Hits keep coming for Bennett

[Mad Macs]

RTV6 - Valuable GOP list becomes public document - Local Story

Still don't think he's corrupt?

 

[Trooper]

I do not think he is corrupt. Tom LoBiancho is a democrat activist (worked on several presidential campaigns) who works out of Indianapolis. he reports for the AP on the statehouse. Sort of like what Abdul does.

The real corruption is within the offices of Glenda Ritz. Watch for a lot of democrats to get hit over this.

BTW, why do the teachers resist reform? Are their jobs more important than the education of the children? And if anything is wrong then they blame the parents. It is so bad that most kids in high school can not make change if they work at McDonalds.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I've got to wonder since this LoBiancho is apparently such an education supporter, why he hasn't covered the ISTA-loses-$27M-teachers-health-fund story. I especially wonder why he hasn't asked Glenda Ritz - who was an ISTA board member at the time of the loss - what she knew and when she knew about it.

 

[Trooper]

There is the website for Tom LoBianco

Tom LoBianco on politics, hot sauce, et al | Check here for updates on Indiana, Maryland and national politcs. I'll also throw in some thoughts on building a better habanero mash.

not sure about his Twitter or Facebook.

I can give you Abdul's websites as well.

Indiana Barrister | The Source for Indianapolis & Indiana Politics, News, Commentary and Discussion
http://www.indypolitics.org

 

[octalman]

RTV6 - Valuable GOP list becomes public document - Local Story

Still don't think he's corrupt?

Independent investigation showed no favoritism or wrongdoing with the school grading system. Waiting for an admission you were wrong on that count.

A donor list is big news? Let's compare with the donor list for Glenda Ritz and engage in totally meaningless mud slinging about both lists? Holy Cow - get a life.

So, you don't care about the $27M lost by ISTA, fraudulent financial statements provided to schools to cover up the loss, and financial malfeasance. Who was on the ISTA Board of Directors when all this was going on? Do you need a hint?

 

[87iroc]

The real corruption is within the offices of Glenda Ritz. Watch for a lot of democrats to get hit over this.

Link?

BTW, why do the teachers resist reform? Are their jobs more important than the education of the children? And if anything is wrong then they blame the parents..

Good teachers don't resist reform if that reform works. If a kid gets the vibe at home that education doesn't matter and if a kid misbehaves at school and the parent asks the teacher 'why are you calling me?' instead of trying to help 'fix' the problem...or if a kid goes home and the mom 'prositutes' her out in the evening....somehow you think the teacher isn't trying hard enough? My wife has had all of those things happen to her in her 10 yrs as a teacher(the prositution one was in her first couple years...and yes, its extreme, the others happen annually at least once). She has kids that are taught all they're going to be is a welfare recipient and thats ingrained in their head from birth. She also has lots of good kids, but then a few bad ones can disrupt the class so bad the others can't learn. Think that she should just kick them out? Due to the 'rules' at times they leave the kids in there and she just has to deal with them.

I see both sides of the debate as my wife's a teacher(I voted for Ritz btw and post harassing articles on her FB page on occasion...especially when the we hate Mitch trying to censore a liberal teacher posts came out)....but public ed has lots of problems that need work but the 'reforms' floated so far aren't doing anything except driving away good teachers and potential new 'good' teachers. In 10 yrs when the state is 'crying' about a lack of teachers....(ball state is already graduating many less teachers than they were 10 yrs ago)....people are going to start point fingers and wondering why. My wife didn't go into teaching for the money...but her raises even before the new 'performance based' merit increases was way less than inflation. A teacher somewhere around Indy got a 'highly effective' rating got a $50/yr increase in pay.(the school districts choose how to divy out the pay increase money btw)...what about that 50 bucks makes busting your ass worth it(but I suspect that won't stop a good teacher as they are just doing the 'right thing'...unfortunately they are lumped in with 20% of worthless teachers). My wife last year got a 'inefective rating' due to the way the system is set up. She had to choose kids to track. Of the 7 she chose to be her 'tracking' group, they moved 4 or 5 of them out of her class midyear(she couldn't redo her tracking) and the other 3 did OK...but due to the 4 dropping off, her 'averages' were way to low to get anything but. Screwed by the 'system'. I told her to learn to work the system...

