It’s the biggest disappearance of the year.
There’s these seven individuals, four African-Americans, three non-Hispanic whites; six women and one man who are missing. Haven’t heard or seen them in weeks.
Their disappearance has our community sick with worry. Their pictures may soon appear on milk cartons or flashed on TV as either an Amber or Silver Alert.
Can you help me find these missing Hoosiers? Their names are Elizabeth Gore, Dr. Mary Busch, Rev. Michael Brown, Marianna Zaphiriou, Annie Roof, Samantha Adair-White and Diane Arnold.
They were known as the members of the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners, but they’ve been unheard and unseen for weeks and months.
OK, my opening paragraphs were somewhat cold and snarky, but I meant them to be. The virtual absence of public discussion and discourse from the policy making body of Indiana’s largest school system is a gross embarrassment. It’s not funny or cute anymore; because the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is in a critical crisis; perhaps the biggest since the busing fights of the 1960s and 1970s or the district’s racist, segregationist path in the 1920s and 1930s.
How serious are the crises?
It’s expected that next month the State of Indiana will announce plans to takeover at least two and as many of six IPS middle and high schools in August 2012.
The conservative Republican onslaught in the Legislature has changed the school funding formula meaning multi-million budget cuts.
Hundreds of teachers are facing layoffs. Programs are being cut.
The passage of the virulent voucher law and the willy-nilly expansion of charters will cut more millions from IPS’ funding.
Then there’s IPS’ massive enrollment hemorrhaging. In the past decade, enrollment plunged by 19.2 percent or 7,892 students. That’s the equivalent of 16 average sized elementary schools or 10 average sized middle schools.
The enrollment decline was catastrophic among African-Americans. Fully 25.6 percent, a quarter of IPS Black students, some 6,149, enrolled a decade ago aren’t there today. That’s equal to three Tech High Schools or two Pike or Hamilton Southeastern High Schools.
The declines are devastating when you consider that during the same period the number of Black students attending public schools in Indianapolis/Marion County increased by 18 percent; or 8,318.
The depopulation of Black enrollment within IPS mirrors the severe declines in Black population within the district. As overall population declined by 32,232 or 9.8 percent during the past decade, with Black population declines leading the way, down 11.9 percent or 16,640 and non-Hispanic white population down 31,916 or 18.9 percent.
If it hadn’t been for Hispanics, IPS enrollment hemmoraging would’ve been more severe.
The severe enrollment and population declines showcase that IPS is a district in deep distress; facing stark choices and decisions.
The IPS School Board has, in my view, been guilty of dereliction of duty by their abject silence and failure to set policy for a district facing severe population and enrollment declines, budgetary pressures and a hostile legislative environment.
Worse, when serious issues facing the district are raised, the board sits mute.
Like they did when IPS Supt. Eugene White rammed down the community’s throat his so-called “year round” school calendar. A scheme that just repackaged the same 180 days of school into an ill-advised plan which hasn’t brought education improvement to other large cities that’ve tried it.
The IPS Board blindly accepted the IPS administration’s budget cutting recommendations which were heavy on slashing teachers and light on cutting consultants and other non-essential expenses.
And the board did nothing to create a spirit of shared sacrifice by not placing temporary reductions on administrators making those huge six figure salaries; starting with the superintendent himself.
The IPS Board was so much in a hurry to approve the IPS administration’s sham budget cutting plan that they scheduled the budget hearing for Good Friday afternoon. An insult to voters and taxpayers of the district.
The IPS Board has said nothing to the community about the impending state takeovers. That leadership vacuum has led to wild rumors of schools that may or may not be takeover targets.
More ominously, the IPS superintendent, who works for the board, actually had the gall to “order” board members not to talk to IPS teachers, administrators or staff. That all such inquiries “must go through” the superintendent’s office.
IPS Board members are elected by the people living in the IPS district. Dr. White’s dictatorial edict is something I expect in Cuba, Yemen or Iran.
Can you imagine the reaction if President Obama told Congress, or Gov. Daniels told the Legislature or Mayor Ballard told the City-County Council they couldn’t talk to federal, state or city-county employees?
Yes, the silent sphinxes of our IPS School Board have sat mute.
Even those Board members who disagree with Dr. White have been publicly mute. They refuse to be interviewed by media, including the media serving the majority of students still enrolled in IPS.
By now the IPS Board members reading this column have torn up their newspaper or thrown things at their computer monitors. Good! They need to get mad. Mad enough to start speaking with their community and constituents.
When will the board undertake a strategic plan to deal with the thousands of people and families who fled IPS in the decade?
Is it time for IPS to downsize itself as a district for a projected population of between 250,000 to 275,000?
Is it time for IPS to return to neighborhood schools?
Why does IPS continue to devote more resources to opening magnet schools when population and enrollment is shrinking? Shouldn’t every IPS school be of magnet quality, instead of the board creating a system of have and have not schools?
I hope the board gets mad at me. Mad enough to get off their duffs, remove the masking tape over their mouths and start publicly addressing the serious crisis IPS is facing.
IPS Board, are you going to get engaged in serious discussion and planning on IPS’ future, or sit like the band on the Titanic?
See ‘ya next week.
You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
