MSD Decatur Reaches Deal on Retirement Incentives

Yesterday's IndyStar had the following report on Tuesday's Decatur School Board meeting by Gretchen Becker, titled "Decatur Twp hopes package will save teacher jobs".

The Decatur Township School Board approved on Tuesday a retirement incentive package they hope will save teachers' jobs.

As part of statewide budget cuts, the Southwestside school district is looking to slice its general fund by $5.6 million. On Friday the district handed out 62 notices to teachers that said that they could be fired -- but the district hopes to hire many of them back before spring break.

Teachers who choose to retire who are on the district's insurance plan will receive a one-time $15,000 contribution to their retirement savings plans. Those not on insurance would receive a one-time $20,000 contribution, said Jeff Baer, assistant superintendent.

Each teacher retirement could potentially bring back two beginning teachers, Baer
said.

"We are hoping to get substantial retirements out of the proposal," Baer said. "Friday was the worst-case scenario. We are hoping the actual numbers are much less."

The board also approved a one-time proposal that retiring bus drivers can remain on the district's insurance plan for one year after retirement.

The board will take action on its reduction-in-force notices at its April 13 meeting.
Also Tuesday, the board approved a $743,310 reduction in the transportation fund, which will shrink personnel, gas usage, extra trip runs and contracted routes. The district's goal is to cut a total of $1.2 million from transportation.

Earlier this year the School Board OK'd a 15 percent cut in Superintendent Don Stinson's $189,000 salary and approved a 5 percent reduction in administrators' pay, saving $191,215.49. The board also OK'd a reduction in administrative staff by six and capped the cafeteria employee insurance plan to save $933,000.

MSD Decatur Township - Administrator Cuts

I must say that Gary Pellico has been very quick to answer my Freedom of Information requests yesterday and today.

This gets a bit confusing to try to relate, because there are positions being eliminated AND a shuffling of personnel to fill the remaining positions. So, the list of Administrator positions being cut is not identical to the list of people whose Administrator contracts will not be renewed.

The names of the Administrators who received notice that their Administrator contracts would not be renewed are:

Anna Cook (Central Office - Coordinator of Special Programs & Literacy)
Jeff Baer - retirement (Central Office - Assistant Superintendent of Business)
Sharon Downing (High School - CHOICE Director or Assistant Principal)
Doug Opel (High School - Athletic Director)
Jill Meerman (High School - Assistant Athletic Director)
Jeff Harvey (DILC - Gold Academy Principal)

Now some of these folks may show up in teaching positions. That we cannot tell from a public record yet.

The actual positions being cut overlap, but are different from the positions held by the folks listed above.

The positions being cut are reported as:

Central Office - Director of Title 1 and ELL
Central Office - Director of Business or Assistant Superintendent for Business
(2) High School - SLC Directors or Assistant Principals
High School - Assistant Athletic Director
One Elementary School Principal

Anna Cook appears to currently hold the title of Director of Title 1 and ELL - so both she and her position have been cut.

They continue to say that Jeff Baer and his position are cut, but, his replacement has already been hired and that's pretty much no cut at all.

It appears that the High School Athletic Director position is still open, but Doug Opel no longer has it. I do not know if Opel is returning to the classroom as a teacher. It has been noted in comments on earlier blog entries that Kelly McWilliams (High School, EDGE Director or Assistant Principal) is being reassigned to the Athletic Director position.

Jill Meerman may also be returning to the classroom, but her Administrator contract will not be renewed and her Assistant Athletic Director position has been cut.

As I understand it, there are currently 5 Director (Assistant Principal) positions at the High School. Next year there will be 3 of these positions with two of the Directors each overseeing two of the small schools within the High School. Again, as I understand it, due to requirements of the Gates grant for the NEW TECH school, that Director will continue to oversee only one small school.

Sharon Downing will not have her contract as CHOICE Director at the High School renewed.

Kelly McWilliams' position as Director of EDGE will also be combined with another Director position, but her Administrator contract will be renewed.

