Howe, Arlington, Emma Donnan and Manual are being taken over.
The overall District's grade went from a D to an F.
The bobblehead board extended Dr. White's contract raise and voted to sue the State of Indiana.
It was fun while it lasted.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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Let the fun begin. Charters have always had the option of "returning" kids to IPS or other schools...let's see how well they do when they can no longer "return" kids.
ReplyDeleteCharters don't have that "option". Students have the same rights in a charter as they do in a district school. If charters are "returning kids" without officially expelling them, they are breaking the law. If in fact they are expelling them, then any public school has the option of accepting them. If your administrators are taking expelled kids, that is a choice. This is not a defense of charters who lie to parents, but you can't make broad comments about all charters just like you can't lump all IPS schools together. Some are great and some suck.
ReplyDelete@you can't make broad comments about all charters just like you can't lump all IPS schools together. Some are great and some suck.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much...so true.
http://www.doe.in.gov/news/2011/08-August/ma_community_meetings.html
ReplyDeleteLink to Community Meetings about Turnaround Schools and their Operators. Might be a good idea to attend one to get some questions answered.
http://www.charterschoolsusa.com/
ReplyDeleteCheck out the Career Center.
@ If your administrators are taking expelled kids, that is a choice..
ReplyDeleteI thought if a kid was expelled, they weren't allowed back in anywhere for the duration. That might exlain why some of these troubled kids in middle school were getting back in when an administrator decided to make a project of the kid. It seldom worked out and the vast majority of the time the returnee continued to disrupt class and bring the rest of the students down.
Leave to "Not my man" Mitch and his administration to continue getting things wrong. IPS has been a troubled system for way too many years. The problem starts out at the top. If they truly wanted to improve things, getting rid of the Board would have been the best place to start, and then work their way downward. the Board controls the policy and directs the Superintendent. They've been lax on that score for entirely too many years. Consider how many bad Superintendents we've seen in a row. Come to think about it, when was the last time we had a good one?
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to listen to "so called" elite schools like Carmel, HSE, Plainfield, Avon etc try and explain why they received grades of C. Some of their explanations deserve an F for believeability.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now more people will understand why Bennett is NO GOOD for the students and schools in Indiana.
ReplyDelete"the Board controls the policy and directs the Superintendant..."
ReplyDeleteReally? When did that happen? In IPS, the Superdependent runs the board along with everything and everyone else in the system. But have no fear, if you are a Kappa or the brother, cousin, son, nephew, uncle, or dog of a Kappa, you will be taken care of royally. Screw everyone else.
If it is over then what do the rest of the IPS teachers have to look forward to in the future? Rumors are running wild. Latest rumor...IPS is preparing to pink slip all teachers so they can pick only the cheap ones to staff the district next year. Do tell what is in store for next year.
ReplyDeleteBoys and girls, it's time to fire up the resumes. I'd start looking now and see what shakes out this year. If I saw a good opportunity in another system, I'd be bailing damn fast. There's a time to think about the school system, and there's a time that you have yo look in the mirror and remind yourself you have family and a career to manage. Waiting for the IPS anvil to drop will be too late. Your retirement continues if you go to another public school, not so if you wind up with one of these cut-rate pay for-profit schools.
ReplyDeleteI would also advise any older teachers to start keeping a log of any interactions with administration and document what happens or is said. If push comes to shove, and there's a chance of age discriminination, you want proof of what went down.
I can't tell you how vindictive the administrators are in your building, so if you work for an ass, well, I hate that for you. However, for the vast majority of teachers, they are likely to continue to be employed. Where will the one company from Florida find more than 300 employees?
ReplyDeleteThere is some question about compensation, to be sure. However, there is work if you want it. I would imagine that older teachers who are part of the bargaining unit will continue to have the union advocate for them. They should protect your experience. However, for those of us that wind up working for a TSO, public school teachers have to belong to the state retirement fund. There might be quality of life issues (like pay, hours, expectations), but there should still be opportunities to work.
Smart IPS teachers will begin 1) to tweak their resumes, 2) to gather artifacts that highlight their areas of expertise and skill, 3) to apply for teaching positions in other districts even before the positions are advertised, 4) to build a portfolio of data illustrating abilities to increase student academic achievement, 5) to keep their lips sealed about their career plans while in the teacher's lounge, and 6) to remember they're good teachers.
ReplyDeleteDumb IPS teachers will spend their time 1) wringing their hands about how awful things are, 2) bad-mouthing the State Dept. of Education, 3) sucking up to building administrators who probably won't be there next year, 4) flapping their jaws about nonconstructive negative stuff whenever they're in the lunchroom, the hallway, or the lounge, or 5) wishing and hoping that this too shall pass. (It won't.)
EdPower, headquartered here in Indianapolis, will be the turnaround operator for Arlington. For career information, here's their website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edpower.org/
__________________________________________
Charter Schools USA will be the turnaround operator for Howe, Donnan, and Manual. For career information, check their website at:
http://www.charterschoolsusa.com/
Is it true when teachers are rehired through the charter that the salary range is 37 to 40 with no seniority pay, only pay varies according to subject taught? I did speak with some friends in Florida and they said the charters schools down there have a hard time hiring because of the low pay. Usually bringing in first year teachers and experienced teachers usually prefer public school pay/benefits
ReplyDeleteI know our minds are trained to think in terms of salary schedules, but think of charter schools like a non-union industry (retail store, dentist's office, auto repair shop, etc.) and it begins to make more sense how varied it all can be. Some 3rd year teachers make more than some ten-year teachers. Five teachers with the same education and experience will likely have five different starting salaries, depending on the charter school and what the individual teacher brings to the table. Only a few charter schools pay less than local union scale or hire only first year teachers, and those are the ones that don't do well, can't keep enrollment, and aren't likely to stay open long. Now because of the way charter schools are paid, they don't have as much for teacher salaries as traditional schools, but with the takeover, the charter school companies will be paid like IPS, which will give them much more funding to work with. I agree with the above poster that those teachers who create their own portfolio and document their skill will likely do fine. But just like we've learned from the recession of the last couple of years, those who sit around and collect unemployment for months and months and then try to find a quality position after it runs out don't tend to be in high demand in the job market, no matter how much they made at their old job.
ReplyDelete@Smart IPS teachers will begin...
ReplyDeleteand
@I know our minds are trained to think in terms
________________________________________________
Both these posts contain excellent information and recommendations for teachers and administrators wishing to be proactive in their career plans. We have an entire year but please don't wait until the 11th hour to begin your plan.
I will collect my unemployment and winter in southen Italy.
ReplyDeleteWith IPS putting all teachers in the evaluation process it appears there will be the 100% RIF. Elementary schools in IPS have carried the load toward AYP for the district it makes no sense to RIF those great teachers. What in the world is this district trying to do?
ReplyDeleteSick days count against us. Why is that if I have a doctor's excuse....
ReplyDelete@Sick days count against us. Why is that if I have a doctor's excuse....
ReplyDeleteIt is because you are 'Super Teacher'; you are beyond illness, beyond sickness, beyond the ails of mere mortals. You are approaching the state of 'Sainthood'. I bow and genuflect before your presence, Super Teacher! Go and teach on, my Lord. We, other teachers, are not worthy of the crumbs that fall beneath your table.
Joking, of course, but I do know what you mean!
@I will collect my unemployment and winter in southen Italy.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tuscany is rather nice during the winter; however, why waste your unemployment benefits when you could first use all your accumulated sick leave? I'm a practical and pragmatic person.
But, the charter will not accept my years of sick leave, so I will make Mitch give me some walking around money.
ReplyDeleteJust for fun: http://mthruf.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/job-fails-workplace-subjectivity-for-teachers1.jpg
ReplyDeleteIt's a graphic that shows how parents, students, and teachers perceive each other. :)
Now that Steve Goldsmith's character (or rather the lack of it) has finally come out, think there's any chance the Goldsmith Law could be repealed? Or is the same as all other Republican legislation and destined to last a generation until common sense is finally applied?
ReplyDeleteWhile I am not a fan of Eugene White, I think that they may be some secret strategies in place to alleviate the pain of the Tony Bennett takeover raid on IPS.
ReplyDeleteI just figured out how many hours I have been working per week since the start of school. My shortest day is typically 12 hours of constant work. I am not talking about counting a 30 minute lunch or passing periods. I took that out of the equation. But I am talking about hours of student contact, preparing, and administrative. No time unaccounted for.
ReplyDeleteMy actual hourly rate is just over $13 an hour.
I am going to bed at 8:30 or 9:00 at night and getting up just after 5:00am, and I am still exhausted. I know I am a good teacher, a good person, and professional. I am just not sure that I can continue to be beaten up this way when the people in decision making positions are not putting children first. It is nearly impossible to make the difference that I need to make for these students when our system is not focused on the kids like my colleauges and I are.
Oops, I made a mistake and had figured my rate incorrectly. It's actually $18.00 an hour. That's a little bit better, but my teenaged son earns more than half that to put mustard and ketchup on hamburger buns while having no stress at all and leaving work at work when he goes home.
ReplyDeleteI understand. Have been thinking the same thing about the hours being required and still no matter how well things are with the kids and learning. Administrators feel the need to dress you down (sometimes in front of students).
ReplyDeleteAfter over 16yrs. Now having a family I would like to see and be part of. Not sure IPS is still the place for me. Sad, because I love the kids and love seeing the progress (especially the tough ones when they get their diplomas).
When I figured my hourly rate so far I realized that my brothers who both never went to college are earning far more than me. Never have to take anything home and their profession is not daily being trashed in the media.
Will be deciding this year of staying or looking eleswhere (even another profession) is something to do.
Like I said, completely understand!
(BTW: Cell phone typing is not my normal thing. Learning! Please excuse any typos, gram errors I missed, and spelling I think my thumb is to big.)
If you are a good teacher, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. If you aren't....well, good luck to you.
ReplyDeleteWe ALL have something to be worried about. The best teacher who has a principal who doesn't like them for whatever reason is in danger.
ReplyDeleteI have seen vindictive princpals. I'd be worried.
Is there going to be another site for us to vent once this one is no longer here?
ReplyDeleteI've seen vindictive principals too, and they can make life difficult, and I've seen a vindictive principal make a mediocre teacher out to be a really bad one. But I've never seen a principal try to get rid of a good teacher. It just doesn't happen. It's like a vindictive teacher giving an A-student an F. It just doesn't happen. Maybe a B, maaaaybe a C+, but never an F. Favoritism and vindictiveness can tip the scales but not to that extent.
ReplyDeleteI have seen numerous occasions where a vindictive principal has lashed out at an outstanding teacher. Many times, it is because the efforts of the teacher makes it obvious that the prinicipal is not doing the job.
ReplyDeleteI've seen teachers make life hell on outstanding students for the same reason (and way more often than vindictive principals -- after all even if 10% of principals are corrupt and only 1% of teachers, you're going to have several corrupt teachers for every corrupt principal). But making life difficult is not the same as failing them. And a vindictive principal making life hell on an outstanding teacher is not the same as firing them. Good teachers don't get fired, and good students don't get Fs. They're mutually exclusive.
