Hell, this one is easy. I retired :-) I ran into someone I used to teach with over the weekend. She commented on how much better I looked, and noticed "I'm smiling with my eyes now". The rest of you have my sympathy and best wishes.
"Noli illegitimi carborundum" (Don't let the assholes wear you down)
Do many retiring IPS teachers get other jobs in teaching and still receive their pensions (though not get additional state pension payments in the new job)? I am told this can be done if a person does not receive income for a month.
Also, I wonder if retiring IPS teachers are able to get jobs in the private sector after they retire from IPS?
I hope things go well for all IPS teachers, especially the ones who are still down in the "trenches" doing the hard work that matters so much to children.
One reason for the different start times is to allow for distinctly separate lunch periods for male and female students. In short, they're attempting to keep the boys and the girls separated during the school day.
Speaking of Arlington, who is the administrator for the IPS website and, more specifically, the Arlington website? I bring this to our attention after reading a polite complaint in today's Indy Star reader comments.
The website's grammar is beyond bad and makes readers cringe...Read below:
Teachers can work any job they wish and still receive their teacher pension as long as it is not a job covered by the Teacher Retirement Fund. That means a teacher can work in a private school or a charter school [if they want to work for slave wages]. They also can work in any non education related job. The only exception is that any government job covered by PERF is the same as TRF. In fact, they have merged and now government employees and teaching employees are all in one combined retirement fund. It is call INTRF or something like that. PERF and TRF now longer exist by those names.
There are some who'd say this doesn't really matter; however, this (the Arlington) website is public and is, for many people, the only glimpse they get of the Indianapolis Public Schools. The Devil is always in the details. If you take care of the little things in life or at your workplace, somehow the big things seem to fall in place. Maybe someone in IPS needs to read every document, whether written or digital, that is authorized under the auspices of the school district.
Northwest = the biggest issue was the lack of air conditioning in many of the classrooms. Other than that, the administrators were out in the halls and behind the scenes at the same time - I'm not sure how they did that. They may be super-heroes. The majority of the students were in the right places at the right times and were respectful to the teachers and other adults in the building. I am looking forward to tomorrow and am hopeful that our little "bumps in the road" from today will be ironed out quickly. I believe that this is going to be a fantastic year.
INDIANAPOLIS - A new IPS student took a roundabout route home from school Monday after his family says teachers put him on the wrong bus.
The four-year-old boy got home about three hours late, after IMPD officers tracked him down and brought him home. His family believes teachers put him on the wrong bus at IPS School 114 in the 2200 block of Sloan Avenue on the southeast side.
The boy's grandmother says she will go to school with him tomorrow to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"Going there first thing tomorrow morning and seeing what's going on and making sure they take care of the situation what happened today, because that can be anybody else's kid, besides my grandson, and that's a terrible thing to have to worry about where your grandkid is," said Linda Williams.
IPS did not respond to repeated requests for a statement Monday night.
@Preposition Grammar Police...I am so sorry to have offended you. I wrote this right before I went to bed. I will be sure to make comments when I am not exhausted.
That's funny! School has started. Exactly when are you not going to be exhausted? Possibly the end of fall break? Or maybe summer? I say don't worry about the grammar police. Speak your mind!
@where I am at! UGHHHH don't end a sentence in a preposition if you want people to take us seriously as educators!!!
"I know many of you were taught that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, but it’s a myth. In fact, I consider it one of the top ten grammar myths because many people believe it’s true, but because nearly all grammarians disagree, at least in some cases."
Here's an example of a sentence that can end with a preposition: What did you step on? A key point is that the sentence doesn't work if you leave off the preposition. You can't say, “What did you step?” You need to say, “What did you step on?” to make a grammatical sentence.
I can hear some of you gnashing your teeth right now, while you think, “What about saying, 'On what did you step?'” But really, have you ever heard anyone talk that way? I've read long, contorted arguments from noted grammarians about why it's OK to end sentences with prepositions when the preposition isn't extraneous (1), but the driving point still seems to be, “Nobody in their right mind talks this way.” Yes, you could say, “On what did you step?” but not even grammarians think you should. It sounds pedantic.
Charter school teachers are (by and large) covered by TRF. While charters are afforded the opportunity to bail out of TRF (to opt in to a 403b) most don't. So, for those who are salivating about retiring and cashing two checks (one from TRF and another from a Charter), please be careful. It is true that you can teach in a private school and collect retirement.
I don't know about "salivating about retiring and cashing two checks." Many older teachers I know talk about how little their pension checks will be and how they will be forced to find another job to try to pay the bills and to have medical insurance for themselves and their families.
There is an errant idea among many in the public that all IPS teachers live in Carmel and Fishers and have rich husbands or wives who bring home most of the bacon and health insurance.
Not anything like that for many aging IPS teachers, especially in single-parent families.
If an IPS teacher, or any teacher, waits until 65 to retire from the classroom, then he/she can safely draw their TRF money, plus they'll be enrolled in Medicare and will also draw the SS they've been paying into for years. The secret to retirement is timing...
Howe had a wonderful first day with staff and students ready for the year. Things were very smooth and there were no fires as is typical for many schools on the first day. The teachers were prepared and admin was out and visible. Howe is a great school as it shows in their test scores and attendance. It is a shame that the state is manipulating the info.
I'm the one who posted at the top of this about retiring. A couple of things here; it takes Social Security, TRF, and the 403B to do it. I retired with a total of 29 years of state and trf service. When I earned my masters, the entire pay jump was placed in the 403B. I was already maxxed out, so my pay had stayed pretty much the same since the late 90's. I found a 9-year old pay stub this past spring, and noted my pay had only increased about $100 in all that time. Okey-doke folks, that was $10/paycheck cost of living each year. That'll buy a lot of groceries ;-/
I wasn't going to get much of a raise, if ever, the remaining 2-3 years I would be in IPS, and quite frankly I had managed to get myself on a powerful administrator's shit/hit list, and couldn't get away from the vindictive asshole. I was surprised that the total retirement package would be slightly higher than my takehome was anyway, so it was a no brainer. Stay in IPS and continue to be hounded, abused, and eventually fired or bail out with some dignity and self-respect left? Snort!! What do you think?
I took a hit on the SS to the tune of 20% for retiring early, but the eventual fall behind won't take place until I hit my mid 70's and the total compensation falls behind the early jump start.
I feel I just gained several years on my lifespan by getting away from the terrible stress this career has become. The older teachers are more expensive, and there is a target sewn on their backs. It's hard to prove age discrimination but eventually there will be a day of reckoning, and I hope it is personal accountability on the ladder climbing fools who are trampling over those beneath them in their climb to the Ed Center power offices. Heh, I should run for the School Board :-) There are a few folks down there whose blood would run cold if I were elected. Of course the Gang of Four would need to be ousted from office for any meaningful changes to be made. That gives me something to think about :-)
Good luck to the rest of you. Get out and campaign, not just passively vote. There's too much at stake to let the narrow minded and short sided minions of evil run things into the ground. I fear more for the country now than I did in the 1960's.
Just curious as to why a school can give out schedules, lockers, and take ID pictures during registration but then does not/can not issue text until almost a week or two into the school year?
We are told to start off on the go. Pacing guides have us introducing information that some text use is almost required in the first week and yet the text are never available.
Why can text not be issued during registration as well? I would have came in early and helped if asked.
@ I'm the one who posted at the top of this about retiring. Thanks for the years of services. I am certain that your students will remember you for the good that you have done. You have made a difference in some lives. Be Bless Always. Have a wonderful retirement. Join the gym, travel some, have lots of fun. live another 30 or 40 years. Well done. Some people on this blog do have some morals.
"The older teachers are more expensive, and there is a target sewn on their backs." _________________________________
I keep hearing statements like this over and over again regarding older teachers in IPS, so it must be true. Discrimination in any form is terrible, including age discrimination.
It's not discrimination. I do not know of a single older teacher who is being discriminated against. Teachers of all ages are being told to shape up or ship out, and the older ones are improving the least and complaining the most. The union (rightly) isn't doing much about it.
