The Unappealing Dr. White
When I attended Monday night’s meeting between the Indianapolis Public School board and the Indiana Department of Education I expected some fireworks between the board and Dr. Tony Bennett and his staff regarding state intervention and possible takeover of six schools that did not make it off academic probation.
The meeting overall was pretty tame and uneventful (despite Board President Mary Busch’s inane questions). However one perpetual theme that carried itself through the meeting was Dr. Eugene White’s whining that IPS was being discriminated against because of its community schools: Arlington, Howe, Broad Ripple and George Washington. In a community school 7th and 8th graders are mixed in with traditional high school students. The logic is you an improve graduation rates by getting younger kids acclimated to the high school world. Although IPS has tried to use that method to improve graduation rates, Dr. White tried to argue, unconvincingly in my opinion, that the state should not count the 7th and 8th graders test scores because saying they skewed the scores of the high school students and had they been excluded the failing high schools would have made it off probation.
The two problems with Dr. White’s argument are first, there are more than 140 community schools in the state of Indiana and they were all judged by the same standards. Second, if IPS had a problem with the way its community schools were judged you would have thought the district would have done something about by now. But according to the Indiana Department of Education, since 2003 the school district has never filed an appeal until now. IPS says it never bothered to appeal state decisions because it never thought it would be penalized for its community school concept.
Throughout the meeting White repeated his claims that DOE’s system was discriminatory and penalized the district. In fact, as I left the board meeting I could hear him tell a small cadre of supporters that the state was discriminating against IPS. I think White should get a dictionary and look up the definition of discrimination and he would find IPS is not being singled out, but instead being treated just like every other school district that is similarly situated. But then again, I guess if a 63-year old black man who was born in Alabama doesn’t know the meaning of the word discrimination, I shouldn’t really be surprised several of his schools are in the condition they are today and on the verge of a state takeover. And by the way, throughout this entire ordeal, the IPS board never asked for a formal meeting with the State.
A final decision on IPS’ appeal is expected in two weeks.
Editor’s Note: Indiana officials told me Monday night the state will seek a waiver from No Child Left Behind. Tony Bennett tells me the education reforms passed out the General Assembly can help provide ample accountability for schools.
