1. What do you think about IPS' "year-round" school plan that really isn't a year-round school plan?
2. What do you think about the Lee Tibbetts molestation lawsuit?
3. What do you think about all the recent news surrounding school bullying?
What do you think?
Saturday, November 20, 2010
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1. The "year-round" school idea has been watered down like all IPS programs too early to see a result. Balanced it is not. lol
ReplyDelete2. The Lee Tibbetts lawsuit is valid in that he was a predator and should pay. But he already was sentenced to 50 years of butt raping in prison. It is wrong to bring Jeff White into the lawsuit though. He fought against that assignment but IPS administration forced him to be placed at Marshall. That guy was a freak on many levels.
3. Funny how it barely made the news that Brendan Johnson was involved in a street fight at 38th and Post Rd. last weekend but charges were not filed against him. (I heard about it on WIBC).
I've posted this before, but anything other than a traditional school calendar will necessitate my moving my kids out of the school district or going through a legal battle of modifying the visitation guidelines with my ex (he has other kids on traditional schedule, so he wouldn't be able to "trade" visitation days; he'd miss them entirely). I hope they either leave the magnets alone or have at least one magnet option that's traditional calendar.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other, I guess I don't understand what kind of answers you could possibly be looking for. I think the lawsuit is valid, and if there is evidence of negligence, then I think they should win, and if there isn't, then they shouldn't win. And bullying is bad, lol.
1) Year round/balanced calendar - There is no set of real research that proves a balanced calendar helps students learn more. Changing the color of the school buses would make about as much difference as rearranging the days in the calendar.
ReplyDelete2) Tibbetts was a creepy little guy, and HR did a piss poor job by not checking his references thoroughly. When IPS hired him, he spent his first year at an alternative school, then that principal wanted him gone because he was creepy. Tibbetts was one of those teachers who entered the 'Dance of the Lemons' and ended up at Marshall because Prudence Bridgwaters was assigning the teachers to Marshall. Jeffrey White did not hire Tibbetts. Bridgwaters assigned him to Marshall. This could get even more nasty with the bad blood between J. White and E. White.
3) Bullying is sadly the least of IPS's worries at this point.
The year round calendar being promoted by White is not a real year round calendar. It is a sham but we have come to expect that from IPS. It will drive hundreds of students from IPS.
ReplyDeletePrudence Bridgewaters should bear all the responsiblity of Lee Tibbetts. Wait until the court testimony comes on her actions and her forcing Tibbetts on Marshall and Jeff White.
Lee Tibbetts was assigned to John Marshall by Prudence Bridgwater and Jane Kendrick. I think the family sued Jeff White to make sure he cooperates and tells the story of what happened under oath.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Debra Barlowe? She was an AP at Marshall during this time. She tried to get into Tibbetts classroom one day when he was in there with the kid -- the door was locked. Why didn't she make a big noise about this when it happened?
ReplyDeleteThe student repeatedly went back into THAT classroom alone with THAT and did not mention it to anyone. Why?
ReplyDelete"The student repeatedly went back into THAT classroom alone with THAT and did not mention it to anyone. Why?"
ReplyDeleteEGAD do a little research, this is how pedophiles work, they make friends with the kid first, gain trust of the kid and sometimes the family, and then convince the kid it is alright...adult intellect against a child's intellect.
This isn't a act of snatch and grab rape it is a seduction rape of a child.
As I recall the boys were threatened with failing math if they told.
ReplyDeleteCorrect. The teacher threatened to fail the kids if they told.
ReplyDeleteTibbetts was also very enthusiastic, very up-beat, and highly thought of as a classroom teacher by the IEA UniServ Rep, Ms. Patterson. He was an ardent IEA member from the get-go and served as a building rep.
I agree that the new calendar will drive students out of IPS. There has to be some money involved for White to do this. Are the Title teachers still going back into the classroom? Money is definitely involved.
ReplyDelete1. Personally, I like the calendar. I think it will fail for IPS. Parents will pull their students from the district in droves. Where will the money come from? The district is already struggling financially. One of the news outlets said the plan would add $12 million to a district already $4 million in the red. Since they are planning to pinch off the Title 1 budget, what will it do to teachers paid out of the budget? Finally, where is the research this plan works for urban children?
ReplyDelete2.A teacher in a locked classroom with a student? We can't lock our doors in a classroom full of students with a clear window for observation. Someone was not on their job. Someone please explain to me why Prudence Bridgewater has the kind of authority over IPS that she does? She was fired not once, but twice!