Jeff Harvey's Administrator contract will not be renewed, but his position as Principal of the Gold Academy remains and has been filled by Nan Wiseman, current Principal at Valley Mills and 'transitional Principal' at Lynwood. This begs the question of whether a Principal position is really being cut. The Valley Mills Principal position will be filled by Sheila Corbin, who is currently the Director (Assistant Principal ?) at Valley.

So, the final summary would seem to be -- one Central Office position cut, that of Director of Title 1 -- three High School Administrator positions cut; two Assistant Principals and one Assistant Athletic Director -- and -- one Elementary School Principal position cut, if you ignore the fact that one person holds two of these jobs now.

[edited to add - It has been brought to my attention that Sharon Downing was removed from her position in the District months ago when arrested for allegedly committing forgery unrelated to the School District.]

Folks are Asking - What Happened at the School Board Meeting

Folks have begun wonder - what happened at tonight's Decatur School Board meeting. Please post your thoughts.

Thank You and Keep Posting

I have much on my plate today, so I will be brief.

I just wanted to say how proud I am of my fellow Decaturites for the high commitment to factual information everyone shows in their posted comments. That helps keep this blog on firm footing as a place to exchange the latest news so all of our community can know as much of what is happening as possible.

This is a big week coming up - student conferences today, School Board meeting tomorrow, and the spaghetti dinner on Saturday. I am hopeful to have information from the state on a document search they are doing for me. And, there is always St. Patrick's Day smack dab in the middle !

Keep up the great communications. And, again, thank you for the caliber of your posts.

Hazing in MSD Decatur Township ?

Mike Kugelman shot me an email this morning, calling my attention to the inclusion of Decatur Central High School in today's Indianapolis Star's centerpiece article called "When harmless fun turns into hazing". I'm glad he did, as I had not read the entire piece. I have searched for it in the online version of the Star to no avail - it is in the print version only. That is too bad, as this article is important for the entire Central Indiana community to read.


The subtitle of the article captures the thesis well; "Allegations in Carmel have people talking about the problem and possible reforms". The article goes into the now well known hazing by Carmel students on the team bus, incidents at Lawrence North, Avon, and Whiteland High Schools. This is what the authors Andy Gammill, Rob Annis and Mark Ambrogi wrote that involved students at Decatur Central High School :

One incident viewed two very different ways

A recent visit to Decatur Central High School illustrates varying degrees to which -- even on the same campus -- people regard the seriousness of the situation.

Junior John Tapp said he and his fellow wrestlers target freshmen members of the team for pranks but see it as harmless.

This season, he said, the team held down a freshman and taped him to a locker room bench, leaving him there for the duration of practice.

Older players on the team had endured similar incidents when they were younger, Tapp said.

"I think it's pretty much a ritual," he said, adding that it was taken in a spirit of camaraderie.

But classmates on other teams who heard Tapp tell that story did not think it was acceptable.

Cameron Spall, also a Decatur Central junior, said that would go against the culture of the football team, of which he is a member.

The couching staff, he said, has explained that teammates must respect one another rather than use bullying or hazing to create a culture of intimidation and exclusion. That kind of behavior actually hurts a team's unity, the coaches said.

"Not on the football team," Spall said. "Our coach wants us to be a good person. We don't need this to be a good team."

Gary Pellico, a central office administrator and district spokesman, said the football team's philosophy exemplifies what Decatur Township Schools stands for.

The incident Tapp described would not be appropriate, Pellico said. After hearing Tapp describe that incident, Pellico asked the athletic director to examined possible hazing on the wrestling team and alerted the superintendent to the situation.

"That is certainly not our expectation of what a team sport includes, or any activity," Pellico said. "That tradition must stop."

Pellico is absolutely correct - that tradition must stop. But, I do have to wonder, where were the adults during all of this?

MSD Decatur Township Gives Out 62 Teacher Pink Slips While Bus Drivers Hammered Out of View

Yesterday the Decatur School District handed 62 teachers their pink slips, indicating that their contracts likely will not be renewed this July. Meanwhile, the bus drivers continue to be screwed over by Superintendent Don Stinson out of the view of the School Board and the public at large.

