Something weird is going on in IPS.
There are the rumors that Gov. Mitch Daniels, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and others are planning to take over IPS (and maybe Gary’s schools).
Though it is more likely the state will assume direct control of several IPS middle schools that have never met No Child Left Behind standards.
There are rumors the Mind Trust organization may be in cahoots with the state to wrest control of IPS.
Now add to the weirdness the odd behavior of IPS’ superintendent and the return of the IPS Board as a group of “silent sphinxes.”
IPS Superintendent Eugene White’s plan to rearrange the school year by starting school far too early and eviserating existing summer programs and opportunities for kids living in Indy’s poorest neighborhoods has many concerned. Especially when it was revealed that IPS doesn’t have the cash to fulfill one of the plan’s promises; to make “year round” school palatable with four weeks of remediation for students needing it.
Then there’s that letter White endorsed that was published in Sunday’s Washington Post.
Sixteen big city school leaders, including White, endorsed the letter which runs contrary to several existing IPS policies.
The letter strongly endorsed charter schools, which White and IPS have fought against for years. The IPS Board has the authority to start charters at anytime, but has consistently refused to do so. The letter also blasted teacher rules currently used in IPS.
I caught up with Superintendent White on Monday. He told me he agreed with everything in the Washington Post letter, except the paragraph on charters.
Then White revealed that he is in favor of charters, if those charters could be free of teacher union work rules.
“So why doesn’t IPS exercise its rights to create charter schools under the law,” I asked. He replied because they’d have to follow the union’s contract and work rules.
Like I said, something weird’s going on in IPS. But, our community also has to get over its fixation with IPS.
For decades our African-American community has embraced the Indianapolis Public Schools as our own. That’s because historically, it was the school district that educated the bulk of African-Americans in Indianapolis. Add to that the emotional history of the segregated Crispus Attucks High School, which educated a couple of generations of Blacks and you can understand the emotional ties our community has had to IPS.
Well, it’s time to take the past emotion out of that relationship. It’s time that we stop acting like IPS is the only school district in this city that educates Black children. Because, bluntly it is not.
It’s estimated that in this current school year; just a third of all Black public school students and just 23 percent of all public school students in the city/county attend IPS.
Yet, the political, business and civic establishment in both the Black and overall community continues to act as if IPS is this city’s only public school system. Any combinations of three of these five townships (Lawrence, Washington, Pike, Perry, Warren and Wayne) have as many students as IPS.
Yes, worry about the quality of education African-American children receive in IPS. But we must spend as much time worrying about the quality of education African-American children receive in the city/county’s 10 other school districts and 30-some charter schools.
We can’t let the weirdness in IPS allow us to take our eyes off making sure all public schools are serving the needs of all children!
What I’m hearing
in the streets
It took federal Judge Sarah Evans Barker to bring out the emotion in the investiture ceremony for federal Judge Tanya Walton-Pratt last Friday when she revealed that Pratt was assuming the seat occupied by federal Judge S. Hugh Dillin, the man who integrated Indianapolis’ schools.
That nugget of history floored many in the standing room only crowd in the U.S. courthouse’s ceremonial courtroom who came to witness history as the daughter of a Black attorney; a child of historically Black colleges, formally became the first African-American federal judge in Indiana history.
Judge Walton-Pratt entered the history books in a ceremony witnessed by the entire federal judiciary in Indianapolis, plus Sen. Evan Bayh, Congressman André Carson, state and local judges, many of the city’s attorneys, Black and white, friends and community leaders.
The words from her new federal judicial colleagues were warm, funny and collegial. Sen. Bayh was at his most eloquent and the tribute from Walton-Pratt’s daughter, Lena, the most touching.
Judge Dillin, a fighter for equal justice under law would’ve been most proud.
It was a privilege for me to have been chosen by Judge Walton-Pratt to preside at the ceremony; my only chance to practice before the federal bench.
WISH-TV (Channel 8) became the first local media to release independent polls in key November election races. In the past, Channel 8 earned praise here for their pollster’s diligence in measuring African-Americans. Not this time.
Their statewide poll vastly undersampled African-Americans. Only 5 percent of the 500 sampled were African-Americans; an undersampling of 45 percent. Worse, unlike past elections, Channel 8 didn’t publish the diversity in their polls of Marion County races for prosecutor and 7th District Congress. Leaving one to wonder how much their new pollster, Michigan-based EPIC-ERA, under-sampled African-Americans in Indy.
Sampling of Black Indy voters is critical to determining a poll’s credibility. Channel 8’s poll of the prosecutor’s race has Democrat Terry Curry ahead 43 percent to 36 percent.
A poll commissioned by Republican Mark Massa shows him ahead 44 percent to 40 percent. Unlike Channel 8, the Massa campaign revealed of the 402 voters surveyed, 23 percent were African-American. And they added a critical research factoid; that 18 percent of respondents were from cell phone only households. Statistics Channel 8’s pollsters failed to reveal.
When you’re the news leader, you’re held to a higher standard. And publishing the demographic and research details of their polling is part of media leadership, Channel 8.
Seventeen IMPD officers were promoted last week. One captain and 16 sergeants. And only one Black. Another fine example of Mayor Greg Ballard’s commitment to diversity in public safety. Since becoming mayor, Ballard’s police have promoted 73 IPMD officers. Just three African-Americans (two male, one female) were promoted. That’s 4.1 percent! I dare the mayor’s minions and spinmasters to explain that horrid diversity record.
See ‘ya next week.
You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
