[Southsider2k12]

That's right folks, probably the most important bit of information that I gathered at the meeting is that a discussion of Michael Hardings contract extension has been placed on the agenda for the next school board meeting on Tuesday October 28th at 6pm. By law the MCAS board has to inform Harding by December 31st if they are extending his contract or not. The timing is interesting as usual, as the board has scheduled the vote for the meeting BEFORE the election, instead of after it. The board pulled this same stunt two years ago. They are effectively tying the hands of the next school board by potentially guaranteeing that Harding will be there during their term, whether they would want him or not. There is no doubt in my mind that this will pass by the usual 4-3 vote that we have seen at just about every meeting. (Carlson, Lee, Gipson, and Jones for/Zeek, Burgwald, and Kintzele against)

In my opinion the board should table the vote until AFTER the election. In the true spirit of cooperation, the incoming board members should have their votes represented by the outgoing members in order to ensure that the votes opinions are honored, and not the agenda of 4. If the election places people on the board who want to keep Harding around, then they can still have the vote and the opinions of the voters have been honored. If they decide to change representatives, then that voice should be heard as well. Remember we elect people to vote how WE want them to vote, and not the other way around. If you feel your voice isn't be heard, make it heard. We have a week to contact our school board reps to tell them how we want to them to act in this situation. If you want them to vote a certain way, TELL THEM! If you want them to hold the vote after the election, TELL THEM! Each member has an email address and I believe they are all listed in the phonebook as well. Get a hold of them!

[Roger Kaputnik]

The Board has to take action--what does the law specify or define as taking action? Extend, not extend; does tabling it for a couple of months count?

Where are the eddresses listed? I will check the mcas site and post them here sometime this AM.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://www.mcas.k12.in.us/admin.asp
Board of Trustees
Mr. Clyde Zeek President su.ni.21k.sacm@keezc
Mrs. Kathy Lee Vice President su.ni.21k.sacm@eelk
Mr. Rick Carlson Secretary su.ni.21k.sacm@noslracr
Mr. Beryle Burgwald Member su.ni.21k.sacm@dlawgrubb
Mr. Nathaniel Gipson Member su.ni.21k.sacm@nospign
Dr. Jeffrey Jones Member su.ni.21k.sacm@senojj
Mr. James L. Kintzele, Sr. Member su.ni.21k.sacm@eleztnikj

School Board Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month at 6:00 p.m., except for the month of December when the meetings are on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays.


School Administration
Mr. Michael Harding
Superintendent 873-2000, 8361
dontcontactme@chickendroppings.tv

[Ang]

Roger, I don't know how you did that but all those addresses are backwards. Example, Clyde Zeek should read czeek@mcas.k12.in.us as opposed to su.ni.21k.sacm@keezc.
The typical school email addres is the first initial and last name followed by @mcas.k12.in.us

[Roger Kaputnik]

I think Harding did it to mess with us. I copied-and-pasted but I am now using a Win2000 OS.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Mr. Clyde Zeek President su.ni.21k.sacm@keezc Mrs. Kathy Lee Vice President su.ni.21k.sacm@eelk Mr. Rick Carlson Secretary su.ni.21k.sacm@noslracr Mr. Beryle Burgwald Member su.ni.21k.sacm@dlawgrubb Mr. Nathaniel Gipson Member su.ni.21k.sacm@nospign Dr. Jeffrey Jones Member su.ni.21k.sacm@senojj Mr. James L. Kintzele, Sr. Member su.ni.21k.sacm@eleztnikj School Board Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every m

Aw, rats!

[Roger Kaputnik]

When I have this in the reply composition window, it all looks great--just like in the mcas website, but then it looks like the above when the post goes up. I think it is strictly an OS thing.

[Dave]

Clyde Zeek President czeek@mcas.k12.in.us
Kathy Lee Vice President klee@mcas.k12.in.us
Rick Carlson Secretary rcarlson@mcas.k12.in.us
Beryle Burgwald Member burgwald@mcas.k12.in.us
Nathaniel Gipson Member ngipson@mcas.k12.in.us
Dr. Jeffrey Jones Member jjones@mcas.k12.in.us
James L. Kintzele, Sr. Member jkintzele@mcas.k12.in.us


yep, that was a pain. Had to rekey all the email addresses.

