Wait, Tony Bennett IS a lying liar who lies to help his buddies?

[long coat]

Where did I say anything about political affiliation or News outlets? Since you bring up GOP and FOX News, who is it that is looking at this issue through the prism of political affiliation?

Yes, lets do talk facts. The e-mails in question are NOT available to anyone that shows up and says, "Hey, I want to read some e-mails from a government official." They are considered part of the "public record" to the extent that anyone can submit a Freedom of Information Request. The request has to specify a limited time period of interest and what type documents are being requested. You can't just request all written or electronic information from official XYZ during the entire tenure in office to go on a fishing expedition. Credible journalists have gone on record indicating there had to be a leak from inside, otherwise a Freedom of Information Request would never have been submitted.

As cosermann pointed out, the grading system was clearly flawed. The DeHaan Charter School, and others, had not been in existence long enough to have a graduating class. No graduates - penalty assessed. Clearly a flaw in the system. Ms. DeHann, or representatives from any other school, should have the right to make sure the grading system is as fair and impartial as possible. If Mr. Bennett was intent on rewarding a political donor, the rating system would have been skewed heavily in favor of Charter Schools from the git-go, not be flawed to incorrectly penalize. Your accusation of special treatment fails the fact check.

Produce proof that any Charter School was given special consideration based on a fair and impartial apples to apples comparison.

But hey, go ahead an chase that shiny object (manufactured controversy for the easily distracted) and don't look too close at what the current leadership is up to.

You may want to check out today's Star, it has more on this. White wanted to drop some 7 & 8th grade scores from a high school and was told no. If you read the emails, they talk about fixing one this one school.

 

[Mad Macs]

Folks, I agree the system is broken for assessing education. Not going to argue that. HOWEVER, when the head of your state's education department REFUSES to accommodate public school issues on the grading system with some pretty valid complaints yet bends over backwards to help charter schools (who directly contributed $$$ to him no less) then we have a problem.

He could have fixed the system to help everybody, yet he didn't. He CHOSE to help his buddies, at the detriment of everybody else.

So screw him, I hope he ends up in prison.

 

[87iroc]

A cheer went up at my wife's school today when the death star(aka Bennett) fell on his sword over this.

He treated teachers like dirt and made hte profession in Indiana be looked down upon. My wife has been at school getting ready every day this week...today was the first day she had to be back. We're all(me, my daughter and my wife) going up Saturday to get her room ready. Spending QT family time getting things ready for the new year.

I figure its the only way I'll get to see my wife until Fall Break. Thank God its 2 weeks now....

I have determined on FB and other places. There's those that are married to educators...or are educators...and those with no clue what life is like for a educator...and that typically describes their opinion on the topic. Both sides have valid opinions...

 

[octalman]

Folks, I agree the system is broken for assessing education. Not going to argue that. HOWEVER, when the head of your state's education department REFUSES to accommodate public school issues on the grading system with some pretty valid complaints yet bends over backwards to help charter schools (who directly contributed $$$ to him no less) then we have a problem.

He could have fixed the system to help everybody, yet he didn't. He CHOSE to help his buddies, at the detriment of everybody else.

So screw him, I hope he ends up in prison.

Well, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the full investigation Mr. Bennett himself has requested. Sounds like a man confident in the integrity of his actions on a mission to expose an attempted character assassination. When you are unprepared to enter the arena of intellectual debate with facts and logic, launch personal attacks. Straight out of the Socialist Handbook. You are free to disagree with Mr. Bennett, but wishing he ends up in prison. Are you really that desperate and hate filled?

 

[octalman]

You may want to check out today's Star, it has more on this. White wanted to drop some 7 & 8th grade scores from a high school and was told no. If you read the emails, they talk about fixing one this one school.

Yes, the STAR is a pillar of accurate, unbiased reporting. If you believe that, I have some beachfront property in Arizona for sale - cheap. Of course Dr. White did such a good job fixing IPS. Initially had some hope he could make a difference, but alas, even he ran into the union buzz saw resisting accountability. Took his Golden Parachute and hit the road.

I have family member that are teachers. None of the State Superintendents have been all that popular with teachers truly trying to provide a good education. Whether it is a grading system or introduction of layer upon layer of bureaucrats or reams of worthless reports. Public education at all levels has been infiltrated by far too many concerned about their own welfare over and above the needs of students. I am sick to death of the constant call for more education funding, because if only we spend more everything will be fine. Of course, we must spend without limit because its for our precious children. How much of the massive funding increases over the last 50 years have actually done anything to help the children? Not much, because it is wasted on crap that has nothing to do with education. How many administrators that never set foot in a classroom are necessary? One for each child? Would that finally be enough?

