City by the Lake
Interview Questions
1. How will you open up the decision-making process so the public can know in advance the questions coming up and have some time to comment before the vote is taken on the issue at hand?

a. Advertising meeting agendas in the public media (Michigan City News Dispatch, MCAS Website, LaPorte Herald Argus, etc…) are just a few examples to make the meeting agenda, and issues being voted upon, known to the public. Additionally, moving the Public Forum portion of MCAS Board meetings prior to voting on the issues would allow the public to comment before a vote is taken.

2. What is your position on social promotion?

a. While not advancing a child to the next grade level to stay with their peer group may harm their self esteem in the short term, the long term damage to the student by not allowing them to understand the current grade level material has a greater effect on their learning process. I do not agree with the practice of social promotion, students need to fully understand the material being presented before they can advance to the next grade level.

3. How important do you believe getting the teachers a new contract is?

a. A teacher’s contract is vital to show support and respect for our educators. It’s the School Board’s responsibility to set policy, in support of the local community, and the budget. It’s the School Administration’s responsibility to negotiate contracts and follow the policies set forth by the Board.

4. Will you vote to extend Michael Harding's contract when it comes up for vote again?

a. I do not believe Mr. Harding supports our local community. As a member of the local community I would not support him.

5. Do you support the Strategic Plan?

a. Yes, the strategic plan is a roadmap compiled by the local community. The plan is a living document that will constantly require “upkeep” every few years to facilitate long term success. The deliverable of the plan is the successful education of our students, growing of the local population and economy through job growth, and passing test scores.

6. Do you believe the size of the administration is too big or OK?

a. I believe our administration has grown beyond the size required to facilitate the administrative needs of the Michigan City Area Schools. Additionally, I believe each administrator needs a concise area of responsibility. For example, according to the Indiana Department of Education Website, Dr. Iacona is listed as the Assistant Superintendant for Staff Personnel. However, a recent News Dispatch article listed Dr. Iacona as the Assistant Superintendant for K-12 operations, and finally the MCAS website lists Dr. Iacona as Assistant Superintendent of Schools. The Michigan City Area Schools needs an organization chart, just like any other large corporation, that would include position titles and areas of responsibility.
b. According to the Indiana Department of Education website, the MCAS employed 23 “Administrators” in 2007-2008 (http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/TRENDS/corpenr.cfm?corp=4925&var=admin). This is up from the 2006-2007 school year where we had 22.
c. Another graph from the Indiana Department of Education shows the MCAS employed 92 “Administrators and Other Certified Employees, FTE” (http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/TRENDS/corpenr.cfm?corp=4925&var=asga). I have an open request with the MCAS Administration for an employee listing for each of the above statistics.


7. Did you support the two new school building projects?

a. Yes. The original Pine Elementary School was constructed in 1948 and has had numerous “additions”. Pine school did not have a gym until 1985. Pine also has 5 lunch periods because the cafeteria can only seat 88; my 5th grade son does not eat until 12:30 and my 2nd grade daughter eats at 11:35. Imagine eating at 11:30 in the morning and not having dinner until 5PM (6 hours later). This is even worse for our kindergarten and first graders who eat even earlier in the day. My son has a morning snack and the kindergartners have an afternoon snack due to their lunch schedules. To get to the office I have to traverse two flights of stairs. To get from the office to the gym, another two, and from the office to the fifth grade wing three; including the “long staircase”.
b. Mullen was originally designed as an “open concept” school. I know the school has seen “modifications” including building walls, the space just does not work for a modern education. The decision to build a new facility was the correct choice in my opinion.

8. How would you try to build bridges between the community and MCAS that have been burnt, for example the girls basketball academy.
a. We need to sit down with the local community organizations and figure out a way for them to easily access our facilities. On the same note, local community organizations need to be reasonable with their facility access requests and understand the financial repercussions for accessing a facility.
b. Our school buildings are heated in the winter, and cooled (most of them) in the summer. There is no excuse for our school administration and policy to not allow reasonable access to school facilities.

9. Do you believe no pass/no play should be extended to the middle and elementary schools?
a. Yes. First and foremost, students are in school to be educated. If a student does make satisfactory academic performance they should not be eligible to participate in any extracurricular activity. Students and parents need to value education and that with poor choices, like not doing your homework or asking for help when required, come equally disappointing results.

10. Have you researched the new bus routes being added, and do you support them?

a. According to the MCAS Transportation department they have not begun the process of considering new bus routes. They did have to modify some routes this year due to the shortage of bus drivers.

For additional information:
Contact: Eric Hanke
Hanke for School Board
11856 West 400 North
Michigan City, IN 46360
Phone 574 850-2174
E-Mail eric.hanke@gmail.com
http://www.hanke-family.com/hfsb
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I like your answers, especially to #'s 2 & 9. Thanks for taking the time to answer all the questions.

6. Do you believe the size of the administration is too big or OK?
b. According to the Indiana Department of Education website, the MCAS employed 23 “Administrators” in 2007-2008 (http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/TRENDS/corpenr.cfm?corp=4925&var=admin). This is down from the 2006-2007 school year where we had 22.


Not being confrontational, but is this a misprint? It would seem that going from 22 to 23 would be going up, not "down."

Thanks for your answers and the amount of research you have done into them!

Thanks for the correction. I have modified my post accordingly.

Eric Hanke