I'm indifferent about most of them, but I think the new teacher guidelines are infinitely better than the previous talk about using test scores. I think one way or the other it will help. Either it will reassure people that IPS teachers are as good or better than the suburban teachers, and we can get the support and respect we deserve, or it will show that that IPS teachers are lacking and we'll know where we need to improve. I've said for years, I'm not against accountability if it's fair, and this seems fair to me.
Re: New Board Meeting AND New Board Agenda _________________________________________________
Special Called Meeting; Monday, February 14, 2011; 5:30 P.M. Friday, February 4, 2011 PLEASE NOTE: The Special Called Meeting of the Board of School Commissioners will NOT MEET Friday, February 4 as indicated in the above description. In order to open the meeting for public view, the date range cannot exceed 7 days. To eliminate further confusion, the date listed above references the date the meeting was created. The Board will truly meet at 5:30 P.M. on Monday, February 14, 2011 in the Board Room of the John Morton-Finney Center for Educational Services. Thank you for your understanding. _______________________________________________
Now what the hell does the above (copied and pasted from the Board Docs tonight) mean? Since there is a regularly scheduled Board Meeting on February 15th, then why have a Special Called Meeting on February 14th? That's just more pay for the Board Members (and, maybe another free dinner, too).
So true about the D's. Many students would be happy to just have pass/fail instead of letter grades. The problem I encounter is once a students fails state exams they lose hope. Students who come everyday, work hard but miss it by a few points each time plunge into despair. There are students who are never going to pass the exam no matter how hard they try and that is what hurts to see. Reform is a good thing, IF there is a PLAN. None of which I have heard our Govenor or state Superintendent come up with...just blame, blame, blame. I also believe it should be automatic dismissal/contract nonrenewal without buy outs for administrators including superintendents if their schools don't make AYP. It should start at the top
The politicians, Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniels are stuck in neutral. They operate under the assumption that classes run the same way they experienced in their privileged boyhood. Get rid of the numerous "instructional coaches" and put them in the classroom to lower class size. The students I teach need tutoring---they can't understand teacher talk. 2o% of each of my classes is special ed. The most productive learning is one-on-one. Try teaching one-on-one when there are discipline issues; trash talk. This high school in IPS! The classroom teachers need support! As a nun for 28 years, I took my teaching assignment as a mission from God. I see such need here in IPS and I still see myself on a mission from God; I approach every class with passion, preparation, knowledge, mastery of the material and love for the students. Politicians and those decision makers need to include teachers in this reform conversation.
Compare the "new" proposal from the state with Washington DC's Impact program, it is basically a direct lift, so I hope they didn't really pay someone to cut and paste this document from someone else's work. Unless of course that person was a crony of Mitch or Tony. I guess mafias exist in state government also. http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/TEACHING%20&%20LEARNING/IMPACT/IMPACT%20Guidebooks%202010-2011/DCPS-IMPACT-Group2-Guidebook-August-2010.pdf
@I also believe it should be automatic dismissal/contract nonrenewal without buy outs for administrators including superintendents if their schools don't make AYP. It should start at the top ________________
Good idea! If a district does not have 80% of its students showing one year's growth based on state-wide assessments, then the first person 'relieved of his/her duties' should be the Superintendent followed by Deputy Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents.
Board report No Keith Burke or Otis Curry mentioned. So if they are staying put, does Curry's salary remain the same? Did Rev. Brown cost Otis a raise?
I bet they scheduled the vote the night before the regular meeting because (a) Eugene White will finally be back from the Super Bowl, (b) more pay for board members, and (c) it won't be televised like the normal meetings. Thoughts?
@So if they are staying put, does Curry's salary remain the same?
I wager he receives the raise as originally posted for the AD's job at Tech. Does Michael Brown want Curry to stay at Northwest? If so, why? The AD's position doesn't really carry any clout or relevance to improving student scores unless the AD position figures into the number of administrators that 'had' to be moved. Someone, please fill us in with more details.
It looks as if there was some deal made between Brown and White. Or Burke is squawing about being moved. Or Curry will stay with a raise. All above board, you know.
Maybe he was just blowing smoke. My bet is that Brown planned all along to go along with White. He just wanted to public to think he was questioning White's decisions. Michael Brown's first priority in life is himself. As far as Northwest is concerned, he'll want someone there he can manipulate to keep things good for his son.
