I's perdic dat they will cloze de skoolz. I thinks days reelize dat eduka..educash...uh, learnin' ain't importent round heer. What wif txt msg and such, who need to lern to wright. It be jus' a wast of ur time. Heck, with all dis electriconic stuf round us, we no even need to reed anymore. Y, dem dern reputers will reed for us.
So, I sez, cloze the skool, fire de teechers, and saiv me my tax money! Dern teechers do nuttin' but sits at their desks and plan there summer vacashion, anyway. BTW, Tony Benet is me heero.
Please help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street and overheard school girls talking about an assembly they had attended. At the assembly someone in charge discussed the alleged rape at Tech. They were told that it was "common knowledge" the girl who the news media reported as being raped at Tech gave the boy "head sll last year". Who spoke to these young girls this way? If someone had given my daughter this "talk" I'd be down at the board meeting asking for this person's head on a silver platter.
Why would something that happened at Tech be discussed at Broad Ripple? And why would someone decide to recount the details of what sounds like an ongoing police matter. And why would anyone discuss one students personal business in an assembly?
I predict that IPS will continue to have some of the best teachers in Indiana and some of the worst teachers in Indiana; moreover, I predict that IPS will continue to retain and hire the very worst administrators in the entire state.
Did you ever really think about who IPS hires? I do. I look around and see some of the most stellar, most dedicated teachers in the entire state who easily would be grabbed or snapped up by nearby township or surrounding suburban/county districts; on the other hand, I do see a fair number of IPS teachers who are probably near the bottom in their teaching skills/abilities. But, overwhelmingly, I notice that IPS has administrators, both building level and central office level, who never would be hired by any other school district in Indiana or any other state. In fact, I doubt these IPS administrators would get past the first round of interviews in another IN district.
Stop and think about this for a second. Can you really imagine the following IPS administrators being hired by a township or suburban district: Li-Yen Johnson, Jane Kendrick, Willie Giles, Dexter Suggs, Jackie Greenwood, Phyllis Barnes, Larry Yarrell, Marsha King, Paula Smith, Cassie Shipp, Jan Larson, Deborah Barlowe, Linda Davis, Mark West, Kris Walker-Guess, Brandon Crosby, Corey Greenwood, and the list continues...you can add to it.
IPS is managed and administered by a group of people who no other school district in surrounding areas would even interview for a similar position! This is frightening to me. It doesn't matter how good we are as teachers when we're being lead by the dregs of educational administrators.
You know it was Dr. White who addressed the students at Broad Ripple. He indeed did tell the students exactly what you overheard at McDonald's. Dream on that the board would take any action against him for this very inappropriate conversation with the students.
@Please help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street...
__________________________
I totally understand your outrage! I suspect it's just another IPS administrator's attempt at 'circling the wagons' for the district. IPS is known for attempting to keep its dirty laundry hidden. It sounds like some mid-level administrator who's loyal to Dr. White tried to spin the poor, unfortunate girl who reported being raped at Tech into a 'head giving whore'. It wouldn't be the first time this IPS diversionary tactic was employed to paint the girl as a common whore.
Just a few short years ago at Arlington, I witnessed Jackie Greenwood attempt to cover for Indiana's Mr. Football who was caught in the boy's restroom intimidating and overpowering a male student into providing him with oral sex (male on male). Jackie totally disregarded the report of the poor little old male student who'd been intimidated and overpowered into sucking Mr. Football's 'male member'. I could not make this up or invent this story, trust me!! Black male students are held in high regard by certain black administrators in IPS. That's a fact! The girl, whether black, white, or polka dotted, will lose every time in IPS! She will be described as a 'ho', a loose girl.
I expect a few of you all remember Brandon Crosby's sexual shenanigans with a female on his Shortridege faculty. Evidently Brandon and the famale faculty member were caught red-handed engaging in a momentous sexual encounter; however, do you remember who was painted as the whore? I do. The female Shortridge faculty member was blasted and removed! She was banished forever into the realm of 'whoredom' while Brandon was never mentioned again as being one half of the problem. The general public knows that it takes two to tango! Brandon just happened to tango with the teacher who was not a meek, mild little woman. Good for her! Shame on Brandon! Brandon will never get another job outside IPS. He's forever banished to live and work within IPS. That surely is punishment for a man who thinks his doo-doo don't stink!
IPS is owned and operated by the Black Mafia. It's no different than the Italian Mafia or the Sicilian Mafia. Eugene White owes his soul and his position and his children's positions to the local Black Mafia. Jackie Greenwood is the Don or Doness of the entire group per her relationship with the Indianapolis Black Clergy.
I sat in Greenwood's Arlington Hign School conference room and personally witnessed her allowing a black preacher to 'pray for raising a grade' of a 12th grade student. The praying was done on a conference call between Jackie, the preacher, the student's parents, and the 12th grade English teacher who had issued failing grades to the student because he'd not completed his work. In retropect, I was mandated to be at the 'prayer conference' simply because I was the token white teacher. Yes, this happened; yes, I was there!
Corey Greenwood is an excellent administrator and to lump his name in with everyone else's clearly shows that you: 1) don't know him and 2) hold what you believe are his mother's faults against him. I do not personally have interactions with the other IPS administrators you have implicated in your post, however if your incorrect assumptions about Mr. Greenwood are any indication, you are way off.
And check your information, Corey Greenwood is regularly offered positions in both township and suburban schools.
English teacher Nikki Garland should remember that Prayer Conference Call! Jackie Greenwood is as crooked as a dog's hind leg!!! Eugene White is as crooked as the same dog's hind leg because he allowed Jackie Greenwood to operate as a loose cannon under his leadership!! Jackie and Gene ought to remember that not all the people present at these conferences are supportive of their crooked moves! They also should be aware that these people present at these conferences took 'good notes' and have 'long memories'.
Corey Greenwood may indeed be considered an excellent administrator in IPS; however, generalizing that thought does not mean that other local districts are beating down Corey's door to have him apply to their districts to share what you believe to be his stellar educational qualities. In fact, I postulate that Corey Greenwood's fine reputation with you and yours lies primarily because his mother, Jackie Greenwood, used her long-time power within IPS to insure that Corey was well situated as an administrator before she finally retired from IPS or died, whichever came first.
I worked with a man who taught at Arlington, he showed me his grade book and xerox copies of all the scantrons (how they used to take attendance) and the "official" records of the same students' attendance. Somehow students who missed over 40% of the semester were "officially absent" only 4% of the time.
This type of thing is what has lead to the culture of Arlington. I know a principled principal who has a plaque on her desk that says "prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child" Arlington has graduated (or not graduated) so many students who think the world will change for them, sorry kids that is not the things work in the real world.
Thanks, Jackie,
signed all the Arlington kids who have crashed and burned in life.
If you've ever been on Jackie Greenwood's Christmas Card list, you'll know that she can't wait to publish those pictures of her sons and their White wives and their bi-racial children. After receiving the first of Jackie's Christmas cards, I started wondering why she was so adamant in pushing the bi-racial aspect of her family! Any thoughts, out there? I'd wager to say that Jackie Greenwood ain't your regular Afro-Centric Administrator!
signed all the Arlington kids who have crashed and burned in life. __________________________________________________
I distinctly remember the first Arlington High School graduation that I attended, as a faculty member who was charged with 'crowd control' duty. I watched those children walk across the stage and thought to myself that many of their diplomas weren't worth the paper they were printed on. I've kept in touch with a few of those graduates and have heard their cries when they realized they'd have to take and pay for remedial college courses. Jackie did no favors for her Arlington HS graduates.
Why did Eugene White and the IPS School Board wait so long to move Jackie Greenwood out of her long-held position as Arlington High School Principal? Did White and the IPS Board not realize the amount of educational harm she was inflicting on the Arlington students? Were White and the IPS Board afraid of the Concerned Clergy's response to removing Greenwood? How much longer will IPS continue to pay Jackie Greenwood $150K+ for being a sad old sack of a central office administrator? My gosh, the woman is 70+ years old; she is certainly entitled to retire from IPS with full benefits!
I predict that a bunch of over-paid people will come up with a bunch of convoluted ideas. Those ideas will cost lots of money that nobody has available. The ideas will make absolutely no difference just like every other idea they've had. The public school system will continue its inevitable downward spiral being kept alive by the continued theft of citizens hard earned money.
The problem is that the people who come in to "solve" the problems of IPS will never have read H.L.Mencken "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
Re; Jackie Greenwood. I've only met the woman once and that was in the late 90's when I was interviewing for a new position after my program was cut at another IPS building. What I walked away with from the group interview with her and the vice-principals was a feeling of racial bias against white males. She made the assumption that I wouldn't be able to relate to the black students and said as much aloud. Not that it made much difference as HR had sent me there and I really didn't want to be at that building anyway as Arlington's reputation was already in the dumper. The accuracy of her assumption was way the hell off as I already had a successful track record in IPS with the student population she was concerned about and have continued to do so with the same population. If her judgment in other areas was as inaccurate as her assumptions with me, then I can readily see why Arlington continued to go downhill and become a ghetto cesspool under her watch.
