Menu
Educators test Legislators’ loyalty to smaller schools
In their annual sparring session sponsored by the Putnam County Farm Bureau, the state legislators serving the area and the four local school superintendents and high school principals addressed what they hope to see in terms of education reform during the 2018 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
“I tell people we always accomplish something at this meeting,” noted moderator Steve Cash, president of the Putnam County Farm Bureau who formerly served on the South Putnam School Board for more than 23 years.
And more than a hour later, when the recent program for school officials concluded in the Ivy Gallery dining room at Area 30 Career Center, it was Cash who was ready with perhaps the best summation of the proceedings.
School corporation income and expenses don’t mesh, he said, after another comment was made equating Carmel schools’ budgets operating like they were Purdue University, while Putnam County and other small schools are left to run like an Arby’s.
“We don’t get the luxury of saying these are our expenses and we need this much money to cover them,” Cash said. “You tell us, ‘This much is what you get, make it work.’ That’s why we had to combine band and choir instructors.”
District 37 State Sen. Rod Bray (R-Martinsville), who represents the south portion of Putnam County (including the south side of Greencastle as far north as the center of Washington Street), told the school officials their points were well taken.
“We needed the clarity of what you need,” Bray said on behalf of his fellow legislators, District 24 State Sen. John Crane (R-Avon) and District 44 State Rep. Jim Baird (R-Greencastle).
CHS Principal Sonny Stoltz also asked the legislators how important it is to them to keep open all the schools in the communities they represent.
It seems as though the General Assembly is “legislating small schools into a corner,” Stoltz said.
“We feel like we’re fighting big bureaucracy and want someone to stand up for us,” he added. “We want to feel like we have representatives who support our small schools.”
Rep. Baird, who just began his eighth year as District 44 representative, reminded the group he is both a product and a supporter of small schools. “I’m all about the small schools.”
Putnam school officials also voiced concern over the new Indiana State Board of Education-approved new high school Graduation Pathways. Designed to give students tailored options for a diploma that doesn’t necessarily involve passing standardized tests, the pathways allow students to gain in-demand skills. It is envisioned as part of a larger state effort to better align education outcomes with workforce needs.
However, school administrators believe too little discussion or too few details or too little time for reflection may result in unintended consequences that could eventually harm the very students the effort seeks to help.
Cloverdale Principal Stoltz likened it all to the health care issue.
“They have no idea, no one does, what’s in it,” he said, “so there’s a lot of concern.”
What bothers North Putnam Principal Jason Chew is that he has asked for answers but hasn’t gotten any, despite writing three letters to the Department of Education.
“They all came back the same way -- ‘not able to be answered at this time,’” he said.
“We’re all in favor of Pathways,” Chew said, “just not in how it’s being presented to us.
“It’s just like trying to build a plane in mid-air. That’s why we’re asking DOE to just hold up. We’d have too many major adjustments to our staffing and our planning in the not-too-distant future.”
Sen. Crane pointed to the purpose of education.
“Why we educate kids,” he said, “is to be responsible citizens” and not just to educate them to get a job.
“If that were true,” he said, “every school would be an Area 30.”
The end game to all of it, Sen. Crane said, is a better quality of life.
“We’ve loosened the reins a bit,” he said. “When I was in school, it was ‘of course you’re going to college.’”
The other options were jobs or military.
“Your concerns are noted and well taken,” Crane told the local educators in regard to the Pathway effort. “Sometimes an urgency to pass something gets too far into the driver’s seat.”
North Putnam Supt. Dan Noel agreed.
“That’s what a lot of people are saying,” he said. “‘Let’s slow down a little bit, catch our breath.’”
Crane concurred with that.
“Your gut instinct would be my gut instinct,” he told Noel, adding that there appear to be competing well intentions.
“I don’t think anybody’s going in there trying to see how to make things worse for people,” the senator said.
With the new requirements, instead of requiring students to pass an exam to graduate, will allow them to choose a path that is tailored to their interests, abilities and aspirations after graduating.
According to the IDOE, students in the 2023 graduating class will need to meet the following Graduation Pathway requirements:
-- Earn academic credit to obtain a high school diploma.
-- Learn and demonstrate employability skills through a project-based learning experience, service-based learning experience, or a work-based learning experience.
-- Complete post-secondary competencies via one of the following: Earning an honors diploma, finishing apprenticeship or career-technical courses or meeting college-ready standards for ACT, SAT and ASVAB tests.
Meanwhile, for current high school students, those graduating in 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022, ISTEP 10/End-of-Course Assessments will continue to be used as the graduation qualifying examination.
School superintendents Greg Linton, Cloverdale; Jeff Hubble, Greencastle; Bruce Bernhardt, South Putnam, and Dan Noel, North Putnam, joined the three legislators for the program, along with school principals Jason Chew, North Putnam; Sonny Stoltz, Cloverdale; Russ Hesler, Greencastle; and Mike Schimpf, South Putnam.
Also in attendance were Lora Busch, Area 30; Nancy Holsapple, Old National Trail; Kim Fidler, Uniserve/ISTA; and Steve and Patti Cash, Farm Bureau.
Farm Bureau sets Legislative Updates
Putnam County Farm Bureau invites the public to its 2018 Legislative Update sessions to be conducted Jan. 20, Feb. 17 and March 17, which are the third Saturdays of each month.
The programs, which will begin at 8 a.m., are set to feature District 44 State Rep. Jim Baird (R-Greencastle), District 37 State Sen. Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) and District 24 State Sen. John Crane (R-Avon).
Leaders from Putnam County will be invited to attend the sessions along with the meeting being open to the public.
The sessions will be conducted in the board room of the Putnam County Farm Bureau office, 1001 N. Jackson St., Greencastle.
Cinnamon rolls and coffee will be provided.