Michael Brown is another person that I have no idea how any voter thinks he is "school board' material? What Church, the "Dr." degree, income, and contact with parents?
Teaching has always been a sticky point in politics. It wasn't this bad when I first started this dream career. I love my job and my students, but I can't see myself doing this until I am able to retire.
I love my job. The part where I get to work with the students. The part I'm not so thrilled with is all the paperwork and other things that don't really relate to why and what I teach. I'm not sure I want to do this until I retire either, but, I've taught for 18 years now and I can't think of anything else I'm qualified to do that will give me as much satisfaction as hearing a student say "OOOHHH, Now I get it!"
To those above speculating about Otis Curry's salary. It remains the same until it is approved by the board. He apparently won't move, thus no salary differential. There is a separate section for those getting salary changes and most of the time it is for additional credits earned. Until you see his name with a new salary, he won't obtain that increase.
You are making some assumptions that may not be true. In order to get Brown to change his vote, Eugene had to promised to leave Curry at Northwest. Curry is going to want compensation for being the sacrificial lamb. Just watch what happens.
Has anyone read Abdul's take on the Education Reform? Who’s Declaring War on Education - wow - talk about an idiot - he goes on a rant:
http://www.newstalk1430.com/pages/1622896.php
and then states, but then I digress. Can someone please inform him the true meaning of digress? In my understanding, it doesn't mean carry on the same rant of the same topic. WTH does he think he knows about education? He truly is one big fat hot-head. Truly evident that the governor and state supt. line his pockets. (Sad to think that this blogmaster likes to pull references from this idiot - not to mention leak IPS information to him as well...)
@As far as Northwest is concerned, he'll want someone there he can manipulate to keep things good for his son.
Brown should be quite pleased with Phyllis Barnes as Principal at NWHS. She's one of the "in crowd" and another lackey/toadie for White. Everytime White has a school that's about to fail, he pulls Barnes out of the mothballs and recommissions her there with a new title to cover the mess and his butt.
re: Abdul....leak IPS information to him as well...)
Any information that IPS has is public information. IPS is a public school funded by taxpayers' money from the state of Indiana. If you expect privacy about your job, your salary, your boss, or your employer, then you will need to work for a private company or private organization or open your own business. Let's remember to keep the 'public' in public education.
ok - blogmaster -duly noted - thanks for putting me back in my place! I should have stopped myself before thinking some people should have morals. I guess we should all be cut from the same mold as you.
I doubt this will be a popular sentiment in this environment, but the only educational reform I'd like to see is to completely remove the government and any taxpayer dollars from education altogether. If you want real improvement, you will never see it as long as the government has control which prevents any true market forces from having any real effect. Get the government out of the way and you can get something done.
While I agree that we don't need dictators to tell us how to educate our students, they will never eliminate the red tape. If they did, they wouldn't have a chance in the world of getting elected to high offices, nor would private schools survive. Additionally, if we didn't have the dictatorship of the Ind Supt. and Gov. offices, etc., we still would have to appease the accreditation teams and colleges. We still have to deal with the look down their noses folks in some way. It's so sad it must be this way.
I completely agree. Abdul is a freaking high-opinionated lawyer. What does he even know about educating our students? One day he pretends to stand up for the teachers, the next day he is standing right next to the governor and state superintendent. When did the governor ever run a classroom? How long has it been since Bennett was in a classroom? Even when Bennett was in a classroom, it was with a bunch of small town kids who lived in a protected type of environment. He has absolutely no idea the type of abused and neglected students (and in many cases - their families) we work with and nurture on a daily basis. He would have no idea how to be an educator, nurturer, nurse, counselor, etc. to our students.
Abdul, Daniels, and Bennett - shut your mouths until you truly know the whole picture!!!!!
Tony Bennett (superintendent)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Dr. Tony Bennett)
Dr. Tony Bennett is the current Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was sworn in on January 12, 2009.[1] Dr. Bennett, a Republican, was elected to his first term in 2008 defeating his Democratic opponent, Dr. Richard Wood with over 51% of the vote.[2]
Dr. Bennett has spent more than 20 years in the field of education in Indiana, serving as a teacher, coach and administrator.[1] Dr. Bennett received his Ed.D. and Indiana Superintendent's License from Spalding University.[1] He received his Certification in Secondary Administration and Supervision, a Master of Science in Secondary Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Indiana University Southeast.[1]
During his tenure as principal of Scottsburg Senior High School, he also served as head boy's basketball coach in the mid-1990s. Some of the team members were suspected of drinking alcohol at a party. The accusations were never proven, but Bennett suspended himself as a result of the allegations.
