What is up with our schools in Avon? My daughter goes to Pine Tree. Over four hundred kids were taken out last year and moved gutting the school. They board called it "redistricting". When my wife and I moved here almost all our schools were four star, now less than half are. What is going on out here in our schools? Is it teachers, kids or the board? My daughter is an honors student and our school is four star but she goes to the Intermediate next year and neither of them are four star. Can anyone explain what is going on in Avon? For the taxes I am paying to live here, I expect a lot better for my kids.

The problem with Avon schools is quite simple. Our school board. In the last eight years it has tripled our school system debt. We have lost five of our four star schools. We spent almost four million on a middle school face lift, twenty million at our high school on new wings that were over crowded thanks to their building a bus bay in one of wings, when what we really needed were new classrooms for our kids. While our kids were going to overcrowded schools and in over crowded classrooms, our administration built a new taj mahal administration building for another four million dollars. Our board has had to call in outside contractors for our high school, intermediate east, the bus barn, and the new administration building to clean up what the original builders got wrong at a cost of hundreds of thousands to our taxpayers.
Our board controls what we can and can not say in a public board meeting while Mr. Acton was quoted in a board meeting saying to the public, "we are doing you a favor letting you speak, we don't have to listen to you" Thank God he is no longer running for our board.
If Avon patrons did their job as inefficiently as our board does theirs, they would be fired. In Avon, we just continue to elect them to four more years. What a shame people in Avon can not stand up and say, enough is enough. With our poor SAT averages and our up and down ISTEP scores we need new board members who can lead us back to what we were a decade ago. You can not solve problems with the same thinking and people that created them. We need a new school board. How long do we have to put up with this mediocrity in Avon? Our kids and the taxpayers deserve better. This is not disparagement of our schools. This is honesly stating what is wrong with them and asking Avon to give us new leadership to change the sad leadership we have now. Give us a new board and things will improve. If you don't, you will just get more of the same.

You're not fooling anyone by pretending to be other people when you repeat the same things you say in all your letters in the newspaper. I don't know why the Flyer keeps printing them. The board has changed and the superintendent has changed, but your sad old song has remained the same. If you had a beef with one person, it might be believable. But you hate them all. They hire/elect new ones and you hate them too. I'd say the problem is on your end. You're just one of those people that loves creating controversy where none exists.

I didn't create the massive debt, the overcrowded classrooms, the poor building programs, the poor SAT scores, the lack of four star schools. Our board did. I don't hate them, but I sure have little respect for people who drain my pocketbook and put my kid in a classroom of thirty kids. We do have two new board members and if it escaped you because you live in Boone County, they were hand picked by our board to continue their "guidance" of our education. Again, you can't solve problems with the same thinking that created them. As for our new superintendent, he just goes along with them because he makes good money to do so. Get over yourself. The sad thing is that the patrons of Avon keep returning the same people to continue doing the same things they have done over and over. Forest Gump may have had it right. If you did your job they way they do theirs, you wouldn't have a job. In Avon, we just send them back for four more years of the same. You seem to have the same problem the voters in Avon have. Blindness to poor quality leadership. If you can't stand the truth don't read it. Live in your little world of darkness or bury your head.

Seems to me that there are school problems all across the country. When speaking in terms of spending too much money on useless upgrades, and unwarranted re-districting; this seems to be the problem any where you have people in communities who actually care about what schools their children attend. Needless to say these kind of arguments fall on deaf ears while bringing these issues to a school board. We need not forget they are elected officials, and elected officials will often times stay instep with Washington by wasting your money.

There is a deeper problem at hand here. What are our kids learning concerning the areas of math, science, and geography? International studies often times put our youth on a lower peg than other developed and undeveloped nations. This in my opinion is scary, considering the vast geopolitical problems we are facing.

Suffice to say, I as a parent would begin attacking the cirriculum. Our kids are being deliberately dumbed down. My argument lies completely in fact and there are various books and publications by very credible people to substanciate my claims. Here is a link to an ebook that will set you straight.Deliberate Dumbing Down of America

Furthermore, I would vote for someone who would not support the Dept of Education. The Nazi's had an Education Dept very similar to the one we have today.

Actually, you're wrong again. I live in Hendricks County, though not in the Avon School District. I don't know any of these people, only what I read in the papers. My point is, the majority of the people in Avon must approve of whats going on in the schools or they wouldn't keep electing the same people. There are options. Look what happened with the Avon Town Councl. People didn't like what they were doing and they cleaned house.

