Message to IDOE--butt out!! Perfect. Bennett is not respected in this state. He has no plan. He sings takeover but what exactly is a takeover. Has he ever explained how his master plan works? No, no, and no again.
You can't be serious. The IDOE should "butt out" let IPS hold public education hostage from 30,000 kids. You think people in this state respect IPS more than Bennett? How bizarre. I think you've let your own bias cloud your understanding of public opinion in Indiana.
I am not the person who wrote the first post, but let me answer the question you posed-Do you think people in this state respect IPS more than they do Bennett? The answer is yes, I do think they respect IPS more than Bennett because he s an unknown entity. He has no plan for state takeover or he would say what it is. Having an out-of-state company come in and take over a school district is an asinine as countries outside of the United States owning our water company and parking meters. Truly, you are out of touch if you think otherwise. The old statement about the devil you know being better than the devil you don't know is true here.
I'm a college-educated professional, extremely well-read on current events from a variety of sources and perspectives, and I'm also an IPS parent. I don't think I'm the one who is out of touch with public opinion :) The only people I know who are against the state takeover are people who currently work for IPS. I understand that, and I sympathize, but this is a tiny segment of the public.
I'm a college-educated professional, extremely well-read on current events from a variety of sources and perspectives, and I'm also an IPS parent. I don't think I'm the one who is out of touch with public opinion :) The only people I know who are against the state takeover are people who currently work for IPS. I understand that, and I sympathize, but this is a tiny segment of the public.
You're wrong, lots of people (mostly teachers) want the state to take over, they are sick of what is going on within the school system. They are afraid of what will happen with salary and benefits (rumors of paycuts and unfair practices). Teachers are in schools to make a living, but they are also there for children and it breaks their hearts to see what happens in schools each day.
When teachers who love literacy are forced to teach the Springboard test prep program everyday don't you think it breaks their hearts. Kelly Gallagher says "The biggest danger in sprinting through various readings in any content area is that we graduate students who do not develop an interest in any content area. Authentic interest is developed when students are given the opportunity to delve deeply into interesting ideas." Springboard is the opposite end of the spectrum. Too Sad.
For those of you who think that Tony Bennett is widely hated, I've got news for you- he's not. What he keeps talking about goes over well with the general population. They don't know his past, they don't care how educators feel about him, and they "think" he is bringing positive change. The ones who dislike him are those of us on the "inside." It's foolish to think that this stuff doesn't play well publicly. I'd bet if you did a poll of most people, they think the State could do a better job than IPS does.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz: White shifts the blame Opinion
Picture this. A CEO makes nearly $250,000 in salary and benefits. His company loses about 1,000 customers annually. It has a product completion rate of less than 50 percent. Facilities are struggling to fill space. A majority of his board of directors rubber-stamp his every decision. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he prefers to blame the competition. And when the government has warned him repeadtedly that if his company doesn't get its act together, it will step in and take over, he instead tries to cut a last-minute deal.
Hard to imagine? Not really when you know that the CEO is Eugene White, commander-in-chief of the personification of Murphy's law known as Indianapolis Public Schools. Since I am incapable of harboring any white, liberal guilt, I have no problem in criticizing White and IPS. White, along with his enablers, is the problem and also the reason why the state is in the process of taking over several IPS schools.
For the past five years, Broad Ripple, Arlington, Manual, Northwest, Howe and George Washington high schools, along with Donnan Middle School, have been on academic probation. Hearings start this week on state intervention, and now everyone is freaking out over the possibility that the Department of Education will step in and do the job that should have been done in 2005.
.......... White has tried to negotiate with the state to avoid a takeover of the schools. Last week he begged state officials to let him operate his failing schools under the new changes in state law regarding collective bargaining and teacher evaluations.
