Welcome to my campaign for world domination

[southsider2k5]

Well as I have stated before, I decided to take the plunge and see if the political world could handle me, or at least tolerate me. I am running for a seat on the school board in my hometown and wanted to share my freshly minted website with the general populous here at Soxtalk. Please feel free to read, comment, argue, etc. As at least the regulars here know, I love to debate and support my point of view, while learning from others, so feel free to let me know how you feel. The site has a couple more tweeks that are going to be done, such as adding a picture of yours truely, and trying to add an interactive section to allow more immediate feedback from viewers.

 

And now for the shill part, if you feel so moved, there is a section for donations to aid in the campaign. Its only a school board race, so I am not asking for an arm and a leg, but if you have something you would like to give to help out, it would be awesome, and well appreciated. Its not going to be anything fancy, so funds would go towards thing like signs, flyers, and potential commerical time on local cable access TV or local radio.

 

Thanks in advance for everything, even if it is just offering a point of view on my campaign platforms or website.

 

Mike aka Southsider

 

http://citybythelake.org

[Palehosefan]

Good luck with the campaign Mike!

 

As for the website, I already know of one bug with the Firefox browser on the "Kids must be lifelong learners page" where the text spills out of the table for some reason. But if you guys find anything else, feel free to post it.

[southsider2k5]

Good luck with the campaign Mike!

 

As for the website, I already know of one bug with the Firefox browser on the "Kids must be lifelong learners page" where the text spills out of the table for some reason. But if you guys find anything else, feel free to post it.

 

And thanks to you and Slav for doing the legwork on building the site. You guys did an awesome job, and the site wouldn't be there without you. I owe both of you tons.

[Soxy]

So, what type of kickbacks are you offering to your supporters?

[southsider2k5]

So, what type of kickbacks are you offering to your supporters?

ixnay aboutway ethay ickbackskay...

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Mike -- just a few questions from a Commie liberal union monkey teacher.

 

I looked at Joy Elementary in a Google search. Is the high free/reduced lunch count (57%) and the high mobility rate (33%) normal for the district? If so, you may want to check out this book called Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools: 50 Proven Strategies for Revitalizing At-Risk Students and Low Performing School. We had the guy come in for a workshop and he has a lot of practical things that can be used. Might be something to look through for the school board run.

 

Have the district schools been meeting AYP? If not, in what areas are they failing? (subject matter and/or racial/educational sub-categories cuz if any sub-category fails, the entire group gets a FAIL) How would you help those groups pass so the schools meet AYP?

 

What would your plan be to decrease class sizes given the current budget that you discussed in Michigan City?

 

Is there a PBIS system in place in schools there? (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) It has different things to reward kids for positive behaviors. Does their system work or is it a whole lot of people saying 'We gotta do X, Y and Z!" and then not follow up at all?

[southsider2k5]

Mike -- just a few questions from a Commie liberal union monkey teacher.

 

I looked at Joy Elementary in a Google search. Is the high free/reduced lunch count (57%) and the high mobility rate (33%) normal for the district? If so, you may want to check out this book called Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools: 50 Proven Strategies for Revitalizing At-Risk Students and Low Performing School. We had the guy come in for a workshop and he has a lot of practical things that can be used. Might be something to look through for the school board run.

 

Have the district schools been meeting AYP? If not, in what areas are they failing? (subject matter and/or racial/educational sub-categories cuz if any sub-category fails, the entire group gets a FAIL) How would you help those groups pass so the schools meet AYP?

 

What would your plan be to decrease class sizes given the current budget that you discussed in Michigan City?

 

Is there a PBIS system in place in schools there? (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) It has different things to reward kids for positive behaviors. Does their system work or is it a whole lot of people saying 'We gotta do X, Y and Z!" and then not follow up at all?

 

Some quick thoughts... more later

 

MC is a strange community. There are a couple of ultrarich areas up on the lake, and then the rest is pretty poor. The socioeconomic gap is huge, and the middle class is gone with the collapse of manufacturing in the 70s and 80s.

 

The school my wife teaches as actually has a 70% rate of free and reduced lunches, so yeah, some of the schools are really bad off. There are some terrible stories I have heard about some of the lives these kids lead/led.

 

AYP acheivment is spotty based on where your school is at. The ones in the poor areas are bad, with some actually missing passing becuase of attendance. The rich schools do very well.

 

One thing that has never really been adressed is MCAS has a bloated bureaucracy. We have way more administrators than any of the other schools our size in our area of the state, yet when cuts have come it has always been from teachers/staff positions. They really need to look at those numbers more closely. Another problem is that MCAS doesn't have a person who searches for grant money full time. With our demographics there are tons of grants we should/could be after, but it takes the teachers taking charge to actually get something done in that regard. Its sad really. Adressing those two things could go a lot towards putting more teachers in the classrooms.