When all the dust settles, at the very worst, it will turn out to be "politics as usual" practiced routinely by both political persuasions.

 

[long coat]

Did you read the emails?

If not take a look at them. Why did he help and email about just one school?

 

[kludge]

BZZZT, wrong answer. Tony sucked, he was a terrible human, and now he's been caught CHEATING at the very system he set up to help out a buddy.

My comment had nothing to do with Tony, and everything to do with accountability.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Did you read the emails?

If not take a look at them. Why did he help and email about just one school?

Because that one school was being dinged for having effectively 0% graduate for the simple fact they werent around long enough to have a graduating class?

It was a dick move to not absolve Arlington and the other school of poor 7/8 grade scores to balance their scores as a high school (typically 9-12), but I think thats an apples/oranges comparison to the charter school. I smell sour grapes.


Im glad there are motions to scrap the entire grading system. its messed up.

(for the record I dont like his progressive views, but think most of the issues are overblown)

 

[terrehautian]

So TB's wife has a job also, she works for Charter USA, the organization that took over three IPS schools.

RTV6 - Attention shifts to wife after Bennett's resignation - Local Story

Talk about conflict of interest.

 

[Mad Macs]

Well, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the full investigation Mr. Bennett himself has requested. Sounds like a man confident in the integrity of his actions on a mission to expose an attempted character assassination. When you are unprepared to enter the arena of intellectual debate with facts and logic, launch personal attacks. Straight out of the Socialist Handbook. You are free to disagree with Mr. Bennett, but wishing he ends up in prison. Are you really that desperate and hate filled?

I agree, I am curious about the investigation as well. If he did commit fraud then he should be punished. If this action followed consistent policy of his office then it's not cool that this happened to him.

If he committed fraud that helped his friends out who gave him money then he probably should end up in prison. He screwed with my $$$ (my wife is a teacher) and for that he deserves the hatred I feel for him.

 

[octalman]

I agree, I am curious about the investigation as well. If he did commit fraud then he should be punished. If this action followed consistent policy of his office then it's not cool that this happened to him.

If he committed fraud that helped his friends out who gave him money then he probably should end up in prison. He screwed with my $$$ (my wife is a teacher) and for that he deserves the hatred I feel for him.

Time to identify this for what it is. Glenda Ritz administration is setting the table to blame the previous administration. When her administration encounters any criticism, blame Mr. Bennett. During the next election cycle we will hear the failures of the current administration blamed on Mr. Bennett. He left such a mess it could not be cleaned up in just one term, please elect us again so we have a fair chance to fix the problems left by Mr. Bennett. They are not satisfied with the election victory presenting the opportunity to prove their approach and ideas are better. Instead, the efforts to discredit Mr. Bennett are proof the Glenda Ritz administration is not concerned about education or students.

Another element of the strategy is to sling mud in the direction of other people. Send a message that even someone of Ms. DeHann's philanthropic stature will be dragged through the mud for being part of a Charter School. Knowing Ms. DeHann, doubt if she will be intimidated. Sling mud in the direction of Mr. Bennett's wife.
Didn't take long for the Teachers Union to reveal their true colors and role in this drama. A Union Official stated this morning that grading of schools should be eliminated (meaning - no accountability). He went on to say Charter Schools were taking funding away from Public Schools (meaning - send more money to Public Schools to be wasted). Is the light bulb coming on?

There are plenty of good teachers toiling away in a system rigged to reward longevity, not excellence. Even in the face of that travesty, they are still committed to doing the best for students. Unfortunately, there are not enough of those teachers.

Even if the Mr. Bennett showed favoritism, that is hardly a crime and certainly not fraud.

 

[karl77]

The kids are the real (and unsung) victims in this whole debacle.

The grading system compared schools across the state (not a bad thing), but FAILED to compare the school against it's historical test results (are they improving, keeping the course, or dropping?).

 

[Blackhawk2001]

A cheer went up at my wife's school today when the death star(aka Bennett) fell on his sword over this.

He treated teachers like dirt and made hte profession in Indiana be looked down upon. My wife has been at school getting ready every day this week...today was the first day she had to be back. We're all(me, my daughter and my wife) going up Saturday to get her room ready. Spending QT family time getting things ready for the new year.

I figure its the only way I'll get to see my wife until Fall Break. Thank God its 2 weeks now....

I have determined on FB and other places. There's those that are married to educators...or are educators...and those with no clue what life is like for a educator...and that typically describes their opinion on the topic. Both sides have valid opinions...

