I received a desperate message on Facebook from Tarrey Banks, the founder of The Project School in Indianapolis. TPS is a charter school started with a grant from the Walton Foundation. Greg Ballard, the mayor of Indianapolis, is the authorizer. TPS has low test scores, after four years, and the mayor has decided to close it. Banks and TPS parents are outraged. They went to court, blocked the mayor in a lower court, but then lost when a federal judge upheld the closure. TPS is losing the battle.
To get the big picture of what is happening in Indianapolis, read here. You will encounter a familiar cast of characters, including, of course, Bill Gates and Stand for Children.
What is happening in Indianapolis is terrifying if you believe that public education belongs to the public, not to private corporations. .
Here comes a scary future. First, the “blueprint” for Indianapolis, confidently predicting a future of perfection and excellence, but without any meaningful road map. Just promises. And here come the charters, opening with high hopes and closing when judged by scores.
Open, close. Open, close. Open, close.
Below is Banks’ letter. Read it. Read Mayor Ballard’s Blueprint for Utopia. But if you read nothing else today, read this article about the grand plan to privatize the schools of Indianapolis.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5_NQFzJRhSGZ2ZEaWZFYmhwNU0/edit?usp=sharing
This is the Mind Trust / Mayor Ballard (TFA Deputy Mayor Jason Kloth) take-over blueprint. This will literally be the end of public education in the urban core of Indianapolis.
We need help. It’s all but over. The 10th most populated city in the country is about to be one of the biggest systems of educational apartheid in the nation.
My name is Tarrey Banks and I’m the founding school leader of the Indianapolis Project School. I am a lifelong public school educator who made the decision to start a charter school with a group of passionate educators. We are the only truly progressive public school in our city. We take and teach all kids…we don’t push out, kick out, expel, etc. My daughter is a 7 year old student at our school…I made it for her because I know that all kids deserve what she deserves. We are four years old and this week we were the victim of a conservative political strategic attack. Just 3 weeks our mayor has decided to close our doors. The process was corrupt and the information they used was false and/or inaccurate. We are fighting the good fight, but I firmly believe our school will be shut down by the close of business on Monday. I truly believe this is the death of progressive public education in our city if we do not use this as a catalyst to attack the corporate reform agenda.
I know you are busy…you must be. I intend to use the closing of our school as the beginning of a rebellion. Will you help? How can I get you to Indianapolis to push this force back and make folks wake up and see what is happening? Our city is doomed if I can’t move this conversation in a different direction. We have 100’s of families, students, community members, educators ready to protest…to really blow it up…but I need more…I need a national presence…
Will you? What can I do?
Tarrey Banks
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wow. I read about what is happening in Indianapolis and as upsetting as it is, it helped me understand a little more about this frenzied push for “college and career ready.” Is all about the Money. Who has money and how can the public education system help generate more money. What the people behind the scenes keep forgetting is that education is a human business. We work in public education because we want to inspire, encourage and empower our students to forge their own paths to success. We are “cheesy” and we believe in the dream. We don’t measure our students success by the money they make, we measure it by improvement and work ethic…how can you take the human element out of education when it is what is driving it?
Sent from my iPad
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Wow! Check out the pdf file of the Mayor’s blueprint to take over schools. This is like something straight out of a science fiction story of a dystopian alternate reality. How is it that democratizing institutions can be so easily taken from the people based on the flimsiest of arguments. The good news is that bad policy can always be reversed and corrupt politicians voted out of office.
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The mayor was recently handed oversight of the IPS turnaround schools as well. The NEO plan will strangle IPS until it is no more. This is public education’s last stand here in Indianapolis… And the deck is stacked.
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Matthew Brooks, please write a post about IPS.
Diane
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We can get you something soon. Thanks!
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Diane, fyi, my Indpls Star piece from last Sunday:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20130217/OPINION05/302170307/Dan-Carpenter-Actions-by-his-allies-make-Tony-Bennett-s-election-loss-mulligan
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Am I confused in thinking that IPS is a charter school?
