[Southsider2k12]

For what it is worth, the first day of the 2007-2008 school year STILL has not officially been announced. It is July 5th, and there has been still no notificiation of the public, nor has it been published on the MCAS website.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Weird. At Queens, the entire calendar for the next school year is already published!

[Southsider2k12]

I checked in again, and as of Friday July 6th, the teachers still do not have a calendar for the 2007-2008 school year.

[Southsider2k12]

Ah yes, the ND has finally picked up the story... Just remember where you heard it first

It seems like the usual... Adminstration does what it wants to do... The union asks to do something and gets ignored, and the school board hides from the issue.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=2012

Still No Calendar For MCAS
One could be created Friday; meanwhile, parents think the delay is ‘inconsiderate.

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - A calendar for the 2007-08 school year could be created during a negotiating session on Friday.

Usually, that calendar is available before the school year ends, but no calendar exists for Michigan City Area Schools, leaving parents wondering when school starts.

The calendar is a negotiated contractual issue that is done annually between the school administration and the Michigan City Education Association.

Phyllis Stark, president of the MCEA, declined to point fingers at who might be responsible for the delay, saying only, "We've asked" for a negotiating session.

"One was set and then canceled because (school attorney) Marsha Volk Bugalla had a family emergency," she said. "I can understand how that could happen."

At Tuesday's meeting of theMichigan City Area Schools Board, Superintendent Michael Harding said, "I think we'll have some good news for you on Friday."

A parent of a senior told the board the delay is inconsiderate of parents and others. Parents don't yet know when school will open or, for that matter, when graduation will be in the spring.

"I am dismayed by the lack of concern for parents," said Robin Kohn, who is director of programming for the Michigan City Public Library.

Kohn told the board the library refers to the school calendar when scheduling programs.

"I want a calendar with no excuses or blame," she said.

Board members did not comment on the lack of a calendar.

[JHeath]

This is unbelieveable...How can people plan for the rest of the summer, when we don't know when school will start? At least we can find out about these things here. Goodness knows that we'd find out a week before (or maybe after) the fact if we relied only on the N-D to keep us informed.

Thanks, Mike!

[Roger Kaputnik]

Rely on the ND?? Hyuk hyuk hyuk.


I think the tentative date is Aug 16 or 17--which seems odd, but that is what I heard from a counseling staffer.

[Southsider2k12]

The rumor going around the teachers is August 21 or 22 so who knows... The interesting thing is that the private schools who depend on the MCAS for busing have had to start making their own schedules and risk not being able to get their students to classes because of the schools systems feet dragging.

[Ang]

Did you see the Anvil Chorus letter suggesting MCAS throw a dart? OMG, I had to laugh so hard at that.

I remember when I was at Plant Planning, we had to have our scheduling done by January for the next school year so they could plan the calendar (Same with Athletic events, which are actually scheduled two years in advance). Then there were drafts sent out in February for review and corrections. A second draft was sent in March and the final calendar came out in April and sent home with the kids in May. We couldn't schedule any facility rentals until the final draft of the calendar came out. I'll bet Plant Planning is in the middle of a scheduling nightmare themselves right now.

[Southsider2k12]

Rick Richards hits it right on the head... I think I am about ready for an Anvil Chorus letter myself.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=31100.39

School Calendar Delay Inexcusable

Rick Richards
City Editor, The News-Dispatch

Summer vacation is winding down, and before you know it, school will be starting.

Well, I think it will, but I don't know for sure. And neither does anyone else.

That's because Michigan City Area Schools, under the leadership of Superintendent Michael Harding, hasn't come up with a schedule for the coming school year. Usually, that's ready by the time school is dismissed for the summer, but not this year.

No one seems to know why Michigan City is so tardy in getting a schedule put together. The official reason is that it's an item that has to be negotiated and Harding and the Michigan City Education Association haven't met yet.