No school corporation is perfect and we're all struggling with overcrowded schools and lots of debt. Do you ever read any of the articles about Brownsburg schools? We're in the same boat. Thank your legislators for that.

Ya know, you may even have some valid points but if you want to make a difference you need to quit whining and get organized. We stopped an over the top building program here. There are ways to stop a board that is out of control but not if only one person feels that way. In Avon you seem to be standing alone.

There are ways to get active people are just too lazy and self-centered to do so.

We have managed to get three new members, Hanni, Woodward and Buckley in the last eight years I have been here. At meet the candidate night when Mark ran, he went into detail about how he didn't even want to be on the board but they came to him over and over and finally convinced him in spite of the fact he had not been to one board meeting at that time. Trouble is our board hand picks their successors. People who think the way they do. Our board also caters to the special interest groups and are strongly supported by them at election time. What they don't realize is no new board member would touch the band or the athletic department and that is the case in most schools. Our board continues to give them new field turf and a new band bus bay at the high school to keep them happy so that they will continue to vote for them. Trouble is all that money could have gone to build new and badly needed classrooms but you have to keep the special groups happy or you will lose their support.

I would like to think that Avon patrons looking at the concerns which impact us all would rise up and put in new people. Most of our patrons are apathetic in Avon. When the tax bill hits us all and revenues dry up, maybe then they will wake up and see what has happened out here. We have lost five four star schools in the last 8 years. Our national test average is sad. Out of the 8 ISTEP grades that were tested in math and science, only five score increases out of 16 were recorded from last year. Half of the ISTEP scores went down and the others remained the same. When we start looking at a new high school in the near future at over a 100 million, maybe then they will wake up. My guess is don't count on it. I do know that over forty percent of all votes cast in the last six years were against our sitting board but they are still with us. Hope springs eternal and I would like to think Avon's patrons are sick and tired of this sad leadership but only May will tell. When you talk about organizing, most people wont take the time so it more of the same old same old. Meanwhile, Avon patron pockets get deeper and deeper.

Simply, the premise was to tie the approval of residential developments to
the availability of classroom seats in the school system. The School Board
would also be required to develop a construction plan that detailed building
capacity and completion date for use in planning for future developments.
The first step involved the establishment of classroom size (no. of students
per class) as a maximum allowance and the establishment of a maximum
enrollment per school based upon the classroom size and number of
classrooms. A maximum enrollment would be established for each of the school
levels; Elementary, Middle and High School. Each school would then be given
a Student Increase Allowance based upon the difference between existing
enrollment and maximum enrollment allowed per the student per class ratio.
As each development was submitted for review, the school would look at the
development plan and using their figures for house price, size and location;
they would develop an expected student population increase per school level.
This projected increase would then be compared to the Student Increase
Allowance to check enrollment increase versus the school capacity. The
approval would be based upon the maximum number of units that the student
increase allowance would allow. If the number of students from the
development exceeded the Student Increase Allowance, only the portion of the
development that dropped the student increase allowance to zero would be
approved. The remaining homes would be approved when the construction plan
indicated that adequate classroom space would be constructed and ready for
use. The proposal simply matched the approval of developments to the
capacity of the school system so that each and very child in the school
system has access to an equal educational environment. In other words, all
kids attend school in a permanent classroom, not a trailer.

This is a proposal put forth by Steve Ostemeier about six or seven years ago. He was president of the Hendrick's County Commissioners. He offered this to representatives from Plainfield, Danville, Brownsburg, and Avon. All four school systems turned him down flat. Can you imagine how much money in school buildings could have been saved if the ten percent plan had been approved by the four major school systems and if the four systems would have collectively gone to Commission and asked for it's passage? All the systems would have had ample time to plan their growth and the time to accrue dollars wo massive debt would not pounded the patrons all at once. I understand Plainfield has a new high school coming online for over a 100 million. If Avon builds a new one which it badly needs, as does Brownsburg, can you imagine what those new Taj Mahals are going to do to taxpayer pockets? This massive system debt could have been slowed down and spread out more over time had the four school systems stepped up and said please pass it. Instead, Avon's board said, It's not our place to be concerned or invovled in slowing growth. If they build houses and send kids, we will educate them. What they didn't add was, and it is going to cost taxpayers a ton of money and huge debt to do it. Thank M Ward in Brownsburg for saying no as well as the soon to be ex superintendents of Danville and Plainfield and of course our ex sup, D Helton. Phds aren't necessarily brighter when it comes to common sense it seems.

