So who will it be, anyone who didn't tow the company line, or will it actually be the principals who don't do their jobs and are an embarrassment to the system? Or just people who White wants to make beholden to him....invasion of the Willie Giles clones.
Lok for a new principal at Tech. The Human Resources Department wasaghast to recently find out that the principal had ordered several classified employees to come in and work during the summer and to offer them ONLY comp time ....which is against policy and does not even exist. IPS may have to pay those employees for the extra days that they were ordered to work and that is not only expensive but not in the budget.
In my several years working as a secretary I never received pay for working overtime. It was always comp time. The explanation being IPS doesn't pay overtime. Any time over 40 hours was time and a half; no paperwork except what you personally kept. And, of course, there's was never an "official" request to work overtime but was understood you could have time off to compensate your time worked.
"I don't have a need to become famous. I'm already famous." Eugene White
He goes in the history books as being the superintendent who had all of the political equity but ended up closing more schools than any other IPS Superintendent.
Wouldn't that be a kick if the state superintendent walked in on a Friday afternoon to tell White he had to re interview for his job among the townships' supers.
The principals set the tone for the whole school building, which means if the school is out of control( lack of discipline being enforced on the students and teachers texting all day instead of teaching,)I blame the principal for allowing such actions to be taking place. A principal in charge of running this kind of school building should be FIRED and put back in the classroom!!! Let's see how she would handle classroom management.
There are thousands more firings on the way. Over the next few years, IPS will close all the schools that are outside Center Township; schools within Center Township will be reopened as magnet programs. The other townships are going to be asked to start educating all of the kids who live within their boundaries. IPS will be left with a cluster of high performing magnets, populated by the children of the professionals buying up the gentrified homes in Center Township.
So basically, if you're not already teaching at a magnet school, you will be reapplying for your job soon. Maybe you will get hired at one of the new magnets. Maybe you will be hired by the township that takes responsibility for your students. IPS will need very few teachers for the 3500 kids who actually live in Center Township. They'll be able to purge the staff from the top down. It'll be a grand conflagration, but Center Township will be better off for it.
I think a magical pixie will come down and sprinkle fairy dust all over IPS. The schools will grow candy bushes and lollipop trees.
Before you decry my theory as silly, remember that I have just as much proof for mine as all of you do for yours.
I guess the thing that irritates me most about this blog is that it is just a gigantic rumor mill and piss-fest. If I were to put the time into a venture like this it would be so maybe a difference could be made. I see none of that happening here. It's merely a place where people can come an anonymously bitch about things and nothing more. It's a joke. A shame, really, that nothing here is taken seriously by anybody else.
If this is indeed a rumor mill and piss fest as you allege, it is the fault of the secrecy, arrognace and lack of transparency by Eugene White. School board members don't even know what he is doing. They just know that they are to vote for anything that Eugene wants. I would suggest that if you don't like this blog that you don't come here. You come to it. It does not magically come to you.
It is very true that there are a LOT of people walking around who have no real connection to kids...meetings become long and dragged out while they discuss educational issues but nothing gets implemented. I still think that every adult in IPS should be assigned one student to mentor as part of their work assignment - even if only for 1 hour a week. It would make such a huge difference...everyone from custodian to Superintendent; I know there is that much time in everyone's work week that is wasted.
Oh yes. This is a rumor mill and piss-fest (Classy word choice btw) because if we were to complain to our superiors we would be branded as agitators and summarily fired for any reason that could be invented. Dr. White even mentioned this blog at the beginning of the year.
As another poster said, this blog does not come to you. If it is so irritating to you, your choice is very easy and very clear. Go somewhere else!
@I guess the thing that irritates me most about this blog is that it is just a gigantic rumor mill and piss-fest. _______________________________________________
As someone else posted above, rumor mills and piss fests exist in environments where top level communication is nonexistent. Eugene White may pay lip service to 'clear and concise' communication, but most do not see it occurring. IPS still remains an organization that is a house of smoke and mirrors. Knowledge is power; White elects not to share knowledge, hence he retains all the power (or, so he believes).
If this blog serves as nothing other than an annoying, inflamed boil on White's butt, then it's served at least one small purpose.
White would never have mentioned this blog unless it bothered him because it's out of his realm of control.
I hear about a meeting downtown where IPS will be firing 4,000 teachers, everyone with less than fifteen years senority and that have no plans for any call backs. This is from someone cleaning the room and knows everything going on in IPS.
