In Case You Missed It – October 30, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"If anything is ever to change, we need to get off our asses to do the hard work of living in a democracy. We need to get informed, to get engaged, to get involved, to think, and to hold our elected officials to the same standard as we would hold our friends and families.

"Rather than waiting for Superman, we need to channel our own inner strength and roll up our sleeves to do what is necessary to change the world." -- Phyllis Bush, May 4, 2016, in Where Do We Go From Here?.

2023 PHYLLIS BUSH AWARD

Dan Greenberg presents the Phyllis Bush Memorial Grassroots Award to Public Education Partners at the Network for Public Education 10 Anniversary Conference in Washington, D.C.

[Note you need a Facebook account to follow the link above. The Network for Public Education often posts videos of their conference. If, or when the video of this presentation becomes available we will share a link for it.]

Our memories of Phyllis Bush come to life when this award in her honor is presented at the NPE Conference. Her legacy lives on through groups nationwide as they continue their work to fight for public education. Congratulations to Ohio's Public Education Partners, this year's award recipients, for their advocacy.

Below is a quote from one of our earliest blog posts, That's a lot of numbers, Grandma! which Phyllis wrote in 2013.

As I have grown older, I have become more aware of who I am. I will always be a teacher. Helping others discover their strengths and find their own voices is what I love doing. Standing up for, respecting, and defending the voiceless is the fire that has burned within me for as long as I can remember. Pushing back against injustice is what gives me a reason to get up each morning.

NEIFPE Co-Founder, Phyllis Bush

MOTHERS FOR LIBERTY MISLEAD

M4L Continues to Post Misleading Information

M4L continues the misinterpretation and misuse of test scores that has done so much damage to public education.

From Accountabaloney blog

Lately, the Moms for Liberty crew has been deflecting from criticism by highlighting the so-called failures of public schools, claiming we are failing to teach students to read. Specifically, they are misusing scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to claim that America’s students cannot do math or reading on grade level.

NAEP “Proficiency” is NOT a measurement of on-grade level performance, but something much higher. This is made clear on NAEP’s own website which states:

“Students performing at or above the Proficient level on NAEP assessments demonstrate solid academic performance and competency over challenging subject matter. It should be noted that the NAEP Proficient achievement level does not represent grade level proficiency as determined by other assessment standards (e.g., state or district assessments).” NAEP “Proficiency” is a bar set well above “grade level.”
https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

If you need more convincing, Tom Loveless, PhD wrote a great piece in Brookings in 2016, entitled The NAEP Proficiency Myth, where he said, “Confounding NAEP proficient with grade-level is uninformed.“

“It is an unreasonable expectation, one that ill serves America’s students, parents, and teachers–and the effort to improve America’s schools.“

FORT WAYNE LOCAL NEWS

7 area marching bands to vie for state championships Saturday

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Marching bands from across the state, including perennial power Homestead and six others from the Fort Wayne area, will take the field Saturday at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for a chance at one of four state titles.

Joining Homestead in the Class A finals of the state’s largest schools is Carroll. North Side competes in Class B; Concordia Lutheran, Angola and Garrett face off in Class C; and Adams Central rounds out the northeast Indiana contingent in small-school Class D. Each division has 10 competing bands.

All of the Fort Wayne-area schools but Garrett competed in last year’s state finals.

Homestead was the highest-placing area band last year, coming in sixth in Class A. Saturday will mark its 35th straight appearance in the state finals.

Fort Wayne Community Schools eyes student recruitment strategies

The Indiana Constitution demands that the legislature provide "a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all." The public schools are that system. Since 2011, the Indiana General Assembly has diverted billions in tax dollars to private schools and charter schools, shortchanging the vast majority of the state's students who attend the constitutionally mandated public schools.

Local school systems now have to spend precious dollars -- which should be used for instruction -- to remind the public that there is only one group of schools in the state that accepts every child...the public schools.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Fort Wayne Community Schools – which saw enrollment decrease by less than 1% this fall – is developing strategies to boost student recruitment.

