Pence, Elsener Move to Take Power From Ritz

From ISTA...

Once again, the Indiana State Board of Education (SBE), consistent with its past experience, flouts rules, transparency, meaningful debate, and process in its latest power grab targeted against Glenda Ritz, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

At today's SBE meeting, member Dan Elsener presented an action item in the form of a resolution, without prior notification to Superintendent Ritz, who chairs the SBE, and without properly placing his resolution on the agenda for the committee's and, more importantly, the public's benefit and future input.

Elsener's resolution calls for him to chair a SBE-controlled committee involving more outside consultants and taxpayer spending to develop Indiana goals-something that the current Department of Education could and should accomplish by way of making recommendations to the SBE.

"Unfortunately, this kind of presumptuousness has become common practice with this and the prior administration's state board of education," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

At today's meeting, in the wake of Superintendent Ritz mentioning the need for compliance with Indiana's Open Door laws, a board member seconded Elsener's motion and the board passed the resolution without any substantive debate nor objection except for Ritz' clear abstention.

ISTA encourages its members to contact Gov. Mike Pence and ask him to remind the people he has appointed to the State Board of Education to respect process, transparency and Superintendent Ritz, the elected official who chairs the State Board.

But wait . . . there's more . . .

It appears as though there are no bounds to the State Board of Education and the Governor's march to power-over and over-power Indiana's duly-elected state superintendent of public instruction, Glenda Ritz.

Today's lengthy SBE meeting began and ended with twin power grabs targeted squarely at Ritz.

The first resolution offered by member Dan Elsener called for him to chair a new committee that is tasked with setting the goals for Indiana's education system-something that has always been within the purview of the State Superintendent's office-who also happens to be the lawful chairperson for the State Board of Education. The publicly-funded "Elsener Committee" will contract out with outside consultants, spending additional taxpayer dollars along the way to do the Department of Education's work. Elsener did not give Glenda Ritz, as chairperson, the courtesy of prior notice of his resolution and then called for action on the resolution even though it was not part of the meeting's agenda. Ritz suggested Open Door Law issues with this and then abstained from voting.

After over six hours of handling bona fide agenda items, the power grab continued with another resolution (again, with no prior notice to Ritz) indicating that the State Board of Education was hiring its own executive director, its own general counsel, and will use the Governor's new Special Assistant, charter school advocate Claire Fiddian-Green as its "technical advisor." Ritz was the sole opponent to this move.

"Both of these resolutions are thinly-disguised vehicles to wrest authority over public education policy-making from Indiana's duly-elected state superintendent and they not only disregard Glenda Ritz but the 1.3 million voters who supported her," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

"These attempts at discrediting, diminishing, and disrespecting Glenda Ritz and the agency she leads are partisan arrogance at the least and voter nullification at the worst," added Meredith.

ISTA Responds to Announcement of Governor Pence’s Creation of Education Agency

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 23, 2013
For more information, contact:
Kathleen Berry Graham
317 263 3321
kberry@ista-in.org

ISTA Responds to Announcement of Governor Pence’s

Creation of Education Agency

INDIANAPOLIS—In a surprise power grab today, Gov. Mike Pence released information that he has created a new agency called the Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI).

Pence claims that the Center will improve collaboration among Indiana’s public, private and non-profit education and workforce partners by aligning education and career and workforce training efforts. The governor’s release states that: “The agency will proactively engage and collaborate with a number of valuable partners in state government including the Department of Education, the Indiana Charter School Board, the Department of Workforce Development, the Commission for Higher Education and the Office of State-Based Initiatives. The Indiana Career Council, the Indiana Works Councils, the Education Roundtable and the State Board of Education, though functioning independently, will exist as part of the new agency.” Yet the Indiana Department of Education was not contacted by the governor about creation of the agency even though the agency appears to be absorbing various functions of the IDOE and thereby reducing the authority of newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz.

Following Pence’s announcement, a news release from the IDOE said: “Partnerships require communication. Unfortunately, Superintendent Ritz learned about the creation of this new agency—the impact on taxpayers yet unknown—through news reports, rather than from Gov. Pence. Superintendent Ritz has met with the governor on many occasions, including as recently as two days ago. However, neither he, nor his office, mentioned the creation of this new agency until this morning.”

“Like Superintendent Ritz, ISTA was dismayed by the announcement of this agency today,” said ISTA President Teresa Meredith. “We already have in place a Department of Education that works. ISTA is disappointed that the governor would choose to disregard the input of Superintendent Ritz and thousands of public school professionals.

“We are all in this together. Last November many of our members and the voters of the state voted for a change in direction for education and 1.3 million Hoosiers said that they trusted Glenda Ritz to run the Department of Education,” said Meredith. “And while teachers are always aware of the lessons they model for children, evidently some governors and their political appointees are not.”

