Talk of the Town - Whitley County

(Talk of the Town photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Columbia City High School principal Gregg Goewert, above at left, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett discuss that state of the schools over iced tea before Tuesday's Rotary meeting in Columbia City. 

By Jennifer Zartman Romano

There were the obvious references and expected kidding about whether Rotarians may have been surprised to see someone other than the crooner Tony Bennett as their keynote speaker Tuesday.

But the laughter and joking ended when Dr. Tony Bennett began talking about the serious concerns he has regarding the education of Hoosier children.

Bennett spoke of the nation’s race to the moon in the 1960s – a goal set in motion with the words of John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962, and that came to fruition in July of 1969.

“We did it by keeping score,” Bennett said of the country’s goal to make it into space before their Russian counterparts. “If Rip Van Winkle woke up today, public education may be the only thing he’d recognize. We have not kept score like we did in the 1960s.”

Bennett said he feels the state has been rather lazy when it comes to education and challenging students – and making them aware of those in the world who are vying for their spots at top universities and who will gladly take their jobs when given an opportunity.

“When I was a kid, they said you better eat your dinner – there’s kids in China and India who are starving,” Bennett said. “Now, my dad would say, ‘Tony, you better work hard. There’s poor people in China and India who are gonna take your seat in college, take your job.”

“We need to make sure children in this state can compete on equal footing with children in any part of the world,” Bennett said, commending President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan for stating the nation has to make education an top priority.

Right now, he believes it is not and cited some shocking statistics.

-          25,000 Indiana third graders have moved on to 4^th grade and can’t read at the 3^rd grade level.

-          75% of students graduate from high school

-          At Purdue University, of the 6800 freshman who entered last fall, 2000 had to take pre-college math.

Bennett outlined what he feels are four key areas that must be addressed to make necessary changes in public education in Indiana.

“First, we need to acknowledge that our kids are in a competition,” Bennett said. “We need to create an education system based on competition. Our kids need to understand that.”

“Kids get up every day in China with a goal of taking the best seats at universities from US kids,” Bennett said. “It’s hard work, but you’re gonna do hard work and succeed.”

A second area of concern is funding.

“35 states cut education funds,” Bennett said. “We did not cut…we were able to make a small increase”

Bennett said he had talked with local education leaders Tuesday while visiting Whitley County and made it clear to them they will need to do more with the same funds they’ve had in the past. Additionally, this might mean changes in contractual negotiations and pinching pennies where it makes sense. “Changes we make drive dollars to classrooms,” said Bennett. Bennett believes there will be cost savings through the effective use of resources.

Third on his list – putting kids first.

“We have to make schools centers for learning and not employment centers for adults,” Bennett said. What does this mean? Bennett said that throughout the state, as cuts are being made, it is often the teachers with the lowest seniority that are losing their jobs – often impacting newer, fresh-from-college teachers with great ideas who are making strides in education. When jobs are being eliminated, it is not based on the skill of the teacher, but their seniority – and that’s something Bennett believes has to change.

Decisions need to be made that will keep the state’s children in the central focus. “If that means we become uncomfortable, I think we have to accept that,” Bennett said.

“If we’re going to change the vision of education, it needs to be child-centered,” added Bennett. “It will take ruffling some feathers.”

“There is nothing more important than an inspired and inspiring teacher,” Bennett said on his fourth point of concern – the retention and reward of quality educators.

“Teachers need to be well-trained, well-evaluated and well-compensated,” Bennett said.

Rotarian Tom O’Neill addressed Bennett, saying that in a conference call earlier Tuesday, he and colleagues were discussing Bennett’s efforts in regards to special education. As fathers of special needs children, Bennett and O’Neill both found the issue near and dear to their hearts. O’Neill commended Bennett’s efforts and outreach, and asked how we might ensure the same quality of education for all children.

“We have a very strong opinion in our house regarding special education,” Bennett said. “It is one of the strongest issues in education and I believe it starts at the national level and comes down from there,” Bennett said. “School accountability to the special needs population is a little problem in this state and nation.”

Bennett said the issues include making sure that special needs children are given the resources available to them and that they’re accurately identified as special needs children in the first place.

“We need to make sure we’re truly identifying them accurately,” Bennett said, stating that often when children fail to meet targets for reading skills, they are labeled as special needs and may not actually be.

“We have kids that are not reading at grade level and we’re putting them in special ed,” Bennett said. “That is a disadvantage to that child and the child that is actually a special needs child.”

Rotarian Dr. John Meier asked Bennett about the roadblocks created in education by problem parents. “We’ve allowed a bureaucracy to let kids fall through,” Bennett said, citing many issues that prevent children from being adequately disciplined and that force parents to do the right thing for the welfare of their child’s education.

“You have a very clear obligation to help your child succeed,” Bennett said. “We are educating the next generation of parents.”

Also citing concerns about ways parents can become more involved in education, Rotarian Trudy Miller-Longhenry asked Bennett whether he might consider discussion groups with parents to get them fired up about education and advocating reform.

“We have to ramp it up,” Bennett said.

Bennett voiced an interest and a willingness to come back to Whitley County and talk with local parents about becoming more engaged in their children’s education.

Further addressing parents in education, Rotarian and Whitley County Consolidated Schools board member Tim Bloom said he believes Bennett needs a fifth issue: engaging parents.

“We out to be for a longer school day, a longer school week, a longer school year,” Bennett said. “We ought to be for all the things kids hate.”

“We based our school calendar on an agrarian society,” Bennett continued. “We need to look at how do we get our kids in school all year long.”

Whitley County school board member Don Armstrong said he felt that the state needed to focus more energy and attention on the numbers of students who pass ISTEP tests, not the ones who fail it. Armstrong said he was concerned that the kids who are failing in education are in other areas of the state.

In addressing Armstrong’s remarks, Bennett said, “While I will champion great things going on, let’s not be fearful of acknowledging things that need to be changed. We do both, but I don’t want to get into the habit of apologizing for results.”

Bennett cited the well-know Hoosier passion for sports and winning, but said that we need to have the same expectations for teachers. “Do we have that same passion about education?” he asked. Coaches who lose games get fired, maybe Indiana needs to have the same attitude about teachers who fail to make students succeed.

Bennett said a lot is changing around the state already – including attitudes toward technology. Now, a laptop is considered a textbook, he said, sharing that it makes no sense to give a student an outdated history book that will continue to be outdated for the next six years when the newest information is available at their fingertips online.

Resources will be a challenge, but they’re not insurmountable, Bennett believes.

“If you need resources, if you need us to bring these things to you – we’ll do it,” he said.

“Come together as a community and think about what’s best for this state.”

Tuesday’s meeting was very well-attended and included several special guests including Whitley County Consolidated School superintendent Dr. Laura Huffman, Columbia City High School principal Gregg Goewert and Central Noble Schools superintendent Dr. Stacey Hughes.