Showing posts with label David Long. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Long. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2016

Tuesday Tattler - Post-Election 2016 - What's Dr. McCormick Up To?


So, as I began to recover from the disappointment of election day, I found myself cautiously optimistic with the comments and "campaign speak" of our newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I thought, "maybe the voters see some type of promise from her experience and her ideas".  It didn't take long for me to realize I was kidding myself.  I went back to her back-peddling statement about changing her mind that "it would be OK for the SPI to be appointed instead of elected".  That comment continued to stick in my head. However, I was calmed by her statements about being non-political, transparent, and open to all stakeholders.

WELL, WELL, WELL...Imagine my surprise when I noticed, while checking post election tweets, that this "non-political - transparent - open to all" Superintendent-elect had blocked the Hoosier Voices Twitter account from following or viewing tweets from the @DrMcCormickIN twitter feed.  What is she concerned about?  She won the election.  Is she afraid we will hold her accountable for her campaign comments?  Does she fear being reminded of her "Plan" for Indiana's schools?  Dr. McCormick blocked the Hoosier Voices twitter account, however, my personal account and those of many other PUBLIC education advocates can still view, follow, re-tweet, and reply to posts from the @DrMcCormickIN account.  There are still many ways for us to keep an eye on her actions and hold her accountable for all of her claims and our expectations.


Dr. McCormick was elected, touting a "plan" that appears to please voters in some way.  Her similarities with Glenda Ritz in most areas were frighteningly confusing.  How could a candidate touted by the GOP establishment, groomed by Tony Bennett, and paid for by Bennett's former donors be anything near to what Glenda Ritz has been as a torch bearer for Indiana's PUBLIC schools.  Is Dr. McCormick just naive enough to think these donors and her GOP "pals" will allow her to do anything other than their bidding to continue destroying Public education here in our state or was she so good in her deceptive nature to persuade voters to believing she would be our new champion? 


Which Dr. McCormick will Hoosiers see once the legislature begins to pull her toward the wishes of the GOP's big "education policy" donors.  With House Education Chair Bob Behning, House Speaker Brian Bosma, Senate President Pro-Tempore David Long, Senate Education Chair Dennis Kruse, and Even Governor-Elect Holcomb all receiving large donations from privatization and voucher supporters like Christel DeHaan, Fred Klipsch, Hoosiers for Quality Education, and the Institute for Quality Education, it appears it would be difficult for Dr. McCormick to go against these Tony Bennett donors and reverse the GOP course of continued robbery of our PUBLIC schools.  Will she be "allowed" to work with ALL stakeholders and do what needs to be done to reverse course and build up our public schools, or will she prove to be another puppet like Tony Bennett and bow to the GOP leadership and their donors to drain our public schools further and allow further demeaning actions toward Indiana's public school educators.

One thing is for certain.  ALL stakeholders need to stay informed, stay alert, and be ready to stand up and be heard at a moment's notice.  We all must hold our elected representatives accountable for our children and the future of our PUBLIC schools.  We at Hoosier Voices WILL NOT GIVE UP! We will continue to fight for high quality PUBLIC education for ALL Hoosiers! We will not give up!

#OrganizeAgitateEducate



Sunday, October 23, 2016

Time To March, Ritz Army!

Time To March, Ritz Army - Complacency Is Not An Option


According to the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey, Glenda Ritz has a seven point lead over her Republican challenger for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The poll has Ritz with a 45% to 38% lead.  The poll does not indicate a "margin of error", so this lead may be a bit deceiving.  

This election is an important election statewide, for our children and our PUBLIC schools.  Their are races up and down the ballot that we must all pay attention to locally and statewide, as well as nationally.  We cannot let our guard down for one second and relax, thinking our PUBLIC school supportive candidates are safe from defeat.  Hoosier Voices founder Philip D. Arnold sums it up pretty clearly in a statement about this recent poll.  

Mr. Arnold says, "Ritz Army, we cannot be complacent. Polls don't matter much. VOTES matter. November 8, we must March once again to show Pence and his ponies that we have just begun to fight to take back our PUBLIC schools. Spread the word about the positive strides Glenda Ritz has made in her four years in spite of the GOP partisan politics and attempts to strip our 1.3Million votes. Make you Voices heard once again and vote to re-elect Ritz, give her a Democratic Governor in John Gregg, a pro-public education legislature by electing those supportive of our PUBLIC schools, and vote out those who have passed legislation destructive to public school goals."