This is the same person who, according to state officials I spoke with, did not take advantage of current state law to make changes in his low-performing schools. He has acknowledged that up to 60 percent of the teachers in some schools were "pedestrian." And while White can blame collective-bargaining rules on not being able to eliminate bad teachers, there's no excuse for taking administrators from one failing school and sending them to another failing school. White has done the equivalent of putting the captain of the Titanic in command of the Exxon Valdez.
A long line of events has brought IPS to this point. White has vowed to break state law and deny enrollment to students who leave the district for charter schools and then try to return at a later date. He has refused to give board members detailed copies of the budget; I had to file an open records request to get one. And while he is part of a group that supports mayoral control of IPS, I argue it is not because he cares about accountability; it is because he thinks it is the best way to not have to deal with real accountability.
So what is the moral of this story? Over the next few weeks, as hearings over the possible state takeover of several IPS schools get under way, don't believe a word White tells you. He, his administration and the board members who rubber-stamp his every move are the epitome of the decline of modern public education. Behind closed doors they blame IPS' problems on the governor and the superintendent of public instruction. IPS' own attorneys have told them what's coming, but they don't want to listen. If they had done their jobs, we wouldn't be here now.
My only regret is that the state doesn't take over the entire school district and send White and his minions to the unemployment line where they belong.
The scary thing to me is not the state taking over one or more IPS schools. If the DOE wants to hire a principal and function as the school board, go for it. However, it is these "third party" managers that concern me. Most of these are the non-for-profit fronts for for-profit corporations that see big bucks in education. I worked in corporate America for many years before I became a teacher. Believe me, corporations and Wall Street care about one thing -- profits. If it comes down to doing what's best for students or what's best for stockholders, guess which side will win?
I don't understand. Why is it when IPS is running a school district, there's not enough funding, but if a third party takes over, all of a sudden, there are "big bucks in education." Which is it?
I attended the meeting and was disappointed. The vast majority of the public who spoke focused on the arts. While I believe a well rounded person is exposed to a variety of experiences, the individual needs to be able to function at a base level. All the information presented at the meeting, from both the state and white, acknowledged that a large portion of students could not pass the core subject areas.
It appears that Dr. White has found a way to save $4 million dollars. He is in negotiations with the City and IMPD to merge the IPS Police with IMPD. So all the teachers, staff, and administrators who complain about the school police should be prepared for the mayhem to commence. I am sure Dr. White has penciled in a hefty pay raise or bonus for himself for saving the system millions of dollars.
"I don't understand. Why is it when IPS is running a school district, there's not enough funding, but if a third party takes over, all of a sudden, there are "big bucks in education." Which is it? "
There are big bucks in education when you are running schools all over the country (all using thwe same model developed by your for-profit company) and when your teachers make $35k per year with crappy benefits. Oh, and if you call it a charter school, you don't even have to require a teaching license, so you might be able to get away with paying even less.
But again, that doesn't make any sense. Charter schools get less money than district schools and they have more accountability. How do they enroll students if they don't spend money on education or teachers? What do they offer? And why would teachers work for less money unless there was some benefit? What are they offering teachers?
I guess I understand the "boundary schools are best for community" line of thinking. But the sanctimonious "charters are greedy and government schools are more benevolent stewards of tax dollars" just doesn't make sense to me.
Gary Rubinstein, an education blogger and Teach for America alumnus who has been critical of the program, checked Mr. Duncan’s claims about Urban Prep. Of 166 students who entered as ninth graders, only 107 graduated. Astonishingly, the state Web site showed that only 17 percent passed state tests, compared to 64 percent in the low-performing Chicago public school district.
Miami Central had been “reconstituted,” meaning that the principal and half the staff members were fired. The president said that “performance has skyrocketed by more than 60 percent in math,” and that graduation rates rose to 63 percent, from 36 percent. But in math, it ranks 430th out of 469 high schools in Florida. Only 56 percent of its students meet state math standards, and only 16 percent met state reading standards. The graduation rate rose, but the school still ranks 431st, well below the state median graduation rate of 87 percent. The improvements at Miami Central are too small and too new to conclude that firing principals and teachers works.
