Report Card Revisions

The Report Card Committee met July 7, 2011. The past year we have been discussing needed changes to help parents have better information about their student's progress. Our meeting today led to some changes in our report cards. There will be letter grades included with standards grades on the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade report cards. (New examples coming soon!) The Kindergarten will have the new core standards in place of the Indiana Academic Standards. We rewrote the four point teacher rubric to be clearer and the 4 point parent rubric on the report card to be friendly.

Our group also talked about how to communicate this well with parents and staff. We will launch a campaign to educate about grades and grading for the elementary groups as school starts in August. Look for more details soon.

Legislative Actions

Well the legislature is creating to a flurry of activity during these last days as you might expect. Several bills are very disappointing and it feels like we in public education are the whipping boys once again. Great news about increased funding is overshadowed by the stripping of teacher rights in bargaining, the transfers of public funds to cover vouchers, teacher evaluation processes changing and more red tape for our business offices and administrators. All these well intentioned efforts to help us restructure public education and improve student achievement really miss the Whitko mark of “Excellence for All.”


Remember most of these things are only aimed at teachers and administrators. How support staff salaries and benefits are determined has not changed. The attempt from down state is to have us tie negotiations, evaluation and student achievement into one package. I have told many people if education knew how to do this they would have done it 100 years ago.

SB575

I’ll start my reflections around SB 575 the teacher bargaining bill. This bill was intended to help corporations that had complex teacher contracts get flexibility from their agreements. I guess there must be places these changes need made but not at Whitko Community Schools. I reviewed our contract in light of the legislation and can say there are only a few items that are not already state law. Changing what we can print in the book won’t change how we do business. The recall language and the hours as discussable rather than negotiable are two somewhat big issues. The other big issue is evaluation and it has a bill of its own.

We are now restricted to salary, insurance, leaves, and retirement. The other items will still need to be discussed but can’t be in future contracts. (Depending on who says that it means after July1, after it passes the Senate or after the current contract expires) This either gives administration greater flexibility, greater accountability or greater confusion depending on the issue. I am glad we are a group that talks things through and we will continue those efforts as we move forward.

SB001

Then there is this new teacher preparation, licensing and evaluation bill. It starts by adding a part to the business office that requires us to get trained in operational efficiencies and that be reported on the state website.

This bill makes everyone either a probationary or professional teacher rather than the non-permanent, semi-permanent or permanent. The intent is to get away from perceived tenure rulings from the courts and IEERB in the past. Again this won’t really impact how we do business. What does is the new evaluation language.

The new evaluation language ties student achievement and to salary adjustments. The idea was taken from business that if your students perform well you get more money! The problem is the lack of clear definitions of performs. The greater issue is linking that to the teacher evaluation. The bill is clear if you teach a subject tested by a state test that must impact your evaluation. Beyond that it is up to us to figure out what rubric to rate folks on and how that translates to pay increases. Again like business we have flexibility to reward the best performing teachers. Unlike business we work with people not widgets. I am sure working together we can form a plan that will be manageable and fair to all involved. The state will be developing their model but based on what we’ve seen thus far it will need a good deal of revising to work for us.

So where do we go from here? Like we do every day we go to work. We make the education and the lives of our children the top priority. We continue to work through the details of the requirements set upon us by the state and do what is best for kids. Most importantly we strive for “Excellence for All” by improving our practice and working like the Whitko family always does. Like any family we will come through this stronger and better. It just feels real messy now and downright annoying that we can’t just be left to do the good work we do every day for our kids.

Snow Days

We have certainly had an unusual winter. Earlier today, I closed school for the 8th time this year on top of several 2-hour delays. Today, we closed because of near blizzard conditions during the early morning. Other days we closed because the county had not plowed the roads in time for the buses to run. I firmly believe that if the roads had been treated before 8:00 a.m. that we could have attended school on some days this week after a two-hour delay. I believe the same would have been true about 4 other closing days this year. After speaking with county officials, I was notified that the county budgets, primarily strained due to property tax caps, could not afford the overtime it would take to treat roads beyond normal work hours. As a result, we have lost two school attendance days this week and I can remember at least two other time this winter where clearing and treatment of the county roads could have resulted in a different decision regarding the closing of school. This is a major concern given that another winter storm is set to arrive Sunday, and based on forecasts, we will likely delay or closed again Monday. Additionally, Monday's forecast indicates that we may receive more rain, snow, ice, or all of the above.


Since budget solutions to help the county's ability to prepare roads cannot be implemented to change the results that have occurred thus far, would you please consider contacting your legislator regarding this? School budgets are certainly strained but so our are counties. Contacting our state and local officials will help.

I like you hope we do not need to have further delays or cancellations but the safety of our students may make those things necessary.

Come on Spring!

Thanks for Voting

Thanks to all who voted in Tuesday’s election regarding the Whitko Referendum Question. While of course the school system wanted the issue to pass. We much more wanted the public to have the chance to vote on the direction we should take. We understand the times we live in and the financial situations of our families. We believe the safety net is needed for schools but recognize the need to live within our budgets.


The initial question everyone is asking is, now that the referendum question did not pass, now what? The answer is like we’ve said all along. We wait and see what funding is in the next couple years. The whole idea from the start is to have the referendum pass as an additional safety net.


