Perhaps apathy has set in even here, Jenny.

devil's advocate:

There is no organization that is perfect as it is made up of human beings. If we don't strive to always improve on things, we will quickly fall as our surrounding societies will surpass us. Look at the Roman Empire. A great civilization but as soon as it thought it had arrived at its most utopian state and didn't not have to work at it any longer, it started to fall. Crumbling slowly at first, unnoticed by most until it was too late to stop it. It's the same with any organization whether it be a school or a federal government, industry, religious organization, or family. While I agree that our per student spending in this school corporation is WAY below the standards of the surrounding area [we should be ashamed of not investing in our next generation here in Clay County as we should], it is only naivete of history as well as current events that lulls some into a false sense of security denying our loss of status in the world economy already. Only by turning out individual minds who can better compete can we maintain our status in the world. Only by constantly striving to do a better job at all levels can this be achieved. Only by all of us each making the effort can we change what is happening already; grabbing a toehold as we slide down the economic slope to help each student in this class have a little better education than what the student in the last class received. If you are satisfied with the status quo, you are in denial of what is happening already on a national and international basis economically. We can only compete with our minds and we are not striving to train them as best we can if we are fine with the status quo. When we were in competition with the USSR, our government at all levels poured money into education, in hopes that some would be scientists in order to stay one step ahead of their scientists. Since the end of the cold war, that funding has slowly trickled away, slowly eroding our educational base and our ability to compete with the well educated minds of other countries. Now companies like Microsoft go to other countries with their funding for research as they cannot find enough minds to do so competitively here. So go ahead. Be all cheery eyed and up beat and think that our schools have reached their utopia. Then watch the infrastructure of our society start to crumble as during the depression. When people can't afford to feed their kids and the government runs out of funds for welfare and food stamps because they've borrowed so much from foreign countries because few people are making money here to pay enough taxes to support those who don't....Are you aware of how much we now owe China alone? Are you aware of how little the dollar is worth now in Europe? Are you aware of all the people India has been educating since the 70's in order that they could leave their poor country and make a living competitively in other parts of the world? If we don't get rid of the apathy at all levels of our society soon, we will be beyond the point of no return. Hopefully we aren't already there.

I actually agree with a lot of what you say. It's all interconnected but the other way around, the education problems are symptoms of society's larger issues. Only by changing what we are able to locally, can that spill over to help the larger picture. If we can turn out more "college material" students of the caliber to warrant more of the academic scholarship money so that they can progress higher with postgraduate degrees, if we can expect those students who barely squeak by to graduate to be the ones to excel at local colleges and go on to more technical careers and most importantly we need to expect ALL of the students to strive to achieve a technical degree at very least after high school education as the facts are plain. They will not be able to make a decent living on high school alone like those who graduated 40 years ago. The competition is too great out there. ..and what about those who aren't even getting through high school? I'm not talking about those with handicaps, but those who just aren't being pushed by either their parents or others in the community to be their best. Sure it's the parents' responsibility. It's "not my job" I can say, but if we don't do it, we will be feeding and clothing that person's family for generations and we will be housing them in our penal system as they will have such despair that some will turn to drugs and crime. Is that what we want to invest our tax money in? Instead we have to start in kindergarten...The state is attempting to get all into all day K ASAP. I've seen it work in this state in our private schools, and in other states in public schools. Our kids in Indiana are behind the pack as they start their education. Yes I agree it's political. I worked the phones as a volunteer during the primary last spring and was dismayed at how many people didn't even realize that they had the opportunity to vote, never mind know for whom they wanted to vote. How many who did vote thoroughly sought out the platform of the candidates? How many just voted the way their buddies voted because so and so knew so and so? From local politics to national politics we've so many times voted into power just that. Those who want the power. Even our house reps in DC are amazed and the power plays and party politics that come into play letting little be accomplished. How many cracker barrels have you attended? Anyone there supporting taxes for the benefit of our schools? Very few. Most are there to speak out only against being personally taxed; not worrying about the other people their taxes support in the community. My property taxes went down 30% this year. I am SHOCKED! With the rising prices of everything how do we expect our government to function with that kind of cut? How do we think that the extra 1% sales tax is going to make up for that? Especially when we've increased the regressive taxation of all who need to buy more, not those who have more...But those in power achieved their goal. For now. As time goes on and the money they've invested diminishes as our economy diminishes, it will be too late to correct it. Makes our teacher contract issue look quite minor but it's a reflection of what's going on all over the country. We need to implement change with our votes, our personal actions in daily life, and our openness to change as it's the only road to improvement. We can do it but only with effort from each of us. Yes volunteering at schools is one way. Blogging as we both have done here is another for it really doesn't matter if we disagree on the details so long as we both are confident that individuals being involved can effect change. I have been on SEVERAL committees for the school corporation. I've spoken up with ideas at board meetings, I've gone to administrators to demonstrate what other districts have done and how it has helped improve the learning experience for the student. We cannot accept the status quo whether we chose to be active through our schools, our local government, our place of worship, or via the voting process. We must change the way things are being done on all levels and we must realize that we must and can make that change happen. We might be able to only change one little thing for all our efforts, but if each of us take part, the result will be huge.

Jenny and I agree on one thing, it is time to Fix Our Education System within the Clay Community Schools Corporation. That there is a 10% variation between the graduation rates between Northview and Clay City is an indication that we have a problem, one that we can and should take time to fix.

I agree that part of the problem is lack of funding, but it is also, in part, due to using the funds available in ways that have little educational value or are not the most cost-effective option.

I agree that part of the problem is political. Politics in America is more of a popularity contest than it is about selecting the candidate who will actually do the job.

I have to agree that everything is connected. I received an e-mail from a school board member some months back asking me to drop my opposition to the building project and to try to find a solution to our shortfall within the General Fund. My response to that is that part of the problem is the number of buildings we are trying to operate and the level of service that we are attempting to provide with the level of funding available.

I have to agree that most of the public are either unconcerned about improving our education system within the corporation or unaware of the facts concerning education that the data, available with a few strokes of the keyboard, indicate. They are blissfully unaware that we have other options available and not open to the idea that we can actually improve.

Jenny and I are trying to point some things out. Does anyone attempt to find a solution before they see a problem?

I feel that we can and should improve, for the future's sake. Using Clay City's graduation rate as the base, Northview is running at 90%, using a graduation rate of 100% as our standard, Clay City is running at 85% and Clay City is at 75%. Both have room for improvement.

Mrs. Positive,

There a lot of things going well in CCS, there is a few going wrong. Many people expound on what is going well, a few of us point out the problen areas. If we didn't, would anyone know that we have problems? Do you know that 95% of our General Fund goes to pay employees' salary and benefits, leaving 5% for daily operating expenses? do you know that for the past several years, we could not pay te utility bills out of the General Fund and have money to run the daily operations? Do you know that we are going to lose 200,000 out of the CPF, Bus Replacement, and Transportation funds in the next few years? Do you know that a student cannot be expelled for chewing gum, even if it is documented 100 times proving that the student simply refuses to follow rule, yet a student can be expelled if a teacher believes that the student insulted the teacher, one person's word against another's, no witness needed?

How would you know, unless it happened to someone you know or someone told you? A member of the board commented about the "negative" publicity that the schools has recieved at the last board meeting. I plan to stand and tell the board the same thing as I say here, "no one will try to solve a problem unless they are aware of the problem!" Consider the fable of "The Emperor's New Clothes". All of the "yes" people told the emperor how well he was dressed and how great he looked while he was naked, a child told him that he had a problem. I see a lot of this happening in our school corporation.