Things need 'fixed' but when lawmakers think they know best and ignore experts in education, there's something wrong.

It is so bad that most kids in high school can not make change if they work at McDonalds

Link?

I know I'm wasting my time as many believe that all teachers are union loving Obama voting worthless hags that can't do anything...but then again...all gun owners are confederate flag waiving pickup driving rednecks...so whats fair is fair I guess.

 

[IndyGunworks]

87iroc, I agree with you much. My wife is entering her 4th year of teaching. they have been on a pay freeze since she was hired full time after we got married and she moved into the state. In ohio she was making roughly 1100 every two weeks. Now when we get her w-2 every year she clears LESS THAN 20,000 per year. Sure she gets the summer off, but she still busts her ass during the school year. And to do all this KNOWING, that a raise was not in the forseeable future, and if she did get a raise, it would be base completely off some test scores and not her actual performance is kind of a joke. Many kids have parents just plain don't give a crap and no matter how hard she tries, nothing can be done for that student during school, unless she wanted to ignore the other 31 kids in her class. You heard me right, she has 32 kids all to herself. The system is broke. last year they took spelling out of the curriculum. They don't teach phonics in the younger grades anymore (she teaches 3rd) so by the time she gets them there isn't even a foundation to work on. What is the result? Teach to the test because that's all the school corporation cares about. If they get good test scores all is well, who cares if they don't know how to spell, or don't know phonics, or haven't learned a lick of science in 4 years of school, just pass the test.

I am appalled at some of the things I hear. I cant even do multiplication the way she is teaching it to her 3rd graders, and I am a pretty smart fella. I think in the case of our schools all of this "change" has not been for the better.

Chalk all this up with 12,000 in student loans for her bachelors degree, and its rather frustrating. That 12k is whats left AFTER she put 100 percent of her full time job money into paying tuition while living with her parents and going to school.

 

[88GT]

87iroc, I agree with you much. My wife is entering her 4th year of teaching. they have been on a pay freeze since she was hired full time after we got married and she moved into the state. In ohio she was making roughly 1100 every two weeks. Now when we get her w-2 every year she clears LESS THAN 20,000 per year. Sure she gets the summer off, but she still busts her ass during the school year. And to do all this KNOWING, that a raise was not in the forseeable future, and if she did get a raise, it would be base completely off some test scores and not her actual performance is kind of a joke. Many kids have parents just plain don't give a crap and no matter how hard she tries, nothing can be done for that student during school, unless she wanted to ignore the other 31 kids in her class. You heard me right, she has 32 kids all to herself. The system is broke. last year they took spelling out of the curriculum. They don't teach phonics in the younger grades anymore (she teaches 3rd) so by the time she gets them there isn't even a foundation to work on. What is the result? Teach to the test because that's all the school corporation cares about. If they get good test scores all is well, who cares if they don't know how to spell, or don't know phonics, or haven't learned a lick of science in 4 years of school, just pass the test.

I am appalled at some of the things I hear. I cant even do multiplication the way she is teaching it to her 3rd graders, and I am a pretty smart fella. I think in the case of our schools all of this "change" has not been for the better.

Chalk all this up with 12,000 in student loans for her bachelors degree, and its rather frustrating. That 12k is whats left AFTER she put 100 percent of her full time job money into paying tuition while living with her parents and going to school.

On the contrary, the system is operating exactly as it is meant to operate.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I don't believe the people implementing the changes TRULY wanted the results they have obtained. Sure they have different ideals than most of us on this board, but I really think that they were just to stupid for their own good. Sometimes change doesn't mean improve. Even now, things are starting to slowly go back to the way they were say 10-15 years ago. I still have hope for the system.

 

[88GT]

I don't believe the people implementing the changes TRULY wanted the results they have obtained. Sure they have different ideals than most of us on this board, but I really think that they were just to stupid for their own good. Sometimes change doesn't mean improve. Even now, things are starting to slowly go back to the way they were say 10-15 years ago. I still have hope for the system.

