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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Abolish Indianapolis Public Schools

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Got your attention with the headline, didn’t I?

I meant to. This column is meant to get your juices and blood stirring. I want reaction. I want controversy. I want discussion. I want the Indianapolis Recorder to be flooded with letters and e-mails. I want a spirited discussion in Facebook and Twitter.

It’s time Indianapolis confronts the 1,000 pound elephant in the room regarding public education.

The Mind Trust can create half million dollar manifestos on educational change. State Schools Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett can talk takeovers. Mayor Greg Ballard can sell wolf tickets about education. The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce can bemoan our schools. Superintendent Dr. Eugene White can defend his status quo. But until we deal with this keystone issue, it’s all for naught.

My view is simple and direct!

We must abolish Indianapolis Public Schools!

But, I’m not advocating what you think I’m advocating. I’m not saying dismantle the school district and infrastructure that is IPS. My solution is more simple and basic.

We must eliminate the name Indianapolis Public Schools.

Allow me to explain and break down my reasons.

We have now virtually completed the merger of city/county institutions that should have occurred when UniGov was created 40 years ago. We’ve merged police and sheriff. We’ve virtually merged township fire departments with the city’s.

But schools – public education – remains the great taboo.

The simplest solution, merging all 11 school districts into a super district, while it sounds like the logical continuation of UniGov, is fraught with severe problems.

Each public school district in our city/county has distinct cultures, systems and ethos. Remember the many problems we had when IPD and the Sheriff’s Department were merged? Five years later, problems still exist merging those two distinct cultures.

Law enforcement isn’t the only institution with set-in their way work forces, entrenched bureaucracies and hard to reconcile attitudes, policies, procedures.

Multiply the problems law enforcement had merging cultures by 11 distinct school districts.

A combined city/county school district would be a huge behemoth. A budget between $1.5 billion and $2 billion educating more than 130,000 students. With tens of thousands of employees, a merged school system would be Indianapolis’ largest employer.

You wouldn’t save much on administration, because one superintendent couldn’t run a system that large. The system would be broken up into subdistricts; which is pretty much what we have now.

There is also no political or community will for a merger. No imperative within our African-American community, or any community for that matter.

Yet, Indianapolis must take the public education debate out of microanalyzing and micromanaging one school district; just because it has the word Indianapolis in its name.

I agree that the school district with Indianapolis in its name has many educational and systemic sins that must be reformed.

I agree that the school district with Indianapolis in its name has an elected, dysfunctional governing board that must be reformed.

I agree that many African-American children are not being served by the district.

But, the other school districts within Indianapolis also have many educational and systemic sins that must be reformed.

The other school districts within Indianapolis also have governing boards that require reform.

And many African-American children are not being served by the other local school districts.

But the community and media focuses so much attention on the educational sins of the district with Indianapolis in its name, while ignoring the educational sins throughout the city/county’s public education system.

In recent weeks, I’ve been confronted with horror stories about educational malpractice occurring in at least two township districts and a charter school. What more is out there?

That’s why I propose abolishing the name Indianapolis Public Schools. The district remains, serving a geography that contains just a third of this city.

The system can be called anything. From White River School District, to Dr. Martin Luther King School District (my choice). You could have a student contest. Best suggestion gets a full scholarship to the college or trade school of their choice.

My suggestion wouldn’t cost much. Change signs, stationery. Students could design the new logo and the district’s print shop would redo the stationery.

Eliminating the name Indianapolis Public Schools takes away the crutch among civic and political leaders that limits the public education discussion to problems of one district.

This column has repeatedly written that Indianapolis and Phoenix are the only major cities whose school systems don’t mirror the city’s boundaries.

Phoenix has no “public school system.” When Phoenix discusses the ills and successes of their public education they’re forced to talk about all districts. It’s time Indy does the same.

Eliminating Indianapolis from the name of our school districts forces politicians, business and civic leaders, columnists and editorial writers to talk about all schools, not just the one with “Indianapolis” in its name.

What’s your view? Send an email, write the Recorder or comment on Facebook (Amos Brown-WTLC) or Twitter (@amoswtlcindy).

Remember, your silence means you agree with me.

What I’m hearing

in the streets

Did Republicans on the City-County Council and the mayor’s office approach an African-American councilor to defect? I’m hearing buzz the Black council member was urged to vote for a white Republican for council president. But the GOP scoundrels couldn’t get another Democrat to go along with the scheme.

* * * * *

Rev. Mmoja Ajabu is an independent candidate against Rep. AndrĆ© Carson, though Ajabu’s 3,000-plus signatures petition won’t be certified for months.

Ajabu’s criticized Carson and Congressional Black Caucus members with “starving children” in the African nation of Zimbabwe.

Ajabu, though, ignores the facts. The United States has imposed “targeted sanctions” against top officials and associates of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, because of his government’s continued human rights abuses against their people.

American sanctions don’t include humanitarian aid, including food aid. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s agricultural economy, which used to be able to feed its people, is in shambles because of Mugabe’s abuses; not because of American sanctions or any action by Carson.

On this issue Ajabu’s way off base.

See ā€˜ya next week.

You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.

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