The MCEA has tried to set up appointments with Harding, but something seems to come up to keep the sides from getting together. The latest excuse is that the school attorney, Marsha Volk Bugalla, has a family emergency and wasn't available.

Why does putting a school calendar together require the services of an attorney?

State law says there has to be 180 days of school. Everyone knows when the holidays are, when Christmas vacation is, that there needs to be a spring break and that there is going to be a graduation ceremony.

For crying out loud, somebody pick up the phone, set an appointment and get it done. This isn't rocket science and taxpayers shouldn't have to pay an attorney for something this simple. If the superintendent can't sit down with the union president and come up with a calendar, then the school system is in a whole lot worse trouble than everybody thinks.

I don't know whether it's animosity between the administration and union, if it's incompetence or if it's merely arrogance. Maybe it's a combination of those things, but to not have a school calendar by mid-July is inexcusable.

Harding said this week that he hopes to have "good news" to announce today, but he didn't say what that good news might be. Let's hope it's a school calendar, but no one should hold their breath.

Members of the school board ought to be outraged that such a mundane task remains unfinished, but they've said nothing. They ought to be asking Harding why he isn't doing the basics of the job he was hired to do.

One parent who called is beside herself. She said her family wants to take a vacation right before school starts but is afraid to schedule anything for fear her children will miss the start of school.

Another parent told me she and her husband want to celebrate an anniversary next spring, but are reluctant to make reservations for their hotel because they don't know when the last day of school will be. And the longer they wait, the quicker those hotel rooms fill up.

People's lives are being put on hold for something as ridiculous as a school calendar.

What's more, it's embarrassing. At the very time the city's business community is working to sell its clients - and potential clients - on the benefits of Michigan City, this stalemate is going on. What is a business owner considering moving to the city to think? Would that owner want to send his children or the have the children of his employees attend a school system that can't pinpoint a day in the next month when school starts?

This is why there are more than a few people who think the school leadership is a joke. And why wouldn't they? School leaders treat them like a punch line.

[Southsider2k12]

Did you see the Anvil Chorus letter suggesting MCAS throw a dart? OMG, I had to laugh so hard at that.

I remember when I was at Plant Planning, we had to have our scheduling done by January for the next school year so they could plan the calendar (Same with Athletic events, which are actually scheduled two years in advance). Then there were drafts sent out in February for review and corrections. A second draft was sent in March and the final calendar came out in April and sent home with the kids in May. We couldn't schedule any facility rentals until the final draft of the calendar came out. I'll bet Plant Planning is in the middle of a scheduling nightmare themselves right now.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=31198.52

Schools Could Do Better Job By Tossing A Dart At Calendar
The fireworks and parade are done and we are in the middle of the summer. School ended late with much controversy as our educators made silly decisions about holding school on a national holiday, Memorial Day, to make up for snow days, which should be built into the schedule. The public voiced their opinion and was heard, so this was changed.

It would seem the system would attempt to improve its public image and learn from its mistakes. Why aren't snow days built into the schedule? We live in Northern Indiana, our weather is unpredictable, we all know this and school officials know this.

LaPorte schools build days in and, if they use them, they still stay on schedule. If they don't the kids get out a little early, a bonus. Westville schools build them in; they aren't faced with changing graduation day.

When is the first day of school in Michigan City Typically it starts before Labor Day (isn't that silly?). Here we are, August is right around the corner and it still has not been scheduled. In years past a calendar came home with the kids that had when school started, the holidays, bank days, vacation, etc. This year, nothing.

I asked several educator friends, they don't know. I talked to three school secretaries, they don't know. One source told me a meeting to schedule school days had been canceled, twice, by administration. I called the administration building, they don't know. Who does know?

I understand the sports schedules are out. I guess that's because sports are more important than education.

As parents we can't schedule a vacation, plan for holidays etc., because of this poor planning. Maybe they could just hang up a calendar and throw a dart. At least we would have a date and a plan.

Melissa Morse

Michigan City

[Southsider2k12]

Here is the sneak preview of my Anvil Chorus letter...

