'PORK' and the Fallacy of Community Schools in Indiana in 2010

A very long winded explanation of the obvious that brought nothing positive to light.

Overall our school board is doing a good job. I agree there is occasionally some pork spending. However the vast majority of that pork spending has been on buildings. WHERE OUR KIDS GO TO SCHOOL. Every resident of this county is welcome to attend school board meetings and have input to the decisions made for our school corporation. (even though there is a pretty thick layer of fertilizer to dig thru to voice an opinion it can be done) There are very few, maybe 6 or 8, community members at any school board meetings. If any parents, taxpayers, business people, or anyone else in this county are dissatisfied with what is going on with the schools they need to come out let the board know. All we ever hear from are the nay sayers who cast a bad light on every decision the school board makes.

Over the years the board has made some decisions that were just out and out dumb. They have also made many many decisions that were well thought out and well researched. Decisions that took us from the dank old buildings that all of us life time citizens in this county attended high school in to the nice buildings our kids are attending today. When I attend my sons sporting events at other schools I make it a point to take a walk inside the schools and, weather permitting, around the outside of the buildings. In my opinion our schools facilities are on par with the rest of the schools in the state.

Along with the buildings there have been decisions that affected the education our kids get in the class room. Two of my three kids have graduated and my youngest is a sophomore at Northview. Both of my older boys were well prepared for college the day they received their diploma. Their teachers and counselors made that possible. When I graduated from BHS that was not the case. After a stint in the Air Force I attended college and did ok. However I saw students that graduated from other school systems that were much more educationally prepared than myself. Our kids are receiving a much better education than was offered in the not so far past. Our school corporation board is doing as good a job of directing and appropriating funds as any in the state.

In response to jddriver's comment, I'll just "cut and paste" my response that I wrote to his comment elsewhere.

People must also realize that "without friction, no gem is polished" and that there is no debate without differing positions.

jddriver - have you ever thought that the only time that you see or hear something from me is when I see a possible problem or perhaps another option that needs to be considered because it may be even more beneficial?

I don't spend a lot of time researching the things that "ain't broke" or things that cannot be changed at this point in time. I don't have the lifespan to do that. I don't often lead the "cheering section" of what we are doing well, others are more adept and well practiced at doing that so I don't often add my spark to that fire. On occasion, such as the Pepsi Grant, I'll add my "Well Done!", but I am constantly trying, in my own small way, to improve education. This is what every concerned citizen involved is doing, from the school board members down to me, period.

I agree with roughly 98% of what I see happening in our school corporation, I'll just keep working on the rest.

As for decisions that had a negative impact but were approved by the majority, I'll point you at the 3/5 compromise written into the US Constitution and let you decide if the aftermath of a decision is worth the price of taking the easy road of not making a firm decision instead of compromising. I'd also like to point you at a fairy tale that contains a certain wisdom, that being, "just because the majority says that there is nothing is wrong does not contradict the truth." The fairy tale I have in mind is "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Every taxpayer in this county is a stakeholder in the schools. Do you pay taxes? People read this continuous regurgitation of drivel you seem to find on the internet, and have to wonder, why do you feel you are the expert of education. Jenny Moore is an educated woman that usually makes valid points. Sometimes her point of view is skewed for the perfect world. You on the other hand, seldom make a point about anything. You constantly bash every single thing that is done in the schools. Why do you have such a grudge for the school corporation? Is there anything good that they do? Have you looked at test scores, percentage of kids graduating, and the factors that the schools have to deal with? Simply, no. You sit and home doing nothing all day and night looking for things on the internet relating to schools. How about giving the readers of this small town paper a blog entry about the good things in the schools. My guess is there are so many success stories that you would run out of room. If this area is so bad, move to somewhere that needs it. Clay County is fine!!

Just for the sake of fairness to you Leo, I have a degree in Political Science from Indiana University and a Master's in Public Administration from Depauw. Since my kids have graduated and I have read about all of the "problems" that some people say that CCSC has. I too have started attending the School Board meetings to see if this is something that I would try to become elected to. My big problem is still finding the time to do it with my work schedule. As a matter of fact, I think that I may have sat next to you at the last board meeting.