Just help make sure that someone good is running against Busch. She lives in an area that just about guarantees she will win, so it's going to take someone with a track record behind them to go up against her. It will probably revolve around a campaign that wil say "thanks for your service, but it's now time for someone with new and fresh ideas to move forward. We thank you for the legacy and will build on it". Translation: you've become hidebound and fossilized, and you've left us a mess that we have to clean up. It's all in how you say it, and you can't directly attack an icon in the community without it biting you in the butt.
I wouldn't put it past Eugene to discuss the topic of oral gratification regarding students. I heard he dropped the mother-of-all profanities at the Welcome Back to School meeting.
Well your superintendent did it again. He told the same story about the rape and giving head to every student at Northwest. This included 7th and 8th grade boys and girls. I don't mean that it is okay to say those things to the high school students. It is wrong. Is he that ignorant that he thinks it is okay to talk that way to 11 year old children. Most 11 year olds don't have any idea what giving head even means. But now they probably do. Thank you for stealing their innocence. If I had a child in Ips I would do everything in my power to get him out at least until Dr. White and his parasites are gone. I feel so sorry for the children of our city. They deserve to be children.
"Most 11 year olds don't have any idea what giving head even means. But now they probably do. Thank you for stealing their innocence. If I had a child in Ips I would do everything in my power to get him out at least until Dr. White and his parasites are gone."
IPS kids do...I'm appalled at what they say and ask during the school year. Montel's Show about "Who's Your daddy," is common TV viewing for 8 year olds in IPS. I once questioned a student over turning in an assignment and he he said, "I promise, I'll take a DNA test," no lie. Very sad. Hardly innocent.
"IPS kids do...I'm appalled at what they say and ask during the school year."...
Please leave the district! Not all of the children in IPS know all of this stuff. I am a teacher of Middle School children. My students are not as worldly as you try to say they are. They act like they know what is going on then they ask their older siblings, cousins, and friends what things mean. Please remember that they are children and they deserve to be that for as long as they can and should. If you truly believe that our students are so jaded, you need to retire, quit, or just walk away. Are you a bigot, maybe? Most of my students' parents would never, ever allow their children to watch Montel, Springer, Maury, or any of the other shows that degrade people. I am disappointed in your attitude.
I teach 8th grade in IPS. I wish you could come and talk to my students. If you were able to do that one on one, like I sometimes have the chance, you would find that they are no different than any other students in any other district in the state if not the country. The girls WANT to be young girls and the boys BEG to be boys instead of men. I agree with the above poster. Please leave teaching. Young people deserve the opportunity to be young. They will be adults with all of the associated baggage forever. Let us allow them, no, DEMAND for them, their childhoods.
How about we begin, and truly begin, to put children first? How about we get rid of the admins who do nothing but work to justify their jobs, get rid of the teachers who do not care about their students, and get rid of the support staff who treat children like garbage? Wouldn't that be a wonderful world for our IPS students? And by the way, our children deserve all of that, and more, from us. Step up, people. Step up.
Iwas at the Northwest meeting with the Sup. You are all a bunch of liars! Dr. White made no such statement about the Tech situation, and to do so would be in violation of the law. Noone will ever take this blog seriously if you keep printing un-truths!
Yes, Dr. White dropped several "language bombs" at the opening of school welcome. The comments were in context, but certainly not professional.
I would like to make one comment. I've been in several elementary buildings these past few weeks of school and wow, the buildings are calm and orderly. Way to go to all of the staff, administrators, and students. You're off to a great start!
Iwas at the Northwest meeting with the Sup. You are all a bunch of liars! Dr. White made no such statement about the Tech situation, and to do so would be in violation of the law. Noone will ever take this blog seriously if you keep printing un-truths!
Someone is a liar here, and I believe it is you. I got a voice mail from a friend who was present at Northwest, placed while White was speaking, and he is clearly heard discussing giving head. When I figure out how to send this on to the press that is where it will go.
Liar Liar pants on Fire! I believe that he DID say those things at Northwest because I heard him tell the same story using the same words at one of his meetings with high school students earlier in the week. Stop trying to cover for this unprofessional and disgusting behavior.
A few 7th graders are 11, but I stand corrected. They are usually 12 at the beginning of the school year which, I am sure, is the part of the school year we are currently experiencing. I do maintain, however, that 12 year olds should not be exposed to that kind of talk. I am sure that many are saying, "Well, they are hearing it in the halls at school!" You may be right about that, but it is a very different thing to hear it from the highest authority in your school district. It is not appropriate for a school setting no matter WHO is saying it. We would suspend students for talking that way in class, but now Dr. White has made it okay. Didn't he also have a slide about profanity in his presentation? Is this type of talk anything less than profane?
The fact that some of our students have been exposed to inappropriate behaviors does not justify the superintendent from his behavior. We think every kid has been exposed to this type of thing, but we are wrong. All kids adopt an act tough type of persona. When I first got a classroom computer the students went to www.whitehouse.com, a porn site, that at the time was not blocked, one of my young men immediately brought it to my attention, but not before he threw up in the waste basket, and he warned me not to look at the site. Some children have been sheltered from some of this crude talk at home and at church.
I'm surprised an attorney is not collecting this information, for the parents of the tech student. If this was my child I'd be looking at a law suit. How grossly inappropriate.
I was so amused to see Dr. Bennett has hired the "Turn Around Manager", the young man has two years in the classroom teaching social studies at acharter school? My God the experience, knowledge, and contacts in the educational community this young man has is amazing? The young man will allow "monitors" to work with IPS, and then DOE fails, the simple response will be "IPS didn't follow our instructions and leadership". Lead on young man, I would love to see you experience in my classroom for one week? Please say a prayer tonight, I have a feeling we are going to have a hard time.
Back in March they voted to not renew the contracts of four people, Prudence Bridgwaters #924 Pamela Denny-Rohrbach #951 Linda Poulter #951 Christina Shepard #723
Poulter who is a wonderful music teacher was reinstated as a music teacher (lucky kids) but what has happened to the other three, are they still lurking around in IPS, or were they really let go?
Nope, given an increase in salary and they are going to "save" IPS. I heard that Dr. White is courting the Tea Party and thinking of running for Bennett's position under the Tea Party's banner.
Denny-Rohrbach is back in the classroom, thus saving two art teacher's job in the process.
For those who can't find the discipline: There was training this summer on the NEW discipline, now found on TAC, while the old version is simply there for reference now. On TAC, check out "Classroom Issues" for in class problems and "Conduct Reports" for issues with students you do not teach or happen out of the classroom.
Regarding the discipline plan: Instead of wasting the entire first day back with Dr. White's pep talk and an hour wait in the parking lot, not to mention some of the loosely constructed staff meetings (if yours was stellar, I apologize, mine was not)our building IT people could have taken center stage and walked through the basics of the change. I already work 12 hour days; I am OFF during the summer to attend endless advanced coursework, write upcoming year lesson plans (that have to be changed in the first 2 weeks)take care of my family's needs, and just get my wind back. If they want to make changes, like the 6 step, they can plan effective ways to train us WHILE WE ARE AT WORK AND NOT ON OUR OWN TIME.
Regarding Pamela Denny-Rohrbach. She did indeed take the ax to save two art teaching positions. That is a fact. Now she is dealing with petty crap at Shortridge, largely promulgated by a fellow art teacher who doesn't like her being there. D-R worked hard to elevate art to more than recess. We had art teachers in this district who thought they had the divine right to not teach to standards and believed that writing lesson plans was not in their job description (some of you area Union Reps know about this). She isn't perfect, and can be sharp, but she wanted respect for the teaching of the arts, and her goals were laudable. There is no room for "junk" coursework in education. You are either serving the educational needs of our clients, or you don't need to be here.
D-R took a serious pay cut, but still doing the job part time as well as teaching. Maybe the Shortridge teacher ought to consider what she is sniping about... what goes around comes around... just saying...
We had art teachers in this district who thought they had the divine right to not teach to standards and believed that writing lesson plans was not in their job description
Seriously? Did you ever see the pacing guide we were supposed to use? It was written like we all have year long courses, especially at the middle school level (high school got off easy). Some of us have semester courses, some 9 weeks, I suppose someone out there has a 2 year course, but no one I know.
She didn't design it. Li Yen Johnson set the parameters, and as we know, Dr. Johnson is a terrific listener. I don't think it was ever designed to even be used, just look good so IPS could say they were be rigorous everywhere.
To: "Regarding Pamela Denny-Rohrbach. She did indeed take the ax to save two art teaching positions. That is a fact. Now she is dealing with petty crap at Shortridge, largely promulgated by a fellow art teacher who doesn't like her being there. D-R worked hard to elevate art to more than recess..."
D.R. is an annoying, vindictive idiot. She was in an art class a few years ago to observe a teacher she wanted to get rid of because the teacher was supposedly not the greatest at classroom management. She told the teacher to leave the classroom while she (D.R.) supervised. When the teacher returned, she and the others with her discovered that a student had urinated on the classroom floor. Yes, this was under PDR's watch as a stellar teacher and exemplory classroom manager. The kid peed on the floor and she had no idea. Hello!
I will say it again. PDR has no place in the IPS school corporation.
