Six years ago, when the district was floating its $500MM bond issue, I went to a board meeting and told them the amount was excessive and if they persisted there would be a remonstrance. I told them that the remonstrance would also provide an opportunity to reveal what was going on in the district's classrooms which bears no resemblance to the happy talk in the board room. The talk did no good. The bond issue failed but unfortunately no significant changes resulted toward academic progress until the state threatened to start taking over their schools.
The last project was Wendy's roundabout way of trying once again to get the buildings air conditioned. Today the JG wrote that it will add air conditioning to 13 buildings, not "replace cooling systems" in 13 buildings that don't have AC as the district says on its website summaries. Of course the JG does not say that about $110 million of the project total is for HVAC and chillers. So in case you missed Krista Stockman babbling on "Midday Matters" last summer, it's still largely about air conditioning. The district claims that AC is being added because heating systems need to be replaced anyway but it could just as well be that they have to replace heating systems to allow the addition of AC. We have to take their word for it and admittedly I, personally, believe nothing they say.
They're in this situation because for over twenty years they've diverted $200 million of capital funds to "racial balance". They did that because funding racial balance was supposed to be "tax neutral". Obviously the "tax neutral" bill has come due. Without that diversion they could have done all of this on a pay as you go basis with no bond issue, no bond interest and no questions asked. And despite having no quantifiable academic benefit to show for it, they continue to do it.
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Don't let anyone tell you how to vote, least of all our newspaper editors. They're slanted and/or ignorant just as they are when endorsing candidates for office. Which ever way you vote just make sure you know what you're voting for. Plus this time it's a secret ballot so Bill Sweet can't go look at petitions to see how you voted.
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34 comments:
If you don't want a newspaper editor to persuade you to vote, you can always listen to one of the original Code Blue advocates:
Time to OK FWCS referendum
In 2007 I coined the name “Code Blue Schools” and opposed the $500 million plan Fort Wayne Community Schools then proposed. In the five years that have passed, the schools have made significant academic progress, but building conditions have only gotten worse.
The school board has presented voters with a needs-only $119 million plan that property taxpayers can afford – only $27 a year for the average home. They listened and responded. Now it is the community’s turn to respond.
It is no longer an option to delay repairs to our school buildings. If we do not repair them now, it will be more expensive to repair or replace them before their projected lifespan is completed.
We have before us a detailed, incremental and responsible plan. I urge all voters to vote “yes” on the referendum ballot question May 8.
CAROLYN DeVOE Fort Wayne
I agree with Purdue Alum. The original plan was flawed. The voters required academic improvement and is has occurred. The current plan is responsible and not a boondoggle project that is typically seen in Indy (Ben Davis, Carmel, etc). I have been in the buildings and see the pipes that are failing due to age. I also know many of the maint workers that do their best to keep them running. It's sad that our students can not work with some of the modern tools of technology simply because there is no means to get more electrical power to feed it or technology wiring to connect it.
I will not burden the students and current administration with a decision on where pull funding for racial balance that happened in 1983. None of these administrators were there when this decision was made and they do not need take a beating for errors of prior administrations. The time is now to do what is right and keep our schools current.
I talked to Ms. Devoe the other night and when I told her half the project was for AC her comment was that she had been made a fool of. The last project was more than flawed. It was based on lies.
I don't mind fixing what's broken. I object to being lied to again. The voters way well believe AC is justified but they need to know that's what they're voting for.
And in continuing to use building money for "racial balance" they're setting themselves up for a repeat of this "crisis" in the future. Find another way (referendum) to fund it if it's justified and keep up the buildings on a pay as you go basis.
This is Carolyn De Voe, and I must make a comment here.
The facts and figures presented at South West Area Partnership included heating, ventilating, plumbing, windows, etc. Cooling was discussed. In no way was this all about air conditioning (AC) and I still feel it is not totally about AC. If it is, I was foolish to think it was about other repairs. But it is about much more, including the economic development of our community.
Our buildings are aging, there are plumbing leaks, roof leaks, boiler problems, and a myriad of other difficulties. First priority is to secure the premises and stop all water leaks. What do you suppose a water leak might do to an electrical system in an old building?
Our children should not have to attend class in buildings that aggravate allergies and asthma just because we do not want to maintain them. But leaks cause mold and mildew, and they cause respiratory distress. Nor should these buildings be allowed to moulder away to the point of needing replacement, which would cost far more than repair.