Anyone who claims that veteran [older] teachers aren't being targeted is a fool. White has made the statement and many building administrators have remarked that the experienced teachers cost too much. I agree that a non performing teacher of any seniority level including some of these magic program new teachers need to go. The majority of veteran teachers are hard working and are doing their jobs with the resources given to them by IPS. In addition, they can serve as unofficial mentors to the new teachers. All White, Mary Busch and that crew see is the pay scale and want older teachers gone. The ironic thing is that if he were a teacher, White would fall into that category and Mary Busch would have been in that category 10 years ago.
But they aren't targeting all of the veteran teachers. They're not even targeting all of the ineffective veteran teachers. They're targeting the ineffective veteran teachers who don't get along with anyone (students, parents, administrators, other teachers). That's not age discrimination. That's targeting the biggest problem areas. Administration needs to do more of this, not less. (And I'm no newbie myself, having taught 16 years.)
If veteran teachers are being targeted unfairly, I'm sure the veteran teachers are excited to have the new teacher evaluation system, so that all teachers will be evaluated using the same rubric. That will protect all those rock-solid veteran teachers from being booted out in favor of younger teachers just because they're cheaper. See, Bennett and Daniels aren't so bad after all! :)
Textbooks: The Media Assistant is in charge of textbooks. Their first day was Friday August 5th. If your MA was not willing to give up their time and come in to work for free, you won't get textbooks in a timely matter.
Luckily for me, my assistant was willing and gave up 3 weeks of her summer to come in all by herself and barcode science books. All my teachers have their books.
"I'm sure the veteran teachers are excited to have the new teacher evaluation system,..."
Whatever you're smoking, pass it around. The new system is even easier to abuse than the old one and easier to make unsubstantiated observations. The real slick way they stick it to you is that if the adminstrator is pissed at you and says you're terrible, you have the right to ask for a second evaluator. Even though the second evaluator may say that you walk on water and heal the sick with a touch, the protocol is that you go on PIP the following year anyway. Very smooth of them. Of course, you can figure out who your evaluator will be the following year. Hint: It won't be the outside evaluator. Most of that becomes a moot point after this year, as the building administrator assumes power to hire and fire at will or damn near it. We had best start volunteering for all sorts of stuff and wear knee-pads when we go in for the evaluation conference. It ain't gonna be a pretty sight.
Re: Textbooks And did you, Media Specialist, give up 3 weeks of your summer to help your assistant barcode books? Didn't think so. He/She must be new at IPS
The entire IT Department should be fired! Accelerated Reader is an expensive and great program our school has used with success and it has been deleted by that department where we no longer have access. INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding the teacher evaluations - isn't the point of having a rubric to avoid subjective judgments? Wouldn't records and witnesses be able to corroborate the findings? Similarly, wouldn't the rubrics make it harder to unfairly target a teacher because it would be easy to prove that's what was happening. They wouldn't be able to punish a teacher for something on the rubric unless they punished all teachers with that some thing on their rubric. What could possibly be more fair than a rubric?
I thought Dexter Suggs was the chief information officer for IPS. That is what he told the people in Tuscaloosa when he applied there, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/assets/pdf/TL22890617.PDF Isn't he in charge of IT?
And once again another district just drooling to hire IPS administrators didn't.
"Wouldn't records and witnesses be able to corroborate the findings?"
It would seem like that two observers would be a good idea if there is an issue of bias, but admin tends to stick together. I talked with another teacher a few years ago that had an incredibly bad evaluation from a principal where only one item was satisfactory on the entire eval list. When the outside evaluator came in, the eval was completely flip-flopped with only one item unsatisfactory out of the thirty something items on the list. A discrepancy that far off should have been grounds for a grievance.
A rubric is only as fair as the person applying it. A truly fair method would be video recorded observations with more than one person running the rubric.
The Indianapolis Star reports that the vast majority of families applying for private school vouchers are poor, and many come from some of state’s lowest performing school districts. About 400 attend Indianapolis Public Schools, 245 are from Fort Wayne, and 211 attend South Bend schools. We do not believe that it’s a coincidence that students are fleeing those districts, considering their history of poor academic performance.
I was at a school a couple of years ago where the Assistant Principal, Deborah Barlowe, was supposed to order the textbooks and make sure the textbooks got to the teachers and the students.
She was clueless! It was November before the students received their English textbooks. One of the teachers ended up getting our text books because Mrs. Barlowe didn't know her head from a hole in the ground!!!! She was more concerned with getting her weaved long fake eye lashes than getting books in the hands of students. That woman, Barlowe, was the biggest excuse we'd ever experienced as a building administrator. I'm pretty sure she has advanced up the ladder of administrative promotions and is now a full principal. That is what is wrong with IPS. Dumb and ignorant people are our building level leaders. If any body out there has Barlowe as a principal, then you are in for a great big disappointment. Just get passed her long fake eyelashes and her fake green eyes and you have nothing but another high yella dumb woman principal swinging her big old wide butt through the hallway.
Why is prep time being taken up by PLC meetings? I was under the impression that they were not the same and should not be occuring at the same time. A seperate time slot in the schedule should be occuring for PLC.
Are we not allowed prep time anymore? Or is it only at the whim of our administrator?
Just need to know so I can plan on prep'ing at other times (maybe while at home time with my own kids). Already coming in half hour early and staying late but will interfere with my homelife if I have too (husband will not be to happy).
Unfortunately, prep/planning time is not ours alone; legally, prep time can be used for meetings that are instructional in nature, such as PLC, meeting with our principal, meeting with coaches, etc. The only time we legally get to do whatever our hearts desire is our 30-minute duty free lunch.
1. Lesson plans, 2. calling parents, 3. get materials ready for upcoming lessons, 4. grading, meeting with students if needed,
or
5. god forbid taking a breath and clearing your head after two or three classes (so not to carry baggage into the next class).
I should have known it was really to sit through 3 or 4 days a week of education 101 with administrators who obviously have not taken the course.
Heck, I come in 45 min. to an hour early and leave about two hours or more (so far) after school because of doing things I normally do on prep. Granted would still have time before and after. PLC's are just adding to it. Is it not enough that we do things at home on the weekends and evenings already and now the want to take more of our time for administrator song and dance shows? Guess, raising our own kids and family is null and void!
I will let my husband know! I am sure he will understand!
No, wonder friends of mine got out at the end of last year! I should have applied elsewhere as well.
Nope, it's true, I have a case load of fifty IEP's to complete in the next few months, six different classes to prepare for each day, working with each student, special needs, two after school clubs, etc,etc, etc... I hope to retire in six years, if not you will find me dead in my classroom.
What I believe is going on in Indiana and throughout the country is an effort to make teaching basically an "entry-level" job (notice, I did not say "profession").
Hire the kids right out of college, pay them cheap, don't have to worry about working them into the ground since most don't have their own families yet.
Thing is, you get what you pay for. So please spare us the high and mighty speeches and platitudes about improving education Mr. Daniels and Mr. Bennett.
I agree with the posting above, great insight. I try very hard to reach each and every student in my classes. Many times I fail, I regroup, and try again. How many are Americans are the product of Public Education? How many students learned with a teacher sitting at their desk, reaching every student.
Forget Burke, pray for the kids and the teachers. Burke is one of Carly Cardwell's legacies. Another tired IPS administrator. IPS is the Taco Bell of school systems, same seven ingredients in a different arrangement.
Leave Burke alone. He is trying his best which is a lot more then most IPS Principals. He cares what teachers have to say and knows that we are not the problem which is a nice refresher. He's also in the hallways and visible a majority of the day and is walking around making his presents known in the school. The man's doing the best he can give him a break!
On the other hand some principals hangout in the Parent In Touch Center all day and dont show their faces until the 2:45 bell has rang. Those are the ones that dont need our help.
Not all the teachers who moved were/are losers! There were many teachers at our school who the principal continues to say she wishes were back. Also mentioned are staff that were on the chopping block and interviewed who she did not get (and would still like to have).