As a new idea, why is a teacher on special assignment all of a sudden qualified to evaluate other teachers at his school? I only ask this because this Broad Ripple staff member was viewed as a lousy teacher when he was at Shortridge. Now that he has fallen into a comfy job, he decides to let his new "power" go to his head. Hey, Rhimer, back off. You have no qualifications to talk to any of the teachers you are evaluating about their lesson plans. You have just been given a power that you do not deserve. Please don't justify your paycheck by bashing those of us who are actually positively impacting student achievement. Lay off.
P D-R and Prudence "carpet licking" Bridgwaters probably enjoy pissing on each other. What makes you think she would think it's bad for a kid to piss on the floor?
I am an IPS administrator and I must say PDR and Bridgewaters are truely an embarrasement to those trying to improve the system. Neither knows anything how to deal with today's students. Prudence cannot remember anything and spends most of her time hanging around with PDR doing nothing at FMS!
You don't know Chris Guess obviously, she was just offered a position in Warren Township. From what I hear she has worked in Warren before and some other townships. We should try to hold on to her .
Well, this is Rhimer, I know who place the post about my teaching abilities at Shortridge. Well, BRHS is a failing school and I have a list of ten bad teachers already, who need to be fired by Linda Davis. One is a old English teacher, who thinks that she is a outstanding teacher. Well the data show that she has failed too many teachers in her classess, yep a "bad teacher" that needs to go, NOW!
As a former IPS educator I've witnessed Dr.White's brazen, arrogant & inappropriate demeanor 1st hand so his comments about the rape victim being known 4 "giving head" comes as no surprise to me!! He's been known to say worse!! For a supposedly [or should I say allegedly because the jury's still out on that one!] educated/intellectual man Dr. White--for lack of a better description--doesn't have the good sense God gave him!!! His ideas/policies for running the schools are either too antiquated, too radical & for the most part non-attainable!! The majority of the district's implemented goals & education program[s] are designed to set the average inner city student up for failure!!! That being said---YES, IPS needs intervention because their so-called administrators & administraion are & is[as the kids say] jacked-the-f*%#-up!!! My grandmother had this saying--"Too many Chiefs & not enough Indians" This analogy fits IPS to a "T"!!
Wear green on Friday. That's the request from the family of a 17-year-old injured in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. The show of solidarity is for Brad Humphrey whose legs and back were crushed under the rigging. He's surviving the tragedy with the support of his family and the community.
It's hard to miss the good wishes on the sign at Crispus Attucks where one student has spent more time in a hospital bed than in class.
"He's taking it real hard. He's depressed," said Lyndsay Reynolds, Brad's cousin.
Brad Humphrey, 17, was among those injured by the stage collapse at the State Fair. His legs were broken and his spine was crushed. Right now he has no feeling in his legs.
"There is a possibility he will walk again and we think that with prayer and everybody's support, he will walk again," said Reynolds.
Brad is a standout tennis player. Last season he played number one singles at Crispus Attucks. Those who know him say despite his injuries, he will play tennis again.
"He's learned that everything doesn't come easy and you have to work for things and he's going to work harder to overcome this," said Steve Mackell, National Junior Tennis League.
. On Friday, family members are asking everyone to go green for Brad by wearing green, his favorite color.
This is in addition 2 my earlier post Re: Dr. White's brazen attitude & IPS's "jacked-up" state of affairs or as my son would say--"Nuthin' but BS & Busters"! I want to share a story about IPS's hypocrisy when it comes to the so-called nurturing & well-being of the students. During an assembly held at Manual HS w/ Dr, White there was a Q & A portion where students could provide their input. Well a young lady posed a question concerning the dress code & why it was necessary! keep in mind this student was polite & very well-mannered! Suffice to say every question presented to Dr. White was given an insignificant & inconclusive response!! Finally Dr. White got so frustrated w/ her line of questioning that he eventually shot the student down & took a more juvenile approach by cutting her off--practically telling her 'cause I said so--& moving on to next person!! Are we or are we not teaching kids to be independent thinkers as well as courteous & responsible adults--if not then when did this all change?!!
Just wanted 2 apologize for the grammatical errors in my 2 earlier posts due to my being in a hurry & rushing thru it---Please don't judge me too harshly!!
I heard Dr. White speak to an assembly of students just a week ago. He DID talk about a white girl "giving head" to a black boy on the bus. All the students gasped and many put their hands to their faces and slumped down in their seats. Adults were in shock! He should be removed. How disgraceful and disrespectful to the taxpayers of Indianapolis and their families. Is he the best we can offer to students? IPS Board members: DO YOUR JOB!
Where is the media? We need an investigation of this. Someone must have a recording and a videotape. The young lady in question at Tech should bring a lawsuit. All you investigative reporters out there, we need answers to this one. I am in disbelief and completely mortified, not to mention saddened that this is the best Indianapolis has to offer. Or is it?
Just in. The Indiana Department of Education has turned down an appeal by Indianapolis Public Schools regarding the status of several schools that could be taken over by the state next year. My sources are also telling me that IPS plans to sue the state in Court over the decision.
Howe, Washington, Broad Ripple and Arlington failed to make it off academic probation this year which means they are subject to be taken over by the state. IPS argued that those schools have middle school students which skewed their most recent end of course assessment results and those students should not have been included in any testing.
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett says IPS was treated just like every other school district in the state and is not entitled to any special treatment.
A decision on the fate of IPS’ failing schools could come as early as tomorrow.
That wasn't Rhimer.Rimer or Ryhmer posting that..he is too professional to do that. Leave him alone. He is just doing his job. Don't be so sensitive that you think you are too perfect to improve. We all have room for improvement. I include myself in this.
I’ve been doing research on the genesis of the achievement gap. Despite what we are told it does not originate with teachers. Students, no matter what their demographic/socio-economic group make the same amount of progress across the time they spend in school during the school year. The gap comes from what happens in middle and upper socio/economic homes, as well as low income homes where parents use the parenting model called concerned cultivation. So what are the hallmarks of a child raised using this model? Children raised with concerned cultivation exhibit greater verbal ability, larger vocabularies, more comfort with authority figures, and more comfort with abstract concepts. The parents emphasize the importance of talking with children, the development of educational interests; play more of a role in schooling. The children understand how to reason with others, and problem solve through negotiation rather than physical force. Dr. White in his educational approach and even in the way he dealt with the questioning child modeled the natural growth model. In this model children are spoken to, not with; are issued directives rather than negotiating with; and the children having more control of their own leisure activities. Dr. White’s leadership style seems to follow this low income (and academically unsuccessful) model. He issues directives to teachers, students, parents, and administrators. His unenforceable uniform policy is yet another example, even in it’s’ enforcement you see how it is unequally enforced. If you are in a magnet program you can get away with wearing almost anything, attend a regular school you’d better comply. Magnet students have the sense of “entitlement” that they system denies their poorer counterparts. This sense of entitlement is an attribute of academic success, yet it is discouraged and punished with lower socio/economic students. If we really want to close the achievement gap we need to work with children and families, and Dr. White’s approach simply will not work.
You haven't been doing research. You're spouting stuff that researchers have been challenging for 20 years. Seriously, pick up any education journal published in the last 20 years. The biggest step toward solving a problem is admitting it is a problem you can solve. If you just pass the buck off to the family (but don't give them any power or input) then how does that solve anything? We can't ask to be respected as professionals but then resort to the "not my job, not my fault" mindset of an unskilled laborer. Teachers who are not successful with IPS kids need to learn from those who are or get out of teaching.
That is not at all what I am saying. What I am saying is we need to look at what the kids who have the skills necessary to succeed in school and give all kids those skills. And this is exactly what successful teachers do. They help kids develop background knowledge, help them learn to negotiate, and learn to deal with abstract concepts. These problems can indeed be solved.
Our remediation programs are the problem, if a kid is unsuccessful and unmotivated in school, for what ever reason, we remediate them by doing more of the same thing harder. Look at the tests and you will see there is a good deal of bias in the test against kids who have not had exposure to a variety of different situations. Think about the questions about "beach vacation" kids who are from struggling families in scenic Indianapolis do not take beach vacations, heck I haven't had a beach vacation in 30 years either. This lack of experience really hurts our kids.
Really? What an idiot you are. Obviously you have some sort of vindictive agenda toward a teacher or teachers at Broad Ripple. Now, be assured that I am not defending Mr. Rimer. He has no qualifications to evaluate, but don't impersonate him on this blog, please. Let the TOSA speak for himself.
(He is not too professional to do that. He is just too far up someone's rear to be able to speak without having his string pulled.)
The Queen needs to consider her French History. When the citizens had had enough of the French Queen Marie Antionette insolent and opprobrious behavior they solved the problem.
George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
@that is not at all what I am saying. I agree there is test bias. I also agree that there are many outside factors that contribute to the achievement gap. What I don't agree with is that we can't close the achievement gap with better classroom instruction.
Lung cancer can originate with asbestos, cigarette smoking, and air pollution. However many people with exposure to asbestos, smoke, and pollution don't get lung cancer, and many people who get lung cancer were never exposed to smoke, asbestos, or air pollution. And regardless of the cause, medical professionals makes strides every year in treating lung cancer. There will quite possibly be a cure before I retire from teaching. I wish teachers, overall, were as dedicated to treating the achievement gap or at least applying the treatments of other teachers who have had the most success. There are definitely teachers like that in IPS. But honestly, what percentage do you think that is? 5? Maybe 10? When more teachers see education as cutting-edge science and view themselves as truly transformational, we will not only gain respect for our profession, but we will also close the achievement gap.