ReplyDelete"Good teachers don't get fired."
ReplyDeleteDon't agree with that generalization. We are going to see a lot of good teachers getting fired in the years to come, now that Mitch and his pit bull (Tony) are running the show.
Good teachers will get fired for the sin of having over 10 years of experience. Money talks after all. Some good principals out there. Some crazy ones, too. Get a crazy one and you may be out the door, no matter how skilled and dedicated you are.
Crazy or ambitious, either one will do. When Rambo took over at 108, she replaced a mediocre incompetent principal. Rambo came to us with a PIP herself. The first thing she started doing was micromanaging and doing dog and pony shows for downtown administration.
ReplyDeleteThere were several good teachers that she took a dislike to for whatever reasons, including a few who didn't want to get involved in pointless committees they had been dragged into the previous couple of years. What was obvious quickly was that if you displeased her in any way, your butt was going to be in the grinder and probably on the way out the door.
She drove off many good teachers whose only sin was to have a different teaching style than what she envisioned. Within a couple of years the turnover was about 70% and by three years it was about 90%. She claimed to have changed the climate of the building. Bullshit, all she did was get rid of the old staff and that still didn't change the fact that it was a failing school. It was a failing school because the previous adminsistration passed everyone who should have been failed, and she continued the same policy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if virtually everyone passes, there is no need to do serious work because you're going to get passed along anyway.
Her goal, and she made no secret of it, was to get out the classrom and building administration. She wanted to be downtown where the power is. Undoubtedly she harbors ambitions to be a superintendant somewhere.
Anyone who got in her perceived way was trounced on and harassed beyond belief no matter how good they were. One of the math teachers was subjected to constant criticism. The teacher was told their students were the worst in the district, and not more than a week later the system wide scores were posted and that teacher's were the second highest in the district. She lies constantly to reinforce what she wants, and is not to be trusted in any circumstances whatsoever.
She is ambitious and will step on anyone on her way up the ladder, and has ruined or harmed the careers of many good dedicated teachers.
As you said above, a crazy or overly ambitious principal will harm a good and dedicated teacher if it serves their personal goals.
I never worked with or for Yvonne Rambo, but I did spend some time with her at a Professional Development activity two years ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a professional remark; this is a personal observation that I will now make.
Yvonne Rambo presented herself as an Appalachian, trailer park female. Her hair was dyed or tinted in a Clairol ugly reddish, brassy color. Her hair also was styled in what many would term as 'big hair'. Added to the brassy 'big hair' look was her obvious near-obese body shape that was draped in, what appeared to be, cheap polyester clothing that only could be found at Wal-Mart.
As we all know, first impressions are the lasting impressions. My first and lasting impression of Yvonne Rambo was that of a rather large, brassy-haired, cheaply attired female who likely grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, or Eastern Tennessee.
Correct me if I'm wrong or if I'm totally off base in my first and lasting impression.
My God you truly have issues with your self image, and petty, hateful words. Please seek help, you are not that outstanding. I can just image what you are saying about me as I am under going cancer treatment: hair loss, gray skin tone, red eyes, and clothes that are too large.
ReplyDelete@ You truly have issues;
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's the case at all. Settle down, no one yanked your chain. The discussion was on Rambo, unless you're she and you're trolling the blog.
@ I never with.
Please don't disparage Appalachians by comparing her as one. Rambo is from Pendleton, IN. Appalachians have a much better sense of ethics that what she displays. Your observations a out her are pretty much on the mark. She was kept on by White because he needs a pet pit bull to bully teachers.
"If charters are "returning kids" without officially expelling them, they are breaking the law."
ReplyDeletePeople break laws all the time. It's whether or not the DOE enforces the laws. When the Indy Star takes ad money from the Virtual Charter school don't look for any investigative journalism on charters. Hard to compete with outfits that offer FREE before and after school care from 7 am to as late as 5:30. That's ALL our parents want. Free daycare and inflated grades.
@That's ALL our parents want. Free daycare and inflated grades.
ReplyDeleteI just now (at 9:10 PM) read this comment you wrote. C'mon, do you actually realize how your comment sounds to others... to taxpayers who pay your salary, to co-workers who work beside you each day, to parents whose children might be in your classroom, to the College of Education that granted your teaching certificate, to Pat Bauer who likely supports your union efforts? Do you have the slightest inkling of how ignorant, how unprofessional, how hateful your comment sounds? Do you even care that your hateful comment reflects upon the collective body of professional public school teachers??
Last time I checked the state of Indiana issued my teaching license. The College of Education provided me with knowledge I needed to pass the NTE (showing my age there).
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the comment in question is in poor taste, your comment was not necessary either.
The NTE? Wow, I had forgotten about that lovely test that almost gave me an ulcer! The general knowledge part of that test made me feel like I was in a high stakes game of Trivial Pursuit. Have a great Labor Day, my hard-working friends.
ReplyDeleteThe NTE was ridiculous! It was long, exhaustive, mundane, and fairly irrelevant. I wonder if the Praxis is any better? In any case, as it pertains to charters throwing kids out, I would like to emphasize that you can't throw kids out of public school without giving them due process. Even if the star wouldn't print such a story, the television folks would jump all over it. If a parent went to Amos Brown (who is IPS friendly), he would jump all over that. The fact of the matter is some charters are ridiculous and should be shut down (just like some regular schools are heinous and should be shut down). Most kids are officially expelled, and the receiving school takes those kids at their own option (and sometimes peril). I say peril because an expulsion loses its effect if you can merely leave Tech and enroll in a charter or leave a charter and enroll at Howe. These are administrative issues. If you are getting the dregs of the charter society, blame your administrator . . . not the charters.
ReplyDelete@ "I've never seen a principal try to get rid of a good teacher. It just doesn't happen."
ReplyDeleteYou haven't been with IPS for long, have you? If you have, then you've never been in contact with Jan Larson, Linda Davis, Rambo, Keith Burke, and the considerabl number of other vindictive unprofessional administrators in this district. Good for you. I sincerely hope you never have the displeasure of having to associate with any of them. I understand that they are slimy, self-serving snakes.
I have only worked with one of the above mentioned, but I definitely know that this person cares nothing about the students in IPS. Their entire focus is on making themselves look good no matter what the expense to kids, morality, or ethics. Last year I watched that administrator get rid of several excellent teachers as a lesson to the rest of the staff - "Don'e question or mess with me!"
Luckily, I got myself away from that pit and am with real professionals this year.
Again, good for you that you have not had to work with these people. Good for you. I hope your luck continues.
Don't forget Linda Casey!
ReplyDeleteAlso D-R and Prudence.
ReplyDeleteRambo commented one time that she knew how to get rid of students. She would follow them around pressuring them until they would snap and start cursing her. Then she would move to get them into alternative school or expel them. She was proud of being able to know what buttons to push to drive a student over the edge. She was also able to do the same things to teachers, and push their buttons, finding any weakness or vulnerability she could exploit. She was likewise quite proud of her ability to break people in this manner.
ReplyDeleteIs all of downtown posting on this site?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the name of the new site/blog where we can discuss IPS matters?
ReplyDeleteindiana unemployment dot gov
ReplyDeleteNo,
ReplyDeleteI am just a teacher who chose to work with our kids in IPS and devoted the greater part of his working life with them only to be told that I am the problem. When I stated the place to discuss IPS problems was the unemployment line I meant all educators who chose to work with our students. Nice to know you're so quick to jump on people with such nice language though!
Since secondary schools are being taken over, secondary teachers will be pink slipped.
ReplyDeleteWe voted Bennett and Daniels in to their positions. Daniels can't run but Bennett can't. Don't like it, vote the bastard out!
ReplyDelete@ No, I am just a teacher...
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, your response to the question of where to discuss IPS matters did not come across well and seemed terribly flippant. Most of us recognize that regardless of how much we are dedicated and how well we may do our job, we are still standing accused of the sins of the admnistration that couldn't teach their own way out of a wet paper bag.
When you responded that the appropriate place to discuss these issues was the unemployment line, the context of the answer was not clear at all and frankly sounded insulting to the entire blog's existence. It's no wonder that someone stepped on you that quickly.
What they were trying to relay was that 257 teachers will be in the unemployment line and can discuss it while they are waiting. Today you do all of your work online for your unemployment check. The nice part is Mitch Dainels cut your benefits (pay and weeks). Good luck.
ReplyDelete>>We voted Bennett and Daniels in to their positions. <<
ReplyDeleteSpeak for yourself. I didn't vote for either of them.
@ Rambo commented one time that she knew how to get rid of students.
ReplyDeleteCarly Cardwell had a name for this..."Push button discipline....you push their button until they go off and then you get rid of them." He wasn't talking about Rambo, but Quin Wright... this is a well known IPS technique that should be ended, both with students and teachers. People who use this technique have lost sight of the real objective of schools, to educate children, and believe the objective has something to do with making adults, the school and the system look good. It is really sad that this trash attitude is valued in IPS. A decent superintendent would weed these people out not promote them to positions of power.
Why are you bringing Carlie Cardwell, note the proper spelling, into this blog? The man, whether liked or disliked, is deceased. He allowed good teachers to teach those kids who wanted to learn.
ReplyDeleteHah! Thanks for reminding me of "The Magic Q". I was with her for a couple of years, strange woman who needed her lithium levels adjusted daily. She was about as unprofessional as you can get. She was the only person I knew who could get the students and teachers at 47 to pull together. I had just gotten through ripping my class apart and going off on a preaching tirade. She came to the door and asked tomspeak with me in the hallway. Turned out it was something innocuous. I step back in the room and the students asked me if I was in trouble. I had just gotten through chewing their butts out in no uncertain terms and they were genuinely concerned about
ReplyDeleteme. It almost brought a tear to my eyes.
What I remember most about her was the evaluations she would donate the end of the year. She would have multiple unsatisfactories and thebteachers would have to argue with her and she would back off and change them on the spot. The evaluations were usually done on the last day of school, way past the due date. She never informed me that I wouldn't be coming back to the building the following year and found out from the teacher who was to replace me.
The last day of school came along, students are dismissed, and the faculty goes out to lunch. I'm cleaning out my room, and another teacher who had just finished her evaluation about 5:00 PM tells me Q wanted to do my evaluation. It was invalid at that point. I walked out and went home. The next morning she calls me at home wanting me to come in for the evaluation. I told her I was leaving for vacation in 15 minutes and would be gone for two weeks, knowing she would be gone to a new building herself. Never did do the evaluation ;-)
Yep, she was crazier than a bedbug.
I actually liked Carlie Cardwell, he was an old school administrator, and if he saw what has happened to IPS he'd spin around in his grave. After I posted I realized I had mis-spelled his name. His comment about "push button discipline" wasn't a compliment to the person he was speaking about. Why bring it up, because it is a known "philosophy" within IPS...even though it is not educationally sound.
