A newspaper story in Indiana says that if Tony Bennett had given the same break to other schools that he give to his favorite GOP campaign contributor, two Indianapolis schools would not have been closed.
But unfortunately neither school had contributed to GOP campaigns, so there was no reason to save them.
Which reminds me that I received this tweet:
Angel Cintron, Jr.
Bennett’s rubric:
A=awesome donor
B=barely donated
C=can’t afford it
D=Democratic district
F=Free public school
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is an American Tragedy.
“Indiana Public Schooling is Doomed”
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/10/why_mitch_daniels_went_from_anti_public_education_governor_to_state_school_president_partner/
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Now that Bennett is gone, it’s too bad that the schools communities can’t reopen the schools and show him! Those communities should demand a second chance in light of the reality of the situation.
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They did not close, they were given to “private for profit” companies to operate. Arlington Community High School was given to Ed Power, http://www.edpower.org/edpower-schools/arlington/. Emma Donnan Middle School, Emmerich Manual High School and Thomas Carr Howe Community High School all went to Charter School USA, where, I know you will be shocked by this, Tony Bennett’s wife Tina works.
The truth is that IPS is a hot mess, filled with inbred administration that really did not care about the outcome for children. If you are interested in reading about what happened you might take a look at this blog. http://www.ipsb-s.blogspot.com/
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You are making an assumption that the schools mentioned in this post were Arlington and Howe, but that may not be the case. I do know that the Hammond Academy had their score downgraded to an F by the same change in formula that boosted Christel House to an A because it erased the Hammond Academy’s highest score (and Christel House’s lowest) from the formula.
The “solution” to Bennett’s problem with Christel House was to drop some assessments from the rubric – which raises MANY questions about why it’s ok to GIVE a test and then arbitrarily ignore it when the data gives results you don’t like – but that’s not the main point here.
The issue is that Bennett BLATANTLY manipulated scores to ensure that one of his pet schools (= owned by donor) received an un-earned A while simultaneously unjustly downgrading school that were NOT on his pre-determined “A-list.” This is unethical at best, possibly illegal, and definitely immoral!
His actions STEAL from deserving communities, students and teachers. YES!! STEAL!! School funding formulas are tied to these scores – artificially reducing scores means you take money away from a public school that deserves it! This kind of theft hurts students, usually in communities where such resources are scarce and badly needed in order to give kids a fair chance. Teachers’ raises are based on these scores – artificially reducing scores takes money out of the pockets of teachers who earned it! And economic issues like the price of homes in the community, decisions by businesses and individuals to move into the community, and decisions to LEAVE a community are influenced by school scores!! This means Bennett’s UNFAIR CHANGE OF THE RUBRIC BEHIND CLOSED DOORS FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT affects the economic outlook of an entire community!!
Regardless of your thoughts on IPS, there is NO justification for Bennett’s actions. They were just wrong! We cannot allow this “any means to justify the ends” mentality, especially when there is evidence that political donations may be either the means or the end! That is corruption. Call it what it is!!
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I’ve taught for 28 years in Indiana public schools. Now that we see the dishonesty that went into the A-F grading system, I’d like a rollback on everything Bennett did. One of the big losses we suffered was the loss of collective bargaining rights (only wages and wage-related benefits may be bargained).
In the November 2012 election, Hoosiers showed some common sense when we sent Bennett packing. Unfortunately, we continue to elect GOP legislators who believe in Bennett’s reforms and think his changes were “for the children.”
I won’t be satisfied until every one of Bennett’s policies is destroyed, root, leaf, stem, and branch.
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An interesting question, whether public servants SHOULD be able to bargain for anything other than wages and wage related benefits.
What else do you want to bargain over. The school calendar? So-called “tenure” maybe. Class size I can see, perhaps. But what would your defense be of bargaining on the calendar?
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Random changes in the length of the school year, without a raise in salary are in effect a pay cut. In addition many teachers (most) attend classes, work second jobs or care for children during the summer months. If your children attend school on a different calendar and you have to pay for more child care it is also a problem.
We also used to bargain for input in decision making, site based decision making. Input in curriculum is also another issue, as we now see with Mitch Daniels (former governor and now president of Purdue University) banning the work of historian Howard Zinn.
The people who are espousing these “ideas” want to make sure the poor are not educated only trained, that way the few can rule. They are bent on overthrowing Democracy and replacing it with an Oligarchy. They want to rule tyrannically with their own interests at heart, and that interest is $$$.
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I see your point on other issues being bargainable. If teachers had a proper living wage, middle class wage, I could see eliminating calendar from bargaining, but the requirement for upgrading certification necessitates summer school I suppose. Of course, from my point of view Zinn is communist crap, but that was at the university level wasn’t it? I don’t believe you at all that the objective is to keep people dumb, but that is certainly the result. After all, Obama was elected twice. We still have elections, but if you vote for Democrats you are part of the problem, not the solution. If the teachers have no wisdom, how can they teach the students?
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F=Free public *neighborhood* school
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Free and not for profit.
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