Attracting and retaining students are areas of focus for the nearly 30,000-student district because families have more options regarding their children’s education, said Krista Stockman, the district’s communication and marketing director.

“Public schools are no longer in the same position as decades ago when students just enrolled in their neighborhood schools,” she said Wednesday. “Parents have many choices, and it is incumbent upon us to make sure parents know about and understand their options. If we don’t actively share our story with parents, they might get misinformation or not be aware of programs offered for free at FWCS.”

Fort Wayne Community Schools board OKs pay hikes

Our teachers deserve it.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

The Fort Wayne Community Schools board ratified a two-year teachers contract Monday that increases the salary schedule by 3% and 1% this year and next.

Depending on how educators progress on the salary schedule – which considers performance and education levels – individual pay will increase between 5.8% and 9.9% over the two years.

Teachers aren’t the only district employees getting a raise. After unanimously approving the collective bargaining agreement with the Fort Wayne Education Association, the board voted twice more to boost pay for most other workers.

“We want to reward our teachers and our other staff,” Superintendent Mark Daniel said after the meeting.

The agreement with teachers increases the position’s starting salary to $46,627, from $43,998. That had been the lowest starting teacher pay in Allen County.

A SAMPLING OF EDUCATION HUMOR

Cartoons of Teachers, Parents, and Students Dealing with School

From Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

From time to time, I run across cartoons on teachers bemoaning that time when they make out report cards on their students’ academic progress. Also there are cartoons showing parents trying hard to do their best with their sons and daughters but either advertently or inadvertently putting pressure on their children to do even better in school than they currently are. And cartoons about students reactions to the pressure of getting good grades. Here is a sampling. Enjoy!

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – October 23, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"It seemed like good news for charter schools when a study released this summer declared that they get better student outcomes than do traditional public schools — at least from 2015 to 2019, the years for which researchers said they crunched the numbers. The Wall Street Journal editorial board hailed the results as showing “huge learning gains over union schools” (with “union schools” used as a pejorative reference to public schools in traditional school districts). Education Week’s headline declared: “Charter Schools Now Outperform Traditional Public Schools, Sweeping Study Finds.”

"But the study, it turned out, doesn’t show that at all. The headlines were wrong. For one thing, a close look at the results revealed only tiny improvements in charter schools. That, plus concerns critics have raised about the validity of the methodology and definitions used in the study, render moot the claims of besting traditional public schools." -- The Answer Sheet blogger, Valerie Strauss in Why what looked like good news for charter schools actually wasn’t

CHARTERS, VOUCHERS, AND PRIVATIZATION

Valerie Strauss: The Latest “Good News” about Charter Schools is a Hoax

From Diane Ravitch

Education Week’s headline declared: “Charter Schools Now Outperform Traditional Public Schools, Sweeping Study Finds.”

But the study, it turned out, doesn’t show that at all. The headlines were wrong. For one thing, a close look at the results revealed only tiny improvements in charter schools. That, plus concerns critics have raised about the validity of the methodology and definitions used in the study, render moot the claims of besting traditional public schools.

The “not what they seem” theme of the study results reflect the uncertain position in which charter schools find themselves these days. The vanguard of the “school choice” movement when the first charter opened in 1992 in Minneapolis, these schools have been eclipsed in the national debate about “school choice” by programs that use public money for private and religious schools, including vouchers, tax credit programs and education savings accounts.

Texas: State Commissioner Cracked Down on Houston While Ignoring Low-Performing Charter Schools

From Diane Ravitch

Since taking office more than seven years ago, Morath has repeatedly given charters permission to expand, allowing them to serve thousands more students, even when they haven’t met academic performance requirements. On at least 17 occasions, Morath has waived expansion requirements for charter networks that had too many failing campuses to qualify, according to a ProPublica and Texas Tribune analysis of state records. The state’s top education official also has approved five other waivers in cases where the charter had a combination of failing schools and campuses that were not rated because they either only served high-risk populations or had students too young to be tested.

