Even Amos Brown Gets It

Some frank words about
education in Indianapolis

Amos Brown

By AMOS BROWN III

Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:16 AM EST

In 16 years, there have been a few controversial columns in this space that have gotten readers and our community talking. This is one of those.

Let me put it simply and cleanly.

It is time to strongly shake up the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS). We can’t any longer tolerate business as usual or the status quo in IPS!

I realize that there are scores of great teachers, administrators and support staff from custodians and cafeteria workers, to teachers’ aides, police officers, bus drivers and clerical support staff in the Indianapolis Public School system.

But, eight to 10 IPS schools are faced with being taken away from the district’s control. An open secret, but unknown to many in our community. If your children or grandchildren attend Arlington, Broad Ripple, Manual, Northwest, Howe, Washington, John Marshall or Tech high schools; or Emma Donnan or Harshman middle schools; your kids’ schools are on the short list of schools primed for an imminent state takeover.

IPS is an institution in a state of high stress and difficulty. There’s an Internet blog about IPS where the hatred, racism, backbiting, backstabbing and poor morale is in full display. Others tell me morale within the system is the poorest it has been in many years.

Last week, one of the system’s top administrators, a Chinese-American named Li-Yen Johnson, issued an intemperate e-mail urging the community to stand up saying that the state was “trying to keep the African-Americans hooked and quiet” urging those she was writing to “not be silent on this one.”

Johnson’s e-mail was virulent; but at least someone in IPS is trying to alert the community to the crisis. Unfortunately, her missive missed a basic point.

Administrators like Johnson can no longer insist that our community support their status quo or endorse their business as usual!

There is no question that IPS must change the way they do business.

IPS must change how they educate the 33,000-plus students in their care.

IPS must change how they relate to the parents and grandparents of their students.

IPS must change how they interact and treat their employees.

IPS must change how they interact and relate to the community.

One of IPS’ and the community’s problems is a total lack of understanding of who the IPS schools serve.

Reading Johnson’s e-mail, you’d assume that African-Americans are the fulcrum of the IPS district. And while Blacks comprise 54 percent of the district’s enrollment, at 59 percent Pike Township has a higher percentage of Black students enrolled than IPS.

It’s estimated that of the total African-American population of Indianapolis and Marion County, barely half of that population lives in the IPS area. But that’s down from roughly 60 percent 10 years ago. And of the estimated total population of the area IPS serves, just 38.4 percent are African-Americans. Non-Hispanic whites are the largest group at 52.8 percent, followed by Hispanics at an estimated 7.8 percent. (Definitive 2010 census data won’t be available until next month).

IPS has a growing multilingual and English as a second language student body as over one-sixth (17.6 percent) of IPS’ overall enrollment are Hispanics. IPS’ Hispanic enrollment is the second largest of any Indiana school district. Only Hammond’s schools have more Hispanics than IPS.

Those concerned with IPS must understand that the neighborhoods the system serves aren’t neighborhoods with families with children of media myth. IPS neighborhoods aren’t overrun with families like the Nelsons, Huxtables or Obamas – stable two-parent families. The reality is much more complex and difficult.

The 2009 Census American Community Survey (ACS) reports that two-thirds (66.7 percent) of all families with children in the IPS district are families headed by a single mom or increasingly a single dad.

IPS neighborhoods contain 44.1 percent of all single female families with children in Indianapolis/Marion County and 54.4 percent of all single male families with children.

By contrast, IPS’ neighborhoods lack the ingredient researchers say is critical for student success - two-parent families. Only a third of families with children in IPS neighborhoods are two parent. Worse, IPS contains just 20.8 percent of the city/county’s two parent families with children.

Indiana’s Department of Education (IDOE) thinks they can improve IPS’ worst. But how, given that IPS is so untypical of most Hoosier schools?

IDOE is looking for partners to run up to 23 troubled schools statewide, including those in IPS. There’s rumblings that Black-oriented groups with experience educating Black youth from single parent families may bid. But there’s no guarantee.