We have reached a tipping point. Another five years of waiting for repair will erode some of these structures to the point they are beyond economic viability.
What is the objective here? Safe healthy schools that will contribute to our overall economic welfare, or beating an administrator that we do not always happen to agree with?
People come and they go; administrators, teachers, students, parents. All of us. I'd like to think that the good we do survives us, and allows our offspring to fare well and prosper. Is it too much to require that our schools are at least safe?
I recognize we're in a tough economy. If history repeats itself, it will stay tough longer than these buildings can go without repair. But really, I can do without a cup of coffee at Starbucks once a month to pay my share of this set of repairs. Can you, will you?
For the record, over twenty years of my 'spare' time has been spent for the cause of safe housing and buildings in our community; not a novice. You believed me when I said "Not this time, not this way" five years ago. I hope you will believe me now when I say "It's necessary. We must do this."
Thanks for your support of FWCS, Carolyn. As a parent of two FWCS students, I am grateful that you appreciate the need for basic renovations. Since both of my children have asthma, air conditioning is not considered to be a luxury in our household.
The racial balance fund was established as a result of legal action many years ago. I am glad leaders decided to move the money from building funds rather than decreasing the number of teachers in the classroom.
While I can recognize the fact that buildings need repair, I am reluctant to vote for the bond as revenge on a lackluster board that chose to place so little emphasis on public input at its meetings. Code Blue has documented before how speakers are only allowed several minutes at the end of the meetings.
Secondly, I question the ethics of a school board president who should be a moral leader of this community who is seen on local news defending a bar owner at the Alcoholic Beverage Commission because ten police officers and the Chief oppose renewing his license because of the effect on the community.
What faith can the president show in FWCS when he sends his own spawn to a private school?
Secondly, if new A/C is part of this, could it be cheaper to lobby the State Legislature for school to start after Labor Day and end by Memorial Day? This is not what I consider out of the box thinking, yet no board member has proposed any alternatives.
I used to be supportive of FWCS, but when my kids come home and reports on how the teachers bemoan the system and how crappy the administration is instead of teaching the coursework what can I say?
Bob Seeger had the right song for how I feel: I feel like a number!!!
My position all along has been that we need to fix what's broken. But even if I though AC was justified I can't past the deceit.
I used to think that FWCS would be different from all the other urban districts that have gone south because I went there. But it's not. Ulimately it's fate rests in the competence and integrity of its leadership. We are going down the same road as Gary and Indy which each have 20 buildings atanding empty.
I don't know if they're air conditioned.
You are truly a bitter, bitter man that obviously cares more about his own negative and selfish agenda than making his community a better one.
Anonymous-April 17, 2012 10:04 AM
That is a realy ignorant comment. Do you now Evert and his wife tutored FWCS students for years. A comment like that ranks with Karen Francisco calling Evert a racist. Keep on drinking your turnip flavored kool aid or smoke what the Memorial Park Assistant Principal was selling. Why don't you call the Gile Center and ask them about the South Side office employee who changed their child's test scores so they could get into college.
Anon - I have never adjusted to deceit. And I was not socially promoted through FWCS or engineering school so I don't appreciate having my intelligence insulted. I have tried since last fall to get the district to publish a detailed, accurate scope for the project with associated costs but they have consistently refused to be transparent. I asked Wendy at Harrison Hill to reexamine the diversion of building funds to racial balance and was told in effect to go to pound sand.
But a bitter, bitter man with a blog nobody reads can't influence anyone's vote. So relax.
As someone who understands school financing and what IS truly needed and what IS NOT needed, Fort Wayne is a bureaucratic nightmare that overpays its administration, older teachers and public relation staff. While the salary of young teacher is not too shabby, we don't need a pre-K teacher to make over $65,000, nor do we need a public relations officer to make over $75,000. These figures show the true gluttony of FWCS, and if were trimmed to realistic salaries, 10% deduction of those older teachers with increased steps between, and a 10% lower administrative costs (at least), FWCS could save $5 million or more, enough to have $50 million in 10 years, which could pay for some of the building upkeep.
The problem is with FWCS is the fact that Fort Wayne is being to die within the core, and only the young without children or the young with hopes for private schools will end up in FWCS. I live in Pleasant township, where the majority of families have made up their mind. Their children either go to a Catholic School or Northern Wells. In fact Northern Wells is so popular, the school district has a bus stop North of the Southern Allen County Line on Highway 1. There are enough students from Pleasant township to fill a bus!