[Southsider2k12]

Historically have been on the anti-Harding votes

Clyde Zeek President czeek@mcas.k12.in.us
Beryle Burgwald Member burgwald@mcas.k12.in.us
James L. Kintzele, Sr. Member jkintzele@mcas.k12.in.us

Historically have been on the pro-Harding votes
Kathy Lee Vice President klee@mcas.k12.in.us
Rick Carlson Secretary rcarlson@mcas.k12.in.us
Nathaniel Gipson Member ngipson@mcas.k12.in.us
Dr. Jeffrey Jones Member jjones@mcas.k12.in.us

And just to clear things up, It groups the members together to reflect who has historically voted one way or the other.

[eric.hanke]

The e-mail addresses are listed in reverse so they cannot be "crawled" by a spammer.

[Southsider2k12]

So I got an interesting impromptu education on Robert's Rules of Order last night, and now have a new worst case scenario that I had never considered before.

Basically it goes like this. The school board has until December 31st to inform Michael Harding that they would not want him back for 2009. Failure to inform him of that officially means he comes back in 2009. Knowing that plus a little bit of the procedures, here is the worst case scenario.

Harding issue comes up on Tuesday. Instead of voting on it, one of the 4 yes votes motions to table the vote. The vote goes the usual way with the 4Harding Bunch voting yes, and the 3 No Hardings voting no. This motion lays on the table until 4 votes accompany a motion to pick the issue back up. The issue is not voted back into consideration before Dec 31st and Harding gets at least another years worth of havoc on the MCAS. In this scenario, the 4 people who have stood in the faces of the community and called our concerns things like "noise", called us a "vocal minority", and told us that we have "no idea what is really going on", won't have to face the community with their votes, and instead will hide behind a procedural vote to effectively do what they would be afraid to legislate.

Again, this next 6 days is vital. Contact the people on the school board and tell them how you want them to vote on this issue!

[Roger Kaputnik]

And let's all show up at the meeting, and tell all the interested folks you know.

[Southsider2k12]

I finally got a hold of his contract, and it turns out I had the years wrong. His contract runs until Jun 30, 2010 now. Without action his contract will actually add another year and run until June of 2011.

[Yokas]

The e-mail addresses are listed in reverse so they cannot be "crawled" by a spammer.

I called the 4 board members on Tuesday to express my dismay about moving to fact-finding. The only member that talked to me was Nate Gipson, and none of them returned my call. I left both land and cell numbers. SURPRISE SURPRISE!!
I'm calling again about the contract. But, if you go to Board meetings, you can see, visually, that the 4 have made up their mind before a motion is completed. It's very discouraging.

[Ang]

All I can say is they must not really want to get reelected. Going through the motions is one thing, but to get votes, you have to do what the people want you to do. Satisfying whatever personal agenda they might have is not going to get any of them reelected IMHO

[Christopher La Follette]

Michelle and Roger.

As a candidate, I would love to hear from you and hear your opinion.

My cell is 317-508-2265

Chris

[Southsider2k12]

Here is the unedited version of my letter, followed by the version that the ND printed and edited.

We are looking at a crossroads election, one that will determine the direction in which our future will lead.

In this past term of the MCAS School Board, we have seen an "Us versus Them" mentality, dividing former allies and pitting them against each other. We have seen one group using a small majority to push through increasingly controversial and confusing policies, casuing confusion and lack of enforcement. We have also seen a disconnect from the will of the electorate, causing the quality of our local educaltional system as a whole to suffer because of it. It is time to breakaway from the failed policies and divisive means of the Harding Administration, and to have the school board vote not return him as Superintendent in 2009. Not only do our teachers have the longest current period of time in the state of Indiana without a contract, but our local Parks Department is about to start an estimated $100,000 lawsuit against the MCAS, and, most importantly, our kids are not thriving in our system as it currently exists.

