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.

September Storm - Happy Birthday Glenda Ritz

Thursday, September 1 is Glenda Ritz's Birthday. Hoosier Voices is hosting a twitter storm to celebrate this day by sharing Glenda's accomplishments. Join us by tweeting all day using #istandwithritz #ritz4edand showing your support for her re-election bid.

In order for this storm to be effective it should follow some simple guidelines and run continuously from 7:00am through 8:00pm.

1. Posts should be supportive of Glenda and highlight her accomplishments

2. Posters should post on both Twitter and Facebook

3. Posts should be shared by one's self as well as "re-tweeted" and "shared"

4. Posts by teachers should NOT be made during school time or on school technology; however, posts can be scheduled for twitter using TweetDeck This is a simple site and multiple posts can be written and scheduled hours (even days) in advance.  This will allow those who work during the hours of the STORM to post LEGALLY by having their posts scheduled in advance so they will post during selected time frames. 

TweetDeck

5. Posts should contain #istandwithritz and #ritz4ed along with any other desired hashtags (#NoTonyClone #NoTonyCrony #HappyBdayGlenda #istillstandwithritz)

SUGGESTED TWEETS/POSTS

It would be fun if everyone would start with this post at 7:00am

Happy Birthday Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction Glenda Ritz #HappyBDayGlenda #istandwithritz #ritz4ed

#istandwithritz because we need fair funding for PUBLIC schools

#istandwithritz because she respects teachers and their profession

Glenda has always put students before politics, that's why #istandwithritz

Glenda knows that students are more than test scores #istandwithritz #studentsRmorethanscores #ritz4ed

Superintendent Ritz knows that teaching is more important than testing #istandwithritz

We need someone who will stand up for PUBLIC education, which is why #istandwithritz

More time for teaching, less time for testing #istandwithritz

PUBLIC schools need an advocate in state office #istandwithritz #NoTonyClone #ritz4ed

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Point to these accomplishments in posts or summarize into tweets.

-Replaced a political agenda with an education agenda

-Replaced a “school takeover” agenda with a “school outreach” division

-Improved 103 schools in a single year, by increasing direct support to schools and educators through her innovative Division of Outreach.

-Led the effort to end the ISTEP and is working across the aisle to replace it with a test that is less time-consuming, less costly, and more informative

-Travels 2-3 days every week to local schools to listen to their needs

-Hosted Indiana’s first statewide teacher recruitment conference to encourage high school students to pursue teaching as a career.

-Created a list of Promising Practices found in Indiana schools to improve the visibility of how educators change lives every day

-Achieved a 95% graduation rate for CTE students, by providing more high-quality Career and Technical Education opportunities

-Trained more than 1,700 new school safety specialists and created the IDOE Response Team to better serve schools during a large-scale crisis.

-Meets with education stakeholders every week, including state agencies, non-profit groups, legislators, chambers of commerce, mayors, and more.

-Created the Student Advisory Council to get input from students on education policy

Imagining 2020: In the next four years, Superintendent Ritz will

-Make high quality Pre-K available in every school corporation in the state for every parent who wants it

-Continue to provide more time for learning and less time for testing

-Work towards achieving a 91% graduation rate for all students, the highest in the nation, training them to enter living wage careers or post-secondary education

-Propose fair and adequate funding for all public schools

-Treat our teachers like professionals, including them in the process to end the teacher shortage and increasing opportunities for professional development

To learn more about what Glenda Ritz has accomplished, visit: the Ritz4Education website

We need four more years of Glenda Ritz’s leadership

- another four years giving teachers more time to teach

- another four years reducing costly, high-stakes testing

- another four years expanding a bottom-up outreach program to schools

- another four years building a statewide literacy initiative

- another four years increasing wraparound services for our most vulnerable students

- another four years advocating for the recruitment and retention of quality educators

- another four years advocating for more money to go to public education

The Story of Why Glenda Ritz Ran for Office

In 2012, a third-grade student walked into the library and I asked her if she would like to check out a book. She replied, “Mrs. Ritz, I don’t need to check out a book, because I just passed my iRead3 test.” I thought to myself, “What are we doing to these kids? They think the only purpose of reading is to pass a test.”

That’s when I decided to run for Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction.

I had never run for office before; I am an educator, not a politician. But federal and state politics had entered our schools pushing high stakes testing, demeaning the teaching profession, privatizing public schools through state takeover, and worsening the fight for funding and resources. I could no longer stand by and let out-of-state special interest groups and their political agenda continue to harm our students, educators, schools, and communities.

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.

Jennifer McCormick - Faux in Boots

Where are the kids?

As a teacher in Indiana, I’m very interested in who is elected to run the Department of Education. That person is, in essence, my boss.  I have been impressed with Glenda Ritz and her ability to fight for our students and our teachers through some pretty ridiculous circumstances.  Despite these circumstances she has produced visible results throughout the state and she is to be commended. 

In the interest of fairness (and a bit of curiosity), I decided to take a look at what Dr. Jennifer McCormack had to say.  I checked out her website and looked at her Facebook and Twitter feeds.  After doing that, I decided to write her a letter about what I found.  I posted it to her Facebook wall and I sent it to her campaign’s email address.  Here it is:

Dear Dr. McCormack,

I wanted to make myself more familiar with your platforms and your intentions if elected to become State Superintendent.  I am a music teacher in Central Indiana, so I’m very interested in getting to know a potential “boss.”  I looked at your Facebook page, your Twitter feed and you website.

Here’s the thing…In almost every picture I see you in and almost every post you make, you aren’t in the classroom. You aren’t even in a school.  You are not talking to teachers.  You are schlepping around the state of Indiana attending Lincoln Day dinners and begging GOP delegates to vote for you. 

I looked at your website so that I could find out more about why you think you would be a good superintendent. I didn't find anything other than incoherent whining and grammatical errors. Also, bad website formatting.

For a lady who wants to take the politics out of education, you sure are spending a lot of time hanging out with adults who have nothing to do with teaching. That's curious to me. Maybe slightly hypocritical, too.

I also noticed that the people you surround yourself with used to hang out with Tony Bennett. A word of advice: that's a bad idea in this state. You should know that too, since the school system you currently work for was screwed by Bennett's policies just as badly as most of the rest of us were.

I will give you one compliment: I like those boots you wear with most of your outfits. Classy, yet sassy. Bravo.

Sincerely,

Ben Yoder

I don’t know if she’ll read the letter or not and I really don’t expect her to return any correspondence to me.  She’s probably too busy sucking up every dime that’s not nailed down and rubbing elbows with the GOP trying to mount an attack on Glenda Ritz.  I get that.  After seeing what Dr. McCormick is selling though, I’m not buying.  But I do like her boots.

"But I do like her boots."

About our contributing blogger: Ben Yoder is a middle school music teacher in Central Indiana.  He is a proud Indiana State Teachers Association member and is committed to furthering the cause of public education for students all across the state of Indiana and beyond.