What will happen to the Title 1 reading teachers in the high school classrooms?
Many parents won't pull there kids, they will do the same thing they do now, the kids won't show up until after Labor Day....unless IPS markets the features and benefits of year round school to the parents and students (not the benefits to the school system) this will be yet another bust...
ReplyDeleteIt really does not address the root problems involved with problems our kids have, someone in IPS really needs to read something, anything...Tipping point on how poor kids learn as much as their more affluent counterparts during the school year, but make no progress when they are not in school...and a new one Different Learners, Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Your Child's Learning Problems by Jane Healy, Ph.D. her research validates what I have said all along kids who suffer from stress don't learn well, Ongoing Traumatic Stress Disorder... and this manifests itself in our high drop out rate, if you really talk to young men many suffer from depression...they just don't care about their own lives...it is so sad, and we do nothing to address it. YOU CAN'T TEST A KID OUT OF DEPRESSION AND HOPELESSNESS.
I have always believed that Dr. White sent Bridgwaters to Marshall to reassign teachers for no other reason than to discredit Jeff White. Young Mr. White evidently posed a professional threat to old Dr. White. If Bridgwaters could break up young Mr. White's group of teachers who were doing a decent job, at the time, and then reassign a large number of less than stellar teachers (such as Tibbetts) to Marshall, then Marshall would fall apart. It did. Old Dr. White got what he wanted, but at what cost? Children surely did not come first; children were pawns. The only thing that mattered was old Dr. White's ego, and Bridgwaters was his 'hit woman' to make sure it happened.
ReplyDeleteDuring that time period, young Mr. White could have reported that a group of wild-eyed, gun slinging terrorists was running loose in the building, and Dr. White and Dr. Bridgwaters would have ignored his warning. It was really a bad, bad time!
Since when did OLD Dr. White put children first. He always has put his friends and himself first. That is why he has been a miserable failure and why IPS has not improved. Add to that clueless spineless board members like Mary Busch and E. Gore and White gets away with it. Next school board election remember that Busch and Gore have to go if IPS is going to show some improvement.
ReplyDeleteTerrorist were sent to JM. They were called. OVER/ UNDER
ReplyDeleteThe reason to list Jeff White is that he will paint the perfect picture for the child, this will cost IPS in the millions. Jeff White will tell the truth about how HR screwed up, how he wanted to fire the man, and yes they will drag Linda Casey into the court, lets see you lie on the witness stand. By the way Linda, seems like the attorneys have copies of Unemployment Hearings where you have lied, and the Judge caught you? I see the family walking away with millions. Does IPS have insurance or are they self-insured?
ReplyDeleteI was at JMCHS when the Tibbetts mess happened. I am neutral about Jeff White -- but I do know that he reported the child's complaints about the inappropriate behaviors to the Ed Center. I remember his saying that he totally believed what the student was saying about Tibbetts but that nobody downtown would take him seriously. I also remember Jeff White talking about his conversation with the Alternative School Principal where Tibbetts was the year before he was assigned to Marshall. The Alt. School Principal was aware of some inappropriate/iffy behaviors from Tibbetts but Tibbetts was allowed to stay in IPS and was sent to JMCHS instead. I remember thinking that this was a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Prudence Bridgewaters is about to have the hammer lowered on her. I have been waiting for her to receive what she has coming. I wonder if she could face criminal charges for her coverup of the Lee Tibbetts mess.
ReplyDeleteWhen a lawyer sues a school, they sue everybody. I feel sorry for Jeffrey White getting caught in the middle of some mess. However, as Gene White says all the time "it is not personal, just business." The kids will walk out with millions, they will drop the lawsuit when Jeffrey cooperates, and they will nail Gene White and all other guilty parties to the wall.
ReplyDeleteThe family sued in federal court to avoid the $750,000 cap. The kids will walk out with millions in a federal court. You have to remember, Lee Tibbetts is already serving time, Prudence Bridgwaters and Jane Kendricks have an array of dirt. Shit, if I were a lawyer I would keep the pressure on Jeff White to make him talk. I predict at least $5 million per kid.
ReplyDeleteWhite the younger may have some liability here, the law on child abuse say if you are a teacher or work in a school and suspect child abuse you are required to report the abuse to CHILDREN'S PROTECTIVE SERVICES, not to Gene White, or anyone in IPS administration. You are not to investigate, only report.
ReplyDeletePersonally I always talk to the social worker, but I also call it in..despite IPS's contention to the contrary state law supersedes IPS policy.
It is not enough to tell your administrator or social worker, unless you actually see them call it in.