[Comment copied from Indy Star news article today]
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9:06 AM on November 12, 2010 Show Details Hide Details
"Larry Yarrell has turned things around at Northwest? This is the same man who fell asleep at most Lawrence Township School Board meetings and when he did wake up ...he couldn't string together two intelligent sentences to save his life. Wow."
Today it was suggested at the above school that we need to change the "culture". They have been trying to change the "culture" for many, many years now and it hasn't worked. Perhaps now would be the time to enforce the rules.
The culture hasn't changed because the teachers haven't changed. Walk into the suburban schools. The kids aren't different. The teachers and school culture are WAY different.
@ The culture hasn't changed.... You are so biased and misinformed about IPS teachers that your ignorant remarks are not worth responding to but I feel sorry for you that you have such a shallow life and attitude.
I'm not being biased. I'm being objective. If a person wants to objectively evaluate whether the culture of a school or school system is causing problems, one would compare the culture at IPS to the culture at other schools, right?
I've been in every single school in Marion County. Every single one. Private, public, magnet, and charter. Elementary, middle, and high school. And most schools in the donut counties. Try again.
There's a difference between 'school climate' and 'school culture'.
Let's use the iceberg analogy, OK?
Think of an iceberg: The visible part of an iceberg is roughly 1/3 of the iceberg's size. That visible one-third is analogous to 'school climate'. It's what is visible to anyone who walks into a school, even a stranger from off the street. The 'school climate' includes things like bulletin boards, neatness, cleanliness, level of sound in the classrooms/hallways, student work displayed, greetings/acknowledgements from faculty and staff, helpfulness from faculty/staff, and all the other things that are readily visible and noticed when walking around a school. School climate is usually what outsiders view when walking through a classroom or a school.
On the other hand, 'school culture' is that two-thirds of the iceberg that is hidden from public view. Many times the 'school culture' is only discovered when one bumps into it quite accidentally like a ship hitting the submerged part of an iceberg. A school's culture is an unwritten code of rules that is similar to a computer program that runs continuously in the background, so to speak. It is hidden, and it is undocumented, but nevertheless, it exists and it ultimately defines a school building and a school district.
When I arrived in IPS more than a few years ago, I walked around my new school building assignment and saw a warm, nurturing school climate. There were smiles, brightly colored bulleting board displays, lots of hugs from the administrator, loads of warm welcomes to our school, and ad nauseum.
After about two months, I discovered the hidden, unwritten 'school culture'. I'd broken an unwritten rule of that particular building's culture. I was approached twice by two separate 'building cultured' teachers who told me how things were done at their school. I'd evidently broken their unwritten code of rules. Fortunately, I was old, didn't give a damn what they thought, and continue on with IPS. But, yes, school culture is a bitch to break!
If I, an educated professional adult, can experience the ill effects of the IPS hidden 'school culture', then I'd wager that students feel the impact of this 'school culture' doubly.
I have used a stunn gun on a student today, he was in my face so, I blasted away. I know they be keeping me as I is an American Fellows, working with IWU and I can save IPS. The kid cried and I was able to get the whole session on film (cellullar phone) , I be putting it on my Facebook, I am thinking about joininh yhe union? How much do they be costinhg? Pinky Sink
I read your story, and I feel your pain. Because you work with Indiana Wesleyan, I suggest you call the IWU President tonight at his home telephone number which is listed in the white pages of the AT&T Telephone Directory.
How is that funny? Anybody can make up stuff about any school or any program. I could type the same thing and say I'm a union teacher who graduated from IUPUI. There's nothing clever about that. (And it's obviously fake, people rarely write/type that kind of slang, even if they use it in speech, and the misspellings are obviously fabricated.)
@How is that funny? Anybody can make up stuff about any school or any program. I could type the same thing and say I'm a union teacher who graduated from IUPUI. There's nothing clever about that. (And it's obviously fake, people rarely write/type that kind of slang, even if they use it in speech, and the misspellings are obviously fabricated.)
Please grow a sense of humor. Whoever or whatever posted the stun gun comment was faking it for silliness or humor. OK? :-)
We're better off replying to comments that have a serious or valid viewpoint. Agree?
A comment on the Channel 6 website: "Why won't the news mention that Yarrell at Northwest HIgh School is Dr. White's nephew-in-law? Today, 7:44:04 PM" Does anyone know the actual number of relatives Dr. White has on the payroll?
OK, I'm fairly savvy, but how does the 'nephew-in-law' relationship break down into plain old English? I guess I'm asking for 'who married who', etc. How does this all work out on the White/Yarrell family tree?