Remember the district mandates that schools move out 51 percent of staff at state targeted schools. Leaving those principals with no choice but to shuffle the deck.
The result is that very good teachers who worked hard to raise scores at various schools were sent packing. Our principal had not choice but to get rid teachers whom my daughter would live and die for. Teachers who spent their extra time going above and beyond. I am sure they are doing well and adjusting but it did harm the continuity of my daughters education. The bright person downtown/in the state house who mandated such idiocy should be moved around themselves for no real reason.
Most students from my observation of visiting classrooms of my daughter over the years are not performing because of teachers efforts. They are not peforming because the parents are disconnected and allowing behavior that that my parent would have given me the switch (and allowed the school paddle first before I went home).
Teachers cannot correct poverty and poor parenting. I don't care what "Not my Man" Mitch and his puppet leading education say!
JMO (Sorry for any typo's. Its early and time to wake my daughter for school! Hope I made since on this educator site.)
"Just found out that teacher seniority in a building means NOTHING! "
Teacher seniority means nothing anywhere. Teacher evaluations can be very subjective as well.Welcome to education reform in Indiana 2011. And for those who worked hard and paid for their masters but won't see the incremental increase because they had less than 15 years in...good luck. Stop voting for corporate sellouts disguised as "being our children."
I'm sorry that many of you didn't see what was coming. I had been following the Fort Wayne newspaper and saw what the administration did last year to their teaching staffs in order to save their schools from takeover. Their teachers were moved around a long with their adminstrators. Schools, especially one were in disarray most of the year, but hey north and south made it and the state can't take them over. Not sure if it was really do to testing improvement or because they did what the state told them to do and gained favor. Unfortunately the whole state has lost their seniority. I've talked to many teachers who are already on improvement plans. Doesn't look good but there is no protection anymore for teachers. Several union reps have said teachers are refusing to join the union and I guess no one can blame them anymore as they have been busted. Part of the great Republican plan across the nation. The teaching profession has lost its credibility because politicians have put the entire blame on them. All the hard work from years past to gain respectability and make teaching a profession, not just an entry level job as someone mentioned is down the drain. Many schools who did hire teachers this year are giving them a flat rate entry salary regardless of years/masters etc. We will go back to the days were teachers will spend their summers working second jobs to make up for income loss or taking an evening job. Less men will enter the profession because they will not be able to support their families and I feel sorry for the single mother households that will be in the same boat. Come ten years from now the country will be screaming about a teacher shortage because we know many high school students will no longer choose this profession. But of course by then most of the politicians who caused this will long be gone, retired and living a pretty good life.
The IPS IT department is horrible. What a waste of money. I call for help and they tell me to email some outside company. I ended up using google to find the solution.
Is Li-Yen Johnson still in financial distress? I heard she is getting kick-backs from the consultants she recommends. You would think that the school board would look into this matter. Investigate her!
Please, will someone let me know just exactly how stupid you have to be to be a building administrator in IPS? Start a new thread. IPS schools are ridiculous right now. Idiots are in charge, but the children are running the buildings.
Our administrator used all of the pre student arrival time for meetings and said that we could enter the building on Sat. or Sun to prepare our rooms. How considerate of that SOB!!
Yeah, oops, NO! That is no longer a contractual obligation. However, please talk to your Association if you are wondering about things like this. IPS will screw you any which way they can, and as long as you take it, they will get away with it. Be sure to question things as they come along. For instance, your principal can't change your hours on a whim. That is a myth prepetuating the IPS system right now. The bottom line is, please(!) contact your building representative with any concerns. If you don't like their answers, go over their heads to your District Reps. The IEA will help you, but you have to ask. You have to ask. Please do!
@Please, will someone let me know just exactly how stupid you have to be to be a building administrator in IPS? _______________________________________________
Cassandra Shipp (#1 Lowest IQ IPS High School Principal ever hired by a group of breathing people)
If anyone can top Shipp for low intellectual ability, then please let us know.
But Cassandra Shipp looks great and will do anything that is requested, leagal or illegal. Dr. White loves that type of person, then he will blame her.
Good for Judge Patrick McCarty!!! In his eight-page order Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Patrick L. McCarty called the new form "contradictory," "vague" and even "unconscionable," because it would have given superintendents the power to require teachers to work additional hours or days without having to pay for their time.
---On a side note has anyone seen the new Bennett commercial where he and his guest say it is the civil right of students to have vouchers?
Why are we required to use the IPSOnline grade book this year. The system is SLOW extremely slow.
Yes, I understand parents can see the grades. They could too each week when I sent a summary home! It is taking three to four time the amount of time entering one assignment than the old program I used and printed the weekly reports. It should not take hour and half to enter one assignment! Then the program does not allow for students changing sections. So those kids the councelors move just loose all their grades.
Grand Idea that just does not work! One should not spend 4:30 to 9:45 just entering 4 sections of one assignment like I did last night. I have to do the others today. Let alone enter the quiz I also gave during class.
The IPSOnline grade book is just awful! Only someone who is not in the classroom would mandate it! Does the union agree with this mandate? Was it rubber stamped by them?
Phyllis Barnes also had a textbook fiasco when she was called to clean up John Marshall Community School. She made that school even more chaotic. Good luck to you Northwest.
A student at NW on Friday morning threatened a teacher down the hall from me. The student told the teacher he would die by his hands after raising a fist to hit him.
The teacher is going on about his business, teaching his classes, and not complaining but something needs done. They would have had to get a sub the rest of the day if it had happened to me.
That student should NEVER return to his classroom/or school.
So, lets see a student in Whiteland makes news and goes to jail for a time. Just for threatening school and staff (by text).
A stduent at NW does the same to and individual educator (in their face) and nothing seems to be happening. (I admit to not knowing if the student is suspended, expelled, etc.) I know he was not arrested.
Talk about a difference in tollerance by school districts. Explains to me why so many bail on IPS! As I am considering doing more and more each year.
Geez, things have definitely changed when a student can threaten to kill a teacher and nothing happens.
A student pulled a knife on a teacher at the old Woods High School in IPS back a bunch of years ago, back in the late 60's. The kid tried to stab the teacher. The teacher had just returned from Vietnam, and as he put it, a month earlier he was in the jungle dodging bullets, when a chopper shows up and tells him he's out of there. A month later he's back in the classroom in IPS when the punk kid takes exception at being told to sit down. The kid came at him, tried to stab him, and training took over. The kid gets both bones in one arm broken and knocked unconcious for his troubles. The teacher dragged the kid's unconcious butt down to the principal's office, tossed the switchblade on the desk, dropped the kid on the floor, and said it was his problem now. No, he was not fired or reprimanded, and it was several years before there was ever any hint of discipline problems in his class. Oh, the kid never returned to school in IPS after that.
For those on here who like to call others liars, forget about it. I know the teacher. Somewhere along the line this school system has forgotten to have some cojones and not be afraid to kick out those fools who are not ready or prepared to learn. The three percent hardcore idiots that are allowed to stay in school, despite their obvious unwillingness to learn, are costing way more at the expense of the ones who do want to learn. Kick their asses out, give them a voucher, and tell them to get an education somewhere else.
Yeah, that's what we need in IPS. More violent, mentally imbalanced teachers and fewer people worrying about the students.
I've been an IPS teacher for almost 20 years and never had a student threaten me and rarely have a student misbehave. Do you know why? Because I treat students with the same respect with which I expect to be treated, and my class is more interesting than acting up. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And yet if you point that out to teachers who constantly struggle with students, they strongly object. After all, the point of education isn't to teach children in an optimal learning environment. It's to force students to submit to the authority of unfulfilled, insecure adults. Right?
I do feel sorry for Burke...he HAD to take the loser teachers that other schools wanted OUT of their buildings...poor guy!
