More on Warren Schools
I’ve come across more information on the Warren Township School District controversy.
School officials are going to use a previously scheduled PTA meeting at Raymond Middle School Tuesday to address community regarding the reported sex incident between two 6th graders occurred in November of last year.
I’ve also learned that the District did not find out about the act until they returned January from Christmas break.
Sources say the District found out about the incident through a student who acted as one of the lookouts. The student, who is reported to frequently get into trouble at the Middle School, was being disciplined for an incident that occurred last month and in an attempt to “plea bargain” his discipline; he let the administrators know about the other two students having sex. An investigation was launched and the two students who engaged in the sex act were reportedly expelled for a year, sources say.
The student who acted as one of the lookouts who informed the school was transferred for disciplinary reasons.
Sources say some administrators wanted to speak out about the matter but were advised by their attorneys not to do so. Meanwhile, morale inside Raymond Park Middle School is considered to be very low right now.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
So, in your rush to judgement, you condemned the school officials for not knowing about this from the time it occurred (when it was actually much later that they found out) and you blasted them for not meeting with lawyers to discuss what they could and couldn’t say (when in fact that they HAD talked to lawyers and the lawyers told them to not say anything). In the meantime, the administrators had expelled the two students and taken disciplinary action against the others.
Nice work. Will you call O’Reilly back and tell him you misrepresented the facts?
March 9th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
No.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
And if I wanted to be a prick about this I would have never have printed this and you would have never found out about it!
March 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Nonetheless, counselor, you assumed facts not in evidence and passed them on to a national television audience.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Name one fact.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
That the administration was “stonewalling” when, in fact, they had been told my lawyers not to comment.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
And Bill, you’ll be pleased to know the District hired the most expensive (and best) pr firm in town to help them solve this problem that should have never have happened in the first place!
March 9th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Sorry, I met “by” not “my” lawyers
March 9th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
And they did not tell us “upon advice of our attorneys we are not commenting on this” instead they just said no comment.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
And yo’ll be pleased to know Bill, I’ll be reading your postings on the air this afternoon.
March 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I’m sure all 12 listeners will be thrilled.
Just don’t misquote me.
March 9th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
It will be my pleasure to misqoute you! :-)
March 9th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I can’t believe people like bill are so upset over this. For starters, the eastside has become more and more ghetto over the last couple of decades. Back in the late 70s/early 80s, some apartment complexes were built. The owner likely thought the heavy industry on Shadeland would bring in plenty of folks. Well, a lot of those places closed up shop and a lot of these complexes went Section 8/42. On the flip side, the area south of Washington St. is pretty nice. Prospect Street has some really nice homes just west of the Hancock Co. line.
That being said, the #1 issue I have with this incident is “Did both students involve even understand what they were doing?” I was 11 when I was in 6th grade. These kids were likely either 11 or 12. I would want to know about this incident and if maybe the male or female party took advantage of someone who may not have hit puberty. Since schools seem to punish even innocent persons, I don’t use the expulsion as proof that the two students were both ok with having sex. I would also want this information so that I could talk with my child and see if either of these folks are friends. Think about it, if an 11 year old thinks sex is ok, they honestly could think their 9 year old brother/sister would be ok having sex as well. We have idiots giving three or four year olds dope, so does the above seem so far off? I really do want to know what kind of background these kids came from: Poor, middle class, rich?
March 9th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
sure was awkward watching lilly-white o’reilly ask abdul if warren was “inner city:, then going on to opine that the east side is “black”, then omg abdul opining that warren is sub-normal economically. we’re not franklin township but we’re not 46201 either.
indy s*ucks. there’s nothing left in this town to recommend it.
March 9th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Neither O’Reilly nor Abdul bothered to check out the make up of the school in question. Raymond Park Middle School is only 37% Black, 55% white, 2% other, the rest other races. The neighborhood where the school is, Raymond & Post Roads, has an average household income of $48,000, far above the average of the county as a whole. While Black students are bused in, they’re buses in from other parts of Warren Township, including the many Black homeowners who live in the housing developments along Post, Mitthoeffer and German Church. For O’Reily to say the area is Black is totally false. And Abdul, who lives here should have known better and called him on it.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Abdul, I think you struck a nerve on poor old bill. Must be part of the lawyers giving that ‘good’ advice to Warren Township.
I am looking for a house, but it sure won’t be in Warren Township!
March 10th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Carl, I have access to a demographic program that pulls data from the US Census Bureau.
A one-mile radius of the intersection in question, as far as residents goes, tells us this:
Avg. Household Income: 37,004. That’s everyone in the house, Carl.