I worked at JM. Mr. White and the Social Workers contacted the Indiana Department of Social Services and HR. This is an open and shut case of neglect on IPS Central Office.
ReplyDeleteIPS Human resources instructs teachers to report it to the principal or social worker. That person then must report it to CPS. I would always make the report in writing so I could have a copy for proof. Email is wonderful that and providing a time and date stamp.
ReplyDeleteI have always called in the report on my cellular phone to CPS, never trusted the administration to make that call. I have the copies of the phone bill and followed the law. I was trained at Ball State University, not that puff in the wind IWU. Always cover and do the correct action and you will be ok in court. But I am sorry for the young men, if every one had done what they were required to do under the law, then these young men would of never been molested. So, now IPS will have to fire more teachers to cover their losses, larger classes, and more stress.
ReplyDeleteIf Ball State is so superior, why didn't they manage to teach you to use "would have" instead of "would of."
ReplyDeleteWhy do some people always want to put the blame on the victim? We are talking about college educated adults interacting with high school kids. IWU seems to not have much rigor in their courses. That is why so many IPS administators have come from there. That explains a lot.
ReplyDeletePicking at grammatical errors in an informal online forum is usually petty and irritating. However, the exception is when someone is correcting spelling or grammatical errors of a poster accusing other people of being educational or intellectual inferiors. Then it isn't petty, it's evidence that the self-proclaimed intellectual is not a credible source for what is or isn't a rigorous education. :)
ReplyDeleteThere's no way the person who says he/she is from Ball State is telling the truth. I'd be surprised if he/she went to college at all. I counted 12 grammatical errors and one spelling error in that very short paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI didn't go to college, and I can count six grammatical errors and one misspelling.
ReplyDeleteLet's don't permit spats over grammar errors hide the fact that Prudence Bridgewaters and Eugene White failed to check this teacher's work record and failed to respond legally when they were notified by the school of the molestation charges. If Bridgewaters had done her job, these middle school boys would never have been molested. IPS needs to pay big $$$ to get the message that allegations of molestations legally must be reported.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand why the calendar is being changed. IF it is adopted where will the children go who don't have air conditioning? Just thought I would ask.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the handouts from the regional meetings, those students will receive bottled water, and their school will have a rented mechanical "chiller" in the gym, cafeteria, OR library, and the classes will be rotated through this cooled area. Oh, each classroom will also get two box fans.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding! Check out the plan for yourself!
The above poster is correct. I read it myself. Two box fans? Together they won't cool off an outhouse!
ReplyDeleteBefore Shortridge was air-conditioned, I had four box fans and it was still miserable!!!!Did nothing but blow hot air. I was prying the hot, sticky students up off the desks.
"Did nothing but blow hot air"
ReplyDeleteHow did you get Big White to leave?
I must live on a different planet from the rest of you: as a teacher I LOVE the idea of this new calendar - and as a parent I think its wonderful. I don't get all the nay-saying.
ReplyDeleteWhich calendar? As an educator (and frequent traveler), I also LOVE the schedule posted on IPS's homepage.
ReplyDeleteI HATE the one published in last week's IndyStar.
Which one is correct?
The right hand never knows what the left is doing in IPS, I predict neither calendar will be correct.
ReplyDeleteOf course a person who is both a teacher and a parent would love the new calendar. You'll get longer, more regularly spaced vacations. You'll be on vacation at the same time as your kids. The rest of us are wondering how we'll make our vacation days stretch to cover these extended school breaks.
ReplyDeleteThat's assuming you're kid goes to school in IPS. If you're an IPS teacher but live in another district, the new schedule (either one) is a total nightmare.
ReplyDeleteA vacation is time off work where you are paid. Teachers have no vacations. We just have periodic lay offs when students are not in school. I envy those people who actually have paid vacations. Even Eugene White has paid vacations.
ReplyDeleteHow are your vacations not vacations? My company doesn't technically pay me not to work. They take my value and divide it into 52 weeks and give me so many personal and vacation days. If I never took vacations, I'd increase my value and get paid more money. Nobody gets paid to do nothing. It's all factored in to the total. You have paid vacations just like everyone else. You're just playing semantics with the teacher contract wording. (Which, by the way, if we figure up teacher pay YOUR way, the teachers are one of the highest paid salaried professions in the country.)
ReplyDelete"We just have periodic lay offs when students are not in school"
ReplyDeleteYes, most of us have periodic lay offs. At my company it happens two days every week. We aren't paid for working on those days, even if we take a little paperwork home to get caught up. At least I can count on regularity, though--they only ask me to stay home on Saturday and Sunday.