You are talking out of your ASS. I was skeptical about the Donnan recon, it was handled very badly, but Burke has assembled a near STELLAR team! Donnan has an amazing cadre of teachers this year (with possibly a few exceptions... unfortunately, not everyone that was a hold over was worth keeping in my opinion). The reading teachers are ON THE BALL, excellent math teachers, the best second year ELA teacher I have EVER seen, I'd put her up against vastly more experienced individuals within the same content area. You stepped too far. He didn't settle for dregs, he interviewed and hand picked until he had what he wanted. He is a great guy, listens to teachers, as a matter of fact, if there were only a handful of really good admins in IPS, WE GOT THEM AT DONNAN. Stick to what you KNOW about.
I know the teachers I teach with and yes WE ARE GREAT! I do agree however that Mr. Burke was forced to take teacher/teachers from other schools (he had no choice, he was stuck) I feel sorry for him too. And yes Mr. Burke you are an excellent Principal and we are lucky to have your leadership in our building.
Okay school has started and Mark West has already been threatened. I was told if you drove past the school you could see him sitting at his desk looking out the window waiting for his boyfriend to call. Yes, school has started.
Boyfriend, are you sure they are not male students? He was in the pride parade this summer with some of his students. I am happy to be out of IPS because of stuff like this.
I thank God for my new shrink, with the amount of medication I am taking now, nothing bothers me now. The building could burn down and I would be singing J. Cash's song "Ring of Fire".
@ Yeah, that's what we need in IPS. More violent, mentally imbalanced teachers and fewer people worrying about the students.
You may claim to be a great teacher, but it sure as hell looks like you're not reading for comprehension very well. "Violent unbalanced teacher" regarding the story above your post? The student tried to stab the teacher with a friggin' knife for crying out loud! I suppose the kid should have been referred to a counselor? The kid was a thug and attempted to seriously harm the teacher. The teacher had every right to defend himself against an armed assault. I have no sympathy for that kid.
"After all, the point of education isn't to teach children in an optimal learning environment. It's to force students to submit to the authority of unfulfilled, insecure adults. Right?" Wrong on multiple accounts. The optimal environment is one where the students exercise self control and self discipline. The self discipline should be modeled at home and at school by the adults. If the student cannot learn to follow these models of behavior, and cannot submit to the authority of an adult in charge (notwithstanding the bogus distractor of "unfulfilled, insecure adults"), then an appropriate placement needs to be done to eliminate the destructiveness of the learning environment. There is no reason for the other students to suffer these fools.
I've been in another building about 12 years ago where a student stabbed one of the teachers in the back. The only reason the teacher lived in that incident was the student, a girl by the way, used a fileting knife and it hit the teacher's shoulder blade. The blade bent into a J shape from the force.
It's nice to talk about what great respect we have from the students and how we reciprocate and so on, but the reality of it is that we've had buildings where there has been little discipline and the students were allowed to run rampant. Your little corner may have been peachy-keen, but I've been in buildings where I've had to break up fights on a frequent basis. Before you get all knee-jerky on me the fights were in the hallways, cafeteria, and yes occasionally in my room as well as adjacent classrooms. I've had ligaments pulled and torn, bones stress fractured trying to protect students from seriously trying to harm each other, bruises that took almost two weeks to go away. Don't give me your nonsense about your twenty years of the Peacable Kingdom, I've had as many years in the bowels of hell of IPS because administration has not done their job and didn't move to expel those students who were missing too many screws and weren't ready for the demands of Civilization. Instead, too many students were made into special projects because they had IEPs or whatever their special situations were, and those kids learned very quickly that they weren't going to be held accountable for misdeeds. Needless to say the good kids soon decided they should join the fun also. This wasn't my specific classroom, this was building wide. The blame I lay at the doorsteps of the administrators who are supposed to be setting the tone of the building.
All the hostility and violence you've witnessed in IPS -- it didn't happen to you. It happened to students. Yes, it impacted you, but as bitter and angry as you are that the administration hasn't protected YOU from this garbage, imagine how betrayed the hundreds of thousands of students that have been sentenced to IPS feel? How can we teach them to respect authority when the authority is so utterly impotent. Treating kids with respect works, whether you want to mock the idea or not. It works infinitely better than blaming their parents or their generation (what kid responds to that??) You tell them, "I don't think I'm better than you or smarter than you. But I have some experience with things that most of you do not have, and I believe the information in this class will help you in your life. I promise I will not ask you to learn a single thing without being able to tell you how it is useful in real adult life . What I want from you in return is respect. For me and for each other. This is my classroom. I wouldn't come in your house and be obnoxious or disrespectful or treat the other people in your house poorly. This classroom is my office. Keep your drama outside of it." Those who work with me might recognize me from that little speech I give. But those of you who do recognize me know that I have virtually no discipline issues in my classroom.
As far as the violent student and violent teacher, an adult breaking a child's arm in two places and giving him a concussion is assault, and the situation was described as mental instability (he flashed back to Vietnam). There are ways to restrain a child or diffuse a situation without violence (and certainly not the sort of life-threatening head injury that causes traumatic unconsciousness). If that teacher had been another student, he would have been expelled right along with the instigator because he was retaliating, not defending himself. It's altogether fitting and proper that a teacher who assaulted a student today would face criminal charges.
I'm pissed that administration sat on their asses and neglected to do their job and protect the students from these louts. Of course it impacted me, but the effects on the other students was far worse and longer reaching. I kept fairly tight discipline in my class and have had some years when very few referrals needed to be made. Other years weren't so good.
You're entitled to your opinion, but it remains that you're still not comprehending what the story involved. For starters, there was no flashback involved. The teacher has been in a combat situation only a few weeks earlier. The student was a 17 or 18 year old, and at that time was of age to be in the military. This was not a child. He attempted to kill or maim the teacher. The teacher yanked the paddle from his open desk drawer and struck the assailant's forearm edgewise with the paddle breaking both bones and struck the assailant in the head rendering him unconcious. It was a clear cut case of self defense, and not an issue of restraining a child. Yeah, it was violent episode and insupposenyou can blame society as a whole for it.
Hell, this one is easy. I retired :-) I ran into someone I used to teach with over the weekend. She commented on how much better I looked, and noticed "I'm smiling with my eyes now". The rest of you have my sympathy and best wishes.
ReplyDelete"Noli illegitimi carborundum"
(Don't let the assholes wear you down)
Bus schedules are all screwed up but what is new. They are always screwed up.
ReplyDelete@Hell, this one is easy. I retired :-)
ReplyDeleteDitto!
About the retiring teachers.....
ReplyDeleteDo many retiring IPS teachers get other jobs in teaching and still receive their pensions (though not get additional state pension payments in the new job)? I am told this can be done if a person does not receive income for a month.
Also, I wonder if retiring IPS teachers are able to get jobs in the private sector after they retire from IPS?
I hope things go well for all IPS teachers, especially the ones who are still down in the "trenches" doing the hard work that matters so much to children.
And, the ones who are leaving.
Please, will someone from Arlington let us know how the different start times are working? I just didn't understand the reasons.
ReplyDeleteOne reason for the different start times is to allow for distinctly separate lunch periods for male and female students. In short, they're attempting to keep the boys and the girls separated during the school day.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Arlington, who is the administrator for the IPS website and, more specifically, the Arlington website? I bring this to our attention after reading a polite complaint in today's Indy Star reader comments.
ReplyDeleteThe website's grammar is beyond bad and makes readers cringe...Read below:
http://www.schools.ips.k12.in.us/schooldetail.php?num=422
Teachers can work any job they wish and still receive their teacher pension as long as it is not a job covered by the Teacher Retirement Fund. That means a teacher can work in a private school or a charter school [if they want to work for slave wages]. They also can work in any non education related job. The only exception is that any government job covered by PERF is the same as TRF. In fact, they have merged and now government employees and teaching employees are all in one combined retirement fund. It is call INTRF or something like that. PERF and TRF now longer exist by those names.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is really bad on the website.
ReplyDeleteMany of the grammar errors are familiar to those who get e-mails from Shipp, but some are new, so who knows who wrote the text on the web site.
ReplyDeleteRe: bad grammar on IPS / Arlington web page
ReplyDeleteThere are some who'd say this doesn't really matter; however, this (the Arlington) website is public and is, for many people, the only glimpse they get of the Indianapolis Public Schools. The Devil is always in the details. If you take care of the little things in life or at your workplace, somehow the big things seem to fall in place. Maybe someone in IPS needs to read every document, whether written or digital, that is authorized under the auspices of the school district.