To be sure, the hyping of test-score improvements that prove to be fleeting predated the Obama administration.
In 2005, New York’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, held a news conference at Public School 33 in the Bronx to celebrate an astonishing 49-point jump in the proportion of fourth grade students there who met state standards in reading. In 2004, only 34 percent reached proficiency, but in 2005, 83 percent did.
It seemed too good to be true — and it was. A year later, the proportion of fourth-graders at P.S. 33 who passed the state reading test dropped by 41 points. By 2010, the passing rate was 37 percent, nearly the same as before 2005.
What is to be learned from these examples of inflated success? The news media and the public should respond with skepticism to any claims of miraculous transformation. The achievement gap between children from different income levels exists before children enter school.
Families are children’s most important educators. Our society must invest in parental education, prenatal care and preschool. Of course, schools must improve; every one should have a stable, experienced staff, adequate resources and a balanced curriculum including the arts, foreign languages, history and science.
If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle.
Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, is the author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.”
Liberals don't understand economics. If you make money because people are voluntarily giving it to you in exchange for something they want, that's good. If you make money because people voluntarily give you money in exchange for something they want. If you make by forcing people to pay you and then refusing to give them what they feel is a fair exchange for their money, then you are a thief. I don't care if charter school execs make a billion dollars. They're doing it honestly. At least we're finally overcoming the Chicago Mafia way of running public education.
Fine. You want Diane Ravitch to educate your kid, have at it. I don't trust the competence of anyone who says, "I don't want you to have any other choice but to give me your business, and yet I am not responsible for whether that business gets done."
You are a general education teacher with four years. I am a general education teacher with five years... I got rifted. You didn't. Are you smelling the corruption within the administration body? H.R. depended upon the principals to report the names of their teachers with less seniority. There are principals who did not follow the guide lines. There are teachers who are still in position because their administrator did not send their names to HR.. what a crying shame.. Those principals should be a-shame of themselves. what a crying shame.
Follow the link above to view the criteria for the RIFT.
I've heard people say that food stamps, Medicaid, and rent subsidies should be tied to school performance. I think that's a fine plan as long as we have robust school choice. Otherwise you're just starving people as punishment for being poor. I don't think school choice is something we do instead of making parents accountable. I think it's something we do as a first step to making parents accountable.
School choice? Are you kidding me? I can't wait until the first poor single mother takes her children to Park Tudor and tries to enroll them with her voucher. Park Tudor will either say, "sure we will take your voucher and an additional $5,000" or "sure we will take your voucher and you must also pass an entrance exam". What ever they choose, I can promise you that Park Tudor will not let students into the school based solely on a voucher. If they did that, they would end up with an IPS school and Park Tudor would no longer be Park Tudor. The same will be true for all of the "good" schools.
In the end, the poor lose again. Only this time there will be even less money and support to help them. The "good" schools will remain good or get better, and the "bad" schools will close or get worse.
Okay, but that doesn't mean she only has one choice like it used to be. She can go to a parochial school of which there are many in the city whose tuition is less than IPS. She can go to a charter school. I believe that many of the other districts now accept out-of-district students. The IPS magnet programs are also expanding. All of that is school choice. It gives parents the power to take responsibility for their child's education. Up until recently, their hands have been tied unless they could afford to move or pay tuition. Choice isn't going to help everyone in IPS. But it will help thousands!
No, you have it all wrong! When that poor single African-American mother takes her child to Park Tudor, the Cadillac liberals will roll over with joy and offer that child a full scholarship based upon his/her ethnic background. Park Tudor is always looking for that qualified minority student.
No, you have it all wrong! When that poor single African-American mother takes her child to Park Tudor, the Cadillac liberals will roll over with joy and offer that child a full scholarship based upon his/her ethnic background. Park Tudor is always looking for that qualified minority student.
