load the school with with general students., Most of those students will have experiences with the law but on the wrong side of it. Shortridge is a mess and a complete failure.
Broad Ripple Art is a joke, not enough teachers, rooms that were designed as art rooms, with special and costly changes converted to other uses, all students enrolled in "magnet" art classes, with no general visual art class for non-art students...the whole thing is one giant f-ed up joke. If you want to see a great art department go see the one at Lafayette Jeff...follow their model and we might have something...keep following the course we are on and we'll have nothing.
Why didn't the IPS School Board do some basic market research before establishing these specialized magnet high schools?
First, check out the numbers of students who actually had earnest, burning desires to attend a school devoted primarily to the arts, to the law/public policy, or to the medical profession. If the numbers don't support the establishment of specialized magnet schools, then IPS made a decision to pour good money down the drain.
Last time I looked at the Biology End of Course Assessment results from Attucks, I was disgusted to see how few of the students passed Biology I. This is a special school for students who want to become doctors, nurses, or other medical professionals? I think not, and I feel sorry for these kids being fed a line of crap from IPS.
Right now, a college graduate who wants to be accepted into IU Medical School or Dental School needs at least a 3.75 GPA in undergrad school and needs a Biology major or other heavy duty Science major.
The problem is we beat the drum that all children need to go to college, but we never tell kids or parents what skills they will need to get into and succeed in college, because often those skills are counter to what is in the best interest of the "system". What kind of college will let a kid in who has only read two or three novels in high school? In one of my intro level college courses we had to read 15 large novels in a single semester, and be prepared to discuss them in class, and these weren't "Farewell to Manzanar" length novels. And what suffices for writing (most often cut and paste from internet sources) would get you thrown out of most colleges...
A few years ago I had two young men who had left one of the Catholic high schools, and in my class they were discussing what books they had read, Grisham, Koontz, King, Turow and a few others, my kids asked if they read them for class, and these two kids reacted with puzzled expressions, no just for fun...my IPS kids were mystified.
I've got to say that there has been an increase in reading for fun among girls, since there is a new "genre" of reading, called informally "baby's daddy" novels, build on this and offer courses that compare Jane Eyre to a Baby's Daddy novel...do anything that can be done to get these kids reading.
Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is a wonderful book on the problem of reading in schools, and how the approach we are using is shooting ourselves in the foot.
So, what was the problem with Shortridge, really? Did they have too few students apply? Or were the applicants' skills so abysmal that they were going to take years to catch up to a point where the school would look good?
I've been teaching at IPS for twelve years, and I have never once heard anyone refer to urban fiction as "baby daddy novels." I've heard it called "street lit" "street fiction" "hip hop fiction" and even "ghetto fiction" but "baby's daddy fiction" sounds like a negative term used by suburban adults, not urban kids. And just like most popular fiction, some of is really bad, but some of it is quite good.
It was the term my librarian uses, and we have a great collection...along with graphic novels. I've heard kids use the term too, so it might be unique to my school? It really made reading popular with my kids..so what ever you call it, it is a good thing.
Lets be realistic. Let the IDOE take over Northwest. It is obvious that Larry Yarrell has not done a good job. Just look at the faculty turnover, declining enrollment, and low student academic success. It is time for change.
Do we really need two more "Directors" ??? Check out the Board Docs from Nov. 16th. Christine Collier will be the Director of CFI going from $97,779 to $110,000 and Yvonne Rambo will be the Director of Turn Around Schools going from $97,779 to $107,000. When will this madness stop?
Christine Collier works tirelessly for her schools, her staff, her students, her families and for IPS. She deserves the money she earns because she is doing real work, hard work with great results.
And Rambo led the only secondary school in IPS that is not on probation. Gambold is not a magnet school. Gambold does not have the children of Meridian Kessler and the downtown yuppies. She works pretty hard, I'd say.
Yeah, of all the people in IPS who aren't worth their salaries, Christine Collier is not one of them. She is one of the examples of administrators who could easily get a job in another district with her track record, so it makes sense to pay her what she's worth.