 

PBIS is pretty much nonexsistant as far as I can tell. Almost all of City's programs are based either on getting poor kids taken care of, or keeping at risk kids in the classroom at different stages. The big thing as of late is the big preschool program that they are opening. The problem is they took funding away from the elem schools to do it. They also put them in a building they called too dangerous to house the alternative school just five years ago.

 

Thanks for the questions, and it gives me a lot to think about.

 

I do have appearences up coming for the Chamber of Commerce, League of Women voters, and a local township, so that should be interesting.

[kapkomet]

Partay at the appearances.

[southsider2k5]

Partay at the appearances.

 

In all seriousness, the old public speaking thing is really coming back to me. It had been a while, but I guess it is like riding a bike.

[southsider2k5]

My press release hit the papers today yeah!

[farmteam]

Just a quick comment on the site:

 

This may be small, but perhaps you should make your name more pronounced on the homepage. I only see it there twice (once on the button for the biography section on the left and once at the bottom of the page) and I had to search for several seconds for both of those. Admittedly, people who view that page likely already know your name, but I still think you should make it more visible. After all, if they don't know who you are, they can't vote for you.

 

Just my thoughts.

[southsider2k5]

Just a quick comment on the site:

 

This may be small, but perhaps you should make your name more pronounced on the homepage. I only see it there twice (once on the button for the biography section on the left and once at the bottom of the page) and I had to search for several seconds for both of those. Admittedly, people who view that page likely already know your name, but I still think you should make it more visible. After all, if they don't know who you are, they can't vote for you.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

That is one of the things on the "to-do" list. Actually I am hoping to soon have a video link up for my appearence on a local politics talk show, plus I need to get a picture of me without a baseball cap on for the site.

 

Thanks for the tip though, I appreciate it.

[southsider2k5]

From todays MC News Dispatch

 

MCEA endorses 4 candidates

 

By Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch

 

 

The local teachers union is endorsing four school board candidates, one for each vacant seat, but only one of the favored is an incumbent.

 

While working at Friday's football game at Ames Field, Phyllis Stark, president of the Michigan City Education Association, said the teachers have endorsed Jim Kintzele, who holds one of the civil city seats up for election.

 

They also endorse Beryle Burgwald and Virginia Mason along with Michael G for the at-large seat.

 

A couple of weeks ago, the teachers sponsored a candidate forum for teachers and retired teachers, Stark said.

 

“Beryle has a particular interest in the budget,” Stark noted. “He wants to see that money is spent the way it should be spent, and that's good. We all should be concerned about that.”

 

The MCEA has always enjoyed a pleasant working relationship with Kintzele, she said. Mason and G too, have said they would seek to “work collaboratively and cooperatively with us,” she added.

 

All of the endorsed candidates have been notified, Stark said, and an official announcement will be made Saturday morning.

 

Four other candidates are running for the three available civil city seats - incumbents Robert Frame, Adrienne Gottlieb, J. Jeffrey Jones, Karen Janus, Myra Remmel and Greg Tuel.

 

In addition to G, two additional candidates are actively seeking the at-large seat - Kathryn Lee and Timothy Timm.

 

http://www.michigancityin.com/articles/200.../14/news/n2.txt

[Heads22]

So am I missing something or does four somehow equal six in MC?

[southsider2k5]

So am I missing something or does four somehow equal six in MC?

 

Yeah, um the news dispatch isn't exacty famous for being solid.

[NorthSideSox72]

From todays MC News Dispatch

http://www.michigancityin.com/articles/200.../14/news/n2.txt

Great stuff, Mike.

[Heads22]

Yeah, um the news dispatch isn't exacty famous for being solid.

 

Is your children learning in Michigan City?

[southsider2k5]

An interesting thing came out of the school board meeting last night... It seems the State of Indiana has changed the way that they are going to calculate "graduation rate" completely by 2008-2009. The new rate is literally going to be how many students graduate in exactly four years, with very few exceptions. The new law is stringent enough that systems supposedly have to prove that a student has left the system, not just that they can't find the student anymore, in order to purge them from their numbers as "not graduated". Self-admitedly they have no means of verifying if a kid moves out of state, and those numbers will be included unless the school can prove otherwise. Also there is no recognition of a student who dropouts out and enters a GED program, and they are considered "not graduated" like any ordinary kid who just quits. The only real exception is for parents who file paperwork to have their kids homeschooled. Finally Indiana is changing the compulsory attendance age to 18.

 

Thoughts?

[kapkomet]

Wow. How will this impact funding?

[southsider2k5]

For our district imparticular, is going to be really bad, because there is also no distinction made for learning disabled/special education students. They also must graduate in 4 years meeting all Indiana/federal standards, no exceptions, or they count as "not gradutated."