ReplyDeleteCarlie knew a GREAT Teacher when he saw one...may he rest in peace. Miss him.
ReplyDeleteSorry to switch lanes here folks, but I just spotted an interesting article about cheating in the LA school system;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/los-angeles-area-schools-_n_950371.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl18%7Csec3_lnk2%7C93124
It looks like no one is immune, including the charters out there. Some of the schools were top ranked ones.
What on earth is expected when we have to teach to the test, and eveything is test driven including your continued employment?
I taught for a couple of years at private technical school that had pre-canned curriculum. The students would get angry and demanding if they thought someone was straying from the test material. One student went off to the Dean when I added some important material to supplement outdated material. The exam didn't reflect my extra 20 minutes of material, and I was chewed out for it. Fast forward a year, and the same student was taking an employment entrance exam that had the same material I had gotten chewed out for. The student had the grace to come back and apologize for being an ass and recognizing my extra work had allowed him to pass the entrance exam.
The point is that as long as we have to adhere to a precanned plan of instruction we're going to miss some very important nuances that could make a difference later on. I'm not saying the program, but allow enough wiggle room to put some juice back into the instruction. I feel that if we have that ability to leaven out the instruction, the critical exams are going to come along okay anyway.
Acckk! I hate this post and no editing window afterwards. Should have read up there as
ReplyDelete"I'm not saying can the program, ....."
I didn't vote for Bennett or Daniels, they had horrible track records.
ReplyDeleteIf you aren't reading Annie's blog, you should.
ReplyDeleteShe has provided a commentary well worth reading.
http://annie-boardblog.blogspot.com/
When Keith White bought all those ugly cement planters along the sidewalk in front of BRHS (from who?) and teachers asked him about the use of the money to pay for planters, his response was "we need them because of 9-11" to which a teacher responded "yes, we all know that terrorists with a vehicle filled with explosives would never drive on the lawn."
ReplyDeleteSo...I heard today that all teachers are being pink slipped in December, yet I heard nothing of pink slips for administrators. Anyone know more on this?
ReplyDeleteWhy does IPS have some many people in the PR group? Why do so many schools fail to make AYP because of Sp. Ed. and ESL when you have so many people working in those departments? Why do you have so many watchers watching whatever they watch?
ReplyDeleteRE; So I heard all teachers are being pink slipped...
ReplyDeleteI heard that the majority are coming from schools being taken over by the state. The rest may be from teachers with poor evaluations.
The principal at Northwest told the faculty yesterday to expect to be bumped out at the end of the year. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
ReplyDeleteWhat does bumped out mean? Where did the info come from rumor or confirmed communication from a decision maker?
ReplyDelete@The principal at Northwest.....
ReplyDeleteOh, give us a break. The principal at Northwest is Phyllis Barnes. She doesn't know doodly-squat about anything. The woman is clueless. She's a yeller, a ghetto screamer, another loud-mouthed ghetto principal. God bless, you all, who have this woman as your principal! I always figured Eugene White kept Phyllis Barnes on board as his 'spare tire'. If something blew out or went terribly wrong at a secondary school, then he'd send in Phyllis Barnes as an interim whatever.
Homecoming at Broad Ripple today. The question is-will Linda be sober this year so she can crown the Homecoming Queen ?
ReplyDeleteI'd bet you a double vodka and grapefruit juice she stays sober until at least half time. The real question is when she steps on the field to crown the king and queen will any of the students know who she is? My bet is the answer will be NO.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see this?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indypolitics.org/stories/ipsfall.htm
The really big question, how to downsize Eugene White?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the governor or an extremely smart lawyer could find a loophole, not performing by the conditions of his contract. or possibly redefining the terms for the commissioners.
Or how about an executive order, works in some states.
Watching him "perform his job" is akin to a bully on the beach rubbing sand in your face.
While Wisconsin teacher retirements have spiked this year, several districts are rehiring retired teachers for classroom positions. The retirees come at a lower price than some new teachers, as districts no longer have to pay their health insurance or contribute to their retirement funds. "IT'S GOOD FOR STUDENTS WHEN YOU CAN KEEP AN EFFECTIVE, VETERAN TEACHERS IN THE DISTRICT WHEN THAT TEACHER IS DOING THE SAME JOB FOR A LOWER SALARY. I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE LOSES," said Conrad Farner, superintendent of schools in Greenfield. http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/129425913.html
ReplyDeleteAnd this man graduated from a school?
@IT'S GOOD FOR STUDENTS WHEN YOU CAN KEEP AN EFFECTIVE, VETERAN TEACHERS IN THE DISTRICT WHEN THAT TEACHER IS DOING THE SAME JOB FOR A LOWER SALARY. I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE LOSES," said Conrad Farner, superintendent of schools in Greenfield.
ReplyDelete_____________________________________________
I realize what this Superintendent stated sounds off-the-wall; however, consider the fact there are many excellent teachers who've just reached the age of 65, who now have health care through Medicare, who continue to remain current in their teaching licenses, and who just might surprise many with their teaching skills and their willingness to work in the classroom. These teachers are the current crop of the first generation of Baby Boomers who were well-educated, who have low or no home mortgages, and who truly loved being in the classroom.
These are the same teachers who were forced out when they took away their rights to collective bargaining and seniority and due process. It is a big win for schools...threaten people, they retire and then you hire them back...how many of these teachers took early retirement?....and wait a minute here just a hot minute ago they were saying we needed to get rid of seniority because we needed to keep those young, inexperienced, new idea, fresh faced teachers in the classroom...which one is it...experience and high cost bad, or experienced effective teachers good?
ReplyDelete"http://www.indypolitics.org/stories/ipsfall.htm"
ReplyDeleteYeah I pulled my kids once I saw they were handing the schools over to the for-profit corporations. No guarantee how they'd fudge test results to show they were "performing" or not. Too many unanswered questions at the take over meeting with Bennett as well. I don't want to see great programs cuts and good teachers fired because parents can't parent. Thanks for the money Mitch! Now I hope my kid's Catholic school cares as much about my kids as they do winning football championships and pretending to be Lil Notre Domers.
B4 you vote for another Republican candidate think about the Republican Princess Ann Coulter, who believes Kindergarten teachers are "Useless". :0
ReplyDeletehttp://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/09/09/ann-coulter-calls-kindergarten-teachers-useless/
listen to her remarks here, b4 you shoot yourself in the foot again.
There are plenty of political pundits I loathe, from both parties. But I will probably vote Republican on education issues because I disagree with the Democratic platform (factory school model, labor union model for teachers, authoritarian dynamic (state/teachers in control, students and parents are subjects, and student success relies on compliance of subjects to those in control) more than I disagree with the Republican platform (free market model, private sector career model for teachers, standardized evaluations for students, school choice, etc.)
ReplyDeleteWhere the heck do you get that? Here is the real democratic platform on education...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.democrats.org/issues/education
Nice soundbite, but the only part that addresses public education is Race to the Top, and I don't know a single Democrat who supported it. It doesn't say anything at all about how Democrats actually vote on education issues, which is very anti-student and anti-parent, or the way Democrats actually speak about education, which is anti-innovation, anti-market, anti-choice, and anti-reform.
ReplyDeleteSo what does the supposedly terminate Prudence do now? and at what salary?
ReplyDelete"I will probably vote Republican on education issues because I disagree with the Democratic platform (factory school model, labor union model for teachers, authoritarian dynamic (state/teachers in control, students and parents are subjects, and student success relies on compliance of subjects to those in control) more than I disagree with the Republican platform (free market model, private sector career model for teachers, standardized evaluations for students, school choice, etc.) "
ReplyDeleteI agree. The teachers are the only ones accountable. Let the parents take their kids from school to school till they get the grades they they think deserve and the fewest complaints from the teachers after school. Like that's working out.
"Democrats actually vote on education issues, which is very anti-student and anti-parent, or the way Democrats actually speak about education, which is anti-innovation, anti-market, anti-choice, and anti-reform."
ReplyDeleteHow about this choice- you either get involved in your child's life...or you don't? Don't expect the government to do it or some for-profit entity. That's pro-student, pro-teacher and pro-America.
I know you think you're being clever, but you're actually showing how self-serving and nonsensical your position is. You're against standardized tests, even though they provide an objective measurement instead of the subjective grades that you speak against. And you pretend that science doesn't know how to control for variables such as special education, poverty, and home life when determining how effective a teacher is. This is statistics 101. Every college freshman in the country is supposed to learn how to control for extraneous variables. And of COURSE parents should be able to apply tax funding to any accredited school of their choice. The fact that anyone in a free country would disagree with that shows just how perverted our system has become. Can you imagine if your Medicare only covered one hospital and that hospital only provided treatments you didn't need, but wouldn't cover any of the treatments you did need. And if you got sick as a result of not being able to get the treatment you needed, the hospital blamed YOU?!!! Or taxpayers for not funding a bigger system (rather than simply financing the choices that already exist and are already providing the services you need) That's what our current public education system is like. It's absolutely obscene. (And I'm a public school teacher, but I understand economics. Sadly, that sets me apart from the majority of my colleagues.)
ReplyDeleteTo the poster above, you've posted before, but you never clarify your odd stance on public education. How is it charity when IPS families demand the most for their tax funding but not charity when Carmel families demand the same thing. The Democrats are the ones demanding more money, not Republicans, so your position isn't logical from a fiscal standpoint either. What exactly are you against? Improving schools? School choice? Poor people? Public education for poor people? Your posts simply don't make any sense to me. Could you perhaps expand on your thoughts a bit?
ReplyDeleteHow can people say parents need to get more involved in their child's education and then be against school choice? Do you want them involved or not? Or by "involved" do you really mean "subservient?" And is there any research at all that supports the idea that the children of subservient urban families do better in urban schools than their less obedient counterparts. I'd bet my last dollar there is not.
ReplyDeleteThey are not touting "school choice" in Carmel. School choice is an excuse for continuing to spend less and less on inner city schools...and justify this by saying "parents have a choice". Public schools for all kids should be a great quality, and in inner city schools that means we need more resources to help our students overcome the problems they face. In addition to teachers, every IPS school needs social workers and truancy counselors to get kids into schools and address their problems.
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue of fundamental fairness.
@ There are plenty of political pundits I loathe...
ReplyDeleteEhh???? What have you been smoking????
Let's see here...
"I disagree with the Democratic platform"
(which supports according to you)
"factory school model" That's been around a lot longer than either Democrat or Republican. It comes down to federal and state mandate to educate everyone under the age of 16. When funding and resources are low, thre's a minimum of subjects taught with little choices. That's also what happens with small schools. Large schools have the ability to offer expanded opportunities to the smaller number of students who want to take advantage of the opportunities. Republicans in this state have been in control way longer than Democrats, so don't shift the blame toward the Democrats.
"labor union model for teachers,"
With all due respect, what in hell is wrong with that? Other professions have the right to organize for their professional career betterment and improvement of their working conditions, benefits, and protection. Why should teachers surrender rights that other people legally enjoy? Are you one of these people who feel that teachers are feeding at the "public trough" and automatically become second class citizens not entitled to anything except long hours, low pay, and tons of abuse?