Yarrell and White are both jerks, and their family relationship does hold interest to me and to others.
I would guess that nephew-in-law would either be his niece's husband, or his wife's nephew. (Assuming he's married, I have no clue. I'm just defining what a nephew-in-law is.
@It is easy to make fun of IWU. First, look at who goes there to get instant degrees or licenses.
I don't know doodly-squat about IWU. I just know that when I earned my Master's Degree that I had to earn 45 quarter hours (different system than in Indiana) and that I had to conduct a Research Paper, approved by a thesis committee, that was a Master's Thesis which was equivalent to 9 hours of graduate school credit. After the Master's Thesis was written and submitted, I was required to take an 'Oral Examination' upon the submitted Thesis before a Committee of Three Professors in the Graduate School of Education at my University.
I am unsure if the IWU post-graduate students are mandated to complete these research requirements. Damn, I hope they are.
The problem at #60 is a total lack of discipline. Until there are definite rules, which apply to ALL students, and they are enforced, the school will continue to run wild. When a student is allowed to all a teacher a f%@king bi&ch, is sent to the office and comes right back, no discipline. When an entire family of siblings are not disciplined because they have a "bad home life," the school will be crazy. The students are out of control. They are constantly fighting, and when reprimanded, simpy state that they were "playing." Hence, nothing happens. It seems that until someone is seriously injured and/or killed, nothing will be done. You can argue until hell freezes over about things like "climate" and "culture," and debate whether teachers have "changed," but without discipline, chaos will reign.
I've heard Yarrell is married to White's niece, but I don't know this for a fact. I do know that he is married with three kids. I also know that White isn't forcing ANY of the principals out of the Turn Around schools because he claims they are all "too new." This includes Yarrell who has been at the building for three and a half years. I've also been told he was a failing business teacher and that is why he was promoted to principal. The question I have is why does that school have Yarrell, plus three vice principals, and NO discipline dean?
@ "without discipline, chaos will rein." I couldn't agree more. What I disagree with is the idea that "discipline" means putting "these kids" in their place. That it means showing them just how inferior they are and repeating to them that if they would only submit to our benevolent authority, then we could create decent people out of them and lift from their awful families and awful communities. NOBODY responds to that. NOBODY. And yet, that is the #1 "discipline" method proposed by teachers at IPS. That needs to change. It is completely possible to teach and be firm and still be respectful and kind. It is completely possible to be intolerant of poor behavior and still be sympathetic to the fact that for some of these kids, every single good, kind, loving person they know is unacceptable by upper-middle-class standards. If we form a bond with these kids, genuinely like them, genuinely recognize their value and the value of their families and communities, then we can teach them what we need to teach them, whether that's behavior or content. Otherwise, let's not pretend we really care about teaching. If all we care about is subservience, then we're not teachers, we're bullies.
To the above post....bull shit. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong...no area in between. otherwise you are setting the students up for failure when dealing with society.
RESPONSE TO "BENEVOLENT AUTHORITY" I left IPS because I wanted to be a respectful, kind, firm, creative, and understanding teacher. I am a great teacher. Unfortunately these teaching qualities do not impact the many bullies in the classroom. The administrators or system could care less. They want teachers that display "benevolent authority" to keep control so the school looks good. I came from an awful family and community but I knew the upper-middle-class standard was the authority. It was respected first on my part, resulting in me forming bonds with my teachers. The teachers then had the opportunity to recognize my value which resulted in respect toward me and all my baggage I brought to school. I also want to add that I experienced more trauma than most IPS children will ever endure. So I can talk! These children MUST recognize and respect authority. It will be everywhere in their life. Support teachers in this effort. IPS is letting the bullies take over the classrooms because the children come from bad situations so feel sorry for them or make excuses for them OR JUST IGNORE THEM. I am glad, I did not go to school in a system like IPS that does not demand respect for authority or I would still be in my bad inner city with little success. I am living proof of what works. IPS as complete system needs to take responsibilty to demand respect for authority. Support instead of blaming the teachers.