I am a young, black, low-income single mom with a high school diploma. When my daughter started school in IPS, it was a disaster. The teacher was nice, but spent all of her time nitpicking on behavior (skipping instead of walking, not puffing out her cheeks in the hallway, even if she was silent, etc.). I taught my daughter to read before Kindergarten from a library book on how to teach your child to read. Even though I'd talked to the teacher several times about challenging her with reading, this was never done and toward the end of the year, the teacher made a comment about how well she reads (like it was her doing) and when I mentioned she could read before Kindergarten started, she was all, "oh, that's right." The next year, on back-to-school night, my daughter's teacher told me straight up that she was not going to try to challenge my daughter. I never had any contact with her again. I bought and borrowed homeschooling materials and worked with her and my 4-year-old son in the evenings. I used IPS as daycare. I got both children into an IPS magnet school the next year (when my daughter was in 2nd and my son was in Kindergarten). Fabulous, fabulous experience! My daughter started actually learning things at school and was excited about school. I liked her school so much that when my daughter qualified for Sidener, I didn't send her because I liked my magnet school so much. And I didn't have to do hardly anything. (Sign a homework log and listen to my son read. I never had to teach them anything). Last year (5th grade and 3rd grade) both of my children got Pass Plus on ISTEP in Math, my daughter got Pass Plus in Reading, and my son passed Reading on the high end, but just short of Pass Plus. Over the summer we moved to another district. The schools are supposedly some of the best in the state, but they're not as good as the IPS magnet school. It's nice to be able to send my kids to the neighborhood school, though, and here they both qualify as gifted, where at IPS only my daughter did. I get so irritated when people say the teachers and school don't matter and that it's only the parents. If I had stayed at the original IPS school, they would have written off my kids as poor urban black kids raised in a broken home and blamed me for the result. But in other schools, I'm a great parent and my kids are seen as great. Same parent, same kids. The difference is the school and the teachers.
Theoretically, I agree that the best-case scenario is parents and schools working together. However, I think that's extremely rare. What's more common in success stories is the experience of the poster above. High parent involvement and low teacher involvement or high teacher involvement and low parent involvement. I think high involvement for both is the ideal, but obviously I think high involvement from teachers is a higher priority because that's their job. If everyone was as involved as the lady above, we wouldn't really need teachers at all.
@I wish teachers, overall, were as dedicated to treating the achievement gap or at least applying the treatments of other teachers who have had the most success. There are definitely teachers like that in IPS. But honestly, what percentage do you think that is? 5? Maybe 10?
Aha you get my point. I can click off the names of at least 30 kids who were not only allowed to slip between the cracks, but were actually pushed out. These are all highly intelligent kids who should have succeeded, and I guarantee you that if their teacher's own children had been treated with such casual disregard the teachers would be up in arms. Teachers have no idea how to work with parents and students to insure the kids stay engaged. Several years ago I was talking to someone who taught a remediation program and this person was discussing a student who had failed everything, but when placed in remediation passed everything in a matter of weeks. I happened to know the student, and went back into my sent e-mails and found the fifteen e-mails I had sent to everyone and any one I thought might be able to help with the student, and not one of the many IPS support and administration people had done a thing. I know I spoke to the parent multiple times, begged and counseled the student to start working and attending, continued to talk to the student when he completed and passed my class.
Good fortune smiled on this student when this teacher found him, and he was successful but what about the other 29. We can't just continue to let these kids fail. Clever marketers sell these kids all sorts of things, and we as teachers aren't clever enough to sell the kid on the features and benefits of being educated... come on...it can be done....try this line... "I want you to be educated because when you grow up you should be the boss, and with out the degree you will be the worker, and train boss after boss who knows less than you. I've worked in lots of jobs where the employees know way more than the boss but never get ahead because they don't have the education."
@Please help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street... ______________________________________________________
Look, WE ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL! We are not dumb little children anymore. WE ALL know what sex is. DR WHITE SAID IT! HE MENTIONED TECH AT BROAD RIPPLE because we are ips as a whole, did you forget that tech is BRHS's sister school?
You are outraged because someone was actually real with your child and didn't sugar coat the situation. That stupid white girl didn't get raped. She just had a terrible friend. She was SHACKING it up with the boy in the bathroom and her "so called friend" told her mom. Some friend huh? She played the innocent white girl card and told the police she was raped so she didn't get in trouble. SORRY BUT THIS ISN'T the 60's anymore. WAKE UP! And by the way, the case was closed dummy. They realized the dumb little white girl was a nasty slut who liked a little chocolate.
Honestly you act like those discussions are never heard. SILVER PLATTER your own head for exposing your child to the media, and to other students, and to yourselves! like you never used any sort of vulgar language in front of them?
OH and one more thing. WHY ARE YOU EAVES DROPPING ON LITTLE GIRLS AT McD's? WHAT A NOSY PEDOPHILE!
No dear I do not use such language in front of them. And there was no need to eavesdrop since these girls were loud and vulgar. I need to tell you this right now, but in the majority of society this type of loud, vulgar, inappropriate behavior does not go on. You may be a big fish now, but you can't see out of your very, very small pond. Hopefully you will get a chance to get out of your little world and see something else.
Are you familiar with Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." Perhaps both you and Dr. White should heed her advice. Best of luck to you in the future, hopefully your mind will sharpen.
"WHY ARE YOU EAVES DROPPING ON LITTLE GIRLS AT McD's? WHAT A NOSY PEDOPHILE!"
Oh, child, I can tell we've failed you in getting you educated. If they were BRHS students, they aren't little girls. More than likely their loud mouths spread the conversation all across the room. Overhearing a conversation can't make someone a pedophile. The way you're using that word concerns me that you really don't know what the word means.
When I studied to be a teacher the issue of student confidentiality was taught. Basically you never discussed one student's behavior, grades, or a any other issue with another student or that students family. When I spoke to the parents of any student who asked how the other student was disciplined, I stated "I do not discuss your child with anyone else's parents, and I won't discuss someone else's child with you. Your child is in trouble for what he/she did, and that is what we will discuss"
How did Dr. White make it through school and not know this simple precept?
I think student confidientality is a newer concept. I was taught it, but I'm only an 8-year teacher. But lots of older teachers seem to think the concept is silly and that this generation of children is over-respected as it is. The blogmaster herself posted illegal youtube videos of children fighting each other last year and couldn't understand the outrage from us or from Blogspot (who made her take them down).
Let's watch it about the older teachers who think confidentiality is silly. I'm 63, and I've never discussed other students issues with someone other than their parents/guardians. Please don't make generalizations about older teachers.
So how many of you want to bet that the recent allegations of Corey Greenwood having sexual intercourse with a student somehow get swept under the rug because his Mama made it go away? I bet none of you are even aware the Mr. Greenwood is currently suspended without pay pending the conclusion of the investigation. Amazing how this didnt make the news yet.
I's perdic dat they will cloze de skoolz. I thinks days reelize dat eduka..educash...uh, learnin' ain't importent round heer. What wif txt msg and such, who need to lern to wright. It be jus' a wast of ur time. Heck, with all dis electriconic stuf round us, we no even need to reed anymore. Y, dem dern reputers will reed for us.
ReplyDeleteSo, I sez, cloze the skool, fire de teechers, and saiv me my tax money! Dern teechers do nuttin' but sits at their desks and plan there summer vacashion, anyway. BTW, Tony Benet is me heero.
That's just really stupid.
ReplyDeleteI say they will assign every school a monitor.
ReplyDeleteThe Wizard of Oz will assist with the take overs, hiding behind a curtain and giving instructions by emails.
ReplyDeleteDon't they already do that?
ReplyDeletePlease help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street and overheard school girls talking about an assembly they had attended. At the assembly someone in charge discussed the alleged rape at Tech. They were told that it was "common knowledge" the girl who the news media reported as being raped at Tech gave the boy "head sll last year". Who spoke to these young girls this way? If someone had given my daughter this "talk" I'd be down at the board meeting asking for this person's head on a silver platter.
ReplyDeleteWhy would something that happened at Tech be discussed at Broad Ripple? And why would someone decide to recount the details of what sounds like an ongoing police matter. And why would anyone discuss one students personal business in an assembly?
Who made these statements?
I predict that IPS will continue to have some of the best teachers in Indiana and some of the worst teachers in Indiana; moreover, I predict that IPS will continue to retain and hire the very worst administrators in the entire state.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever really think about who IPS hires? I do. I look around and see some of the most stellar, most dedicated teachers in the entire state who easily would be grabbed or snapped up by nearby township or surrounding suburban/county districts; on the other hand, I do see a fair number of IPS teachers who are probably near the bottom in their teaching skills/abilities. But, overwhelmingly, I notice that IPS has administrators, both building level and central office level, who never would be hired by any other school district in Indiana or any other state. In fact, I doubt these IPS administrators would get past the first round of interviews in another IN district.