Worse, most major educational consortiums with the financial resources to operate these so-called “takeover” IPS schools (KIPP, Geo, Imagine) have failed miserably operating charters, so how can they be expected to handle the more difficult IPS challenge?

IPS argues that they have the expertise and experience in educating children from single-family homes with high poverty. But for five straight years, IPS hasn’t been able to reserve the failing trends of the schools now under the state’s educational sword of Damocles.

Worse is the posture of the elected board for the Indianapolis Public Schools. The individuals elected to set policy for a system facing its greatest challenge since cross district busing in 1981 have sat mute. They aren’t out as a group at the legislature testifying either for or against the school reform proposals. They are saying nothing to the voters who elected them; even those elected just eight months ago.

Unfortunately, having a board of seven “silent sphinxes,” as this column referred to the IPS Board some 14 years ago, isn’t the funny quip it was when I first wrote it.

The IPS Board’s silence is insulting; debilitating to the system and the community it serves.

So, the dilemma.

I’ve lost faith in the current leadership of IPS to do their jobs.

But I have no faith that Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration has the sensitivity, understanding, expertise, diversity and cultural competency to handle the job reforming the schools where our children are educated.

I do know this. The Indianapolis Public Schools are in crisis. Business as usual is no longer acceptable!

It’s time for change.

What’s your view?

See ‘ya next week.

You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.

Cry Baby!

(Eugene White needs someone to change his diaper.)

IPS chief threatens to quit as board rejects plan

IPS chief says he would quit before altering his plan to reassign administrative jobs

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White threatened to leave his job after the School Board rejected his plan Tuesday to reassign more than two dozen administrators.

"You are not going to badger me into changing what I know we have to do," he said. "I have given you all the information you need."

White said if the board insists on changing his plan, he wants to enter negotiations to end his contract.

"If you are prepared to pay me what you owe me, you won't have this recommendation," he said. "I have no changes to make."

Board members who voted no said they believed revisions were needed. The vote was 4-3 against White's plan.

"I haven't been convinced that some of these moves are in the best interests of students," board member Michael Brown said.

Board member Diane Arnold said she was concerned about some of the pay raises in the plan.

"Some of the increases I thought were unrealistic based on the diminishing resources we have," she said.

An angry White responded that the plan was saving the district $560,000 while accomplishing other goals.

"We saved more than half a million dollars, and that's not being fiscally responsible?" he said.

Board President Elizabeth Gore, who voted yes, said the board will meet privately to discuss the plan next week and expressed hope that it will be revived.

White declined to comment after the meeting.

The moves were to come at the end of the school year and would have meant new principals for eight schools. Among the moves was a promotion and $13,000 raise for White's son, Reginald White, the behavior dean at Tech High School. He was to move up to assistant principal, raising his pay to $92,000 from $78,606.

Eugene White said earlier in the week that he played no role in the decision to promote his son, who was hired two years into his six-year superintendency. Administrators told him they recommended the move because Reginald White was among the district's best administrators at his level, Eugene White said.

Much of his raise would have resulted from switching from a 10-month contract to 12 months of work.

School Board members raised questions last week about the principal shuffle, asking whether all of those reassigned to principal jobs had performed well enough to merit the opportunity to lead a new school. White said in his view they had and that, in some cases, the changes were forced by school improvement rules meant to turn around failing schools. Even though some of the schools are low performers, White said all had shown improvement with their current principals.

"You need to go back through and re-evaluate these changes," board member Samantha Adair-White said. "I think we are placing people that need a job rather than placing for the best interest of our children."

The changes were supposed to be the first steps in a plan to address the district's need to cut $15 million from its budget for the upcoming school year.

The reassignments of three principals -- at Arlington, Northwest and Howe high schools -- were a response to rules in the No Child Left Behind federal education law and the district's desire to seek federal grants for those schools.

Because the schools have reached six years of subpar test performance, the district is required to take corrective action. White said he chose to "reconstitute" the schools by removing the principal and at least half the teachers. Schools that follow this path can apply for federal grants for aid to help with the process.

White said all three of those principals are being assigned to new schools to comply with those federal rules, not because he is displeased by their work.

