Beginning at 11 am, the Board will meet as a 'Board of Finance' - no topic or agenda item is mentioned in the notice. This continues the district's policy of letting the public know as little as possible about what the Superintendent and Board are up to.
Immediately following that meeting, the Board will take public testimony on the probationary status of the Gold Academy. The notice states:
In accordance with I.C.20-31-9-2 “The school corporation will hold a public hearing in which public testimony is received concerning the lack of improvement.”And, finally, the Board will go into executive session to supposedly discuss
In accordance with I.C.5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(9) “To discuss a job performance evaluation of an individual employee.”
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50 comments:
Probably gonna give Stinson some more money. Poor guy isn't being paid enough so maybe they'll give him a new contract.
$tinson always needs more money. He's got some big lawyer bills and court fines to pay off over in Hendricks County. He needs to pass that hit on to the Decatur taxpayers. You can't expect him to take responsibility for his actions.
Why is the Gold Academy on "probation"? Has $tinson said what Mitch Daniels did that caused that to happen?
Looks like Decatur was the only township that did not return info to Channel 8 investigation ofsc superintendent in Wayne Township????
Yeah. Looks like the superintendent at Wayne Twp Schools has done a Stinson Scam on their school board. Channel 6 said the Wayne superintendent laid off 127 employees and passed on buying new school books, then had the ******* gall to scam himself a million dollar retirement package off the school children's backs. Wonder if The Wayne supt is drinking buddies with DUI Don. Next thing you know Stinson will be charging other administrators consulting fees on how to rob children for fun and profit.
are these public meetings?
lynwood was on probation and the only thing they did was move lynwoods students and teachers to gold academy with a small mix of valley mills students so acourse gold is on probation
steven decatur's sign said we made it off probation what happened there,samething just moved students around.so like a shell game lets move the students around from school to school to make them look better instead of fixing the problem
So, we just continue to move them from school to school, close the vacated buildings and give $tinson and $usan Adams another raise with the money we saved?
At least Wayne Township superintendent is returning part of the money. DUI Don just keeps taking the money.
My understanding is that Lynwood actually made AYP last year (even though things were still switched around).
Stephen Decatur successfully made AYP last year, removing them from probation/school choice. This could not be enforced until it was made public. At the beginning of the school year letters were sent home informing parents of this situation. Therefore, families within SD boundaries will not be offered school choice next year.
There are often good questions raised on here. I agree that it would serve our school district well if these questions were addressed openly.
Other times there are comments made from pure ignorance. This does not help matters and only causes the conversation to deteriorate.
Please consider being an informed and involved community member. Ask your teachers and principals what you can do to help. Have your fact straight. Advocate for what you believe in. And do this with respect and humility.
anon 10:53 - all but the last one are public meetings.
Anon 1:27 wrote:
"There are often good questions raised on here. I agree that it would serve our school district well if these questions were addressed openly.
Other times there are comments made from pure ignorance. This does not help matters and only causes the conversation to deteriorate."
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I guess you've never been to any of the school board meetings when an attempt to address these issues "openly" was made only to to be given 5 minutes for "input", then told to sit down and shut up, and no answers given. You might at least attend a few board meetings yourself before preaching to others about ignorance. Unless, of course, you're another rider on DWI Don's little gravy train at the admin office here to pimp off how wonderful he is. One other thing, skippy, I have no intention of showing "humility" when my kids are being robbed by Stinson and his pals. Who are you trying to kid???
I am going to comment on Stephen Decatur making AYP. We raised our test scores for 2 years in a row, before the shuffle of students. So the same group of children (from the same neighborhoods) who didn't make the AYP made it 2 years in a row. They actually made it 3 times but the state reneged on the Spring scores because other townships such as Center Grove and Carmel did not fair well.
We worked very hard with our children and they earned it fair and square. Lynwood did make AYP last year but the decision had already been made to move students around. The students and staff at Lynwood last year deserve congratulations.
I am glad that the super at Wayne is getting the attention. It is horrible that these leaders of children's schools think they deserve to be paid such outrageous fees. Our children can not go on field trips due to lack of funds but these men get hundreds of thousands of dollars a year!
This, is education?
This, is a shake-down of tax payers.
