The big announcement comes today about which schools will be taken over by the State. We're predicting Broad Ripple won't get taken over. Everyone else is fair game. What's your bet?
It is ironic now that the info is out on the takeover schools. Now that Bennett has officially "fired" my husband, we can qualify for school vouchers but really we cannot because our kids already attend a Catholic school and since we have not been taxing the tax payers for the last 10 years because of sending them to a Catholic school we cannot use the vouchers. So my husband is out of a job and we have to pull our kids from school but maybe he will be hired by the for-profit charter school system. Mr. Bennett, I would like to thank you personally for really having a damaging impact on our house!
So we should trap thousands of kids in failing schools with the same tax money it would take to send them to good schools, all so your family doesn't get impacted? Really?!
Hey! What about Washington? Yeah for them, too! Especially since they didn't have the luxury of throwing out their under achieving kids. They made it happen for ALL of their kids. I am so proud of them!
does samantha adair-white think she sounds more official by always saying absolutely not vs no or i do not support this motion? she is so damn obvious. how the hell did she fool enough people to vote for her dumb ass? she looks and acts so damn gheto on the streaming video of the board meeting!!! step down woman - u r more gheto than our students and parents. I dont mind annie roof and diane arnold saying no - they always give reason for their decisions. adair can't even give reason. just throws a big baby fit!!
ooo I stand corrected - she must be checking the blog from her laptop - look who just channeled her husbands balls to be an ASS! now shes gonna ask questions but lookie chickie he just handed ur ass back to u and u actually didn't say absolutely not
4-3 votes on almost everything. Dr. White is smart enough to read the writing on the wall. If he leaves, it is bye-bye to at least 20 central office employees.
Why would 20 central office employees go? Where would they go? Are there districts chomping at the bit to hire Gene and his team? Nope, these people will stay until the last dog dies...and they have sucked every last $ out of the system. They're on their knees at home right now praying out next superintendent is from inside IPS and part of their mafia, or if they hire someone from outside IPS it takes him or her a year to figure out their game.
If he leaves and the others follow, someone make damn sure Yvonne Rambo goes along too. Yeah, good job on making those schools turn around. Ever consider that you've had your ladder climbing head up your ass all these years? It was damn funny that someone who used to break down and cry because they had no clue how to manage a bunch of hardassed kids at 47 gets placed in charge of turning things around for a serious number of buildings. Well, sweetheart, if you were a teacher, you would be moving to non-renewal of that contract. When White leaves, you'll be missed like the absence of a bad case of the clap.
4-3 on almost everything? wow - what do u take? only 3 things went 4-3 while i was watching. maybe u are the problem with why our students can't pass the eca's and why bennett wants the takeover so much!
News says IPS will lose 24 million with the state takeover! Does this mean more cuts for those of us in GOOD schools with GOOD test scores? More schools closed? Why should I vote Republican anymore unless I want work at Wal-Mart with 10 years of college paid for?
yes, virginia, ips will lose that much. the republicans want to simply overtake ips and it is political. look into the medical field = that just may be the only guarantee = or fall back on walmart - if you so choose
thanks all of you who called me a carpet licker and a good ole boy over the last 2 years. now our class sizes will increase as our funding goes to the fat cat republicans and charter schools. the true losers - our students.
Screw White!!! He threw the southside under the bus and then drove the bus over them, backed up and did it again! When you hide information from administrators, make Emma Donnan into an alternative school without telling them and then give them only 3 weeks to find out they may loose their job, create resumes and apply for their own job, then choose the second day of testing to inform those staff members that they no longer have a job there, what else do you expect? IDIOTS!!!
Eugene White and his Board threw Donnan under the bus because Donnan has more white students enrolled than the other middle schools. Same with Manual. He wants to make sure he's equitable in his throwing schools under the bus.
Arlington should have been thrown under the bus 10 years ago while Jackie Greenwood was in her prime as the Principal of the school known as the 'drop-out factory of Indiana'. But, no, the Concerned Clergy stepped up and saved Greenwood's bottom side because she says her prayers and gives her tithes to the Concerned Clergy.
Seeing Dr. Greenwood's named mentioned above makes me want to ask just exactly how long does IPS plan on keeping this very expensive older woman on the payroll. I would wager that her base salary would cover the base salaries of three brand new teachers in IPS.
The woman is ancient, a relic, an antique, and nothing more than a slap 'em on the back good 'ol gal who tells everyone, "I love you". She has not done one thing for IPS for years and years.
If a state take over of schools does only one thing, I would hope it includes cleaning out the deadwood at the top, the Ed Center old timers.
Look at the situation with PDR and PB, both were listed as non-renewals, neither has been listed in any board minutes that I can find as being reassigned to new jobs, or lower salaries, yet both apparently are still cashing in. And then on the blog saying PDR "saved two art teachers jobs by taking a pay cut." Baloney. If they were reassigned or took pay cuts perhaps someone could provide a link that showed where this happened.
I've seen where others (Keith White, Linda Poulter) took those pay cuts or were reassigned, but nothing on the other three. It looks like more high priced people really just hanging around.
And as far as PDR being an expert in art... hehehe, the curriculum she wrote is not rigorous, it is the exact opposite, it skims the surface and there is never a deep dive into anything. Noted art educator Nancy Smith says in "Experience and Art: Teaching Children to Paint" “Art Programs sometimes do not make the most of the many possible opportunities for developing competence and helping to formulate meaning. This is the case when they go no further than the surface exploration of materials and processes and when they are not focused on the life and interests of the children. Exploration needs structure and sequential lesson planning to lead to deep understanding. When such structures are omitted, fundamental learning about art and imagery is lost and art activities become superficial “busy-work.” Kelly Gallagher in Readicide reiterates the same point when he say "The biggest danger in sprinting through various readings (or activities) in any content area is that we graduate students who do not develop an interest in any content area. Authentic interest is developed when students are given the opportunity to delve deeply into interesting ideas." and finally the artist Kandinsky “Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated. Efforts to revive the art-principles of the past will at best produce an art that is still-born. It is impossible for us to live and feel, as did the ancient Greeks. In the same way those who strive to follow the Greek methods in sculpture achieve only a similarity of form, the work remaining soulless for all time.”
PDR's curriculum encourages those stillborn and souless "creative" experiences. Discipline Bases Art Education has been discredited yet she firmly holds on to the notions and concepts it endorses. And for this reason many of the fine art teachers (including me) in IPS only teach her curriculum when she showed up and we pray she won't show up.