I figured Elmhurst and Pleasant Center were doomed after they refused to roll over for Wendy the first time. Sorry but I couldn't help after losing to Corona in the next election.
You're right about the finances. If I had free reign in the Grile Center for a week I could easily have come up with enough to save both of them. Once you start digging through the dirt it's just amazing what you can expose to the light of day. But, aside from the inconvenience, your kids are actually better off in another district. FWCS has nowhere to go but down with the current leadership.
Leadership in Lax in all districts, especially the Catholic schools. Dealing with Robinson is like dealing with a saint, compared to dealing with the Dr. Myers at the Catholic school office.
Saint Wendy? That has a nice ring to it. You'd have to get two guys over here from the Vatican to verify two miracles. But as you said, dealing with the Catholic Church hierarchy is a challenge (my wife is Catholic). On the other hand several FWCS board members will testify that she can walk on water, so we only need one more miracle.
I have seen the oxymoronic phrase "racial balance" used several times to explain why routine maintenance procedures and methods were not used to keep school buildings operating as needed to house our most precious commodity - our children. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine that a judge ordered these funds be diverted from their intended use. I cannot imagine how, some 20 years later, that the school board has not re-ordered spending priorities.
So help me out. Where did we find all these stupid people to run the schools into the ground with the blessing and wholehearted cooperation from our unionized school board?
I guess somebody could explain what "racial balance" programs actually entail and just why, after 50 years of public school desegregation, that this program remains necessary.
As I understand it the district voluntarily funded "racial balance" instead of going through a lawsuit. It was supposed to be tax nuetral so they chose to use money from the capital fund. I don't know how they though that could work in perpetuity but never mind that.
2/3 of it pays for teacher salaries. It's had no quantifiable effect on the achievement gap but never mind that too. They might be able to come up with an argument for keeping the teachers and they could put that on another referendum and put $6-7 million back into the buildings every year.
But they refuse to consider that and so they're not talking about that either. Last time when the total diverted was about $150MM they claimed that was the reason they needed $500MM to catch up. Say what? Oops. So this time they're telling us it's all because of lower state funding
Same superintendent. Same old like minded board members. Same old shit.
Here is a prime example why I won't vote for their plan. We have AC in several schools. They do not want to turn it on because it costs too much (yet Grile is freezing and they wear sweaters lol) Today at SS the AC was finally turned on after multiple complaints that during the warm days the inside rooms were so hot the students were melting. Someone from Grile was sent to SS and told them to get the AC on after touring the hot rooms. This was related to me by several in the building. So my thoughts are that if they want to eventually install cooling systems in the schools why don't they want to pay for the bills to keep the schools cool? Waste of money. Another thought that has been bothering me. They want "new" technology but there again don't want to pay for upkeep. Laptops sit unused because batteries etc., are too expensive. Ridiculous in MHO.
Ridiculous is right. The "Kleenex for extra credit" revelation (at Elmhurst it was cans for the food drives) in Krista's explanation of the new grading system pretty well sums up how FWCS works. Just get them out the door with a diploma. What's amazing in the comments on the CH 15 website is that people actually seem surprised to find out that this crap goes on as FWCS is "regaining our trust".
CB, since you volunteered at Elmhurst, you are quite aware that the "cans for extra credit" was a very, very small, maybe 1, number of teachers, so don't make it sound like it was systemic. Why not talk about the vast majority of teachers who do the right thing and work hard every day. Or even the majority of students who do the same?
Pray that God does not judge you by the worst 5% of your life!
I have no problem with extra credit points. Seriously, maybe 1 point was given for kleenexes, canned goods etc., good grief. Stockman does everything she can to make the teachers look inadequate. My grandkids are in a great school corp. and they were given extra credit for bringing in such items. No one thinks their teachers are bad.
True. You're both right but the cans for extra credit was just one way teachers used to get kids a passing grade. And a crude one at that. When the pricipal says you can't flunk more than half the class, a teacher will find a way to pass half the class. You'd think that in courses covered by state tests like algebra and Enlish, they would at least try get the course passing percentages close to the state test passing percentages, but that must be too logical.
I just take teachers as I see them and if I've knocked the quality of our teachers, I apologize. I couldn't put up with what they put up with.
I went to school at Elmhurst and teachers did not change students grades from a C to an A for bringing in a can of food or any other articles. Once more Mrs. Stockman is not telling the full truth. What is funny is that the teacher that did give many points for cans, Mr. Floyd, was FWCS Teacher of the Year. Mr. Floyd has won many awards while hard working teachers have been insulted by Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Stockman. Maybe it is time to close FWCS and start over.