"authoritarian dynamic"
I love when narrow minded people start throwing around buzz words that don't mean squat. Authoritarian dynamic, my ass. Let me clue you in, IPS suffered from lax dicipline and an anti-authoritarian dynamic for way too many years and that's why it's in the shape that it is. Not enough authority and no cojones to establish discipline. Had the authority of what was prevalent in the prior decades been there, there would have been no nonsense and the respect for the educational environment would have been there. When there is control, learning goes a whole lot easier.
"state/teachers in control, students and parents are subjects,"
The state has always been in control whether Democratic or Republican. It's called a bureaucracy. They've failed to adequately check districts in many cases, but that's neither here nor there. Students are the subjects. For most of their early years, they lack the resources to make adquate informed decisions. That goes up through middle achool and the first year or two of high school. Why do think so many courses are required with no deviation? Because given their own choices, they would do as little as possible or nothing.
(continued)
(continued from above)
ReplyDelete"and student success relies on compliance of subjects to those in control"
Are you some sort of Anarchist? Whoever you are, it doesn't appear that you have been in an inner city classroom. If you lack control, you can teach nothing. There's nothing further to add to this and you're lacking credibility fast. It sounds like you're a Tea-Partier who wants education on the cheap.
"more than I disagree with the Republican platform" which espouses:
(free market model)
More bullshit buzz words. Send your kids to where you want should be the choice. I don't feel tax monies should follow. The taxes should supoport public education as the common base of education. If you want more, it should be on your own dime. End of discussion on that point.
"private sector career model for teachers,"
More bullshit buzz words. Translation as follows, get a teacher for as litle as possible, offer no security for what is already a low paying profession (which is a crappy model already), and fire them at the drop of a hat for whatever reason or non-reason motivates you.
"standardized evaluations for students,"
Sorry Bunkie, you're too late on that one by a country mile. It's called an ECA (End of Course Assessment). They are new to Indiana but have been in force for the last several years and states like New York have had them for years
"school choice,"
Public or private has always been the choice. Again public funds shouldn't pay for private schools. The best possible choice is allow the student the choice of which school to attend within a district. With the funding problems, the student and their pafrents should be responsible for their own transportation. Too many people have forgotten that at one time IPS used city buses for transportation.
The entire tenor of your post smacks too much of knee jerk political reactioning and parroting of words that you have little understanding of.
Just FYI, I'm a public school teacher in a school with a high-poverty, high-minority student population. So I'm as qualified as anyone to discuss public education and reform. I think you're the problem, you think I'm the problem. That's why we have different candidates. And that's also why we have school choice. I wouldn't want to teach at a school run your way. You probably wouldn't do well in the school where I work. That's the whole point of school choice.
ReplyDeleteAnd you need to take an economics course, as well as open up any education journal published in the last ten years. Much of what you post is neither Democratic or Republican. It's nonsensical ranting from someone who doesn't understand what we know about economics or education.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! This going off is some nonsense! Let's face facts, no matter who you support, public education needs to change. If you can argue that the system isn't broken, you are simply retarded. There are too many people who are liable to try to point at one factor. School Boards who don't know shit about effective education in the modern era. District administrators who are disconnected from classrooms and don't provide any real insight or oversight. Building leaders who lack the competence to lead instruction (as opposed to merely managing mania). Teachers who try to find every reason to explain why their students don't learn other than the fact that their teaching isn't connecting with the kid in front of them. There is plenty of blame to be spread around. I choose not to get invested in that. Let's talk about how to make things work. What are the right structures for our kids? Connected curriculum? New pedagogy? Leadership? As teachers we can continue to be a part of the problem or work toward real solutions. If, as teachers, we know better than bobblehead boards and sneaky superintendents, why don't we ascend into leadership? Why not start our own charter schools? Why not go to the statehouse and demand that we throw out principals and let the works run the shop? Let's stop complaining. The kids are no poorer, dysfunctional, or behind than they have ever been. Our expectations for them have gone up exponentially. If we, as school people, cannot adjust, how in the Hell will the kids adjust? I have been a union member (I am not currently), but the union won't save our kids. With all of the millions of dollars that the teacher's union spends lobbying, they couldn't get the Democratic president with a Democratic congress to enact pro-union reforms (actually, quite the opposite). As a Democrat, I think that is telling. People see through this bullshit of protecting abused, overworked, and underpaid teachers. A beginning teacher with a Bachelor's Degree from IU is likely to outearn the majority of her class who leave undergraduate school and go into an entry level job. Is this about money? So, we keep paying dues to a union (whose senior staff outearn some superintendent), and where the hell is it getting us or the kids we serve? Really, enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew who was being responded to. Probably the same reason we as teachers are having trouble speaking in a unified voice.
ReplyDeleteParticularly in IPS, the majority of academic decisions happen outside the classroom. Curriculum and class choice are dictated from above and teachers have little to no voice in any of these decisions. Who thought it was a good idea to make everyone take Algebra one, instead of students who have already been identified as having weak math skills and took pre-Algebra and then Algebra one? Who thinks Springboard is an excellent preparation for college level work designed to encourage a love of reading as opposed to a shortsighted program designed to get kids through a test?
ReplyDeleteAcademic Leadership is an oxymoron. The emphasis on testing has produced administrators who have lost sight of the long term goal of education and only see the short term pass the test goal. Passing the test should be the by-product of a good education not the goal.
@ Particularly in IPS
ReplyDeleteThank you. Finally a voice of reason and someone who sees it clearly. BTW, one of the downtown math administrators once said that the students are going to fail most of the classes, so they might as well fail Algebra instead as fail pre-Algebra.
I've subbed at IPS before, and it's like a chicken or the egg thing. I don't know if the attitude of staff is so hostile because the kids are defiant or if kids are defiant because the staff is so hostile. I also think a school culture is established where new kids and new staff adopt the negative attitudes of the other kids and the other staff. Either way, I don't think individual IPS kids are significantly different from the kids in other schools. I'm not old enough to be able to compare kids to kids 30 years ago, but I can tell you that the individual kids aren't that different whether you're talking to an IPS student, a Lawrence student, or a Carmel student, whereas individual teachers are very different in IPS, Lawrence, and Carmel.
ReplyDelete@@ Particularly in IPS
ReplyDeleteThank you. Finally a voice of reason and someone who sees it clearly. BTW, one of the downtown math administrators once said that the students are going to fail most of the classes, so they might as well fail Algebra instead as fail pre-Algebra.
____________________________________________
Amen! And, amen!! IPS joined the trendy bunch of educators several years ago who touted that ALL students should attend and graduate from a four-year university. OK, on surface, that sounds like a laudable goal; however, in reality, it's a goal for failure, whether for IPS, Fort Wayne, Posey County Schools, or Northern Tipton County School Corporation. Not every student, not every child as much as we'd like to hope or believe, is capable academically to attend and graduate from a four-year college. Not every student wants to attend a four-year college or university.
In fact, these students usually know who they are. We're failing this particular group of students who are not inclined to enjoy having their noses in textbooks until they're 22 years old. I have two sons, one earned a Master's Degree and is employed as a high school teacher/coach in a large public school district; the other son finished one year of college, absolutely hated it, refused to return, and is now employed in the mining industry and earns more money, after 5 years on the job, at his tender age than I do with a Master's Degree and 27 years experience as a public school teacher here in Indiana.
I don't think my experiences as a parent are any different than the average public school parents' experiences are with their children. A Core 40 Diploma is NOT necessary for many of our students, especially if they know in advance that college/university is not their particular cup of tea.
At present, I'm working with a group of younger men hired to install an in-ground swimming pool in my back yard. I've chatted with these young men frequently, watched them work, observed their particular skills, and I can attest that not one of those young men feels slighted or worried because he did not earn a college degree. I truly respect their work ethic, their nice manners, and especially their skills in operating job-specific excavating equipment and in following a detailed engineering sketch.
Guys, we're missing something when we dismiss students who just might enjoy such careers. Personally, if I had to start over again, I think I'd rather install in-ground swimming pools than spend my time talking with folks who had university degrees in Sociology, Communications, or Recreation.
I have said for years that not everybody needs to go to college. It's a nice goal, but somebody needs to cut my hair, fix my pipes, my car, and whatever else breaks. If EVERYBODY goes to work for business who is going to do all that? There is a great song "Something to Be Proud Of" by Montgomery Gentry. One of my favorite lines is
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to make a million, just be thankful to be workin'. That's something to be proud of.
I like it.
And yes I know it's not "proper" grammer but it's country for pete's sake!
I agree with that. Academic Leadership should be built on high bars of achievement as opposed to "minimum basic skills". The problem with that is it takes an extraordinary amount of work to lift kids to the high bar. So, what does that mean for the adults? If we had leadership that was not "test centered" would we be willing to put in the longer hours and additional days, weeks, and years it takes to make sure kids could realistically hit that mark. That is where I struggle. We are not just talking about a shift for the kids, we are talking about a shift for us. I have to admit, the thought of spending less time at home or doing the things that I enjoy bothers me. Can I give up my evening activities or my summer job? I probably, realistically, won't. Because I teach a high needs subject, I have some choice, so I can go work somewhere else. However, I don't see another way to save the kids without doing something dramatically different. I just know I am not the person to do it. I am woman enough to say that the kids may deserve more than I know I am willing to provide.
ReplyDeleteOn this solemn day or remembrance, wouldn't it be nice to agree that we should be "One nation", not a nation divided by opinion? I still remember my own reaction and the reaction of our students as we learned of that fateful attack. If we would spend more time focusing on what the present and true needs of the children in our care are and less on what others think of us, we would affect more change than before conceived.
ReplyDeleteIt's not going to happen, nor should it, we are One Nation, committed to the ideal that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so now I am upset. Who are you to decide that kids shouldn't go to university? Just because you decided that was okay for your kid, how do you get to decide that for the kids in IPS? Where are all of these skilled labor jobs you tout that are available for those kids who don't want to go to college? I look in the ads, and I don't see them. Our kids have to be more competitive. I can't make my children go to college, but I can insist that they be ready. Every teacher should. You insufferable people who excuse your lack of productivity by dismissing student failure as a "choice" sicken me. Your son went to college and was qualified to go. You, with your Master's Degree, got him ready. If he should "choose" to go back to college, he is ready, unlike the students who you suggest don't really need to take Algebra.
ReplyDeleteShame on you. You are a relic of outmoded thinking about children, and, after 27 years, you should be mothballed. I hope some caring administrator has the good sense to send you (and teachers like you) packing. If you don't believe in the kids, you shouldn't take their tax dollars to teach them. They should have teachers who believe that they can/will learn Algebra and everything else they need to prepare them for the "choice" your son got to make. Idiot.
