On the evening of Wednesday, March 24, two representatives from the Education Action Group Foundation were illegally evicted from a public budget meeting of the Indianapolis school district, after Andy Gammill, a local columnist from the Indianapolis Star, pointed out their presence to a school official.  

     EAGF has filed a formal complaint regarding this incident with the Indiana Public Access Counselor, charging that the eviction was a clear violation of the Indiana Open Door Law.  

     According to Indiana state law, “All meetings of the governing bodies of public agencies must be open at all times for the purpose of permitting members of the public to observe and record them.”  

     Most of the incident, including Gammill’s obvious effort to draw attention to the presence of EAGF representatives, as well as the actual eviction, was captured on video. 

     Kyle Oson (vice president of EAGF) and Don VanderKooi (EAGF video camera operator) attended Wednesday’s budget meeting at George Washington High School, as part of a film documentary project. They both signed in at the door, which is apparently required of all members of the audience. 

     Olson sat quietly toward the back of the room, while VanderKooi quietly operated the camera at the edge of the room. 

     About 40 minutes into the meeting, Olson was approached by, and introduced himself to Gammill, an education columnist with the Indianapolis Star. Moments later Gammell left his seat and approached Mary Louise Bewley, the district’s school/community relations director. 

     On the video, Gammill and Bewley are clearly seen motioning toward Olson and VanderKooi, then whispering and making exaggerated faces. A few moments later Bewley can be seen summoning VanderKooi into the hallway. 

     “(Bewley) passed in front of our camera several times during the meeting and seemed to have no problem with us, then within 30 seconds after she spoke to Gammill, we were in the process of being evicted from the meeting,” Olson said. 

     In the hallway, Bewley told VanderKooi that he wasn’t free to film an open public meeting for “disingenuous” purposes. Olson joined them in the hallway a moment later. 

     At that point Bewley can be heard on the video telling Olson that he should have called to let her know they were coming to the open meeting. She also told Olson that she believed EAGF was present at the meeting for “disingenuous” purposes, and said they had to leave. 

     When Olson asked for a definition of “disingenuous,” Bewley refused to give an answer and again ordered our crew to leave. Olson and VanderKooi were then escorted to the door by a police officer.     

     Olson and VanderKooi were never given the option of simply turning off their camera and remaining at the meeting. 

     EAGF left numerous telephone messages for Bewley, who did not respond.  

     EAGF has consulted with several attorneys in the Indianapolis area, all of whom said Bewley’s actions were a clear violation of the Indiana Open Door Law. 

     We contacted Dr. Willie Giles, assistant superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, to ask what grounds the school district cited to evict Olson and VanderKooi from the public meeting. 

     We asked if the district or state law had a “disingenuous” clause, allowing school officials to judge the legitimacy of journalists or their projects, before allowing them to enter or remain at a public meeting. 

     Dr. Giles said he was aware of no such clause. He acknowledged that the meeting was open to the public, and said he was not aware of any special procedures EAGF should have followed to gain access to the meeting. 

     We contacted Gammill, who told us that he approached Bewley during the meeting to get the name of a parent who had just spoken. He told us he mentioned our crew’s presence to Bewley only in passing, and he was surprised they were evicted. 

     Gammill, who ended our telephone interview after a few questions, said he knew of no law or policy that would allow school officials force orderly citizens to leave. 

     Gammill has used his column to criticize EAGF in the past.  

     We at EAGF believe it’s crucial that this illegal action be fully investigated, and the responsible school officials be held accountable. We believe the police officer who attended the meeting and forced our colleagues to leave should be made aware of the state’s open door law. 

     We also believe members of the Indiana media, as well as citizens of the state, should be concerned about public officials who take it upon themselves to determine who should be in a public meeting, and whether their purpose for being at a meeting is legitimate. 

     “If this can happen to us, who’s to say it can’t happen to Andy Gammill, the Indianapolis Star or anybody else,” Olson said.  “That’s why the people of Indiana should be concerned.”

     Teachers union contract rules are hurting schools in South Bend.

     Will the local union do the right thing and bend those rules for the good of the kids?

     Or will the Indiana State Teachers Association stick to its typical self-serving ways at the expense of long-overdue educational progress?