After the election of Glenda Ritz in 2012, it became more evident that there were certain players out to "destroy" our traditional public schools in favor of the privatization lobby across the state.  These "Partisan Hacks" have made it a mission to spend their money electing POLITICIANS like Mike Pence, Tony Bennett, Eric Holcomb, and Jennifer McCormick to further advance their goals of shutting down our public schools in favor of the corporate run charter/private school industry to pad their wallets.  You need look no further than their campaign finance reports to see the heavy hitting players in this political game of chess to take tax dollars earmarked for our public schools to fund their corporate buddies in the charter/private school world.  Look for example at Fred Klipsch's Hoosiers for Quality Education and the money they are putting into funding the campaigns of Jennifer McCormick, Speaker of the House Brian Bosma, Senate Presendent Pro Tempore David Long, and others who are determined to do their bidding to wipe out public education as we know it in favor of the charter/private school elite.

We must actively participate to help candidates like John Gregg and Glenda Ritz win the "top of the state ballot" races, while electing local candidates in Senate and House races to take the politicians out of the game and out of our public schools.  We need to support candidates like Speaker Bosma's challenger, Dana Black, and Senator Long's challenger, Juli Dominguez, and a wave of other public education supportive candidates to take away the GOP stronghold on this state and return common sense education policy back to our teachers and public education friendly legislators.  Click the link below to see other PUBLIC school supportive candidates across the state who need our support.

Indiana's PUBLIC Education Friendly Candidates

It is imperative that we make our voices heard once again.  1.3 Million voters put Glenda Ritz in office in 2012 to stop the flawed Mitch Daniels/Tony Bennet reform practices.  Those same voters, forgot that Mike Pence (like the current GOP Gubernatorial candidate) was just another reform puppet to the corporate privatization regime.  We must remember this November that, in order to stop the push of flawed and failed reforms and sloppy destructive legislation, we must give Superintendent Ritz a Governor in John Gregg and legislators who will work WITH her and FOR our public school children and teachers.  This election is so important to the progress of our schools, the mental well being of our over tested children, and the retention of our excellent public school teachers.

Put these 1.3 Million votes to use as a strong voice to the partisan politicians who want to hoist themselves up on the backs of our children and tell them "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  Glenda Ritz came into the race in 2012 as a teacher, an educational leader with the knowledge and desire to help our children.  Her challenger claims the same; however, looking at her campaign contributors and her wavering stance on the Superintendent's position she appears like more of a politician ready to pounce to advance herself above being a local school superintendent into a career ready political hack like the rest of her pack.  It's time once again for the Ritz Army to march.  March into your polling place, make your voice heard and make your vote count.  It's time, Ritz Army, to stand up for what you want to do and GO DO IT!



While Indiana partisan hacks play politics, Glenda has developed a plan. Logic and Leadership are Hoosier values that Glenda brings to Indiana and to the Superintendent's office.
Thank you Superintendent Ritz for all you do to ELIMINATE ISTEP!

In Glenda's first 4 years as SPI, she has bridged the aisle between Republicans and Democrats to do what is right for Hoosier students. Let us not forget - she is JUST GETTING STARTED!

You know what they say about women that get things done?! Glenda has faced partisan political opposition head on and still gets things done for Hoosier students. We know there is a better way to measure school accountability than this bogus A-F grading system that is tied to the broken ISTEP test, and at the same time we see how Glenda has done her job in spite of these challenges handed to her.

For 4 years, Glenda has been making it happen with Career & Technical Education in Indiana and she has created positive change for ALL students by ensuring an education system of high quality that provides equity for academic achievement. "The more students can connect their everyday learning to meaningful, real world applications, the more likely they are to value higher levels of learning and persist toward their goals.” - SPI Glenda Ritz. We couldn't agree with you more Glenda and we see the value in all you have done to change CTE for the better in Indiana.  
The time is NOW to share the results of Glenda's leadership with others and re-elect her for another 4 years as Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT RITZ4ED


Monday, March 7, 2016

THERE'S STILL TIME TO STOP SB334

Governor Pence has been counting his chickens well before hatching this session and his plans to use his GOP supermajority to continue dismantling PUBLIC Education seem to have unraveled just a bit over the past two weeks.  First the Senate killed HB1004, then SB10 found its death in the House.  Now it appears the two legislative bodies are once again at odds over SB334.  SB334 is the controversial "Voucher Expansion" bill that seems to surface and pass every session under the current administration.  However, SB334 returned to the Senate this week after passing the House with amendments.  Instead of conferring with the House version, there was a dissent filed and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long appointed Senate conferees for a conference committee.



it is presumed that the conference committee will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8.  Below are the conferees and advisors for this committee from both the Senate and the House.  The Chair is original SB334 author Carlin Yoder.