I agree that we should attempt to ready every child for college (as well as for employment, trade school, the military, and for entrepreneurship). If they choose not to go to college, great. But it must be because they chose not to go, not because we didn't prepare them. It's the same rationale behind teaching children to read literature, write essays, and do computations without a calculator. Whether they ever read a novel, write an essay, or do long division on paper in adulthood is up to them. But if they don't do these things, it shouldn't be because they we didn't prepare them.
ReplyDeleteI do want to take issue with the above poster's comment about "after 27 years, you should be mothballed." I believe you meant because this teacher obviously has no intention of keeping current in the field of education, his/her experience is not an asset, and in this case is even a liability. I agree with that. But I think many 27-year teachers DO keep current and use their experience to become very good teachers, and I think those teachers sometimes get ignored in the conversations about dangerous and ineffective veteran teachers like the one above.
ReplyDelete"Because given their own choices, they would do as little as possible or nothing."
ReplyDeleteTo whoever posted this, I would like to use this quote in an article for an education magazine. Would you be willing to post your occupation and age. If you are a teacher, what grade and subject? If you are willing to share your identity with me if I share my identity and credentials with you, please post that, and I will post my contact information. Thank you so much.
@ to whoever posted this, Contact me through Atavistic@comcast.net
ReplyDelete@ Okay, so now I am upset
ReplyDelete@ This teacher obviously has no intention of keeping current in the field of education,
Both of you are guilty of reading between the lines and failing to comprehend what was said. I do not read anywhere in the referenced post that the teacher is not staying current in education. If I read between the lines as you are doing, you're both suggesting that because s/he has 27 years of experience that they are neither current in their profession or are dangerous to the student's educational outcome. That sort of thinking has no basis in fact and points negatively to your own educational outlook.
Paraphrasing what that teacher said, "Not every student is going to college, nor do they want to go to college. They need to be prepared for the workplace"
A Core 40 program does not need to be the only track for a high school diploma, and somehow the idea has settled in that anything less is a second class diploma. I seriously doubt if any employer out there is going to distinguish between a Core 40 and a General Diploma.
I agree with that teacher completely that an alternative track for students needs to be available. The harsh reality is many students will never be college material for a multitude of reasons, and mental capability is one of them. This is not the politically correct thing to say and think, but frankly it's way past time to move beyond PC modes of thinking and do the most we can for our students.
Vocational education was once one of IPS's strong suits and sadly has been gutted, castrated, and tossed in the rubbish bin of history. At one point Tech offered courses in aircraft maintenance with FAA certifications available. Instead now the usage of the word "technology" refers to operating some piece of software.
I taught voc-ed classes in IPS and I will assure you that when students are engaged in something that will earn them money, they will perk up and pay attention. The class content included higher math sufficent that the students had to aproximate logarithms in their heads and be able to do simultaneous equations. If anyone thinks that voc-ed is a dummy track, they are sadly mistaken. Yet the prevailing attitude as evidenced by the two teachers I'm responding to, is that this sort of curriculuum is a disservice to the students and somehow not preparing them for life. I object strenuously to that sort of fuzzy thinking.
My background includes a lengthy career in engineering before I became an educator, and I have worked in design, management, and supervision before deciding to give back as an educator. I find it appalling at some of the faulty thinking processes I find in some educators. Their lack of experience at understanding the workplace demands and expectations is coming across in their student expectations. There is a tendency to want to clone their own experiences and educational outcomes onto the students.
(continued)
(continuation from above)
ReplyDeleteA proper education is going to prepare a student for the immediate future as well as instill a desire for life long learning. The core content of math, language arts, history, the arts still need to be there. What desperately needs to be restored are courses in Consumer Science or what used to be called Home Ec. There was a course that taught the students some fantastic skills and yet the zeal for everyone goes to college deemed that to be a superfluous class. Basic shop classes in how to do things need to be there again, as those are actually basic technology classes that are needed to build on higher technology.
The main thing I see is that reform is needed and the directions are different from the prevailing reforms as all those are mere window dressing. American education is a mile wide and an inch deep. Shallow learning is never retained. The European model of getting a topic and going in-depth makes much more sense that a thin veneer that we apply here. When I first started teaching math, before the super scrutiny and tightly packed schedule we have now, I realized lower level students had little comprehension of fractions and related topics. We spent the first part of year beating those to death along with topics that tied directly to fractions. It dragged badly, but once we hit around Thanksgiving, it fell into place and the remainder of the course zoomed along because they had a key piece of knowledge firmly in place and retained in memory. Their scores were higher as a result. Unfortunately, that is another thing from the past.
The alternative track for education that IPS once had has fallen out of favor, and the Core-40 push has been the culprit for its demise. The voc-ed program I taught at one time was a 3.5 credit class and ran for two years. If they paid attention and did well, they were prepared for a high technology job right out of high school or they could use that as a springborad for yet more training in technology. Instead, incompetent counselors would use the program for a dumping ground for every thug that was ready to drop out of school. Their reasoning was that it was a "hands-on" class that might interest them. In their minds it was like a middle school shop class where you made your momma a paper towel holder. What they didn't realize was that it was a "brains-on" class also. Across the board, it was the same issue with the Industrial Technology classes being used as a dumping ground. There's no wonder that these classes are now non-existent in the high schools except for Tech and even there they are fading fast.
The reform calls are heading in the wrong direction as they are not addressing learning content in a meaningful manner, much less making the material relevant to any sort of job skill. Above all, the push for all to go college is a misguided aspiration that will do more harm in the long run.
Well Said!!!! My husband taught 18 years at Tech in building trades. His kids were able to find good jobs and even start their own businesses with the experience they had in his classes.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that the program fell apart. Not everything can be done on a computer.
A proper education does prepare a student for the future...but here is what we face everyday in the classroom, these three posts are directly from one of my former student's face book page,
ReplyDeleteLil'Boo
i hit the streets when i was 12 and didnt look back,,,me and lil jerry was getting money now we got the streets on are back,,,you need to hurry up and touch down bro,,hillside projects bitch we all we got,,,,STREETLIFE intell its over,,,,,and yes bitch I'am my brother keeper
i came from the projects so i had to get it out the mud,,,i was reased around killers so my whole life all i new was to be a thug,,,i love to fuck with bad bitches my mama allways told me boy dont you rush to fall in love,,,so now I'am in the streets trying to get it $$,,,,i fell like the streets sho me love,,,so when my nigga got pop,,i found out man it really aint no love,,,HSP bitch
money,,,power,,,recpect bitch,,,,,thats all i no,,,you lil niggas better learn this shit if you really wont to be out here in these streets,,,,R.I.P LIL J.R am I my cuzn keeper yes i am yes i am bitch,,,,,the day i lost you lil nigga i lost my mind,,,hillside projects bitch,,,STREETLIFE pussy ODB
Although he was in school until he was 18 he admits he left school at the age of 12, he was there doing business...his trap. How do we overcome this? It needed to happen when this kid was five not ten or twelve or when he entered high school.
We probably didn't lose him in kindergarten. We probably lost him somewhere between 4th and 8th grade. Because he didn't see school as something that could help him get what he wanted and school didn't teach him otherwise. I know IPS has had programs that tried to teach teachers how to teach urban kids, and I know they haven't been successful here, but I think it's because the programs haven't been implemented correctly, not because that's not the solution.
ReplyDeleteDo we dare ask where the (DAMN) parents were? The question you are all afraid to ask. Or is the answer you fear more?
ReplyDeleteIn reference to: "We probably didn't lose him in kindergarten."
So, you have accepted that it is the job of IPS to raise this child and provide a moral compass?
No, but I understand that poor urban parents are not less moral than I am. Their reality is different than mine. They know for a fact that people in the hood who do well in school don't fare any better than the ones who don't. They KNOW that. So it doesn't matter if their parents say "school matters." It doesn't matter how moral they are. School does not help poor urban kids become anything but poor urban parents. So if I want to teach these kids, I have to be able to tell them why it will be useful to them regardless of whether they stay in the hood or leave. And I have to make it make sense in THEIR world, not in mine. If school can't teach kids who don't already see the value in education, public education is an enormous failure. That has nothing to do with IPS raising children. That has to do with the purpose of public education in the first place. That has to do with my purpose as a public educator.
ReplyDeleteLet's not lose track that kids like this are not the rule. For every budding lowlife like that kid, there are a couple dozen more that want to learn and get out of the hood. If you focus on the fools, that's all you're going to see and the others lose out on the attention you need to be be giving them. It's tough, but that lifestyle is a short and nasty one. Kids like that do not expect to live past their early 20's and they will grab everything they can while they're here, legal or otherwise. There is no planning for the future because they have none in their own eyes. The purpose of the above poster may be to salvage kids like that which is a laudable goal, but the gut feeling is that person's career is going to be a short one from heartache and disappointment. You've got a certain amount of energy and spirit to go around, spend it wisely.
ReplyDeleteWe've all had kids like that in our classes, and I've talked straight to them. One kid was in with his parents for a conference after being in and out of jail with gang activity. He thought he was the man, and nothing was going to deter him from the street hustle. I finally told him that the direction he was going was "going to land you in an early grave before three years are up and the only thing you'll leave behind will be your Momma's tears on your grave. If you think your gang buddies have your back, you'll find out when you're capped, they'll run and leave you to die alone bleeding out on the street." His mother cried, and he was pissed. Too bad, but sugar coating wasn't going to do anything. The parents finally got smart and moved the family away to another state before he was killed.
Others were a waste of time and energy and everyone, especially their classmates, was glad they were incarcerated long term. Those were the ones that should have been expelled for the constant disruptions they caused in the classrooms, and yet the administration chose to either turn a blind eye or lacked the spine to do something about it.
Many of the parents of these kids want better for their kids. I recall a few years ago I got a new kid in my class who had relocated from another city. After I got the class started I sat next to him to get him up to speed, as we worked I asked about where he had come from and he told me his parents had moved so he would be safe, and the first night in his new place someone was murdered in front of his house...all I could say was how sorry I was...he really made an effort to change but as I recall the family relocated again within a few months.
ReplyDeleteI never stopped talking to my kids about the dangers of the street life, including T charts comparing legal and illegal work. I was shopping at Home Depot and heard my name and it was an adult man who worked there, I had to ask where I knew him from and I had had him in class nine years before, we talked about one of the kids in his class, and he said "I wish he had listened to you, cause he was killed in the street." At the end of the conversation I said "I am so honored you remembered me." and he said "you were one of the few people who really cared about us." This young man could have gone the same way as his friend but made a decision to get out of the street life, he joined the service, and when he returned got a job to support himself and his family. We do win sometimes.
I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing the two above posters that they were the only ones telling kids the dangers of street life, and that knowing that was a deterrent. I agree with the poster you both are arguing with. Your reality and their reality are worlds apart. You don't see the value in theirs and they don't see the value in yours. You can't give kids some safety slogan and expect their entire worldview to change. But if you teach them the relevancy of education, whether on the streets or in the military or as a CEO, then doing well doesn't mean they've sold out. It just means they're stocking away knowledge they may or may not need someday. The thing is, the more they stock away, the less likely they are to stay on the streets. Have some of you never taken a Sociology class? Or a multicultural education class? Or read anything on how to influence people?