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I’m sorry. IPS refers to Indianapolis Public Schools.
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I was confused by the charter school’s initials IPS, but disoriented by Dr. Ravitch lamenting the closing of a charter school.
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Try to learn and process please.
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Usually Dr. Ravitch calls for the closing of charter schools because they destroy communities, skim students, and drain resources from public school districts. Defending a charter school (funded by the Walton foundation) against closure is unusual, to say the least.
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I believe her intentions were to point out the way in which the school was closed as it was both underhanded and political. We served as an example of a sacrificial lamb served up to the corporatists in education today. You will also notice the new plan to strangulate our public school system linked in Dr. Ravitch’s article.
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I don’t like to speculate about intentions as I think there is entirely too much of that going on here. What surprised me is that Dr. Ravitch seemed to have some sympathy for your schools situation. The orthodox view of charter schools here is perhaps best summed up by a comment by susannunes in a subsequent thread: “Yet another reason charter schools are private schools created to scam taxpayers.” For many here, your school is part of the problem.
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I understand completely. I am not a charter advocate. Until I learned of the coming fiasco due to test scores, I had no idea what was going on in education. As I learned, I saw what was happening. I joined up with United Opt Out, and we had about 30 students Opt out last year. I also urge all to understand that The project School not only accepted ALL students… They sought out the students that the other schools left out. Purely in defense of Tarrey Banks and the other teachers, I point out that they were merely trying to create a genuine model to be followed. My defense of TPS is irrelevant as It is all over now, our was closed 3 weeks before school started this year, leaving our children with little choice in the middle of a choice based system. Currently a handful of our families are in an independent, “pay-what-you-can” school, Project Libertas, which we coordinated in that short period before the beginning of the school year. I know Dr Ravitch has been aware of our journey all along the way. We fought as hard as we could to bring light to the political maneuvering and victimization brought about by the system we live in, and through Project Libertas, we continue to.
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Thank you, Diane, for using my article at the Common Errant website about the Indiana Corporate School Complex and The Project School. It is quite disturbing what is happening.
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Doug, your article is one of the most frightening articles I have read about the corporate reform takeover of public education. Keep writing and send your stuff to me.
Diane
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Tarrey,
Please come to “Public Schools Across America” in Ft. Wayne , Indiana on Feb. 23rd evite follows. The first 4 state regional planning meeting for preserving our public schools…. Glenda Ritz , Indiana State Superintendent is Keynote Speaker…
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5398298456/efblike#
We all must reach across state lines and take action as parents, educators and concerned citizens for our kids’ futures and public education, the foundation of our democracy.
Maureen Reedy
Co-Founder, Public Schools Across America
Ohio Teacher of the Year, 2002
Public school parent
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The tsunami that is engulfing this city is the same plan being pushed nationally. It may vary in presentation, names of front groups, etc. but the goal is all the same: destroy
public schools by hook or by crook, Tout charters as the end all, be all by doctored
scores and farcical fanfare…then: Phase two enters. Why would the corporate gurus want to control the education of our nation? Philanthropic drives? Hardly! The roadkill of dedicated teachers and falling scores of nit wit pushed testing and programs is enough to unmask that cover! Gates and cronies desire to raise our academic level to what it WAS before “W”, RtTT and other Trojan horses of
“reform?” Nope, these powers, corporate and otherwise, knew and know the results of
these reforms being races to the bottom, far better then the public is allowed to know!