I guess what is the concern is that the school corporaton receives $4000 I believe per student. Which is money generated from taxes, so wouldn't everyone that is paying taxes be the stakeholder. Do you pay taxes? Writing good things about the schools would be a good thing. How often in the paper do we read about children who pass tests, achieve high marks in a standardized tests, or various other successes that the teachers, counselors, administrators, or others help them reach. We only see the band and sports teams. I heard that we have an Academic Booster club now. Why not report about that? The continuous negativity that you present in your blogs and comments on every school board article cause two things in my opinion. First, people read this and think that there are major problems with the schools. They in turn question what is going on, to only find out after they investigate that you were not completely accurate in your writings. Second, do you not think that the administration of CCSC doesn't check everything you write. How much time do they have to waste chasing information on statistics that you have never referenced. All I have said from day one of my commenting on your entries, is that you need to reference, have all of your information accurate, and not be so negative. From the sounds of things, nobody in your family has graduated thanks to CCSC. I don't believe that to be the case, but read what you type, not what you think you say.

Thank you, Electriceye, for your response. Laughingly, I'm pretty sure that you did not sit beside me at the last board meeting, the one on Sept. 9, 2010. You may have been near me, but not next to me or in the same row because the only person in the same row is far too young to be you from what you have written.

I do pay taxes just as everyone else does, however, do you understand where the money comes from for the school corporation budget? You say that the school corporation receives about $4000 per student from taxes. You need to step back and re-examine that statement. The corporation receives most of it's revenue from taxation at various levels, but only $4000 per student from the direct levies on local property. Dividing the total corporation proposed budget for 2011 by the current ADM will yield a figure closer to the proposed expenditures and past years' expenditures divided by the reported ADM for that year will tell you what, on average, was spent.

I'll say it one more time, I do not research what I think is going well as I have no concern in fixing something that I'm reasonably certain "ain't broke"!

Every time there is good news to put into the paper, the administration gets the word out. The Brazil times has a reporter assigned to report on the schools, Kimberly Gleason, who writes up the articles. They report on the good test scores and other academic successes very well.

I know that Northview has an Academic Booster Club, I sit on the Academic Achievement Team / School Improvement committee that voted to get it started.

There are no "major" problems with our schools or education when you compare them locally, statewide, or even nationally. It is when you "think globally" that you get worried. However, there is little that a person can do to affect what happens at the state or national level. It is only by making changes at the local level that puts at the top of the statistics or shows a great improvement that would draw attention to the fact that improvement is possible.

Unknown to the public, when I write a blog or letter to the editor I also send it to several members of the community and, usually, the school board. I sometimes include Dr. Schroeder if I believe that he should or could use the information.

When I quote something, you will find a reference. I strive for accuracy....lol...I almost died when I saw my last "Letter to the Editor" when I saw that "$4,730,000" had been edited to read "$4,73 Million". I'm not perfect, but I do keep my mind open. When information is brought to my attention that refutes something I said, I will apologize to the public and change my stance. However, you will find many times that I am the exception, people will hold to their opinion even when you lay evidence that they are wrong right in front of them. Now, the article above is based mainly on observations that are available to anyone who has eyes and can read history. However, the argument that arose during the debate on closing and replacing two elementary schools with one larger one and led to the remonstrance is researched based. I requested a report of all elementary schools built from the ground up in Indiana from the last decade from the DLGF. Their records showed that 6 of the last 13 were built for over 600 students, one that looked to be a renovation vice new construction from the cost and student numbers, and that the school corporations building the rest had no need for a building of that size as they didn't have 600 elementary students. If you wish to contact me directly, I can share a couple of gigabytes of research with you. Suffice it to say that I became aware that all was not as good as it seems with the building project and our school corporation when I asked three questions about that project and got a sheaf of papers with the proposed physical changes. That did not answer my question as to how old our buildings were, how long we planned to use them, or why was over $4 million slated for a bus garage. So, I went to the meeting to ask the questions in person. That was when the statement was made that the CPF is not for new construction. When I found the truth, I took the statute to the next meeting, along with 4 other references and they were ignored. That is how I became involved. I still have the minutes of those two meetings as approved by the Board and printed by the corporation.

Laughingly, I am a 1973 graduate of the Clay Community Schools Corporation, from Clay City. Most of my family attended, and most of the next generation is either attending now, graduated within the past few years, or will start kindergarten in a few years. Going out to second cousins and down three generations of grandnieces and nephews, I have at least one relative in every school in the corporation.

Yes, I'm concerned. About both their education and their future problems with supporting this corporation with tax dollars. We just renovated seven buildings built between 1954 and 1965 to get about 40 more years of use out of them, I think my grand children and their generation is going to have to replace them all over a span of about 20 years if we do not start doing it soon on a planned rotation. Along with that, we must also keep up what we have and plan its replacement.

From the school financial reports on the DOE website for FY 2009, the receipts totaled $55,350,873.13, expenditures listed as $43,569,894.92.