I've got news for you and Mad Macs and others who apparently hate Tony Bennett and everything he tried to do. My disdain for Indiana Public Schools predated Bennett's tenure by about 25 years, from the time we moved up here from the Houston Public School System in Texas - and I wasn't terribly happy with THAT school system. Unionization has ruined public schools in the same way it ruined the steel and automobile industries in this country. And American public education in general has been in decline since the 1940s at least. My mother-in-law and my step-mother got better educations than my wife and I got in school - based on what ranges of subjects were taught and their applicability to their futures and to society in general - and I know for certain the education my wife and I got was superior to the education my son got and was much more free from the cowardly and patently unfair "zero tolerance" trash that's prevalent in public schools today. I make no complaints about individual teachers; some are good and some are bad. But the education industry, like all fields where competition is limited and there is little or no accountability for results, is a disaster and as long as they are successful in limiting alternatives to their crappy methods and curricula it will never get better.

It remains to be seen whether there is a fire behind all this smoke, but the timing of the release of these emails and the instant outcry to roll back the reforms Bennett tried to institute smacks of a concerted effort by the education mafia to regain control of the education system. I am willing to wait and see what an investigation by an independent agency - NOT the current State Superintendent's administration - finds out. So far, it's all agit-prop as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and by the way, new schools not starting out with a graduating class isn't new. 44 years ago when my wife and I attended two different high schools; her school was new and only had a freshman and sophomore class. A new public high school was started in my school district with just a freshman class. Had there been "standardized testing" in those days, they wouldn't have had "graduates" for two or three years. Of course, common sense generally reigned back in the Dark Ages of the 60's, unlike these oh, so enlightened modern times. . . .

 

[Mad Macs]

Even if the Mr. Bennett showed favoritism, that is hardly a crime and certainly not fraud.

Except when his wife now works for the company that he worked to "give" IPS schools to. Then it's fraud.

Matthew Tully: Tony Bennett's wife now works at for-profit corporation he picked to run IPS schools | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

When there's $$$ involved, that's fraud.

 

[octalman]

Except when his wife now works for the company that he worked to "give" IPS schools to. Then it's fraud.

Matthew Tully: Tony Bennett's wife now works at for-profit corporation he picked to run IPS schools | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

When there's $$$ involved, that's fraud.

School funding Dollars come from the General Assembly. If the General Assembly did not provide funds for alternative schools, they would not exist. Mr. Bennett had no control of funding provided to IPS or Charter Schools and certainly could not create a school out of thin air. Hating Mr. Bennett does not make him a criminal.

 

[Mad Macs]

School funding Dollars come from the General Assembly. If the General Assembly did not provide funds for alternative schools, they would not exist. Mr. Bennett had no control of funding provided to IPS or Charter Schools and certainly could not create a school out of thin air. Hating Mr. Bennett does not make him a criminal.

So what about the fact that there were other public schools that requested his office "change" the system in order to help them out and he refused? You seem to be missing that fact. He ONLY changed the system to help a school that had massive GOP donors, one that specifically gave HIS campaign money.

 

[octalman]

So what about the fact that there were other public schools that requested his office "change" the system in order to help them out and he refused? You seem to be missing that fact. He ONLY changed the system to help a school that had massive GOP donors, one that specifically gave HIS campaign money.

The point is very clear. Charter Schools and those that support accountability and actually educating children are to be discredited and destroyed. Further, failing public schools are the victims and deserve an unending flow of money with no accountability. The Teachers Union spokesman said so, on the record.

 

[Mad Macs]

The point is very clear. Charter Schools and those that support accountability and actually educating children are to be discredited and destroyed. Further, failing public schools are the victims and deserve an unending flow of money with no accountability. The Teachers Union spokesman said so, on the record.

That's just garbage and you know it. These public schools asked for assistance with modifications to the grading scale and Tony told them "NO.". So, now he got caught gaming the system for financial gains and he will end up being investigated and (hopefully) stuffed in a cell.

 

[octalman]

That's just garbage and you know it. These public schools asked for assistance with modifications to the grading scale and Tony told them "NO.". So, now he got caught gaming the system for financial gains and he will end up being investigated and (hopefully) stuffed in a cell.

Have you not been listening to Glenda Ritz and the Teachers Union Spokesman? Both are promoting scrapping ANY type of rating or grading system. Refer to my previous posts that this bogus controversy is to provide distraction from what the current administration is planning. No rating system - No grading system = No accountability. Keep on hating Mr. Bennett, GOP donors, and anyone that believes in accountability. While you are blinded by a vendetta, kids in lousy schools will continue to suffer at the hands of power hungry selfish adults.

 

[Mad Macs]

You and I aren't going to agree, so I'm done talking.