[...] en masse after the Super Bowl. This resulted in them having to cancel classes entirely that day. Abdul is reporting that the proposed two hour delay solution is running into static from the State. [T]he Indiana [...]

IIRC, IPS had to call school off completely last Colts Super Bowl because too many school bus drivers called in “sick” on Monday morning. IPS was probably trying to address that with the two hour delay proposal.

Exactly, Varan. Ninety percent of the IPS kids are drivne to school in a bus. They contract-out most of it–to “save money”–and their direct control is thus one-step-removed.

Nobody wins. If they have regular school, everyone will be late anyway.

And if our state Board of Ed grants a waiver for this, there is no justice.

If what you are reporting is true then Eugene White has botched this also. White is so arrogant that he thinks he is king. His school board refuses to question anything he does or stop him from some of his lamebrained ideas. It will be interesting to see if the state is intimidated by him like the IPS School Board. If this is true then IPS would have to pay another day of busing expenses as well as another day of salaries to employees. An entire day of cancellation would avoid both of those double expenses.

Buncha killjoys. This strikes me as inflexible bureaucracy at its finest. The two hour delay is a reasonable solution to a real, albeit somewhat frivolous, problem. Is education more important than football? Well, yeah. But that two hours of school time isn't going to make or break the kids, and the Super Bowl isn't an every day issue.

Once upon a time, local leaders would be able to make these common sense gestures as a matter of civic pride. Now there is a mechanized bureaucracy that abhors flexibility and ad hoc solutions.

No reason to delay school at all, IMO. Still, IPS should have the flexibility to make its own schedule. Sounds like government micromanagement to me. Of course, this could all be a rumor and innuendo…you never know with this blog.

I'm as happy to point out that SuperWhite's job is impossible as to bash him but have little truck with backseat drivers or, more precisely, second guessers. That 95% of kids ride a bus in this City is a stupidity belonging to long dead Federal Judges, dumb lawyers in robes, actually, and SuperWhite inherited that stupidity. It is not like kids are really learning much in IPS but he, unlike, say, the Catholic Schools, would get endless criticism were he to sensibly just cancel out a day.

Statement on 180 day policy and the 2010 Super Bowl

Today the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) advised Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) that its recent decision to schedule a two-hour delay on Monday, February 8, the morning after the Super Bowl, does not meet the requirements under state guidelines for an automatic waiver for two-hour emergency delays.

“While we support the Colts, two hour delays are reserved for emergency situations,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said. “We have presented IPS with alternatives that ensure our children receive the instructional time they deserve.”

Schools receive automatic waivers of instructional time for “emergency” purposes. If a delay is caused by an emergency, such as weather, state guidelines do not require schools to make up that lost instructional time.

A school corporation that cancels school for an entire day is required to make up that lost instructional day. School cancellation decisions are made by the local school corporation. State law requires schools to have 180 full instructional days per school year.

For more information on the 180 instructional day policy, go to http://www.doe.in.gov/accreditation/docs/freque...

Uh, no Pascal, it's the result of urban population density. Must you find someone to bash in every situation?

Private schools are mostly-exempt from all regulation, except safety, health, etc. Instructionally, they can teach however they like and admit/refuse any pupil they wish.

Public schools are obligated, correctly, to accept any student who walks through their front door.

You'd do well to remember that. Comparisons with private schools are sometimes helpful. In this case, it's silliness all the way around.
Bus drivers don't show up? Fire them! Dont have enough backups? Who's fault is that?

Funny thing is, I just heard a weather report, that indicates we may get a bunch of snow this weekend. Wouldn't it be hilarious if Monday really WERE a true snow day? All this kevitching and kevetching for naught.

As for the complaining about standards re: time-on-task: someone has to set minimum calendars and minimum school hours per day. That function rests with the State Board of Ed, a function granted them by statute.

If we don't like their standards, we can complain to legislators and the State Board. It's largely a puppet of the sitting governor anyway.

The legislature thinks they're all about school calendar anyway. They've wasted I don't know how many hours passing a bill out of teh Senate, mandating that no school begin before Labor Day. As if that's the problem in public education–when they begin.

Forest for the trees, folks.

Good reporting.

A simple solution: IPS has a built in make up day…it is the Friday before Memorial Day. Simply cancel school this Monday when little education will take place anyway and use the make up day which was intended for cases like this anyway……….let's not make this brain surgery as Eugene White is no brain surgeon

Issue #1: If we had a well educated population, this wouldn't be an issue – educated people would realize that there are more important things in life than watching a bunch of men chase a ball. Don't get me wrong – I love football, but I'm not dumb enough to make it a priority.

Issue #2: Since football IS a priority, who ever decided that it might take priority over the education of our children? Must be someone from Issue #1.

Issue #3: Since someone from Issue #1 is making priority decisions on how or when our children are educated, I've created an entirely new set of Issue's. See Issue #4.

Issue #4: We're all F'ed. We need either a complete overhaul of the education system, or we've got everything bass-ackwards. Meaning that we need to start spending our tax dollars on kids' sports teams and uniforms on the weekdays and giving them an opportunity to spend Sunday afternoons watching school.

Every single poster has missed the point. Things will be way worse if not enough bus drivers show up to bring the kids in.

