Wednesday, July 6, 2011

JG mischaracterizes Mitch's "mischaracterization"

Off to the side of their editorial today the JG listed the parties in the lawsuit against the state's voucher law. They used that list to show that the lawsuit was not filed to preserve the financial interest of the ISTA as the governor charged. Included along with the ISTA were the superintendent of the Lafayette schools (no financial interest there?) a member of the Lafayette school board and several others with no apparent ties (who knows?) to the government education establishment.

Balony. If the suit had been filed by parents or other parties with no financial interest in government schools then we might buy the argument that these parties were concerned solely about the (Indiana) constitutional questions. That would be fine. But as the governor said, the ISTA puts it's interest above those of the kids. The ISTA's charter is to look after its members first. The JG's charter is to look after Wendy.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Evert,

If Daniels had no intentions to run for President he would not have pushed through the education reforms. Maybe if he would have stated what he was going to do to public education during the election he would not have gotten the vast majorities in both houses. He pulled an Obama on us. Only his Pearl Harbor was public education and not health care reforms. Wendy is a poor leader, but Mitch is not much better and you know it.

Code Blue Schools said...

I don't know if Mitch's or Tony Bennett's reforms will work or not. All I know is that the situation in urban districts like FWCS is unacceptable and something has to be tried. The education establishment's preference, especially FWEA and ISTA, is to do nothing and stay the course. As a taxpayer, I'm tired of paying for failure mostly to keep government school teachers employed.

If I were a teacher in this district, I would go bananas. How can anyone with any professional pride put up with the bullshit they get from both the students and the administration and board, especially from someone like GiaQuinta? That's what really pisses me off about FWEA. They know the score. If they came out publicly with a united front against Wendy and her board, the public might support them. But they won't do that. They deserve whatever they get from the IDE.

Anonymous said...

Evert,

Are you trying to suggest that no teachers have spoken out in the past. I would argue that Wendy and Mitch are both responsible for killing public education. Mitch understands that bad leadership in Fort Wayne Community Schools and other urban schools has made true success impossible, but rather than doing something about the leadership of these school districts he has attacked teachers and made it impossible for them to fight the system. Do you think any teacher is going to make a fuss now that there is no seniority and they can lose their job over anything? Now I know you will say that teachers shouldn't worry about losing their jobs, but sometimes when you have several mouths to feed you can't be so brave. Were you so loud and obnoxious when you were working? Probably not. You and GiaQuinta should get together and solve all of the problems of the world.

Code Blue Schools said...

Actually I was obnoxious when I worked in industry because if my plant was failing, we would get shut down. That happened in the first plant I worked in and I had to find new employment. After that I always figured I didn't have much to lose by speaking out about something that put the future of the plant in jeopardy.

Public school teachers have never seen schools closed for failing. So, as long as they went along with the administration they figured they would keep their jobs. Until PL 221 came along and raised the possibility of state takeovers and charter conversion. When I came back into FWCS 10 years ago (after PL 211 and NCLB had been passed), it wasn't hard to see what was coming down the road. But I was obviously too obnoxious to convince anybody.

It's just my opinion, but I don't think Mitch is going after teachers. I do think he's going after their unions. And part of the takeover process still under discussion is to get schools permanently away from boards and administrations that led them to fail. The IDE is working on ways to eventually set up the schools they take over in new totally separate districts.

Anonymous said...

Evert,

I agree that Mitch was not going after teachers. I think he was using public education as a topic that he could use to win the White House. In the end Mitch's actions will only hurt teachers because his legislation will allow the "boards and administrations that led them (schools) to fail" to decide who is and is not a good teacher. Thanks Mitch. Evert, how are you different from Mark GiaQuinta?

Anonymous said...

Interesting qustion. How are you different from GiaQuinta? That is besides GiaQuinta winning elections.

Code Blue Schools said...

I'm not a lawyer and I don't own a bar.

Anonymous said...

And you are not president of the schoolboard to the second largest public school district AND this morning the JG tells us "GiaQuinta on state charter school panel"?? Maybe it's a good thing..a state panel will see firsthand how he likes control..and he really doesn't care what anyone else has to say.

Code Blue Schools said...

Yeah, appointed by the House Democrats as their representative to fight tooth and nail against Mitch's charter school reforms. So that means he's on the side of public school teachers, which is why FWEA likes him so much.

Anonymous said...

How do you spell GiaQuinta? In my book it is WINNER. Sorry Evert.

Code Blue Schools said...

You're right. He should have been in that Peoria motel with brother Phil and the other winners last Spring. And when the Dems win back both houses and the governorship, they can undo all of Mitch's reforms. In the meanwhile let's keep track of all the illiterate kids who get diplomas from the winner.

Anonymous said...

GiaQuinta 2 and Evert 0. I wonder how we spell loser in Fort Wayne.

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