But Rambo lives with the Yuppies in Fishers. I think she would be fine. The good thing for IPS is that she is great at her job. I feel sad that she is leaving the schools, to go to the puzzle palace.
Aren't they just about out of administrative offices, what is next, another head quarters building? Perhaps they will turn Gambold into another suite of offices...administrators have to go somewhere, are there good restaurants nearby, bars, coffee shops?
Northwest IB program: Started 7 years ago with the application process when Roy Simpson was principal. The application was accepted 5 years ago. The implementation was implemented 4 years ago along with a change to Larry Yarrell as principal. The IB coordinator changed 3 years ago and it has gone down under the leadership of the principal and the coordinator. There are two ways to graduate as an IB student one with the diploma and one with the certificate. The certificate means they did not complete the entire course work. Either not taking all the classes or not passing the tests. The IB coordinator change started with the first group and she failed to mention what was needed for the art requirement. The pool of students up for diploma went from 12 to 2. One received the diploma. The other did not. The rest received certificates. Last year there were two candidates for diploma both failed the tests. The IB program will be gone soon because of the lack of support from a district level and the fact Northwest will loose teachers because of the turn around model. Oh yeah and it cost about $10,000 a year to have the IB certificate.
What a shame!!!!Wasted resources and lack of support caused the demise of IB in IPS. Will the same happen to the Middle Years Program they are attempting to develop?
Regarding Rambo; the woman will lie and stretch the truth to gain what she wants. The award she received was one that she nominated herself for. She drove many good teachers out of her building and ruined the careers of several because she decided they didn't fit the mold of what she wanted. Her avowed goal was to get out of building administration and into a position of higher power. She's dangerous and malicious.
You can make accusations about an administrator who is failing, but when you launch attacks on a singularly successful principal, it's a hollow charge. Gambold Middle School made AYP the last two years and is not on probation. Whatever Rambo did got results. Who among us can make that same claim?
Collier deserves every penny of her salary and more. She is an incredible leader who knows how to get people to work together to make amazing things happen. She brings out the best in her faculty and staff. It's time for her to be able to step above building-level administration and implement the C of I model in more schools.
I don't think the C of I, Montessori, and Sidener parents are going to bus their kids all the way to the west side for high school. The high achiever high school needs to be near the established K-8 schools that will feed it. Broad Ripple High School would be perfect. Admit that the arts magnet is a failure because too many general population students are still there. We need to clear out Broad Ripple and start again with just 9th graders. Between the 2 C of I's , 3 Montessori's, and Sidener, we should be able to come up with a decent sized freshman class. I bet the high achieving middle schoolers from Attucks and Shortridge would jump at the chance to be part of a new high school program. We need to start by admitting that diluting the magnet high schools with non-magnet students is a policy failure.
Let me get this all straight- We were going to close #107 and #109 due to funding. Now, all of a sudden, we are able to keep them open AND start a new school in Gambold's facilities in 11-12. We may be RIFing teachers at the end of the year, but we have money to create new $100,000 positions? It amazes me that, even after a newspaper article about inflated admin in IPS, Eugene White is brave enough to add to his list of 6-figure follies.
Why do we need a Director of Turn Around Schools when Eugene White and the School board still have not submitted a proposal that has been accepted. Every one of the plans drawn up by Eugene White's high paid cronies has been rejected. They are failures.
Rambo can get away with anything because she is a liar. Gambold might be making AYP, but it is the teachers there making it happen despite her! To those in Turn Around Schools heed my warning...watch your backs!
Rambo cheats on scrimmages and benchmarks. She also goes through every ISTEP+ test alone at night to make "notes" for herself and teachers. Ummm...sounds shady to me. By the way, her buddy nominated her for that award, but she edited and revised the nomination letter.
Has anyone compared the "approved" Balanced Calendar to the original schedule?
I was truly excited about three-week intercessions, at the expense of a longer summer. The schedule published in the 11/18 Indy Star has three two-week breaks, and an eight-week summer, (verses the current ten weeks) which won't make much difference in student progress.