Oklahoma: Founders of Epic Charter Schools Charged with More Crimes

From Diane Ravitch

Founders of Epic Charter Schools are facing new charges of money laundering and presenting false claims to the state, bringing the total number of charges to 15.

Epic co-founders David Chaney and Ben Harris and Chief Financial Officer Josh Brock, were arrested and charged with a list of felonies in June 2022. Charges included racketeering, embezzlement of state funds, and obtaining money by false pretense.

The amount of diverted money so far totals $30 million. Republicans complain about public schools, but no district superintendent or principal has ever been accused of massive crimes like those of EPIC. Let it be noted that virtual charter schools have been the source of the biggest financial crimes.

National Education Policy Center: What Does Research Say About Vouchers?

From Diane Ravitch

The National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado invited scholar Chris Lubienski of Indiana University to review a recent publication of EdChoice (the new name of the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation), which summarizes what voucher advocates believe about the efficacy of vouchers. The publication is titled “The 123s of School Choice: What the Research Says About Private School Choice Programs, 2023 Edition.”

Not surprisingly, EdChoice concludes that vouchers are effective. Lubienski, however, is critical of the studies they include and those they exclude. In short, EdChoice engages in cherry-picking to bolster its cause.

STUDENTS STEP IN WHERE ADULTS HAVE FAILED THEM

Band Director Quits and Other Evidence of Pandemic Aftermath

From Teacher in a Strange Land

Perhaps you’re thinking that the national shortage of teachers is limited to certain sub-specialties, or geographic regions, that no responsible school leader would leave a group of six-year-olds to “teach themselves.” If so, you ought to take a look at the percentages of students, especially in charter schools, with unqualified substitutes. There are uncertified subs everywhere, in all subjects, k-12, and unfilled jobs in prestigious private and suburban schools, two months after the start of the school year.

The loyal-to-band kids in West Virginia do not surprise me. Band students, in my thoroughly biased opinion, are THE BEST, and these kids appear to be like band kids everywhere—self-starters, and leaders. Good kids. There are, of course, good kids in all grades and disciplines, in every school, those who can be trusted to carry on when the chips are down.

But here’s the thing that doesn’t get mentioned in this feel-good story: the band kids in WV learned how to do the things they have done—writing rules, running rehearsals, playing tunes—from a teacher. By all indications, a pretty good teacher, someone who instilled a spirit of cooperation that led students to try to balance out the band sound by switching instruments.

FORT WAYNE LOCAL NEWS

Northwest Allen County Schools reveals details of proposed teachers' contract

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Northwest Allen County Schools teachers could see their salaries increase up to 9.5% under a tentative collective bargaining agreement set for ratification this month, Superintendent Wayne Barker said Wednesday.

He shared highlights of the proposed 2023-24 contract during a special public meeting that last about 10 minutes at Carroll High School.

“We’ve made a significant, positive step in the right direction for what we want to do for our teaching staff,” Barker said afterward, noting NACS has about 520 teachers. “We want them to know they’re valued. We want them to know they’re appreciated.”

The superintendent cited the district’s increasing enrollment as the reason why the contract applies for one year and not two – the duration of the previous agreement. It’s to the teachers’ benefit, he said. Schools receive state funding per pupil.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – October 16, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"In our society, teaching is not a high status position. It used to be considered women’s work, probably still is by many people. How wonderful it would be if we had fully transcended the cruelty of the old joke: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can’t teach, teach gym.” But we haven’t. I regularly hear legislators in my state explaining that if someone who knew what he was doing were put in charge, teachers would be forced to improve test scores immediately. The implication, of course, is that teaching is simply a matter of the production of test scores, and teachers don’t produce.