Stop and think about this for a second. Can you really imagine the following IPS administrators being hired by a township or suburban district: Li-Yen Johnson, Jane Kendrick, Willie Giles, Dexter Suggs, Jackie Greenwood, Phyllis Barnes, Larry Yarrell, Marsha King, Paula Smith, Cassie Shipp, Jan Larson, Deborah Barlowe, Linda Davis, Mark West, Kris Walker-Guess, Brandon Crosby, Corey Greenwood, and the list continues...you can add to it.
IPS is managed and administered by a group of people who no other school district in surrounding areas would even interview for a similar position! This is frightening to me. It doesn't matter how good we are as teachers when we're being lead by the dregs of educational administrators.
You know it was Dr. White who addressed the students at Broad Ripple. He indeed did tell
ReplyDeletethe students exactly what you overheard at McDonald's. Dream on that the board would take any action against him for this very inappropriate conversation with the students.
I'm sorry...but whoever writes this...is hilarious and very talented! Obviously, a very talented and creative teacher!
ReplyDelete"I's perdic dat they will cloze de skoolz. I thinks days reelize dat eduka..educash...uh, learnin' ain't importent round heer."
@Please help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street...
ReplyDelete__________________________
I totally understand your outrage! I suspect it's just another IPS administrator's attempt at 'circling the wagons' for the district. IPS is known for attempting to keep its dirty laundry hidden. It sounds like some mid-level administrator who's loyal to Dr. White tried to spin the poor, unfortunate girl who reported being raped at Tech into a 'head giving whore'. It wouldn't be the first time this IPS diversionary tactic was employed to paint the girl as a common whore.
Just a few short years ago at Arlington, I witnessed Jackie Greenwood attempt to cover for Indiana's Mr. Football who was caught in the boy's restroom intimidating and overpowering a male student into providing him with oral sex (male on male). Jackie totally disregarded the report of the poor little old male student who'd been intimidated and overpowered into sucking Mr. Football's 'male member'. I could not make this up or invent this story, trust me!! Black male students are held in high regard by certain black administrators in IPS. That's a fact! The girl, whether black, white, or polka dotted, will lose every time in IPS! She will be described as a 'ho', a loose girl.
I expect a few of you all remember Brandon Crosby's sexual shenanigans with a female on his Shortridege faculty. Evidently Brandon and the famale faculty member were caught red-handed engaging in a momentous sexual encounter; however, do you remember who was painted as the whore? I do. The female Shortridge faculty member was blasted and removed! She was banished forever into the realm of 'whoredom' while Brandon was never mentioned again as being one half of the problem. The general public knows that it takes two to tango! Brandon just happened to tango with the teacher who was not a meek, mild little woman. Good for her! Shame on Brandon! Brandon will never get another job outside IPS. He's forever banished to live and work within IPS. That surely is punishment for a man who thinks his doo-doo don't stink!
ReplyDeleteIPS is owned and operated by the Black Mafia. It's no different than the Italian Mafia or the Sicilian Mafia. Eugene White owes his soul and his position and his children's positions to the local Black Mafia. Jackie Greenwood is the Don or Doness of the entire group per her relationship with the Indianapolis Black Clergy.
ReplyDeleteI sat in Greenwood's Arlington Hign School conference room and personally witnessed her allowing a black preacher to 'pray for raising a grade' of a 12th grade student. The praying was done on a conference call between Jackie, the preacher, the student's parents, and the 12th grade English teacher who had issued failing grades to the student because he'd not completed his work. In retropect, I was mandated to be at the 'prayer conference' simply because I was the token white teacher. Yes, this happened; yes, I was there!
Corey Greenwood is an excellent administrator and to lump his name in with everyone else's clearly shows that you: 1) don't know him and 2) hold what you believe are his mother's faults against him. I do not personally have interactions with the other IPS administrators you have implicated in your post, however if your incorrect assumptions about Mr. Greenwood are any indication, you are way off.
ReplyDeleteAnd check your information, Corey Greenwood is regularly offered positions in both township and suburban schools.
English teacher Nikki Garland should remember that Prayer Conference Call! Jackie Greenwood is as crooked as a dog's hind leg!!! Eugene White is as crooked as the same dog's hind leg because he allowed Jackie Greenwood to operate as a loose cannon under his leadership!! Jackie and Gene ought to remember that not all the people present at these conferences are supportive of their crooked moves! They also should be aware that these people present at these conferences took 'good notes' and have 'long memories'.
ReplyDelete@Corey Greenwood is an excellent administrator
ReplyDeleteCorey Greenwood may indeed be considered an excellent administrator in IPS; however, generalizing that thought does not mean that other local districts are beating down Corey's door to have him apply to their districts to share what you believe to be his stellar educational qualities. In fact, I postulate that Corey Greenwood's fine reputation with you and yours lies primarily because his mother, Jackie Greenwood, used her long-time power within IPS to insure that Corey was well situated as an administrator before she finally retired from IPS or died, whichever came first.
I worked with a man who taught at Arlington, he showed me his grade book and xerox copies of all the scantrons (how they used to take attendance) and the "official" records of the same students' attendance. Somehow students who missed over 40% of the semester were "officially absent" only 4% of the time.
ReplyDeleteThis type of thing is what has lead to the culture of Arlington. I know a principled principal who has a plaque on her desk that says "prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child" Arlington has graduated (or not graduated) so many students who think the world will change for them, sorry kids that is not the things work in the real world.
Thanks, Jackie,
signed all the Arlington kids who have crashed and burned in life.
If you've ever been on Jackie Greenwood's Christmas Card list, you'll know that she can't wait to publish those pictures of her sons and their White wives and their bi-racial children. After receiving the first of Jackie's Christmas cards, I started wondering why she was so adamant in pushing the bi-racial aspect of her family! Any thoughts, out there? I'd wager to say that Jackie Greenwood ain't your regular Afro-Centric Administrator!
ReplyDelete@Thanks, Jackie,
ReplyDeletesigned all the Arlington kids who have crashed and burned in life.
__________________________________________________
I distinctly remember the first Arlington High School graduation that I attended, as a faculty member who was charged with 'crowd control' duty. I watched those children walk across the stage and thought to myself that many of their diplomas weren't worth the paper they were printed on. I've kept in touch with a few of those graduates and have heard their cries when they realized they'd have to take and pay for remedial college courses. Jackie did no favors for her Arlington HS graduates.
Why did Eugene White and the IPS School Board wait so long to move Jackie Greenwood out of her long-held position as Arlington High School Principal? Did White and the IPS Board not realize the amount of educational harm she was inflicting on the Arlington students? Were White and the IPS Board afraid of the Concerned Clergy's response to removing Greenwood? How much longer will IPS continue to pay Jackie Greenwood $150K+ for being a sad old sack of a central office administrator? My gosh, the woman is 70+ years old; she is certainly entitled to retire from IPS with full benefits!
ReplyDeleteI predict that a bunch of over-paid people will come up with a bunch of convoluted ideas. Those ideas will cost lots of money that nobody has available. The ideas will make absolutely no difference just like every other idea they've had. The public school system will continue its inevitable downward spiral being kept alive by the continued theft of citizens hard earned money.
ReplyDeleteIn other words...the same old shit.
The problem is that the people who come in to "solve" the problems of IPS will never have read H.L.Mencken "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
ReplyDeleteRe; Jackie Greenwood. I've only met the woman once and that was in the late 90's when I was interviewing for a new position after my program was cut at another IPS building. What I walked away with from the group interview with her and the vice-principals was a feeling of racial bias against white males. She made the assumption that I wouldn't be able to relate to the black students and said as much aloud. Not that it made much difference as HR had sent me there and I really didn't want to be at that building anyway as Arlington's reputation was already in the dumper. The accuracy of her assumption was way the hell off as I already had a successful track record in IPS with the student population she was concerned about and have continued to do so with the same population. If her judgment in other areas was as inaccurate as her assumptions with me, then I can readily see why Arlington continued to go downhill and become a ghetto cesspool under her watch.
ReplyDeleteWhen the topic is over the hill useless females in IPS, I immediately think of Mary Busch. I can't wait for the next election.
ReplyDeleteJust help make sure that someone good is running against Busch. She lives in an area that just about guarantees she will win, so it's going to take someone with a track record behind them to go up against her. It will probably revolve around a campaign that wil say "thanks for your service, but it's now time for someone with new and fresh ideas to move forward. We thank you for the legacy and will build on it". Translation: you've become hidebound and fossilized, and you've left us a mess that we have to clean up. It's all in how you say it, and you can't directly attack an icon in the community without it biting you in the butt.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't put it past Eugene to discuss the topic of oral gratification regarding students. I heard he dropped the mother-of-all profanities at the Welcome Back to School meeting.
ReplyDeleteShe isn't an icon. Nor is she the queen of IPS. Although the assist superintendent thinks she is...
ReplyDeleteWell your superintendent did it again. He told the same story about the rape and giving head to every student at Northwest. This included 7th and 8th grade boys and girls. I don't mean that it is okay to say those things to the high school students. It is wrong. Is he that ignorant that he thinks it is okay to talk that way to 11 year old children. Most 11 year olds don't have any idea what giving head even means. But now they probably do. Thank you for stealing their innocence. If I had a child in Ips I would do everything in my power to get him out at least until Dr. White and his parasites are gone. I feel so sorry for the children of our city. They deserve to be children.
