Law and Policy Magnet Update

Here is an update on the status of the Law and Public Policy Magnet. It was moved from Shortridge to Tech location last year in order to give the Shortridge building to Gambold HS.

CannOnline

By Myles Sylvester

The Law and Public Policy magnet will start next semester and go into full effect next year. But at the moment they are working on getting books, a classroom, and having a full-fledged program.

The IPS School Board voted last year to move the Law and Public Policy magnet from Shortridge to Tech. Currently there are no students in Law and Public Policy at Tech. Teacher Karen Markman is overseeing the program and recruiting students for fall 2016.

“I think this magnet will draw more students from other schools that don’t offer this magnet and a lot of interest from the students on this campus,” Markman said.

Law and Public policy is offering a street law class starting in January, which is a hands-on experience with lawyers working with the students to give their real-life perspectives. The courtroom, under construction most of this semester, is now complete.

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BREAKING NEWS: 96% of Chicago Teachers Authorize a Strike!

Source: BREAKING NEWS: 96% of Chicago Teachers Authorize a Strike!

You’ve got homework!

Go watch this 16 minute video.  Share it on social media.  Talk about it.  I’ll let it sink in for a little while…give you some time to think about how similar this is to Indianapolis… then I’ll be back with a little discussion for ya.

https://vimeo.com/133522320

 

email me at gayle.cosby03@gmail.com if you want to start the discussion sooner!  My thoughts are my own…don’t represent any other entities… (do I really need to keep saying this??)

 

thanks

There was a letter of support posted on the Indy Star website today:

I’m honored and proud to be a commissioner for Indianapolis Public Schools. To me, that title carries the weight and responsibility of representing an entire community. I received over 12,000 votes in 2012. Those constituents combined with the roughly 28,000 students in IPS schools gives me ~40,000 reasons to continue advocating for a free, public, high quality education. Without a doubt, there are many changes that could improve IPS…and we have countless talented, dedicated staff that can help us realize those changes. Freedom to innovate at all levels is important and can be achieved from within the IPS district, it does not require contracting with outside organizations in order to run our schools. It is a fallacy to propose that innovation requires anything other than the will and desire to make it happen. I call on all parents and community members to continue advocating for positive reforms that originate from the local educators within our district – rather than to continue to spend money in contracting with outside organizations who may or may not understand our communities and what our children need. Every dollar going to an outside contract is a dollar not spent in a classroom. Thanks for the community support, especially to the author, Nanci Lacy, for her letter to the IndyStar.

 

“Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”  Just a thought…maybe, if there are lots of people who feel this way, and we all bring our candles together…we can see our way out of this mess! #weareamosbrown

My thoughts are my own.  email me at: gayle_cosby@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

STAND for something, fall for anything??

I came across this little gem in the Indy Star:

I suppose that I am the one cautious board member that is named in this letter.  So, allow me to address your concerns.  For the record, as a former IPS teacher, I have seen firsthand the “failure” that you speak of, and share some of your frustration. I am also currently an IPS parent. My child attends a school which will likely be rated a D or an F this year (if you care about that sort of thing, given the current state of standardized testing/ISTEP).  However, the devil of “innovation” is in the details. The dissent that I offer on the board in regard to innovation schools is because: I believe in equitable access to a free public education, and I do not believe that parceling out our public school system to become a loosely associated chain of charter organizations that have contracts with IPS is in the best interests of children.  Do you realize that when Phalen Academy was given a contract to run school 103, they got upwards of $3 million dollars to do so?  That money has to come from somewhere…and as we create more and more of these “innovation partnerships”, we are siphoning valuable and extremely limited resources from the very D and F schools that you speak of. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not only about the money – understand that these partnerships are with corporations (non-profit or otherwise) – so when you have a concern, you do not have an elected official (such as myself) to represent the people.  You will be taking your chances with a privately appointed board who is tasked with running the day to day operations of the school.  Good luck signing up to delegate there.

Reason #456 on my list is because: people will undoubtedly lose their jobs. As private organizations take over, they do have the right to hire their own teachers.  Frequently at lower pay.  There will be layoffs of teachers.  These organizations also have the right to contract out any services they desire – including janitorial (bye bye, IPS custodians), food services, bus drivers – you name it, it will no longer be a secure source of employment for our community members with stable pay and benefits.  It will be McBusDrivers Incorporated sending folks from out of town that don’t know how to navigate Indianapolis that will be driving your kids around for minimum wage and no health insurance.

Reason #992: Have you checked the performance of most Indianapolis charter schools lately?  They fare no better than IPS.

Don’t believe the hype – innovation is possible without privatizing our public school system.  Look at Project Restore, which is a model in place at schools 99, 88, and 93.  It is a homegrown IPS concept that has been very successful – and it doesn’t need a contract, millions being given to an outside organization/board of directors in order to make it happen.  Those schools are given the latitude needed to increase student achievement, and it works.  Let’s think critically about how to really improve our school system without fragmenting and reducing it to a binder full of  $$ contracts.  I applaud your advocacy for your children, but you need to ask some hard questions.  What is the real agenda of Stand for Children?  Why have they thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars into getting IPS board members elected, including myself?  Why aren’t they putting that money toward helping IPS develop more innovative homegrown programs like Project Restore, and making them available to other schools, MINUS the middlemen with their hands out?? Are you getting the whole story?

My thoughts are, obviously, my own.

Email me if you’d like: gayle_cosby@yahoo.com