The 62 pinks slips do not guarantee that a particular teacher will be laid off in July, but this year it is exceedingly likely. The School Board authorized the Superintendent to RIF up to 60 teachers (my understanding of their action - but I await the Board minutes to see if that detail is contained) if the Decatur Educators Association did not agree to cut $3 million from teacher expenditures. Apparently the DEA did not agree to any cuts. If somebody has information otherwise, please note it. If nothing else changes, the number of teachers on the RIF list will be reduced by roughly two teachers for each teacher who chooses to retire. While the Administration and the DEA have discussed retirement incentives, no agreement on that matter is evident today.

So, at this moment the teacher situation stacks up this way - The School Board and the Administration could have decided to sell the Southwest Pavilion Office Building (former Concentra Building) and save all 62 teacher jobs. The DEA could have agreed to an across the board 5% reduction in salary and benefits and saved 28 jobs before retirements are counted in. Or both could have been done and saved all 62 teacher jobs for 2 years - awaiting a better economy.

Meanwhile, the bus drivers still see their hours being cut, even as new drivers are being hired. This is being done without a vote of the School Board. The Administration now claims that only teachers and administrators have the right of appeal of any grievance to the School Board. Thus, bus drivers, secretaries, cafeteria workers, custodians, safety officers, and non-teaching support staff, are being denied the right of appeal to the School Board. The Administration is further claiming it has the right to do whatever it wishes in the Transportation Department without oversight by the Board. Both of these are an outrage and the School Board should step in immediately to rectify these abrogations of authority from the duly elected representatives of the community.

The cutbacks in hours would appear to be designed specifically to get the more seasoned drivers to quit, as they cannot support their families on 4 hours per day. And, with two morning and two afternoon hours, they cannot take a second job, either. Our bus drivers are unsung heroes in this District. They know the children on their route by face and name and where they should be picked up and let off. You often hear stories of a caring bus driver who goes that extra mile, no pun intended, to be sure that the children in their custody are kept safe. There is no way that our bus drivers should be treated this way.

This financial mess has been created by Superintedent Don Stinson and his rubber stamping School Board. Of the $9.8 million in cuts that are needed this year, only $1.5 million is due to the budget cuts ordered by Governor Mitch Daniels. The remainder is due to overspending on properties (breaking state laws all the way), huge raises for Administrators even after the Superintendent knew of the likely impact of the tax caps, going into debt to pay pensions when the budget was not big enough to afford the raises, and the total lack of fiscal oversight by the School Board.

Still there is a way out of this fiscal morass without teacher layoffs, without screwing over the bus drivers or any other employee of the District, and without closing Lynwood and raising class sizes. I have laid it out time and time again on this blog. But, if you want to review it again, see ""How to Minimize the Impact of Decatur School District Cuts", "Decatur School Board Should Demand More Administrator Cuts", and "Let's Back Up and Move in a Different Direction".

Meanwhile the School Board meets this Tuesday evening, March 16, beginning at 7:00 in the Board Room of the Central Office. No agenda has been published on the District website as of this moment. That meeting will be preceded by a behind closed doors Executive Session. No word yet as to whether that will be a catered affair.

ICOG Offers Citizen Journalism Boot Camp

Want to start your own blog? Already have a blog, but want to know what laws impact it? Want to learn how to get hold of public records? Or, are you interested in learning some of the tricks of the trade of being a journalist? On Saturday, March 20, the Indiana Coalition for Open Government is offering a one day Citizen Journalism Boot Camp for folks just like you. Click here to register.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am proud to have been invited to participate on the blog panel, and humbled by the calibre of folks who will be presenting at this event. I am not being paid to participate, although I can attend the whole day's events without paying the fee.

ICOG are the good folks who fight for improved laws for public access to both records and meetings, and for public input into the decisions made by the government. In the side panel of this blog, I keep a link to thier website under "Agents of Change". I also keep a link to their 'make your own' open records request letter.

