Oppose The SSCA Charter School In Valpo, Chesterton, Portage

Written By: Christopher Pupillo, Valparaiso IN

Public Hearing on September 14, 2016 at 5pm
at the Library Service Center, Westchester Library
100 W Indiana Ave, Chesterton, IN

Area public schools have been under assault by a barrage of funding cuts and legislative disdain, manifested in staffing and program cuts which have contributed to a growing statewide teacher shortage. For public schools in Valparaiso, Chesterton, and Portage a new threat has emerged, this time in the form of an unwanted and un-needed charter school.

The South Shore Classical Academy (SSCA) aims to bring a “classical education” to area students. For those unfamiliar with so-called classical schools, think high-priced private prep school. This charter is the brainchild of Valparaiso University professors, who from atop their “ivory tower” perches seem to think our high-performing schools are beneath their academic pedigrees, and presumably that of their children. Unlike the stories told by legislators that charter schools were meant to provide a “way out” for minority students stuck in failing inner-city school, this charter is being developed to create that private prep school experience, but on the taxpayers dime.

The result of this exercise in personal educational indulgence would come at the expense of area public schools to the tune of more than $4,000,000 annually, if SSCA enrollment projections are met.

Simply put, that equates to teachers cuts and program elimination.

These cuts would be especially painful for the tax payers of Valparaiso who approved an unprecedented two referendums (tax hikes), one of which is meant to restore previous teacher cuts brought about by legislative cuts to funding Valpo schools. That general fund referendum would also allow for expanded academic programming intended to preserve Valparaiso’s reputation as a world-class public school system, a reputation which contributes mightily to the quality of life and economic vitality of our city.

Adding insult to injury, the authorizing body for this charter school, Grace Theological Seminary, will make their decision in private, completely away from public scrutiny. That’s right, the decision to syphon away from your public schools millions in tax payer dollars will be made by a private entity with zero transparency. Of course, Grace will receive a healthy 3% of that $4,000,000 in taxpayer money each year for their efforts.

There’s still time to act, but we need your help.

First, contact Rep. Ed Soliday (800-382-9841) and Sen. Ed Charbonneau (800-382-9467) and ask them to weigh in opposed to this charter school theft of public school financial support, and to fix the mess they created by allowing private charters authorizers to operate in the shadows.

Closer to home, tax payers should contact their local elected officials, especially Mayors Costas and Snyder, both of whom have met with representatives of the SSCA, according to their application. Tell them they need to stand up for tax payers and our schools, and stand opposed to this charter.

Finally, residents of Valparaiso, Chesterton and Portage need to show up to the only public hearing on this charter, to be held this Wednesday, 5 p.m. at the Westchester Library in Chesterton.  

Wear “Red For Public Ed” and let your voices be heard. Stand up for our schools, our teachers, our students, and for tax payers.

Public School Dress Code - Beyond the Rumors

An article was printed this for Politicade, labled as a "left leaning media alternative", this week that called out a rural Indiana high school for supposed "discriminatory" disciplinary actions regarding school dress code violations.  The article, titled "Teacher Sent Home After Conducting Social Experiment On The Last Day Of School", accuses educators and administrators of singling out female dress code violations more seriously than their male counterparts.  The article states, 

"The goal of the social experiment was to prove the dress code is sexist and disproportionately exercised against girls."

Hoosier Voices conducted a brief investigation into the accusations made by the article's author and students who were quoted within.  It appears there are a few pieces of information that were left out of the article, either intentionally or without thorough investigation into the events leading up to the "experiment" and the supposed "violations" of the day.  The Indian Creek High School dress code can be found through the schools website under the "Resources" tab.  

Hoosier Voices decided to research this situation after contact from teachers, concerned parents, and alumni from the school.  Our Hoosier Voices founder is a graduate of Indian Creek and currently teaches in the corporation.  It became obvious, during the course of investigating the situation, that some misrepresentation may have gone into the writing of the original article and that there may have been ulterior motives for the basis of the "experiment"

Throughout our investigation it became obvious that the teacher "conducting the experiment" may have tendered a resignation prior to the final day to take a position in a new charter school in Monroe County.  It appears, though many felt he had grand teaching ideas and lessons and was well liked by students, he had a propensity for "bashing" Public schools and consistently took on a role of "rebel".  The "experiment" on the final day appears to have been "conducted" more as a swipe at administrators and less about the social injustices reported.