     The South Bend school corporation must soon adopt 28 tasks designed to improve failing ISTEP scores at Bendix, Riley and Washington high schools. If they don’t they risk a state takeover of the buildings in early 2011, the South Bend Tribune reports.

     The move comes after a state-hired consulting company last October toured the schools, and 20 others in Indiana, to determine changes that will improve student performance.

     A major problem they found was ISTA contract rules regarding seniority prevent administrators from putting teachers in the roles that best match their abilities.

     “Part of turning around these schools is the ability to channel the right human capital for the children of those buildings into those buildings,” State Superintendent Tony Bennett told the Tribune.

     There’s no doubt that a change in the contract policy is the best thing for South Bend students. The ISTA, on the other hand, has already begun its melodramatic opposition.

     “This is by all accounts an attempt to destroy the unions,” South Bend UniServ director Heidi Miller told the Tribune.

     ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger said, “They need to involve the local association and find solutions that are plausible for everyone.”

     Actually Nate, we believe it would be far better if they didn’t. It is quite clear that your union’s contract rules contributed to South Bend’s problems in the first place. Why on Earth should the school corporation seek the ISTA’s two cents?

     Wouldn’t it just be better for the students, and your union’s reputation, to simply bend contract rules a bit, so the right teachers are instructing the right kids?

     Is that too much to ask from the people who teach our children? The people of Indiana are eager to know.

     Any Hoosier seeking straight-shooting news or commentary on the state’s education issues would be wise to avoid the musings of Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette writer Karen Francisco.

     Her education blog “Learning Curve” seems to be nothing more than a regurgitation of press releases and talking points issued by the Indiana State Teachers Association. And she seems quite content offering little or no critical thought on the serious education reforms needed to turn Indiana schools around.

     Francisco’s most recent entry titled “’Keep the Promise´ to Indiana schools” is simply a free advertisement for the union’s latest public relations ploy, a gimmick to shift the blame for massive teacher lay-offs to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

     “”Keep the Promise” includes a Web site and radio and TV spots that ran in the waning days of the General Assembly’s just-ended session,” Francisco writes. “The TV spots feature Indiana teachers explaining that the budget cuts could mean laying off 5,000 teachers, increasing class sizes and cutting instructional program(s).”

     Francisco ends her thoughtless blog with what we assume is a plug from the ISTA’s TV ads.

     “Tell the governor and the legislators “No” to a $300 million cut in education. Tell them to keep the promise to Indiana’s children.”

      Perhaps Francisco has become so accustomed to simply posting the ISTA’s propaganda that she’s missed the fact that Governor Daniels initiated the cuts months ago. It’s a little late for a “no” vote.

     Her “Promise” blog neglects to acknowledge that Daniels urged Indiana schools to avoid lay-offs, and even issued a “Citizen’s Checklist” to help them explore alternative savings through things like privatizing school services or concessions from the ISTA. 

     Francisco’s entries do, however, illustrate one of the biggest obstacles against much needed education reform in Indiana: For far too long the ISTA has leached money from the state’s public schools with no questions asked. Media types like Francisco only make it more difficult to change that tradition.

     Conspicuously absent from Francisco’s union promotion pieces is the fact that state education leaders are keeping their promise to students by putting students’ needs before the interests of the very powerful ISTA.

     State Superintendent Tony Bennett’s “Fast Forward” reforms bring more accountability to the classroom, provide more educational choices for students and parents, adopt higher standards for students and teachers, develop a more detailed data system to track educational progress, provide methods to turn around failing schools as well as a whole host of other long-overdue changes.

     Gov. Mitch Daniels is also setting an example for Indiana’s school children by displaying responsible financial behavior by forcing the state education system to live within its means.

     From what we can tell, Francisco and her cronies at the ISTA have spent the last several months simply complaining about budget cuts, while offering virtually no feasible solutions.

     Sure, budget cuts could mean laying off up to 5,000 teachers, increasing class sizes or cutting instructional programs, but that fate could be avoided if the ISTA was willing to negotiate common-sense contract concessions to help pull the state’s schools from the red.

     Instead, Francisco and the ISTA remain focused on preserving top notch salary and benefit packages, automatic raises and other union perks for tenured teachers, while the state’s younger, eager educators continue to file into the unemployment office.

     The refusal of the Indiana State Teachers Association to accept reasonable concessions to keep the Kankakee Valley School system financially afloat likely will result in about two dozen teacher layoffs and the elimination of entire education programs.