Im getting a very libertarian vibe from this thread.

I am an independent LOL with these parting thoughts for Avon patrons.
When we have fifty more buses than Brownsburg who transports the same number of kids needs to transport our students at 75 to 85 thousand dollars a pop, when you have 8 "supervisors" in a bus area to do the job that Brownsburg does with four and they transport the same number of people we do,
when half of your ISTEP Plus scores go down from last year and only five go up,
when your brightest and best kids have D average SAT scores, half of your schools can't make four star, and your board controls what you can and can not say in a board meeting and tells you they are doing you a favor by letting you speak because they really don't have to listen to you, when your board will not support the ten percent plan to help control growth in your school system and allow schools to not be overcrowded and slow the massive accruing of debt, when your board triples your debt in ten years and it is called wise use of taxpayer dollars, then you have to be REALLY apathetic and challenged to call that good leadership and return the same people to do it to you all over again. These are facts that people in Avon either know and are too apathetic to do any thing about or worse, they just don't care and go with the flow.

Mark Twain has two wonderful quotes when it comes to school boards.

"In the beginning, God created an idiot for practice, then he created a school board"

"It takes a leap of faith to believe that God created the earth, it takes a much greater leap of faith to believe he created school boards"

You can lead horses to water but you can't make them drink. By any sane persons standards, the above results over an 8 year period hardly deserve the accolade of good leadership and a quality school board. But then, this is Avon.

I'd like to thank you for your input on this issue. Our school system educates to pass a test not to teach literacy. I gleamed over your suggested article and found it to be very accurate. I read today that Mr. Acton is stepping down. I hope whoever replaces him will take what goes on in the classroom more seriously then the frills of the building.

quote:

Originally posted by Soulzie Jones:
Seems to me that there are school problems all across the country. When speaking in terms of spending too much money on useless upgrades, and unwarranted re-districting; this seems to be the problem any where you have people in communities who actually care about what schools their children attend. Needless to say these kind of arguments fall on deaf ears while bringing these issues to a school board. We need not forget they are elected officials, and elected officials will often times stay instep with Washington by wasting your money.

There is a deeper problem at hand here. What are our kids learning concerning the areas of math, science, and geography? International studies often times put our youth on a lower peg than other developed and undeveloped nations. This in my opinion is scary, considering the vast geopolitical problems we are facing.

Suffice to say, I as a parent would begin attacking the cirriculum. Our kids are being deliberately dumbed down. My argument lies completely in fact and there are various books and publications by very credible people to substanciate my claims. Here is a link to an ebook that will set you straight.Deliberate Dumbing Down of America

Furthermore, I would vote for someone who would not support the Dept of Education. The Nazi's had an Education Dept very similar to the one we have today.

[/QUOTE]

There are four people running for Avon's board, Mrs. Tracie Kalish and Mrs. Anne Englehardt who have been very active with Avon's PTO, Athletlc boosters and room mothers to our kids. Both know what needs to be done and are not afraid to step up and get things done in Avon. Mr. Mark Buckley and Mrs. Woodward have both been part of the problem of overcrowded classrooms, massive debt increase, one sided redistricting and poor academic performances by our system.

www.avonedu.org is the web site for one of the people running Avon might want to visit. All have contact info on the hendricks county election board web site at http://www.co.hendricks.in.us/vrweb/index.htm It does seem that Mrs. Woodward can not stand on her own as her photo and bio are presented with her as part of the board photo. Her actions and those of Buckley in Avon are part of the poor quality leadership spoken of.

People who are trying to decide who to vote for might want to call the candidates and ask them what they are planning to change in Avon in the near future. You may or may not get responses or you may get our board members to tell you they are doing a fine job and everything is going just fine. Good post on the testing.

Our SAT averages and our losses in half our ISTEP scores proves we have much work to be done. I have suggested that we elevate the high school and middles school grade scale to the same level as the elementary and intermediate levels. It makes no sense that the elementary and intermediate schools would have higher academic standards than our middle and high schools do. Our board can't grasp that concept and hasn't for six years since it was proposed to them by me in a board meeting. Might be part of the dumbing down process spoken to in the person aboves post plus all those honor students on a lower scale really makes them look good as board leaders.
WE BADLY NEED A NEW BOARD NOW before it is too late for Avon.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Disgusted with our board,