If you believe that the upper middle class standard is and should be the authority, then you're nothing at all like 90% of working class, urban and rural families that tend to not do as well in school and not get degrees. They don't think you're better than they are, and they resent it when you act like you are. It's like that everywhere. But at IPS, they get all racist and elitist about it and think the solution is to be MORE condescending and MORE militant and run the school more like a prison instead of more like Greenwood or Carmel. And because IPS has so many older teachers, you get a lot of "back in my day, kids were respectful" b.s. that older people have been rambling about since the beginning of time. If you don't deal well with urban kids, then move out to the country. But admit it's your failing. Kids are kids. And ALL kids do better with kindness than with ridicule. And all kids learn better when it's relevant to their own lives and not just part of some abstract ideal that upper-middle-class people say is important. And kids are engaged and feel valued in a classroom very rarely act up. This isn't brain surgery.
IPS stresses imposed discipline, rather then teaching students the benefits of being self disciplined...obedience is often mistaken for discipline. Hence we have the uniform policy, these poor kids need to learn to be obedient to people in positions of authority...we are preparing them to be subservient for the rest of their lives, low skill jobs, prison, what ever that might be...how very sad....
School 60 is closing and becoming a PreK school. So it is gone. Teachers will go because we have to cut 20 million. Fours years on down. Yes principals are going including Yarrell. Keep your ears open and your mouths shut and you could get this info too.
No, school #60 will be phased out over a multi year period. Beginning next year, grades k-1 will become Reggio. The current students, teachers, and, sadly, the principal, will remain another 4 years.
This week's magical mystery: Where is school 60's principal? What is the real reason for her mysterious absence Friday, and possibly this Monday? Any other time she's been absent, she's let the staff know the reason. Inquiring minds want to know? Does she know that a student was almost electrocuted Friday? Seriously? That just wasn't responsible.
All this drama, mediocrity and idiocy is very easily solved. Take all the funding that normally goes to public schools and give a voucher for each child to the parents to use for education. Even most expensive private schools costs less than what IPS spends per student. The vouchers could be as low as $8000 per student which is only a little over half of what IPS spends. The tax burden would nearly be cut in half. Parents would be able to make their own educational choices. The ridiculous teachers union would become useless and fade away along with the giant ineffective bureaucracy that is public education.
My children have been in private schools their whole lives. They both always place in the top five percent on any standardized testing they've ever had. I have never even come close to spending $8000 per year.
All the whining, bitching, insults and games going on in IPS as well as this board have become nothing more than a tiresome drain on society with no measurable benefit.
I'm the one who called you stupid and mean when you posted about not caring if poor kids get educated or fed. But vouchers I actually agree with. I know that's near blasphemy for a public school teacher to say, so i don't say it aloud much, but I think it would benefit many teachers as well as most students. The bloated administration, b.s. programs that exploit the poor and financially reward school failure, and the worst teachers are the ones who would be hurt.
So who will it be, anyone who didn't tow the company line, or will it actually be the principals who don't do their jobs and are an embarrassment to the system? Or just people who
ReplyDeleteWhite wants to make beholden to him....invasion of the Willie Giles clones.
Lok for a new principal at Tech. The Human Resources Department wasaghast to recently find out that the principal had ordered several classified employees to come in and work during the summer and to offer them ONLY comp time ....which is against policy and does not even exist. IPS may have to pay those employees for the extra days that they were ordered to work and that is not only expensive but not in the budget.
ReplyDeleteIn my several years working as a secretary I never received pay for working overtime. It was always comp time. The explanation being IPS doesn't pay overtime. Any time over 40 hours was time and a half; no paperwork except what you personally kept.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, there's was never an "official" request to work overtime but was understood you could have time off to compensate your time worked.
Teachers have been offered "Comp Time" for years...try and take it, what a joke.
ReplyDeleteThere's going to be a lot of people looking for jobs if the rumor I heard about dividing the system among the townships is true.
ReplyDelete"I don't have a need to become famous. I'm already famous." Eugene White
ReplyDeleteHe goes in the history books as being the superintendent who had all of the political equity but ended up closing more schools than any other IPS Superintendent.
Wouldn't that be a kick if the state superintendent walked in on a Friday afternoon
ReplyDeleteto tell White he had to re interview for his job among the townships' supers.
If they're firing principals can we volunteer ours?
ReplyDeleteWhat school are you from that you are willing to volunteer your principal? He or she can't be any worse than the one at my school!
ReplyDeleteI would volunteer Sarah Bogard as the first principal to go.........someone else can oversee the mowing of the lawn and the planting of bushes.
ReplyDeleteSchool 74, Tim Clevenger! No one can be worse than that! He's a liar, huge ego, controlling and teachers and students have no respect for him.