See how silly this is?
How many weeks a year of paid vacation do you recieve? How many paid holidays do you receive hoiday pay? Christmas? July 4? Labor Day? Good Friday? Thanksgiving? Presidents' Day? Martin Luther King Day? Veterans Day? New Year's Day?
ReplyDeleteYour attempt to obscure the issue with this silly Saturday and Sunday issue demonstrates how little you understand teachers or respect them. Many teachers spent hours on weekends do school work or attending school functions rather than spending time with their families or ....even forbid that there would be some t
time to relax.
We're not the ones being silly. You're saying you make your salary divided by the number of hours in your contract. So a teacher who makes 50K a year, in your opinion, really makes $40 per hour plus full-time benefits. This is absurd. You 50K a year teacher makes 50K a year plus gets three months of paid vacation. You get extra money (or holiday pay if you want to call it that) if you work during your paid vacation by teaching summer school. The fact that you take home work or stay late doesn't make you any different than any professional occupation.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate teachers because I am one, and I still think the whole "teachers don't get paid vacations" line of reasoning is beyond ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteRespect teachers as compared to who? Other government jobs? Policemen and fireman make a lower annual salary than teachers and their jobs are infinitely more dangerous, and they have to work many more hours for that salary. Other government jobs that aren't dangerous make way less than teachers, even if they require a college degree (like social workers) and they too, work many more hours for their salaries.
ReplyDeleteI was a teacher and I agree with the above claim; police and firepersons and other government workers (except Congress who is overpaid) do not get paid enough. I think teachers have nothing to complain about regarding salary...and they can always do other work while on school break while receiving their bi-weekly check.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are contract employees, and they make what they are contractually obligated to be paid for their contractually obligated number of days.
ReplyDeleteThey are paid for 190 days and I believe that covers. 180 of these days are student days and the remaining ten are for professional development, school related activities and Including these ten days
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY DAYS AND HOLIDAYS
Teachers' Meetings and Work Days. . . . . . . Monday, August 9, 2010 through
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Labor Day. . . . . . . . . . Monday, September 6, 2010
*Fall Break . . . . . . . . . Thursday, October 21 and Friday, October 22, 2010
Parents In Touch Day . . . Elementary, Middle and High Schools –
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 (Pupils do not attend)
Thanksgiving Vacation. . . . . . . . . .Thursday, November 25, 2010 and
Friday, November 26, 2010
Records and Close Out Day. . . . . Friday, December 17, 2010
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. . . Monday, January 17, 2011
Presidents' Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monday, February 21, 2011
*Friday, May 20, 2011. . . . . If days must be made up due to school closing, this day will be a day of student attendance. If no such day needs to be made up, this will be a day without student or teacher attendance. Additional make-up days will be scheduled, if needed, beginning Wednesday, May 25, 2011. The Records and Close Out will be adjusted as needed.
Last Day For Pupils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuesday, May 24, 2011 (Pupils attend FULL DAY)
Records and Close Out Day. . . . Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The only paid "time off" is two days at fall break, one day at Thanksgiving, and two days MLK day and Presidents day in the second semester.
Yes you have other times off but you are NOT PAID FOR THESE DAYS.
IPS does spread you pay over the year, but it is money you are owed for the PAID days you work.
http://www.about.ips.k12.in.us/fileadmin/Assets/AboutUs/pdf/10_11_CAL_one_page.pdf
It does not mention our grading/lesson plans/research/curriculum time spent on our OWN time!
ReplyDeleteGod I hope you don't actually work with children. If so, and this is what is passing for logic, then we're fucked.
ReplyDeleteYou receive a salary comparable with the salaries of other professions who work all year long. You don't "get" less than they do, you get MORE!!! Regardless of how you word it, you get paid far more for fewer days worked.
Actually teachers are NOT paid for the two days of Fall Break.
ReplyDeleteWe know. And you're not paid for weekends. It's a cold, cruel world.
ReplyDeleteWinter Break and Spring Break are not paid vacation. They are unpaid time off. We are paid X dollars to work 190 days. If we worked more days we would be paid more.
ReplyDeleteNon teachers will never understand or accept this.
I don't recall being invited in a secret ceremony to major in education. I CHOSE to be a teacher. Other people CHOSE to be doctors, lawyers, business people etc.
Don't bitch to us because of YOUR CHOICE.
Most of us don't do it for the money, we do it for the glamour and respect.
