On May 29, 2008, Brian Zimmerman wrote in the Pal-Item that the school board voted to forgo the $2,000 annual stipend they get paid for being on the board if the school fails to meet 3 key benchmarks:

Six of seven board members agreed to be paid only if Richmond High School’s graduation rate in 2009 is at least 71 percent and if 81 percent of students pass the reading and math portions of Indiana’s standardized test this fall. Richmond Community Schools’ Board Secretary Rick Ahaus, whose term ends in July, was not present to vote.

Board member still get their $112 per meeting, and still get health, dental and vision insurance via the school system, but the bet has been made.

So now that there is money on the table, let’s look at these numbers. Mr. Zimmerman reported that the official graduation rate in 2007 was 60%. Remember, Indiana altered its accounting for graduation starting with the 2005-2006 school year, causing Richmond to post some really poor numbers, including 60% in 2007 (or 57.6% according to the state, link) and 52.8% in 2006.

Now, at least on the graduation rate, the board likely feels pretty confident on their bet: On April 11, 2008, Mr. Zimmerman reported that school superintendent Allen Bourff told the board that the administration was predicting that 300 out of 348 seniors might graduate this year - this would be an 86% graduation rate:

“We do expect to improve on 60 percent,” Superintendent Allen Bourff said Thursday night. “I can’t say that we would be at 86 percent. That’s going up 26 percentage points. But we would be thrilled if we could see that.” RHS hasn’t seen consecutive increases in graduation rates in recent years.

But this is all a numbers game, with those at the top of the school system pressing hard to end the negative press they get with an almost 50% “failure” rate, and the administration scrambling to work the numbers to get the heat off.

The fight over the numbers obscures the real issues with local education, and that is the actual result - things that do not look good in press reports, like below 50% literacy rates in town - literacy rates - not high school graduation rates. When these numbers make it to the paper, the folks in the economic development arena complain to the paper and the school about scaring away new businesses from the town due to the quality of the workforce . . . Not pleasant things.

But the question I have with all these numbers is this: In the 2002-2003 school year, Richmond High School had 467 freshman enrolled. The school reported in April 2008, that it had 348 seniors in the class of 2008 - These are the same students, so what happened to the 119 students between 9th and 12th grade?

The administration will say, “Hey, people move away.” But people also move into town. I can understand some loss to to overall population losses, but a quarter of the students moved away? No.

The bulk of those 119 students are still in town, they are just not enrolled in school. You can find them working, hanging out, taking care of their kids, etc. One thing the school has learned about the new accounting system is that, if a kid tells the school they are withdrawing from school to be “home schooled,” the school does not have to count that student in their dropout figures - So you can imagine the discussions that occur when a student says they want to “drop out.”

In order to home school, the parent has to send in a form to the state - I wonder if the state has 119 home school forms from these missing students - I seriously doubt it. I also have to wonder how it is that a community with a 25% literacy rate has the resources to home school so many high school students.

Anyway, the way I see the numbers, the class of 2008 started Richmond High totaling 467 - If they do manage to graduate 300 next Sunday, that would be a 64% graduation rate. Let’s see if they make that.

Well, all those funny helicopters flying around this morning are now explained: Bill Clinton is coming to Richmond tomorrow:

Former President Bill Clinton will make a stop at Richmond Fire Station No. 1 at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of a visit to Indiana for the presidential campaign of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic Party officials announced today.

Bill Clinton will be in Richmond, Lawrenceberg and Fort Wayne on Tuesday, accompanied by former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan and former Indiana first lady Judy O’Bannon.

Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton, who is also the Wayne County Democratic Party chairwoman, said this morning she first learned Sunday night of the former president’s plan to visit the city.

Link (Pal-Item).

Fire Station #1 is about a block from my office. My first thought was not “Oh, what a wonderful opportunity to see an ex-prez,” I am more concerned with being able to get to the courthouse and back in the afternoon. Presidential visits (even quasi) tend to shut things down.

So Indiana’s sit-back-and-wait-until-May primary plan is finally coming to fruition. The Dem’s even have a choice between 2 candidates - can Hoosier’s handle all this excitement? Actually, I’ve only had one conversation today about Bill’s big visit - compared to dozens of conversations about the NCAA tournament seeding (general consensus, IU & Purdue are over rated and misranked).  Priorities.

Keeping the price of pot in Pittsburgh nice and high:

Police recovered almost 15 pounds of marijuana Tuesday afternoon that they said had a street value of $37,500 after stopping a Pennsylvania man for what they said was unsafe lane movement. A vehicle driven by Shawn Wormack, 34, of New Salem, Pa., was stopped on Interstate 70 near the Centerville rest area, said Scott Owens of the Richmond Police Department.