Avg. Age: 41.5
White: 41.55%
African-American: 47.01%
Hispanic: 9.77%
Asian, Pacific Islander: 1.06%
Other, Unidentified: Remainder
That’s the neighborhood. That’s not necessarily the school’s makeup.
But I’m betting the school is close.
Warren has been a system in trouble for a decade or more. This is symptomatic.
But whatever their demographic, their administrators and school board should never, ever have sat haughtily by and said “no comment.” They have no right to do that. And I doubt their lawyer advised them do do it. If he did, they should fire him.
How MUCH they say is one thing. But the first words out of their mouths should’ve been:
“We apologize to the citizens of our school district. We have investigated the situation and will do all we can to learn from it so it does not happen again. We have counseled the students involved and the spectators to make sure they understand the magnitude of this very adult action.”
These folks spend taxpayer money like it’s water–look at the Warren athletic facilities. An embarrassment of riches. The least they can do is promptly comment to the media when a 3-month-old (hidden?) incident comes up.
March 10th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Attn: Check it Again, Carl,
The data I cited came from two reputable sources: the database of Indiana’s Department of Education, enrollment data for the 2006/07 school year. And the US Census Bureau’s website factfinder.census.gov. You say that you have a database that can provide demographic data for a one mile radius. Well, that is NOT an official Census Bureau database. And I SERIOUSLY question the accuracy of your numbers. Raymond Park Middle School is located at the intersection of Raymond Street and Post Road. A One mile radius from that interspection would be Troy on the south, Prospect on the north, Franklin Rd on the west and Mitthoeffer/Davis roads on the east. The last accurate count of the income and racial demographics of any neighborhood was the 2000 Census. The Census has provided no estimates or updates at the one mile neighborhood level. “Check it Again”, you are using a proprietary program of a private company, whose accuracy could be questionable. I personally believe that your data is wrong for the neighborhood around the school. So, I’ve revealed my sources, which you can check. I request you reveal where you got your data, so I and others can check. Let’s see who is correct. However, we do AGREE that Warren schools badly blew this. Their stonewalling is wrong. Finally, even if your data for the one mile radius neighborhood is correct, Bill O’Reilly’s comments would still be inaccurate. Your data shows a racially balanced neighborhood. That’s not an all-Black area or an all-Black school.
March 12th, 2007 at 6:46 am
The data is correct, Carl. Census-provided, stratified by 2004 updates. The same program used by retailers to determine their customer base. They often use 1-3-5 mile rings.
Oh yeah, one more thing about the one-mile ring around that intersection: average education of adults: 10.5 grade.
It does show a racially-diverse neighborhood. The incomes are under the metro and statewide averages. About what I’d expected.
And yeah, Warren screwed this up badly. Again.
What else is new?
March 12th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Too bad Abdul didn’t do this demographic homework before he went on O’Reilly. But then, never let the facts get in the way of a good story … or pontification.
March 12th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Bill,
Give it up and go back to watching “the View”. You and your liberal buddies can try to paint this any way you want but the fact is Warren Tsp is a mess. Oh and Bill, before you reply to my posting, make sure you not missing any of Dr Phil or Air America.
Crow
March 12th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Crow:
You really have NO clue.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Yes I do. Purchased it at Walmart. Found out Mrs. Green did it with the candle stick holder in the library thank you very much!
Oh and by the way…that was you best comeback? I guess them comericals run pretty short when Rosie hosts “The View”.
Crow
March 12th, 2007 at 11:17 am
You didn’t answer the question of where the data came from. Obviously, it is a private program that uses Census 2000 data and then guesses at what a neighborhood’s composition is. The Census Bureau does not provide estimates of population by age, sex, race, income or education for neighborhoods smaller than Zip Codes, townships and counties between censuses. There is no OFFICIAL updated database of the one mile radius around Raymond and Post. The data you have is a guess. And a poor guess at that. I’m surprised that you’re not willing to provide the name of the company that provides the database you are using.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Crow:
Just adhering to the adage: Never engage in a battle of wits with an un-armed opponent.
March 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Good one Bill, isn’t that a quote Rosie uses?
Crow.
March 12th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Crow:
I wouldn’t know. You tell me since you seem to be the expert on daytime TV.
March 12th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
“White: 41.55%
African-American: 47.01%
Hispanic: 9.77%
Asian, Pacific Islander: 1.06%
Other, Unidentified: Remainder”
No way that within one mine of Raymond Park, 47% of the residents are black. From what I can tell, most of the black population in Warren Township lives on the north side of the township. There is also a small Section 8/42 ghetto in Cumberland which appears to have a lot of black families living in them.
March 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Bill,
Spoken like a true liberal. Deny Deny Deny.
Crow.