Since the earliest routes start pickups shortly after 6am, just backtime the morning and realize that the bus drivers probably get up sometime around 4, drive themselves to the bus depot, then drive their bus to their first pickup point.

This isn't about making education a priority, about Dr. White, or about anything other than flexing to be safe. The Big Game won't be over until 10:30 or 11pm. Do you want a driver taking your kid somewhere on less than 5 hours' sleep?

Dealing with reality in a pragmatic manner: the essence of moderation, and clearly something in VERY short supply in certain precincts hereabouts.

Or, since they have a responsibility, maybe they could skip watching the game and go to bed early?

Abbie, You an Gov. Daniels keep up the good work. Shut all the schools down through property tax caps.

Ft. Wayne schools look at large budget cut
Associated Press
Posted: February 3, 2010.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Fort Wayne Community Schools board has asked its administrators for a plan within 30 days to trim millions of dollars from the district's current operations.
District officials said in a statement Tuesday that the state has cut its funding by $9 million this year, and the cuts are likely to remain in place next year.

That came on top of $6 million in cuts from the general fund budget the district already had been planning.

Board President Mark GiaQuinta has challenged Superintendent Wendy Robinson and her staff to cut costs across the board so the state's second-largest public school system can maintain quality instruction with shrinking resources.
GiaQuinta says the only item that's off-limits is full-day kindergarten.

Glad to help!

Thundermutt, nobody missed the point. Bus drivers have a responsibility. If they can't cut it they should step aside. Not all drivers are up at 4, I can assure you.

If I have a 4 AM work call, I go to bed at 8.

Super Bowl or not

Ok Abdul, I don't tweet, nor do I even know what it is, but i saw the list of potential candidates for Mr. Smith's council position. (What else is going on there? The DOD isn't really cracking down on this, any more than they have in the past)

Olgen Willilams's son? Seriously?

Oh please, Republicans, do something that stupid. We Dems would like Ike back, too.

Olgen Willilams's son. Hilarious. Please, please.

Pascal suggests that were population dense most kids would walk to school…as they used to before the unthinking began. Busing that begins at 6 a.m. is insane. Busing for “diversity” is the judicial response to the Coleman Report being mis read by idiot lawyers and being maintained by an innumerate citizenry. Just guessing but IPS performance on standardized tests are likely adversely affected by busing right along with the low IQ population-another cause of low scores. Busing because of population density-what an unusual fabrication.

Ok, I think a lot of the “dem bus drivers better DO DER JERBS!” crowd needs a reality check.

If waht TA said is true, that the drivers are employed by a contractor, then White can't take pre-emptive action on them. And if nothing does happen, then it'd be all for nothing.

Alll he can do is take action, right now, with what he controls, which is the school start and end time, make up days, etc…

I think White is making the right decision. Then, after the fiasco,they can go back and re-negotiate the contract.

I'll be posting about that tomorrow. I've read the DOD rules and they are cracking down across the country. Kent could have gotten a waiver, but it would have likely caused more problems than it was worth.

Over half the drivers are contracted. That makes it more difficult, but not impossible. There are several large companies that want that business.

Standby drivers? A contingency plan is needed. And accurate attendance records, for when the contract comes up for renewal.

As for the IPS-employed drivers, some are unionized, but whatever their affililation, if they miss without a doctor's written excuse, they should be written up. There should be zero tolerance for this…so much of the school day depends on folks we don't pay a lot of money. Bus drivers, secretaries, cooks…the backbone of our schools, in many cases.

But if they party too late, and miss their Monday morning rounds, well…cook or driver, they should get disciplined. If White is trying to head-off the obvious, this is not the way to do it. It shoudl not surprise us that a career educational administrator takes this approach.

What would be the private sector solution, hmmmmm?

Spoken like a true fanatic.

“But that two hours of school time isn't going to make or break the kids, and the Super Bowl isn't an every day issue.”

Here is a novel idea…how about these drivers exercise some personal responsibilty, recognize that they have busloads of 'lil darlins to drive around, and show up at work clean, sober, and ready to do the job they contracted to do.

Guess we're asking for too much.

Charter schools as a way station for getting dumb government out of the market. I notice that New Orleans is now 60% charter and performance results will soon leave Indiana in the back of the pack. So, Katrina was really good for students.

IPS has not bused for racial balance reasons in years…..that case was closed.

Hector is correct as far as he goes but the busing continues and the doughnut counties continue to expand as the exodus from IPS is fueled by federal stupidities. Taxpayers would probably save a ton of money by ceasing the extent of busing and letting kids attend schools they could walk to. IPS performance would increase as well.

I think you're wrong about it saving money to send kids to schools they could walk to. It would require more schools to be open if it had to be within walking distance, right? For example, my boundary school is less than a mile from my house, but 3/4 of the student body comes from an apartment complex two miles away. There is not an IPS grade school close to that apartment complex because it is located in Lawrence Township. There are not enough kids in my neighborhood to fill up the neighborhood school. And if IPS closed the magnet school were my kids attend, I still wouldn't send them to my boundary school. I'd homeschool them or find a township school that would accept them without charging me tuition. So it seems to me, it would COST money and LOSE good students. Do you disagree?

The solution for IPS and performance generally in quality instruction would be for IPS to charter off a great number of schools. We will likely always have some busing for some students but market based approaches will ALWAYS work out better performance at less cost than the SOCIALIST model we now have.