How does a guy who under his leadership have so many schools fall into state hands get an extension?
What is the criteria for poor performance?
The schools instead of having teachers worry about kicking kids out of class for dress code and other idiot reasons been keeping them in the class. They might have passed the tests.
When I was in school I wore jeans, sweats, t-shirts, and made it to college. (It was an IPS school.) So, can these kids.
Let the teachers worry about educating. Not fashion. JMO
The dress code was needed, sorry to say. Too many boys coming to school with their pants below their buttcheeks, girls with tops baring cleavage that a beer bottle could get lost in, and T-shirts with some of the rudest and vile things you can imagine. I still remember the one T-shirt that had the positions of the Kama Sutra with skeletons. Like that was appropriate?
Poor White TRASH Mary Louise Bewley is very upset with Adair-White. Please go to her,and express how you feel. I forgot Adair-White has already put her in her place..
Dr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given. Many of the problems can be traced back to Pat who agreed with can't retain them if they were special education, been retained before, were "old", or many more similiar reasons....WHAT DID YOU THINK THOSE KIDS WERE GOING TO DO...suddenly get it and graduate...welcome to a system failure...
Oh come on, what an excuse...he took over in 2005, The current seniors were sixth graders when he took over and he has done NOTHING EFFECTIVE to resolve this problem. SPED's are not the problem, we are not succeeding with regular kids, everyday we lose more and more of the kids. What we offer and the way we offer it turns these kids off of education, and this is Dr. White's fault.
hmmm...what WE offer and the way WE offer sounds like choice of the classroom teacher which I happen to be...kids are not turned on because WE are not turning them on...as bad as that Springboard curriculum is, I made it enjoyable for my students and they improved and achieved, but they came 2-4 years below grade level...should I blame Dr. White, their elementary teachers (which I used to be and I know how hard they work, or do I blame a system that was created long before White that offers failure as an option that many are okay with accepting? Or this system of excuses are acceptable or how about the blame game...I bet you like that one...hmmmm
Look there is plenty of blame to go around... Springboard sucks and has no rigor, academic freedom is a thing of the past in many subjects, administrators want test prep, teachers believe kids can't...we need to stop looking for who to blame, and start looking for a solution...I found one for my kids and they are succeeding in my class...but lots of people who love the blame game just keep playing it rather than trying to find a solution. Remember the IPS motto, "This too will pass" except for kids this is their one and only time to go through the educational system.
I don't feel sorry for a public school teacher who complains of not having the money to send her children to Catholic schools. So what if your husband lost his job because of Tony Bennett. You chose to send them there so pay up or shut up. Perhaps your husband can teach at a Catholic school for $25,000 a year since they are so wonderful.
"Dr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given."
So your logic says: If the kids I am given at the beginning of the year have failed in the past, I am not responsible or accountable for their failures at the end of this year. After all, I am only dealing with what I have been given.
I expect my students to improve, and, by the way, according to our first scrimmage scores, they have.
Our Superdependant should be held just as accountable for the successes and failures of the district as a whole as I will be held accountable for the successes and failures of my students.
@"Dr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given."
That excuse was valid for about one year, at tops. We can't continue to excuse Eugene White any longer using the tired old excuse that he merely inherited a mess. Yes, he inherited a hot mess; on the other hand, during his interviews for becoming the IPS Superintendent, he spoke of his stellar abilities and skills to remediate that hot mess. That was 2005; it's now 6 years later, 2011, and we still have a hot mess, perhaps even a hotter mess.
We're now reaping the benefits of PL 221. By the way, PL 221 was authored in 1999 by Democrat Bill Crawford whose district is right inside Indy. In essence, IPS has known the consequences of continued failure since 1999, and not until this summer has any IPS administrator or School Board member shown the least bit of outward, vocal concern about the ramifications of not meeting the PL 221 mandates.
Now, suddenly we find all the Board members and Dr. White expressing dismay, disgust, and chomping at the bit to sue the IDOE for reasons they've known about for 11 years!
I'm no administrator. I'm an IPS classroom teacher who's watched this situation since 1999. My question is: If I, a classroom teacher, have been aware of the ramifications of PL 221 since its inception, then why wouldn't the Board and the Superintendent be even more aware? Certainly, this is no surprise!
Years ago when I pointed out they were breaking a state law someone in personnel told me "there are state laws and district policy and we follow district policy." Too bad their was never any teeth in the state law until now. Suddenly the board, Dr. White, and IPS administrators are surprised the dog has teeth. http://www.doe.in.gov/pl221/2010/PL221_faq.pdf http://www.google.com/search?aq=1&oq=pl221+&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=pl+221+indiana
Perhaps if IPS had complied with some of the provisions of PL 221 the district wouldn't be in the shape it is in. Remember that your schools SBDM was part of the PL221 mandate, did it ever really function, or was it just a joke? It was to write a Site Improvement Plan yearly and implement that plan, did it happen? Instead of supporting this initiative IPS hindered it.
Sadly teachers and students lose on this one, but Gene and his pack of jackals continue to hunt, sucking the last of the marrow out of the corpse of IPS, before they slink off. $$$$
RE: "Now, suddenly we find all the Board members and Dr. White expressing dismay, disgust, and chomping at the bit to sue the IDOE for reasons they've known about for 11 years!"
Keep in mind three members of the board voted "No", so to be fair it's really just White and his four stooges.
Has it occured to anyone that Dr. White may be in the pocket of those who want to kill this district? Want to bet that he will be offered a job at the state level once the district takes a dive? I smell a big rat.
I think that White is so stupid and arrogant that he doesn't need to be in the pocket of those who want to kill the district. He and Mary Busch are doing for free.
THIS IS TO "POOR WHITE TRASH"... WILL YOU PLEASE DO EVERYONE A HUGE FAVOR AND RESIGN RIGHT AWAY. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE FIRED. HEE HEE
How hateful sick, cruel and down right mean is the post above about poor white trash. This is from a phony and mentally sick person, who is teaching children, just look at the very strange happiness post at the end, sick. Please seek mental help now, with plenty of deep probing therapy, and medications you will be able to redirect the anger and sick response to someone being fired. What goes around comes around.