ReplyDelete"Most 11 year olds don't have any idea what giving head even means. But now they probably do. Thank you for stealing their innocence. If I had a child in Ips I would do everything in my power to get him out at least until Dr. White and his parasites are gone."
ReplyDeleteIPS kids do...I'm appalled at what they say and ask during the school year. Montel's Show about "Who's Your daddy," is common TV viewing for 8 year olds in IPS. I once questioned a student over turning in an assignment and he he said, "I promise, I'll take a DNA test," no lie. Very sad. Hardly innocent.
Why doesn't the news media pick up on this story. I am appalled that a public official would speak to students this way. What is wrong with this man?
ReplyDelete"IPS kids do...I'm appalled at what they say and ask during the school year."...
ReplyDeletePlease leave the district! Not all of the children in IPS know all of this stuff. I am a teacher of Middle School children. My students are not as worldly as you try to say they are. They act like they know what is going on then they ask their older siblings, cousins, and friends what things mean. Please remember that they are children and they deserve to be that for as long as they can and should. If you truly believe that our students are so jaded, you need to retire, quit, or just walk away. Are you a bigot, maybe? Most of my students' parents would never, ever allow their children to watch Montel, Springer, Maury, or any of the other shows that degrade people.
I am disappointed in your attitude.
I teach 8th grade in IPS. I wish you could come and talk to my students. If you were able to do that one on one, like I sometimes have the chance, you would find that they are no different than any other students in any other district in the state if not the country. The girls WANT to be young girls and the boys BEG to be boys instead of men. I agree with the above poster. Please leave teaching. Young people deserve the opportunity to be young. They will be adults with all of the associated baggage forever. Let us allow them, no, DEMAND for them, their childhoods.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteHow about we begin, and truly begin, to put children first? How about we get rid of the admins who do nothing but work to justify their jobs, get rid of the teachers who do not care about their students, and get rid of the support staff who treat children like garbage? Wouldn't that be a wonderful world for our IPS students? And by the way, our children deserve all of that, and more, from us. Step up, people. Step up.
ReplyDeleteIwas at the Northwest meeting with the Sup. You are all a bunch of liars! Dr. White made no such statement about the Tech situation, and to do so would be in violation of the law. Noone will ever take this blog seriously if you keep printing un-truths!
ReplyDeleteThe above poster is a LIAR!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Dr. White dropped several "language bombs" at the opening of school welcome. The comments were in context, but certainly not professional.
ReplyDeleteI would like to make one comment. I've been in several elementary buildings these past few weeks of school and wow, the buildings are calm and orderly. Way to go to all of the staff, administrators, and students. You're off to a great start!
Iwas at the Northwest meeting with the Sup. You are all a bunch of liars! Dr. White made no such statement about the Tech situation, and to do so would be in violation of the law. Noone will ever take this blog seriously if you keep printing un-truths!
ReplyDeleteSomeone is a liar here, and I believe it is you.
I got a voice mail from a friend who was present at Northwest, placed while White was speaking, and he is clearly heard discussing giving head.
When I figure out how to send this on to the press that is where it will go.
Liar Liar pants on Fire! I believe that he DID say those things at Northwest because I heard him tell the same story using the same words at one of his meetings with high school students earlier in the week. Stop trying to cover for this unprofessional and disgusting behavior.
ReplyDeleteI thought his comments to the boys last year were very inappropriate. If this is true, he has reached new lows. Paw the ground and step down.
ReplyDeleteHe DID make those statements.
ReplyDeleteYes, he did. Horrifying way to talk to IPS children.
ReplyDelete7th and 8th graders are harldly 11-year-olds. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteA few 7th graders are 11, but I stand corrected. They are usually 12 at the beginning of the school year which, I am sure, is the part of the school year we are currently experiencing. I do maintain, however, that 12 year olds should not be exposed to that kind of talk.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that many are saying, "Well, they are hearing it in the halls at school!"
You may be right about that, but it is a very different thing to hear it from the highest authority in your school district. It is not appropriate for a school setting no matter WHO is saying it.
We would suspend students for talking that way in class, but now Dr. White has made it okay. Didn't he also have a slide about profanity in his presentation? Is this type of talk anything less than profane?
The fact that some of our students have been exposed to inappropriate behaviors does not justify the superintendent from his behavior. We think every kid has been exposed to this type of thing, but we are wrong. All kids adopt an act tough type of persona. When I first got a classroom computer the students went to www.whitehouse.com, a porn site, that at the time was not blocked, one of my young men immediately brought it to my attention, but not before he threw up in the waste basket, and he warned me not to look at the site. Some children have been sheltered from some of this crude talk at home and at church.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised an attorney is not collecting this information, for the parents of the tech student. If this was my child I'd be looking at a law suit. How grossly inappropriate.
I was so amused to see Dr. Bennett has hired the "Turn Around Manager", the young man has two years in the classroom teaching social studies at acharter school? My God the experience, knowledge, and contacts in the educational community this young man has is amazing? The young man will allow "monitors" to work with IPS, and then DOE fails, the simple response will be "IPS didn't follow our instructions and leadership". Lead on young man, I would love to see you experience in my classroom for one week? Please say a prayer tonight, I have a feeling we are going to have a hard time.
ReplyDeleteHe has NO high school experience. Political puppet
ReplyDeleteBack in March they voted to not renew the contracts of four people,
ReplyDeletePrudence Bridgwaters #924
Pamela Denny-Rohrbach #951
Linda Poulter #951
Christina Shepard #723
Poulter who is a wonderful music teacher was reinstated as a music teacher (lucky kids) but what has happened to the other three, are they still lurking around in IPS, or were they really let go?
Nope, given an increase in salary and they are going to "save" IPS. I heard that Dr. White is courting the Tea Party and thinking of running for Bennett's position under the Tea Party's banner.
ReplyDeleteSaw Rohrbach at beginning of the year meeting. Guess she is still here.
ReplyDeleteI read this for the laughs, White courting the Tea Party, ROFLMAO. Another pipe dream, what's that guy smoking?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the discipline plan?????? I can't write up anyone.
ReplyDeleteDenny-Rohrbach is back in the classroom, thus saving two art teacher's job in the process.
ReplyDeleteFor those who can't find the discipline: There was training this summer on the NEW discipline, now found on TAC, while the old version is simply there for reference now. On TAC, check out "Classroom Issues" for in class problems and "Conduct Reports" for issues with students you do not teach or happen out of the classroom.
That is one way to improve the districts discipline profile, don't allow teachers to write anyone up.
ReplyDeleteThe TAC only works when you have access. The techs said I don't need access. Never mind that I teach every kid in the building.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the discipline plan: Instead of wasting the entire first day back with Dr. White's pep talk and an hour wait in the parking lot, not to mention some of the loosely constructed staff meetings (if yours was stellar, I apologize, mine was not)our building IT people could have taken center stage and walked through the basics of the change. I already work 12 hour days; I am OFF during the summer to attend endless advanced coursework, write upcoming year lesson plans (that have to be changed in the first 2 weeks)take care of my family's needs, and just get my wind back. If they want to make changes, like the 6 step, they can plan effective ways to train us WHILE WE ARE AT WORK AND NOT ON OUR OWN TIME.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Pamela Denny-Rohrbach. She did indeed take the ax to save two art teaching positions. That is a fact. Now she is dealing with petty crap at Shortridge, largely promulgated by a fellow art teacher who doesn't like her being there. D-R worked hard to elevate art to more than recess. We had art teachers in this district who thought they had the divine right to not teach to standards and believed that writing lesson plans was not in their job description (some of you area Union Reps know about this). She isn't perfect, and can be sharp, but she wanted respect for the teaching of the arts, and her goals were laudable. There is no room for "junk" coursework in education. You are either serving the educational needs of our clients, or you don't need to be here.
ReplyDeleteD-R took a serious pay cut, but still doing the job part time as well as teaching. Maybe the Shortridge teacher ought to consider what she is sniping about... what goes around comes around... just saying...
ReplyDeleteOMG the new referral suck. At first I thought they might be simpler, but, of course, it isn't.
ReplyDeleteWrote that too fast. Sorry for the run on crappy grammar.
ReplyDeleteWe had art teachers in this district who thought they had the divine right to not teach to standards and believed that writing lesson plans was not in their job description
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Did you ever see the pacing guide we were supposed to use? It was written like we all have year long courses, especially at the middle school level (high school got off easy). Some of us have semester courses, some 9 weeks, I suppose someone out there has a 2 year course, but no one I know.
She didn't design it. Li Yen Johnson set the parameters, and as we know, Dr. Johnson is a terrific listener. I don't think it was ever designed to even be used, just look good so IPS could say they were be rigorous everywhere.
ReplyDeleteTo: "Regarding Pamela Denny-Rohrbach. She did indeed take the ax to save two art teaching positions. That is a fact. Now she is dealing with petty crap at Shortridge, largely promulgated by a fellow art teacher who doesn't like her being there. D-R worked hard to elevate art to more than recess..."
