The best and the worst about Indianapolis Public Schools were on display at the first two Indianapolis public hearings of the Indiana State Board of Education at Broad Ripple and Arlington High Schools.
Arlington’s hearing attracted nearly 400 and was predominantly African-American; while Broad Ripple drew around 325, overwhelmingly white. The enthusiasm of those attending both hearings was great, with eloquence and community unity on display at Arlington’s hearing.
Testimonies brought out IPS’ failings. Teachers told of frustrations dealing with IPS’ constantly changing teaching techniques. A Broad Ripple teacher spoke of IPS’ “shiny toy mentality,” meaning the district’s penchant for trying new things and the hip educational theory of the hour, regardless of whether the idea is really effective.
An Arlington teacher expressed his frustration at IPS’ inconsistent and incoherent discipline standards. I was stunned that students were thrown out of school suspended for petty offensive like tardiness; instead of creating sanctions that would keep a student in school.
Parents, teachers and students railed against the lack of leadership stability as Broad Ripple has had several principals in eight years; Arlington five in six years.
At the first state board hearing in South Bend, the School Board president, superintendent and school principal gave brief welcoming remarks. Virtually the entire IPS School Board attended the Broad Ripple hearing and most were at Arlington, but they sat mute, as did Broad Ripple and Arlington’s principals. No welcome, no thanks for attending.
The only speaker for IPS was Superintendent Eugene White. And his appearances were decidedly mixed.
At Broad Ripple, White explained his plan for turning it around. It was standard boilerplate – more rigorous study, attention to detail – begging the question why such systems weren’t already in place?
At Arlington, White unveiled a radical proposal to turn Arlington into two schools – one all-girl, one all-boy – each group starting and ending school at different times. With additional enrichment classes late afternoons and early evenings. Again, if this plan is that good, why hasn’t it been tried before now?
Then there was White’s demeanor.
At Broad Ripple, while sitting on stage in full view of all, White seemed openly bored and disdainful, at times playing with his Blackberry or leaning sprawled in his seat. Some Broad Ripple students complained to me about his behavior, “If we did that in school, we’d get suspended.”
Indianapolis Star columnist Matt Tully, media gadfly Abdul Hakim-Shabazz and I described White’s behavior on our Twitter feeds.
After our collective negative feedback, (and negative feedback from others) White was better behaved at Arlington.
By the state’s own criteria, Broad Ripple is barely a school deserving of academic probation. Some 95 percent of the school’s graduates passed the state’s required End of Course Assessments (ECA) in math and language arts (the high school successor to ISTEP).
Of the class of 2010, 60.2 percent graduated on time. Of the graduates, 92 percent earned Core 40 diplomas, with 17 percent earning Academic Honors Diplomas. Fully 96 percent pursued a college education. And just 7.9 percent of Broad Ripple students were suspended.
Arlington has far bigger problems. In the 2009-2010 school year, just 60 percent of the school’s graduates passed the state’s required ECA in math and language arts. But that also means 40 percent of graduates got ECA waivers.
Arlington’s graduation rate was 66.4 percent, with 78 percent of graduates earning Core 40 diplomas.
Numerous representatives of the NAACP and community organizations made an eloquent case for IPS to retain management of Arlington, but with strong involvement and assistance of the community.
But the members of the state board representing the Indianapolis area include some notorious haters of public education in general and IPS in particular, including Gov. Mitch Daniels’ former top education troubleshooter.
Worse, the only African-American member represents Gary/Lake County, which contains just 20.4 percent of Indiana’s Black population; compared with 39.2 percent here.
What I’m hearing
in the streets
In the past few years, I’ve expressed strong concern about the direction of Indiana Black Expo. Expo’s leadership, especially its Board of Directors, dismissed my criticisms as the doddering of a man nearing his senior years.
Well, that two page letter, bravely signed by 17 full-time Black Expo staffers, clearly tells our community that something’s wrong at 3145 N. Meridian St.
In this economy, it takes guts for employees to place their names on a complaint that directly attempts to redress their grievances with those charged with keeping the organization alive.
What struck me in the employees’ letter was that their love for Indiana Black Expo and what it stands for in our community came through. It’s their desire for the organization to be the best that propelled their speaking out.
There are some outstanding leaders of the Black Expo Board of Directors, including business and civic leader Michael “Mickey” Maurer, esteemed public servant Dr. Woodrow Myers and former Indiana Civil Rights Commission head Tony Kirkland. They and other enlightened board members must initiate a serious examination of IBE’s leadership, staffing, mission and methods.
It’s time the board directly hears about what’s been going on at Expo from key clients and community stakeholders.
The last paragraph of the staff’s appeal included these words: “Something must be done to rectify this situation” or we could see “an unexpected end for IBE, whose financial success depends on the success of Summer Celebration.”
Will IBE’s board rise to the occasion or sink again into a morass of mediocrity?
See ‘ya next week.
You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