There are NO current plans for reductions, consolidations or closings of anything. We have a balanced budget for next year, we have the availability of the Jobs Bill funds, and we have a small cash balance. Those items should carry us through the next year or two. The only factor out of our control is what the state may due in reductions or during the upcoming legislative session.


I am proud of our community and their participation in the electoral process and now we must turn our attention to making sure the state legislature meets their responsibility in wise use of the tax dollars we send them.

November 2nd

Vote your conscious


Vote your heart

Vote informed

But most importantly VOTE!



This Tuesday many important considerations are up for decision. I would ask if you've not stopped and reviewed things that you do prior to Tuesday. One example is tax caps in the Indiana Constitution. We have seen how capping funding has impacted schools. The reductions we've suffered are not from tax caps but legislating away a source of revenue for the future generations does not make sense to me. It is the law now. Legislators can change it as needed if other revenue sources improve. I just can't wrap my head around deciding someone else’s future.



Another item is our referendum. I honestly believe this will be common in Indiana as the local residents will once again be asked to fund their own services from local funds and not state revenues. Cities and towns will continue to look for ways to provide services to residents. I have to stop and think like everyone else. What services do I want to not have? No snow removal, no fire protections, no road repairs, no police protection or something else. I believe we should pay for the services we are asking our governments to provide. I hope we all pay attention to what our elected representatives do with the funds they have and let them know when they are off base.



I really want to encourage you to get involved in the political process and understand this is from someone who does not like politics.



I hope you support the referendum question and Vote Yes for Whitko on Tuesday.

How did the $1.25 million in reductions last year affect our community?

How did the $1.25 million in reductions last year affect our community?


These are ballpark numbers since we can’t know each person’s individual finances but some things we know are:

• About $70,000 less in state sales tax and $30,000 less in state income tax. This adds to the state deficit and that has caused our deficit.

• About $1 million less in income that would have fed into the area economy.

• 26 fewer people stopping in for gas, groceries and other services since individuals no longer drive to work here.

In the school it has meant:

• larger class sizes;

• staff working longer to get the tasks complete;

• offices having a harder time responding to needs; and

• changes in instructional practices some good but most just to be able to manage more students per staff member.

The same can be said for any business that has had to let staff go. One difference is we will still have the 1800 students show up tomorrow no matter how many adults are here to work with them. We want to do our best and are committed to doing so even with the economic conditions. I just thought it was interesting how the broader economy is affected as we often think only how the school was affected.

Thanks for the continued support as we strive for Excellence for All.

Referendum Update

These are some comments/rumors we’ve heard regarding the referendum. Yes, it is a small sampling, but I wanted to share what is really happening. Here are some facts as of today:


• We still need the referendum question to pass but are not in crisis mode.

• We project the 2010 budget to end where we did in 2009, which is great!

• The 2011 budget is balanced. (That only means our reductions were accurate, not that we don’t need some people and resources to perform better.)

• The current plans are not to raise tax money from the referendum this year if passed (pending state reductions to our funding).

• We are not close to closing or consolidating.

• We may need to make facility renovations sometime, but closing South Whitley Elementary is just way down the line if ever

• There is a public meeting October 5th at 6:30 pm at Whitko High School in the Auditorium (child care provided) to try to share the following:

     o What the referendum question means

           No taxes if the budget is balanced without them

           No current property tax supports salaries or benefits

    o Where we have been financially and programmatically

    o Where we are now

    o Where we’d like to be

    o Where we could potentially be

• There is an options committee looking at how to provide services more effectively or efficiently, increase revenue through other means, and/or provide additional resources to assist the schools.

• The amount of funding we received from the federal government Jobs Bill is 27% of the $1.25 million we reduced…or looking at it another way, 2/3 of one year’s reduction. So, if the State reduces us a similar amount to last year, we would need to make up another $150,000 or so.

• We need people to vote yes

• From an email yesterday: Dr. Bennett still advises districts to plan for the worst case scenario as the fiscal indicators are not positive as of today.

• From 9/9/10 Indianapolis Business Journal: Report: State must cut spending, hike taxes or both

Not trying to be Chicken Little but it may sound like the sky is falling


“Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking. ”Sir Ernest Rutherford, Nobel Laureate (Physics)

• We need the Referendum to pass November 2nd

• As of September 27th Dr Bennett was still saying expect a similar cut (half a million)

• As of September 27th Dr. Larry DeBoer Economics professor indicates 1.2 Billion shortfall for 2012 and 2013 for Indiana

• As of September 30 our Options Committee agreed we can’t cut people’s jobs to get out of the problem we are as thin as we can get.

• As of October 1st our former State Senator indicates a 1.1 Billion shortfall for Indiana

• We are protecting our students from the impending further reductions in state support.

o More reductions mean cuts in staff or programs

• The figures haven’t changed we are still balanced on paper for 2011 and 2012. The problem is the unknown state support.

What can you do?

     • Talk it up!

     • Hold a coffee time for a board member, Tom or Steve to talk to a few folks.

     • Place a sign!

     • Help the Referendum Committee (Contact Georgia Tenney at WMS or Jorell Tucker Board member)

o Call

o Canvas

• Vote!

SO is it as bad as all that? Yes. We can make more adjustments but nothing that doesn’t hurt students and staff. We will stay open and will endure these hard times but I must be honest things will not go back to normal (whatever that is) soon.