I am sick about the state of affairs in our city. Our schools continue to rank at the bottom as we are compared to other urban areas. We gripe and moan about parents, race, sexuality, and disaffected students like we are powerless. So teachers get on here and bash each other while administrators continue to get paid? You can't serve God and Mammon. Either your interests are aligned with Dr. White or Dr. Bennett, but you can't play both sides of the fence. If IPS teachers support their administrative team, they need to fall in step with the company line (i.e. IPS is great and being picked on by the big bad state). If IPS teachers support the State, then they need to tell the truth about what they know is happening around them in the hopes that someone cares enough to intervene and make a change. However, this continual bitching and backstabbing of each other is counter-productive. Unite around a single message for God's sake and utilize your educated voice. I think the difficulty in that is everybody isn't for the kids. Some folks are for themselves. School failure is easy work if you can get it (although it doesn't pay a mint), and some folks are willing to say what they need to protect it. Where is a serious, intelligent voice of teachers that says that the interests of teachers are aligned with the students they are called to serve? As a teacher, I have never felt like my voice didn't count. However, I think you have to speak from a place of integrity as opposed to self-interest. If Dr. White is right, say that. If Dr. Bennett is right, say that. If you have a better solution, say that, say again, and be prepared to make the sacrifices to make it happen. If you can't do any of the three, shut up and enjoy the ride.
Could it be that Eugene White is the problem but Tony Bennett is not the correct medicine? Yes, there is a problem. Tony Bennett is not the answer as he is a cruel, vindictive, shallow man who has no experience with urban education.
Tony Bennett mentioned in his letter to the Indy Star "Broad Ripple, for example, does a great job with students in its magnet program; however, it fails to reach the general student population with the same success." Who can spot the major error in THAT line of thinking from the man who is supposed to have studied every single detail about these schools?!?
If Option A is Tony Bennett and Option B is Dr. White, I vote for Option C -- a school system still under full local control, but with different administrators in charge.
Wow, that takes guts to give up almost $800,000 in salary and benefits! I would be amazed to see Dr. White give up his car and clothing allowance. If we are in such a financial crisis he should pay for his own Mercedes and clothes, just like we teachers who make about 25% of what he makes.
Okay, so if you have the experience, what is your solution? What can we all rally around? Who should be in charge? Should you be in charge? If we are going to the legislature tomorrow, what are we recommending to them relative to control of chronically failing schools? I don't know Tony Bennett, but at least he is making some effort to challenge the status quo. Were the kids supposed to just languish in failure? I wouldn't let my kids go to Emma Donnan. Would you let your kids go there? So, if we as educators wouldn't send our kids to some of the schools where we teach, what do we recommend that the parents of those kids do? Even if you don't think Bennett is right, can you blame him for trying? What would Sue Ellen Reed have done? She was the friend of every Superintendent in the state and none of the kids. So, what is your solution? There is so much conversation about IPS's board being powerless to create change, but when the state creates change, we are upset? You can't have your cake and eat it to. You either like things like they are, accept the change that is coming, or go to the statehouse and advocate for the reforms you feel you can stand behind.
"If Option A is Tony Bennett and Option B is Dr. White, I vote for Option C -- a school system still under full local control, but with different administrators in charge."
Really? How do you suppose that you will get different administrators without a different school board. Teachers don't get active in school board elections. Then, when independent voices make it to the board, no one goes to the meetings to support them. You have the administrators you deserve if you are not willing to seek any redress from the school board. As a matter of fact, due to inaction, you get this administration for an additional year through 2015. I refuse to be part of the problem. If I worked for people I didn't trust/believe in, I would resign and find something else to do.
Has anyone read this book, "Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning" by Michael Schmoker? I started reading it last night. He also wrote "Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning". Both are great reads about turning around our field of education.
It's for the best. So much of IPS staff is corrupt or incompetent. It's not even September, and teachers are already on Facebook talking about playing hooky and how much they hate their jobs. Even if nothing else changes, administrator and teacher changes will help at least somewhat.
@It's for the best. _______________________________________
Yes, it's definitely for the best. An outside turnaround operator can bring their own administrators, their own teachers, and their own educational philosophy. A school cannot change or be transformed when the same staff members remain there. The turnaround operator will have the authority to hire their own people, hire the folks who adhere to the operator's philosophy. I'd even suggest the names of the turnaround academies be changed. Cut all ties with the failing school culture. As long as Arlington is still called Arlington, it will retain the aura of dysfunction and failure.
As an infamous presidential candidate noted, the fish rots from the head down. The administrators are scattering to preserve themselves. Clean house on them and 3/4's of the problem is taken care of. Bad teachers-1/4. It looks like the educational plantation that enslaves these under privileged young people is coming down. All the "administrative masters" will need to find real jobs.
So what happens to the school employees? Are they still public employees if they work for the takeover company? Does the time there count towards seniority or retirement? Or do they just fire everybody and start over? The state is taking all the funding for the students in these schools. Does IPS still have to take care of the building?
WEll, IEA sent out an e-mail today. If those teachers choose to take a job with the takeover people they forfiet all their retirement (if not vested) and IPS seniority. I think it really sucks for those teachers and students.
They will no longer be IPS employees and those schools no longer belong to the district. That is 257 jobs lost. There will be another RIF at the end of this year.
I viewed the livestream video of the State Board of Education meeting today. Beginning in the School Year 2012-2013, the four takeover schools (Arlington, Manual, Donnan, and Howe) will no longer be IPS schools, and any current teacher contractual agreements will no longer be recognized at these schools. The turnaround operators will be interviewing and hiring teachers and administrators for these schools; however, these teachers and administrators will not necessarily come from the current IPS teaching ranks. For true reform to occur, this is necessary. No longer will there be a shuffling of current administrators and teachers from one school to the other. The new 'buzz word' in retaining quality teachers is 'human capital' which translates into what high level competencies, levels of performance, skills and skill sets does a teacher bring to the table?
The EdPower leader mentioned the term "human capital" several times. Evidently, EdPower trains all their teachers for 3 weeks before they're allowed in the classroom.
If Charter Schools USA will be running three schools in Indy, how does someone apply? That is a huge amount of jobs to fill. Of course, your boss may be in Florida, but perhaps that's a good thing.
Re: If Charter Schools USA will be running three schools in Indy, how does someone apply? That is a huge amount of jobs to fill. Of course, your boss may be in Florida, but perhaps that's a good thing.
Thank you for that information. With all of the transition, a number of people with not as much seniority will probably lose (even if they work in a school that is not being turned around as teachers with seniority in turnaround schools make moves within the district). This information will help some of those young teachers.
Seniority means absolutely nothing. No one can "bump" anyone else for seniority reasons. If you can prove you're a better teacher than someone else in another building, you have a chance at their job. If you can't prove that, you don't.