I feel it is to make a nation of students who, never having been taught to think critically, make compliant workers, gullible citizens that are prey to leades who can twist truth to achieve their ulterior goals; the collective affect is the national descent into a country controlled by the likes of Gates, “W”, etc. Corporations are NOT people, and are a moral in their motives. Left unchecked by an astute public the Robber Barons will once more trample the people. Doubt that fact…why then is the attack on public education linked to an equally vitriolic attack on unions? Just as an aside, but example of what happens when the nation becomes passive, non critical thinkers: TONIGHT, on MSNBC, at 9:00 eastern time, there is documentary, “The selling of the Iraq war” lead by Rachel Maddow that exposes the twisted facts used to lie us into an unnecessary war that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. This is based on the experts who words were twisted to the exact opposite of what they said! As Collin Powell is quoted by a shocked White House administrator who witnessed this and immediately wrote it down, “Wonder what will happen when NO, WMDs are found?” He posited that question BEFORE he testified to the UN with outrageously bogus photos, etc. This is not a battle of “Their facts” vs “My facts,” so often used by those who treat truth as a “situation ethics” tool to be warped into whatever end they desire: Michele Rhee, Gates, etc.
BUT, actual video of the investigators who told the White the facts only to have
Cheney, Rice, Rumsfield, Bush, intentionally destroy their truth and replace it with the exact opposite to achieve their cryptic, pr-conceived plans: the invasion of Iraq! The battle we are engaged in is far broader than just education, it is a battle for the kind of country we will soon live in; one of what remains of values, rights of the past or an Orwellian, corporate controlled future. It is just that simple and just that alarming!
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Is there a national Education ombudsman?
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Who cares what delivery method is used….traditional public, publics with virtual “schools within a school,” public magnets, public charters, private schools or home schooling. Isn’t our objective to get kids graduated ready for life – ready for college or work? Do we really believe that’s happening when Indiana is spending over $50 million a year for remediation in order to get into Ivy Tech. When will we get our eyes of institutional protection and focus more on providing the services we are meant to for Indiana kids?
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Jo as usual you have no idea what you are talking about and even the point that Diane is trying to prove here. The project school was closed because of a false set of measurement tools. Just like any school that tries innovative methods of instruction such as the Key School(Multiple Intelligence) and the Project School. These kids are being taught to think, not take tests. You want to know why college kids need so much remediation? It is because of policy makers such as you that have never ever been in a classroom as a teacher, that have no idea how to teach children, that continue to ignore the social conditions that effect learning. As long as you take the public out of education, schools will constantly be subject to the revolving door – as Diane pointed out: open, close; open, close; open, close. You need to read Doug’s article with an open mind if that is possible.
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Perhaps when we begin remediation prior to testing? Which, if you were to ask the teacher of the student would happen in a timely fashion. Additionally, if the dollars spent on testing were redirected to remediation…well, Jo Blacketor that would be the EUREKA moment. Sadly, you as a legislator cannot grasp this, I as a parent/not-legislator can and do. I’ll point you to Hoosiers Voices for Public Education Facebook page, on February 15th there was a very succinct graph on just how misdirected education dollars are in actually educating children, which requires A LOT of work, not tests. https://www.facebook.com/HoosierVoices
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Unfortunately the Neighborhoods of Educational Opportunity/Indianapolis Mayor’s Office plan (NEO) presentation which has been made public is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a well documented, more detailed plan that select groups (The Mind Trust, Stand for Children, Teach for America, The New Teacher Project) are meeting about in private and making plans while they await the possible receipt of a Bloomberg grant of $3mil to get this plan off the ground in Indianapolis.
This plan will not be publicly unveiled in Indianapolis until it is a done deal.
Certain members of the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners were strategically placed there by the powers that be to weaken Indianapolis Public Schools and prime it for takeover.
Also, watch legislation in Indiana. The Mayor’s office is slowly taking powers away from other branches of government. For example, they now have oversight of four former IPS schools taken over under Tony Bennett’s watch. There is legislation pending that would allow those schools to become “independent” schools at the end of the takeover period. We now have a parent trigger law. There is also legislation which would remove the involvement/oversight of the city county council in approving new Charter schools. Another bill takes a funding source from public schools (proceeds from auctioned properties due to non-payment of taxes) and gives it to Mayor-sponsored charter schools. Other legislation forces the sale or lease of closed public schools to Charter schools and other private entities.