I wanted to write in and add some thoughts to Rick Richards's letter regarding the first day of school in 2007 for the MCAS.

Mr. Richards is dead on right when he says this occurrence is inexcusable. There are things as a school system they are out of your control, such as the state kids are in when they arrive at our front doors. But there are things that are 100% under our control, and our calendar is one of them. The administration of the MCAS is being paid for exactly these functions.

We just gave a large pay raise and six extra weeks off of work, to go along with a contract extension in a struggling school system to Michael Harding, and yet under his leadership, we can't even figure out when the first day of school is going to be? When is Mr. Harding going to finally step to the plate and lead this school system? We stood by and waited as his handpicked assistant insulted the teachers and staff of the MCAS, and never heard anything from him. We waited for months to hear a plan of attack for the six make up days that were lost during the last school year (don't forget the first two days were lost in August, and were never tried to be made up until after the new year), and the first anyone else heard of things, was when the News Dispatch printed the schedule to the complete shock of the teachers, staff, and students. He was also silent when the controversy erupted over the Memorial Day plans for attending school, until the school board recommended that they re-think that option. I won't even get into the details of the struggles of our students but to say, there hasn't been much in the way of leadership on this issue either.

If the MCAS were a major Fortune 500 company, and had this kind of track record, the stockholders calls for the CEO's ouster would have began long ago. Yet, with all of the failures and problems here, we haven't seriously looked at the leadership of the MCAS as a part of the problem. I just want to know why that is? If we can't even get a calendar under Michael Harding's leadership, what are we paying him so much of our hard-earned tax dollars for?

Michael J Gresham

Citybythelake.org

[Roger Kaputnik]

Right on! It is the leadership problem that is messing things up or keeping them messed up. New leadership is needed in MCAS as well as the City and County.

[Southsider2k12]

A little public eye seems to be exactly what we needed to get this thing going again...

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=50573.64

Calendar To Be Out Wednesday
MICHIGAN CITY - Michigan City Area Schools and the Michigan City Education Association met for contract talks on Friday, but no one is releasing the school calendar yet.

MCEA President Phyllis Stark said Monday she would meet to share calendar information with union members today.

"On Wednesday, we will issue a joint press release," she said, adding it will include the calendar.

A spokeswoman for Harding had a similar statement.

[Ang]

Southsider--That's an excellent letter!! But, you know me and my proof-reading eye, I noticed in the first paragraph, second sentence you have the word "they" when you should put "that."

"There are things...THAT are out of our control...."

Sorry, don't mean to be nit-picky. Anyway, it's an excellent letter with lots of valuable points. Kudos to you!!

[Southsider2k12]

Southsider--That's an excellent letter!! But, you know me and my proof-reading eye, I noticed in the first paragraph, second sentence you have the word "they" when you should put "that."

"There are things...THAT are out of our control...."

Sorry, don't mean to be nit-picky. Anyway, it's an excellent letter with lots of valuable points. Kudos to you!!

Thanks for the catching that, I did catch it when I did my final edit, thankfully. I always have to give a couple of checks, because I can't type as fast as I think!

[Southsider2k12]

My letter is in today's ND, with this by line

"Delay In School Calendar Shows Harding No Leader"

[Ang]

Yesterday's paper said the calendar is supposed to be out today, yet today's paper hasn't made a peep about it (other than Mike's letter). Did I miss it? Did I look in the wrong place? Or was it just fluff from MCAS to shut people up?

I'm opting for fluff.

[JHeath]

Yesterday's paper said the calendar is supposed to be out today, yet today's paper hasn't made a peep about it (other than Mike's letter). Did I miss it? Did I look in the wrong place? Or was it just fluff from MCAS to shut people up?

I'm opting for fluff.

Yep, just fluff...

[Roger Kaputnik]

It is supposed to be issued today but it will be after today's ND was printed.

[Max Main]

good letter, southsider