NEIFPE 2020 Year in Review

Year in Review 2020

[Click here to download a pdf copy of our Year in Review 2020.]

Like everyone else, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) looked forward to the start of a new decade and its continued advocacy for public education. The thought of a Presidential election and other national, state, and local elections meant informing the public of candidates’ stances on public education.

As we all know, three months into the new year and the arrival of COVID-19 brought about swift change and turmoil for our country and the world.

Within those first three months, NEIFPE focused on attending events where state and local legislators met with teachers and concerned citizens to address public education concerns.

NEIFPE also met with area candidates for political office to provide information on public education issues.

Of course, NEIPFE in-person meetings quickly gave way to Zoom meetings and/or socially distanced meetings in parks.

While the work NEIFPE accomplished in that short time span was important, it paled in comparison to the work done by all those on the front lines of the pandemic.

Once again public school teachers—and all of those entrusted with the education of our students --- did what they always do: doing what’s best for their students. Facing the most dire circumstances, teachers and everyone involved in keeping our public schools going worked nonstop to adapt and develop methods to provide instruction and guidance and well-being for their students.

Even as the 2020 Spring term ended, teachers began to prepare for the 2020-21 school year and whatever it might bring.

We have all read about and seen all the heroic measures that those involved in public education have taken for their profession, colleagues, and most importantly, their students. It does indeed take everyone to get the job done. Thank you so very much for all that you have done and continue to do to make public education so important.

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In Case You Missed It – Feb 17, 2020

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

NEIFPE's 2019 YEAR IN REVIEW

YEAR IN REVIEW

NEIFPE Year in Review, 2019

Check out NEIFPE's Year in Review for 2019. This was a difficult task for NEIPFE members to create due to the loss of our hero, Phyllis Bush. Please check out the special tribute to her on pages 2-4.

PUBLIC FUNDS NEED PUBLIC OVERSIGHT

In a damning audit, Indiana calls on two virtual schools to repay $85 million in misspent state funds

Charter schools and voucher receiving schools in Indiana benefit from public funding. They need public oversight, just like public schools. Our legislators laid the groundwork for this fraud.

From Chalkbeat* Indiana

In what has become one of the nation’s largest virtual charter school scandals, Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy officials showed “substantial disregard” for following the rules and may have “focused on maximizing profits and revenues by exploiting perceived vulnerabilities” in local oversight and state funding processes, the report said.

GUESS WHO IS SKEPTICAL OF BILLIONAIRES SHAPING ED POLICY?

Bill and Melinda Gates have spent billions to shape education policy. Now, they say, they’re ‘skeptical’ of ‘billionaires’ trying to do just that.

From the Answer Sheet

You won’t believe what Bill and Melinda Gates are saying makes them “skeptical.”

For years, they have spent a fortune trying to shape public education policy, successfully leveraging public funding to support their projects, but never having the kind of academic success they had hoped for. That never stopped them from continuing to fund pet projects.

Now, in the newly released 2020 annual letter of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates says that lack of success is no reason to “give up,” and then, she says this:

We certainly understand why many people are skeptical about the idea of billionaire philanthropists designing classroom innovations or setting education policy. Frankly, we are, too. Bill and I have always been clear that our role isn’t to generate ideas ourselves; it’s to support innovation driven by people who have spent their careers working in education: teachers, administrators, researchers, and community leaders.

SADLY, INDIANA RANKS #1

What Charter Advocates Want From States

Charter advocates really like Indiana because our legislators have been helping them take over local and community control for years. We must elect legislators who understand that community public schools need to be supported.

Perhaps Indiana's #1 ranking is why virtual charters were able to steal $85 million from our students.

From Curmudgucation

What exactly would charter proponents like to see in state charter regulations? As it turns out, we don't have to guess, because the National Alliance of Public [sic] Charter Schools regularly publishes a ranking of the states based on the "strength" of their charter laws. This year's edition is the 11th, and it's available right now! Woot!