    It could also result in an illegal and unnecessary teachers strike.

    The Kankakee Valley school board is considering deep budget cuts after contract negotiations with the ISTA’s local affiliate broke down last week, and both sides head to the often long and tedious mediation process to resolve the issues. The school system, meanwhile, continues to bleed between $50,000 and $60,000 per month.

     Plans are now moving forward to cut about 12 percent of the district’s teachers, and  eliminate art and physical education programs as well as media center staff and some elementary school counseling, the Gary Post-Tribune reports.

     We believe the mediation process and drastic school cuts are unnecessary. We support state Superintendent Tony Bennett’s assertion that Indiana schools can weather the financial storm with the cooperation of their local teachers unions.

     Unfortunately, many ISTA locals, including Kankakee Valley’s, are more concerned about preserving top notch benefits and salary packages, than keeping teachers in front of students.

     “We should both have every interest in settling this and keeping the teachers in the classroom at minimal damage to salary and benefits,” ISTA negotiator Dave Smith told the Post-Tribune.

     It’s the latter part of Smith’s comment that reveals the ISTA’s true priorities.

     Smith apparently refused the school board’s proposal for teachers to lend the district 4 percent of their salary for the 2010-11 school year, despite a plan to repay teachers at the end of the year from money saved through attrition.

     Instead, the ISTA proposed alternative cuts the school corporation already intends on implementing, as well as cuts to the transportation fund that may be illegal, school officials told the Tribune.

     Those measures are simply a smoke screen to steer discussions away from desperately needed union concessions. They do nothing to stop the bleeding or move Kankakee Valley forward financially.

     Kankakee Valley Superintendent Glenn Krueger is also concerned that the ISTA’s uncooperative nature may get worse.

     “It could very well end in a strike. I’m expecting that, too,” he told the Post-Tribune.

     We think a strike would be a perfect way for the union to show its true colors, and may go a long way to highlight a major fundamental problem of Indiana’s schools: The ISTA has for too long put the interests of adults before the students it serves.

     It’s just too bad that the union may throw Kankakee Valley’s students under the bus to get that point across.

     Two Indianapolis area school districts have taken distinctly different routes to dealing with large budget shortfalls in the wake of significant state education funding cuts.

     The results speak volumes about the priorities of their local teachers unions.

     In Perry Township, on the city’s south side, board members recently voted to cut 43 teachers at the end of the school year to help plug a $7 million hole in the school budget.

     North of town at Hamilton Southeastern, education leaders were able to navigate a roughly $10 million budget gap without issuing a single pink slip, and with a minimal impact on student programs.

     So what gives?  The local teachers union, that’s what.

     We at the Education Action Group Foundation fully understand that each school system faces unique challenges, financial and otherwise, but it’s hard to deny how a union’s cooperation affects the health of a district, particularly during tough economic times.

    Perry Township school officials asked its local teachers union to give up a recently negotiated one percent raise in addition to health care concessions negotiated as part of their new contract, inked shortly before the budget cuts were announced.

     The union’s response? Sorry, but we’ve given all we can.

     Indiana State Teachers Association spokesman Terry Troxell then blamed Gov. Mitch Daniels for the district’s budget woes. Classy.

     At Hamilton Southeastern, the school board reached an early contract agreement in which teachers agreed to suspend raises, as well as the district’s 1.5 percent contribution to their retirement health benefits. Those measures were applied to teachers and administrators alike, and may be combined with a proposed agreement that all employees help to cover an expected 10 percent increase in health insurance costs.

     The union’s cooperation helped to potentially save the district about $3 million, without reducing any teacher positions.

    “This … is due, in part, to Association leadership focusing on putting kids first,” Superintendent Brian Smith said in a statement.

     This is a prime example of how dedicated educators can help pull their districts from the red without jeopardizing their co-workers’ jobs or educational quality. It’s our hope that Hamilton Southeastern’s educators are rewarded for their sacrifices when the state’s economy rebounds.

     With both school corporations employing just over 900 teachers, we believe Perry Township schools could have realized similar savings, had their teachers union been willing to bend a little more.

     We believe it’s a shame that the students and younger educators in that school system will have to bear the brunt of the budget cuts to preserve union perks for the district’s tenured teachers.