"Aren't they just about out of administrative offices, what is next, another head quarters building?..." They have already created space for over-paid, under-worked, job-justifying employees. Take a look at Forest Manor. It's a beautiful facility that houses offices for dollar sucking IPS parasites in positions that even downtown administrators realize would not be missed if they disappeared from the planet tomorrow and space for mandated professional development "opportunities" during which teachers are pulled from their classrooms and outside consultants suck even more dollars out of our school system. And our children benefit from all of this, how?
I, too, was excited about the three week/nine week calendar. I am now infuriated that the calendar that the parents were invited to comment on, and the teachers were surveyed about, and the media reported to the public was replaced with one that does not at all accomplish what Old Gene said was the number one reason for the change: Significant reduction of the summer break so that students would retain more information. The original proposed calendar is still on the IPS website even though the board saw a totally different one. He's a liar and a sneaky bastard. Bottom line.
Yes, it's a gorgeous campus, but mostly empty. But, it beats the Hell out of meeting at the Somers Mansion. By the way, who is there now? Has it reverted back to Cold Springs, or is our Big Bubba Pimp Daddy G. using it for a whorehouse?
Molestation victim's family sues IPS, principal for negligence
Written by
John Tuohy
A federal lawsuit accuses Indianapolis Public Schools and a former principal of negligence for hiring a teacher with a checkered past who is now a convicted child molester.
The family of the victim, an ex-student at John Marshall Community High School, filed the lawsuit, which also names the former math teacher, Lee N. Tibbetts.
"The allegation is that the district hired this man with a history, and even after the new accusations were brought to the attention of the principal, nothing was done about it," said Kyle Biesecker, one of the family's three attorneys from an Evansville firm.
The suit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis claims that before IPS hired him in 2007, Tibbetts had resigned from his job in Cincinnati Public Schools while under investigation for propositioning a student. _______________________________________________
Back to the Broad Ripple art department comment; Debra Tyte is one of the best art teachers around - she is innovative, hard-working, creative and knows how to work with kids in a quiet but effective way. Her classrooms are a delight with all the great student work going on. She also organized a school "make-over" day last fall where a large group of people came and planted trees, painted, decorated hallways, built a gazebo, did landscaping, etc. She is a "hidden gem" among the IPS teaching staff. (and, no, I am not related to her or work with her)
Never, and many won't have jobs, IPS is sinking fast, look at the "plans" they are throwing around, it all seems very desperate...and meanwhile White is giving all his pals raises so they will have something to float on when the system is taken over by the state.
Meanwhile the board plays on like the orchestra on the Titanic.
Northwest won't be closed because of commissioner brown's lying northwest would fit into washington the board meets privately all the time shady deal yes sir! yes sir!
Here's an idea -- if all-magnet schools, like Shortridge and Broad Ripple, are failing because they had to admit too many general education students to get their numbers up, why not pick two or three buildings to house most of the magnet programs in the district? White is already sacrificing the general population schools by funneling more money and more technology to the magnets. Why doesn't he just admit it and raise the white flag?
I like that idea. Use Tech for one magnet campus because it has separate buildings to use for each program. Use Broad Ripple for the other, since it is located nearest to the families we are trying to keep in the district.
Just FYI, the Broad Ripple area represents less than a third of the magnet school student population. Magnet school students come from all over the city, from affluent, working class, and poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
No, White never intended to open a new high school. In order to placate an outraged public, he had to keep the two elementary schools open which would mean that Gambold had no purpose since he was hell-bent to reorganize Northwest as a community school w/grades 7-12. White compromised. Northwest gets to be a 'new' school with Gambold's 7th and 8th graders joining NWCHS. The two elementaries stay open, and vocal involved parents of students who are high achievers took advantage of the opportunity to force the Board's hand into using Gambold as a high school for their kids.