Bennett is perhaps best known for his unapologetic push for dramatic education reform. Upon taking office in 2009, Bennett realigned the office around reform priorities and reduced by roughly 25% the size of the department's workforce.
Dr. Bennett is a native of Clark County, Indiana. He currently lives in Noblesville, Indiana with his wife, Tina. He has four adult children and two grandchildren
Found in Wikipedia - shows how capable he truly is to dictate how we run our classrooms!
Re: Some of the team members were suspected of drinking alcohol at a party. The accusations were never proven, but Bennett suspended himself as a result of the allegations.
So, if my kids violate a law, I can remove myself from the situation by not having to plan/supervise practices, schedule buses and competitions, ride with the kids on the team bus both ways, attend games, or listen to parents griping behind me in the crowd. Then, if my team loses, it's not my responsibility, since I wasn't coaching that game.
"I completely agree. Abdul is a freaking high-opinionated lawyer."
I enjoyed his show when he first came here. I still enjoy his movie reviews and stuff on Fridays. I respected him for going with President Obama when the majority of his listening audience was right-wing. That took guts. However, lately his rants against IPS and teachers unions make him sound like some jilted lover talking about their ex. I for one resent it when he says that "IPS provides a crappy education for kids." We should all be offended by that remark. Especially when his pal Bennett picks our curriculum. He's become an apologist for the Governor, Mayor and all Indiana Republicans other than maybe Dan Burton. Maybe he tried to get into the IPS Law Magnet and he didn't have the necessary teaching requirements? His attacks on IPS are even more confusing when my friends who work at various Charter Schools have far worse stories about zoo-like conditions where the "inmates run the asylum." Do you notice how people who agree with him get more air time than those who disagree? Those people he cuts off. He thinks people aren't aware of that? Then again it's all just entertainment.
What are the IPS lots looking like in your area? Not so good in mine! The side streets are horrific! I can't imagine being a parent feeling comfortable with sliding cars and those huge buses swinging the corners with my child standing in the street. Several teachers at our school have already fallen this year and it has not been this bad. Give the custodians and the kids one more day. As for me: I have already slipped on my driveway and it will give me another day with my pitchfork, chopping ice.
I really don't care about reform. Just allow the teachers to actually teach.
Think long before select schools, small schools, and other fads of the day IPS was performing. Each of the so-called reforms have done nothing but add aditional administrative layers downtown and in my opinion caused scores to fall.
The district needs to return to traditional schools format. Have department heads who understand what is going on in the school and reporting downtown instead of one person who has no clue about your efforts poping in every so often.
Get rid of inclusion and allow the teachers to push the top instead of being slowed down by those at the rear of class. No matter what people say (P.C. community) and want the included students (majority not all) slow the classroom down.
Return to having auto shop, print shop, and other trades back at all the HS's. Not all student will go on to college train them and give reason to stay involved and in school.
Return to all schools having all sports and be under the IHSAA rules on playing. Once again, sports are a hook and we need to use every hook possible to keep kids involved and interested. Having rules that are toughest in the state is only leading to making the sports hook null and void. Dr. White wanting state championships is wrong. The championship is that we kept kids involved off the street, not dropping out and graduating.
This is just my opinion.
BTW: I am typing on my cell phone. I am sure the spelling and gram police will be here reporting on me. Sorry but cannot see much of what I put in to correct. Just wanted to give my opinion though.
I agree 200%! A lot of students are smart enough to recognize & tell you that they don't have what it takes to go to college. They need vocational training. IPS desparately needs to cut through their thick layer of administrators--fire them! If they need a job, then they should apply to be a department head at a school who reports directly to the superintendant. We DO NOT need all these directors,instructional coaches, literacy coaches, data coaches--they are a drain on IPS finances. Get out of our way and let us teach. If there are teachers who are not teaching, then make that the administrators job to give them their walking papers. Get rid of inclusion--it does not work regardless of what one of the professors at IUPUI believes. Every school needs some kind of morale booster. If White would fire some of the administrators, then maybe Manual and some of the other schools could get ther sports back.
I read the news story above. Klentchy is just one of thousands of people "who benefit from keeping schools dysfunctional". Think of all the myriad of consultants and grant-recievers who have a vested financial interest in maintaining "dysfunctional schools". For instance, Jimmy Hill and his huge consultant fee. SpringBoard, the College Board, Rubicon, and on and on...there are major league bucks to be made feeding off "dysfunctional schools".
