That White Man Is At it Again
Growing up in Chicago you learn a few things, particularly the art of the con game. Whenever the con man tells you to look at one hand, it’s the other hand you should be paying attention to. It would behoove a lot of people to keep that in mind when dealing with Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Eugene White.
White made headlines this week by making two announcements; first, he is dropping his plans to sue the state of Indiana to avoid the takeover of several failing schools. Secondly, he is taking extra-curricular programs out of the schools which are being taken over. A big headline of course, but this is where the sleight of hand comes in.
White is also planning to change the structure of several schools in an effort to “restart the clock” on possible future takeovers. In an e-mail dated August 31, White unveiled plans to break up the district are remaining community and magnet schools. The text from the e-mail is below…
I have directed Rocky to prepare papers to have our Community and Magnet High Schools separated from their Middle Schools. We will have the 7 and 8 grades or 6, 7, and 8 grades become Junior High Schools. The following schools will result from this change:
- · Broad Ripple Magnet High School
- · Broad Ripple Magnet Junior High School
- · Crispus Attucks Magnet High School
- · Crispus Attucks Magnet Junior High School
- · Shortridge Magnet High School
- · Shortridge Magnet Junior High School
- · John Marshall Community High School
- · John Marshall Community Junior High School
- · Northwest Community High School
- · Northwest Community Junior High School
- · George Washington Community High School
- · George Washington Community Junior High School
Each school will have its own State School Identification Number. Each school will still remain in the same building. We will still receive the benefits of the current community high school or magnet high school without fighting the State over counting the “whole” school. Now there will be two whole schools.
Arsenal Tech’s status will remain as it currently exists and so will Harshman Middle School.
The point of this is pretty simple, by changing the way the schools operate and giving them new identities, critics argue White is trying to circumvent the next possible round of takeovers. When I asked an official at the Indiana Department of Education for their reaction, they said “the show just never stops.”
You can say that again.