ReplyDelete"Have some of you never taken a Sociology class? Or a multicultural education class?"
ReplyDeleteBoth were taught by blithering idiots and full of bullshit. For all the worthwhile information in them, we could have sat around the campfire and sang Kumbayah.
Over a period of a few short years, I watched Eugene White slowly but surely dismantle the FACS Departments at IPS high schools. Each year, he'd cut back on the FACS classes because supposedly they weren't academic in content. Same with Industrial Arts. For some of the students, elective classes such as cooking, nutrition, child development, clothing, woodworking, etc. were the very classes that kept them enrolled in high school. Vocational education is a thing of the past in IPS, and it shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand there are only 4 or 5 FACS teachers left in the system. I teach math and find it horrifying that most kids don't know units of common measure such as fluid ounces, pints, cups, and so on. Many don't know the realtionship between inches, feet, yards, and have trouble converting from one unit of measure to another. I ask them how they're going to cook if they don't know how to measure something out, and the usual answer is that they get carry-out.
ReplyDeleteWell an idiot teacher doesn't mean the entire science of Sociology is idiotic. And obviously multicultural education is extremely important, even if it is often taught from very Marxist professors. Your taking the way of the lifelong street thug and ignoring the entire lesson because you're getting it from an idiotic source. Forget the idiot instructor. Get a book or a video. Educate yourself.
ReplyDeleteSo if you didn't learn Sociology or Multicultural Education, it's because you had bad teachers and/or the subject is stupid. But if kids don't learn from you, it's because they have bad parents? And if I try to teach my class so that the student understands and doesn't find the subject stupid, I'm wasting my time and it'll never work.
ReplyDeleteDo I have that right?
@ Do I have that right?
ReplyDelete"But if kids don't learn from you, it's because they have bad parents?" If they don't learn from me it's because of two things; either they aren't paying attention because they don't want to or I'm not reaching them. Sometimes I don't reach them and I back up until I find the common meeting ground. I never claim to be the teacher that walks on water, heals the sick, and makes the skies open up and the sunshine pours in. I'll push, prod, piss off, and cajole them to do the best they can, and tell them if I sound like I'm speaking a foreign language to raise their hands and ask me to translate what I just said.
"And if I try to teach my class so that the student understands and doesn't find the subject stupid, I'm wasting my time and it'll never work." I have no idea what you're saying here or what you're implying.
What I do walk away with from reading these forum posts is that there is an unusual amount of antagonsism between several camps of thought regarding the teaching of disadvantaged students. Yes, they do bring some tremendous issues with them into the classroom. This is not something new, but too many people are addressing this as something out of the blue that just started recently.
I stand accused of not reading on contemporary trends in education, yet this is addressed in comparatively recent publications on teaching students in poverty. The simple comparison of traits in the poverty class, middle class, and upper class are quite telling and if one just keeps that in mind it is a lot easier to reach these students.
The aspects of the poverty culture overlap that of race and ethnic differences. There is probably a 90% or greater commonality between poor white and poor black populations, and the gap between them is overblown.
I get the feeling that many teachers are in this because they think they can reach the downtrodden masses. As soon as you buy into the altruistic mindset, you've lost the game because you've just placed the students into a subservient client relationship where you are going to lead them into the Promised Land. You're far better off making them feel that they have to scrap for the learning themselves, because you've then instilled the sense of ownership of their learning onto them. We are not their parents, we certainly don't function in a loco parentis realtionship any longer, but we can give them tough love and high expectations.
The other aspect of this blog that I find disturbing are the thinking processes of many who post on here that are apparently teachers. There is an amazing quickness to misjudge what others are saying, frequently taking things out of context, and all too often fabricating issues out of air where nothing of the sort was ever said.
There is tremendous pressure being placed on teachers in IPS, and turning on each other like a pack of starving wolves gone cannibalistic is not going to solve the problems of the district or how to effectively teach to our students. Just as in religion and the path toward enlightenment, there are many valid paths. Pick the one that works best for you, as long as it doesn't draw the angry lightning bolts of administration, and be consistent with it.
Sniping at each other isn't going to help. What helps to bring out into the light the incompetencies of these so-called administrators who are charged with being academic leaders. Start documenting these things, cover your tracks, and post them here and if need be start sending information somewhere that it can be used.
Teachers can't have it both ways. Teachers can't say that they shouldn't have to differentiate or be relevant, creative, or culturally sensitive because kids are kids and then turn around and say they can't be expected to teach algebra and biology to IPS kids because they aren't like other kids. Which is it?
ReplyDeleteHey, is somebody starting a new blog. This strand is stale.
ReplyDeleteShort attention span?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of short attention spans; mine just slipped a gear.
ReplyDelete@ "Teachers can't have it both ways.." Throw us a bone here. Where in the devil did you dredge that up from? Whose post tripped that trigger? I guess I'm tired tonight, coz I'm not reading that above.
This thread is toast-can it!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone's buns got crispy-crittered :-)
ReplyDeleteI started a new blog site so that everyone can have an opportunity to extend discussions about what is in the best interests of area children. Please drop by http://indyurbaned.blogspot.com/ to give your opinion about the state of urban education in Indianapolis.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers union in action in Chicago...OMG, it doesn't get much better than in Chicago.
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
Teachers unions can sometimes be reasonable, particularly when decisions are made by rank-and-file members.
Unfortunately, those members are often overruled by iron-fisted union bosses.
Teachers at the Willie H. Brown Elementary School in Chicago recently voted to approve a contract waiver and lengthen their work day by 90 minutes. They did so at the request of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who noted that Chicago public schools have “the shortest school day and and the shortest school year in the country.”
Teachers at four other Chicago schools also accepted the longer school day. They recognized that the children need more instructional time, so they decided to cooperate.
Emanuel plans to impose the longer academic day on all city schools, after the union’s collective bargaining agreement expires next June. In the meantime, he wants to improve the learning culture in as many schools as possible.
“If it’s right in 2012, it’s right now,” Emanuel told the Chicago Sun Times. “Why would we have the children of the city of Chicago have one more year in which they fall further behind?”
That’s a very good question.
But the Chicago Teachers Union has filed a lawsuit, seeking to block the teachers’ right to cooperate with city officials. They insist that teachers were coerced into voting “yes” with the threat that their schools may close.
CTA President Karen Lewis complained that at a recent meeting with the mayor, he cursed at her using an f-bomb. While such langauge may be a bit harsh, we can hardly blame Emanuel for losing his patience with Lewis.
It would be perfectly legitimate to close schools - or hire a new staff - if teachers refuse to put forth their best effort. But that isn’t the case at Brown or the four other cooperating schools.
So we have teachers demonstrating their commitment to their students, and their union wants to stop them. Get to the restroom quickly if you feel a need to vomit. This is a truly sickening tale.
Even Chicago City Alderman Ed Burke, a longtime defender of organized labor, told the Sun Times that he was “starting to get embarrassed” by the behavior of the CTU’s leadership.
Is this radical union at all interested in quality education? If not, it should be shown the schoolhouse door.
Question: Will the students at the four closing schools be allowed to go to other IPS schools? Or will they have to stay put?
ReplyDeleteabout Chicago...hope they are planning on paying their teachers more with increase in time...
ReplyDelete@question
ReplyDeleteYes, and the sincere hope is that they apply for the other IPS schools en masse :-)
What about the transportation of these kids who jump back on the IPS bandwagon and switch schools?
ReplyDeleteIn a letter from the Attorney General IPS has to take back the students without being paid one nickel.
ReplyDeleteFellow IPS Teachers, the IPS School Board and the Superintendent have been aware of the consequences and the ramifications of PL 221 since 1999 when the General Assembly passed the bill which incidentally was authored by our own Bill Crawford (Democrat) from here in Indianapolis.
ReplyDeleteI, as a classroom teacher, have been aware of PL 221 and its consequences since 1999; surely, the IPS Board and Dr. White have also been keenly aware of the consequences. It's not like we in IPS have been blind-sided by PL 221. It's been there for 11 long years! Hell, Bill Crawford and his friends set this law into motion long before Mitch Daniels or Tony Bennett ever entered the scene.
If we're gonna blame anyone for the school takeovers and the current situation here in IPS, then let's just blame ourselves, the IPS Board, and the IPS Superintendent!
If we're going to quote history, let's get it right. In 1999 the Indiana legislature passed PL 221, based on the efforts of former state Sup Suellen Reed. That and the strength of the Indiana state standards set under Suellen put Indiana on the map nationally for education improvements. In 2001, when NCLB was signed into law, Suellen didn't see the point in having two accountability systems and opted to have school districts follow the federal standards. But Suellen wasn't Republican enough for the Republicans. She and Mitch fought constantly, because as an educator she didn't agree with the insertion of politics into public education. So after years of fighting, Suellen chose not to run for reelection in 2008. Enter Tony Bennett, an unknown charismatic guy who was (and is) happy to allow Mitch to pull his puppet strings. Tony Bennett was sworn into office in Jan. 2009. Unlike Suellen, Tony dusted off PL 221 and currently holds Indiana school districts to two accountability standards. His goal is to seek a waiver from NCLB. Why? Because Indiana schools perform well under NCLB compared to PL 221. The point of all of this is to say PL 221 hasn't beeen on the radar since 1999, it's been on the radar since 2009. At the same time, IPS has been working to improve the schools. Following NCLB turnaround rules, principals have been replaced and staffs vacated. Despite what the politicians would have you believe, IPS is improving. The graduation rate has increased by 20 percent, the dropout rate has been cut in half, the number of waivers granted is down, test scores across all grade levels have improved, parents have more school options with the expansion of magnets than ever before . . . the list of successes goes on and on. But the good news of IPS doesn't get the Republicans what they want and now have at three schools: for-profit companies in charge of education. The marketplace is alive and well. Meantime, traditional public education is being decimated and instead of standing up and crying foul, folks are drinking the Kool-Aid.
ReplyDelete@If we're going to quote history
ReplyDeleteAs you said, in 1999 the IN Legislature passed PL 221. Let's revisit PL 221, OK? PL 221 was authored by Bill Crawford (Democrat) from Indianapolis. Are you suggesting that Bill Crawford was in 'cahoots' with Suellen Reed? Or, are you conveniently forgetting that Bill Crawford, a Democrat and an African-American gentleman from Indy, might have recognized that education in Indiana needed a legal tweaking?
You can do all the political spin that you like, but nevertheless and at the end of the day, Bill Crawford (Democrat) authored PL 221.
I'm thankful that Bill Crawford recognized that school reform was needed in Indiana.
@@If we're going to quote history.......
ReplyDelete_______________________________________________
If we're gonna quote history, especially history after Bill Crawford's authoring PL 221, then I'm game.
Unless you personally were a classroom teacher at Arlington High School between 1999 and today's date, then anything you have to offer is heresay and not worth noting.