Separated at Birth

Letter to the Editor

Indianapolis Star Letter to the Editor

Consider IPS parents as partners instead of problems

On Jan. 10, I attended an education roundtable at Pike High School hosted by the Indianapolis Alliance of Black School Educators and Indianapolis Recorder. It was both inspiring and alarming. For the most part, administrators from diverse district and charter schools rallied around opportunities to improve urban education and spoke of parents as "valued customers" and "educational partners."

I am an IPS parent, so imagine how I felt when Superintendent Eugene White focused
on parents as the problem. He practically wrung his hands as he spoke about the
high percentage of single mothers and grandmothers raising their grandchildren.
He complained that some IPS meetings draw so few parents that "they wouldn't fill
a phone booth."

Little wonder. Who would have the spirit after work, dinner and homework to go to
a meeting where your schools' leader diminishes you and fellow parents in public? Perhaps parents would find the energy if IPS asked us when and where we wanted our meetings to be and then publicized these events widely and provided child care. Imagine our response,
if White asked us: What do you want for your child's education?

The school-parent bridge is crucial. I am deeply grateful for the countless IPS teachers, social workers and administrators who step on that bridge every day to greet me and all parents as unique individuals rather than woeful statistics.

With this, I tell my superintendent: Parents are your partners. Teachers have the
potential to make us better parents, and parents have the potential to make them
better teachers. That's not a problem. That's power.

Josefa Beyer
IPS parent
Member of Parent Power
Indianapolis

January 24, 2011

BUSTED!!!

IPS official reacts badly to memo

The memo from the state Department of Education was innocuous. It simply announced an upcoming community meeting to talk about several IPS schools that for more than a decade have been heading toward a potential state takeover.

With assistance from the Indianapolis Urban League, the memo was sent to a wide range of community activists and neighborhood leaders. It said a goal of the meeting would be to devise "processes to inform and communicate with parents" while learning from those in attendance "how you have been or might plan to be involved in supporting the schools."

The reaction to the memo from one of Indianapolis Public Schools' top officials, though, was fierce, and it underscores a serious problem within a district that sometimes treats those it considers to be outsiders as enemies intent on destroying public schools. It also provides an example of the bunker mentality often found among the district's top officials.

"This is very serious," IPS Associate Superintendent Li-Yen Johnson wrote, referring to the upcoming meeting. "We have to take an active stand on this and speak up for ourselves. DOE is trying to keep the African Americans hooked and quiet so they can go ahead and turn IPS into mayoral control and/or (have) IPS schools taken over by charters and takeover entities."

We'll forgive for now the grammatical struggles within Johnson's writing. The e-mail, after all, was clearly not written in a moment of calm reflection. Consider this next passage:

"Please be outspoken to all the people you know about this conspiracy!" she wrote. "Lies people will tell about us have to stop! We cannot be silent!"

Johnson, who as the district's third-highest-ranking administrator is in charge of curriculum, apparently doesn't realize the debate over education reform is not about race. After all, thousands of white and Hispanic children attend district schools. The goal is to ensure that students of all races have better schools.

One of the most frustrating parts of the e-mail is that Johnson's fury appears aimed at defending the IPS bureaucracy. She uses words such as "us" and "we" in her bizarre message. But you won't find the words "children" or "students."

The district clearly understands how awful this e-mail looks. District spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley said the e-mail included "very unfortunate language" and was a mistake.

It's nice to see the district distance itself from Johnson's message. But anyone who has followed IPS shouldn't be shocked by her words. The district has long tried to stifle important options such as charter schools, and some education bosses are extremely upset about the package of reforms state lawmakers are debating. Johnson wrote that those reforms "will set IPS back for 30 years."

Former Indianapolis Public School Board member Kelly Bentley said Johnson's e-mail, sent through a district account, was more than embarrassing. It was another reminder of how difficult it will be to make the sweeping changes needed to improve academic performance in Indianapolis.

"It is very disturbing that a senior IPS administrator would send out such an inflammatory, paranoid e-mail," Bentley wrote. "Principals, teachers, parents and communities should be free from this type of craziness and be allowed to get on with the work of educating children."