The first mistake is thinking that the education results are the barometer of success or failure. The second is that anything involving government married to unions is going to have any focus other than the self-preservation of government [control] and union money.

Take a good long look at the history of education in this country. They stopped educating in any meaningful manner more than 50 years ago. Not coincidentally, right about the time they abandoned the classical model of education and decided that 2500 years of provenance didn't mean a damn thing.

 

[88GT]

But to stay on topic: the only "crime" so far is the publication of personal date not authorized by the parties involved. The existence of the lists is hardly evidence of corruption. And the belief that these lists are somehow unique to Bennett or the Republicans smacks of naivete. Donor lists are how politics get done in this country. Where do you think the $$ comes from?

 

[John Galt]

The system is broke. last year they took spelling out of the curriculum. They don't teach phonics in the younger grades anymore (she teaches 3rd) so by the time she gets them there isn't even a foundation to work on. What is the result? Teach to the test because that's all the school corporation cares about. If they get good test scores all is well, who cares if they don't know how to spell, or don't know phonics, or haven't learned a lick of science in 4 years of school, just pass the test.

I am appalled at some of the things I hear. I cant even do multiplication the way she is teaching it to her 3rd graders, and I am a pretty smart fella. I think in the case of our schools all of this "change" has not been for the better.

Is she teaching Common Core?

 

[IndyGunworks]

I think so... At least that term sounds familiar.

 

[88GT]

Is she teaching Common Core?

Not likely. Indiana has not officially adopted the CCSS yet. Well, to be more accurate, it has put implementation of the standards on hold while they are reviewed. However, some districts/schools may have already started the transition prior to the new legislation, and therefore may be operating off of CC textbooks. But CC is not the active standard in Indiana as of now.
Indiana halts Common Core implementation

(One point of clarification: there was no consortia of states who wrote the standards. The authors were largely private organizations with zero accountability to the citizens of a state. This is a common "error" in articles about CC.)

 

[IndyGunworks]

Just asked her, she IS teaching Common core

 

[88GT]

Just asked her, she IS teaching Common core

I feel sorry for her students.

 

[CarmelHP]

But to stay on topic: the only "crime" so far is the publication of personal date not authorized by the parties involved. The existence of the lists is hardly evidence of corruption. And the belief that these lists are somehow unique to Bennett or the Republicans smacks of naivete. Donor lists are how politics get done in this country. Where do you think the $$ comes from?

The allegation is that Bennett was using state resources and state paid personnel on his campaign and that's why the lists were on state machines. Knowing some of the people Bennett surrounded himself with, I think that it is probably true he was illegally using state resources.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

The allegation is that Bennett was using state resources and state paid personnel on his campaign and that's why the lists were on state machines. Knowing some of the people Bennett surrounded himself with, I think that it is probably true he was illegally using state resources.

Interesting. I wonder if there will be the same zeal to examine the Ritz' administration's records in a year or so. Using government resources for political purposes is a Democrat standard, it seems.

 

[Mad Macs]

Interesting. I wonder if there will be the same zeal to examine the Ritz' administration's records in a year or so. Using government resources for political purposes is a Democrat standard, it seems.

Stay on topic, let's not wander around with "let's see if anybody else is doing this too." Tony got caught "possibly" using state resources so we will give him the benefit of the doubt until a judgement passes.

 

[Mad Macs]

Independent investigation showed no favoritism or wrongdoing with the school grading system. Waiting for an admission you were wrong on that count.

A donor list is big news? Let's compare with the donor list for Glenda Ritz and engage in totally meaningless mud slinging about both lists? Holy Cow - get a life.

So, you don't care about the $27M lost by ISTA, fraudulent financial statements provided to schools to cover up the loss, and financial malfeasance. Who was on the ISTA Board of Directors when all this was going on? Do you need a hint?

Hey, I admitted that he did no wrong with that one case, HOWEVER, the study acknowledged a lot of "mistakes" with other schools' grading that needed to be corrected. So, we have a gray area where something happened however it could either have been incompetence, or he really wanted to drive home his point.