Turn off Faux News and take a little drive up to Park Tutor, there are lots of African American kids there whose parents pay the tuition. They are not looking for qualified minority students.
Tony Bennett couldn't even lead his own school district that he was Superintendent of to meet AYP requirements and yet we entrust him to take over failing schools and put the right people in place to make them successful. This jack*** needs to be voted out.
You are aware that the Superintendent of Public Instruction does not have the authority to take over schools. The State Board of Education has that authority. Tony Bennett can only act on their authority. So, why not go after the State Board? I talked to one of them, and they are pissed that school superintendents (IPS only being one of them) have been unresponsive for the last five years. No matter what teachers think, your central office administration has seen this coming for years and thought that this was a pissing match. Now that it is a reality, folks are up in arms, and that boggles my mind. This was not a game of chicken or posturing. School districts have had years to implement useful reforms, and they have not. What should the State Board do? Allow thousands of kids to get one of the worst educations in the country (to the tune of $13,000 per kid per year)? Maybe they should do their duty and ensure that kids have a shot at a decent education . . . even if they have to hire an outside group to do it.
It really annoys me reading all the posts on here solely blaming the IPS school system for the failures of the students. Anyone who has been in a school knows these kids don't care to learn anything. Period. No ifs, ands, or butts. A very large percentage of these kids come to school and make no effort all day long. All many of them talk about is sex, drugs, gang banging, and drugs. This is a fact and can't be disputed. There is a small percentage that want to learn but they are a small percentage. Now don't get me wrong. There are some bad teachers but there are many more good teachers. These teachers are trying to teach children who are not paying attention to anything being taught. Anyone ever hear the saying, "You can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink." That applies here. These kids don't care to learn. Period. You can try everything to improve student performance but if the students are engaged it will not be effective. The state is about to learn this lesson the hard way. A few years from now, this will be proven when nothing changes at these schools. Bottom line is that it is politically much more easy to blame the school systems for poor performance than to put the blame where it belongs: THE PARENTS. When is anyone going to open their eyes and figure this out. Until the parents become engaged and refuse to accept poor performance from these children, nothing is going to change with the majority of students who don't care to learn. And don't get me started on charter schools. They are a gimmick. There are thousands of them accross the country and only a few hundred that are performing somewhat satisfactorily. And anyone who thinks giving money to private organizations to teach students needs to have their heads examined. The fact is private business exists for one reason and one reason only: TO MAKE A PROFIT.
All, of you are wrong abot a lot of things. IPS cannot teach the kids alone, it takes moms, dads and other care takers to make sure the kids are getting what the need at home. If they go to school, come home throw their books down and there is NO one there to help them they will fall behind. It takes people working hand and hand to educate it's not 100% the schools fault they can only do so much it takes parents sitting down and making sure things are getting done, visiting schools, heck more then half the kids at IPS you cannot get in touch with the parents because the numbers are bad, address are not changed if you try and send a letter home. Teachers are just that they can try and give the knowledge, but if there is NO home support it will never matter. A state take over will not change any thing, it needs to start at home, Parents need to be held responsible for something. People are so very quick to blame teachers, and other staff, but on parent night there are only a handfull that will come through the doors. If they parents don't care what do you want teachers to start making trips home to help them with home work?
Message to IDOE--butt out!! Perfect. Bennett is not respected in this state. He has no plan. He sings takeover but what exactly is a takeover. Has he ever explained how his master plan works? No, no, and no again.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be serious. The IDOE should "butt out" let IPS hold public education hostage from 30,000 kids. You think people in this state respect IPS more than Bennett? How bizarre. I think you've let your own bias cloud your understanding of public opinion in Indiana.
ReplyDeleteI am not the person who wrote the first post, but let me answer the question you posed-Do you think people in this state respect IPS more than they do Bennett?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is yes, I do think they respect IPS more than Bennett because he s an unknown entity. He has no plan for state takeover or he would say what it is. Having an out-of-state company come in and take over a school district is an asinine as countries outside of the United States owning our water company and parking meters. Truly, you are out of touch if you think otherwise. The old statement about the devil you know being better than the devil you don't know is true here.