ReplyDeleteThe principals set the tone for the whole school building, which means if the school is out of control( lack of discipline being enforced on the students and teachers texting all day instead of teaching,)I blame the principal for allowing such actions to be taking place. A principal in charge of running this kind of school building should be FIRED and put back in the classroom!!! Let's see how she would handle classroom management.
ReplyDeleteThere are thousands more firings on the way. Over the next few years, IPS will close all the schools that are outside Center Township; schools within Center Township will be reopened as magnet programs. The other townships are going to be asked to start educating all of the kids who live within their boundaries. IPS will be left with a cluster of high performing magnets, populated by the children of the professionals buying up the gentrified homes in Center Township.
ReplyDeleteSo basically, if you're not already teaching at a magnet school, you will be reapplying for your job soon. Maybe you will get hired at one of the new magnets. Maybe you will be hired by the township that takes responsibility for your students. IPS will need very few teachers for the 3500 kids who actually live in Center Township. They'll be able to purge the staff from the top down. It'll be a grand conflagration, but Center Township will be better off for it.
ReplyDeleteI think a magical pixie will come down and sprinkle fairy dust all over IPS. The schools will grow candy bushes and lollipop trees.
ReplyDeleteBefore you decry my theory as silly, remember that I have just as much proof for mine as all of you do for yours.
I guess the thing that irritates me most about this blog is that it is just a gigantic rumor mill and piss-fest. If I were to put the time into a venture like this it would be so maybe a difference could be made. I see none of that happening here. It's merely a place where people can come an anonymously bitch about things and nothing more. It's a joke. A shame, really, that nothing here is taken seriously by anybody else.
Rumor mills and piss-fests exist in environments where communication from the top is neither clear nor concise.
ReplyDeleteIf this is indeed a rumor mill and piss fest as you allege, it is the fault of the secrecy, arrognace and lack of transparency by Eugene White. School board members don't even know what he is doing. They just know that they are to vote for anything that Eugene wants. I would suggest that if you don't like this blog that you don't come here. You come to it. It does not magically come to you.
ReplyDeleteIt is very true that there are a LOT of people walking around who have no real connection to kids...meetings become long and dragged out while they discuss educational issues but nothing gets implemented. I still think that every adult in IPS should be assigned one student to mentor as part of their work assignment - even if only for 1 hour a week. It would make such a huge difference...everyone from custodian to Superintendent; I know there is that much time in everyone's work week that is wasted.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. This is a rumor mill and piss-fest (Classy word choice btw) because if we were to complain to our superiors we would be branded as agitators and summarily fired for any reason that could be invented. Dr. White even mentioned this blog at the beginning of the year.
ReplyDeleteAs another poster said, this blog does not come to you. If it is so irritating to you, your choice is very easy and very clear. Go somewhere else!
@I guess the thing that irritates me most about this blog is that it is just a gigantic rumor mill and piss-fest.
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
As someone else posted above, rumor mills and piss fests exist in environments where top level communication is nonexistent. Eugene White may pay lip service to 'clear and concise' communication, but most do not see it occurring. IPS still remains an organization that is a house of smoke and mirrors. Knowledge is power; White elects not to share knowledge, hence he retains all the power (or, so he believes).
If this blog serves as nothing other than an annoying, inflamed boil on White's butt, then it's served at least one small purpose.
White would never have mentioned this blog unless it bothered him because it's out of his realm of control.
"If this blog serves as nothing other than an annoying, inflamed boil on White's butt, then it's served at least one small purpose."
ReplyDeleteYes, dream small. That's how things get changed in this world.
Bring back Pat Pritchett!!
ReplyDeleteToo Funny.....the blog is titled IPS BS....so should be no surprise as to the content. If you don't like it...leave.
ReplyDeleteHeck, bring back Esperanza Zendejas. We got the biggest raise ever during her term and she liked IPS teachers well enough to marry one.
ReplyDeleteI hear about a meeting downtown where IPS will be firing 4,000 teachers, everyone with less than fifteen years senority and that have no plans for any call backs. This is from someone cleaning the room and knows everything going on in IPS.
ReplyDelete[Comment copied from Indy Star news article today]
ReplyDelete*******************************************
9:06 AM on November 12, 2010
Show Details Hide Details
"Larry Yarrell has turned things around at Northwest? This is the same man who fell asleep at most Lawrence Township School Board meetings and when he did wake up ...he couldn't string together two intelligent sentences to save his life. Wow."
How could they fire 4000 teachers? That makes no sense!!
ReplyDeleteUm, there are only 2320 teachers in IPS, lol.