Too many kids and not enough teachers! We're drowning in students where I am at!!! Yes, it is an IPS school.
ReplyDelete@where I am at! UGHHHH don't end a sentence in a preposition if you want people to take us seriously as educators!!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how things went at Marshall?
ReplyDeletewhat's up with marshall? haven't heard much about marshall lately...
ReplyDeleteNorthwest = the biggest issue was the lack of air conditioning in many of the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, the administrators were out in the halls and behind the scenes at the same time - I'm not sure how they did that. They may be super-heroes. The majority of the students were in the right places at the right times and were respectful to the teachers and other adults in the building. I am looking forward to tomorrow and am hopeful that our little "bumps in the road" from today will be ironed out quickly. I believe that this is going to be a fantastic year.
Do they really expect us to increase test scores with classes as huge as many of them are?
ReplyDeleteChannel 13 News
ReplyDeleteBoy home after 3-hour ride home from school
Updated: Aug 08, 2011 10:28 PM EDT
INDIANAPOLIS - A new IPS student took a roundabout route home from school Monday after his family says teachers put him on the wrong bus.
The four-year-old boy got home about three hours late, after IMPD officers tracked him down and brought him home. His family believes teachers put him on the wrong bus at IPS School 114 in the 2200 block of Sloan Avenue on the southeast side.
The boy's grandmother says she will go to school with him tomorrow to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"Going there first thing tomorrow morning and seeing what's going on and making sure they take care of the situation what happened today, because that can be anybody else's kid, besides my grandson, and that's a terrible thing to have to worry about where your grandkid is," said Linda Williams.
IPS did not respond to repeated requests for a statement Monday night.
@Preposition Grammar Police...I am so sorry to have offended you. I wrote this right before I went to bed. I will be sure to make comments when I am not exhausted.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny! School has started. Exactly when are you not going to be exhausted? Possibly the end of fall break? Or maybe summer? I say don't worry about the grammar police. Speak your mind!
ReplyDelete@where I am at! UGHHHH don't end a sentence in a preposition if you want people to take us seriously as educators!!!
ReplyDelete"I know many of you were taught that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, but it’s a myth. In fact, I consider it one of the top ten grammar myths because many people believe it’s true, but because nearly all grammarians disagree, at least in some cases."
Here's an example of a sentence that can end with a preposition: What did you step on? A key point is that the sentence doesn't work if you leave off the preposition. You can't say, “What did you step?” You need to say, “What did you step on?” to make a grammatical sentence.
I can hear some of you gnashing your teeth right now, while you think, “What about saying, 'On what did you step?'” But really, have you ever heard anyone talk that way? I've read long, contorted arguments from noted grammarians about why it's OK to end sentences with prepositions when the preposition isn't extraneous (1), but the driving point still seems to be, “Nobody in their right mind talks this way.” Yes, you could say, “On what did you step?” but not even grammarians think you should. It sounds pedantic.
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx
Charter school teachers are (by and large) covered by TRF. While charters are afforded the opportunity to bail out of TRF (to opt in to a 403b) most don't. So, for those who are salivating about retiring and cashing two checks (one from TRF and another from a Charter), please be careful. It is true that you can teach in a private school and collect retirement.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about "salivating about retiring and cashing two checks." Many older teachers I know talk about how little their pension checks will be and how they will be forced to find another job to try to pay the bills and to have medical insurance for themselves and their families.
ReplyDeleteThere is an errant idea among many in the public that all IPS teachers live in Carmel and Fishers and have rich husbands or wives who bring home most of the bacon and health insurance.
Not anything like that for many aging IPS teachers, especially in single-parent families.
If an IPS teacher, or any teacher, waits until 65 to retire from the classroom, then he/she can safely draw their TRF money, plus they'll be enrolled in Medicare and will also draw the SS they've been paying into for years. The secret to retirement is timing...
ReplyDeleteHowe had a wonderful first day with staff and students ready for the year. Things were very smooth and there were no fires as is typical for many schools on the first day. The teachers were prepared and admin was out and visible. Howe is a great school as it shows in their test scores and attendance. It is a shame that the state is manipulating the info.
ReplyDelete@It is a shame that the state is manipulating the info.
ReplyDeleteThe state is looking at the IPS community school data through the same lens as other 7-12 schools in Indiana. That's not manipulative; that's a fact.
65 is no longer the retirement age for SS. It is not 66 + some months.
ReplyDeleteSocial Security Retirement age depends on when you were born...for me it is 67 and a half...and I was born in 1956.
ReplyDeleteI'm the one who posted at the top of this about retiring. A couple of things here; it takes Social Security, TRF, and the 403B to do it. I retired with a total of 29 years of state and trf service. When I earned my masters, the entire pay jump was placed in the 403B. I was already maxxed out, so my pay had stayed pretty much the same since the late 90's. I found a 9-year old pay stub this past spring, and noted my pay had only increased about $100 in all that time. Okey-doke folks, that was $10/paycheck cost of living each year. That'll buy a lot of groceries ;-/
ReplyDeleteI wasn't going to get much of a raise, if ever, the remaining 2-3 years I would be in IPS, and quite frankly I had managed to get myself on a powerful administrator's shit/hit list, and couldn't get away from the vindictive asshole. I was surprised that the total retirement package would be slightly higher than my takehome was anyway, so it was a no brainer. Stay in IPS and continue to be hounded, abused, and eventually fired or bail out with some dignity and self-respect left? Snort!! What do you think?
I took a hit on the SS to the tune of 20% for retiring early, but the eventual fall behind won't take place until I hit my mid 70's and the total compensation falls behind the early jump start.
I feel I just gained several years on my lifespan by getting away from the terrible stress this career has become. The older teachers are more expensive, and there is a target sewn on their backs. It's hard to prove age discrimination but eventually there will be a day of reckoning, and I hope it is personal accountability on the ladder climbing fools who are trampling over those beneath them in their climb to the Ed Center power offices. Heh, I should run for the School Board :-) There are a few folks down there whose blood would run cold if I were elected. Of course the Gang of Four would need to be ousted from office for any meaningful changes to be made. That gives me something to think about :-)
Good luck to the rest of you. Get out and campaign, not just passively vote. There's too much at stake to let the narrow minded and short sided minions of evil run things into the ground. I fear more for the country now than I did in the 1960's.
Acckk! Should be "Short-sighted minions" there at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteJust curious as to why a school can give out schedules, lockers, and take ID pictures during registration but then does not/can not issue text until almost a week or two into the school year?
ReplyDeleteWe are told to start off on the go. Pacing guides have us introducing information that some text use is almost required in the first week and yet the text are never available.
Why can text not be issued during registration as well? I would have came in early and helped if asked.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@ I'm the one who posted at the top of this about retiring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the years of services. I am certain that your students will remember you for the good that you have done. You have made a difference in some lives. Be Bless Always. Have a wonderful retirement. Join the gym, travel some, have lots of fun. live another 30 or 40 years. Well done. Some people on this blog do have some morals.
"The older teachers are more expensive, and there is a target sewn on their backs."
ReplyDelete_________________________________
I keep hearing statements like this over and over again regarding older teachers in IPS, so it must be true. Discrimination in any form is terrible, including age discrimination.
Where is the IEA (union) on this?
It's not discrimination. I do not know of a single older teacher who is being discriminated against. Teachers of all ages are being told to shape up or ship out, and the older ones are improving the least and complaining the most. The union (rightly) isn't doing much about it.
ReplyDelete@It's not discrimination...You are very wrong. Very, very wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who claims that veteran [older] teachers aren't being targeted is a fool. White has made the statement and many building administrators have remarked that the experienced teachers cost too much. I agree that a non performing teacher of any seniority level including some of these magic program new teachers need to go. The majority of veteran teachers are hard working and are doing their jobs with the resources given to them by IPS. In addition, they can serve as unofficial mentors to the new teachers. All White, Mary Busch and that crew see is the pay scale and want older teachers gone. The ironic thing is that if he were a teacher, White would fall into that category and Mary Busch would have been in that category 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's all about the money.