Now, this was when the General Fund was still supported by levy and I'm not going to track down where everything went, but we received a mean average of $12,232.23 per our ADM of 4,525 students the bulk of which came from government sources. Government may print money, but it doesn't make money it only gets it by taxation. We spent $43, 569,894.92, or $9634.67 per ADM. Frankly, all of the money spent, excepting grants from non-government sources and interest paid by financial institutions, is tax money out of a taxpayer's pocket.

On my three questions, I remembered one wrong. The second one should have been "what is the current value of our buildings" instead of how long do we plan to use them. Assets, even buildings, have a service life. When I attended the School Tax Board hearing on the CCE renovation, Dr. Schroeder stated that he "hoped to get forty more years" out of that building. I learned a long time ago that failing to plan is a plan to fail. The school corporation of today has to deal with decisions made in the past, but it doesn't have to make the same errors.

The 13 school buildings in my last comment were the 13 elementary schools built from the ground up from, I believe, 1998-2008 in Indiana, not in one corporation.

Your statement, "The juxtaposition that happens in terms of schools operation can either be exaserbated by giving out information that is not completely accurate, or ameliorated by work with the entity in question, not using media outlets to run down a corporation" cuts both ways. When information is given to the board and the public by the corporation that is not accurate and complete, how can anything be improved by working with the corporation? When a person finds the error and brings it up for attention, they are labeled as "meddling" or "naysayers".

Tell me your thought on this again, "I don't understand why Mr. Misner and his staff have to work in an area that cannot support the fleet that CCSC operates" because it does support the fleet, just not in the best way. You and I, along with a lot of other people, agree that we can do better.

Your statement concerning job performance reminds me of a statement an employee made to me, that being, "I wish people who don't know my job would stop telling me how to do my job" and I'll tell you what popped into my head. If you don't want the public looking over your shoulder and examining how you do what you do, public service is not where you want to be. Everything that is done by an employee reflects on the corporation, both the good and the bad. However, one bad report can outweigh a thousand good ones. People are retained as long as they meet a minimum standard of performance and they are terminated for one incident.

You have picked one thing to interject that I agree with you and disagree with Jenny on. No one can make every student the "top of the line". Jenny once stated that we should concentrate on providing more AP classes to better prepare the upper tier students as they are going to end up supporting some of the lower tier students. My thought on that is that we need to challenge those who can benefit from AP classes; however, the fewer that they have to support the better so we need to bring as many "at-risk" students as possible up to meeting the minimum requirements for the diploma.

I do not believe that our positions are in total disagreement. I just think that we have talked more about points of contention than common ground.

"Will we be competitive with India and China? Not until the entire community goes "ALL IN" to working with the schools." On that, I don't think anyone concerned with education will disagree!

You must tell me how you think that additional facts about an issue would lead to more misunderstanding than just the facts that support one position does. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, or every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle" from The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but it can be applied to every decision because the more you know about the situation and the consequences the more apt you are to make the most beneficial decision. It is when less than all available facts are presented that poor decisions can be made even using good judgment and logic. I can sell the school corporation as many buses as they want for $1000. Sounds like a good deal, right? I would make a profit, too, as I would pay less than $5.00 each for the buses because they come in boxes marked "Matchbox" from WalMart. However, they are buses! There is a lot of information left out of that, but many times the information not considered at the time of decision becomes a crucial factor later.

I do care about what others are doing, not for their sake, but to improve Clay County. We do not live in isolation, we live among others who are working on the same problems and goals independently of us. If they are doing something and it is working, we should observe and emulate it. When they make an error, we should observe and attempt not to make the same one.

On on-line courses, I've taken a few for college credit. They were convenient for me as an adult, but how state law on school attendance would play on them in a high school situation is something to look at. I also do not know if a dropped on-line class would not be counted as a drop, in college it was. If you were sitting near enough to Kim Tucker at the last board meeting you may have heard her mention an Indiana high school that students attend physically four days of the week and on-line one. She is looking into how that operates and I will inquire. I have no doubt that many of our AP students could and would excel in most classes that do not require lab work or hands-on time, but even that can be worked into a program. One problem that I had with on-line courses in 2001-2003 was interaction with the professor as it was via e-mail. Hopefully, it is via live chat now. Now, if you are talking about AP classes via a computer program such as NovaNet, these are, in my opinion, great for the student that needs to refresh or for credit make-up after an interactive class with a teacher. However, without student-teacher interaction, you may as well hand the student a syllabus and a textbook and tell them to report for testing at some future time. I've taken correspondence courses back in the Dark Ages. Sometimes, it is the interaction that assists retention. To this day, I can remember things I learned in class not because the information burned itself into my brain, but because of how the instructor presented it.