ReplyDeleteD.R. is an annoying, vindictive idiot. She was in an art class a few years ago to observe a teacher she wanted to get rid of because the teacher was supposedly not the greatest at classroom management. She told the teacher to leave the classroom while she (D.R.) supervised. When the teacher returned, she and the others with her discovered that a student had urinated on the classroom floor. Yes, this was under PDR's watch as a stellar teacher and exemplory classroom manager. The kid peed on the floor and she had no idea. Hello!
I will say it again. PDR has no place in the IPS school corporation.
As a new idea, why is a teacher on special assignment all of a sudden qualified to evaluate other teachers at his school? I only ask this because this Broad Ripple staff member was viewed as a lousy teacher when he was at Shortridge. Now that he has fallen into a comfy job, he decides to let his new "power" go to his head.
ReplyDeleteHey, Rhimer, back off. You have no qualifications to talk to any of the teachers you are evaluating about their lesson plans. You have just been given a power that you do not deserve. Please don't justify your paycheck by bashing those of us who are actually positively impacting student achievement. Lay off.
P D-R and Prudence "carpet licking" Bridgwaters probably enjoy pissing on each other. What makes you think she would think it's bad for a kid to piss on the floor?
ReplyDeleteI am an IPS administrator and I must say PDR and Bridgewaters are truely an embarrasement to those trying to improve the system. Neither knows anything how to deal with today's students. Prudence cannot remember anything and spends most of her time hanging around with PDR doing nothing at FMS!
ReplyDeleteSo why weren't these two let go, per the board minutes? And what are their current salaries?
ReplyDeleteYou don't know Chris Guess obviously, she was just offered a position in Warren Township. From what I hear she has worked in Warren before and some other townships. We should try to hold on to her .
ReplyDeleteWell, this is Rhimer, I know who place the post about my teaching abilities at Shortridge. Well, BRHS is a failing school and I have a list of ten bad teachers already, who need to be fired by Linda Davis. One is a old English teacher, who thinks that she is a outstanding teacher. Well the data show that she has failed too many teachers in her classess, yep a "bad teacher" that needs to go, NOW!
ReplyDeleteAs a former IPS educator I've witnessed Dr.White's brazen, arrogant & inappropriate demeanor 1st hand so his comments about the rape victim being known 4 "giving head" comes as no surprise to me!! He's been known to say worse!! For a supposedly [or should I say allegedly because the jury's still out on that one!] educated/intellectual man Dr. White--for lack of a better description--doesn't have the good sense God gave him!!! His ideas/policies for running the schools are either too antiquated, too radical & for the most part non-attainable!! The majority of the district's implemented goals & education program[s] are designed to set the average inner city student up for failure!!! That being said---YES, IPS needs intervention because their so-called administrators & administraion are & is[as the kids say] jacked-the-f*%#-up!!! My grandmother had this saying--"Too many Chiefs & not enough Indians" This analogy fits IPS to a "T"!!
ReplyDeletefrom national news service
ReplyDeleteWear green on Friday. That's the request from the family of a 17-year-old injured in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. The show of solidarity is for Brad Humphrey whose legs and back were crushed under the rigging. He's surviving the tragedy with the support of his family and the community.
It's hard to miss the good wishes on the sign at Crispus Attucks where one student has spent more time in a hospital bed than in class.
"He's taking it real hard. He's depressed," said Lyndsay Reynolds, Brad's cousin.
Brad Humphrey, 17, was among those injured by the stage collapse at the State Fair. His legs were broken and his spine was crushed. Right now he has no feeling in his legs.
"There is a possibility he will walk again and we think that with prayer and everybody's support, he will walk again," said Reynolds.
Brad is a standout tennis player. Last season he played number one singles at Crispus Attucks. Those who know him say despite his injuries, he will play tennis again.
"He's learned that everything doesn't come easy and you have to work for things and he's going to work harder to overcome this," said Steve Mackell, National Junior Tennis League.
.
On Friday, family members are asking everyone to go green for Brad by wearing green, his favorite color.
RE;Well, this is Rhimer, I know who place the post about my teaching abilities at.......
ReplyDeleteWow! You don't know how to spell your own name? Oh that's right, you are a liar!
This is in addition 2 my earlier post Re: Dr. White's brazen attitude & IPS's "jacked-up" state of affairs or as my son would say--"Nuthin' but BS & Busters"! I want to share a story about IPS's hypocrisy when it comes to the so-called nurturing & well-being of the students. During an assembly held at Manual HS w/ Dr, White there was a Q & A portion where students could provide their input. Well a young lady posed a question concerning the dress code & why it was necessary! keep in mind this student was polite & very well-mannered! Suffice to say every question presented to Dr. White was given an insignificant & inconclusive response!! Finally Dr. White got so frustrated w/ her line of questioning that he eventually shot the student down & took a more juvenile approach by cutting her off--practically telling her 'cause I said so--& moving on to next person!! Are we or are we not teaching kids to be independent thinkers as well as courteous & responsible adults--if not then when did this all change?!!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted 2 apologize for the grammatical errors in my 2 earlier posts due to my being in a hurry & rushing thru it---Please don't judge me too harshly!!
ReplyDeleteI heard Dr. White speak to an assembly of students just a week ago. He DID talk about a white girl "giving head" to a black boy on the bus. All the students gasped and many put their hands to their faces and slumped down in their seats. Adults were in shock! He should be removed. How disgraceful and disrespectful to the taxpayers of Indianapolis and their families. Is he the best we can offer to students? IPS Board members: DO YOUR JOB!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the media? We need an investigation of this. Someone must have a recording and a videotape. The young lady in question at Tech should bring a lawsuit. All you investigative reporters out there, we need answers to this one. I am in disbelief and completely mortified, not to mention saddened that this is the best Indianapolis has to offer. Or is it?
ReplyDeleteIPS To Sue INDOE
ReplyDeleteby Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
Just in. The Indiana Department of Education has turned down an appeal by Indianapolis Public Schools regarding the status of several schools that could be taken over by the state next year. My sources are also telling me that IPS plans to sue the state in Court over the decision.
Howe, Washington, Broad Ripple and Arlington failed to make it off academic probation this year which means they are subject to be taken over by the state. IPS argued that those schools have middle school students which skewed their most recent end of course assessment results and those students should not have been included in any testing.
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett says IPS was treated just like every other school district in the state and is not entitled to any special treatment.
A decision on the fate of IPS’ failing schools could come as early as tomorrow.
That wasn't Rhimer.Rimer or Ryhmer posting that..he is too professional to do that. Leave him alone. He is just doing his job. Don't be so sensitive that you think you are too perfect to improve. We all have room for improvement. I include myself in this.
ReplyDelete@This is in addition
ReplyDeleteI’ve been doing research on the genesis of the achievement gap. Despite what we are told it does not originate with teachers. Students, no matter what their demographic/socio-economic group make the same amount of progress across the time they spend in school during the school year. The gap comes from what happens in middle and upper socio/economic homes, as well as low income homes where parents use the parenting model called concerned cultivation. So what are the hallmarks of a child raised using this model? Children raised with concerned cultivation exhibit greater verbal ability, larger vocabularies, more comfort with authority figures, and more comfort with abstract concepts. The parents emphasize the importance of talking with children, the development of educational interests; play more of a role in schooling. The children understand how to reason with others, and problem solve through negotiation rather than physical force.
Dr. White in his educational approach and even in the way he dealt with the questioning child modeled the natural growth model. In this model children are spoken to, not with; are issued directives rather than negotiating with; and the children having more control of their own leisure activities.
Dr. White’s leadership style seems to follow this low income (and academically unsuccessful) model. He issues directives to teachers, students, parents, and administrators. His unenforceable uniform policy is yet another example, even in it’s’ enforcement you see how it is unequally enforced. If you are in a magnet program you can get away with wearing almost anything, attend a regular school you’d better comply. Magnet students have the sense of “entitlement” that they system denies their poorer counterparts. This sense of entitlement is an attribute of academic success, yet it is discouraged and punished with lower socio/economic students.
If we really want to close the achievement gap we need to work with children and families, and Dr. White’s approach simply will not work.
You haven't been doing research. You're spouting stuff that researchers have been challenging for 20 years. Seriously, pick up any education journal published in the last 20 years. The biggest step toward solving a problem is admitting it is a problem you can solve. If you just pass the buck off to the family (but don't give them any power or input) then how does that solve anything? We can't ask to be respected as professionals but then resort to the "not my job, not my fault" mindset of an unskilled laborer. Teachers who are not successful with IPS kids need to learn from those who are or get out of teaching.
ReplyDeleteThat is not at all what I am saying. What I am saying is we need to look at what the kids who have the skills necessary to succeed in school and give all kids those skills. And this is exactly what successful teachers do. They help kids develop background knowledge, help them learn to negotiate, and learn to deal with abstract concepts. These problems can indeed be solved.
ReplyDeleteOur remediation programs are the problem, if a kid is unsuccessful and unmotivated in school, for what ever reason, we remediate them by doing more of the same thing harder. Look at the tests and you will see there is a good deal of bias in the test against kids who have not had exposure to a variety of different situations. Think about the questions about "beach vacation"
kids who are from struggling families in scenic Indianapolis do not take beach vacations, heck I haven't had a beach vacation in 30 years either.
This lack of experience really hurts our kids.
"This is Rhimer..."