ReplyDeleteBut they aren't targeting all of the veteran teachers. They're not even targeting all of the ineffective veteran teachers. They're targeting the ineffective veteran teachers who don't get along with anyone (students, parents, administrators, other teachers). That's not age discrimination. That's targeting the biggest problem areas. Administration needs to do more of this, not less. (And I'm no newbie myself, having taught 16 years.)
ReplyDeleteIf veteran teachers are being targeted unfairly, I'm sure the veteran teachers are excited to have the new teacher evaluation system, so that all teachers will be evaluated using the same rubric. That will protect all those rock-solid veteran teachers from being booted out in favor of younger teachers just because they're cheaper. See, Bennett and Daniels aren't so bad after all! :)
ReplyDeleteTextbooks:
ReplyDeleteThe Media Assistant is in charge of textbooks. Their first day was Friday August 5th. If your MA was not willing to give up their time and come in to work for free, you won't get textbooks in a timely matter.
Luckily for me, my assistant was willing and gave up 3 weeks of her summer to come in all by herself and barcode science books. All my teachers have their books.
"I'm sure the veteran teachers are excited to have the new teacher evaluation system,..."
ReplyDeleteWhatever you're smoking, pass it around. The new system is even easier to abuse than the old one and easier to make unsubstantiated observations. The real slick way they stick it to you is that if the adminstrator is pissed at you and says you're terrible, you have the right to ask for a second evaluator. Even though the second evaluator may say that you walk on water and heal the sick with a touch, the protocol is that you go on PIP the following year anyway. Very smooth of them. Of course, you can figure out who your evaluator will be the following year. Hint: It won't be the outside evaluator. Most of that becomes a moot point after this year, as the building administrator assumes power to hire and fire at will or damn near it. We had best start volunteering for all sorts of stuff and wear knee-pads when we go in for the evaluation conference. It ain't gonna be a pretty sight.
Re: Textbooks
ReplyDeleteAnd did you, Media Specialist, give up 3 weeks of your summer to help your assistant barcode books?
Didn't think so.
He/She must be new at IPS
The entire IT Department should be fired! Accelerated Reader is an expensive and great program our school has used with success and it has been deleted by that department where we no longer have access. INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteyou should tell Jeff McMahon, the head of IT
ReplyDeleteRegarding the teacher evaluations - isn't the point of having a rubric to avoid subjective judgments? Wouldn't records and witnesses be able to corroborate the findings? Similarly, wouldn't the rubrics make it harder to unfairly target a teacher because it would be easy to prove that's what was happening. They wouldn't be able to punish a teacher for something on the rubric unless they punished all teachers with that some thing on their rubric. What could possibly be more fair than a rubric?
ReplyDeleteI thought Dexter Suggs was the chief information officer for IPS. That is what he told the people in Tuscaloosa when he applied there, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/assets/pdf/TL22890617.PDF
ReplyDeleteIsn't he in charge of IT?
And once again another district just drooling to hire IPS administrators didn't.
"Wouldn't records and witnesses be able to corroborate the findings?"
ReplyDeleteIt would seem like that two observers would be a good idea if there is an issue of bias, but admin tends to stick together. I talked with another teacher a few years ago that had an incredibly bad evaluation from a principal where only one item was satisfactory on the entire eval list. When the outside evaluator came in, the eval was completely flip-flopped with only one item unsatisfactory out of the thirty something items on the list. A discrepancy that far off should have been grounds for a grievance.
A rubric is only as fair as the person applying it. A truly fair method would be video recorded observations with more than one person running the rubric.
Who needs vouchers?
ReplyDeleteThe Indianapolis Star reports that the vast majority of families applying for private school vouchers are poor, and many come from some of state’s lowest performing school districts. About 400 attend Indianapolis Public Schools, 245 are from Fort Wayne, and 211 attend South Bend schools. We do not believe that it’s a coincidence that students are fleeing those districts, considering their history of poor academic performance.
I was at a school a couple of years ago where the Assistant Principal, Deborah Barlowe, was supposed to order the textbooks and make sure the textbooks got to the teachers and the students.
ReplyDeleteShe was clueless! It was November before the students received their English textbooks. One of the teachers ended up getting our text books because Mrs. Barlowe didn't know her head from a hole in the ground!!!! She was more concerned with getting her weaved long fake eye lashes than getting books in the hands of students. That woman, Barlowe, was the biggest excuse we'd ever experienced as a building administrator. I'm pretty sure she has advanced up the ladder of administrative promotions and is now a full principal. That is what is wrong with IPS. Dumb and ignorant people are our building level leaders. If any body out there has Barlowe as a principal, then you are in for a great big disappointment. Just get passed her long fake eyelashes and her fake green eyes and you have nothing but another high yella dumb woman principal swinging her big old wide butt through the hallway.
Why is prep time being taken up by PLC meetings? I was under the impression that they were not the same and should not be occuring at the same time. A seperate time slot in the schedule should be occuring for PLC.
ReplyDeleteAre we not allowed prep time anymore? Or is it only at the whim of our administrator?
Just need to know so I can plan on prep'ing at other times (maybe while at home time with my own kids). Already coming in half hour early and staying late but will interfere with my homelife if I have too (husband will not be to happy).
Unfortunately our contract only provides for a 30 minute duty free lunch, nothing about prep time.
ReplyDeleteReading all of the above comments makes me SOOO glad I retired.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, prep/planning time is not ours alone; legally, prep time can be used for meetings that are instructional in nature, such as PLC, meeting with our principal, meeting with coaches, etc. The only time we legally get to do whatever our hearts desire is our 30-minute duty free lunch.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so is anyone stepping up to continue the blog when the blogmaster retires this on Labor Day?
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to continue the blog; however, I have no idea how to contact the current blogmaster.
ReplyDeleteIPS BS now has a way for you to contact us. E-mail us at Ipsbs@hotmail.com This was posted long ago. Don't know if it is still a valid address or not.
ReplyDeleteWe could all use a good laugh. Here's some earth-shaking news from Huffington-Post;
ReplyDeleteTop Five Reasons Why Teacher Turnover is Rising
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/top-5-reasons-why-teacher_n_924428.html
It's sort of like Mr. Obvious to any teacher.
That is good to know.
ReplyDeleteI always thought prep time was for the following.
1. Lesson plans,
2. calling parents,
3. get materials ready for upcoming lessons,
4. grading, meeting with students if needed,
or
5. god forbid taking a breath and clearing your head after two or three classes (so not to carry baggage into the next class).
I should have known it was really to sit through 3 or 4 days a week of education 101 with administrators who obviously have not taken the course.
Heck, I come in 45 min. to an hour early and leave about two hours or more (so far) after school because of doing things I normally do on prep. Granted would still have time before and after. PLC's are just adding to it. Is it not enough that we do things at home on the weekends and evenings already and now the want to take more of our time for administrator song and dance shows? Guess, raising our own kids and family is null and void!
I will let my husband know! I am sure he will understand!
No, wonder friends of mine got out at the end of last year! I should have applied elsewhere as well.
Sorry, for venting!
Sorry about the venting!
Nope, it's true, I have a case load of fifty IEP's to complete in the next few months, six different classes to prepare for each day, working with each student, special needs, two after school clubs, etc,etc, etc... I hope to retire in six years, if not you will find me dead in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a teacher, but have a loved one who is.
ReplyDeleteWhat I believe is going on in Indiana and throughout the country is an effort to make teaching basically an "entry-level" job (notice, I did not say "profession").
Hire the kids right out of college, pay them cheap, don't have to worry about working them into the ground since most don't have their own families yet.
Thing is, you get what you pay for. So please spare us the high and mighty speeches and platitudes about improving education Mr. Daniels and Mr. Bennett.