The Boot Camp is being held on the IUPUI campus and does cost $35 ($20 if you are either a student or an ICOG member), but you get lunch and a one year membership in ICOG along with being able to attend the workshops all day.

Here's how they describe the events of the day:

If you are a neighborhood leader, citizen activist, blogger or would-be blogger, ICOG's Citizen Journalism Boot Camp can help you become a stronger citizen journalist or learn the essentials on how to become one.

The event, which highlights ICOG’s participation in national Sunshine Week, will feature workshops on how to gain access to public information and gather other information as a reporter, understanding the technology you will need to use, and how to set up a blog and keep your readers informed effectively. Session leaders will include veteran bloggers, attorneys and journalists who will walk you through the nuts and bolts of setting yourself up to become your own community watchdog.

Registration fee is $35 for the general public and $20 for students and ICOG members. The fee includes morning coffee, lunch and a complimentary one-year membership to ICOG, a $25 value itself.

Keynote speaker during the lunch will be Jan Schaffer, executive director of J Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, one of the nation’s leading thinkers in the journalism reform movement. J-Lab administers the Knight Citizen News Network (http://www.kcnn/.org) and other initiatives.

Speakers will include members of The Indianapolis Star’s Starwatch investigative team, who will demonstrate how to generate story ideas, develop sources and collect documents and data that reporters can use to quickly produce news relevant to their communities.

Brant Houston will lead discussion on basic research and backgrounding, giving special attention to using online sources for information. Houston is the former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He now holds the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting and teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois College of Media.

John Strauss, a former Indianapolis Star reporter and columnist who is now on the journalism faculty at Ball State University, will demonstrate easy-to-use multimedia tools that can turn anyone into a backpack journalist.

Local blogging expert Erik Deckers will show you how to start a blog in just minutes using readily available online tools. He will be joined by two bloggers who will offer advice on how to get material for your blog and keep the information flowing.

Also, a panel of lawyers will talk about challenges and pitfalls of blogging, strategies for staying on the right side of the law, and the current state of affairs regarding access issues.

Here is the complete schedule for the day:

The Citizen Journalism Boot Camp program has a full day of workshops to help you improve as a citizen journalist or to get started as one.

8:30-9 a.m. – Registration and coffee.
9-10 a.m. – Members of The Indianapolis Star’s Starwatch investigative team share tips of the reporter’s trade in a roundtable discussion. Participants: Mark Alesia, Tim Evans, Heather Gillers, Alvie Lindsay.
10-10:45 a.m. – Brant Houston, former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (now holder of the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois), presents a session on information gathering, with discussion on basic research and background and special attention to online sources.
10:45-11 a.m. – Break.
11 a.m.-Noon – John Strauss, former Indianapolis Star journalist and member of Ball State University’s journalism faculty, demonstrates easy-to-use multimedia tools that can turn any citizen activist into a backpack journalist.
Noon-1:30 p.m. – Lunch. Jan Schaffer of the Knight Citizen News Network gives the keynote speech.
1:30-2:30 p.m. – Erik Deckers, vice president of creative services and operations for Pro Blog Service, presents the nuts and bolts of starting a blog.
2:30-3:15 p.m. – Erik is joined by Pat Andrews, neighborhood activist and blogger, and Bil Browning, co-owner of Bilerico Media, for a discussion of their experiences blogging – how to maintain a blog and not get burned out. Audience Q&A.
3:15-3:30 p.m. – Break.
3:30-4:45 p.m. – The Citizen Journalist and the Law. Panel includes Steve Badger of Bose McKinney & Evans, Jan Carroll of Barnes & Thornburg and Dick Goehler of Frost Brown Todd. They will talk about challenges and pitfalls for citizen bloggers, strategies for staying on the right side of the law, and the current state of affairs regarding access issues.

To register for the Boot Camp, click here.

Technology is changing the world for sure. Blogging might be a flash in the pan, or a way to express yourself. It can be anything you want - a Julie & Julia blog, a politics blog, a blog about cars, or a blog just about frogs if that is what interests you. If you think you might want to try your hand at a blog, this Boot Camp could be just what you needed.