@Seniority means absolutely nothing. No one can "bump" anyone else for seniority reasons.
You're absolutely correct. Advice for young and not so young teachers -- 1) get a box or an expandable file, 2) gather data outlining every time you do something extraordinary like attend a conference, participate in a professional development activity, collaborate with another teacher, win an award, present anything at a meeting, conference, etc., 3) toss the evidence/the artifacts into that box or expandable file, 4) build your own portfolio, 5) learn to highlight your achievements in an intentional manner, 6) video tape yourself teaching a lesson, and above all else, 7)remember that you're a good teacher!
MMM, lets see someone said White dealt with what he was given, never has IPS been this bad under any other leadership. White is to busy getting his family on board to hire good people to do the job. HE and HE alone let IPS d?own. When you hire 3 or 4 people to help you, then you pay a fake ass judge that was going to get fired, then get all your family working what time to you have for the kids and the rest of the staff? I hope he goes and never looks back we have had people before him that was much better.
You can blame Sue Ellen Reed for not enforcing PL221. She was to worried about NCLB, and look where that got us. If Sue Ellen had done her job, then Tony wouldn't have to be cleaning up her mess. Same with White. If the superintendents before him had closed schools while we were losing kids, then White wouldn't have had to be the bad guy and do what everyone else before him should have been doing all along.
While we're at it, don't forget to lay some serious blame at the feet of the elected school board. We've been saddled with incompetent fools from all walks of life whose only credentials have been to win a popularity contest with the voters because they were a minister or a deacon, or they were a conservative reactionary in a red-neck district. How in heaven's name could you explain how someone like Donald Payton kept getting re-elected when he was a dysfunctional alcoholic who had to be driven home from board meetings because he was too drunk to drive?
Mary Busch has sat on the board since 1976, and it's hard to see what she has done that is truly all that outstanding. yeah, she a local went to Attucks and UofI, was involved with the civil rights movemement and her father was a well known minister of the day. Consider that she was elected to the boaard at about the same time she joined the faculty at UofI. Check her academic output, next to nil is all you can find. She's a legacy from the old days, and memory runs deep where she's from, but her useful days are long past gone.
The Rev. Brown would be another not-so-stellar example. The guy has the brains of a turnip, but he's got the old boy network in his back pocket and he works it. Praise the Lord, and elect me again.
My god, why do we keep hearing the board referred to as the "Bobble-head board"? Because the Gang of Four runs things as their own personal fiefdom, giving White carte-blanche do do as he damn well feels and nodding their heads the whole time. This board is stuck in the rhetoric of the 60's and 70's with nary a new thought among them except for a few powerless newbies that are sealed off from full participation like they have leprosy. God forbid the contagion of intelligent thought should hit these destructive fools.
Lord, help IPS! The Bobbleheads went and instead we get the best board that money can buy. The New Gang of Four all had campaign donations of $15,000 each from the Mindless Trust. Guess whose pocket they're going to be in. Sigh, meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss.
The round of administration contract terminations has only had one good effect; Yvonne Rambo is out of the building. The bad news is that she's either going to the DOE as an Assistant Superintendent in which case God save us all, or she's going to the mayor's office to oversee the turnaround schools. It's yet another example of shit rising to the top.
and they said things were bad with Dr. White...well thanks for giving us worse. Ashamed to be affiliated with IPS these days and counting them down until I can go. Idiots on a sinking ship.
heh, things are in a death spiral. Furbee want's to kill the teacher's contract by turning most of he schools into charters. That'll reduce expenses with that pesky contract and what little safeguards are left. The Board that Mind Trust bought is going along with what their masters are saying to do. You've got to give it to them, they are the best board that can be bought.
Downtown administration is running scared shitless, Madam Greenwood was told to pack up and get out. The F&M chief was called in after a couple days of when Furbee started and was told that he didn't think he would be able to work with him and wanted him to resign. WTF? He hadn't even met with him before. Starts to sound like if you're old and white male, you're gonna be history. Ask the PR guy who is now applying for unemployment after the associate degree wicked witch of North Carolina decided she wanted the job along with a 20K year higher pay than the guy she fired.
Most of the new vacancies and positions are being filled by North Carolina carpetbaggers. Even after Furbee gets fired in about three years, his hiring legacy is going to contaminate IPS for another generation. So long IPS, for all your faults, it was nice knowing you. This is like watching someone you know die of cancer.
And why not Broad Ripple? Because of its stellar leadership?
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic now that the info is out on the takeover schools. Now that Bennett has officially "fired" my husband, we can qualify for school vouchers but really we cannot because our kids already attend a Catholic school and since we have not been taxing the tax payers for the last 10 years because of sending them to a Catholic school we cannot use the vouchers. So my husband is out of a job and we have to pull our kids from school but maybe he will be hired by the for-profit charter school system. Mr. Bennett, I would like to thank you personally for really having a damaging impact on our house!
ReplyDeleteSo we should trap thousands of kids in failing schools with the same tax money it would take to send them to good schools, all so your family doesn't get impacted? Really?!
ReplyDeleteYeah! Broad Ripple!
ReplyDeleteHey! What about Washington? Yeah for them, too! Especially since they didn't have the luxury of throwing out their under achieving kids. They made it happen for ALL of their kids. I am so proud of them!
ReplyDeletedoes samantha adair-white think she sounds more official by always saying absolutely not vs no or i do not support this motion? she is so damn obvious. how the hell did she fool enough people to vote for her dumb ass? she looks and acts so damn gheto on the streaming video of the board meeting!!! step down woman - u r more gheto than our students and parents. I dont mind annie roof and diane arnold saying no - they always give reason for their decisions. adair can't even give reason. just throws a big baby fit!!
ReplyDeleteooo I stand corrected - she must be checking the blog from her laptop - look who just channeled her husbands balls to be an ASS! now shes gonna ask questions but lookie chickie he just handed ur ass back to u and u actually didn't say absolutely not
ReplyDeleteSounds like Genie Boy is on here bashing the School Board members that actually exercising their First Amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry, Grammar Police, I forgot the word "are" between the words "that" and "actually".
ReplyDelete4-3 votes on almost everything. Dr. White is smart enough to read the writing on the wall. If he leaves, it is bye-bye to at least 20 central office employees.
ReplyDeleteWhy would 20 central office employees go? Where would they go? Are there districts chomping at the bit to hire Gene and his team? Nope, these people will stay until the last dog dies...and they have sucked every last $ out of the system.
