In today's JG, Dan Stockman and Kelly Soderlund go on and on about the lack of influence the local board has over Imagine Schools. Dan's wife Krista, by the way, works for FWCS as a public relations person. She gets more than $60K a year from the taxpayers to issue platitudes about school matters to the public and the media, a job she does very well (why that's worth $60K per year to the taxpayers is another question). But I'm sure that has much less influence on Dan's opinions than what the Innskeeps want us to hear.
As Mark Twain said over 100 years ago. "First God made idiots. That was just for practice. Then he made school boards." What good is a "local" board that doesn't have a clue what's going on in our classrooms? What good is a local board elected with money from the teachers union and local building contractors? What good is a local board who's main agenda is patting each other and the superintendent on the back? By failing to stop the slide in academic achievement, they have effectively ceded their function to the state and eventually the feds.
Go to an FWCS board meeting and count the number of people in attendance who don't work for the district or the media. After sitting through a meeting or two, you'll never come back. The test for a school district is the choice people make on where they send their kids. If Imagine Schools can't attract students, they will go out of business. That's all that matters at the end of the day.
Nice picture of Imagine's Wells Street campus, by the way. Aren't you going to tell us how Don Willis ended up with such nice buildings without spending any of the taxpayer's money?
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8 comments:
Nice job! And all so true
"... without spending any of the taxpayers' money?"
Evert, get a clue:
"Imagine MASTer Academy last year earmarked 18 percent of its budget - $740,000 - to lease the buildings it uses on the Wells Street campus, according to a draft of its budget.
"Imagine Schools on Broadway this year has budgeted 19 percent for rent, that school's budget said.
"The charter school company bought the Wells Street property for $2.9 million, according to tax records. Had it financed the entire purchase amount over 20 years, a payment at 5 percent interest would be around $19,000 a month, or $229,000 a year. A less preferred rate - say, 7 percent - on $2.9 million over 20 years would be about $269,000 a year.
"So even at 7 percent interest, Imagine Schools is paying nearly triple in rent what it could have paid for ownership but is still responsible for all maintenance and liability on the property."
That's taxpayer money, Evert -- not Don Willis' money.
The sad thing here is that The Journal Gazette might have raised a valid point about the control and direction of Imagine Schools. Unfortunately, the newspaper undermined its credibility by its absolute failure to be transparent about its ties to Fort Wayne Community Schools. Reporter Dan Stockman is married to FWCS' PR person Krista Stockman. Editorial writer Tracy Warner is best friends with school board member Mark GiaQuinta. The Journal Gazette was a main cheerleader for FWCS' failed half-a-billion dollar building renovation scheme.
Before Imagine, Timothy L. Johnson Academy was the newspaper's charter school whipping boy. Now, Imagine is in the newspaper's sights. We get it, Journal Gazette: You want to eliminate all threats to Fort Wayne Community Schools' ability to soak up taxpayer dollars for education.
How about letting parents decide for themselves?
Well, Karen let me see if I have this right. That campus was formerly the Wells Street YWCA. Your school board candidate Becky Hill allowed it to go bankrupt and then tried to sell it to her friend Wendy Robinson, who proposed to buy it because Clinton Street was "overflowing". The board said no. Then Willis bought it and leased it back to Imagine schools. I would bet that their costs per student are still less than what FWCS spends.
No reply from Karen. Lacking that, I can only assume I have the story essentially right.
The reason that Karen supports FWCS is that her two sons graduated from Northrup High School. From a conversation with Karen, a few years back, that she enjoyed the education her sons were able to obtain from Northrup, rather than the Muncie Central High School they were to attend, if the Francisco's were still in the area. I am not sure as the schools seem to have identical ISTEP scores; maybe she is upset at the fact that she was never able to get her sons into the Lab School which has a much higher passing rate.
While the JG and in particular Karen Franciso are in a position to put some pressure on Wendy Robinson and the board for change, they have utterly failed to do so. Their mission for the past seven years has been to comply with JG owner Harriet Inskeep's desire to see Wendy succeed. Well, we all would have liked to see her succeed but it was obvious very early on that it wasn't going to happen.
Maybe if Karen lived south of Coliseum Blvd. she might have a different outlook on things.
Those students reach easily reach to destination who may giving concept about the topic.
Thanks...
regards, saad from
Sikkim Manipal University
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