Please contact both Senate and House members and tell them that you are following their every move and any action with this bill.  Tell them that you oppose ANY expansion to vouchers.  Vouchers are draining PUBLIC schools of needed funding in order to help pad the wallets of campaign contributors along with the charter and private school buddies of the Governor and the GOP majority.


After the committee approves a final version of the bill, both the full House and full Senate must vote on the final bill.  Our voices have been heard throughout this session.  The legislators are listening.  They understand this is an election year and they see the opposition rising to stop them at every possible turn.  We have one more chance to put and end to this extensive expansion of vouchers and once again halt another bill aimed at PUBLIC Education destruction.


Let members of the Senate and House hear your opposition to this voucher expansion bill because it does not focus on the original stated intent of the original authors, Senator Yoder and Senator Kruse.  The stated purpose of this bill was to aid in drop out recovery; however, the bill never focused on anything but the continued dumping of PUBLIC funding into private and charter schools using drop out recovery as an excuse.  The length of your message does not matter.  The number of messages received in opposition to this widespread expansion will be reason for these legislators to understand the our voices must be heard and heeded.  Take time to call, email, tweet, post, and SPEAK OUT to oppose this bill and stand up for our PUBLIC Education system once more.

#RespectOurVoice #INpublicED #NoVouchers #NoSB334  

Monday, February 29, 2016

Legislators' Twitter Handles

Tag Legislators and Media:
Find your legislators and local journalists (such as @ChalkbeatIN @ShainaRC @nkellyatJC @IndyStarChelsea @kframcisco) on twitter and tag them in your tweets.