I'm a veteran IPS teacher, and I've only heard one other teacher spout the nonsense that we don't get paid vacation. I assume you are her or that she got to you, lol.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a computer programmer and works on a contract basis. I'll have to tell him that his holidays and weekends off are "periodic layoffs." LOL!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a veteran classroom teacher. I have 28 years of experience, a Master's Degree plus 18 post-graduate hours, and earn $359 per day. My contract is for 190 days which equates to a salary of $68K+ annually. If my contract was for 50 weeks (250 days) with two weeks unpaid vacation, I'd earn $89K+ per year. Now if schools wish to become truly year-round, then I'd earn $89K annually. I never complain about my salary.
ReplyDeleteTo the nonteachers who post and read here -- teachers don't all think like this. This is one isolated person's misguided viewpoint. Most of us understand how salaries and contracts work. Please keep that in mind and don't let odd things people say behind anonymity taint your impression of the entire profession.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is the misguided viewpoint you are accusing us of having?
ReplyDeleteI am totally cognizant of how salaries and contracts work. If you look at the school year calendar it say on there that MLK and President's day, Winter, Spring and Fall break are UNPAID days.
You are misguided and need to grow up a tad.
Yes, you have those pesky little unpaid days on the calendar. While you are whining about not being paid on those days, I am trying to fit in some overtime to pay for the child care expenses I accrue because you are not at work. I make about $3 an hour on Presidents Day after I pay the daycare. Might as well be unpaid. See, we can all whine about something. We all make our choices and live with the consequences. If you can't find a way to be happy with yours, that's your problem.
ReplyDeleteOh, and finding a way to be happy with the choices you have made is how I define "growing up".
ReplyDeleteIf your days are unpaid, so are everybody else's. That's what you don't seem to get, even though others seem to have tried. You have this idea in your head that everybody else gets paid for not working and you only get paid for working. Nobody gets paid for not working (aside from social programs like welfare, disability, social security, etc.) That's basic economics. You have to work less days for your salary than other people. That's a benefit, and one of the "pros" of being a teacher. But somehow you want to turn it into something you're not getting. Which makes NO sense.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to think that teachers get paid for not working. I'm merely trying to clear up that misunderstanding.
ReplyDeleteWe get a check every 2 weeks but some of the money we earn during the time when school is in session is held back and then doled out to us when school is not in session.
Don't have children if you can't afford them. Simple logic.
ReplyDeleteSchool isn't childcare.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Mary Louise Bewley, the reason school isn't closed during bad weather is that parents depend on us for childcare.
ReplyDeleteI thought we were licensed professional educators but apparently we are simply free childcare.
What about 12 month employees? Are they expected to not work and not get paid during all these "breaks"? If so, this amounts to a drastic pay cut for these people.
ReplyDeleteOf course not. 12 month employees work all 12 months just like now.
ReplyDeleteThis calendar is not a drastic change. We still get a whopping 8 week vacation in summer, plus 1 week at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Fall, Winter and Spring break. That is about 15 weeks total. Less if you are "Super Teacher" and work during those 2 weeks. Any chess pros out there?
Then you need to try and live on 180 days pay a year....and then "enjoy" all of the unpaid weeks off that you seem to think is such an asset.
ReplyDeleteI think I do live on 190 days pay a year. I don't have a second job. I live within my means and don't covet things I can't afford.
ReplyDeleteI greatly enjoy my weeks off, spending time with my kids, going to the pool in the summer (8 weeks will certainly be enough for that) Now with the extra time at fall break we can take a vacation somewhere to enjoy the leaves and the lovely weather.
Don't blame me because you can't live on what you make.
It's really the same amount of days, just the days off are spread out. I don't know why any of you are shocked it was a done deal before it went to any meeting or to the board. It was all a front to make the parents feel like they had a say so but, he had his mind made up and the board was not going to buck heads with him
ReplyDeleteI think my school should get the award for being the loudest noisy school of the year. Kids running the halls screaming. Students NOT sent to alternative school when they should be. Good citizen students having to put up with all of this because the principal is too weak to do anything about it except give the "unruly students" another and another and another chance.
ReplyDeleteI'll second the above post. That same principal did NOTHING to a kindergarten student who brought a knife to school.
ReplyDeleteThat place is SO noisy, loud, and out-of-control that it'll probably take a serious injury and/or death of a student before anything is done.
Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Birthday, worthless. Maybe you got lucky & had your two "texting tattle-tale" buddies wish you a happy b-day. Along with what their colleague were saying about you. LMAO
ReplyDelete