ReplyDeleteSCHOOL #60 IS TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL!!! WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS????
ReplyDeleteToday it was suggested at the above school that we need to change the "culture". They have been trying to change the "culture" for many, many years now and it hasn't worked. Perhaps now would be the time to enforce the rules.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what happened to darken the boys rest room on the second floor at # 60 today?
ReplyDeleteThe culture hasn't changed because the teachers haven't changed. Walk into the suburban schools. The kids aren't different. The teachers and school culture are WAY different.
ReplyDelete@ The culture hasn't changed.... You are so biased and misinformed about IPS teachers that your ignorant remarks are not worth responding to but I feel sorry for you that you have such a shallow life and attitude.
ReplyDeleteI'm not being biased. I'm being objective. If a person wants to objectively evaluate whether the culture of a school or school system is causing problems, one would compare the culture at IPS to the culture at other schools, right?
ReplyDeleteOne can't make a general statement about a school system from experience with one school.
ReplyDelete"I'll never eat at McDonald's because I received cold fries at one."
Same logic.
I've been in every single school in Marion County. Every single one. Private, public, magnet, and charter. Elementary, middle, and high school. And most schools in the donut counties. Try again.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do, go to one school a day walk in and walk out? Why would you have a reason to go to EVERY school in Marion Co.?
ReplyDeleteI'm in a line of work that provides services to all schools.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theindychannel.com/news/25776489/detail.html
ReplyDeleteIt is about time!
There's a difference between 'school climate' and 'school culture'.
ReplyDeleteLet's use the iceberg analogy, OK?
Think of an iceberg: The visible part of an iceberg is roughly 1/3 of the iceberg's size. That visible one-third is analogous to 'school climate'. It's what is visible to anyone who walks into a school, even a stranger from off the street. The 'school climate' includes things like bulletin boards, neatness, cleanliness, level of sound in the classrooms/hallways, student work displayed, greetings/acknowledgements from faculty and staff, helpfulness from faculty/staff, and all the other things that are readily visible and noticed when walking around a school. School climate is usually what outsiders view when walking through a classroom or a school.
On the other hand, 'school culture' is that two-thirds of the iceberg that is hidden from public view. Many times the 'school culture' is only discovered when one bumps into it quite accidentally like a ship hitting the submerged part of an iceberg. A school's culture is an unwritten code of rules that is similar to a computer program that runs continuously in the background, so to speak. It is hidden, and it is undocumented, but nevertheless, it exists and it ultimately defines a school building and a school district.
When I arrived in IPS more than a few years ago, I walked around my new school building assignment and saw a warm, nurturing school climate. There were smiles, brightly colored bulleting board displays, lots of hugs from the administrator, loads of warm welcomes to our school, and ad nauseum.
After about two months, I discovered the hidden, unwritten 'school culture'. I'd broken an unwritten rule of that particular building's culture. I was approached twice by two separate 'building cultured' teachers who told me how things were done at their school. I'd evidently broken their unwritten code of rules. Fortunately, I was old, didn't give a damn what they thought, and continue on with IPS. But, yes, school culture is a bitch to break!
If I, an educated professional adult, can experience the ill effects of the IPS hidden 'school culture', then I'd wager that students feel the impact of this 'school culture' doubly.
Not enough information.
ReplyDeleteYou just scratched the tip of your iceberg with that story.
@Not enough information.
ReplyDeleteSo, what do you want to know? I'm here, and I've planned nothing for this evening.
By the way, I'm one of those 'old angry white women' who is a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. I'm ready for your questions.
I have used a stunn gun on a student today, he was in my face so, I blasted away. I know they be keeping me as I is an American Fellows, working with IWU and I can save IPS. The kid cried and I was able to get the whole session on film (cellullar phone) , I be putting it on my Facebook, I am thinking about joininh yhe union? How much do they be costinhg? Pinky Sink
ReplyDeleteDear Pinky Sink,
ReplyDeleteI read your story, and I feel your pain. Because you work with Indiana Wesleyan, I suggest you call the IWU President tonight at his home telephone number which is listed in the white pages of the AT&T Telephone Directory.
Good luck, Pinky Sink.
Larry the Cable Guy
177 IPS Administrators Were Paid At Minumum $100K+ Last Year.
ReplyDeleteHow is that funny? Anybody can make up stuff about any school or any program. I could type the same thing and say I'm a union teacher who graduated from IUPUI. There's nothing clever about that. (And it's obviously fake, people rarely write/type that kind of slang, even if they use it in speech, and the misspellings are obviously fabricated.)