ReplyDeleteYour blog subject should read:
"IPS AVOIDS STATE TAKE-OVER OF NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL"
Reinventing Gambold Middle School into a high school for the gifted/talented is a very good thing; however, the idea for the high school for gifted/talented students is merely a surprise by-product of the School Board's prime intent which is to keep the State Board of Education from intervening at Northwest High School. After 6 years of failure to make adequate educational progress, the State, as we all know, may takeover the operation of a public school. Northwest is now at the 6 year level of being a chronically low performing school. By moving 7th and 8th grade students into Northwest, it technically will become a new school (a community high school - grades 7-12) which resets the 6 year time clock.
Read below the State Board of Education's recent Memo of explanation regarding 'failing' schools in Indiana. This should explain what IPS is doing and what IPS has done already with failing high schools, including Arlington, Howe, Marshall, and Washington which now technically are 'new' schools named Community High Schools with grades 7-12.
http://www.doe.in.gov/news/2010/10-October/documents/2010-10-29SBOEChronicallyLowPerformingSchooolsFACTSHEET.pdf
It will also allow Dr. White to hire some more administrators for his new high school.
ReplyDeleteInstead of reducing the budget as stated he will instead raise it. New school expenses, another set of busses to the new school running the streets and using more gas, new set of administrators maybe even coaches (hey maybe another extremely expensive one with a made up position).
If it was to avoid state take-over at Northwest. My question is this. Is not Manual also on the endangered list? Why not move MS'ers in into Manual. Consolidate the elementaries on the Southside into Donnan as well? Then close those elementaries and save money?
Nope. Too logical.
ReplyDeleteOpening Gamble does not protect Northwest. The State has to agree that the change will reset the clock, and it is not only NCLB, but, also, PL 221 that is in play here. They are not going to do that, especially when both Gamble and NHS have failing statistics.
ReplyDeleteOpening a High School specifically for Magnet Students and students from high performing programs allows the District to try to keep the highest performing students. If the state does take over NHS, then the operator will get the balance of the students in that drawing area.
The Manual/Donnan consolidation is next. Manual hasn't made AYP for any of the 7 years listed on the DOE website.
ReplyDeleteGambold wasn't failing until they moved the east-side kids in with the west-side kids this year. Major improvements in test scores had been made - safe harbor had been met, things were going just fine - there were many successes happening at Gambold prior to this year. Who ever thought moving east-side to the west-side and bringing that gang rivalry into the middle school needs to seek professional help. Gambold made AYP last year. It's a totally different place this year - my son says there are violent fights there nearly every day and he doesn't feel safe.
ReplyDeleteJust received a letter from the CFI principal stating that this new high school would allow for priority admission for kids from Sidener, CFI and Montessori schools. CFI 84 has already become an elitist private/public school with no diversity before grade 4. Dr. White told these same parents, at the BR year-round meeting that he didn't care if they left the system, he didn't want them...and here is is making a special school, just for them.
ReplyDeleteI thought the new Broad Ripple Magnet was the answer for CFI parents...it was just another attempt to re-vamp the school and send the problem kids elsewhere.
Sorry Dr. White, too little, too late. In a class of 24, 8th graders, at CFI 84, I know of at least 12 who have their applications in for non-IPS HS's. At least 9 have applied to the same charter HS.
When are people going to see that the emperor has no clothes? Would the wise child please stand up?
ReplyDeleteMy kid is at CFI at School 2. I am overjoyed that White is attempting to stem the flow of students from IPS to charter/private schools! Chris Collier is motivated, her staff are motivated, and her parents are motivated. Good leadership makes all the difference in the world!
ReplyDeleteWhat about the so-called IB program that has been at Northwest for years? Why has it NEVER graduated a single student with an IB diploma? Will this happen at this new high school?
ReplyDeleteWhere does Attucks fall in all this?
ReplyDeleteGambold is WAY out of control this year. It was so much better last year. Sadly those Harshman rejects have already turned the school upside-down. You can tell who they are. They are loud, disrespectful to everyone, and are clearly not there to learn. I know a handful of teachers left within months, maybe weeks.
ReplyDeleteNorthwest has had a graduate with an IB Diploma
ReplyDelete@Northwest has had a graduate with an IB Diploma
ReplyDeleteOnly one graduate with an IB Diploma?