As a primary source of teaching at Arlington, let me offer these examples of why Bill Crawford wrote PL 221 which apparently is causing the current IPS administration such grief and discomfort, at present: 1) Approximately 1/3 of the students graduating from Arlington were graduating only because they'd received waivers, 2) Grades were routinely changed at the end of the year per Principal Greenwood's directives to the Vice Principal, Dan (he admitted it in my presence), 3) Principal Greenwood created fake classes for student athletes (observed Mr. Walter's fake Algebra class in the library where Mr. Walters and one male football player were seated at a round table, while Mr. Walters read the newspaper and the student drank orange soda from a plastic jug), 4) Students were observed and documented as upending and turning over large vending machines in the first floor hallways directly beneath the security camera; Principal Greenwood was informed of such activities and refused to act upon them, 5) El Primo, A#1 male student athlete was documented as having forced an underclass male student to receive his 'male member' into his mouth in the boy's restroom; the Principal dismissed this incident and never reported it to the Ed Center...and so on, and so forth, ad nauseum.
Greenwood is the queen of the "Wink and Nod" philosophy. When the words out to the persons mouth sound good, (she says all the right things) but the actions absolutely do not match the words.
ReplyDeleteThis happens all the time in IPS...and it is so sad because we are not preparing students for life in the real world, where for the most part if your employer tells you something they mean it, come to work on time, wear the appropriate clothing, do your job...they really mean it, and you will lose your job if you don't comply.
As a side note she also used wink and nod with her faculty, she really did not care about the quality of the education, she cared that you didn't rock the boat, fail too many kids, or fuss about absent kids. If you were a member of her mafia you could do anything...anything. When I taught there the kids told me about a science teacher, maybe his name was Mr. Ball or Bell, they said "don't light a match around him the room will go up in flames." They reported that he was a drunk, and weekly would recount his antics, how he had accidents on his way to work, the way home, he went out to lunch and didn't return. Being curious (and amazed) I walked past his room one day where I saw him asleep at his desk while the class was present. I asked another faculty member about him and they said the rumors I heard were true. The next year they brought in a co-principal who left after this man was fired. If you were a really good teacher at Arlington you had two choices, go in your room, lock the door and teach anyone who showed up and ignore everything beyond your door jam, or get out.
Remember a few years ago when Arlington went to the state football championship, no one was more overjoyed when they lost than Jackie, had they won the title would have been stripped from them because they played ineligible players.
What a dis-service to the students and community, and Dr. White's response...why promote her of course.
I love, love, LOVE hearing those stories about Arlington & JG. I also taught there, and I KNOW what things were like. I'm THRILLED to see that others recognized it, too!
ReplyDeleteThese stories prove that IEA doesn't have half the power or influence that those who oppose organized labor allege they have. Teachers at Arlington were concerned, alarmed, disgusted, ashamed of what Greenwood did, the union was aware of it, but nothing could be done. Too bad the union didn't step up and file grievance after grievance until the wrong was corrected. Think of the kids whose lives could have been changed.
ReplyDeleteShame on those in the community (Concerned Clergy) who believed Greenwood's bs, instead of looking at the evidence.
Shame on past and present superintendents for allowing this mess to fester, for political expediance.
There is so much blame to go around, but mostly shame on you Greenwood.
http://icebrc.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-teachers-quit-and-why-i-will-too.html
ReplyDeleteFor over 20 years, the IPS School Board and a parade of Superintendents allowed Greenwood to run Arlington into the ground. Her strong ties to the Concerned Clergy kept her at Arlington long after her effectiveness as an administrator had passed.
ReplyDeleteI was at Arlington on the day Greenwood learned that she would no longer be the Campus Administrator. She literally fell apart and had to go home. We didn't see her for a couple of days, then she returned to school and began hugging all of us again and announcing that she'd been requested to join the Ed Center staff as the Director of Secondary Education.
Where was the logic in promoting Greenwood to the Ed Center? She couldn't lead/manage a high school with fewer than 1500 students, yet the Board voted for her to lead the entire district's approximate 15,000 secondary students. And, we wonder why IPS is dysfunctional.
I had thought this website was to be taken down as the administrator was leaving the system. I guess maybe it can stay up but we are not able to start any new threads...is that right?
ReplyDeleteThis is toast-can it!
ReplyDelete@ This is toast-can it!
ReplyDeleteHere's a simple answer you can understand; bite me ;-)
Speaking of toast, Prudence has left the building.
ReplyDeleteRediculist
ReplyDeleteIt cost Wayne Twp a quarter of a million dollars to investigate Terry Thompson's one million dollars retirement.
"Rediculist"
ReplyDeleteIt cost them $250,000 to cancel a $1,000,000 contract. They won, so they're ahead except for the taxpayers.
Now do us the big favor. Connect the dots and explain how that has to do with Greenwood and maybe getting rid of her.
New blog by classroom teacher at Tech. Interesting thoughts and observations he shares / open for comments, too.
ReplyDelete__________________________________________________
"A View Through My Eyes"
Rambling thoughts from an urban educator, single father & freethinker.
http://icebrc.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
_________________________________________________
No one will be able to get rid of Greenwood or any of the other herd of sycophant administration that surrounds Dr. White, until he goes. He needs his fawning minions around him. The board, the mayor, the news media, someone needs to tell Gene he is naked...or just tell him to take his naked emperor show somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteAn earlier poster said Prudence had left the building, but according to the most recent board report she hasn't left the system...she is out there somewhere, collecting a big check, doing what?
Not an image I want to start my day with.
ReplyDelete"I'm thankful that Bill Crawford recognized that school reform was needed in Indiana."
ReplyDeleteYou mean tearing down public education, robbing some school districts of needed funding and then handing it over to for-profit corporations so they could cut wages and put the rest in their pocket while saying cliches like "for the sake of the kids?" That's not reform that's a comedy.
Contribute now to Bennett's re-election and guarantee yourself a teaching position while you can!!! The Oprah Winfrey Academy and the NRA/Don's Guns Charter of Hoosier Gun Safety is taking applications!!
This thing is toast! Can it!
ReplyDeletePrudence is as usual doing nothing to help educate children. She has been moved again to hide her inabilility to do her job. She has been threating fellow administators with litigation. She and her partner P D R are an embarassement to IPS. They do nothing to educate children!
ReplyDeleteTo the idiot who keeps babbling "This thing is toast! Can it!"
ReplyDeleteWe've heard you for three times now, and it's three times too many. As someone suggested earlier, perhaps your attention span is very short. Or perhaps you're one of the people being discussed. At any rate, your babblings are not desired. The only thing toast is your attitude. Sayonara, twit.
Did anyone see the story about Ft. Wayne vs. IPS and how the Ft. Wayne budget is $275 million and IPS has a budget of $500 million with only 700 more students? That should be the telling fact about IPS.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the person saying this thing is toast. New Post, Please!!
ReplyDelete@ I agree...
ReplyDeleteThe chances are that the blog is now on auto-pilot as the blogmaster has taken employment in another system. There may not be a new post.
However, even if a new post was generated, past history has shown that the thread seldom stays on topic beyond the first few postings anyway.
The Ft. Wayne-IPS issue immediately above is a worthy topic, yet in a couple of days no one has picked up on that one. I'm afraid your call for a new post is falling on nonexistant ears.
It would be much more fruitful if the blogmaster would simply hand over the pass word to another individual and allow this forum to continue.
Not to toot my own horn, and I know two people have promoted my blog, but I welcome comments and visits to my blog. I have been mostly speaking on very specific, personal issues concerning school, but I am willing to open my subjects to accommodate the needs of the community.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need a forum and I am willing to be visible, while respecting the needs of those that wish to be anonymous.
However, I will watch comments closely and remove any obvious trolls.
http://icebrc.blogspot.com/
Jim, I've already posted once on your forum. It's good that you'll remove obvious trolls. One of the issues on this blog that has always bothered me is the readiness of some to stoop to personal attacks using comments about someone's physical appearance. I don't give a rat's heinie if someone is overweight or is homely enough to make pit bulls slink away; what kind of a job are they doing or not doing?
ReplyDeleteI so agree. I don't know what is with some of the posters on this blog, but it has made me seriously question the seriousness of some of the posters.
ReplyDeleteThere are real issues to be dealt with and so many are just having fun (or just fuming).
I do not believe that the trolls are administrative plants like many have claimed. As much as I may disagree with many of the administrative decisions, I do not believe they are childish and would resort to taunting people on a blog.
If I had to guess, many of the trolls are random viewers, or students, having fun with the frustrations of the real world.
This thing is toast! Can it! <<<
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you stop posting?
@ this thing is toast
ReplyDeleteGo away troll!
"This thing is toast! Can it!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you stop posting?"
The same could be said about your repetetive posts.
Spock: Captain Kirk, we have an unsual life form on our sensors.
Kirk: Check it out, Mr. Spock. See if it's dangerous.
Spock: It's not dangerous, Captain. It has no brain matter, has a very large mouth, and a gigantic dorsal orifice.
Kirk: In other words, it's a troll creature?
Spock: Affirmative, Captain.
Kirk: Fire the Photon torpedoes at it.
(Ship Sounds) Aff-oogah! Ahh-oogah! Red Alert! (Swoosh!) (Swoosh!) KAH-BLOOIE!!!!! (torpedoes exploding)
Kirk: Mr. Spock? What is that vast amount of brown residue floating out there?
Mr. Spock: Sensors show that it a large cloud of fecal matter.
Captain Kirk: You were right and quite logical, Mr. Spock. It was a troll.
And these are the "educators" teaching the youth of today? We are all screwed!
ReplyDeleteSpare us the BS. A minor exchange with a troll is no big deal. Not everyone on here is an educator, and the author of the dialog above is an educator with proven successful experience in working with the IPS diverse population. In the meantime, we can skip over the nonsensical call to either toast the thread or to can it. One or two fools can't stop the show.
ReplyDeleteWhat was mentioned a bit further upstream is very significant and telling where the Ft. Wayne system is basically one small high school population less than IPS, yet IPS has almost twice the budget. Why are there no howls of outrage at the waste?
Even further upstream was a facebook quote from somone's former student who turned into a low literacy street thug immersed in a life of crime and debauchery. The question was posed and then neatly sidestepped as to who is responsible for raising and inculcating values into someone like that; his parents or the school?
The only ones screwed are the ones who refuse to become involved in the educational process and lead by example. I've seen enough pomposity on here to last a lifetime, and a severe shortage of common sense. Get a little perspective on the nature of a blog like this. It is the veenting of frustration as well as the exposing of the fools and incompetents in the system.
Has anyone done any research on the cause of the difference? Number of schools, number of special education, demographics of the population, transportation cost? What could possibly account for the difference? It can't all be our bloated administrators can it?
ReplyDeleteAnd to the toast poster...if I had as much dirty laundry as IPS I'd be praying for this blog to end too.
