I love IPS, and I let it go. I let go of my concern, my advocacy, the constant staying on top of everything that is happening. I focused instead on our new baby, Atticus, mostly…trying to be a good mom while taking care of self (ok, kinda taking care of myself) is exhausting. I also continued plugging away at school. IPS still existed, doing IPS things, on the periphery of my life’s tailspin.
if it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it was not meant to be.”
IPS came back to me Saturday. I was attending the Black Business Bazaar, [great event, btw] and a politician friend greeted me with a hug. “How come you haven’t been writing? There’s a lot of people that read your stuff. We miss your voice.”
The answer to his question was right there in my arms. I nodded to my four month old son and we chuckled at the demands of parenting. However, our brief exchange had an impact on me. Sometimes all we need to get back on track is to simply be confronted with it.
So, about this election we have coming up. Alot of you are focused on the primary, but you know I am skipping all that to talk about the IPS board election that is held in November.
My simple question to you is this: do you think a free, democratically-controlled public education in Indianapolis should cease to exist?
If your answer is yes – then go ahead and vote for the incumbents: Mary Ann Sullivan (at-large), Kelly Kennedy Bentley (district 3, northside) and Dorene Hoops (district 5, west/northwest side).
(If you are saying to yourself – what the hell do you mean, “cease to exist”, then please read this article to get caught up!!)
IPS is on a destructive path – closing schools, changing school start times, over-utilizing inexperienced teachers, under-paying the teachers they do have, teachers leaving in droves, clustering choice school offerings in white/wealthy/gentrifying areas and being indifferent to segregation in the district.
Many of us, mostly experts in the field of education, just so happen to think that this self-imposed destruction is very intentional and is paving the way for the privatization of our public school system.
If you believe in the promise of public education, you better be finding yourself a true grassroots candidate to vote for. (As candidates emerge, I’ll write about them, maybe some will even grant me an interview. I’ll interview incumbents too, if they are interested).
Till then, friends – vote wisely in the May primary and hold your elected officials accountable!!
~Muah!!
gaylecosby 