For the full release from Gov. Pence’s office, go to:
http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=121572&information_id=187047&type=&rss=rss

For the full release from Superintendent Ritz, go to:
http://www.doe.in.gov/news/statement-indiana-department-education-response-governor-pence’s-announcement

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ISTA Settlement

August 13, 2013

You might have heard or read in the media today that a settlement has been reached with the Indiana Securities Commissioner and the Indiana school districts who participated in the I.S.T.A. Insurance Trust (Trust). When finalized, this settlement, the Naylor Case, resolves the last of the litigation over the failure of the Trust, which provided health and other insurance products to a small number of Indiana school districts.

Despite what you might read or see in the media, NO ISTA or NEA monies were used to fund this settlement . Since 2009 there has been an array of litigation over the failure of the Trust, including litigation brought by ISTA and NEA on behalf of the Trust, to recover from those individuals and entities whose conduct caused that failure. That litigation generated settlements from those individuals and entities. Only funds from those settlements were used to settle the Naylor case.

Please share this information with your members, and in particular share the fact that ISTA and NEA member dues money is not being used to pay this settlement.

ISTA is pleased that all of the pending litigation is being resolved on terms that are fair to Indiana's public school teachers who participated in the Trust.

Thanks for your continued support.

Greetings from Your Executive Committee

Summer is moving on, so here is the calendar for 2013-2014. Write these dates on your calendar for future reference.

Did you know that if you are an ISTA-Retired member you have access to:

• Insurance: Medicare supplement, life, auto, home, medical, dental, vision, long term care and liability insurance
• Attorney Referrals: two half-hour sessions per year
• Discounts: Lots of them. See NEAMB.com
• Opportunity to participate in political action to defend public schools
• BEST OF ALL, Five opportunities to have lunch with friends at chapter meetings

Dorthy will send e-mail reminders before each meeting so you can RSVP. To receive these reminders, indicate your interest by paying annual local dues of $10. You may pay them at the September meeting or you may send them to Dorthy Epple, Sec/Treas. See August mailing for more information.

Include your personal or updated email address. If you do not have e-mail, we will use US Mail. We do not share e-mail or postal addresses with other organizations.

2013-2014 Calendar

Thursday, September 12, 12:00 PM

Chops Steak and Seafood, 6421 W. Jefferson, Fort Wayne, IN

Speaker: Monica Miller, Local Author; Eric Pulley, Big Brothers Big Sisters NE IN

Thursday, October 10, 11:20 AM (NOTE Time Change)

Afternoon at Amish Acres, Napanee, IN

Lunch & Play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

RSVP by 9/30 to Sarah Borgman. See August mailing for details and cost.

Thursday, November 14, 12:00 PM

Salvatori's, 10337 Illinois Rd, Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Marjorie Stephens, NE IN BBB, "Senior Fraud & Too Good To Be True Schemes"

Thursday, January 9, 12:00 PM

At's Ice Cream, 211 E. Tillman Rd., Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Stacey Stumpf, Editorial Writer, J.G. "How to write and publish a letter to the editor"

Thursday, March 13, 10:30 AM (NOTE Time Change)

Sweetwater Sound, 5501 US 30 West, Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Tour of their facility followed by lunch in their restaurant. They only accept credit cards.

Thursday, May 8, 12:00 PM

Guest House Grill, 1313 W. Washington Center Rd., Fort Wayne, IN

Program: David Dew, Historian

Thanks for your support of ISTA-Retired Allen County.

Fran McIntosh, President

Jack Spindler, Vice President

Dorthy Epple, Secretary/Treasurer

Jim Clauser, Rep. to ISTA-R State Council and 1-L District Council

Vivian Johnson, Alt. Rep. to ISTA-R State Council
Angela Miller, Uniserv Director
Danielle Kraft, Uniserv Assistant

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Update on Major Education Stories

July 30, 2013

Your ISTA wants to keep you updated on two major stories related to Indiana public education:

BENNETT CHANGED SCHOOL GRADES

Emails obtained by the Associated Press were released showing directly and clearly that former Indiana schools chief Dr. Tony Bennett and his staff worked last year to change the letter grade of an Indianapolis charter school supported by a prominent donor to Bennett's political campaign and to others in his political party.

ISTA has made it clear that there is absolutely no excuse for the actions taken by Bennett and his staff. The emails in question show that the Christel House Academy charter school's letter grade was knowingly manipulated and retrofitted by the very people who have created and championed Indiana's new accountability systems for schools and educators - unfortunately, many of those officials continue to serve in important policy-making positions in state government.