IPS has the feeling of an organization gone awry, decisions seem to be made in an off the cuff manner, this doesn't seem to be working, don't figure out why try something different. The Rats downtown are scurrying to line their nests with cash and getting their life rafts ready.
ReplyDeleteMy kids go to CFI #2 too. I don't know the exact percentages, but many, many students from the magnet schools don't go to IPS high schools. So if the IB program hasn't been successful at Northwest, that doesn't mean the magnet high school wouldn't be successful. I think theoretically, it should be very good for IPS and very good for the city of Indianapolis, which tends to to have an image of academic failure. I'm glad my kids are still fairly young. By the time my oldest child enters high school, it will be very obvious how the magnet high school compares with charter schools and private schools.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that when Broad Ripple reopened as a magnet school, it was intended to serve the gentry in that neighborhood that send their kids to 84, 91, and Sidener. But then it turned out to be a grades 7-12 school, so then I decided it was intended to be the arts completion school, to finish what was begun at school 70. But one elementary can't feed an entire high school, so they still had to enroll a significant "general population", which diluted the positive effects of the arts magnet. I suggest we renew the original goals at Broad Ripple, starting with grade 9 next year. Add one grade per year. After 4 years, it will be the high school that most C of I, Montessori, 70, and Sidener kids attend, with the advantage that it's very near those elementary schools.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that does not solve the problem on the west side, where Northwest must be reconfigured next year. For that one, I say let the state take over Northwest. Let's call Bennett 's bluff. We don't have much to lose. Th building is small and old, the student population is small, and parents in the area have many options if they don't want to send their kids to the state-run guinea pig school.
Shortridge had the same problem. It was to be a Law and Government magnet but attracted so few students interesed in law and government that they had to load the school with with general students., Most of those students will have experiences with the law but on the wrong side of it. Shortridge is a mess and a complete failure.
ReplyDeleteBroad Ripple Art is a joke, not enough teachers, rooms that were designed as art rooms, with special and costly changes converted to other uses, all students enrolled in "magnet" art classes, with no general visual art class for non-art students...the whole thing is one giant f-ed up joke. If you want to see a great art department go see the one at Lafayette Jeff...follow their model and we might have something...keep following the course we are on and we'll have nothing.
ReplyDeleteBIG QUESTION??
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't the IPS School Board do some basic market research before establishing these specialized magnet high schools?
First, check out the numbers of students who actually had earnest, burning desires to attend a school devoted primarily to the arts, to the law/public policy, or to the medical profession.
If the numbers don't support the establishment of specialized magnet schools, then IPS made a decision to pour good money down the drain.
Last time I looked at the Biology End of Course Assessment results from Attucks, I was disgusted to see how few of the students passed Biology I. This is a special school for students who want to become doctors, nurses, or other medical professionals? I think not, and I feel sorry for these kids being fed a line of crap from IPS.
Right now, a college graduate who wants to be accepted into IU Medical School or Dental School needs at least a 3.75 GPA in undergrad school and needs a Biology major or other heavy duty Science major.
The problem is we beat the drum that all children need to go to college, but we never tell kids or parents what skills they will need to get into and succeed in college, because often those skills are counter to what is in the best interest of the "system". What kind of college will let a kid in who has only read two or three novels in high school? In one of my intro level college courses we had to read 15 large novels in a single semester, and be prepared to discuss them in class, and these weren't "Farewell to Manzanar" length novels.
ReplyDeleteAnd what suffices for writing (most often cut and paste from internet sources) would get you thrown out of most colleges...
A few years ago I had two young men who had left one of the Catholic high schools, and in my class they were discussing what books they had read, Grisham, Koontz, King, Turow and a few others, my kids asked if they read them for class, and these two kids reacted with puzzled expressions, no just for fun...my IPS kids were mystified.
I've got to say that there has been an increase in reading for fun among girls, since there is a new "genre" of reading, called informally "baby's daddy" novels, build on this and offer courses that compare Jane Eyre to a Baby's Daddy novel...do anything that can be done to get these kids reading.
Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is a wonderful book on the problem of reading in schools, and how the approach we are using is shooting ourselves in the foot.
So, what was the problem with Shortridge, really? Did they have too few students apply? Or were the applicants' skills so abysmal that they were going to take years to catch up to a point where the school would look good?
ReplyDeleteI've been teaching at IPS for twelve years, and I have never once heard anyone refer to urban fiction as "baby daddy novels." I've heard it called "street lit" "street fiction" "hip hop fiction" and even "ghetto fiction" but "baby's daddy fiction" sounds like a negative term used by suburban adults, not urban kids. And just like most popular fiction, some of is really bad, but some of it is quite good.
ReplyDeleteIt was the term my librarian uses, and we have a great collection...along with graphic novels. I've heard kids use the term too, so it might be unique to my school? It really made reading popular with my kids..so what ever you call it, it is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteLets be realistic. Let the IDOE take over Northwest. It is obvious that Larry Yarrell has not done a good job. Just look at the faculty turnover, declining enrollment, and low student academic success. It is time for change.
ReplyDeleteWhen a student applies to a Magnet School the teachers have been told grades don't matter.
ReplyDeleteAren't the ECA results from Attucks for the middle school kids?
ReplyDeleteECA -- End of Course Assessments -- high school -- the ECA replaced the GQE
ReplyDeleteDo we really need two more "Directors" ??? Check out the Board Docs from Nov. 16th. Christine Collier will be the Director of CFI going from $97,779 to $110,000 and Yvonne Rambo will be the Director of Turn Around Schools going from $97,779 to $107,000. When will this madness stop?
ReplyDeleteHow come that Collier woman makes more than Rambo? They both have the same made up job.
ReplyDeleteChristine Collier works tirelessly for her schools, her staff, her students, her families and for IPS. She deserves the money she earns because she is doing real work, hard work with great results.
ReplyDeleteWhen Dr. White goes!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd Rambo led the only secondary school in IPS that is not on probation. Gambold is not a magnet school. Gambold does not have the children of Meridian Kessler and the downtown yuppies. She works pretty hard, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteYeah, of all the people in IPS who aren't worth their salaries, Christine Collier is not one of them. She is one of the examples of administrators who could easily get a job in another district with her track record, so it makes sense to pay her what she's worth.
ReplyDeleteRambo is a passive agressive bully who thinks the sun rises and sets in Eugene's eyes. That is what earned her a new position and raise.
ReplyDeleteRambo couldn't fit in with yuppies. She would be uncomfortable and resentful around them. She's Appalachian.
ReplyDeleteYeh, Christine!!!!You are worth it.
ReplyDeleteBut Rambo lives with the Yuppies in Fishers. I think she would be fine. The good thing for IPS is that she is great at her job. I feel sad that she is leaving the schools, to go to the puzzle palace.
ReplyDeleteI feel sad (and disgusted) that IPS is creating more administrative positions.
ReplyDeleteAren't they just about out of administrative offices, what is next, another head quarters building? Perhaps they will turn Gambold into another suite of offices...administrators have to go somewhere, are there good restaurants nearby, bars, coffee shops?
ReplyDeleteNorthwest IB program: Started 7 years ago with the application process when Roy Simpson was principal. The application was accepted 5 years ago. The implementation was implemented 4 years ago along with a change to Larry Yarrell as principal. The IB coordinator changed 3 years ago and it has gone down under the leadership of the principal and the coordinator. There are two ways to graduate as an IB student one with the diploma and one with the certificate. The certificate means they did not complete the entire course work. Either not taking all the classes or not passing the tests. The IB coordinator change started with the first group and she failed to mention what was needed for the art requirement. The pool of students up for diploma went from 12 to 2. One received the diploma. The other did not. The rest received certificates. Last year there were two candidates for diploma both failed the tests. The IB program will be gone soon because of the lack of support from a district level and the fact Northwest will loose teachers because of the turn around model. Oh yeah and it cost about $10,000 a year to have the IB certificate.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame!!!!Wasted resources and lack of support caused the demise of IB in IPS. Will the same happen to the Middle Years Program they are attempting to develop?