The article states,

"On a typical school day at Indian Creek High School, administrative staff and teachers monitor the halls between classes to flag girls who show too much skin. The Principal and Assistant Principal sit in the hallways between classes to enforce strict adherence to the dress code.

This is not true according to teachers interviewed for this article.  One teacher stated that,

"Teachers are in the hall before school, during passing periods, and after school as a safety measure."

Others indicate that Administrators patrol the hallways for the same safety measures.  One point the author tried to hammer is that this has been an "on going issue" at the school because girls are disciplined more than boys for dress code violations.  No one interviewed by Hoosier Voices indicated an intentional "plot" by administrators or teachers to single out girls over boys for their attire. They have stated that dress code violations were handled by simple mention to violators, male and female, to take care of the violation so no "punishment" would be handed out.  Some teachers may have gone an extra step to email other teachers of an apparent violation in case the student didn't take care of it after being asked.  It appears that, in extreme cases, students have in the past been asked to "cover up", seek a "change of apparel", or "remove a hat" to comply with the schools school board approved and published dress code.

After initiating this investigation of the supposed "discrimination" of teachers and administrators handling female violations differently than male violations it was noted that female violations tend to be more "severe" because they involve the wearing of more revealing clothing as opposed to simply being able to remove a hat.  It also came to light that the teacher conducting the "experiment" was also in violation of the dress code on the final day wearing a tank top to school.  

Hoosier Voices learned from another teacher source that the reason 
the teacher was asked to leave was two-fold.  

1. Apparently after putting on a shirt to cover the tank top, he went on to remove the cover-up and proceeded to wear his tank.

2. There was also a question of his actions, telling students to break dress code, might have lead to a bullying situation.  Apparently there was a picture taken and posted on social media of a girl's bare midriff (a blatant dress code violation) making fun of her for not wearing all of her clothes.  The girl from the picture told people she wore the "revealing shirt" because she was told (by the teacher) to "break dress code".

Indian Creek administrators have not been immediately available for comment or verification, but it appears the teacher may have been sent home for "insubordination and creating a bullying situation".

This "experiment" was supposedly conducted to prove a blatant attempt by school administrators to discipline female students more often for violations than males.  However, to our investigators, it appears to have fallen short pf proving anything other than being an attempt to rattle parents and community members to express concern over discrimination that does not exist.  It also appears that the teacher involved wanted to make a statement as a departing employee of Public education as he moves to a charter school.  His last "hurrah" may have been a parting shot at the rural school south of Indianapolis, its administrators, his colleagues, and even the students he leaves behind.  While he will not have to deal with any effects from his last lesson at Indian Creek, students will have to decide if the experiment really proved anything or if it was just a frustrated adult setting out to call attention to his soon to be "former employer".

*NOTE - Names were not mentioned in this article out of respect for those teachers and students who chose to participate in the rebuttal of an article that tried to shed a negative light on their school.

Legislative Lunchbox v.4

"Do legislators deserve the same apples teachers get for their efforts in education? Every Friday, "Hoosier Mom on Politics" makes that decision, giving two legislators a good or bad apple, depending on their support of Public Education and Indiana’s children. Check back every Friday at lunchtime to see what the Hoosier Mom packs in the Legislator Lunchbox for the week!

For this post of the “Legislative Lunchbox”, I chose to pack a lunch for State Representative Randy Truitt (R-West Lafayette) and for State Representative and House Ways & Means Committee Chair Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville).

Representative Randy Truitt received a good apple in his lunchbox for having the conviction to stand-up for the best interests of Hoosier Children. He voted no on HB 1358 (known as "The Parent Trigger" bill) which would use the fatally flawed 'A to F' school grading system as an avenue to - literally - allow parents to pull the trigger and shoot down a public school that receives a D or F grade. First of all, as a mother of 2 Hoosier Public School children and as an Aunt of 2 Hoosier Public School Children (going to school just Northeast of Lafayette in a farm community where I grew up), THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - for choosing to apply good ol' Hoosier common sense with your vote! Every mom and dad in this State should be sending you personal "Thank You" notes for your vote and this is why...