I have to agree. It seems that the teachers that do everything but teach win the awards, while teachers that try to educate students are made to feel that they are collecting welfare and deserve to be treated like a terrorists.
Mr. Floyd wasn't one of the teachers I had in mind so there were at least two. But that's not really the point. High school course grades don't mean anything except in a relative sense. (High school dilplomas meant nothing when I hired people for our plant.) That was even true at Purdue when I went there. Lots of profs graded on a curve.
Standardized tests are better absolute indicators of knowledge but even those vary between states. National tests like the SAT and ACT scores are the best indicators. I always asked for those when I interviewed engineers for the oil company, after eliminating anyone with less than a 3.0 GPA and/or low calculus grades.
So what is FWCS trying to accomplish with this new grading system? Is this going to raise the bar for getting a high school diploma? I don't think so. They've only confirmed that they've been giving out meaningless diplomas so now the question is why didn't you stop that, like say, 12 years ago?
Oh, I forgot, Wendy just wanted AC in all the buildings. I heard her say it.
One thing that we "elders" forget is that when we went to high school we did just that. Went to high school, earned a diploma, either went to college or the work force. It was cut and dry. There weren't a gazillion different diploma's and gawd knows a ton of tests. I certainly sympathize with the students today.
We sit and critique but really how can when we? Seriously how many here received a top education? No state tests, the best teachers? Very few I guess. Not only the students but the teachers today are under tremendous stress. Back in my day we didn't know if China (we love to compare our students with those in China today but rarely mention the Chinese student suicide rate is soaring) was better or any other country for that matter.
It really tires me that we are pushing students out of their futures. We don't consider they mature at different levels, or that they are tired of being labeled and tested the minute they enter school.
Some of the adults today who are so quick to judge, schools, teachers, etc., probably couldn't pass the exams that these kids have to take to get a basic high school degree.
SAT scores are not the best indicators of college or work success. I met a 2000 Canterbury graduate today, bright young lady, who shared with me what the school was really like. The graduate indicated that her family scraped together for her education, and she struggle greatly because of a learning disability, but she received a decent education. She pointed out to the fact that there are a lot of Canterbury kids who have the money to throw at admission counselors who will change grades on transcripts, etc. Those students are coached to apply to colleges that don't require an ACT or SAT.
What I can tell you is based on what I saw tutoring in FWCS high school math classes for six years. Kids abilities in math were consistent with the scores they got on state tests and SAT's. Only a handful would have gotten through an engineering school. Most would have had to take remedial math if they got into college. Recently released statistics on remediation rates in Indiana colleges confirms that.
If a kid got an A in freshman algebra at Elmhurst he would probably have gotten a B at Homestead or a C at Canterbury. The A is already suspect. Now consider that part of his A might have been "earned" through can drives.
Carroll had a 100% passing on the algebra GRE, yet 20% of their students had to take remediation in college algebra. What gives?
Seriously, what gives?
Remediation = $
Yes, the standards and achievement is dropping in all public school districts. But again it's all relative.
We could talk about this for months but what the "Kleenex for grades" topic goes back to is credibility. FWCS doen't have any. It's apparent from recent articles and letters in the papers that much of the project is about adding air conditioning to the buildings that don't have it.
So why didn't FWCS just say that right from the start? If they had, I would have just gone snowbirding and forgotten about it until May 8. But I have to conclude that they thought being transparent would cost them votes, so they just tried to hide it as long as possible. They may get their AC but they've further eroded our trust. And they won't get it back as long as Wendy, GiaQuinta, and the other like minded board members remain in place.
I really doubt Carroll's achievement levels have dropped. I believe it is more like their lowest 20 percent of college bound students are forced into remediation, because students at Carroll are quite competitive for grades. And at Carroll, a solid C average will put you in the bottom 10 percent. Keep in mind a C student taking an non-honors courses at Carroll is the same as an A, AP course student at South Side, and a C student taking basic classes at Carroll is the same as a C student at Wayne who is regular or honors courses.
And a previous comment (remediation=$) is probably right. Back in the dinosaur days remdiation in college was unheard of. At old PU half the starting freshmen were flunked out by design. Two thirds of those entering engineering didn't make it past the first year.
The emphasis has shifted to keeping them in school which also keeps the money coming in. Colleges claim they don't want to be in the remediation business, but education is a business. Another service in a sevice economy.
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