If you are concerned about the rankings, I can give you some highlights. Indiana, Colorado and Washington come in at spots 1, 2 and 3. Florida (State motto: "Making sure there is no public school system for Certain People's grandchildren") is down at 7. Maryland, Kansas, and Alaska are at the bottom. Five states are not on the list at all--no charter laws. There are some other surprises, like Ohio at a measly 23.

Teachers and friends of Public Education rally at the Indiana State
House on November 19, 2019. Governor Holcomb did not attend.

HOLCOMB, LEGISLATURE, IGNORE TEACHERS

No funding action after big Indiana teacher protest

Legislators complained that Indiana teachers didn't follow through with lobbying and letters. On the other hand, teachers might find it hard to lobby and write letters during their 50-hour work week.

Meanwhile, Governor Holcomb, who couldn't be bothered to attend the rally and respond to teachers, took time out of his busy schedule to speak to supporters of vouchers and charter schools for "school choice week."

From WANE.com

Several thousand teachers at a boisterous Statehouse rally put complaints about their treatment in front of Indiana lawmakers as this year’s legislative session started.

But those chants for improved school funding didn’t result in additional money as Republican lawmakers pushed through this year’s only planned spending bill even before the session reached its midpoint this past week.

PRESIDENT ATTACKS PUBLIC EDUCATION

Trump Lied About Philly Student in “Failing Government School”

From Diane Ravitch

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Trump singled out a child from Philadelphia who, he said, was “trapped in a failing government school.” In fact, the child attends one of the city’s most elite charter schools. Didn’t Betsy DeVos realize she had given $1.3 million to the self-same charter school in 2019?

President Donald Trump turned a Philadelphia fourth grader into a poster child for the school-choice movement Tuesday when he told the nation that thousands of students were “trapped in failing government schools” and announced that the girl was at last getting a scholarship to attend the school of her choice.

But Janiyah Davis already attends one of the city’s most sought-after charter schools, The Inquirer has learned. In September, months before she was an honored guest at Trump’s State of the Union address, she entered Math, Science and Technology Community Charter School III.

*Note: Financial sponsors of Chalkbeat include pro-privatization foundations and individuals such as EdChoice, Gates Family Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and others.

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NEIFPE 2018 Year in Review

NEIFPE's Year in Review, 2018.

Below are some image highlights from the 2018 NEIFPE Year in Review.

Click here or on any image for the full Year in Review as a pdf file.

In January members of education and religious communities gathered in January to hear Rev. Charlie Johnson discuss the success of Pastors for Texas Children. NEIFPE teamed up with Rev. Johnson to encourage local religious groups to join together to support public education.

Rev. Charlie Johnson of Pastors for Texas Children

Throughout the year NEIFPE members joined with others to attend and celebrate community events.

Below NEIFPE members attended the service at Plymouth Congregational Church where Karen Francisco, pictured above in pink, was honored with the Amistad Peace and Justice Award.

Donna Roof, Phyllis Bush, Kathy Candioto, Anne Duff, Karen Francisco, and Lucy Hess at Plymouth Congregational Church.

NEIFPE members attended The Power of Her Story: Brunch in Celebration of Women's Voices with Keynote Speaker, Glenda Ritz, the former Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Terry Springer and Eileen Doherty at the Power of Her Story brunch in Fort Wayne.

We sponsored events like a viewing of the movie, Backpack Full of Cash, which was followed by a panel discussion.

Our members made presentations to local PTAs as well as classes of education students at PFW.

Meg Bloom, Susie Berry, and Stu Bloom spoke to the Haley Elementary PTA.

We participated in community actions in defense of children and in support of sensible gun legislation.

In May NEIFPE hosted and encouraged others to host "Meet-Up/Greet-UpTweet-Up" events to focus the community on legislation detrimental to public schools.

Karol Dehr and Susie Berry at a Meet-up/Greet-up/Tweet-up gathering.

We gathered in August with friends from around the state (and Ohio) to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee birthday of our co-founder, Phyllis Bush.