I'm a college-educated professional, extremely well-read on current events from a variety of sources and perspectives, and I'm also an IPS parent. I don't think I'm the one who is out of touch with public opinion :) The only people I know who are against the state takeover are people who currently work for IPS. I understand that, and I sympathize, but this is a tiny segment of the public.
ReplyDeleteTurn Arlington into a prison and then we can educate.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think it's the exact opposite. It needs to stop being run like a prison and more like a school.
ReplyDeleteDr. White looked really bored. It was sad. The students cared more than he did.
ReplyDeleteI'm a college-educated professional, extremely well-read on current events from a variety of sources and perspectives, and I'm also an IPS parent. I don't think I'm the one who is out of touch with public opinion :) The only people I know who are against the state takeover are people who currently work for IPS. I understand that, and I sympathize, but this is a tiny segment of the public.
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong, lots of people (mostly teachers) want the state to take over, they are sick of what is going on within the school system. They are afraid of what will happen with salary and benefits (rumors of paycuts and unfair practices). Teachers are in schools to make a living, but they are also there for children and it breaks their hearts to see what happens in schools each day.
When teachers who love literacy are forced to teach the Springboard test prep program everyday don't you think it breaks their hearts. Kelly Gallagher says "The biggest danger in sprinting through various readings in any content area is that we graduate students who do not develop an interest in any content area. Authentic interest is developed when students are given the opportunity to delve deeply into interesting ideas." Springboard is the opposite end of the spectrum. Too Sad.
"Dr. White looked really bored. It was sad. The students cared more than he did."
ReplyDeleteHe was probably doing mental math in his head, to see how he could make some $ out of this.
For those of you who think that Tony Bennett is widely hated, I've got news for you- he's not. What he keeps talking about goes over well with the general population. They don't know his past, they don't care how educators feel about him, and they "think" he is bringing positive change. The ones who dislike him are those of us on the "inside." It's foolish to think that this stuff doesn't play well publicly. I'd bet if you did a poll of most people, they think the State could do a better job than IPS does.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106010307
ReplyDeleteCheck out Abdul's remarks in today's IndyStar editorial.
There's no love lost here. Keep up the great fight, Abdul!
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz: White shifts the blame
ReplyDeleteOpinion
Picture this. A CEO makes nearly $250,000 in salary and benefits. His company loses about 1,000 customers annually. It has a product completion rate of less than 50 percent. Facilities are struggling to fill space. A majority of his board of directors rubber-stamp his every decision. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he prefers to blame the competition. And when the government has warned him repeadtedly that if his company doesn't get its act together, it will step in and take over, he instead tries to cut a last-minute deal.
Hard to imagine? Not really when you know that the CEO is Eugene White, commander-in-chief of the personification of Murphy's law known as Indianapolis Public Schools. Since I am incapable of harboring any white, liberal guilt, I have no problem in criticizing White and IPS. White, along with his enablers, is the problem and also the reason why the state is in the process of taking over several IPS schools.
For the past five years, Broad Ripple, Arlington, Manual, Northwest, Howe and George Washington high schools, along with Donnan Middle School, have been on academic probation. Hearings start this week on state intervention, and now everyone is freaking out over the possibility that the Department of Education will step in and do the job that should have been done in 2005.
..........
White has tried to negotiate with the state to avoid a takeover of the schools. Last week he begged state officials to let him operate his failing schools under the new changes in state law regarding collective bargaining and teacher evaluations.
This is the same person who, according to state officials I spoke with, did not take advantage of current state law to make changes in his low-performing schools. He has acknowledged that up to 60 percent of the teachers in some schools were "pedestrian." And while White can blame collective-bargaining rules on not being able to eliminate bad teachers, there's no excuse for taking administrators from one failing school and sending them to another failing school. White has done the equivalent of putting the captain of the Titanic in command of the Exxon Valdez.
