CALUMET TWP. | Local and state leaders stood on the grassy knoll in front of Lake Ridge Schools building Thursday to support the district's teachers and the improvements made in ISTEP-Plus testing this spring.
Rick Muir, president of the Indiana Federation of Teachers, along with state Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, and state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said schools that improved should be commended, not taken over.
"We want this word to get back to the Department of Education and Superintendent Tony Bennett," Muir said. "This is a time to be supportive, not to threaten a takeover of the high school."
Bennett later released a statement blasting Muir and criticizing Smith and Randolph for supporting what he called Muir's "delusional rhetoric."
"If Mr. Muir's antics are successful, the good teachers and employees of Lake Ridge, the taxpayers who fund them - and, most important, the students - will suffer the consequences," Bennett said. "Mr. Muir, in his steadfast support of the status quo, seems to forget Calumet High School is one of the worst 23 schools in the state based upon the academic performance metrics established by the General Assembly."
ISTEP scores for students in third through eighth grades across the state were released a couple of weeks ago. Most school districts in Northwest Indiana and across the state, including Lake Ridge, showed gains in English/language arts and math.
However, Calumet High School, within the Lake Ridge School district, remains on probation and is one of six schools in Lake County under the threat of state takeover.
In response, Superintendent Sharon Johnson-Shirley has said the district will implement the transformational model of school improvement. It calls for the principal to be replaced, and areas including teacher effectiveness, instruction, learning and teacher planning time and operational flexibility to be addressed.
Johnson-Shirley placed all of the teachers -- about 60 -- at Lake Ridge Middle School and Calumet High School on probation last month.
While Johnson-Shirley did not attend the news conference, she later said as superintendent of the district, she has had to make some tough decisions this past school year in response to student achievement.
"Although our most recent test scores have shown small gains, the scores still remain below state average," she said. "Our students deserve the best opportunity regardless of socioeconomic status. Placing our high school and middle school teachers on probation constituted a bold move as expected by the state of Indiana Department of Education."
Johnson-Shirley said the probation was not done as a punitive step but as an attempt to set uniform expectations for all teachers as the district moves forward.
While no one at the news conference addressed the probationary status of secondary teachers, Greg Keehn, president of the Lake Ridge Federation of Teachers, said the union has filed a grievance.
He said the district was required to notify teachers in March about any probation after classroom observation and written notification. He said teachers were notified they were being put on probationary status June 9.
Meanwhile, Muir said the state should provide schools with the money to offer things such as services before and after school, tutoring, summer school and professional development.
Muir, along with Smith and Randolph, said they don't agree with Bennett's plans to rank schools using A-F letter grades.
"I'm totally against the grading system," said Smith, who plans to introduce legislation against it next year.
"I know we have some teachers who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, but the vast majority of teachers are on task."