ReplyDeleteRegarding Rambo; the woman will lie and stretch the truth to gain what she wants. The award she received was one that she nominated herself for. She drove many good teachers out of her building and ruined the careers of several because she decided they didn't fit the mold of what she wanted. Her avowed goal was to get out of building administration and into a position of higher power. She's dangerous and malicious.
ReplyDeleteYou can make accusations about an administrator who is failing, but when you launch attacks on a singularly successful principal, it's a hollow charge. Gambold Middle School made AYP the last two years and is not on probation. Whatever Rambo did got results. Who among us can make that same claim?
ReplyDeleteJust a note
ReplyDeleteLOOSE and LOSE mean different things.
Collier deserves every penny of her salary and more. She is an incredible leader who knows how to get people to work together to make amazing things happen. She brings out the best in her faculty and staff. It's time for her to be able to step above building-level administration and implement the C of I model in more schools.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the C of I, Montessori, and Sidener parents are going to bus their kids all the way to the west side for high school. The high achiever high school needs to be near the established K-8 schools that will feed it. Broad Ripple High School would be perfect. Admit that the arts magnet is a failure because too many general population students are still there. We need to clear out Broad Ripple and start again with just 9th graders. Between the 2 C of I's , 3 Montessori's, and Sidener, we should be able to come up with a decent sized freshman class. I bet the high achieving middle schoolers from Attucks and Shortridge would jump at the chance to be part of a new high school program. We need to start by admitting that diluting the magnet high schools with non-magnet students is a policy failure.
ReplyDeleteIt's CFI, not C of I. Center for Inquiry.
ReplyDeleteThe IB program died the day Larry Yarrell set foot in the building.
ReplyDeleteThank you, "C of I" was starting to get on my nerves. That and whoever called it Gamble middle school instead of Gambold.
ReplyDeletetry to rant correctly people.
Rambo makes it a point to tell people, "I am good at what I do".
ReplyDeleteIf you are so good, why do you have to keep reminding everyone?
Let me get this all straight-
ReplyDeleteWe were going to close #107 and #109 due to funding. Now, all of a sudden, we are able to keep them open AND start a new school in Gambold's facilities in 11-12.
We may be RIFing teachers at the end of the year, but we have money to create new $100,000 positions?
It amazes me that, even after a newspaper article about inflated admin in IPS, Eugene White is brave enough to add to his list of 6-figure follies.
Why do we need a Director of Turn Around Schools when Eugene White and the School board still have not submitted a proposal that has been accepted. Every one of the plans drawn up by Eugene White's high paid cronies has been rejected. They are failures.
ReplyDeleteRambo can get away with anything because she is a liar. Gambold might be making AYP, but it is the teachers there making it happen despite her! To those in Turn Around Schools heed my warning...watch your backs!
ReplyDeleteRambo cheats on scrimmages and benchmarks. She also goes through every ISTEP+ test alone at night to make "notes" for herself and teachers. Ummm...sounds shady to me. By the way, her buddy nominated her for that award, but she edited and revised the nomination letter.
ReplyDeleteShe has jones for black men, though. So they will be safe.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone compared the "approved" Balanced Calendar to the original schedule?
ReplyDeleteI was truly excited about three-week intercessions, at the expense of a longer summer. The schedule published in the 11/18 Indy Star has three two-week breaks, and an eight-week summer, (verses the current ten weeks) which won't make much difference in student progress.
"Aren't they just about out of administrative offices, what is next, another head quarters building?..."
ReplyDeleteThey have already created space for over-paid, under-worked, job-justifying employees. Take a look at Forest Manor. It's a beautiful facility that houses offices for dollar sucking IPS parasites in positions that even downtown administrators realize would not be missed if they disappeared from the planet tomorrow and space for mandated professional development "opportunities" during which teachers are pulled from their classrooms and outside consultants suck even more dollars out of our school system.