Why is a superintendent NOT worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Most people gawk at such a salary, but he runs a corporation. He is not simply a teacher, he is a high level administrator.
Please put together a cogent argument as to why you believe he is overpaid. You can't simply state as such, you need an argument.
Hi, Robin! :)
Take a moment to read through the archives here. They're explicit and linked to documents with the State of Indiana. You'll find the info there to be quite "cogent".
Anon 12:05 wrote:
"Why is a superintendent NOT worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Most people gawk at such a salary, but he runs a corporation."
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You're confusing a CEO in the private sector with a school superintendent of a gov't-run public school system. In the for-profit private sector CEO's must produce, or they're replaced. By your own standards $tinson should have been gone long ago. You seem to think that a CEO's job is to comb through the organization and cut jobs and programs, and then convert any cash saved into a raise for himself and his cronies. Did you notice how much Decatur spends on administraion versus other area school? There is no parallel between Lee Iacocca bringing Chrysler back from the brink and a failing, boozing school superintendent robbing children to inflate his already bloated retirement package. As noted above, go back about a year in this blog's archives and you'll find all the cogent you could hope for.
+1. stinson and his million dollar buddy at wayne twp schools both need to be horse whipped out of the county.
I just caught the inappropriate comment and removed it. I had to delete the comment rightly criticizing it, as well, since it used extensive quotes from the original.
Any allegation that serious will need serious documentation for me not to pull it.
I appreciate you removing that comment! I am reposting my comment so that the person that had written the original may see my remarks:
To the person that made the earlier, inappropriate comment:
--Wow! You are one low-life! You must be one of those angry parents who believes their child is the best and deserves more playing time. It is fine for you to believe that, but to go as far as bringing up an incident, a very shameful and personal incident, and say it was a "cry of wolf." There is something mentally wrong with you. For you to even mention that incident...I would never, ever even dream of bringing up something like that to even my worst enemy...but that is how many parents in Decatur would like to handle things. Instead of pushing their child and encouraging their child to work harder, they instead will make accusations towards someone to ruin their career. Why is everyone so selfish? Why are there so many "I's?" Can anyone not take accountability?
I will repeat myself again by saying you are a low-life. You have nothing better to do than to throw out someone's personal life, and then on top make such an accusation as having "relationships" with students. The things people will do....It makes me absolutely sick!
o my gosh Stinson finally did something right and didnt wait till 5 in the morning like he always does to announce a delay or no school. Thats great for once parents of younger children are not put in a situation at the last minute. wow
Does anyone have any acurate information regarding the meetings this morning? It's getting difficult to find credible info between all the bashing.
You're not gonna get any detailed info from the Decatur school board, either by asking them or reading the minutes of their meetings. You'll have to wait for the state board of accounts audits every 2 years to find out what they've really done.
On a bright note, the TV news announced today that the former superintendent at Wayne Twp Schools is resigning from his lucrative, $1,300 a day 'superintendent emeritus' scam. The Wayne school board has apparently requested he do so. Seems the folks up in Wayne Twp still have a conscience when it comes to stealing from school children. I bet Don Stinson thinks they're all a bunch of wusses.
anon 5:28
i read the comment left by "low life" and thought it was a question, not a statement. i thought it was politely asked for as sensitive the situation. i think what is low was the statement regarding their child. there is much talk in the township of the incident. school and social events. i can't even go into starbucks without hearing about it. someone somewhere has made an allegation as painful or nasty as true or untrue it maybe, it should be looked into.
when the students were moved from lynwood to the gold academy, how many of the lynwood teachers went to the gold academy?
What happened to Stinson talking to the students of Decatur about his DUI? Someone said he spoke with a group of 8-10 students at the high school. Does anyone have an information? Also, anyone know why T. Thompson suddenly "retired"
Undaunted:
To say the "question" was politely asked...I feel is completely wrong. Whoever made the statement basically was trying to imply that this person lied about what had happened. They called it a "cry of wolf" and I don't see how anyone would even think bringing that incident up is even appropriate on this blog! That is something that is very personal and doesn't need to be discussed out in public and especially in the distasteful way they were trying. If they have some sort of concern fine, but there is no reason to throw out an incident that has nothing to do with this person's teaching/coaching!