A long line of events has brought IPS to this point. White has vowed to break state law and deny enrollment to students who leave the district for charter schools and then try to return at a later date. He has refused to give board members detailed copies of the budget; I had to file an open records request to get one. And while he is part of a group that supports mayoral control of IPS, I argue it is not because he cares about accountability; it is because he thinks it is the best way to not have to deal with real accountability.
So what is the moral of this story? Over the next few weeks, as hearings over the possible state takeover of several IPS schools get under way, don't believe a word White tells you. He, his administration and the board members who rubber-stamp his every move are the epitome of the decline of modern public education. Behind closed doors they blame IPS' problems on the governor and the superintendent of public instruction. IPS' own attorneys have told them what's coming, but they don't want to listen. If they had done their jobs, we wouldn't be here now.
My only regret is that the state doesn't take over the entire school district and send White and his minions to the unemployment line where they belong.
The scary thing to me is not the state taking over one or more IPS schools. If the DOE wants to hire a principal and function as the school board, go for it. However, it is these "third party" managers that concern me. Most of these are the non-for-profit fronts for for-profit corporations that see big bucks in education. I worked in corporate America for many years before I became a teacher. Believe me, corporations and Wall Street care about one thing -- profits. If it comes down to doing what's best for students or what's best for stockholders, guess which side will win?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand. Why is it when IPS is running a school district, there's not enough funding, but if a third party takes over, all of a sudden, there are "big bucks in education." Which is it?
ReplyDeleteI attended the meeting and was disappointed. The vast majority of the public who spoke focused on the arts. While I believe a well rounded person is exposed to a variety of experiences, the individual needs to be able to function at a base level. All the information presented at the meeting, from both the state and white, acknowledged that a large portion of students could not pass the core subject areas.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Dr. White has found a way to save $4 million dollars. He is in negotiations with the City and IMPD to merge the IPS Police with IMPD. So all the teachers, staff, and administrators who complain about the school police should be prepared for the mayhem to commence. I am sure Dr. White has penciled in a hefty pay raise or bonus for himself for saving the system millions of dollars.
ReplyDeleteWas Linda Davis sober?
ReplyDelete"I don't understand. Why is it when IPS is running a school district, there's not enough funding, but if a third party takes over, all of a sudden, there are "big bucks in education." Which is it? "
ReplyDeleteThere are big bucks in education when you are running schools all over the country (all using thwe same model developed by your for-profit company) and when your teachers make $35k per year with crappy benefits. Oh, and if you call it a charter school, you don't even have to require a teaching license, so you might be able to get away with paying even less.
But again, that doesn't make any sense. Charter schools get less money than district schools and they have more accountability. How do they enroll students if they don't spend money on education or teachers? What do they offer? And why would teachers work for less money unless there was some benefit? What are they offering teachers?
ReplyDeleteI guess I understand the "boundary schools are best for community" line of thinking. But the sanctimonious "charters are greedy and government schools are more benevolent stewards of tax dollars" just doesn't make sense to me.
It doesn't make sense because it's not true. There is way more greed and corruption in the traditional school system than in any of its alternatives.
ReplyDeleteGary Rubinstein, an education blogger and Teach for America alumnus who has been critical of the program, checked Mr. Duncan’s claims about Urban Prep. Of 166 students who entered as ninth graders, only 107 graduated. Astonishingly, the state Web site showed that only 17 percent passed state tests, compared to 64 percent in the low-performing Chicago public school district.
ReplyDeleteMiami Central had been “reconstituted,” meaning that the principal and half the staff members were fired. The president said that “performance has skyrocketed by more than 60 percent in math,” and that graduation rates rose to 63 percent, from 36 percent. But in math, it ranks 430th out of 469 high schools in Florida. Only 56 percent of its students meet state math standards, and only 16 percent met state reading standards. The graduation rate rose, but the school still ranks 431st, well below the state median graduation rate of 87 percent. The improvements at Miami Central are too small and too new to conclude that firing principals and teachers works.