Co-founder Phyllis Bush, with fans.

During the campaign for the 2018 general election, our members attended, and participated in a panel discussion on education issues for U.S. Representative Candidate, Courtney Tritch.

Meg Bloom sits on the Tritch Education Panel.

The Network for Public Education's 2018 annual National Conference was held in Indianapolis. Quite a few NEIFPE members attended...

NEIFPE members and friends at the NPE National Conference, 2018.

...listened to speakers and presentations...

NPE Founder Diane Ravitch speaks in Indianapolis, October, 2018.

...and joined NPE in honoring NEIFPE co-founder Phyllis Bush. NPE established a new award for community activism and named it after Phyllis, who is also a Board Member for NPE. The first annual award went to SOS Arizona.

NPE names award for Phyllis Bush.

NEIFPE ended the year with a wedding celebration. On December 11, NEIFPE co-founders Phyllis Bush and Donna Roof were married in Fort Wayne. With short notice, a court room was filled with friends and former students to celebrate this joyous occasion.

📝📝📝

NEIFPE: 2017 Year In Review

NEIFPE's Year in Review, 2017.
Click any image for a pdf version.

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NEIFPE: 2016 Year In Review

NEIFPE's Year in Review, 2016.

(Click on an image for a pdf version)

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NEIFPE: 2015 Year In Review

To see the whole newsletter as a pdf file, click any picture...

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Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education Year in Review

Dear Readers,

As another new year of public school advocacy begins across our state and country, the words of Margaret Mead come to mind:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

The year 2014 was, like previous years, unfriendly to public education. Although Indiana has educational concerns unique unto itself, there are similarities that exist in education reform from state to state. NEIFPE, like many other public education advocacy groups, continued to speak up and speak out against education reformers and the deleterious effects of their reform.

As a public school advocacy group, NEIFPE’s mission statement is thus:

We are citizens, teachers, administrators, and parents united by our support for public education and by concerns for its future. Recent federal and state reform measures have created an over-emphasis on testing and have turned over public education to private interests. We believe that these reforms threaten the well-being of our children and jeopardize their futures. Our goal is to inform ourselves and to start community discussion about the impact of these measures on our public schools and, more importantly, on our children.

In relation to our mission statement, here are a few 2014 highlights:

• We met with area legislators so that we could get to know them and to build working relationships. While we often didn’t agree on education policy, we feel that listening to one another is the beginning to understanding issues and solutions.

• We attended the screening of Rise above the Mark at Butler University in March, which led to our collaboration with the Fort Wayne Cinema Center for a screening in August. In September we partnered with ICPE (Indiana Coalition for Public Education) for a screening at IPFW (Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne).

• At the same time, several of us went to the Network for Public Education Conference in Austin, Texas where we were energized by meeting with nationally recognized public education advocates. This led us to write an op-ed about our experiences.

• Throughout the year we worked on messaging to parents, teachers, and concerned citizens about the issues concerning public education.

• As the primary election loomed, we began messaging about the importance of voting.

• Subsequently, we created a questionnaire which asked candidates about their positions on education issues.

• We met with Allen County Labor Council to broaden our outreach.

• We testified at the State Board meeting that was held at Ivy Tech in Fort Wayne.

• We attended the Moral Mondays rally led by Rev. William Barber in Indianapolis.

• We created a survey about the purpose of education, which we subsequently shared on our blog, our Facebook page, and with our mailing list. After we tabulated the responses, we wrote an op-ed about what we had learned.

Looking back over this past year and the past 3 years, we can see where we have been and what we have done. Although what we are fighting for and against continues to be the same, we know that we still have much work to do. Now more than ever, we will to continue to reach out to people across our community, across our state, and across our country to impress upon them that saving public education is an imperative. If we are ever to have a good and just society, public education must be one of its building blocks.

As we continue to fight the good fight, we must always remember why we continue to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. In the words of educator John Kuhn,

"Public education is a promise we make to the children of our society, and to their children, and to their children.”

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