Tuesday October 28th the board has added to their agenda a vote on reappointing Superintendent Harding for another year. Legally, they have until December 31st to inform Mr. Harding if they do not want him to return. This will make the second year in a row that they have attempted to evade this item in before the election, instead of waiting until after the election and working with the newly elected officials in order to allow their feelings on the most important office in our school system to accurately reflect the desires of the sitting school board.

The board will do one of two things in this upcoming meeting: they will either hold an up or down vote on Mr. Harding's return, or they can table the vote indefinitely. If they do not hold a vote, and if the issue is still tabled on December 31st, then Mr Harding returns for at least another year.

Instead of this being one of the most important decisions that the board makes, they may attempt to hide behind parliamentary procedure, and allow the complete lack of leadership displayed by Mr. Harding to continue. Given the voting history of our curent board members, the board members who feel Mr. Harding should not return has neither the votes to remove him nor to force a public vote on this issue.

As citizens and taxpayers in the Michigan City Area School system, I urge all of you to contact your school board representatives and tell them not only do you want them to do the right thing and vote, you want them to end the embarrassments that have the Michael Harding tenure as Superintendent of our schools.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=42618.83

Time to end the Harding era
We are looking at a crossroads election. In this past term of the board of Michigan City Area Schools, we have seen an "Us versus Them" mentality, dividing former allies and pitting them against each other. We have seen one group using a small majority to push through increasingly controversial and confusing policies, causing confusion and lack of enforcement.

We also have seen a disconnect from the will of the electorate, causing the quality of our local educational system to suffer.

It is time to break away from the failed policies and divisive means of the Harding administration and to have the school board vote not return him as superintendent in 2009.

Not only have our teachers been without a contract for the longest current period in the state, but our local Parks Department is about to start an estimated $100,000 lawsuit against the MCAS. Most important, our kids are not thriving in our system.

Tuesday, Oct. 28, the board has added to its agenda a vote on reappointing Superintendent Harding. Legally, they have until Dec. 31 to inform Mr. Harding if they do not want him to renew his contract. If the issue is still tabled on Dec. 31, this will allow the complete lack of leadership displayed by Mr. Harding to continue. Given the voting history of our current board members, the board members who feel Mr. Harding should not get a renewal don't have the votes to remove him. Contact your school board representatives and tell them you want them to end the embarrassments that have been the Michael Harding tenure as superintendent of our schools.

Michael J. Gresham

Michigan City

q

Editor's note: If the board does nothing, the superintendent's contract automatically renews for an additional year. If the board were to vote against renewing the contract, it still would automatically extend until June 30, 2011.

[eric.hanke]

With M. Harding's contract on the agenda I am certain the MCAS Board Room will be packed. But the overwhelming majority will be teachers. I am sure there will be local politicians, mainly School Board candidates, who will make their first or token appearance at the meeting. I know that public forum is at the end of the meeting, one thing I would certainly change if elected. However, the public can speak indirectly through the use of signs, T-Shirts, and phone calls before the meeting.

If you really want change in Michigan City Area Schools, and want to get back to the basics of education, show up Tuesday!

I WILL be in attendance as I am for MOST MCAS Board Meetings.

I sign every message on the board with my contact information and look forward to discussing my potential role serving the community as your School Board member.

Thanks,

Eric Hanke

[digger262]

What does the editors note mean? I've seen it on 2 anvil chorus letters and it seems to be saying if the school board does nothing, he gets another year(I understand that). If they vote NOT to renew his contract, the contract gets extended until June 30th, 2011(huh??). So what happens if they vote to renew his contract, does he get a lifetime contract?

The only thing I can guess is his contract stipulates they must give him 2 years notice when not renewing his contract but I can't believe anyone would approve such a contract.

So my question is, how do they get rid of him soonest??

[Roger Kaputnik]

They have to vote to NOT EXTEND the contract, and he would be done at the end of next school year. He has to be bought out if he is gone other than on by his own volition before then. This buyout amount appears to decrease by the amount of his paycheck every pay period.

If I won the lottery, I would donate to do it.