To be sure, the hyping of test-score improvements that prove to be fleeting predated the Obama administration.
In 2005, New York’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, held a news conference at Public School 33 in the Bronx to celebrate an astonishing 49-point jump in the proportion of fourth grade students there who met state standards in reading. In 2004, only 34 percent reached proficiency, but in 2005, 83 percent did.
It seemed too good to be true — and it was. A year later, the proportion of fourth-graders at P.S. 33 who passed the state reading test dropped by 41 points. By 2010, the passing rate was 37 percent, nearly the same as before 2005.
What is to be learned from these examples of inflated success? The news media and the public should respond with skepticism to any claims of miraculous transformation. The achievement gap between children from different income levels exists before children enter school.
Families are children’s most important educators. Our society must invest in parental education, prenatal care and preschool. Of course, schools must improve; every one should have a stable, experienced staff, adequate resources and a balanced curriculum including the arts, foreign languages, history and science.
If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle.
Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, is the author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.”
Liberals don't understand economics. If you make money because people are voluntarily giving it to you in exchange for something they want, that's good. If you make money because people voluntarily give you money in exchange for something they want. If you make by forcing people to pay you and then refusing to give them what they feel is a fair exchange for their money, then you are a thief. I don't care if charter school execs make a billion dollars. They're doing it honestly. At least we're finally overcoming the Chicago Mafia way of running public education.
ReplyDeleteComplete article by Ravitch
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/opinion/01ravitch.html?ref=opinion
Fine. You want Diane Ravitch to educate your kid, have at it. I don't trust the competence of anyone who says, "I don't want you to have any other choice but to give me your business, and yet I am not responsible for whether that business gets done."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.teachplus.org/uploads/Documents/1294158661_RIF_Case_Study_Final_Teach_Plus.pdf
ReplyDeleteYou are a general education teacher with four years. I am a general education teacher with five years... I got rifted. You didn't. Are you smelling the corruption within the administration body? H.R. depended upon the principals to report the names of their teachers with less seniority. There are principals who did not follow the guide lines. There are teachers who are still in position because their administrator did not send their names to HR.. what a crying shame.. Those principals should be a-shame of themselves.
what a crying shame.
Follow the link above to view the criteria for the RIFT.
I've heard people say that food stamps, Medicaid, and rent subsidies should be tied to school performance. I think that's a fine plan as long as we have robust school choice. Otherwise you're just starving people as punishment for being poor. I don't think school choice is something we do instead of making parents accountable. I think it's something we do as a first step to making parents accountable.
ReplyDeleteSchool choice? Are you kidding me? I can't wait until the first poor single mother takes her children to Park Tudor and tries to enroll them with her voucher. Park Tudor will either say, "sure we will take your voucher and an additional $5,000" or "sure we will take your voucher and you must also pass an entrance exam". What ever they choose, I can promise you that Park Tudor will not let students into the school based solely on a voucher. If they did that, they would end up with an IPS school and Park Tudor would no longer be Park Tudor. The same will be true for all of the "good" schools.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, the poor lose again. Only this time there will be even less money and support to help them. The "good" schools will remain good or get better, and the "bad" schools will close or get worse.
School choice is for the rich and middle class.
Okay, but that doesn't mean she only has one choice like it used to be. She can go to a parochial school of which there are many in the city whose tuition is less than IPS. She can go to a charter school. I believe that many of the other districts now accept out-of-district students. The IPS magnet programs are also expanding. All of that is school choice. It gives parents the power to take responsibility for their child's education. Up until recently, their hands have been tied unless they could afford to move or pay tuition. Choice isn't going to help everyone in IPS. But it will help thousands!