ReplyDeleteThey're on their knees at home right now praying out next superintendent is from inside IPS and part of their mafia, or if they hire someone from outside IPS it takes him or her a year to figure out their game.
If he leaves and the others follow, someone make damn sure Yvonne Rambo goes along too. Yeah, good job on making those schools turn around. Ever consider that you've had your ladder climbing head up your ass all these years? It was damn funny that someone who used to break down and cry because they had no clue how to manage a bunch of hardassed kids at 47 gets placed in charge of turning things around for a serious number of buildings. Well, sweetheart, if you were a teacher, you would be moving to non-renewal of that contract. When White leaves, you'll be missed like the absence of a bad case of the clap.
ReplyDelete"So we should trap thousands of kids in failing schools with the same tax money it would take to send them to good schools."
ReplyDeleteThese kids are trapped in failing homes, not failing schools. IPS works when parents are involved..check out the magnet school results.
4-3 on almost everything? wow - what do u take? only 3 things went 4-3 while i was watching. maybe u are the problem with why our students can't pass the eca's and why bennett wants the takeover so much!
ReplyDeleteNews says IPS will lose 24 million with the state takeover! Does this mean more cuts for those of us in GOOD schools with GOOD test scores? More schools closed? Why should I vote Republican anymore unless I want work at Wal-Mart with 10 years of college paid for?
ReplyDeleteyes, virginia, ips will lose that much. the republicans want to simply overtake ips and it is political. look into the medical field = that just may be the only guarantee = or fall back on walmart - if you so choose
ReplyDeletethe republican puppet samantha adair-white is their ring leader posing as an advocate board member of ips
ReplyDeletethanks all of you who called me a carpet licker and a good ole boy over the last 2 years. now our class sizes will increase as our funding goes to the fat cat republicans and charter schools. the true losers - our students.
ReplyDeleteScrew White!!! He threw the southside under the bus and then drove the bus over them, backed up and did it again! When you hide information from administrators, make Emma Donnan into an alternative school without telling them and then give them only 3 weeks to find out they may loose their job, create resumes and apply for their own job, then choose the second day of testing to inform those staff members that they no longer have a job there, what else do you expect? IDIOTS!!!
ReplyDeleteEugene White and his Board threw Donnan under the bus because Donnan has more white students enrolled than the other middle schools. Same with Manual. He wants to make sure he's equitable in his throwing schools under the bus.
ReplyDeleteArlington should have been thrown under the bus 10 years ago while Jackie Greenwood was in her prime as the Principal of the school known as the 'drop-out factory of Indiana'. But, no, the Concerned Clergy stepped up and saved Greenwood's bottom side because she says her prayers and gives her tithes to the Concerned Clergy.
Seeing Dr. Greenwood's named mentioned above makes me want to ask just exactly how long does IPS plan on keeping this very expensive older woman on the payroll. I would wager that her base salary would cover the base salaries of three brand new teachers in IPS.
ReplyDeleteThe woman is ancient, a relic, an antique, and nothing more than a slap 'em on the back good 'ol gal who tells everyone, "I love you". She has not done one thing for IPS for years and years.
If a state take over of schools does only one thing, I would hope it includes cleaning out the deadwood at the top, the Ed Center old timers.
Look at the situation with PDR and PB, both were listed as non-renewals, neither has been listed in any board minutes that I can find as being reassigned to new jobs, or lower salaries, yet both apparently are still cashing in. And then on the blog saying PDR "saved two art teachers jobs by taking a pay cut." Baloney. If they were reassigned or took pay cuts perhaps someone could provide a link that showed where this happened.
ReplyDeleteI've seen where others (Keith White, Linda Poulter) took those pay cuts or were reassigned, but nothing on the other three. It looks like more high priced people really just hanging around.
And as far as PDR being an expert in art... hehehe, the curriculum she wrote is not rigorous, it is the exact opposite, it skims the surface and there is never a deep dive into anything. Noted art educator Nancy Smith says in "Experience and Art: Teaching Children to Paint" “Art Programs sometimes do not make the most of the many possible opportunities for developing competence and helping to formulate meaning. This is the case when they go no further than the surface exploration of materials and processes and when they are not focused on the life and interests of the children. Exploration needs structure and sequential lesson planning to lead to deep understanding. When such structures are omitted, fundamental learning about art and imagery is lost and art activities become superficial “busy-work.” Kelly Gallagher in Readicide reiterates the same point when he say "The biggest danger in sprinting through various readings (or activities) in any content area is that we graduate students who do not develop an interest in any content area. Authentic interest is developed when students are given the opportunity to delve deeply into interesting ideas." and finally the artist Kandinsky “Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated. Efforts to revive the art-principles of the past will at best produce an art that is still-born. It is impossible for us to live and feel, as did the ancient Greeks. In the same way those who strive to follow the Greek methods in sculpture achieve only a similarity of form, the work remaining soulless for all time.”
PDR's curriculum encourages those stillborn and souless "creative" experiences. Discipline Bases Art Education has been discredited yet she firmly holds on to the notions and concepts it endorses. And for this reason many of the fine art teachers (including me) in IPS only teach her curriculum when she showed up and we pray she won't show up.
According to wthr, the board extended White's contract for another year last night.
ReplyDeleteCha ching....$$$$$....gotta love it,
ReplyDeleteEugene White, B.S., M.S., Ed.S.,Ed.D. ei.ei. oh!
How does a guy who under his leadership have so many schools fall into state hands get an extension?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the criteria for poor performance?
The schools instead of having teachers worry about kicking kids out of class for dress code and other idiot reasons been keeping them in the class. They might have passed the tests.
When I was in school I wore jeans, sweats, t-shirts, and made it to college. (It was an IPS school.) So, can these kids.
Let the teachers worry about educating. Not fashion. JMO
The dress code was needed, sorry to say. Too many boys coming to school with their pants below their buttcheeks, girls with tops baring cleavage that a beer bottle could get lost in, and T-shirts with some of the rudest and vile things you can imagine. I still remember the one T-shirt that had the positions of the Kama Sutra with skeletons. Like that was appropriate?
ReplyDelete@Eugene White and his board..... Jackie Greenwood was already 10 years past her prime 10 YEARS AGO...... that woman needs to go!!
ReplyDeletePoor White TRASH Mary Louise Bewley is very upset with Adair-White. Please go to her,and express how you feel. I forgot Adair-White has already put her in her place..