That is why urban school reform meets such huge resistence. There simply are too many peoples' incomes derived at the expense of the mis-education of urban students. It's a giant cottage industry that pays damn well. There is no real incentive to change the status quo.
You are wrong about inclusion. Inclusion is and does work. It is not for all special needs students but for the ones that truly belong in inclusion, it is a huge success. The problem in IPS is that the former director of Special Education tried to mandate that all special needs students be placed in inclusion. Huge error in judgement. Too many teachers went along with her demand and placed students who had no chance of success in inclusion. This has resulted in inclusion being given a bad reputation. Also many of the high schools tried to group all of the inclusion students together in the same classes. A teacher cannot adequately teach a class that is 50% inclusion. It was all about trying to save money. She is gone now but I think teaching at a local university. Too bad for those college students who are getting some really warped information.
Boo Hoo. Mitch Daniels is upset because the teacher from Howard County wrote her account about his rude behavior toward the teachers at the statehouse. I guess he forgot that this is the 21st century and news gets around fast.
This is the rest of the wiki information that the above poster did not post....Thought it was interesting. BTW I full agree with the inclusion mistakes that have been made. Parents should have been more vocal in standing up for their kids. I'm afraid that many don't know the gross problems with the education of our challenged children.
Bennett is perhaps best known for his unapologetic push for dramatic education reform. Upon taking office in 2009, Bennett realigned the office around reform priorities and reduced by roughly 25% the size of the department's workforce. Instead of working with Indiana state teachers, he has chosen a more authoritarian approach. He often fires the more experienced educators to replace them with younger, less paid reformists. He has aided Mitch Daniels (Indiana State Governer) in undercutting the teachers union. In doing so, They have taken away all benefits to collective bargaining, senoirity, and retirement plans. They plan to lower the pay of all teachers to substandard conditions, and not allow any future raises, enforcing a communist-style equal pay. Budget cuts are also planned on all Education Departments, most particularly Family and Consumer Science, Music, and Art.
Is it true that there will be some sort of minimum wage for teachers throughout Indiana under Bennett's plan? Those with low performing schools would stay there. Those who achieve on test scores would see higher salaries? Better check into this!!!!
I have a gut feeling that changing Bennett's mind about anything is about as likely to happen as changing Eugene White's mind. Two stubborn mules -- both of them.
We have the ability to move one out of his position.
As for the other - just do the best we can and at the end of the day, you can sleep with your conscience clean. We all have our judgement day in whatever means you take that to be.
I personally don't have an overly hateful opinion about Dr. White the way most in this blog seem to express, but we work for a boss.
As my daddy told me as a young adult working through high school & college, you go to work - do your job to the best of your ability - and get your check.
I do take things personally, because I see this as more than a "job" and sometimes feel slighted in my efforts, but that comes in any profession. I want to go home knowing my students have the very best of me - not the very best of my superiors. Maybe we should all just focus on that. What can they do? Sweep all of us out of the IPS house at once? I think not. IPS won't do that - but IDOE just might.
Seriously, serve our students. Elect a new State Superintendent when given the opportunity and ignore the rest of the IPS politics.
I think that until the kids care about getting an education all the reforms in the world don't matter.
ReplyDeleteSo many of our student are thrilled to get a D, because "at least I passed".
When we can make getting A's and B's desirable to the students then we will see improvement.
Check out the new board agenda...
ReplyDeleteI'm indifferent about most of them, but I think the new teacher guidelines are infinitely better than the previous talk about using test scores. I think one way or the other it will help. Either it will reassure people that IPS teachers are as good or better than the suburban teachers, and we can get the support and respect we deserve, or it will show that that IPS teachers are lacking and we'll know where we need to improve. I've said for years, I'm not against accountability if it's fair, and this seems fair to me.
ReplyDeleteRe: New Board Meeting AND New Board Agenda
ReplyDelete_________________________________________________
Special Called Meeting; Monday, February 14, 2011; 5:30 P.M.
Friday, February 4, 2011
PLEASE NOTE: The Special Called Meeting of the Board of School Commissioners will NOT MEET Friday, February 4 as indicated in the above description. In order to open the meeting for public view, the date range cannot exceed 7 days. To eliminate further confusion, the date listed above references the date the meeting was created. The Board will truly meet at 5:30 P.M. on Monday, February 14, 2011 in the Board Room of the John Morton-Finney Center for Educational Services. Thank you for your understanding.