And our children benefit from all of this, how?
I, too, was excited about the three week/nine week calendar. I am now infuriated that the calendar that the parents were invited to comment on, and the teachers were surveyed about, and the media reported to the public was replaced with one that does not at all accomplish what Old Gene said was the number one reason for the change: Significant reduction of the summer break so that students would retain more information.
ReplyDeleteThe original proposed calendar is still on the IPS website even though the board saw a totally different one.
He's a liar and a sneaky bastard. Bottom line.
What was meant by saying Rambo was "Appalachian" & having jones for black men?
ReplyDeleteYes, he is a liar and a sneak bastard and an arrogant also.
ReplyDeleteI think "Appalachian" is pc for white trash. At least, that's what I can remember from diversity courses.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she likes sleeping with them. Love Jones is the term.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Rambo have a kept house husband that works at Frank's Nursery part-time?
ReplyDeleteHow many decades ago did Frank's Nursery go out of business?
ReplyDeleteCurrent information, please.
"Take a look at Forest Manor."
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a gorgeous campus, but mostly empty. But, it beats the Hell out of meeting at the Somers Mansion. By the way, who is there now? Has it reverted back to Cold Springs, or is our Big Bubba Pimp Daddy G. using it for a whorehouse?
From the Indy Star -------
ReplyDeleteMolestation victim's
family sues IPS,
principal for
negligence
Written by
John Tuohy
A federal lawsuit accuses Indianapolis
Public Schools and a former principal of
negligence for hiring a teacher with a
checkered past who is now a convicted
child molester.
The family of the victim, an ex-student at
John Marshall Community High School, filed
the lawsuit, which also names the former
math teacher, Lee N. Tibbetts.
"The allegation is that the district hired this
man with a history, and even after the new
accusations were brought to the attention
of the principal, nothing was done about it,"
said Kyle Biesecker, one of the family's
three attorneys from an Evansville firm.
The suit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis
claims that before IPS hired him in 2007,
Tibbetts had resigned from his job in
Cincinnati Public Schools while under
investigation for propositioning a student.
_______________________________________________
Remainder of this story can be found at:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20101120/LOCAL1801/11200339/Molestation-victim-s-family-sues-IPS-for-negligence?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com|default|t
When are the teachers getting a pay raise?
ReplyDeleteBack to the Broad Ripple art department comment; Debra Tyte is one of the best art teachers around - she is innovative, hard-working, creative and knows how to work with kids in a quiet but effective way. Her classrooms are a delight with all the great student work going on. She also organized a school "make-over" day last fall where a large group of people came and planted trees, painted, decorated hallways, built a gazebo, did landscaping, etc. She is a "hidden gem" among the IPS teaching staff. (and, no, I am not related to her or work with her)
ReplyDeleteNever, and many won't have jobs, IPS is sinking fast, look at the "plans" they are throwing around, it all seems very desperate...and meanwhile White is giving all his pals raises so they will have something to float on when the system is taken over by the state.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the board plays on like the orchestra on the Titanic.
Northwest won't be closed because of commissioner brown's lying northwest would fit into washington the board meets privately all the time shady deal yes sir! yes sir!
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea -- if all-magnet schools, like Shortridge and Broad Ripple, are failing because they had to admit too many general education students to get their numbers up, why not pick two or three buildings to house most of the magnet programs in the district? White is already sacrificing the general population schools by funneling more money and more technology to the magnets. Why doesn't he just admit it and raise the white flag?
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. Use Tech for one magnet campus because it has separate buildings to use for each program. Use Broad Ripple for the other, since it is located nearest to the families we are trying to keep in the district.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, the Broad Ripple area represents less than a third of the magnet school student population. Magnet school students come from all over the city, from affluent, working class, and poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteWho is replacing Rambo at 108?
ReplyDeleteThe Kool-Aid Man
ReplyDeleteThat is not even funny.
ReplyDeleteQuite funny to me!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Kool Aid Man would not like the Gambold staff. Good teachers, but not the group that he believes can teach our students.
ReplyDelete