"The tragedy of this kind of thinking is that the same teachers whom people attack and insult are the human beings to whom we trust the formation of our children. The opinion polls tell us that we handle this contradiction by learning to know, respect, and appreciate our own child’s teacher even as we fail to protest the barrage of attacks on teachers in general." -- Jan Resseger in Sylvia Allegretto Documents Large and Persistent Teacher Pay Penalty

TEACHERS' PAY PENALTY GROWS

Sylvia Allegretto Documents Large and Persistent Teacher Pay Penalty

Why is it okay to pay teachers less than other professionals with similar training? Is it because most teachers are women? Is it because we don't really care about our children after all?

From Jan Resseger

In the introduction to her annual report on the teacher pay penalty, published last week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Sylvia Allegretto acknowledges the challenges teachers face: “Teachers have one of the most consequential jobs in the country—they have the future of the U.S. in front of them every day. But teaching is becoming a less appealing career choice for new college graduates. Not only are levels of compensation low, but teaching is becoming increasingly stressful as teachers are forced to navigate battles over curriculum and COVID-19 related mandates as well as rising incidence of violence in schools. Low pay makes recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers difficult.

Here are Allegretto’s conclusions about the trend in teachers’ wages and compensation through 2022:

• “The pay penalty for teachers—the gap between the weekly wages of teachers and college graduates working in other professions—grew to a record 26.4% in 2022, a significant increase from 6.1% in 1996.
• “Although teachers tend to receive better benefits packages than other professionals do, this advantage is not large enough to offset the growing wage penalty for teachers.
• “On average, teachers earned 73.6 cents for every dollar that other professionals made in 2022. This is much less than the 93.9 cents on the dollar they made in 1996.”

Allegretto explains: “Because public school teachers must attain at least a bachelor’s degree to teach in the U.S., this research compares teachers with college graduates working in other professions… Over the past two decades, the weekly wages and total compensation of public school teachers have fallen further and further behind… Recent high inflation has significantly reduced the average weekly wages of teachers but has had less of an effect on other college graduates… The erosion of relative weekly wages for teachers continued apace in 2022.” “Teachers generally receive a higher share of their total compensation as benefits than other professionals do, partially offsetting the weekly wage penalty.” But, “the benefits advantage for teachers has not been enough to offset the growing wage penalty.”

SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION

The Plot to Take Down Public Schools

From Diane Ravitch

Recently the Network for Public Education and the Education Law Center sponsored a zoom conversation with Nick Surgey. Nick is an experienced investigative journalist who works with an organization called Documented, which digs into the Dark Money groups undermining Public schools and other democratic institutions. Nick has done the legwork that identified the money and people behind the home schooling movement, as well as the rightwing Alliance for Defending Freedom. He has worked with the Center for Media and Democracy and other pro-democracy organizations.

This is a discussion you should definitely tune into.

INDIANA AND FORT WAYNE LOCAL NEWS

Five of our articles this week come from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Please consider subscribing to this important local source of news and information. Remember "all politics is local," and education is funded through politics. See the link at the end of this post.

FWCS referendum will help in coping with school — and life

FWCS works to help students cope with mental health issues.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

On Oct. 7, The Journal Gazette’s editorial board questioned the need for Fort Wayne Community Schools’ safety and well-being referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot, asking the question: “Should schools go even deeper into providing for student mental health and wellness?”

The answer from the SAFER FWCS Political Action Committee is simple:

If not us, then who?

The most recent Indiana KIDS COUNT data from the Indiana Youth Institute paints a bleak picture. In 2021, more than 1 in 4 high school students reported having seriously considered attempting suicide, and nearly half of all high school students reported being sad or feeling hopeless every day for at least two weeks.

These statistics are not surprising to educators, who saw a significant decline in student mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The same report showed teachers at 62% of schools tried to increase student knowledge on suicide prevention in a required course in grades 6-12. That is up from fewer than 20% of schools doing so in 2012.