_______________________________________________
Now what the hell does the above (copied and pasted from the Board Docs tonight) mean? Since there is a regularly scheduled Board Meeting on February 15th, then why have a Special Called Meeting on February 14th? That's just more pay for the Board Members (and, maybe another free dinner, too).
So true about the D's. Many students would be happy to just have pass/fail instead of letter grades.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I encounter is once a students fails state exams they lose hope. Students who come everyday, work hard but miss it by a few points each time plunge into despair. There are students who are never going to pass the exam no matter how hard they try and that is what hurts to see.
Reform is a good thing, IF there is a PLAN. None of which I have heard our Govenor or state Superintendent come up with...just blame, blame, blame.
I also believe it should be automatic dismissal/contract nonrenewal without buy outs for administrators including superintendents if their schools don't make AYP.
It should start at the top
The politicians, Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniels are stuck in neutral. They operate under the assumption that classes run the same way they experienced in their privileged boyhood. Get rid of the numerous "instructional coaches" and put them in the classroom to lower class size. The students I teach need tutoring---they can't understand teacher talk. 2o% of each of my classes is special ed. The most productive learning is one-on-one. Try teaching one-on-one when there are discipline issues; trash talk. This high school in IPS! The classroom teachers need support! As a nun for 28 years, I took my teaching assignment as a mission from God. I see such need here in IPS and I still see myself on a mission from God; I approach every class with passion, preparation, knowledge, mastery of the material and love for the students. Politicians and those decision makers need to include teachers in this reform conversation.
ReplyDeleteCompare the "new" proposal from the state with Washington DC's Impact program, it is basically a direct lift, so I hope they didn't really pay someone to cut and paste this document from someone else's work. Unless of course that person was a crony of Mitch or Tony. I guess mafias exist in state government also.
ReplyDeletehttp://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/TEACHING%20&%20LEARNING/IMPACT/IMPACT%20Guidebooks%202010-2011/DCPS-IMPACT-Group2-Guidebook-August-2010.pdf
@I also believe it should be automatic dismissal/contract nonrenewal without buy outs for administrators including superintendents if their schools don't make AYP.
ReplyDeleteIt should start at the top
________________
Good idea! If a district does not have 80% of its students showing one year's growth based on state-wide assessments, then the first person 'relieved of his/her duties' should be the Superintendent followed by Deputy Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents.
Board report
ReplyDeleteNo Keith Burke or Otis Curry mentioned. So if they are staying put, does Curry's salary remain the same?
Did Rev. Brown cost Otis a raise?
I bet they scheduled the vote the night before the regular meeting because (a) Eugene White will finally be back from the Super Bowl, (b) more pay for board members, and (c) it won't be televised like the normal meetings. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThinking about EW in Dallas for the Super Bowl -- do you think he took his full-length fur coat?
ReplyDelete@So if they are staying put, does Curry's salary remain the same?
ReplyDeleteI wager he receives the raise as originally posted for the AD's job at Tech. Does Michael Brown want Curry to stay at Northwest? If so, why? The AD's position doesn't really carry any clout or relevance to improving student scores unless the AD position figures into the number of administrators that 'had' to be moved. Someone, please fill us in with more details.
It'th the thuper bowl in Dallath, Texath, thilly. Yeth, the coat cometh in handy wif all the ithe and thnow.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if there was some deal made between Brown and White. Or Burke is squawing about being moved. Or Curry will stay with a raise.
ReplyDeleteAll above board, you know.
Michael Brown is a snake in the grass.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteAre Brown and Curry cronies? Something apparently made Michael Brown vote against the changes originally. What was that all about?
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was just blowing smoke. My bet is that Brown planned all along to go along with White. He just wanted to public to think he was questioning White's decisions. Michael Brown's first priority in life is himself. As far as Northwest is concerned, he'll want someone there he can manipulate to keep things good for his son.
ReplyDeleteMichael Brown is another person that I have no idea how any voter thinks he is "school board' material? What Church, the "Dr." degree, income, and contact with parents?
ReplyDeleteTeaching has always been a sticky point in politics. It wasn't this bad when I first started this dream career. I love my job and my students, but I can't see myself doing this until I am able to retire.
