Not only does the article appear on page A22 of today’s Star, but a separate letter to the editor, under conversations my view,by Eugene White, page A9, says he continues to want a freeze on any more charter schools. Claiming IPS has lost 4,000 kids to charter schools, he bemoans the financial help is being split into more slices of the pie. ie. he and his son might get less? Strange he wants to eliminate the competition at the same time IPS school Board has to meet to ‘approve an adjustment to Superindendent Eugene White’s employment and to clarify the district’s nepotism policy to clear the way for hiring White’s son.”
Are we furthering careers or education?

For some reason the idea of a declining dictatorship pops into mind. What’s one of the first things despots do when their empires crumble? Rape it for all its got.

Eugene White is a failure or is not a failure? Chances are that he is as has been and will be anyone in charge of a “system” that cannot be made to function. A socialist model, unionized bureaucracy isn’t the ticket to purchase if you want cost effective results. There never was any need for government schools and they continue to prove that fact every day of their miserable existance, costing everyone, providing little in exchange.

Now that White has his son and daughter on the payroll….who will be his next relative to get a job while hundreds of teachers are losing their jobs. I suggest you look at the licenses of White’s son and see if he is qualfied. You may be shocked. The real idiot in this whole mess is Mary Bush who just says yes to anything Dictator White wants…..IPS is crumbling under and going into bankruptcy. He has hired more administators for next year than he had this year…SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN IPS

TWO WORDS: CHARTER SCHOOLS

Charter schools are still government schools and thus will tend towards being similar to that paragon of government efficiency, the Post Office. Capitalism and free markets deliver to us the consumer goods we want at a price we can afford. There is no need at all for government schools K-12 although in the military the schools tend towards excellence.

Pascal, I don’t know about you, but I still think a letter traveling cross country in a day for 43 cents is a freaking bargain. I’ve also abandoned FedEx and UPS for packages…USPS is cheaper, more reliable and just as fast.

Dr. White hired Reggie when he was Super at Washington Twp. He also hired his wife to be a payroll supervisor and I think she’s still there. When he sets his mind to something, Katie-bar-the-door. He destroys anyone who gets in his way. I just wish he had that same kind of tenacity in dealing with the overall IPS problems. He has tried, but he seems to take two steps forward, three steps back. (Who in their right mind wouldn’t tell him hiring his son is a PR issue? Where IS that board?)

Reggie was a good teacher at North Central, and a decent girls’ basketball (assistant) coach. He is clearly qualified to hold the job, but I’m curious: why not just stay at Pike, where he’’s been for 4-5 years?

Reporting to Giles is a complete joke. Laughable.

OK I just realized that my pronouns were improperly vague in the above post. To be clear:

Dr. White hired his own wife in WashTwp and she is still there. He did not hire Reggie’s wife. Dr. White also hired his son as a teacher and coach there, but Reggie moved to Pike a few years ago, mostly because he didn’t get a coaching assignment he wanted at N. Central.

Sorry for any confusion.

How can we the taxpayers stop this IPS and CIB crap? I’m ready to revolt

Pressure school board members. Run a slate of new people who will force White out. Build charters. It takes time and energy, but it can, and this case, should be done. Charters or a White-less IPS.

There were at least 16 teachers laid off who had the credentials to hold the position that Eugene White just gave his son. Those laid off teachers were guaranteed priority on any vacancies that opened. When will this IPS board quit the abuse, favoritism and dictatorship of Eugene White…Mary Bush is spineless and hasn’t a clue so it will be up to the other 6……time for an election revolt.

You see, Greg has hit the nail on the head.

Qualified furloughed teachers could likely have filled that position. But Dr. W. probably carefully created and “new” job and wrote the job description in a way that lets him skate by, and appoint his son.

Are there any Pike HS posters here, who can tell us whether Reggie was pushed out there, or left of his own accord? He was head girls’ BB coach, and he rode the coattails of the very-talented Ashley Barlow, who’s now playing at Notre Dame. Reggie even let Ashley’s obnoxious dad sit on the bench.

I’m not in the habit of agreeing with Greg P, but he indeed hit it on the head, out of the park, and into the next zip code. The superintendent’s son trumping teachers who were told they had priority is as bad as Irsay raking in non-Colt’s revenue while taxpayers face a grim state budget.
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Dr. White’s tried some good things and he’s got an uphill battle without parenting and funding, but he’s moved from superintendent to despot.

I may be WT rabble vs IPS rabble, but you get the protest going against this foolishness, and I’ll show-up with a sign in support.
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It’s not right.

Abdul,
I was just informed by a teacher at IPS that Dr. White just gave his secretary a $ 10,000.00 raise. She now makes $ 69,000.00 a year with out a college degree. Can anyone confirm this ?

He has two secretaries and one “aide.”

White’s secretary received a 30% raise ..far in excess of $10,000. the $10,000 raise for for the Director of Transportation who just screwed up the field trip to Conseco Fieldhouse and left many students stranded at school as late as 7pm and without lunch or lunch….Also Mary Busch and the Board just increased the annual clothing allowance for White by $5000. In addition, the board permits White to be in Washington D.C. for 30 work days a year. I hope he finds a job there and soon before he totally shipwrecks IPS with his increasing administrative staff and financial ignorance.