Police make I-70 drug bust (Pal-Item)

Dunn Center laid off about 10% of its staff last month. The Pal-Item article penned by Michelle Manchir, now in the archives noted:

Twenty-nine employees of Dunn Center Mental Health, Inc. have been laid off, said CEO Kay Whittington on Sunday. Whittington called the “temporary reduction in force” a result of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposed cuts in Medicaid and a bill that could limit how much Medicaid communal health centers may offer.

This article prompted a letter to the editor (find it here) by E. Mitchell Roob, Jr., the secretary of the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration, which ran in yesterday’s paper claiming that the Dunn Center’s CEO had the story wrong:

While the governor has asked state agencies to reduce spending, cuts to the Medicaid program that serve Indiana’s vulnerable populations were neither made nor proposed. These claims are simply untrue and citing this as the reason for layoffs is misguided at best.

Roob noted that the Indiana legislature had actually increased funding to the 30 Indiana Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs), of which Dunn is one, in this fiscal year. He claims the financial crises facing Dunn is due to a change in federal guidelines that would cause the CMHC’s to be viewed by the federal government as private companies and not governmental agencies - as they are currently. This change, which Roob claimed could go into effect as early as May 25th of this year, would make the CMHC’s ineligible for certain matching funds from the feds.

The state administration “feels the pain” for these centers, but “[i]n the end, it is up to the CMHCs to consider their options in the face of federal changes and move forward in a way that is best for the community, knowing that the state is a willing partner along the way.” Another way of saying that is “you’re on your own, buddy.”

Roob is back in the Pal-Item today (link), explaining why the state is backing out of ongoing talks to privatize (”localize”) Richmond State Hospital. The paper has a copy of the letter Roob sent to “Behavior Health Services, Inc.” president Jan Passmore. Roob’s letter is addressed to Passmore with the name of the organization listed as “Behavior Health Services, Inc.” I make note of this because the Indiana Secretary of State does not have a corporation listed under that name (there was a 1 year reservation of that name filed back in 1994, but that’s it). Now, there is a “Behavioral Healthcare Services, Inc.” which is likely the true group as it was formed on April 17,1996, and lists as its official address, 498 NW 18TH ST, Richmond - the address of the current state hospital and lists hospital superintendent Jeffrey Butler as its agent..

Now, back in October 7th of 2006, Pal-Item reporter Bill Engel wrote that Jan Passmore was the board president of “Behavior Healthcare” which I took to mean “Behavioral Health Care Associates, associated with Dunn Center and located at 808 South A Street in Richmond. At the time, Engel described this group as follows:

Behavioral Healthcare is made up of representatives of several local health care providers, such as Reid Hospital and Dunn Mental Health Center, along with Richmond city and Wayne County government.

See Dunn Center in there again? In fact, the original article penned by Engel on April 29, 2006, following a press conference the day before, listed the board of directors for the new organization, and this list included Dunn CEO Whittington as the board’s vice president. So part of Dunn’s strategy for the future included being part of the local take over of the State Hospital.

Roob’s January 24th, 2008 letter to Passmore claims that the FSSA’s decision to pull the plug on the transfer was due to the recent determination by the Office of Inspector General of the United States that, following an audit of 3 state hospitals, Indiana was “recommended” to return over $88 Million to the feds. Roob called this audit “a shot across our bow,” indicating “a crisis looming in the future.”

So, either Dunn Center and its associates have run across a patch of bad luck here, or perhaps we can read something a little more sinister at the fact that both of these bumps in the road seem to involve Secretary Roob.

The US EPA issued a press release today giving recognition to fortune 500 companies that have purchased large amounts of “green power,” including the Midwest’s top user, Kohl’s Department Stores, Menomonee Falls, Wis., with 236 million kWh used. Link.

Kohl’s was ranked 8th nationally in using green power. The EPA says that green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and biogas, as well as low-impact hydropower.  Green power resources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to conventional power technologies and produce no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

So, I guess Kohl’s is cutting a pretty green image. Too bad they decided to put their new local store where our arboretum used to be.