ReplyDeleteI love my job. The part where I get to work with the students. The part I'm not so thrilled with is all the paperwork and other things that don't really relate to why and what I teach.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I want to do this until I retire either, but, I've taught for 18 years now and I can't think of anything else I'm qualified to do that will give me as much satisfaction as hearing a student say "OOOHHH, Now I get it!"
To those above speculating about Otis Curry's salary. It remains the same until it is approved by the board. He apparently won't move, thus no salary differential. There is a separate section for those getting salary changes and most of the time it is for additional credits earned. Until you see his name with a new salary, he won't obtain that increase.
ReplyDeleteYou are making some assumptions that may not be true. In order to get Brown to change his vote, Eugene had to promised to leave Curry at Northwest. Curry is going to want compensation for being the sacrificial lamb. Just watch what happens.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone read Abdul's take on the Education Reform? Who’s Declaring War on Education - wow - talk about an idiot - he goes on a rant:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newstalk1430.com/pages/1622896.php
and then states, but then I digress. Can someone please inform him the true meaning of digress? In my understanding, it doesn't mean carry on the same rant of the same topic. WTH does he think he knows about education? He truly is one big fat hot-head. Truly evident that the governor and state supt. line his pockets. (Sad to think that this blogmaster likes to pull references from this idiot - not to mention leak IPS information to him as well...)
@As far as Northwest is concerned, he'll want someone there he can manipulate to keep things good for his son.
ReplyDeleteBrown should be quite pleased with Phyllis Barnes as Principal at NWHS. She's one of the "in crowd" and another lackey/toadie for White. Everytime White has a school that's about to fail, he pulls Barnes out of the mothballs and recommissions her there with a new title to cover the mess and his butt.
re: Abdul....leak IPS information to him as well...)
ReplyDeleteAny information that IPS has is public information. IPS is a public school funded by taxpayers' money from the state of Indiana. If you expect privacy about your job, your salary, your boss, or your employer, then you will need to work for a private company or private organization or open your own business. Let's remember to keep the 'public' in public education.
ok - blogmaster -duly noted - thanks for putting me back in my place! I should have stopped myself before thinking some people should have morals. I guess we should all be cut from the same mold as you.
ReplyDeleteI doubt this will be a popular sentiment in this environment, but the only educational reform I'd like to see is to completely remove the government and any taxpayer dollars from education altogether. If you want real improvement, you will never see it as long as the government has control which prevents any true market forces from having any real effect. Get the government out of the way and you can get something done.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that we don't need dictators to tell us how to educate our students, they will never eliminate the red tape. If they did, they wouldn't have a chance in the world of getting elected to high offices, nor would private schools survive. Additionally, if we didn't have the dictatorship of the Ind Supt. and Gov. offices, etc., we still would have to appease the accreditation teams and colleges. We still have to deal with the look down their noses folks in some way. It's so sad it must be this way.
ReplyDelete@Abdul is a big hot-head:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Abdul is a freaking high-opinionated lawyer. What does he even know about educating our students? One day he pretends to stand up for the teachers, the next day he is standing right next to the governor and state superintendent. When did the governor ever run a classroom? How long has it been since Bennett was in a classroom? Even when Bennett was in a classroom, it was with a bunch of small town kids who lived in a protected type of environment. He has absolutely no idea the type of abused and neglected students (and in many cases - their families) we work with and nurture on a daily basis. He would have no idea how to be an educator, nurturer, nurse, counselor, etc. to our students.
Abdul, Daniels, and Bennett - shut your mouths until you truly know the whole picture!!!!!
Tony Bennett (superintendent)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Dr. Tony Bennett)
ReplyDeleteDr. Tony Bennett is the current Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was sworn in on January 12, 2009.[1] Dr. Bennett, a Republican, was elected to his first term in 2008 defeating his Democratic opponent, Dr. Richard Wood with over 51% of the vote.[2]
Dr. Bennett has spent more than 20 years in the field of education in Indiana, serving as a teacher, coach and administrator.[1] Dr. Bennett received his Ed.D. and Indiana Superintendent's License from Spalding University.[1] He received his Certification in Secondary Administration and Supervision, a Master of Science in Secondary Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Indiana University Southeast.[1]
During his tenure as principal of Scottsburg Senior High School, he also served as head boy's basketball coach in the mid-1990s. Some of the team members were suspected of drinking alcohol at a party. The accusations were never proven, but Bennett suspended himself as a result of the allegations.