All of this collusion is no accident. If you happen to believe it is a bunch of coincidental things, non-related, happening all at the same time, then I feel sorry for you.
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While I agree with you about your post, I must point out one error. We don’t have a parent trigger law yet. It is in the House committee to be voted on and then will go to the floor. It is important for all Indiana people reading this to contact their state Representatives and state Senators to let them know how you feel about the parent trigger law. While you are at it you can comment on various laws that take away Glenda Ritz’s authority, teacher due process, eliminates teaching experience for superintendents, vouchers for anyone and everyone and that parent trigger law. Go to the Indiana General Assembly website and look up the bills. (HB 1309, 1337, 1360 to name a few). http://www.in.gov/legislative/index.htm
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http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=56474
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Ironic that Jo Blacketor responded here spouting the same fallacies she spouts at the Indiana State Board of Education meetings. If you are interested in factually reporting how Indiana spends education money, the $50 million she cites is not spent on remediation. Technically, she can spew that as “fact,” since the state legislature oh-so-conveniently tied remediation and testing together in the same umbrella budget bill. The amount is actually closer to $46 million, and of that, ONLY about $6 million was spent on remediation last year. $40 million was spent on TESTING. Testing does not equal remediation. Ms. Blacketor, and other myopic members of the State Board of Education, fail to acknowledge that if all that funding were directed toward schools to truly provide extra help to our most struggling learners, they wouldn’t even be able to manufacture an education crisis like they’ve done ever since being hand-picked to carry out Tony Bennett’s and Mitch Daniel’s corporate agenda. The fact that people who seem to despise public education are on the State Board of Education is so sad that one can’t even label it ironic. It’s plainly and simply a tragedy. The vast majority of Indiana’s schools and teachers are excelling at educating the children of their communities while also serving as centers of social services and the glue that holds many rural communities together. However, that reality doesn’t serve as a good story arc for the tragic script they would like to play out on the grand stage of state politics.
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I appreciate the clarification of remediation costs. I thought $ 50 Million was a lot more than what I had heard previously. The figures you provide match other reports about testing costs versus remediation costs and I agree assessments only provide information, what you do with that information would be remediation, but formative assessments that teachers do in the classroom are really the most valuable and timely information that can directly and immediately impact instruction and learning opportunities.
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Very well stated!
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Read http://www.in.gov/che/files/2012_RHAM_4_26_12.pdf to figure out at a minimum $35 million in remediation is spent only on community colleges. I have an ask from Higher Ed to get the full number. Last presentation I attended $50 million was quotes.
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That is false information.
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Ms. Blacketor:
When teachers spend every waking second teaching to tests that measure kids, grade schools and affect your ability to provide to your family, you don’t get to teach the full range of skills that is needed for higher ed. Plain and simple. You’re as much a part of that as anyone else in Indianapolis. Take a look in the mirror.
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They are coming after Fort Wayne next. Please, all come to the faux public hearing on Carpe Diem application on Tuesday, 26th at 5:30, Taylor campus. I need a couple hundred.
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Again, Ms. Blacketor, as a former teacher and a now parent of a children in public schools, I already know a lot more than you. ANd if ALL that money was taken out of time wasting mind numbing testing, and put back into schools in the form of more teachers, smaller class sizes, reading specialists, and sound curriculum with arts, p.e., vocational, music, language classes like it USE TO BE before 2000 when there was very little college remediation, you wouldn’t have this issue. I know, I know this doesn’t help your grand scheme to bilk public monies for your and Gates’, Walton, RHee, Broad, etc. bank accounts while destroyng communities, but we out here in the real public education world know the game. You have rigged it to win while children and communities lose. I hope sleeping in that bed of money is worth it.
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