Greg, the DC thing is passed. He was president of the national superintendents’ association, which required much travel, and that term has ended. He campaigned for that job in his last year at WT, and got that board’s approval, one has to assume…on his way out the door. Why IPS would hire him, knowing his first 18 months there would be filled with out-of-town commitments is a mystery. But I’m told he is dazzling in an interview.

Additionally, when he went to IPS, he sought and won almost total free reign on a multitude of areas. Which neutered the board from the start. And which is stupid, as far as taxpayer-accountability goes.

The national thing is funny to me…a group of supers in a room together, from all over the country……….the very definition of cluster f_ _ _. What a hoot.

The real untold story here is his age. If the bio information is correct, he’s in his early 60s, perhaps as much as 64. Which means whatever tricks he’s got up his sleeve, for good or bad, he doesn’t have long to pull them.

He has this odd history of promoting incompetence. He somehow seems to believe, that if he promotes people that no one else in their right mind would promote, he gets undying loyalty from those individuals. Biz schools have long taught this method as a huge gamble that sometimes pays off.

The nepotism outlined in this post is, however, far beyond that philosophy. It’s just wrong. If he wants to promote IPS athletics, as a method of increasing school pride, that’s an admirable goal. But if he honestly believes his son is the best-qualified candidate for that job, I want whatever drugs he’s taking. They clearly make you suspend reality.

And the secretarial raise, if true, is reason enough to fire him, if we had a board that had any gonads whatsoever.

Kelly, I know you read this blog–how much of this is true? Is Reggie hired? Over furloughed teachers? For a “new” job? Is Eugene’ secretary $30K a year richer?

THINK AGAIN…you must be an IPS employee or be close to one as your assessment of White and the spineless condition of the board is 100% accurate….What was the reason for the trip to China? Who went with him?

Certainly, this should be a cause celeb issue for the Mayor (even our current) to take ownership of IPS or for all to move into the subarbs.

No mayor wants a school system under his wing, Jacob. Given today’s accountability standards, it’s no-win. The big-city mayors who do control schools, Like Daley, wish they didn’t.

I’m no IPS employee. But I have several family members who are or have been, at various levels of the school system, dating back to Karl Kalp.

China: He started partnerships in WT and keeps them updated. He loves to travel. The man oughta replace Gene Shatner on those priceline travel commercials.

One of a board’s most-difficult duties, is to strictly monitor the Superintendent’s in-office time. Eugene White got almost total Carte Blanche approval for anything he wants to do, before he agreed to take the job. I honestly can’t blame him for asking, because the job was so formidable. But shame on any board for agreeing so completely. They rolled over and played dead out of the shoot, so…he has their tacit pre-approval for anything he wants to do.

The board’s primary responsibility is to hire and monitor a Super. They must also be strict fiduciary stewards of the district’s assets. On that count, the IPS board has failed for a long, long time, going back to the time Lugar was on it.

Gene White’s mission was never more than a mop-up job. He’s done a C-plus to B-minus job. His board fails on all counts.

This is way off the subject. Please all of you.
Never forget our freedon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9PwWkV4HQ4

It is pretty obvious that the last thing on the list of many many things is the students. There should be a huge revolt in this school district. I am ready to do whatever it takes to get these yahoos ought of the system. Election time is our time to organize and get it done–the students must come first–if that means charter schools then so be it. If it means running White and his cronies out on a rail then so be it. It is obvious from the above posts that White and Busch and everyone around have everything but the students best interest at heart.

An example…..for the last 20 to 25 years Tech High School has had 2 behavior deans…they were pink slipped this year..then White hired two of them back [F. Kelly and A. Dumas} then he hired a third [Q. Steward} now if he hires his son, there will be 4….they earn around $90,000…then he hired an athletic director which Tech has always had but added an assistant A.D. and then an assistant to the Athletic Director…..this is in addition to 6 or 7 academic deans at $95,000……he also has 3 vice principles at almost $100,000…..multiply this by the number of high schools and then start adding the number of new consultants and supervisors at the Ed. Center…but he lays off 300 teachers. …and the board sits on their thumbs doing nothing.

Is it true that the CCC passes on and approves school finances ?? If so, then we should request that they do something about the corruption in IPS.

Oh no Mauri. Damn where do you get your information?

While we’re feeling appalled, think that if Dr. White were replaced we wouldn’t be much better- maybe worse. Is it any less than a collective catastrophe from lackings in parenting, administration, voters, and the Detroitization of downtown? I think he deserves ouster, but am I out of line in this collective assessment? I’m the first to clamor for economic reality. But, within that, if we never uphold some ideals, expecting them of all races and religions within the money to implement them- well, we got what we got.

Pardon: “…all races, religions, and business within….”

Does anyone know exactly what “qualifications” one needs to be an Assistant Principal, Dean, etc.? Just curious. If all these people have is that illustrious degree in education, they are way overcompensated compared to people with real skills and educations in all walks of life. Unhappily, that’s government all over these days, including the nepotism. The secretary making that much money is laughable. Is anyone ever hired that doesn’t have a degree in education?

A behavior dean must have a license in school administration.