Bennett is perhaps best known for his unapologetic push for dramatic education reform. Upon taking office in 2009, Bennett realigned the office around reform priorities and reduced by roughly 25% the size of the department's workforce.
Dr. Bennett is a native of Clark County, Indiana. He currently lives in Noblesville, Indiana with his wife, Tina. He has four adult children and two grandchildren
Found in Wikipedia - shows how capable he truly is to dictate how we run our classrooms!
Re: Some of the team members were suspected of drinking alcohol at a party. The accusations were never proven, but Bennett suspended himself as a result of the allegations.
ReplyDeleteSo, if my kids violate a law, I can remove myself from the situation by not having to plan/supervise practices, schedule buses and competitions, ride with the kids on the team bus both ways, attend games, or listen to parents griping behind me in the crowd. Then, if my team loses, it's not my responsibility, since I wasn't coaching that game.
Wow. That sounds like a horrible punishment.
"I completely agree. Abdul is a freaking high-opinionated lawyer."
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed his show when he first came here. I still enjoy his movie reviews and stuff on Fridays. I respected him for going with President Obama when the majority of his listening audience was right-wing. That took guts. However, lately his rants against IPS and teachers unions make him sound like some jilted lover talking about their ex. I for one resent it when he says that "IPS provides a crappy education for kids." We should all be offended by that remark. Especially when his pal Bennett picks our curriculum. He's become an apologist for the Governor, Mayor and all Indiana Republicans other than maybe Dan Burton. Maybe he tried to get into the IPS Law Magnet and he didn't have the necessary teaching requirements? His attacks on IPS are even more confusing when my friends who work at various Charter Schools have far worse stories about zoo-like conditions where the "inmates run the asylum." Do you notice how people who agree with him get more air time than those who disagree? Those people he cuts off. He thinks people aren't aware of that? Then again it's all just entertainment.
@shut your mouths until you truly know the whole picture!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI suspect if the "whole picture" truly was known about IPS that we'd have been closed years ago. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
What are the IPS lots looking like in your area? Not so good in mine! The side streets are horrific! I can't imagine being a parent feeling comfortable with sliding cars and those huge buses swinging the corners with my child standing in the street. Several teachers at our school have already fallen this year and it has not been this bad. Give the custodians and the kids one more day. As for me: I have already slipped on my driveway and it will give me another day with my pitchfork, chopping ice.
ReplyDeleteI really don't care about reform. Just allow the teachers to actually teach.
ReplyDeleteThink long before select schools, small schools, and other fads of the day IPS was performing. Each of the so-called reforms have done nothing but add aditional administrative layers downtown and in my opinion caused scores to fall.
The district needs to return to traditional schools format. Have department heads who understand what is going on in the school and reporting downtown instead of one person who has no clue about your efforts poping in every so often.
Get rid of inclusion and allow the teachers to push the top instead of being slowed down by those at the rear of class. No matter what people say (P.C. community) and want the included students (majority not all) slow the classroom down.
Return to having auto shop, print shop, and other trades back at all the HS's. Not all student will go on to college train them and give reason to stay involved and in school.
Return to all schools having all sports and be under the IHSAA rules on playing. Once again, sports are a hook and we need to use every hook possible to keep kids involved and interested. Having rules that are toughest in the state is only leading to making the sports hook null and void. Dr. White wanting state championships is wrong. The championship is that we kept kids involved off the street, not dropping out and graduating.
This is just my opinion.
BTW: I am typing on my cell phone. I am sure the spelling and gram police will be here reporting on me. Sorry but cannot see much of what I put in to correct. Just wanted to give my opinion though.
re: I really don't care....
ReplyDeleteBravo
@re: I really don't care....
ReplyDeleteBravo
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Double Bravo!! Traditional high schools with department heads!!
@re" I really don't care...
ReplyDeleteI agree 200%! A lot of students are smart enough to recognize & tell you that they don't have what it takes to go to college. They need vocational training. IPS desparately needs to cut through their thick layer of administrators--fire them! If they need a job, then they should apply to be a department head at a school who reports directly to the superintendant. We DO NOT need all these directors,instructional coaches, literacy coaches, data coaches--they are a drain on IPS finances. Get out of our way and let us teach. If there are teachers who are not teaching, then make that the administrators job to give them their walking papers. Get rid of inclusion--it does not work regardless of what one of the professors at IUPUI believes. Every school needs some kind of morale booster. If White would fire some of the administrators, then maybe Manual and some of the other schools could get ther sports back.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110206/EDIT05/302069967/1021/EDIT
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article about Tony Bennet and fradulent research by one of his "friends", someone named Klentchy.