Well, it’s too cold to go outside, so let’s catch up on some local issues with the Pal-Item this morning:

First, be sure to check out the article on school consolidation that is part of recommendations Justice Shepard’s task force. Basically, the idea is to gain efficiency and save money by consolidating school districts to the size of 2,000 students. Local educators wonder about these claims: the biggest consolidated school around, Richmond Community School, is topped by a high school with a 54% graduation rate (labeled a “dropout factory” in a recent study: example), whereas the small “inefficient” unconsolidated rural schools tend to do quite well by their student: Foes: Where’s the benefit? and Indiana features long history of consolidations. The proposal aims for 2011 for school consolidation. The full plan can be read <here. The print edition of the paper has a nice Q&A with Justice Shepard in which he explains why the committee was unable to provide an accounting for the financial impact of the group’s recommendations, but it does not appear online. . . .

Then, be sure to check out Bob Hansen’s thoughtful article about eating local: Help the local economy by requesting locally grown food. Bob is the business and retention manager for Wayne County’s economic Development Corporation. I have heard him speak in the past and I am impressed that we have someone with his vision in this position:

Using national averages provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans spent an average of about $2,245 per person on food in 2002. Multiply that by Wayne County’s 2006 population of 68,846 and it comes to $154.5 million. If only 1 percent more of Wayne County’s food was purchased from local sources, it would be $1.54 million more staying in the local economy.

Jean Harper sends out a heads up to an upcoming release of an independent documentary film on the explosion of the Richmond downtown district:

The documentary film 1:47 tells the story of one such community – Richmond, Indiana – that would lose that calm and innocence in a single fateful day: Saturday, April 6, 1968. On that day, at 1:47 p.m., a huge double explosion rocked the downtown, leaving forty-one people dead, and hundreds more injured. The documentary film 1:47 tells the story of the explosion in Richmond – how it came to happen and how the city’s ordinary – and extraordinary – residents responded to this disaster.

Check the website here for the release details.

From the sound of it, this will be a nice project to keep this story with us. When I first came to Richmond, I heard about the explosion and dug up the book: Death in a sunny street by Esther Kellner. This work was released soon after the explosion and is long out of print.

UPDATE: Doug Masson pointed out in the comments that Morrison-Reeves Library has this book online as part of their digitized collection, available here. Thanks, Doug.

As soon as the Indiana Department of Education released its reconfigured graduation rate for Richmond Community Schools at about 50%, the agenda for the school system has been clear:

1. Dispute the accuracy of the figures;
2. Call on community support and involvement (it’s not me, it’s you);
3. Find some deck chairs; and
4. Rearrange them.

Well, we seem to have found something to do: RCS leader to offer grade reconfiguration. Don’t get me wrong, this might very well be a great proposal for the school. The school board will meet tonight to hear about it from Superintended Bourff, as well as the upcoming switch to trimesters in the high school (an idea that predates the graduation rate release).

In fact, the reconfiguration might qualify as a “great” idea. The problem is not that the school system has not had “great” ideas to get it moving forward. In fact, the school has had an endless series of “great” ideas washing over it.  Nothing was wrong with any of these “great” ideas, but as any veteran teacher will tell you: this year’s great idea will be forgotten in the rush to next year’s great idea (so, don’t waste your time going to that meeting).

The school has experimented with all the trendy curricula, structures, visions, etc. Most of them were well conceived and had the distinction of working in other places, with other people. Each great idea was carefully implemented through meetings and study. Each of them was left collecting dust on the shelf when someone came in with their own new idea to try.

My diagnosis is that the system suffers from an abundance of vision, without enough long range responsibility. I think the responsibility for this falls on the board who are quick to rely on the experts in education in adopting change.

No news is news today in Randolph County, at least for the Pal-Item. The paper continues to track Randolph County’s efforts to decide the fate of the run down courthouse that many had given up on:

Commissioners once had favored tearing down the 130-year-old building and possibly moving county employees into a former Wal-Mart store, but reversed that decision last spring under opposition highlighted by a seminude calendar featuring female members of a local bridge club.

Link.

I do not think that this story would have gotten nearly the press it has if it was not for those naked ladies.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the newly calculated graduation rate for Richmond Community Schools was up at the state government site, and the posted rate was just over 50%. Today this stunning statistic gets play in the Pal-Item, as expected.

What I did not expect was that the paper would get a comment from the school superintendent, Allen Bourff. He told the paper that:

1. The graduation rate was “intolerable.”
2. He hopes to enlist the entire community to support improving it. and
3. “What we’ve been doing is checking those figures for accuracy.”

I wonder how much time they will be spending on checking the figure versus trying to improve the rate. What is amazing to me about this reaction by the superintendent is that these numbers on the graduation rate are not new: The state did not come up with a new way of tracking kids through the system, the came up with a new formula for calculating the graduation rate.

The data used to derive the graduation rate is the same old data the school has been turning into the state for years. Only the formula used to  report the graduation rate to the public has been altered.