Full Name Chamber Party District Twitter
Ron Alting Senate R 22 @ron_alting
Lloyd Arnold House R 74 @lloydbarnold
Jim Arnold Senate D 8
Terri Austin House D 36 @terrijaustin
Michael Aylesworth House R 11
Ron Bacon House R 75 @ronbacon
Jim Baird House R 44 @ElectJimBaird
Jim Banks Senate R 17 @Jim_Banks
John Bartlett House D 95
Eric Bassler Senate R 39 @basslerINsenate
Pat Bauer House D 6
Vaneta Becker Senate R 50 @SenatorBecker
Ed. Chair Robert Behning House R 91 @rbehning
Greg Beumer House R 33 @RepBeumer33
Phil Boots Senate R 23
Bruce Borders House R 45
Speaker Brian Bosma House R 88 @Brian_Bosma
Mike Braun House R 63
Rod Bray Senate R 37 @SenBray
Jean Breaux Senate D 34 @JeanBreaux
John Broden Senate D 10 @John_Broden
Charlie Brown House D 3
Tim Brown House R 41 @tbrownmdrep
Liz Brown Senate R 15 @LizBrownUS
Jim Buck Senate R 21
Woody Burton House R 58 @woodyburton
Martin Carbaugh House R 81 @martincarbaugh
Ed Charbonneau Senate R 5 @Charbonneau47
Bob Cherry House R 53 @Bobc4111
Edward Clere House R 72 @ClereEd
Tony Cook House R 32 @RepTonyCook
Casey Cox House R 85 @cbcox
Michael Crider Senate R 28 @MikeMcrider700
Casey Cox House R 85 @cbcox
Michael Crider Senate R 28 @MikeMcrider700
Wes Culver House R 49 @CulverCampaign
Steve Davisson House R 73 @DavissonforHD73
Ed Delaney House D 86 @eddelaney86
Mike Delph Senate R 29 @MikeDelph
Thomas Dermody House R 20 @repdermody
Dale DeVon House R 5 @DaleForStateRep
Ryan Dvorak House D 8
Sean Eberhart House R 57 @Sean_Eberhart
Doug Eckerty Senate R 26
Jeff Ellington House R 62 @JeffEllington62
Sue Errington House D 34 @SueinMuncie
Bill Fine House R 12 @fine_bill
Jon Ford Senate R 38 @votejonford
Dan Forestal House D 100 @danforestal
William Friend House R 23
David Frizzell House R 93 @DaveFrizzell
Randy Frye House R 67 @RandyFrye3
Phil GiaQuinta House D 80 @PhilGiaQuinta
Susan Glick Senate R 13
Terry Goodin House D 66 @terry_goodin
Ron Grooms Senate R 46 @SenRonGrooms
Doug Gutwein House R 16
Christina Hale House D 87 @HaleIndy
Dick Hamm House R 56
Tim Harman House R 17
Donna Harris House D 2 @DonnaJHarrisD2
Randy Head Senate R 18 @Randy_Head
Bob Heaton House R 46 @bobheaton
Brandt Hershman Senate R 7 @BrandtHershman
Travis Holdman Senate R 19
Erin Houchin Senate R 47 @Erin_Houchin
Todd Huston House R 37 @tmhuston
Christopher Judy House R 83 @ChrisJudy83
Mike Karickhoff House R 30 @MikeKarickhoff
Luke Kenley Senate R 20 @lukekenley
Clyde Kersey House D 43
Cindy Kirchhofer House R 89 @CindyKirchhofer
Sheila Klinker House D 27 @RepKlinker
Eric A. Koch House R 65
Ed. Chair Dennis Kruse Senate R 14
Tim Lanane Senate D 25 @TimLanane
Linda Lawson House D 1
Don Lehe House R 25
Matt Lehman House R 79 @mjlehman23
Jean Leising Senate R 42
Dan Leonard House R 50
Pres.Pro David Long Senate R 16 @davidlongsenate @sendavidlong
Jim Lucas House R 69
Randy Lyness House R 68
Karlee Macer House D 92 @KarleeMacer
Kevin Mahan House R 31 @mahan_kevin
Peggy Mayfield House R 60 @MayfieldHouse60
Wendy McNamara House R 76 @RepWendyMac
Jim Merritt Senate R 31 @Jim_Merritt
Mark Messmer Senate R 48 @messmer_m
Doug Miller House R 48 @dougmillerIN
Patricia Miller Senate R 32
Pete Miller Senate R 24 @Sen_PeteMiller
Ryan Mishler Senate R 9 @RyanMishler
Justin Moed House D 97
Robert Morris House R 84
Alan Morrison House R 42
Chuck Moseley House D 10
Frank Mrvan Senate D 1 @frankmrvan
Sharon Negele House R 13
Rick Niemeyer Senate R 6
David Niezgodski House D 7 @DNiezgodski
Curt Nisly House R 22 @curtnisly
David Ober House R 82 @DaveOber
Julie Olthoff House R 19
Scott Pelath House D 9 @ScottDPelath
Chip Perfect Senate R 43
Matt Pierce House D 61
Greg Porter House D 96
John Price House R 47 @jlprice1333
Cherrish Pryor House D 94 @CherrishPryor
Jeff Raatz Senate R 27 @jsraatz
Lonnie Randloph Senate D 2
Rhonda Rhoads House R 70 @RhondaRhoads
Kathy Richardson House R 29 @repkathykr
Gail Riecken House D 77 @GailRiecken
Earline Rodgers Senate D 3 @EarlineRogers
Thomas Saunders House R 54 @TomTopcat13
Donna Schaibley House R 24
Scott Schneider Senate R 30 @Sen_Schneider
Robin Shackleford House D 98 @RCShackleford
Hal Slager House R 15
Ben Smaltz House R 52 @BenSmaltz
Vernon Smith House D 14
Milo Smith House R 59
Jim Smith Senate R 45 @SenatorJimSmith
Edmond Soliday House R 4 @EdSoliday
Mike Speedy House R 90 @Speedy4StateRep
Brent Steele Senate R 44
Steven Stemler House D 71 @ElectStemler
Greg Steurewald House R 40
Mark Stoops Senate D 40
Holli Sullivan House R 78 @RepSullivanHD78
Vanessa Summers House D 99
Karen Tallian Senate D 4 @KarenTallian
Greg Taylor Senate D 33 @GregTaylor_33
Jeff Thompson House R 28
JIm Tomes Senate R 49 @SenJimTomes
Jerry Torr House R 39 @TorrJer
Randy Truitt House R 26 @TruittTicker
Heath VanNatter House R 38
Greg Walker Senate R 41
Brent Waltz Senate R 36 @Brent_Waltz
Thomas Washburne House R 64
Tim Wesco House R 21 @RepWesco
David Wolkins House R 18
Melanie Wright House D 35 @melaniemwright
Carlin Yoder Senate R 12 @carlinyoder
R. Michael Young Senate R 35
Joe Zakas Senate R 11
Dennis Zent House R 51
Cindy Ziemke House R 55 @CindyZiemke
Indiana House Republicans @INHouseGOP
Indiana House Democrats @inhsedems
Indiana Senate Republicans @INSenateGOP
Indiana Senate Democrats @INSenDems
Indiana Republican Party @indgop
Indiana Democratic Party @INDems