ReplyDeleteBye Bye Central office
ReplyDeleteFashion police please help Mary Louise Bewley! Hair Cut, Sun, and maybe jenny craig.
ReplyDelete4-3 on his contact. Poor Dr. White, Dr Johnson, Dr. Kendrick. O my, O my!
ReplyDeleteoop contract
ReplyDeleteI love Jackie Greenwood, but no kids no JOB!
ReplyDeleteDr. White, you finally got your wish. You lost 6 schools under your leadership. Please leave!
ReplyDeleteAnnie Roof did Mary Louise Bewley say something stupid to you? I heard she called you a stupid B.
ReplyDeleteDr Johnson are you still f--------Dr. White? If he leaves who's next?
ReplyDeleteDr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given. Many of the problems can be traced back to Pat who agreed with can't retain them if they were special education, been retained before, were "old", or many more similiar reasons....WHAT DID YOU THINK THOSE KIDS WERE GOING TO DO...suddenly get it and graduate...welcome to a system failure...
ReplyDeleteOh come on, what an excuse...he took over in 2005, The current seniors were sixth graders when he took over and he has done NOTHING EFFECTIVE to resolve this problem. SPED's are not the problem, we are not succeeding with regular kids, everyday we lose more and more of the kids. What we offer and the way we offer it turns these kids off of education, and this is Dr. White's fault.
ReplyDeleteSo the year added to Ewwgene's contract will add to his severance package when he leaves.
ReplyDeletehmmm...what WE offer and the way WE offer sounds like choice of the classroom teacher which I happen to be...kids are not turned on because WE are not turning them on...as bad as that Springboard curriculum is, I made it enjoyable for my students and they improved and achieved, but they came 2-4 years below grade level...should I blame Dr. White, their elementary teachers (which I used to be and I know how hard they work, or do I blame a system that was created long before White that offers failure as an option that many are okay with accepting? Or this system of excuses are acceptable or how about the blame game...I bet you like that one...hmmmm
ReplyDeleteLook there is plenty of blame to go around... Springboard sucks and has no rigor, academic freedom is a thing of the past in many subjects, administrators want test prep, teachers believe kids can't...we need to stop looking for who to blame, and start looking for a solution...I found one for my kids and they are succeeding in my class...but lots of people who love the blame game just keep playing it rather than trying to find a solution. Remember the IPS motto, "This too will pass" except for kids this is their one and only time to go through the educational system.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel sorry for a public school teacher who complains of not having the money to send her children to Catholic schools. So what if your husband lost his job because of Tony Bennett. You chose to send them there so pay up or shut up. Perhaps your husband can teach at a Catholic school for $25,000 a year since they are so wonderful.
ReplyDelete"Dr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given."
ReplyDeleteSo your logic says: If the kids I am given at the beginning of the year have failed in the past, I am not responsible or accountable for their failures at the end of this year. After all, I am only dealing with what I have been given.
I expect my students to improve, and, by the way, according to our first scrimmage scores, they have.
Our Superdependant should be held just as accountable for the successes and failures of the district as a whole as I will be held accountable for the successes and failures of my students.
Very good point.
ReplyDelete@"Dr. White did not cause the current failing of IPS. He is simply dealing with what he was given."
ReplyDeleteThat excuse was valid for about one year, at tops. We can't continue to excuse Eugene White any longer using the tired old excuse that he merely inherited a mess. Yes, he inherited a hot mess; on the other hand, during his interviews for becoming the IPS Superintendent, he spoke of his stellar abilities and skills to remediate that hot mess. That was 2005; it's now 6 years later, 2011, and we still have a hot mess, perhaps even a hotter mess.
We're now reaping the benefits of PL 221. By the way, PL 221 was authored in 1999 by Democrat Bill Crawford whose district is right inside Indy. In essence, IPS has known the consequences of continued failure since 1999, and not until this summer has any IPS administrator or School Board member shown the least bit of outward, vocal concern about the ramifications of not meeting the PL 221 mandates.
Now, suddenly we find all the Board members and Dr. White expressing dismay, disgust, and chomping at the bit to sue the IDOE for reasons they've known about for 11 years!
I'm no administrator. I'm an IPS classroom teacher who's watched this situation since 1999. My question is: If I, a classroom teacher, have been aware of the ramifications of PL 221 since its inception, then why wouldn't the Board and the Superintendent be even more aware? Certainly, this is no surprise!
Years ago when I pointed out they were breaking a state law someone in personnel told me "there are state laws and district policy and we follow district policy." Too bad their was never any teeth in the state law until now. Suddenly the board, Dr. White, and IPS administrators are surprised the dog has teeth. http://www.doe.in.gov/pl221/2010/PL221_faq.pdf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/search?aq=1&oq=pl221+&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=pl+221+indiana
Perhaps if IPS had complied with some of the provisions of PL 221 the district wouldn't be in the shape it is in. Remember that your schools SBDM was part of the PL221 mandate, did it ever really function, or was it just a joke? It was to write a Site Improvement Plan yearly and implement that plan, did it happen? Instead of supporting this initiative IPS hindered it.
Sadly teachers and students lose on this one, but Gene and his pack of jackals continue to hunt, sucking the last of the marrow out of the corpse of IPS, before they slink off. $$$$
RE: "Now, suddenly we find all the Board members and Dr. White expressing dismay, disgust, and chomping at the bit to sue the IDOE for reasons they've known about for 11 years!"
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind three members of the board voted "No", so to be fair it's really just White and his four stooges.
Has it occured to anyone that Dr. White may be in the pocket of those who want to kill this district? Want to bet that he will be offered a job at the state level once the district takes a dive? I smell a big rat.
ReplyDeleteConsidering White's age, I don't imagine he'll be offered a State job.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he think he would get a plum job when Obama was elected!?
ReplyDeleteI think that White is so stupid and arrogant that he doesn't need to be in the pocket of those who want to kill the district. He and Mary Busch are doing for free.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS TO "POOR WHITE TRASH"...
ReplyDeleteWILL YOU PLEASE DO EVERYONE A HUGE FAVOR AND RESIGN RIGHT AWAY. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE FIRED. HEE HEE
How hateful sick, cruel and down right mean is the post above about poor white trash. This is from a phony and mentally sick person, who is teaching children, just look at the very strange happiness post at the end, sick. Please seek mental help now, with plenty of deep probing therapy, and medications you will be able to redirect the anger and sick response to someone being fired. What goes around comes around.