"The revelation of these emails has created zero confidence among public school educators. This manipulation of data is wrong and needs to be addressed by state leaders to ensure that a system is put in place that is fair to all and above reproach," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

Bennett and his staff have created yet another situation for Superintendent Ritz and her staff to "clean up" - efforts that will take a great deal of taxpayer resources as well as time taken away from helping children.

ISTA will continue to monitor this story, assist Superintendent Ritz in any way we can and outreach to legislators from both parties to create and implement policies that will ensure that these kinds of abuses will not occur again.

LINK TO STORY: http://www.indystar.com/viewart/20130729/NEWS05/307290048/Report-Grade-changed-Republican-donor-Christel-DeHaan-s-charter-school

ISTEP+ REPORT

In response to the widespread problems associated with CTB McGraw Hill's administration of the spring ISTEP+, Glenda Ritz, Superintendent of Public Instruction, hired Dr. Richard Hill of the National Center for the Improvement of Education Assessment to review the results. He released that report yesterday.

The report showed that because of the efforts of teachers, administrators, students and parents, as well as the swift and decisive actions taken by Ritz, the average negative statewide impact on scores was not measurable. However, this does not mitigate the effect the interruptions had on students, parents and teachers throughout Indiana.

At this time, the exact impact of interruptions at the individual, classroom and teacher level cannot be ascertained.

"I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of Indiana students, parents, teachers, administrators and the employees of the Department of Education," said Superintendent Ritz. Because of their dedication and hard work, the impact of these interruptions was limited. However, let me be clear, the problems with the ISTEP+ contractor were absolutely unacceptable," Ritz said. "I have given local schools the flexibility they need to minimize the effect these tests have on various matters, such as teacher evaluation and compensation. I have also instructed CTB McGraw-Hill to conduct enhanced stress and load testing to ensure that their servers are fully prepared for next year's test and ensure that this never happens again."

ISTA applauds the actions taken by Ritz and her staff to deal with this situation as quickly and effectively as possible.

Educators continue to be concerned. Despite the fact that the report concluded there was no impact on scores, the impact on students, educators and families has been far reaching. Test interruptions caused stress for students who had to stop and start throughout the test before completion or restart the entire test.
ISTA will also monitor Indiana's high-stakes testing because these interruptions diminish confidence in our state's expensive system and raise concerns as we look ahead.

LINK TO STORY: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013307290014
LINK TO FULL REPORT: http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/news/hill-report.pdf

ISTA 2013 Legislative Recap -- School Performance Awards

ISTA is Working for You!

Legislative Recap

Click here for a full recap of the 2013 Legislative Session compiled by the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Includes information on vouchers, charter schools, school funding and finance, school safety, superintendent licensing and more.


School Performance Awards

From ISTA Keep the Promise: Highly Effective/Effective Teacher Bonus Grants

Deemed “School Performance Awards,” the budget bill appropriates $30 million in the 2nd year of the biennium to be distributed based upon graduation rates or 5% improvement in graduation rates, student passage rates on ISTEP and End of Course assessments or 5% growth in these assessment results.

Click HERE for a district-by-district printout of the awards.

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

with

Parents Across America

Present

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Join supporters of public education from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio for the second four state conference on organizing to stop the dismantling of public education.

The conference will provide an opportunity to share experiences and strategies with others from your state and from neighboring states. The conference will feature a panel discussion focused on examining the impact of the current reforms. Panelists include

• Vic Smith, Indiana educator and legislative watchdog
• Rob Glass, Superintendent of Bloomfield Hill Schools, Michigan
• Kathy Friend, Chief Financial Officer, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Indiana
• Stephanie Keiles, Teacher/Parent, Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Michigan
• Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, Parent/Advocate, Chairperson, Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana.

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Event Details

Where:

Plymouth Congregational Church
501 W Berry St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46807

When: Saturday 20 Jul 2013 from 9:45am to 4:00pm (US/Eastern)

Registration Due by: Thursday 18 Jul 2013 12:00pm (US/Eastern)

TO REGISTER AND RESERVE YOUR TICKET CLICK HERE.

Proposed Agenda

9-9:45 Registration, coffee
9:45-10:00 Welcome and Introduction
10:00-10:45 State Groups Meet - Determine common issues
and effective strategies
10:45-11:00 States Groups Share Most Important Issues
11:00-11:15 Break-coffee/restrooms
11:15-12:15 Panel and discussion
12:15-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Small groups focus on specific issues/strategies.
2-2:15 Break
2:15-3:15 Develop common strategies
3:15-4:00 Group action steps and closing

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Additional Information:

Parking: Across from the church on Berry Street; additional handicap parking on west side of church.

Lunch: On your own. Bring your own and continue discussion with other attendees at the church or visit one of the nearby fast food restaurants (Arby's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Rally's, Wendy's, Subway, Starbucks).

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