ReplyDelete@How is that funny? Anybody can make up stuff about any school or any program. I could type the same thing and say I'm a union teacher who graduated from IUPUI. There's nothing clever about that. (And it's obviously fake, people rarely write/type that kind of slang, even if they use it in speech, and the misspellings are obviously fabricated.)
ReplyDeletePlease grow a sense of humor. Whoever or whatever posted the stun gun comment was faking it for silliness or humor. OK? :-)
We're better off replying to comments that have a serious or valid viewpoint. Agree?
It is easy to make fun of IWU. First, look at who goes there to get instant degrees or licenses.
ReplyDeleteA comment on the Channel 6 website: "Why won't the news mention that Yarrell at Northwest HIgh School is Dr. White's nephew-in-law?
ReplyDeleteToday, 7:44:04 PM" Does anyone know the actual number of relatives Dr. White has on the payroll?
OK, I'm fairly savvy, but how does the 'nephew-in-law' relationship break down into plain old English? I guess I'm asking for 'who married who', etc. How does this all work out on the White/Yarrell family tree?
ReplyDeleteYarrell and White are both jerks, and their family relationship does hold interest to me and to others.
I would guess that nephew-in-law would either be his niece's husband, or his wife's nephew. (Assuming he's married, I have no clue. I'm just defining what a nephew-in-law is.
ReplyDelete@It is easy to make fun of IWU. First, look at who goes there to get instant degrees or licenses.
ReplyDeleteI don't know doodly-squat about IWU. I just know that when I earned my Master's Degree that I had to earn 45 quarter hours (different system than in Indiana) and that I had to conduct a Research Paper, approved by a thesis committee, that was a Master's Thesis which was equivalent to 9 hours of graduate school credit. After the Master's Thesis was written and submitted, I was required to take an 'Oral Examination' upon the submitted Thesis before a Committee of Three Professors in the Graduate School of Education at my University.
I am unsure if the IWU post-graduate students are mandated to complete these research requirements. Damn, I hope they are.
The problem at #60 is a total lack of discipline. Until there are definite rules, which apply to ALL students, and they are enforced, the school will continue to run wild. When a student is allowed to all a teacher a f%@king bi&ch, is sent to the office and comes right back, no discipline. When an entire family of siblings are not disciplined because they have a "bad home life," the school will be crazy. The students are out of control. They are constantly fighting, and when reprimanded, simpy state that they were "playing." Hence, nothing happens. It seems that until someone is seriously injured and/or killed, nothing will be done. You can argue until hell freezes over about things like "climate" and "culture," and debate whether teachers have "changed," but without discipline, chaos will reign.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Yarrell is married to White's niece, but I don't know this for a fact. I do know that he is married with three kids. I also know that White isn't forcing ANY of the principals out of the Turn Around schools because he claims they are all "too new." This includes Yarrell who has been at the building for three and a half years. I've also been told he was a failing business teacher and that is why he was promoted to principal.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have is why does that school have Yarrell, plus three vice principals, and NO discipline dean?
"The question I have is why does that school have Yarrell, plus three vice principals, and NO discipline dean?"
ReplyDeleteOh, yes....let's add another "administrator" to the pile. Be sure he/she is paid $100 K + !
@ "without discipline, chaos will rein." I couldn't agree more. What I disagree with is the idea that "discipline" means putting "these kids" in their place. That it means showing them just how inferior they are and repeating to them that if they would only submit to our benevolent authority, then we could create decent people out of them and lift from their awful families and awful communities. NOBODY responds to that. NOBODY. And yet, that is the #1 "discipline" method proposed by teachers at IPS. That needs to change. It is completely possible to teach and be firm and still be respectful and kind. It is completely possible to be intolerant of poor behavior and still be sympathetic to the fact that for some of these kids, every single good, kind, loving person they know is unacceptable by upper-middle-class standards. If we form a bond with these kids, genuinely like them, genuinely recognize their value and the value of their families and communities, then we can teach them what we need to teach them, whether that's behavior or content. Otherwise, let's not pretend we really care about teaching. If all we care about is subservience, then we're not teachers, we're bullies.
ReplyDeleteTo the above post....bull shit. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong...no area in between. otherwise you are setting the students up for failure when dealing with society.