You people make me sick. There hasn't been anything done wrong by anyone in the Decatur Schools. The only people crying "wolf" are you people that are SO jelous of Dr. Stinson and our board that you are green. Making up stuff to hurt them shows what you're made of. STOP it....it's borderline illegal.
that is the rumor. i have no interest in helping it float so i'm leaving it at that. i come here for objective and productive conversations regarding out township not people bashing. i would like to know more about the gold academy.
Why do you ask if the majority of Lynwood teachers went to the Gold? Are you implying that they are to blame for something or incompetent?
I can not answer how many from any of the schools went to Gold. I know that many of the teachers from Valley wanted to work with Nan Wiseman so they requested Gold. Not everyone was granted their first choice.
Nan is a great administrator. She works hard and gets results. It has only been a semester, give her and her staff time. Gold was not an elementary. They are dealing with a building not designed for younger children. A substitute told me that the lockers were a nightmare. At first the locks were removed but then theft was a problem. They put the locks back on and first graders are having a difficult time opening lockers with the combination. Students leave supplies and books in their lockers and have to go out into the hall to get them. This leads to interruptions of instructional time and possible discipline problems.
If anyone can be successful at Gold it is Nan. I hope all is well with her. I wish her and her staff the best.
Maybe they should have thought about that before putting young kids in a building that was build for slightly bigger kids! As far as the rest of the crap going on here, I hate that people just guess whats going on around here and then put it in writing like it is the absolute truth. If you want to know the truth check with the authorities. Even though the informations put on here was distastful and inappropriate, they wern't wrong I'm sorry to say.
well Dr. Thompson was taught well on how to get the money he wanted. He used to be head of personnel for Decatur township. I know this for a fact because he hired me. I also would like to know why when I lost my job last year I went to PERF to find out how much I had in my retirement only to find out that all the time I worked there the school paid NOTHING into my retirement. I was told they didnt have to and that if I died before I was 65 my family did not get any of the money the school should have paid in. Now how can this be right? And how can they pay me the money I should have been making in investments with my retirement fund?
Anon 3:55 wrote:
"You people make me sick. There hasn't been anything done wrong by anyone in the Decatur Schools. Making up stuff to hurt them shows what you're made of. STOP it....it's borderline illegal."
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I haven't noticed that anything was made up. Are you saying that $tinson didn't get locked up for driving drunk? Are you saying that $tinson and his cake-eater pals on the school board have not repeatedly violated state law and robbed money from school children to inflate the retirement packages and cash perks given to $tinson and a parade of his fat-cat administrator cronies in central office? Funny that you'd try to threaten us with "borderline illegal". Is that the next step above "this blog is being monitored"? (LOL)
May be time for Decatur and Wayne Townsips to consolidate their leadership. The boards seem to think alike???? There are some honest superintendents who are shocked by this. Will the legislature do something about this since the common taxpayer cannot? The corruption must end.
i'm sorry to laugh. but if students are failing, teachers do have something to do with it. as well as the student, the parent and the administration. the reason i was asking was because nan is absolutely great! very kind, has excellent ideas, i very much support her! we share a pto between the 2 and until reading this blog, i was unaware that the gold was on probation. i do think that after all these years, not only decatur but all school districts should have developed a system of tracking the productiveness of a teacher. i'm not pointing fingers, i personally have not encountered anything other then exceptional teachers in regards to my children's education here in decatur. but to deny that there are bad teachers in the world of education, that's just unrealistic.
I've got to agree, there certainly have to be poor teachers out there. But I can honestly say that I've yet to meet one at Decatur schools, at least in the elementaries and middle school. My oldest starts high school next year, so we'll see about them. The crippling breakdown here is in administration from the boozing bunglers on the school board and central office. DUI Don is running a diamond sparkled casino for administrators where EVERYONE hits the jackpot. Not a school system.
Agree - the breakdown is in administration. Why are they still paying Pat Jones, Dave Rather, and Candy Baer? How many $$ are they paid? Is there a final contract for Stinson?
According to the Indianapolis Star, Decatur is being sued. Did DuhDon ever form an anti-harassment task force. Anyone know who the members are? Maybe Channel 6 will remind him - probably forgot with all on his mind.