ReplyDeleteI am sick about the state of affairs in our city. Our schools continue to rank at the bottom as we are compared to other urban areas. We gripe and moan about parents, race, sexuality, and disaffected students like we are powerless. So teachers get on here and bash each other while administrators continue to get paid? You can't serve God and Mammon. Either your interests are aligned with Dr. White or Dr. Bennett, but you can't play both sides of the fence. If IPS teachers support their administrative team, they need to fall in step with the company line (i.e. IPS is great and being picked on by the big bad state). If IPS teachers support the State, then they need to tell the truth about what they know is happening around them in the hopes that someone cares enough to intervene and make a change. However, this continual bitching and backstabbing of each other is counter-productive. Unite around a single message for God's sake and utilize your educated voice. I think the difficulty in that is everybody isn't for the kids. Some folks are for themselves. School failure is easy work if you can get it (although it doesn't pay a mint), and some folks are willing to say what they need to protect it. Where is a serious, intelligent voice of teachers that says that the interests of teachers are aligned with the students they are called to serve? As a teacher, I have never felt like my voice didn't count. However, I think you have to speak from a place of integrity as opposed to self-interest. If Dr. White is right, say that. If Dr. Bennett is right, say that. If you have a better solution, say that, say again, and be prepared to make the sacrifices to make it happen. If you can't do any of the three, shut up and enjoy the ride.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous post about the bitching and backstabbing.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that Eugene White is the problem but Tony Bennett is not the correct medicine? Yes, there is a problem. Tony Bennett is not the answer as he is a cruel, vindictive, shallow man who has no experience with urban education.
ReplyDeleteTony Bennett mentioned in his letter to the Indy Star "Broad Ripple, for example, does a great job with students in its magnet program; however, it fails to reach the general student population with the same success." Who can spot the major error in THAT line of thinking from the man who is supposed to have studied every single detail about these schools?!?
ReplyDeleteIf Option A is Tony Bennett and Option B is Dr. White, I vote for Option C -- a school system still under full local control, but with different administrators in charge.
ReplyDeleteHey Doc. White, Take a look at this link. Might be a good idea for you if you too want to restore the faith of the parents and students of IPS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44305388/ns/us_news-giving/?gt1=43001
Wow, that takes guts to give up almost $800,000 in salary and benefits! I would be amazed to see Dr. White give up his car and clothing allowance. If we are in such a financial crisis he should pay for his own Mercedes and clothes, just like we teachers who make about 25% of what he makes.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so if you have the experience, what is your solution? What can we all rally around? Who should be in charge? Should you be in charge? If we are going to the legislature tomorrow, what are we recommending to them relative to control of chronically failing schools? I don't know Tony Bennett, but at least he is making some effort to challenge the status quo. Were the kids supposed to just languish in failure? I wouldn't let my kids go to Emma Donnan. Would you let your kids go there? So, if we as educators wouldn't send our kids to some of the schools where we teach, what do we recommend that the parents of those kids do? Even if you don't think Bennett is right, can you blame him for trying? What would Sue Ellen Reed have done? She was the friend of every Superintendent in the state and none of the kids. So, what is your solution? There is so much conversation about IPS's board being powerless to create change, but when the state creates change, we are upset? You can't have your cake and eat it to. You either like things like they are, accept the change that is coming, or go to the statehouse and advocate for the reforms you feel you can stand behind.
ReplyDelete"If Option A is Tony Bennett and Option B is Dr. White, I vote for Option C -- a school system still under full local control, but with different administrators in charge."
ReplyDeleteReally? How do you suppose that you will get different administrators without a different school board. Teachers don't get active in school board elections. Then, when independent voices make it to the board, no one goes to the meetings to support them. You have the administrators you deserve if you are not willing to seek any redress from the school board. As a matter of fact, due to inaction, you get this administration for an additional year through 2015. I refuse to be part of the problem. If I worked for people I didn't trust/believe in, I would resign and find something else to do.
Has anyone read this book, "Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning" by Michael Schmoker? I started reading it last night. He also wrote "Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning". Both are great reads about turning around our field of education.
ReplyDeleteState Board of Education just voted 'aye' to takeover the operation of Arlington. Ed Power will be the operator.
ReplyDeleteIt's for the best. So much of IPS staff is corrupt or incompetent. It's not even September, and teachers are already on Facebook talking about playing hooky and how much they hate their jobs. Even if nothing else changes, administrator and teacher changes will help at least somewhat.
ReplyDelete@It's for the best.
ReplyDelete_______________________________________
Yes, it's definitely for the best. An outside turnaround operator can bring their own administrators, their own teachers, and their own educational philosophy. A school cannot change or be transformed when the same staff members remain there. The turnaround operator will have the authority to hire their own people, hire the folks who adhere to the operator's philosophy. I'd even suggest the names of the turnaround academies be changed. Cut all ties with the failing school culture. As long as Arlington is still called Arlington, it will retain the aura of dysfunction and failure.
As an infamous presidential candidate noted, the fish rots from the head down. The administrators are scattering to preserve themselves. Clean house on them and 3/4's of the problem is taken care of. Bad teachers-1/4. It looks like the educational plantation that enslaves these under privileged young people is coming down. All the "administrative masters" will need to find real jobs.
ReplyDeleteSo what happens to the school employees? Are they still public employees if they work for the takeover company? Does the time there count towards seniority or retirement? Or do they just fire everybody and start over? The state is taking all the funding for the students in these schools. Does IPS still have to take care of the building?
ReplyDeleteWEll, IEA sent out an e-mail today. If those teachers choose to take a job with the takeover people they forfiet all their retirement (if not vested) and IPS seniority. I think it really sucks for those teachers and students.
ReplyDeleteThey will no longer be IPS employees and those schools no longer belong to the district. That is 257 jobs lost. There will be another RIF at the end of this year.
God help us.
I viewed the livestream video of the State Board of Education meeting today. Beginning in the School Year 2012-2013, the four takeover schools (Arlington, Manual, Donnan, and Howe) will no longer be IPS schools, and any current teacher contractual agreements will no longer be recognized at these schools. The turnaround operators will be interviewing and hiring teachers and administrators for these schools; however, these teachers and administrators will not necessarily come from the current IPS teaching ranks. For true reform to occur, this is necessary. No longer will there be a shuffling of current administrators and teachers from one school to the other. The new 'buzz word' in retaining quality teachers is 'human capital' which translates into what high level competencies, levels of performance, skills and skill sets does a teacher bring to the table?