OK, here goes on the difference between Fort Wayne and IPS. Disregarding race and instead looking at economic conditions of families, IPS has 6837 more kids on free lunch, interestingly Fort Wayne has 1314 more kids on reduced lunch, and 3656 more kids paying for lunch. 76% of IPS kids qualify for free lunch, and only 58% of Fort Wayne’s kids qualify. Of the remaining reduced or paid lunch kids both district has about one quart of their remaining kids on reduced lunch and three quarters on paid lunch.
ReplyDeletePoverty is a major factor with students being “at risk” So perhaps so if the difference in cost is these 6837 additional at risk students….
Dr. Wendy Robinson, Superintendent of Ft.Wayne schools made $220,288 in 2009, then there is Dr. White’s salary $240,640….so there is $20,000. Of the difference between the schools.
Additionally IPS is running 9 more schools than Ft. Wayne...that would be 9 additional sets of administrators...gotta have someplace to hire all your relatives.
The nine extra schools may be the issue, with perhaps 27 more administrators. That might account for around 2 million or so in salaries, but still not enough to account for the extra $325M. I've often puzzled at the small size of some of IPS high schools, not to mention some of the elementaries. The cost of operating those 9 more buildings has got to hit some serious change. It would have made more sense for a total of 5 high schools; a central campus like Tech and then 4 more for each side of town. Several of the buildings are not utilizing all of their space, and certainly having more efficient transportation would help. I've seen way too many buses pull out of the building at the end of the day carrying a half-dozen students or so.
ReplyDelete@The nine extra schools may be the issue, with perhaps 27 more administrators.
ReplyDeleteI believe you're on to something, seriously. We have John Marshall on the far Eastside with about 500 students in a building designed for 2000 students. Why keep that huge building open? Think of the heating/cooling costs, the custodial/maintenance costs, the cafeteria workers' costs, transportation costs, the added expenses of maintaining a Media Center, and the additional expenses of the salaries for the Principal, the Assistant Principals, the Athletic Director, the Counselors, the office staff, etc. That's just one IPS school that is operating a large facility with far too few students. Think of the other buildings, also. It makes about as much financial sense to keep large buildings open for only a few students as it does for Grandma and Grandpa to continue living in a 6000 sq.ft. home after all the kids are grown and gone from the nest.
There are reasons why a larger school is more efficient for operating expenses rather than a bunch of smaller ones. Since the 1200 pound gorilla of education "reform" is in the room, it also makes more sense by making better efficient use of special resources. Along with that is the oft-neglected higher functioning students who are finally able to get some meaty classes instead of the basic stuff geared for the lowest common denominator.
ReplyDeleteSuffice it say, that as a teacher I'm aghast at the lack of offerings IPS has compared to what I had as a high schooler. I was in high school in the early 1960's, and not in this state. My school was a 3500 student enrollment building, grades 7-12. We weren't a high income area, blue collar actually, but we offered all the major European foreign languages including Latin, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. We had several levels of art instruction, theatre and creative writing, aeronautics, multiple years of chemistry and physics. The upper levels of those classes weren't as filled as the basic courses, but the larger student population was able to support those students who wanted to take the advanced curriculuum. A smaller school would not have been able to afford those opportunities, and that is where the smaller schools at IPS are falling down. Consolidating these IPS schools into fewer but more comprehensive facilities seems to be a pressing need.
Gee there is a novel thought, don't fix what isn't broken, 1000 to 1600 students is the optimal size for a high school, enough kids you can offer a rich curriculum, not so big that kids are anonymous. Fort Wayne still uses that feeder school approach 5 high schools, fed by 2 middle schools each, each middle school fed by about 2 elementaries. Middle schools with about 600 kids, also considered an optimal size for middle schools...and 300 is a great size for an elementary...look at our highest performing elementary schools.
ReplyDeleteGee, what do you consider enriched? I would have to argue that 1000 to 1600 still isn't a large enough population to generate enough demand and support for sustainable higher level classes. The issue this approach raises is that it goes against the grain for magnet schools.
ReplyDeleteNot in an IPS school. We'd get 550 freshmen, 350 sophmores, 250 juniors and 150 seniors. If we were better at holding our kids in school we'd have between 250 and 400 kids per grade level, not the ridiculous attrition that IPS has.
ReplyDeleteI have to conclude, in the midst of the blog addict, this thing is toast-can it!!
ReplyDeleteI don't see where the size of the school makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteI went to a rural school in Missouri with a total population of about 400 HS students (I graduated with 129).
In 4 years, I had taken 7 science classes & 4 math classes, Journalism, Computer skills course, Concert/Marching Band (for 3 years), Jazz Band (for 2 years), 4 years of English, two years of foreign language as well as the usual courses.
Not to mention the extracurricular, which included drama club/debate.
The only down side might have been the fact that we only offered two foreign languages, but that's about it.
I don't see where size really matters when it comes to the basics. Sure, if you want a course that is very specific, but we (IPS) haven't even achieved what my podunk high school managed.
Granted, many of the IPS students have not learned the basic requirements that are required for many of those courses.
There has long been a culture of dumb among the students that seems to start in middle school.
ReplyDeleteFor many years, principals, counselors, and team leaders passed along students who were failing math and language arts despite directives to retain students who were failing.
The students saw very few of their peers being retained. They knew a good quarter of their fellow students were blowing off class work and legitimately should have been retained, and yet only about 5 or 6 out of 50 failures or more in a middle school building grade level would be retained. That was pretty much a free pass, and they knew the odds favored them. There was no incentive to actually work, and the bad habits kicked in about that point. This went on for years and now the chickens have come home to roost.
As far back as 10-12 years ago I was aware of the 25% graduation rate out of Northwest, and I was told it wasn't a new problem. Student culture has a long memory and a faulty memory at that. A perception sets in and you're going to play hell getting that attitude rooted out of them. It's going to take several years of hard-nosed work from the adults in charge to beat it into the student's pointy little heads that there are no more free passes and that they have to know the material before they are allowed to move on.
You want to improve the graduation and passing rate? Mean what you say, say it mean, and follow through. This bull crap of giving the students 36 second chances has got to end. Hold their feet to the fire and crisp their toes if need be, but if we as adults in charge aren't going to be serious about following through , then we deserve the results we get and too bad the students are ultimately the ones who are screwed.
@ Jim
ReplyDeleteThe issue that is readily identifiable is that you went to a school out of state. There are some good schools in Indiana, but they are fewer than in other states. Hoosiers wallow in a state of mediocrity and pass it off as an adequate standard. Hoosiers long have poked fun at Kentucky, yet their educational system runs rings around what we have here and they do it with far less money. They were looking at inequities in the funding system several years back, and as they got further into it they came to realize how badly it was set up and what the system was delivering. Their solution was to rewrite the legislation on funding and revamp the entire system. They reformed their system completely before the current movement came into being. It's unfortunate the Indiana legislature lacks the intelligence and foresight to work out an equitable solution where everyone wins.
Wow, we've a person on here who understands KERA! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteOver thirty years ago I taught in Ohio where the courts made the same ruling they made in Kentucky (and I believe Indiana has it's own version) Ohio still has done nothing...and neither has Indiana, Kentucky took the bull by the horns and did something, did they do every single thing right, no, but lots of what they have done has worked...shame on Indiana and Ohio...
ReplyDeleteIn Kentucky if you teach at school with a higher at risk population you get extra support, more training, and more money...not treated like you are the cause of the entire downfall of society as we know it.
Kentucky also does not have teacher unions which lobby against any/all state legislative changes to education.
ReplyDeleteThe drawback is that teacher pay is less in Kentucky. It's fairly common for teachers along the border to pick up a job teaching in Indiana for the last few years of their career so they can get the higher pay then bump up their retirement.
ReplyDeleteTo: Kentucky also does not have teacher unions which lobby against any/all state legislative changes to education.
ReplyDeleteYou are so very wrong. If you are a teacher and not a union member, then you are a free-loading scum sucker. You have enjoyed the salary increases, insurance benefits, rights to due process, and all of the other perks the contract has provided for years. The people working next to you have been carrying you and the likes of you for entirely too long. You know nothing about which you speak. The union has NEVER lobbied against ANY/ALL changes to education, and the union has never protected bad teachers.
Why don't you demand that you get the salary and benefits that your corporation would LIKE to offer you. In fact, make it retroactive. Then we'll see just how quickly and how far into bankruptcy you fall.
It wouldn't be pretty, but you would deserve it.
another example of a blog addict:this is toast-can it!!
ReplyDeletePlease get a grip, breathe.
ReplyDeleteIf people want to express themselves, it's OK, really.
"another example of a blog addict:this is toast-can it!!"
ReplyDeleteyawn. you must be getting worried, this is the 5th time you've posted the same inane nonsense. It's okay, Tony, you can go home now. They need another social studies teacher down south and they don't want to pay much. I just wonder how long you'll last in the new evaluation system?
Here's a heads up for the next cheating device, a rather clever ball point pen with built in recording for voice and whatever is written. It's called the Smart Pen, http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/. I can see this thing showing up in classes, and particularly ECA exams.
ReplyDeleteI need to secure liability insurance for student teaching, but would rather not join NEA. Where else can I get it?
ReplyDeleteTo the person who called non-union members "free-loading scum sucker" you're the one who doesn't know anything about which you speak. The entire point of union is so the teachers who are worth less than market value can freeload off of those who are worth more than market value. So the unions bring DOWN teacher pay and benefits for the teachers who would command the most in a free market system. The union only protects weak teachers who could easily be replaced. It hurts the good teachers because they can't negotiate salaries anywhere near what they are worth and what they could get if the district didn't have to pay bad teachers as if they were good, nor can they negotiate other non-monetary terms on an individual basis. If you want to belong to a union, that's your business, but you need to educate yourself before you accuse the rest of us of freeloading.
ReplyDeleteTo the immediately above poster;
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of unmitigated bull shit!! It's a moot point as we've lost most of the hard earned protection gained over the last 40 years and Indiana gets to set the clock back once again to the 19th Century. Indiana sets the market value of teachers at a low point, so welcome to 5 bucks an hour above minimum wage. Educate yourself before telling others to do the same.
Welcome to employment at will where a principal can railroad you out in favor of a friend of theirs no matter how good you are, or a parent can complain because little Johnnie is a lazy ass and Momma thinks he should still get a passing grade for doing nothing and the principal doesn't want to rock the boat. Where in the hell have you been that you can come up with such an outlandish statement as yours?
Re: Non-union liability insurance. Check out www.aaeteachers.org. Association of American Educators. It's the largest non-union teacher organization in the country.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with the post about unions bringing down teacher value, not raising it. I'm a third year teacher. I taught in IPS for a year, and in my first year, I had the highest ECA scores in my subject area in my school. I was laid off, much to the dismay of my principal. I then got a job in another district, and had the exact same results -- best ECA scores in my subject area in my school. My principal is scared to death I'll leave for more money. She has said more than once she would give me more money if there was any way she could. But she can't. The only way I can get more money is if I go to a charter school or a private school. As long as I work in unionized schools, I can't make more than union scale.