This bill is chock full of horrible policy choices. The A to F grading scale is relatively new and pretty much makes absolutely no intelligible sense. It applies grades to public schools nilly-willy, with no method behind the madness. There are some schools that have received a decent grade (A or B) one year, just to be followed up with a D or F the following year, and last year received some other completely random grade. Maybe whomever had the genius idea of implementing this grading system in Indiana could explain to me how exactly this correlates to how well my children learn and excel academically? In the real world, that is what all of us care about - how our kids are doing and what kind of citizens they will grow up to be. The grading system seems like a bunch of red tape and a waste of time and money to me! Now, some in the House are suggesting this flawed and bureaucratic grading system is what can initiate the take-down of a public school? What an absolutely ridiculous notion.

Not to mention that it is the TAXPAYERS who invest in our public schools, it should be the TAXPAYERS - not 51% of parents votes - who make decisions relating to the use of TAXPAYER dollars. The bill as it stands now allows parents to receive a vote for each child they have in the Public School and then a 51% majority of those parent's votes could shoot down a Public Institution and hand it over to a Charter Corporation. Mind you - TAXPAYERS - there is NO voter accountability in Charter Schools. Their Boards are established similarly to a PTO or a PTA, where the volunteering parents at the school run for and are elected to the Board by the other volunteering parents. The TAXPAYERS don't get a say-so in the administration of the Charter Corporation. I ask, where is representative government and accountability in that type of system? What happened to our American philosophy of "no taxation without representation"? Did any of these legislators that wrote and passed this bill go to their History classes on the Founding Fathers and the American Constitution? Representative Truitt, I can't thank you enough for being a true American and having the fortitude and consideration to vote "no" to this garbage bill that does wrong by the taxpayers, makes no common sense, and most importantly will not serve the best interest of Hoosier children academically.

Representative Tim Brown received a bad apple in his lunchbox for leading the committee process on HB 1338 which expands funding of "Virtual" Charter Schools. Current policy allows for Virtual Charter Schools to be funded at 87.5% following a rationale that it is significantly less expensive for a student to "attend" (and I use that word very loosely here) a computerized "clicks and portals" school compared to a real live "bricks and mortar" school. You know, the kind of real live school which TAXPAYERS invest because schools are one of the leading contributors to positive Economic Development within a community. From teaching Hoosier kids hands-on skills to being an anchor for community development, schools - and more accurately - public schools are the #1 source of jobs now and in the future for Hoosiers. 

Rep. Brown decided that Virtual Charter Schools needed more money and his committee heard - then passed - this bill which contains language to expand funding of Virtual Charter Schools by over 14%. Now, I don't claim to be the sharpest tool in the tool-shed, but I can tell you from personal experience - virtual classes are EASY compared to a class to by a real teacher. In fact, they are exceptionally easy which is why I prefer to take virtual classes at the collegiate level in my non-major requirement study, if at all possible. Some people may criticize me for that decision - and that is probably a discussion better had at a different time and place. The fact remains - I don't see how a 7 year old, or an 8 year old is going to really learn much of anything from a virtual class. I don't doubt that they will pass the class, but from my experience there is no way these 6,500 kids that "attend" Virtual Charter Schools are learning at the same level as their peers who attend a bricks and mortar school. And Rep. Brown now wants to give more money to these Virtual Charter Schools that clearly do not have the same expenses as a traditional school? Let's get real here, Rep. Brown. Crawfordsville is a really nice town and with a really great Public School system. Your voters attended that Public School and their kids and grandkids attend it now. Heck, you probably went to that Public School. How can you justify to your constituents a bill like this that will only serve to fund a lesser quality education than what you and your voters know is available? This bill doesn't make any common sense, except for if one's goal is to 'dumb-down' Hoosier kids. Shame on you Rep. Brown for drinking the Huston and Bennet Kool-Aid and doing a disservice to our great State. You should take a lesson from Rep. Truitt on how to stick-up for what is right.


The Hoosier Mom hopes all the readers will spread the word about the Legislative Lunchbox. Feel free to email me with suggestions for next week’s lunch: for whom should I pack lunch and why?