ReplyDeleteI know people who currently work for EdPower and their staff members are public employees (TRF and PERF). I don't anything about the other group.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard the rumor that all staff within IPS will be getting pink slipped at the end of this year?
ReplyDeleteThat is not true . . . not true at all . . .
ReplyDeleteThe leader/CEO of Ed Power, headquartered here in Indy, was very impressive during his presentation and especially in his ease at answering questions.
ReplyDeleteThe EdPower leader mentioned the term "human capital" several times. Evidently, EdPower trains all their teachers for 3 weeks before they're allowed in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteIf Charter Schools USA will be running three schools in Indy, how does someone apply? That is a huge amount of jobs to fill. Of course, your boss may be in Florida, but perhaps that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHuman capital is a creepy term to me. It sounds like human trafficking.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.charterschoolsusa.com/
ReplyDeleteYou can apply Online at the above link.
Re: If Charter Schools USA will be running three schools in Indy, how does someone apply? That is a huge amount of jobs to fill. Of course, your boss may be in Florida, but perhaps that's a good thing.
Thank you for that information. With all of the transition, a number of people with not as much seniority will probably lose (even if they work in a school that is not being turned around as teachers with seniority in turnaround schools make moves within the district). This information will help some of those young teachers.
ReplyDeleteSeniority means absolutely nothing. No one can "bump" anyone else for seniority reasons. If you can prove you're a better teacher than someone else in another building, you have a chance at their job. If you can't prove that, you don't.
ReplyDelete@Seniority means absolutely nothing. No one can "bump" anyone else for seniority reasons.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely correct. Advice for young and not so young teachers -- 1) get a box or an expandable file, 2) gather data outlining every time you do something extraordinary like attend a conference, participate in a professional development activity, collaborate with another teacher, win an award, present anything at a meeting, conference, etc., 3) toss the evidence/the artifacts into that box or expandable file, 4) build your own portfolio, 5) learn to highlight your achievements in an intentional manner, 6) video tape yourself teaching a lesson, and above all else, 7)remember that you're a good teacher!
MMM, lets see someone said White dealt with what he was given, never has IPS been this bad under any other leadership. White is to busy getting his family on board to hire good people to do the job. HE and HE alone let IPS d?own. When you hire 3 or 4 people to help you, then you pay a fake ass judge that was going to get fired, then get all your family working what time to you have for the kids and the rest of the staff? I hope he goes and never looks back we have had people before him that was much better.
ReplyDelete@ "then you pay a fake ass judge that was going to get fired"
ReplyDeleteWould you please clarify, who does this reference?
Yes, I wanna know who this fake ass judge is??? We need more details, please.
ReplyDeleteYou can blame Sue Ellen Reed for not enforcing PL221. She was to worried about NCLB, and look where that got us. If Sue Ellen had done her job, then Tony wouldn't have to be cleaning up her mess. Same with White. If the superintendents before him had closed schools while we were losing kids, then White wouldn't have had to be the bad guy and do what everyone else before him should have been doing all along.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that wholeheartedly.
ReplyDeleteWhile we're at it, don't forget to lay some serious blame at the feet of the elected school board. We've been saddled with incompetent fools from all walks of life whose only credentials have been to win a popularity contest with the voters because they were a minister or a deacon, or they were a conservative reactionary in a red-neck district. How in heaven's name could you explain how someone like Donald Payton kept getting re-elected when he was a dysfunctional alcoholic who had to be driven home from board meetings because he was too drunk to drive?
ReplyDeleteMary Busch has sat on the board since 1976, and it's hard to see what she has done that is truly all that outstanding. yeah, she a local went to Attucks and UofI, was involved with the civil rights movemement and her father was a well known minister of the day. Consider that she was elected to the boaard at about the same time she joined the faculty at UofI. Check her academic output, next to nil is all you can find. She's a legacy from the old days, and memory runs deep where she's from, but her useful days are long past gone.
The Rev. Brown would be another not-so-stellar example. The guy has the brains of a turnip, but he's got the old boy network in his back pocket and he works it. Praise the Lord, and elect me again.
My god, why do we keep hearing the board referred to as the "Bobble-head board"? Because the Gang of Four runs things as their own personal fiefdom, giving White carte-blanche do do as he damn well feels and nodding their heads the whole time. This board is stuck in the rhetoric of the 60's and 70's with nary a new thought among them except for a few powerless newbies that are sealed off from full participation like they have leprosy. God forbid the contagion of intelligent thought should hit these destructive fools.
This blog needs to be resurrected! If the owner reads these things anymore, how about turning the keys over to someone new?
ReplyDeleteResurrect this blog! Can the owner give the password to someone willing to revitalize it? We need this voice again!
ReplyDeleteLord, help IPS! The Bobbleheads went and instead we get the best board that money can buy. The New Gang of Four all had campaign donations of $15,000 each from the Mindless Trust. Guess whose pocket they're going to be in. Sigh, meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss.
ReplyDeleteThe round of administration contract terminations has only had one good effect; Yvonne Rambo is out of the building. The bad news is that she's either going to the DOE as an Assistant Superintendent in which case God save us all, or she's going to the mayor's office to oversee the turnaround schools. It's yet another example of shit rising to the top.
ReplyDeleteand they said things were bad with Dr. White...well thanks for giving us worse. Ashamed to be affiliated with IPS these days and counting them down until I can go. Idiots on a sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteheh, things are in a death spiral. Furbee want's to kill the teacher's contract by turning most of he schools into charters. That'll reduce expenses with that pesky contract and what little safeguards are left. The Board that Mind Trust bought is going along with what their masters are saying to do. You've got to give it to them, they are the best board that can be bought.
ReplyDeleteDowntown administration is running scared shitless, Madam Greenwood was told to pack up and get out. The F&M chief was called in after a couple days of when Furbee started and was told that he didn't think he would be able to work with him and wanted him to resign. WTF? He hadn't even met with him before. Starts to sound like if you're old and white male, you're gonna be history. Ask the PR guy who is now applying for unemployment after the associate degree wicked witch of North Carolina decided she wanted the job along with a 20K year higher pay than the guy she fired.
Most of the new vacancies and positions are being filled by North Carolina carpetbaggers. Even after Furbee gets fired in about three years, his hiring legacy is going to contaminate IPS for another generation. So long IPS, for all your faults, it was nice knowing you. This is like watching someone you know die of cancer.