The truth here is that the school, including Mr. Bourff, has known for years what the actual success rate was for the system. They would talk about it in hushed tones, and never acknowledge it in public, but they knew it. Why keep it secret? Well, the stated reason was for economic development.

That’s right, there could be no public acknowledgement that the school system was failing because it would scare potential employers away from the community. This is the same reason the adult literacy rate for the local community was buried as well: Who wants to set up a factory or office park or even a warehouse in a town where only a third of the adults can even read the local newspaper and the school can only manage to graduate about 1 out of every 2 kids?

So if the numbers are not new, what is Mr. Bourff reacting to? It’s called public accountability.

Well, as promised, the Indiana Department of Education has released graduation rates under its new formula on a school by school basis. Richmond comes in at 54%. Not too encouraging. Most other local public schools, like Northeastern, Centerville and Randolph Southern come in over 80%, above the state average of 76.5%.

The rate for the entire Richmond Community School Corp is closer to 50%, so our schools are graduating about 1 out of every 2 kids.

The Pal-Item has a strange local political story up today about the Franklin County Board of Commissioners. We all know the drill, primaries in May, general election in November, the victor takes office in January.

Not so in Franklin County says 1 defeated commissioner: Thanks to a 44 year old correction of a then(?) 75 year old error, commissioners have the option(?) of taking the 1st year after they are elected to sit in on the commission meetings as an observer, and now has the right to “holdover” in office until the end of 2007:

Franklin County’s election board created the holdover commissioner office in 1962 at the direction of the State Election Board, Franklin County Clerk Marlene Flaspohler said. The change was to correct a 75-year-old error in commissioner terms. At that time, commissioners served three-year terms and each year one commissioner was supposed to begin a new term. Franklin County had two commissioners beginning a term at the same time until the holdover office was created. The law changed at some point after 1962, extending commissioner terms to four years. Vonder Meulen thinks the law changed in 1980, but Union County Auditor Virginia Bostick said meeting minutes show Union County commissioners had four-year terms at least as early as 1969.

Link.The holdover, Lou Linkel, and the victor in November, Don Vonder Muelen are both reportedly considering legal action. It sounds like a pretty bizarre situation to me, but I’ll leave further commentary to someone more experienced in the oddities of local politics in Indiana like Doug Masson or Marcia Oddi.

Earlier this year I took note of the petition drive commenced by local biker Mark Stosberg seeking to have the “NO BIKES” signs removed from the center of Richmond, Indiana.

Well, the signs are gone that the Pal-Item is giving Mark credit:

After leading a campaign to make downtown more appealing to bike riders, signs throughout the downtown area expressly prohibiting bicycling, dogs, skates and skateboarding were removed on Wednesday morning.

“As someone who lives and works here, I saw signs saying ‘No’ to everything,” Stosberg said. “I think because the signs are gone, it makes downtown more of a friendly place.”

Link.

Congratulations to Mark. WHile reading over the story, be sure to check the comments which contain a clarification from Mark on what was actually done: The rules did not change on bike, the signs that wrongly stated “no bikes” were removed. He also notes that the issue with respect to skate boards downtown is not resolved.

Mark’s efforts on this led him to develop a method to search the Richmond City code of ordinances, something that is not presently featured on the City’s own site. Mark’s earlier local efforts helped lead to the City’s creation of a skate park. See Skatepark.org
for more information on that effort.

Well, now that Chris Hardie is only releasing his informative and well-produced local news podcasts on rare occasions, I am savoring each new episode, and would encourage you to do the same.

Yesterday’s #12 is worth the trip. Chris is the only local source keeping honesty as a valued component of discussions about local economic development. This week he questions the Pal-Item’s pie-eyed approach to local development plans.

He also features local computer guru Paul Retherford as his featured blogger.

Give it a listen!

Yesterday, I headed over to the First Lutheran Church here in Richmond for the second annual Alternative Gift Fair, put on by Cope Environmental Center and many others (Including the Richmond Friends School, for complete list, check Pal-Item story: Alternative gift fair hopes to boost non-profits).

That place was hopping, so hopefully it went well. The basic premise is givers “buy” items for the non-profits and the recipients of these “gifts’ get a card saying that the giver has given to the non-profit in their name. Not exactly a classic Christmas moment, but maybe if you could put in on the seat of the new Lexus in the driveway. All joking aside, I see that more and more folks are moving to this type of gift giving as the boom in the availability of cheap consumer grade products means that most of us don’t have a lot of room in our lives for extra junk.