I agree with the posting above, great insight. I try very hard to reach each and every student in my classes. Many times I fail, I regroup, and try again. How many are Americans are the product of Public Education? How many students learned with a teacher sitting at their desk, reaching every student.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers are with Brian Burke. He needs all the strength in the world. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteForget Burke, pray for the kids and the teachers.
ReplyDeleteBurke is one of Carly Cardwell's legacies. Another tired IPS administrator. IPS is the Taco Bell of school systems, same seven ingredients in a different arrangement.
JUst found out that teacher seniority in a building means NOTHING!
ReplyDeletePlus the administrator can fire you and hire a new cheaper teacher. Mitch Daniels and the GOP did a wonder job of taking apart the rights of teachers.
ReplyDeleteLeave Burke alone. He is trying his best which is a lot more then most IPS Principals. He cares what teachers have to say and knows that we are not the problem which is a nice refresher. He's also in the hallways and visible a majority of the day and is walking around making his presents known in the school. The man's doing the best he can give him a break!
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand some principals hangout in the Parent In Touch Center all day and dont show their faces until the 2:45 bell has rang. Those are the ones that dont need our help.
I do feel sorry for Burke...he HAD to take the loser teachers that other schools wanted OUT of their buildings...poor guy!
ReplyDeleteNot all the teachers who moved were/are losers! There were many teachers at our school who the principal continues to say she wishes were back. Also mentioned are staff that were on the chopping block and interviewed who she did not get (and would still like to have).
ReplyDeleteRemember the district mandates that schools move out 51 percent of staff at state targeted schools. Leaving those principals with no choice but to shuffle the deck.
The result is that very good teachers who worked hard to raise scores at various schools were sent packing. Our principal had not choice but to get rid teachers whom my daughter would live and die for. Teachers who spent their extra time going above and beyond. I am sure they are doing well and adjusting but it did harm the continuity of my daughters education. The bright person downtown/in the state house who mandated such idiocy should be moved around themselves for no real reason.
Most students from my observation of visiting classrooms of my daughter over the years are not performing because of teachers efforts. They are not peforming because the parents are disconnected and allowing behavior that that my parent would have given me the switch (and allowed the school paddle first before I went home).
Teachers cannot correct poverty and poor parenting. I don't care what "Not my Man" Mitch and his puppet leading education say!
JMO (Sorry for any typo's. Its early and time to wake my daughter for school! Hope I made since on this educator site.)
"Just found out that teacher seniority in a building means NOTHING! "
ReplyDeleteTeacher seniority means nothing anywhere. Teacher evaluations can be very subjective as well.Welcome to education reform in Indiana 2011. And for those who worked hard and paid for their masters but won't see the incremental increase because they had less than 15 years in...good luck. Stop voting for corporate sellouts disguised as "being our children."
I'm sorry that many of you didn't see what was coming. I had been following the Fort Wayne newspaper and saw what the administration did last year to their teaching staffs in order to save their schools from takeover. Their teachers were moved around a long with their adminstrators. Schools, especially one were in disarray most of the year, but hey north and south made it and the state can't take them over. Not sure if it was really do to testing improvement or because they did what the state told them to do and gained favor.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the whole state has lost their seniority. I've talked to many teachers who are already on improvement plans. Doesn't look good but there is no protection anymore for teachers. Several union reps have said teachers are refusing to join the union and I guess no one can blame them anymore as they have been busted. Part of the great Republican plan across the nation. The teaching profession has lost its credibility because politicians have put the entire blame on them. All the hard work from years past to gain respectability and make teaching a profession, not just an entry level job as someone mentioned is down the drain. Many schools who did hire teachers this year are giving them a flat rate entry salary regardless of years/masters etc. We will go back to the days were teachers will spend their summers working second jobs to make up for income loss or taking an evening job. Less men will enter the profession because they will not be able to support their families and I feel sorry for the single mother households that will be in the same boat.
Come ten years from now the country will be screaming about a teacher shortage because we know many high school students will no longer choose this profession. But of course by then most of the politicians who caused this will long be gone, retired and living a pretty good life.
The IPS IT department is horrible. What a waste of money. I call for help and they tell me to email some outside company. I ended up using google to find the solution.
ReplyDeleteIs Li-Yen Johnson still in financial distress? I heard she is getting kick-backs from the consultants she recommends. You would think that the school board would look into this matter. Investigate her!
ReplyDeletePlease, will someone let me know just exactly how stupid you have to be to be a building administrator in IPS?
ReplyDeleteStart a new thread. IPS schools are ridiculous right now. Idiots are in charge, but the children are running the buildings.
Our administrator used all of the pre student arrival time for meetings and said that we could enter the building on Sat. or Sun to prepare our rooms. How considerate of that SOB!!
ReplyDeleteAnd they offered you, your hourly rate too, right?
ReplyDeleteYeah, oops, NO! That is no longer a contractual obligation. However, please talk to your Association if you are wondering about things like this. IPS will screw you any which way they can, and as long as you take it, they will get away with it. Be sure to question things as they come along. For instance, your principal can't change your hours on a whim. That is a myth prepetuating the IPS system right now.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is, please(!) contact your building representative with any concerns. If you don't like their answers, go over their heads to your District Reps.
The IEA will help you, but you have to ask. You have to ask. Please do!
According to Dr.White, if you cared about your students, you would have been in your room before we had to report on Thursday to prepare.
ReplyDelete@Please, will someone let me know just exactly how stupid you have to be to be a building administrator in IPS?
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
Cassandra Shipp (#1 Lowest IQ IPS High School Principal ever hired by a group of breathing people)
If anyone can top Shipp for low intellectual ability, then please let us know.
But Cassandra Shipp looks great and will do anything that is requested, leagal or illegal. Dr. White loves that type of person, then he will blame her.
ReplyDeleteShipp was hand picked by Jackie Greenwood to be a building administrator. It was and remains a case of 'not quite ready for prime time'.
ReplyDeleteGood for Judge Patrick McCarty!!!
ReplyDeleteIn his eight-page order Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Patrick L. McCarty called the new form "contradictory," "vague" and even "unconscionable," because it would have given superintendents the power to require teachers to work additional hours or days without having to pay for their time.
---On a side note has anyone seen the new Bennett commercial where he and his guest say it is the civil right of students to have vouchers?
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110818/LOCAL18/108180360/Court-orders-new-teacher-contract-form?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com
ReplyDeleteThanks IEA
Why are we required to use the IPSOnline grade book this year. The system is SLOW extremely slow.
ReplyDeleteYes, I understand parents can see the grades. They could too each week when I sent a summary home! It is taking three to four time the amount of time entering one assignment than the old program I used and printed the weekly reports. It should not take hour and half to enter one assignment! Then the program does not allow for students changing sections. So those kids the councelors move just loose all their grades.
Grand Idea that just does not work! One should not spend 4:30 to 9:45 just entering 4 sections of one assignment like I did last night. I have to do the others today. Let alone enter the quiz I also gave during class.
The IPSOnline grade book is just awful! Only someone who is not in the classroom would mandate it! Does the union agree with this mandate? Was it rubber stamped by them?
Phyllis Barnes also had a textbook fiasco when she was called to clean up John Marshall Community School. She made that school even more chaotic.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you Northwest.
Except for apparently running out of some text books things have gone well so far at Northwest.
ReplyDeleteI retract what was said above.
ReplyDeleteA student at NW on Friday morning threatened a teacher down the hall from me. The student told the teacher he would die by his hands after raising a fist to hit him.
The teacher is going on about his business, teaching his classes, and not complaining but something needs done. They would have had to get a sub the rest of the day if it had happened to me.
That student should NEVER return to his classroom/or school.
So, lets see a student in Whiteland makes news and goes to jail for a time. Just for threatening school and staff (by text).
A stduent at NW does the same to and individual educator (in their face) and nothing seems to be happening. (I admit to not knowing if the student is suspended, expelled, etc.) I know he was not arrested.
Talk about a difference in tollerance by school districts. Explains to me why so many bail on IPS! As I am considering doing more and more each year.
Geez, things have definitely changed when a student can threaten to kill a teacher and nothing happens.