Worth reading.
I read the news story above. Klentchy is just one of thousands of people "who benefit from keeping schools dysfunctional". Think of all the myriad of consultants and grant-recievers who have a vested financial interest in maintaining "dysfunctional schools". For instance, Jimmy Hill and his huge consultant fee. SpringBoard, the College Board, Rubicon, and on and on...there are major league bucks to be made feeding off "dysfunctional schools".
ReplyDeleteThat is why urban school reform meets such huge resistence. There simply are too many peoples' incomes derived at the expense of the mis-education of urban students. It's a giant cottage industry that pays damn well. There is no real incentive to change the status quo.
It's larger than IPS; it's a national happening.
You are wrong about inclusion. Inclusion is and does work. It is not for all special needs students but for the ones that truly belong in inclusion, it is a huge success. The problem in IPS is that the former director of Special Education tried to mandate that all special needs students be placed in inclusion. Huge error in judgement. Too many teachers went along with her demand and placed students who had no chance of success in inclusion. This has resulted in inclusion being given a bad reputation. Also many of the high schools tried to group all of the inclusion students together in the same classes. A teacher cannot adequately teach a class that is 50% inclusion. It was all about trying to save money. She is gone now but I think teaching at a local university. Too bad for those college students who are getting some really warped information.
ReplyDeleteBoo Hoo. Mitch Daniels is upset because the teacher from Howard County wrote her account about his rude behavior toward the teachers at the statehouse. I guess he forgot that this is the 21st century and news gets around fast.
ReplyDeleteWhat is he saying about that and where is his statement located? Would love to read about it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110204/NEWS07/302049962/1002/LOCAL
ReplyDeleteDaniels claims teacher's allegations false.
This is the rest of the wiki information that the above poster did not post....Thought it was interesting. BTW I full agree with the inclusion mistakes that have been made. Parents should have been more vocal in standing up for their kids. I'm afraid that many don't know the gross problems with the education of our challenged children.
ReplyDeleteBennett is perhaps best known for his unapologetic push for dramatic education reform. Upon taking office in 2009, Bennett realigned the office around reform priorities and reduced by roughly 25% the size of the department's workforce. Instead of working with Indiana state teachers, he has chosen a more authoritarian approach. He often fires the more experienced educators to replace them with younger, less paid reformists.
He has aided Mitch Daniels (Indiana State Governer) in undercutting the teachers union. In doing so, They have taken away all benefits to collective bargaining, senoirity, and retirement plans. They plan to lower the pay of all teachers to substandard conditions, and not allow any future raises, enforcing a communist-style equal pay. Budget cuts are also planned on all Education Departments, most particularly Family and Consumer Science, Music, and Art.
Is it true that there will be some sort of minimum wage for teachers throughout Indiana under Bennett's plan? Those with low performing schools would stay there. Those who achieve on test scores would see higher salaries? Better check into this!!!!
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Looks like Tony Bennett has hit a nerve.
ReplyDeleteI have a gut feeling that changing Bennett's mind about anything is about as likely to happen as changing Eugene White's mind. Two stubborn mules -- both of them.
ReplyDeleteRe: Two stubborn mules -- both of them.
ReplyDeleteThey'll simply shake off the dirt and step up.
Reforming IPS? That's like reshaping a giant turd. You can imitate any shape you like, but it's still a turd.
ReplyDelete@ two stubborn mules
ReplyDeleteWe have the ability to move one out of his position.
As for the other - just do the best we can and at the end of the day, you can sleep with your conscience clean. We all have our judgement day in whatever means you take that to be.
I personally don't have an overly hateful opinion about Dr. White the way most in this blog seem to express, but we work for a boss.
As my daddy told me as a young adult working through high school & college, you go to work - do your job to the best of your ability - and get your check.
I do take things personally, because I see this as more than a "job" and sometimes feel slighted in my efforts, but that comes in any profession. I want to go home knowing my students have the very best of me - not the very best of my superiors. Maybe we should all just focus on that. What can they do? Sweep all of us out of the IPS house at once? I think not. IPS won't do that - but IDOE just might.
Seriously, serve our students. Elect a new State Superintendent when given the opportunity and ignore the rest of the IPS politics.