Should schools be responsible for solving this mental health crisis? Maybe not, but Fort Wayne Community Schools has never been a district to throw up its hands and say, “It’s not our fault. There is nothing we can do. Someone else needs to fix it.”

FWCS is already seeing what its plan can do in a pilot at South Side High School.

In voting to put the referendum on the ballot, the FWCS Board of School Trustees sent a message: Not on our watch. FWCS will not stand by when there are steps that can be taken inside schools to create an even safer learning environment.

New Indiana law stokes worries for LGBTQ+ students

The new laws affecting LGBTQ+ students impact the daily lives of real people.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Snider High School’s gay-straight alliance no longer takes attendance or maintains a membership roster, and participants are mindful about what’s visible to their faculty advisers during the club’s weekly one-hour meetings.

Known as the Rainbow Connection, the group wants to reduce the risk of teachers seeing members’ deadnames – names used before a gender transition – because of state legislation that took effect July 1. It requires school districts to notify a student’s parent or guardian if the student requests a name or pronoun change.

The new rule interferes with Rainbow Connection’s priority of keeping members safe and letting them be true to themselves, participants say. Students might have parents who are unsupportive or could potentially endanger them for not being cisgender – a term meaning not transgender – or straight, said Phoenix Bodner, co-president.

“Adjusting to it when the school year started actually delayed Rainbow Connection’s opening by a couple weeks because we needed to find a way to work around the fact that it posed a serious risk to the safety and security of our members,” Bodner said by email.

Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the Indiana Educational Equity Coalition, raised such concerns when legislators proposed the bill. It also prohibits schools from teaching human sexuality before fourth grade.

South Side sees success with piloted Safer FWCS initiatives

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The South Side High School that student Olivia Soto attends as a senior is different from the South Side that welcomed her as a freshman.

The atmosphere has transformed from a place where students would walk through hallways with their heads down – phones out and earbuds in – to a vibrant school where teens smile, wave and high-five others.

“You feel seen and present at the school,” Soto told the Fort Wayne Community Schools board Monday during a presentation about safety updates. “You’re not just there to learn. You’re there making connections, and you’re in this community at South Side.”

Although the safety presentation included districtwide information, South Side received much of the focus because it is piloting elements that FWCS would like to expand to other schools with referendum funding.

Enrollment growth prompts Northwest Allen County Schools to eye redistricting

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Enrollment growth in Northwest Allen County Schools this fall exceeded a demographer’s forecast by about 35%, and a surge in elementary students has prompted the district to reexamine its attendance areas.

Superintendent Wayne Barker stressed to the school board Monday that the overall 2.7% enrollment increase – an addition of 217 students – is positive, especially considering many Indiana districts are experiencing declining enrollment.

“This is a good thing for Northwest Allen County Schools,” he said.

FWCS proposal would boost teacher pay, including starting salary

FWCS has the lowest starting teacher salaries in the county. Increases would put the largest school system in the county in line with the others.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

A tentative two-year teachers contract would increase Fort Wayne Community Schools’ starting salary to $46,627 – making the district more competitive with its Allen County neighbors.

As proposed, the salary schedule will increase by 3% this academic year and 1% next year. But depending on how educators progress on the salary schedule – which considers performance and education levels – their pay could increase between 5.8% and 9.9% over two years.

The school board discussed these and other details Monday, two weeks before the elected leaders are expected to ratify the contract.

“I’m happy to pay them every penny we can,” board member Steve Corona said.

October is ADHD Awareness Month. Click for a link to the ADHD Awareness website.

• Myths and Facts about ADHD

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – October 9, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There is a well-resourced and coordinated effort among far-right institutions to undermine public education—whether that is through misappropriating funds like the legislature did in Mississippi to divert funds to private schools, or to pass burdensome censorship agenda laws that have led to shortages and burdens on teachers." -- Skye Perryman, founder and CEO of Democracy Forward

STANDING UP FOR EDUCATION AGAINST THE FAR-RIGHT

People Power Vs. the Far Right Education Movement

Last week was "Banned Book Week." Just because the week is over doesn't mean that books won't continue to be attacked by closed minds.