ReplyDeleteRESPONSE TO "BENEVOLENT AUTHORITY" I left IPS because I wanted to be a respectful, kind, firm, creative, and understanding teacher. I am a great teacher. Unfortunately these teaching qualities do not impact the many bullies in the classroom. The administrators or system could care less. They want teachers that display "benevolent authority" to keep control so the school looks good. I came from an awful family and community but I knew the upper-middle-class standard was the authority. It was respected first on my part, resulting in me forming bonds with my teachers. The teachers then had the opportunity to recognize my value which resulted in respect toward me and all my baggage I brought to school. I also want to add that I experienced more trauma than most IPS children will ever endure. So I can talk! These children MUST recognize and respect authority. It will be everywhere in their life. Support teachers in this effort. IPS is letting the bullies take over the classrooms because the children come from bad situations so feel sorry for them or make excuses for them OR JUST IGNORE THEM. I am glad, I did not go to school in a system like IPS that does not demand respect for authority or I would still be in my bad inner city with little success. I am living proof of what works. IPS as complete system needs to take responsibilty to demand respect for authority. Support instead of blaming the teachers.
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't the bullies be taking over the classroom. Their role model is the worst bully of all, EUGENE WHITE.
ReplyDeleteIf you believe that the upper middle class standard is and should be the authority, then you're nothing at all like 90% of working class, urban and rural families that tend to not do as well in school and not get degrees. They don't think you're better than they are, and they resent it when you act like you are. It's like that everywhere. But at IPS, they get all racist and elitist about it and think the solution is to be MORE condescending and MORE militant and run the school more like a prison instead of more like Greenwood or Carmel. And because IPS has so many older teachers, you get a lot of "back in my day, kids were respectful" b.s. that older people have been rambling about since the beginning of time. If you don't deal well with urban kids, then move out to the country. But admit it's your failing. Kids are kids. And ALL kids do better with kindness than with ridicule. And all kids learn better when it's relevant to their own lives and not just part of some abstract ideal that upper-middle-class people say is important. And kids are engaged and feel valued in a classroom very rarely act up. This isn't brain surgery.
ReplyDeleteIPS stresses imposed discipline, rather then teaching students the benefits of being self disciplined...obedience is often mistaken for discipline. Hence we have the uniform policy, these poor kids need to learn to be obedient to people in positions of authority...we are preparing them to be subservient for the rest of their lives, low skill jobs, prison, what ever that might be...how very sad....
ReplyDeleteSchool 60 is closing and becoming a PreK school. So it is gone. Teachers will go because we have to cut 20 million. Fours years on down. Yes principals are going including Yarrell. Keep your ears open and your mouths shut and you could get this info too.
ReplyDeleteNo, school #60 will be phased out over a multi year period. Beginning next year, grades k-1 will become Reggio. The current students, teachers, and, sadly, the principal, will remain another 4 years.
ReplyDeleteThis week's magical mystery: Where is school 60's principal? What is the real reason for her mysterious absence Friday, and possibly this Monday? Any other time she's been absent, she's let the staff know the reason. Inquiring minds want to know? Does she know that a student was almost electrocuted Friday? Seriously? That just wasn't responsible.
ReplyDeleteAlmost electrocuted? Did the probes miss?
ReplyDeleteIf the teachers at #60 get Tasers for student control, why can't we all get one?
I foresee the principal at 60 being gone next year.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, next year isn't soon enough for those of us stuck there with her now.
ReplyDeleteThat's why God invented Sick Days.
ReplyDeleteCLOSE ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!
ReplyDeleteAll this drama, mediocrity and idiocy is very easily solved. Take all the funding that normally goes to public schools and give a voucher for each child to the parents to use for education. Even most expensive private schools costs less than what IPS spends per student. The vouchers could be as low as $8000 per student which is only a little over half of what IPS spends. The tax burden would nearly be cut in half. Parents would be able to make their own educational choices. The ridiculous teachers union would become useless and fade away along with the giant ineffective bureaucracy that is public education.
My children have been in private schools their whole lives. They both always place in the top five percent on any standardized testing they've ever had. I have never even come close to spending $8000 per year.
All the whining, bitching, insults and games going on in IPS as well as this board have become nothing more than a tiresome drain on society with no measurable benefit.
I'm the one who called you stupid and mean when you posted about not caring if poor kids get educated or fed. But vouchers I actually agree with. I know that's near blasphemy for a public school teacher to say, so i don't say it aloud much, but I think it would benefit many teachers as well as most students. The bloated administration, b.s. programs that exploit the poor and financially reward school failure, and the worst teachers are the ones who would be hurt.
ReplyDelete