ReplyDeleteReally? What an idiot you are. Obviously you have some sort of vindictive agenda toward a teacher or teachers at Broad Ripple. Now, be assured that I am not defending Mr. Rimer. He has no qualifications to evaluate, but don't impersonate him on this blog, please. Let the TOSA speak for himself.
(He is not too professional to do that. He is just too far up someone's rear to be able to speak without having his string pulled.)
Long live the Queen!
I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said Idiot. That was rude. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLong live the Queen!
ReplyDeleteThe Queen needs to consider her French History. When the citizens had had enough of the French Queen Marie Antionette insolent and opprobrious behavior they solved the problem.
George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
@that is not at all what I am saying. I agree there is test bias. I also agree that there are many outside factors that contribute to the achievement gap. What I don't agree with is that we can't close the achievement gap with better classroom instruction.
ReplyDeleteLung cancer can originate with asbestos, cigarette smoking, and air pollution. However many people with exposure to asbestos, smoke, and pollution don't get lung cancer, and many people who get lung cancer were never exposed to smoke, asbestos, or air pollution. And regardless of the cause, medical professionals makes strides every year in treating lung cancer. There will quite possibly be a cure before I retire from teaching. I wish teachers, overall, were as dedicated to treating the achievement gap or at least applying the treatments of other teachers who have had the most success. There are definitely teachers like that in IPS. But honestly, what percentage do you think that is? 5? Maybe 10? When more teachers see education as cutting-edge science and view themselves as truly transformational, we will not only gain respect for our profession, but we will also close the achievement gap.
I am a young, black, low-income single mom with a high school diploma. When my daughter started school in IPS, it was a disaster. The teacher was nice, but spent all of her time nitpicking on behavior (skipping instead of walking, not puffing out her cheeks in the hallway, even if she was silent, etc.). I taught my daughter to read before Kindergarten from a library book on how to teach your child to read. Even though I'd talked to the teacher several times about challenging her with reading, this was never done and toward the end of the year, the teacher made a comment about how well she reads (like it was her doing) and when I mentioned she could read before Kindergarten started, she was all, "oh, that's right." The next year, on back-to-school night, my daughter's teacher told me straight up that she was not going to try to challenge my daughter. I never had any contact with her again. I bought and borrowed homeschooling materials and worked with her and my 4-year-old son in the evenings. I used IPS as daycare. I got both children into an IPS magnet school the next year (when my daughter was in 2nd and my son was in Kindergarten). Fabulous, fabulous experience! My daughter started actually learning things at school and was excited about school. I liked her school so much that when my daughter qualified for Sidener, I didn't send her because I liked my magnet school so much. And I didn't have to do hardly anything. (Sign a homework log and listen to my son read. I never had to teach them anything). Last year (5th grade and 3rd grade) both of my children got Pass Plus on ISTEP in Math, my daughter got Pass Plus in Reading, and my son passed Reading on the high end, but just short of Pass Plus. Over the summer we moved to another district. The schools are supposedly some of the best in the state, but they're not as good as the IPS magnet school. It's nice to be able to send my kids to the neighborhood school, though, and here they both qualify as gifted, where at IPS only my daughter did. I get so irritated when people say the teachers and school don't matter and that it's only the parents. If I had stayed at the original IPS school, they would have written off my kids as poor urban black kids raised in a broken home and blamed me for the result. But in other schools, I'm a great parent and my kids are seen as great. Same parent, same kids. The difference is the school and the teachers.
ReplyDeleteI really think a lot of it was you. Schools and parents working TOGETHER will get it done.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry your children didn't come to our school.
Theoretically, I agree that the best-case scenario is parents and schools working together. However, I think that's extremely rare. What's more common in success stories is the experience of the poster above. High parent involvement and low teacher involvement or high teacher involvement and low parent involvement. I think high involvement for both is the ideal, but obviously I think high involvement from teachers is a higher priority because that's their job. If everyone was as involved as the lady above, we wouldn't really need teachers at all.
ReplyDelete"I'm a great parent and my kids are seen as great."
ReplyDeleteI can tell by reading your post that you are indeed a "great parent." I would also add the word "exceptional" parent.
Your daughter is blessed to have a a Mom like you and I'm sure her teachers are blessed to have a parent to work with like you.
Your children are absolutely blessed to have a role model that stresses the importance of education everyday.
ReplyDelete@I wish teachers, overall, were as dedicated to treating the achievement gap or at least applying the treatments of other teachers who have had the most success. There are definitely teachers like that in IPS. But honestly, what percentage do you think that is? 5? Maybe 10?
ReplyDeleteAha you get my point. I can click off the names of at least 30 kids who were not only allowed to slip between the cracks, but were actually pushed out. These are all highly intelligent kids who should have succeeded, and I guarantee you that if their teacher's own children had been treated with such casual disregard the teachers would be up in arms. Teachers have no idea how to work with parents and students to insure the kids stay engaged. Several years ago I was talking to someone who taught a remediation program and this person was discussing a student who had failed everything, but when placed in remediation passed everything in a matter of weeks. I happened to know the student, and went back into my sent e-mails and found the fifteen e-mails I had sent to everyone and any one I thought might be able to help with the student, and not one of the many IPS support and administration people had done a thing. I know I spoke to the parent multiple times, begged and counseled the student to start working and attending, continued to talk to the student when he completed and passed my class.
Good fortune smiled on this student when this teacher found him, and he was successful but what about the other 29. We can't just continue to let these kids fail. Clever marketers sell these kids all sorts of things, and we as teachers aren't clever enough to sell the kid on the features and benefits of being educated... come on...it can be done....try this line... "I want you to be educated because when you grow up you should be the boss, and with out the degree you will be the worker, and train boss after boss who knows less than you. I've worked in lots of jobs where the employees know way more than the boss but never get ahead because they don't have the education."
@Please help me out here, I was at McDonald's on 62nd street...
ReplyDelete______________________________________________________
Look, WE ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL! We are not dumb little children anymore. WE ALL know what sex is. DR WHITE SAID IT! HE MENTIONED TECH AT BROAD RIPPLE because we are ips as a whole, did you forget that tech is BRHS's sister school?
You are outraged because someone was actually real with your child and didn't sugar coat the situation. That stupid white girl didn't get raped. She just had a terrible friend. She was SHACKING it up with the boy in the bathroom and her "so called friend" told her mom. Some friend huh? She played the innocent white girl card and told the police she was raped so she didn't get in trouble. SORRY BUT THIS ISN'T the 60's anymore. WAKE UP!
And by the way, the case was closed dummy. They realized the dumb little white girl was a nasty slut who liked a little chocolate.
Honestly you act like those discussions are never heard. SILVER PLATTER your own head for exposing your child to the media, and to other students, and to yourselves! like you never used any sort of vulgar language in front of them?
OH and one more thing. WHY ARE YOU EAVES DROPPING ON LITTLE GIRLS AT McD's? WHAT A NOSY PEDOPHILE!
No dear I do not use such language in front of them. And there was no need to eavesdrop since these girls were loud and vulgar. I need to tell you this right now, but in the majority of society this type of loud, vulgar, inappropriate behavior does not go on. You may be a big fish now, but you can't see out of your very, very small pond. Hopefully you will get a chance to get out of your little world and see something else.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."
Perhaps both you and Dr. White should heed her advice. Best of luck to you in the future, hopefully your mind will sharpen.
Smooth ;-)
ReplyDelete@Smooth ;-)
ReplyDeleteDitto. Very, very smooth. :)
@ Broad Ripple student
ReplyDelete"WHY ARE YOU EAVES DROPPING ON LITTLE GIRLS AT McD's? WHAT A NOSY PEDOPHILE!"
Oh, child, I can tell we've failed you in getting you educated. If they were BRHS students, they aren't little girls. More than likely their loud mouths spread the conversation all across the room. Overhearing a conversation can't make someone a pedophile. The way you're using that word concerns me that you really don't know what the word means.
When I studied to be a teacher the issue of student confidentiality was taught. Basically you never discussed one student's behavior, grades, or a any other issue with another student or that students family. When I spoke to the parents of any student who asked how the other student was disciplined, I stated "I do not discuss your child with anyone else's parents, and I won't discuss someone else's child with you. Your child is in trouble for what he/she did, and that is what we will discuss"
ReplyDeleteHow did Dr. White make it through school and not know this simple precept?
I think student confidientality is a newer concept. I was taught it, but I'm only an 8-year teacher. But lots of older teachers seem to think the concept is silly and that this generation of children is over-respected as it is. The blogmaster herself posted illegal youtube videos of children fighting each other last year and couldn't understand the outrage from us or from Blogspot (who made her take them down).
ReplyDeleteLet's watch it about the older teachers who think confidentiality is silly. I'm 63, and I've never discussed other students issues with someone other than their parents/guardians. Please don't make generalizations about older teachers.
ReplyDeleteSo how many of you want to bet that the recent allegations of Corey Greenwood having sexual intercourse with a student somehow get swept under the rug because his Mama made it go away? I bet none of you are even aware the Mr. Greenwood is currently suspended without pay pending the conclusion of the investigation. Amazing how this didnt make the news yet.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ips.k12.in.us/headline_detail.php?id=573
DeleteGreenwood was nominated as a top educator. Probably not for his hands on sex education class tho!