Mark Tuesday, May 4, on your calendar with the note "VOTE VOTE VOTE"
As of right now, two challengers have stepped forward and filed to be candidates for Decatur School Board from District 3. Judy Collins and Dale Henson, incumbents, filed for re-election yesterday.
Noon is the deadline, and sometime tonight we should know if anyone else is running in Decatur.
The two challengers are Natalie Coffey and Bobby Hire, both of Camby.
For my part, I am putting some yellow ribbon on my shopping list. I intend to 'tie a yellow ribbon' around the trees in my front yard as a sign of solidarity with the challengers. The yellow ribbon, as you know, symbolizes an awaited homecoming. In this case, bringing Decatur schools back to the Decatur public. It irks me no end that only 1 administrator out of 28 respects our community enough to live here and educate their children here. It irks me further that it matters not to our incumbents.
Many thanks to Natalie Coffey and Bobby Hire for stepping forward for our School District and our community.
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Mark Small posted a blog post
6 hours ago
20 comments:
Great news!
It will be tough to defeat the incumbents as they are well known in the community. I wish Natalie and Bobby good luck. They will need a vigorous grassroots campaign to get their name out.
I'll hold my kudos until I know more about these two. Additionally, I applaud Collins and Henson for not running from the difficulties ahead. I hope the contested race will yield a worthy debate. Perhaps the Decatur Township Civic Council, Decatur Democratic Club or Republican Club would be interested in hosting such an event.
Thank You Natalie and Bobby for stepping forward and helping this township!
I would hold off applauding Collins and Henson for anything! They are on the current board which has lead us to where we are today.
Did Wiseman file for re-election?
Thank you Natalie and Bobby. We all need to keep posting to this blog so that various pieces of information can be digested. Collins and Henson need to be held accountable for the many areas of irresponsible spending and it looks like the only way to hold them accountable is by electing responsible board members who then will hold the superintendent responsible for his decisions. We have too much verifiable information to be accused of spreading rumors. I do not applaud Collins and Henson. They have been "caught". Everybody makes mistakes but they do not admit error nor do they apologize for their erring ways. We must press forward for change - VOTE for new board members and keep Natalie and Bobby informed.
Cathy Wiseman has filed for re-election. Nobody else from District 1 filed, so she, unfortunately, will win if she gets just one vote. She was the Board member with the rude comment back to the Middle School teacher at the last meeting.
They will be looking for approval of their bad board habits from the community.
I will post a link for registering to vote. You do not have to declare a party affiliation to register, or to vote for school board. This will be a battle to get out the voters who side with the candidate groups.
"...of the people, by the people, for the people..."
I can not beleive that no persons from District 1 stepped up. That unfortunately shows why there schools are doing so poorly - no community support!
I would also like to know more about the challengers before getting excited. Decatur Twp doesn't need to go out of the frying pan into the fire. If someone knows them, please encourage them to quickly start a website/blog, post on this blog, submit a letter to the editor or contact reporters from the Mooresville and Indy papers. I believe Hillenburg and Gammill, respectively, are the reporters that focus most on education.
Perhaps we could all generate some probing interview questions...
anon 12:06 - I guess you missed the memo - we're already in the fire. Just as fer-instance...
This board has acted and continues to act in violation of several state laws.
Then lets mention abdicating their responsibility to make the final decision on any cuts by telling Stinson to make the decisions.
Then lets mention their support for closing Lynwood, and letting class size rise.
How about a school district where the employees are afraid to speak up for fear of being let go?
And lets not forget to mention how they rubber stamped the district's way into a nearly $10 million hole.
If these two candidates were to ONLY vow to act according to state law - they'd have my vote.
Yes, I'm sure no one has ever followed the law but not acted in the best interest of students, Pat.
Anon 4:04. I don't know what you mean??? What we have learned on this blog is that this board and superintendent have not followed the law. Are their other decisions in the best interests of students. The student achievement information from the Department of Education could lead one to conclude that many curricular decisions were not in the best interests of students. Decisions to spend taxpayer dollars on expensive administrative vehicles, gasoline for personal use, and excessive salaries mean there are less dollars for the direct education of students. This has been shameful.
Can we do a write in vote for someone is District 1?????????
What I am saying is that it is possible to follow the letter of the law and still not act in the best interest of student learning. People sometimes run for school board because of a personal or political agenda. It has happened before.
anon 7:48 - I see your point now. Thanks for sticking in there. Having spoken with the two candidates, and having known one of them for ovcr (gasp) 20 years, I don't see any personal agenda. But, I can see where others have the right and duty to come to look that over and draw their own conclusions.
I bet the Teachers Union has been clawing over themselves to get to new candidates. Make no mistake about it the Teachers Union is as part of the money problem as the ones on the board are. Does anyone really think Decatur teachers are worth fourth highest paid in the state. To be fair I know that Decatur parents are not the fourth highest paid in the state. Public servant wages have been spiralling out of control for a long time. Teachers wages should take huge hit. If they don't like it find let them find a job some place else..(good luck to them with that)
If that were to happen we could bring in newer teachers (all equally State Certified by the way) at a lower salary thereby reducing costs and not sacrificing the teachers per student ratio in the classroom.
I believe we would get the pick of the litter as far as hiring would go...who else would be hiring teachers in this atomosphere? BY letting the Union decide what cuts should be made is a patheic attempt at leadership.Disband the Union and tell them "this is the way it is". Gov. Mitch Daniels did that his first day in office. It's what needed now!!!
Your blog is doing much needed community service.
Thanks Dave. I think all of the folks leaving comments is the biggest assist to the community.
Yeah, the teachers are just glorified babysitters. Let's just pay them like babysitters. When I was a kid I got $2 an hour per kid. And we'll just pay them for the hours they work - not all those breaks. So 2 dollars an hour times say, 25 kids times 5 days times 36 weeks times 9 hours (we'll give 'em an hour to grade papers and plan lessons)... let's see...oh. Nevermind.
February 21.....
Your right Mitch Daniels did starts some new program his first day in office .....AND now look a SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT form Ch 13 identigy his mis-deed.
Now why did we put that guy in office. Seems to me that even the ISTA is asking the so-called Gov for information.
Is he trying to privatize our schools like he's privatizing our roads.
JUST MAKES HIM LOOK GOOD ON PAPER...but he really smells the place up.
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