ReplyDeleteNo, you have it all wrong! When that poor single African-American mother takes her child to Park Tudor, the Cadillac liberals will roll over with joy and offer that child a full scholarship based upon his/her ethnic background. Park Tudor is always looking for that qualified minority student.
ReplyDeleteHeh, Linda Davis is the Buddy Boss
ReplyDeletelooks like someone doesn't like divergent posts. I'll swear I saw a thread pop and go away.
ReplyDeleteNo, you have it all wrong! When that poor single African-American mother takes her child to Park Tudor, the Cadillac liberals will roll over with joy and offer that child a full scholarship based upon his/her ethnic background. Park Tudor is always looking for that qualified minority student.
ReplyDeleteTurn off Faux News and take a little drive up to Park Tutor, there are lots of African American kids there whose parents pay the tuition. They are not looking for qualified minority students.
Tony Bennett couldn't even lead his own school district that he was Superintendent of to meet AYP requirements and yet we entrust him to take over failing schools and put the right people in place to make them successful. This jack*** needs to be voted out.
ReplyDeleteYou are aware that the Superintendent of Public Instruction does not have the authority to take over schools. The State Board of Education has that authority. Tony Bennett can only act on their authority. So, why not go after the State Board? I talked to one of them, and they are pissed that school superintendents (IPS only being one of them) have been unresponsive for the last five years. No matter what teachers think, your central office administration has seen this coming for years and thought that this was a pissing match. Now that it is a reality, folks are up in arms, and that boggles my mind. This was not a game of chicken or posturing. School districts have had years to implement useful reforms, and they have not. What should the State Board do? Allow thousands of kids to get one of the worst educations in the country (to the tune of $13,000 per kid per year)? Maybe they should do their duty and ensure that kids have a shot at a decent education . . . even if they have to hire an outside group to do it.
ReplyDeleteIt really annoys me reading all the posts on here solely blaming the IPS school system for the failures of the students. Anyone who has been in a school knows these kids don't care to learn anything. Period. No ifs, ands, or butts. A very large percentage of these kids come to school and make no effort all day long. All many of them talk about is sex, drugs, gang banging, and drugs. This is a fact and can't be disputed. There is a small percentage that want to learn but they are a small percentage. Now don't get me wrong. There are some bad teachers but there are many more good teachers. These teachers are trying to teach children who are not paying attention to anything being taught. Anyone ever hear the saying, "You can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink." That applies here. These kids don't care to learn. Period. You can try everything to improve student performance but if the students are engaged it will not be effective. The state is about to learn this lesson the hard way. A few years from now, this will be proven when nothing changes at these schools. Bottom line is that it is politically much more easy to blame the school systems for poor performance than to put the blame where it belongs: THE PARENTS. When is anyone going to open their eyes and figure this out. Until the parents become engaged and refuse to accept poor performance from these children, nothing is going to change with the majority of students who don't care to learn. And don't get me started on charter schools. They are a gimmick. There are thousands of them accross the country and only a few hundred that are performing somewhat satisfactorily. And anyone who thinks giving money to private organizations to teach students needs to have their heads examined. The fact is private business exists for one reason and one reason only: TO MAKE A PROFIT.
ReplyDeleteAll, of you are wrong abot a lot of things. IPS cannot teach the kids alone, it takes moms, dads and other care takers to make sure the kids are getting what the need at home. If they go to school, come home throw their books down and there is NO one there to help them they will fall behind. It takes people working hand and hand to educate it's not 100% the schools fault they can only do so much it takes parents sitting down and making sure things are getting done, visiting schools, heck more then half the kids at IPS you cannot get in touch with the parents because the numbers are bad, address are not changed if you try and send a letter home. Teachers are just that they can try and give the knowledge, but if there is NO home support it will never matter. A state take over will not change any thing, it needs to start at home, Parents need to be held responsible for something. People are so very quick to blame teachers, and other staff, but on parent night there are only a handfull that will come through the doors. If they parents don't care what do you want teachers to start making trips home to help them with home work?
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