Reach Matthew Tully at (317) 444-6033 or via e-mail at matthew.tully@indystar.com

Get RIF'd

Have you heard? The new R.I.F. list is complete. Are you on it?

Has This Ever Happened To You?

Tech wrestling coach frustrated with IPS

By Michael Pointer michael.pointer@indystar.com

Tech High School wrestling coach Mark Mendoza's frustrations reached a boiling point after the Titans missed a dual meet at Tipton on Tuesday night because Indianapolis Public Schools officials failed to provide a bus for the trip.

Mendoza, who is in his ninth year at the school, apologized to Tipton officials with a post on indianamat.com, a leading website for amateur wrestling in the state. Tipton was planning to hold senior night ceremonies Tuesday.

Mendoza, who teaches English at Tech, also criticized IPS and Tech officials, saying it continues a pattern of neglecting the wrestling program. He asked other schools to donate singlets so the Titans do not have to wear Tech uniforms for the rest of this season.

"I am not going to represent a school, a district and an administration that doesn't care about us,' Mendoza said in an interview later Wednesday. "If this would have been the first time something like this happened, that would be one thing. But it consistently happens.'

Mendoza said this was the first time the Titans actually missed a meet because of a transportation issue, but IPS officials have had to call in a driver at the last minute because they did not schedule one in advance on several occasions.

A bus was sitting in the Tech parking lot Tuesday, but Mendoza said it was to take the school's cheerleaders to Northwest High School for a boys basketball game.

"Last night, we fed right into the (IPS) stereotype,' he said. "We didn't show up and we didn't have the decency to call.'

Mike Lucas, whose son Jacob wrestles for the Titans, said a bus failed to show up to take the team to a tournament at Plainfield earlier this season; parents and coaches drove the wrestlers to that meet. Parents were upset when no Tech administrators showed up for the Titans' own senior night earlier this month, he said.

"I was disappointed (by Tuesday's events), but not shocked by any means,' said Lucas, a 1985 Tech graduate.

City athletic director Victor Bush said he was investigating the incident and isn't yet sure what happened, but he noted the meet was postponed because of snow last week before being rescheduled for Tuesday. Tech athletic director Keith Burke was out all last week while being treated for pneumonia, he said.

"We need to figure out where the ball was dropped so this type of incident never happens again,' said Bush, adding he called Tipton officials and apologized.

Bush said he was disappointed by Mendoza's comments, noting the coach has never told him of his frustrations. IPS officials are constructing a new wrestling room at Tech as part of ongoing renovations and have purchased new mats, he said.

"He needs to speak to me about that,' Bush said.

Tipton athletic director Kory Fernung said its wrestling team celebrated senior night with an intrasquad scrimmage instead. Fernung said he holds no hard feelings and expects Tipton to continue to play IPS teams in all sports.

"You can't fix (Tuesday)," he said. "Sitting around being mad and bitter over it does no one any good. You just get over it and move on.'

Mendoza said he's aware he might face some consequences for speaking out. The Titans have one of their best teams in recent years. Tech's Dominique Price is ranked fifth in the state at 112 pounds by indianamat.com; teammate Charlie McGinley is sixth at 119.

"They (Tech administrators) don't even watch us enough to know what is going on,' he said. "If there's a consequence, I'm willing to accept it.'

Promotional Copy

Reginald White

From:
Behavior Dean
#716
ATHS
71600136-110095
$78,606.00

To:
Assistant High School Principal
#716
ATHS
71600224-110050
$92,000.00
07-03-2011

Another Fight?

Does anyone have details about the big fight at School #60?

Arlington Fights

Did you hear about the big fight at Arlington today? 30 students were suspended and one girl got into a fight with the police.

Meet the New Boss

If you want to know the name of the company that will be taking over Broad Ripple, and possibly some other schools, click here. It's the American Quality Schools. They're going to be your new bosses.

Did You See This?

Broad Takeover

The word is starting to get out. Broad Ripple Magnet School is officially on the list for takeover by the state and there is nothing IPS can do about it.