ReplyDeleteA student pulled a knife on a teacher at the old Woods High School in IPS back a bunch of years ago, back in the late 60's. The kid tried to stab the teacher. The teacher had just returned from Vietnam, and as he put it, a month earlier he was in the jungle dodging bullets, when a chopper shows up and tells him he's out of there. A month later he's back in the classroom in IPS when the punk kid takes exception at being told to sit down. The kid came at him, tried to stab him, and training took over. The kid gets both bones in one arm broken and knocked unconcious for his troubles. The teacher dragged the kid's unconcious butt down to the principal's office, tossed the switchblade on the desk, dropped the kid on the floor, and said it was his problem now. No, he was not fired or reprimanded, and it was several years before there was ever any hint of discipline problems in his class. Oh, the kid never returned to school in IPS after that.
For those on here who like to call others liars, forget about it. I know the teacher. Somewhere along the line this school system has forgotten to have some cojones and not be afraid to kick out those fools who are not ready or prepared to learn. The three percent hardcore idiots that are allowed to stay in school, despite their obvious unwillingness to learn, are costing way more at the expense of the ones who do want to learn. Kick their asses out, give them a voucher, and tell them to get an education somewhere else.
Yeah, that's what we need in IPS. More violent, mentally imbalanced teachers and fewer people worrying about the students.
ReplyDeleteI've been an IPS teacher for almost 20 years and never had a student threaten me and rarely have a student misbehave. Do you know why? Because I treat students with the same respect with which I expect to be treated, and my class is more interesting than acting up. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And yet if you point that out to teachers who constantly struggle with students, they strongly object. After all, the point of education isn't to teach children in an optimal learning environment. It's to force students to submit to the authority of unfulfilled, insecure adults. Right?
I do feel sorry for Burke...he HAD to take the loser teachers that other schools wanted OUT of their buildings...poor guy!
ReplyDeleteYou are talking out of your ASS. I was skeptical about the Donnan recon, it was handled very badly, but Burke has assembled a near STELLAR team! Donnan has an amazing cadre of teachers this year (with possibly a few exceptions... unfortunately, not everyone that was a hold over was worth keeping in my opinion). The reading teachers are ON THE BALL, excellent math teachers, the best second year ELA teacher I have EVER seen, I'd put her up against vastly more experienced individuals within the same content area. You stepped too far. He didn't settle for dregs, he interviewed and hand picked until he had what he wanted. He is a great guy, listens to teachers, as a matter of fact, if there were only a handful of really good admins in IPS, WE GOT THEM AT DONNAN. Stick to what you KNOW about.
I know the teachers I teach with and yes WE ARE GREAT! I do agree however that Mr. Burke was forced to take teacher/teachers from other schools (he had no choice, he was stuck) I feel sorry for him too. And yes Mr. Burke you are an excellent Principal and we are lucky to have your leadership in our building.
ReplyDeleteOkay school has started and Mark West has already been threatened. I was told if you drove past the school you could see him sitting at his desk looking out the window waiting for his boyfriend to call. Yes, school has started.
ReplyDeleteBoyfriend, are you sure they are not male students? He was in the pride parade this summer with some of his students. I am happy to be out of IPS because of stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteI thank God for my new shrink, with the amount of medication I am taking now, nothing bothers me now. The building could burn down and I would be singing J. Cash's song "Ring of Fire".
ReplyDeleteHeck, School 48 practically burned down today! Be careful what you wish for. LOL
ReplyDelete@ Yeah, that's what we need in IPS. More violent, mentally imbalanced teachers and fewer people worrying about the students.
ReplyDeleteYou may claim to be a great teacher, but it sure as hell looks like you're not reading for comprehension very well. "Violent unbalanced teacher" regarding the story above your post? The student tried to stab the teacher with a friggin' knife for crying out loud! I suppose the kid should have been referred to a counselor? The kid was a thug and attempted to seriously harm the teacher. The teacher had every right to defend himself against an armed assault. I have no sympathy for that kid.
"After all, the point of education isn't to teach children in an optimal learning environment. It's to force students to submit to the authority of unfulfilled, insecure adults. Right?" Wrong on multiple accounts. The optimal environment is one where the students exercise self control and self discipline. The self discipline should be modeled at home and at school by the adults. If the student cannot learn to follow these models of behavior, and cannot submit to the authority of an adult in charge (notwithstanding the bogus distractor of "unfulfilled, insecure adults"), then an appropriate placement needs to be done to eliminate the destructiveness of the learning environment. There is no reason for the other students to suffer these fools.
I've been in another building about 12 years ago where a student stabbed one of the teachers in the back. The only reason the teacher lived in that incident was the student, a girl by the way, used a fileting knife and it hit the teacher's shoulder blade. The blade bent into a J shape from the force.
It's nice to talk about what great respect we have from the students and how we reciprocate and so on, but the reality of it is that we've had buildings where there has been little discipline and the students were allowed to run rampant. Your little corner may have been peachy-keen, but I've been in buildings where I've had to break up fights on a frequent basis. Before you get all knee-jerky on me the fights were in the hallways, cafeteria, and yes occasionally in my room as well as adjacent classrooms. I've had ligaments pulled and torn, bones stress fractured trying to protect students from seriously trying to harm each other, bruises that took almost two weeks to go away. Don't give me your nonsense about your twenty years of the Peacable Kingdom, I've had as many years in the bowels of hell of IPS because administration has not done their job and didn't move to expel those students who were missing too many screws and weren't ready for the demands of Civilization. Instead, too many students were made into special projects because they had IEPs or whatever their special situations were, and those kids learned very quickly that they weren't going to be held accountable for misdeeds. Needless to say the good kids soon decided they should join the fun also. This wasn't my specific classroom, this was building wide. The blame I lay at the doorsteps of the administrators who are supposed to be setting the tone of the building.
All the hostility and violence you've witnessed in IPS -- it didn't happen to you. It happened to students. Yes, it impacted you, but as bitter and angry as you are that the administration hasn't protected YOU from this garbage, imagine how betrayed the hundreds of thousands of students that have been sentenced to IPS feel? How can we teach them to respect authority when the authority is so utterly impotent. Treating kids with respect works, whether you want to mock the idea or not. It works infinitely better than blaming their parents or their generation (what kid responds to that??) You tell them, "I don't think I'm better than you or smarter than you. But I have some experience with things that most of you do not have, and I believe the information in this class will help you in your life. I promise I will not ask you to learn a single thing without being able to tell you how it is useful in real adult life . What I want from you in return is respect. For me and for each other. This is my classroom. I wouldn't come in your house and be obnoxious or disrespectful or treat the other people in your house poorly. This classroom is my office. Keep your drama outside of it."
ReplyDeleteThose who work with me might recognize me from that little speech I give. But those of you who do recognize me know that I have virtually no discipline issues in my classroom.
As far as the violent student and violent teacher, an adult breaking a child's arm in two places and giving him a concussion is assault, and the situation was described as mental instability (he flashed back to Vietnam). There are ways to restrain a child or diffuse a situation without violence (and certainly not the sort of life-threatening head injury that causes traumatic unconsciousness). If that teacher had been another student, he would have been expelled right along with the instigator because he was retaliating, not defending himself. It's altogether fitting and proper that a teacher who assaulted a student today would face criminal charges.
I'm pissed that administration sat on their asses and neglected to do their job and protect the students from these louts. Of course it impacted me, but the effects on the other students was far worse and longer reaching. I kept fairly tight discipline in my class and have had some years when very few referrals needed to be made. Other years weren't so good.
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled to your opinion, but it remains that you're still not comprehending what the story involved. For starters, there was no flashback involved. The teacher has been in a combat situation only a few weeks earlier. The student was a 17 or 18 year old, and at that time was of age to be in the military. This was not a child. He attempted to kill or maim the teacher. The teacher yanked the paddle from his open desk drawer and struck the assailant's forearm edgewise with the paddle breaking both bones and struck the assailant in the head rendering him unconcious. It was a clear cut case of self defense, and not an issue of restraining a child. Yeah, it was violent episode and insupposenyou can blame society as a whole for it.