From The Progressive

Although book bans are wildly unpopular with American voters, right-wing pressure groups like Moms for Liberty have succeeded in convincing Republican lawmakers to remove titles due to their portrayals of gender diversity or racism. Now that almost all schools have reopened for the new school year, followers of education policy and politics, as well as free speech advocates, are watching closely to see if there will be efforts to pass more of these laws.

Last school year, at least seven states passed ambiguously-worded laws that criminalized school teachers and librarians for exposing students to books that have been deemed as too “obscene.” Governors in two of these states vetoed the new laws, but “[a]nother dozen states considered more than twenty similar bills this year, half of which are likely to come up again in 2024,” according to The Washington Post.

An especially extreme book banning was, the Post reported, “an Arkansas measure that says school and public librarians, as well as teachers, can be imprisoned for up to six years or fined $10,000 if they distribute obscene or harmful texts.” The law was meant to go into effect on August 1, but in July, a federal judge blocked it because it imposed a threat to First Amendment rights. The lawsuit that led to the judge’s ruling came from a broad coalition of authors, educators, and publishers that were represented in part by the progressive legal group Democracy Forward.

EDTECH SURVEILLANCE IN SCHOOLS

Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying What the EDTech Surveillance Industry is Selling

Who's watching your child?

From ACLU

Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling, an ACLU research report, examines the EdTech Surveillance (educational technologies used for surveillance) industry in U.S. K-12 schools. Using in-depth investigation into industry products, an incident audit, student focus groups, and national polling, this report scrutinizes industry claims, assesses the efficacy of the products, and explores the impacts EdTech Surveillance has on students and schools. The report concludes by offering concrete actions school districts, elected officials, and community members can take to ensure decisions about using surveillance products are consistent and well-informed. This includes model legislation and decision-making tools, which will often result in the rejection of student surveillance technologies.

FORT WAYNE LOCAL NEWS

Yet another Superintendent of the Year award reflects well on Allen County

EACS Superintendent, Marilyn Hissong is one of Indiana Superintendents of the Year.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Allen County’s public schools have been blessed with talented leaders over the years. East Allen County Schools’ Marilyn Hissong is the latest local schools chief to be recognized as among Indiana’s best.

At a joint conference of the Indiana Association of Public Schools Superintendents and the Indiana School Boards Association Sept. 25, Hissong was one of seven top school administrators announced as the 2024 Superintendents of the Year for their geographic districts.

A graduate of East Allen schools, Hissong started her career at the district as a teacher and volleyball coach before moving into administrative roles, according to an EACS news release. After Ken Folks retired in 2017, she was promoted to superintendent from assistant superintendent of elementary education.

“As of July 1, 2023, I had the extreme privilege and honor of completing my 30th year in education, all which has been with East Allen County Schools,” she said in a statement.

She will represent the state in the national Superintendent of the Year competition.

44 to give input on diversity issues at Southwest Allen County Schools

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Representatives from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, or FAIR, will facilitate the discussions along with others for secondary students, administrators and Parent Teacher Club presidents.

“The participants are representative of our district and will likely bring differing viewpoints, beliefs and experiences to the sessions,” Fleming said in a statement.

The school board recently approved a $10,000 listening session agreement with FAIR in response to demonstrations and discussions that disrupted classes at Homestead last academic year.

That February day, minority students told The Journal Gazette the viral images of a classmate in blackface were the last straw in repeated mistreatment they’ve endured.

SACS is a predominantly white district. Last academic year, students of color represented 25% of enrollment, with Black and Hispanic students each accounting for 7%, according to state enrollment data. Homestead’s demographics were similar.