Anon 4:01. The Anti-harrasment task force is another hand picked hand staffed team loaded up by our illustrioius school board. As with everything they've done, they have NOT opened the selection up to the community. They have always hand picked and cherry picked people that will say yes to what they want. Serious; do you know of ANYONE that has been asked to be on any of these commitees? It's always suck ups like debbie bartlet or someone that has something to gain. Or people that will say yes to what the board PROPOSES. "Oh yes what a great idea". Get the picture? If someone can prove this wrong I'll be happy to admit I'm wrong. But history has proven with these people that it's always a hand picked group of yes type suckups.
Did anyone deny that there are no "bad" teachers? I certainly did not. I just asked if you were blaming the teachers at Lynwood. Walk in a teacher's shoes. Spend your sleepless nights worrying that your students are warm because the window in their trailer is broken or their alcoholic parents leave them alone all night or worse with "uncles."
Most middle class people and polititians have no idea the difficulities some children in low income areas face. Learning is the least of their worries. Being hungry for food, love, emotional security, a safe environment and protection from physical, emotional and sexual abuse are all factors some of our children face daily.
In spite of these obstacles the students are expected to pass a test and score higher than the previous year's class, to prove that their teachers and schools are competent. This test does not measure the progress of individual children from one year to the next, but measures the growth of the 3rd graders at that school in 2010 to 3rd graders in 2011. How does this show adequate yearly progress? How can we measure a teacher's performance based on one class of students to the growth of the next years'? What if a class has a majority of high achieving students one year and the struggling students the next? What if a class is over loaded with children with issues and or lack of family support?
My biggest concern is not that we need to measure teachers and schools but,who will teach our children in the future. Your children and my grandchildren deserve a teacher who is respected and held accountable by fair methods of evaluation, not placed on the firing line for meaningless test results or the whims of an administrator who needs to cut the budget so he gets rid of experienced teachers.
Clarification--there are four teachers currently at the Gold Academy who came from Lynwood. The Blue Academy houses the majority of past LW teachers. Of the four LW/Gold, I know that three CHOSE to work for Nan. (I can't speak for the fourth as I don't have that information.)
Couldn't agree more about walking in a teacher's (my) shoes. I wouldn't begin to tell someone else how to do their job, yet it seems educators are bombarded by "experts" that have little to no knowledge of the inner-workings/dynamics of today's classroom. I invite ANYONE with an opinion to sign up to substitute, volunteer, or even OBSERVE for a few days. Then, share your findings, thoughts, etc. with the teachers and the community.
Correction--there are actually 6 ex-Lw teachers at Gold. Was thinking in terms of testing and forgot about about two special area teachers. Apologies for the oversight.
i'm very sorry that you feel that way. children everywhere face devastating situations. abuse is not limited to financial status. i do not need to work in a school to know children go hungry, that they are physically and mentally abused and neglected. i did not insult one teacher, i merely said the system has failed. i've seen students (past and present) failed by their parents, teachers and adminis. i'm sorry if you felt targeted. i've said it before and i'll say it again. to redistrict was pointless, because at the end of the day you can't change the parents who don't care. that's not heartless, it's honest.
Oh, well....like...wow...um...you must feel very lonely, being the only person who truly cares about the children.
The Gold Academy is probably on probation for their test scores as an intermediate last year. This is justlike how Stephen Decatur kids got choice this year because they qualified to be on probation when they took ISTEP in the spring, but the ass-backward state didn't take them off probation until October.
The elementary Gold Academy hasn't taken ISTEP yet, so they cant be on probation.
Stupid crap like this is why it matters who you vote for in local AND state elections.
You are absolutely correct. That is EXACTLY the reason that Gold is on probation.
The only place you can even find Rather, Milhon-Baer, Jones and Pellico is on the payroll! There is no mention of them in or from the district, no office phone numbers listed, no names on the website, etc. etc.??? What are they doing to earn their "consulting fees" or whatever the district is paying them? Wouldn't/couldn't this have been "money saved" in our financial crisis? Stinson and the board that has approved these "re-hires" clearly, over and over, prove they are poor stewards of our taxpayer dollars and they are truly doing whatever they want, obviously without any "transparency" for their constituents! Outstanding job Decatur Township...for allowing this hipocracy to continue!
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