Anyway, while there, I ran into a bunch of interesting folks, including Mark Stosberg, a principle at Summersault web consulting. Mark has a host of interesting hobbies and features, including his commitment to the biking lifestyle. Yesterday, he was on his way to an associates’ home with a broken old bike. His friend has a welder, and has been building recumbent bikes out of old bike parts on the cheap. See more on that over at his Flickr page.

This morning I find that Mark has posted a video of one of his more amazing talents: Juggling in the Kitchen A quick YouTube video of a little kitchen juggling.

Newslink Indiana is reporting that plans are underway to restore the old high school in Fairmount, Indiana, up in Grant County:

The Fairmount Foundation has joined with Hollywood for a Beverly Hills fund-raiser to save the high school where James Dean learned to act.

Martin Sheen, Dennis Hopper and several other A-list celebrities are helping the foundation raise money to restore the vacant Fairmount High School. Singer Pat Boone and actress Shannen Doherty are hosting the event.

Link.

With all the falling down buildings in rural Indiana (the school will need to be gutted), pouring money into an abandoned school strikes me as wasteful. Maybe these stars would have a better impact n Fairmount if they offered to build something for today’s Fairmount students in honor of Dean, instead of shoring up a bunch of old masonry.

I do have some personal contact with the school, so maybe I should be grateful: My great aunt went to that high school with Dean some 60 odd years ago, and my grandfather and all of his siblings gradutated high school there.

The conservative came to Ball State University in Muncie to speak, only to have 2 students try to hit him with a pie:

One student quickly approached Horowitz in a doorway during an interview with NewsLink Indiana and attempted to hit him with a cream pie. The pie missed Horowitz and instead hit Gene Burton, the university public safety director and Horowitz’ bodyguard for the night.

Link. (Newslink Indiana)

The author was also nice enough to throw some words at a university professor, George Wolfe, one of Horowitz’s “101 Most Dangerous Academics” and the university president Jo Ann Gora.

The pie technique harkens back to the incident at Earlham College involving conservative William Kristol (see: YouTube - Bill Kristol Gets What’s Coming To Him).

The Pal-Item announced today its new online feature, My PI where us simple common folks can contribute our own stories and photos for others to view. Hey, That sound sort of like a blog, no?

The Terms of Service make clear that you continue to own the stuff you post, but you grant the paper an unlimited license to reuse, and even profit from your stuff once you post it on their service.

I give Jason Truitt credit for implementing this idea. Hopefully, it will last longer than the now deleted and forgotten Pal-Item Forums

Richmond, like many other communities, is concerned with the growth of adult oriented businesses. i guess all development is not good development:

The Richmond Common Council on Monday night passed a new adult entertainment ordinance for the city, one that will require such businesses to pay an annual $500 fee, face planned and unplanned inspections, and be required to locate in C4 general business districts

Link. (Pal-Item)

The big challenge under the ordinance will be finding a location that is not within 1,000 feet of a residence, church, school or public park. The 2 existing adult stores would not meet the terms of the new ordinance, but they will be permitted to remain as a nonconforming use.

The Richmond Human Rights Commission has made another announcement on local businessman David Bane: It will continue its investigation of Mr. Bane because it found "substantial" evidence to back allegation of harassment:

A report by the city’s Human Rights office also alleged that after Bane lent [Rachelle] Ditty $600, he asked her how she wanted to repay the loan, suggesting that he would "take it out in trade."

Ditty said she believed that meant sexual favors.

Bane, through his Richmond attorney Jeffrey Arnold, "vehemently denies all the allegations."

The Human Rights office report said two Bane employees witnessed the comment, though they disagreed on where it took place. The report also said that Bane denied the allegations but offered no proof.

Link. I wonder how you would go about proving that you did not say something to an employee. This is the second time the commission has made a pre-hearing announcement about a pending investigation for play on the front page of the Pal-Item.

Also in today’s Pal-Item is a story about The Town of Hagerstown’s decision to clarify the signage in its downtown region. Currently, a sign warns visitors that "Bicycles, Skateboards or similar devices are prohibited on sidewalks & Streets . . . ." The town now says that it did not intend to bar bikes from the streets, it only wanted to keep the sidewalks clear for pedestrians:

Town manager Carl Gideon called the confusing language on the signs an oversight and apologized for it, but said, "Anyone with common sense could figure out what we were trying to do."

Huh? I’ve got a little sense, and the sign clearly says no bikes on the streets. Bikers recently pointed out that similar signs in downtown Richmond seem to prohibit bikes on the streets. Local biker advocate Mark Stosberg recently launched a Petition drive to have the City clarify that bikes are permitted on the streets: Support Bicycles in Downtown Richmond, Indiana.