Southwest Allen County Schools ready to give in-depth look to 25 advocates

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Twenty-five people, mostly parents, will begin their in-depth look at Southwest Allen County Schools operations in October.

The group is the first class of SACS Education Advocates, a new monthly program that attracted 61 applicants – a response that pleased Superintendent Park Ginder.

“We hope that applications grow and that new leaders emerge from this process, so I am hopeful that we will continue to host this program and help educate our community concerning all facets of what it entails to run a school district and individual schools,” he said by email this week.

Several central Indiana districts inspired the program, which should provide insight about what it takes to serve more than 7,500 students, Ginder has said.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – October 2, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'" -- Isaac Asimov, quoted by Sheila Kennedy in Just WOW...

A LITTLE CHEATING IMPROVES THE BOTTOM LINE

Gary Rubinstein: Will U.S. News Ban KIPP from Its Rankings Again, for Cheating?

The early rationale for the school privatization movement was that public schools were failing. They weren't. The problem with low achievement in America's public schools has always been poverty and race. As long as those issues aren't addressed no amount of tinkering will change the fact that poor kids have more academic difficulties than wealthy kids.

Charter school providers discovered this when they claimed they could "fix" education by "innovation." They couldn't. Children still score lower on test scores based on their family's income -- whether they go to a private school, a charter school, or a public school.

In this story, we see a national charter school provider, try to manipulate the system in order to fool their investors into thinking they are succeeding when they're not.

From Diane Ravitch

Gary Rubinstein writes here about KIPP’s clever tactics to win a listing as one of the “best” high schools in New York State. He caught them playing similar games several years ago, and U.S. News heard about it and removed KIPP from its rankings...

Gary figured out that KIPP gamed the system by placing its high-performing students in one middle school and its underperforming students in another middle school. But only one gets counted by U.S. News...

Please open the link to understand what a clever move this is. Why do they do it? Gary says it impresses their funders.

WHEN CHARTERS CLOSE

No silver lining to charter school closures

Publically run and funded schools provide the stability that private schools and charter schools can't. Support your local public schools.

From School Matters

Regardless of what you think about charter schools, it’s bad news when one closes unexpectedly. It’s bad for the staff. It’s bad for the people who were committed to the project. It’s especially bad for the students, who will have to find a new school, learn their way around and make new friends.

And it’s not a rare occurrence here in Indiana. A list provided by the Indiana Department of Education includes 50 charter schools that have closed or merged since Indiana began allowing charters in 2002...

What happens to students when their schools close unexpectedly? Research is mixed, but there’s strong evidence that switching schools has negative academic and behavioral impacts, especially on students of color and students from low-income families...

CHILDCARE COSTS SKYROCKET

Keep your nose on

What do working parents do when they can no longer afford child care? When will the US put its money where its mouth is when it comes to caring for its children?

From Live Long and Prosper

...As a nation, the US doesn't seem to have the inclination or the foresight to provide for its children...or to plan for the future.

A 2023 survey from Arreaza’s organization found that 59% of parents reported cutting back on hours or leaving a job because they couldn’t find reliable, affordable child care. After losing that source of income, families often cut back on other expenses. Forty-four percent of families said they reduced food costs and over half, 55%, said they couldn’t save while shouldering the cost of child care, which rivals the cost of full-time, in-state college tuition in Indiana and elsewhere.

FORT WAYNE LOCAL NEWS

East Allen County Schools superintendent named best in state

East Allen County Superintendent is named the Indiana Superintendent of the Year.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Allen County is again home to the Indiana Superintendent of the Year.

Marilyn Hissong of East Allen County Schools received the honor Monday during an annual conference for Indiana school board members, superintendents and administrators.

She has led the district for six years, making her the longest tenured superintendent currently in Allen County.

“As of July 1, 2023, I had the extreme privilege and honor of completing my 30th year in education, all which has been with East Allen County Schools,” Hissong said in a statement.

October is ADHD Awareness Month.
Click here for more information.

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^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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