 

EDIT-I left out that the MCAS special ed rate is 20%, which is the highest in the state as of last year.

Edited October 25, 2006 by southsider2k5

[Soxy]

For our district imparticular, is going to be really bad, because there is also no distinction made for learning disabled/special education students. They also must graduate in 4 years meeting all Indiana/federal standards, no exceptions, or they count as "not gradutated."

 

EDIT-I left out that the MCAS special ed rate is 20%, which is the highest in the state as of last year.

Wow, that's huge--so the 20% rate, does that mean that 1 our of 5 kids in MC schools are in the special ed program? That's going to be an enormous problem for those graduation rate.

 

I'm not sure how it work in IN, but aren't special ed kids allowed to be in school until 20 or 21? So, to keep these graduation rates intact some of those kids couldn't be moved up until they are 16 or 17? Lawmakers seem to be so out of touch with the needs of special populations (or at least special populations with no money).

 

I think the minimum age bump up is really good though. I saw an episode of Oprah (I know, I know) and I seem to remember them focusing pretty hard on IN about a higher drop out rate, though, admittedly, I don't remember what part of IN that was.

[NorthSideSox72]

Wow, that's huge--so the 20% rate, does that mean that 1 our of 5 kids in MC schools are in the special ed program? That's going to be an enormous problem for those graduation rate.

 

I'm not sure how it work in IN, but aren't special ed kids allowed to be in school until 20 or 21? So, to keep these graduation rates intact some of those kids couldn't be moved up until they are 16 or 17? Lawmakers seem to be so out of touch with the needs of special populations (or at least special populations with no money).

 

I think the minimum age bump up is really good though. I saw an episode of Oprah (I know, I know) and I seem to remember them focusing pretty hard on IN about a higher drop out rate, though, admittedly, I don't remember what part of IN that was.

Years back, the Denver Public School Districts, at the high school level, implemented a drop out program I really liked. Basically, for anyone under 18, in order to legally leave high school, the student and parents had to read a document out loud, and sign each point. Each point was something awful about leaving high school, like the staggeringly high rate of poverty for high school dropouts, lowered life span, rate of violent death, etc. The parent and student had to read each of these outloud and sign after each one that they understood the risks.

 

That is of course a last resort sort of tactic, but, I kind of liked it.

[southsider2k5]

Wow, that's huge--so the 20% rate, does that mean that 1 our of 5 kids in MC schools are in the special ed program? That's going to be an enormous problem for those graduation rate.

 

I'm not sure how it work in IN, but aren't special ed kids allowed to be in school until 20 or 21? So, to keep these graduation rates intact some of those kids couldn't be moved up until they are 16 or 17? Lawmakers seem to be so out of touch with the needs of special populations (or at least special populations with no money).

 

I think the minimum age bump up is really good though. I saw an episode of Oprah (I know, I know) and I seem to remember them focusing pretty hard on IN about a higher drop out rate, though, admittedly, I don't remember what part of IN that was.

 

Even worse than our SpeEd rates are our poverty rates. System wide it is something like 58%, 9-12 it is 43%. The middle school my wife teachers at is 70%. She has a kid in her class right now who has started downhill in her behavior, whom she is trying to "save". This kid has never had ANYONE in her entire family who has EVER graduated high school. The kid expects to be a dropout and on welfare, self-admittedly. She knows nothing else, and doesn't even understand that there are other possibilies. Its a rough system and needs a TON of help.

 

 

Years back, the Denver Public School Districts, at the high school level, implemented a drop out program I really liked. Basically, for anyone under 18, in order to legally leave high school, the student and parents had to read a document out loud, and sign each point. Each point was something awful about leaving high school, like the staggeringly high rate of poverty for high school dropouts, lowered life span, rate of violent death, etc. The parent and student had to read each of these outloud and sign after each one that they understood the risks.

 

That is of course a last resort sort of tactic, but, I kind of liked it.

 

Interesting. Was there a follow up study to see if it changed the dropout rates at all?

[NorthSideSox72]

Interesting. Was there a follow up study to see if it changed the dropout rates at all?

 

I don't recall. But the policy made it onto 60 Minutes or one of those similar news shows. This would have been around 1996 or 1997.

[Soxy]

Even worse than our SpeEd rates are our poverty rates. System wide it is something like 58%, 9-12 it is 43%. The middle school my wife teachers at is 70%. She has a kid in her class right now who has started downhill in her behavior, whom she is trying to "save". This kid has never had ANYONE in her entire family who has EVER graduated high school. The kid expects to be a dropout and on welfare, self-admittedly. She knows nothing else, and doesn't even understand that there are other possibilies. Its a rough system and needs a TON of help.

That's just depressing. Do the schools have an outside mentoring programs? Like the TRiO program? I remember when I was at St. Olaf that they had some success working with kids from the Twin Cities.