Dear Editor:
We, Rebecca Ogle, Bill Anderson and Birch Dalton, unequivocally rebuke Ken Alexander’s letter to the editor. We are the only candidates speaking out in concern about the dashboards, so we shall respond here. All information provided was given to us by either the school (current) and from the State Department of Education website. We have been absolutely transparent, and have represented the facts as we have been able to obtain from current documents published by the State.
If Ken would have talked to one of us, he would have known that the financial dashboards, which are the most current numbers provided by OUR school to the State, were first given to Birch Dalton by several school employees. This was after all the Instructional Assistants were cut, and school principal budgets were cut 50 percent or more. These are the same dashboards handed out when those cuts were made, so were they not good back in May 2018 also? Further, if telling the truth is nasty, then Ken Alexander has a real problem. It should be noted the current board was of 2014 vintage, so they own the 2016 numbers. Also, Birch Dalton met with the author of House Bill 1315 to discuss the bill in detail. Unless Ken Alexander has done so as well, we doubt he has any real basis on speaking to it.
It is clear our current board worried about the implications when they cut IAs’ and principal’s budgets. However, their rationale is unclear as it relates to the increases in administrative overhead. What does Ken plan to do if taxpayers don’t renew a $7,000,000 voter-dependent operating referendum? Does Ken Alexander know how much money we have in our rainy-day fund through this budget cycle? We are aware of the PROPOSED financial indicators that will come out next year. When asked, the current administration was not able to provide updated numbers. The numbers from the State are the ONLY numbers available.
We all want to believe what Ken believes. We want to believe all is well with the Westfield school system. We love Westfield and moved here for the schools just like Ken. We want Westfield Schools to be the best in the county … the best in the State.
However, unlike Ken, we cannot ignore what the State of Indiana has documented in their current School Dashboards.
According to the current Indiana State dashboards, Westfield Schools are in financial distress.
And, HB 1315 gives the State of Indiana the ability to take over a school system in financial distress in the same manner in which Gary and Muncie were taken over.
How do we know this? Birch has talked with the author of HB 1315 who is deadly serious about school systems “getting their house in order.” The State of Indiana does not want to take over the Westfield school system. Nobody wants them to do this.
Westfield Schools are taking action in order to stay ahead of any possible Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) imposed by the State. The actions, to this point, include cuts to “in-classroom” resources (Instructional Assistants and the budgets of school principals). At the same time, we have seen an increase in “non-classroom resources” (administration). This is not good. These actions will result in lowered classroom performance due to fewer classroom resources. This makes it more difficult to keep up academically with our neighboring school systems as we have seen in the most recent Indy Star article about ISTEP grades.
These measures result in lower teacher morale and difficulty in attracting and retaining the best teachers. How do we know this? We have talked with MANY school employees over the past couple of months and they have told us as much. Taking corrective action ahead of the State of Indiana imposing any CAPs is a good thing as long as those measures are focused on “non-classroom” resources.
We urge Ken to talk with Westfield school employees like we have and hear what they have to say and then revisit his letter.
Rebecca Ogle
Candidate for Westfield Washington School Board, District 4
Bill Anderson
Candidate for Westfield Washington School Board, District 2
Birch Dalton
Candidate for Westfield Washington School Board, At-large