Hello everyone!
Before I begin with this week’s topic, I wanted to quickly reference an email I received last week regarding the public outcry about “building all ‘them’ schools”. A reader asked me to point out that at all times with all construction projects undertaken by Franklin Township Schools, the PETITION OF REMONSTRANCE Process has been in place prior to the construction of any new school building. Public notice was always given (by law) to allow the public to protest any project and, generally speaking, the public never raised an issue to question or stop the construction of any school related facility. There was a group that raised concerns about the next round of school projects after the construction of the stadium (and rightfully so). They were invited to participate on a committee during that next round of school projects as a result of their concerns, thus the Remonstrance process worked effectively.
I have a simple goal for today’s message - to make an argument why people without children in Franklin Township schools should vote YES for the referendum. While I’m at it, I’ll take a shot at convincing Franklin Township families who send their children to private schools to support the referendum as well. Seems simple, right? Okay, I know it won’t be simple since 70% of Franklin Township's 34,000 residents have no children in the schools.
I have legitimate reasons to consider… and I think some of you might just listen based on the fact that I have received several emails that say – “I am against the referendum, but I have some questions for you…” So, let’s get into why it’s in your best interest to vote YES… even if you don’t have a child in the schools.
TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC.
This is an easy one, so I will quickly throw it out. I know many of you won’t initially consider this a reason to spend tax money and vote YES… until the referendum doesn’t pass and you try to drive anywhere in Franklin Township during the morning or middle afternoon hours of the day. Then, you will be yelling and screaming! Don’t say you won’t because I promise there will be a line of you at the podium at the first 3 school board meetings telling the schools they need to do something about this traffic. I sat on the School Board for 4 years – I know – and I’d bet on it today!
8,945 students… all have to get to school… all have to get home.
Did you know... most of those students get transported by 62 different buses that each hold up to 84 students... and they currently run 3 times a day in the morning and 3 times a day in the afternoon.
Have any of you, kids or no kids, ever driven anywhere near Franklin Road between Southport and Edgewood in the morning and afternoon at the start or end of school? It has sometimes taken me 20 minutes to get out of the high school parking lot just with the students who drive… can you begin to imagine if all the buses were gone and the parents had to line up car after car to get their kids? As my daughters would say, “OMG!” That means “Oh My God” for old people who don’t text 24 hours a day!
Have any of you ever done the seemingly simple task of kindergarten pick up and drop off… at any of the Franklin Township elementary schools? At Arlington Elementary not so long ago, there was a need for a police officer every day because the long pick up and drop off lines would cause big delays on Arlington Avenue… creating massive amounts of backed up traffic. This was only for a couple of Kindergarten classes! Multiply this by more than 10 times at each school based on the number of kids at each grade level when this referendum fails.
Think about the quality of life adjustment the lack of busing will present to all Franklin Township residents. I’d very strongly consider the impact of this on your family. You have absolutely no idea of the scope of infrastructure problems that will ensue on our roads.
By the way, a quick notes for parents of Franklin Township Students considering a NO vote…
Let’s talk a moment about the cost of taking your kids to school. I’m not even talking about upset bosses and lost work hours. I’m talking true hard costs for dropping off and picking up 180 times a year.
You know what, I’m not gonna tell you. I’ll let an 8th grader named Bailey explain it to you. And, before you ask, this is a true story.
Bailey’s Mom stopped to top off her gas tank the one night last week because she found the price of gas “down to” $3.33 per gallon. When she got back in the car, Bailey had figured out the miles per gallon her truck got (15.26 miles per gallon). She told Bailey if she missed the bus it would cost her 1 gallon or $3.33 to take her to school and drive back home. So, Bailey said, “How much would it cost you to take me every day?” Her Mom said “About $5.00 per day x 180 school days, so about $900.00 per year.” Bailey then asked how much the referendum was going to cost. I’m not making this up… it’s an 8th grader asking this question, folks. Her Mom said it was going to cost them about $38.00 per month or about $456 per year. So Bailey says, “So if you vote yes, it is going to save you $444.00 a year.”
Take a look at your own hard costs and consider the impact on you.
ART, MUSIC & PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
People that vote against this referendum would struggle to make the argument they care about the elementary school age children in Franklin Township. If they did, they’d make sure this referendum passed so Wanamaker Elementary and Acton Elementary schools could remain open for their communities. They’d make sure all of these kids could have the opportunity to take Art, Music and Physical Education. They’d vote YES to make sure class sizes remained reasonable. They’d make sure 81 teachers’ jobs wouldn’t be lost because as informed voters they’d understand the impact to kids of all ages in all of the Franklin Township schools. The truth is… the people that vote against this referendum don’t value the role of the schools as they relate to the quality of the community they live in, or more importantly, they don’t understand the impact of this referendum on the quality of life in their community.
How many of you (no matter what your generation or your age) had the opportunity to take Art Class, Music Class and Physical Education Class in elementary school? I’d venture to say almost all of you had art, music and PE.
I know this… before current Franklin Township resident Barbara Fengya was a teacher in the Science Department at FCHS for many years… and before she more recently was the Director of Secondary Education Curriculum for Franklin Township Schools… she was an elementary student in Franklin Township in 1951. That year, Mrs. Seal and Mrs. Nard taught dedicated Art and Music classes. According to Mrs. Fengya in a conversation we had just this past week, she can remember them vividly all these years later.
Come to think of it, I can remember my art and music and PE teachers in Elementary School as well. As a matter of fact, Cindy Huffman, the current PE teacher at Wanamaker, was my PE teacher. So, for “at least” the last 60 years, Franklin Township schools have had these dedicated programs at the elementary grades.
Does anyone really believe it makes sense to regress 60 years and take those early opportunities away from the kids in Franklin Township? People opposed to the referendum must not mind.
HOME VALUES
Here’s where what goes around comes around for those who vote against the referendum. This vote affects all Franklin Township residents, and fortunately those who vote NO are not immune to the repercussions of a failed referendum. If you have no sense of “the greater good” and contributing to the education of the future citizens and leaders of your community, then let me get to the first thing that will impact you… home values.
Before I do… I digress briefly. (Sorry, I know, I’m easily distracted today!) Do you think our public schools aren’t worth the money you are being asked to pay for this referendum? Here’s a list of the universities our current top ten high school seniors are either attending or have been accepted to: Yale University, University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University, Brigham Young University, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of South Dakota. Now you tell me what type of leadership and economic impact these young people will have in your Franklin Township community years from now if they were to choose to move back and raise their families here (like many of you have)? Will these be the kind of schools they will want their kids to be taught in years from now? Are you setting an example of a community that cares about all of its children… a community that wants its kids to come back and raise their families in Franklin Township? Or, do you just care about what’s in this for you right now?
Okay, now back to the topic I was leading into… your home values. Up to 15% of the value of a home is determined by the quality of the school corporation within which it sits.
Think about why so many of you moved to Franklin Township. Great community… Nice neighborhoods… Good schools… Close to downtown Indianapolis… Many other important amenities close by.
Now, here’s what happens when a NO vote takes place. Class sizes get bigger. Kids lose opportunities to have classes in the arts at all age levels. As these classes are taken away, good parents who want those opportunities for their children will get fed up. Caring parents will want their kids in school environments where they will have exposure to art, music and PE like every other elementary age kid in this state… and they will want reasonable class sizes… so they either move altogether or put their kids in the local private schools.
“The Bubble”
Don’t get too excited private school parents thinking this growth is great for you… because now you lose “your bubble”. What is that? It is the reason one of my very best friends sends his kids to private school as he explained to me. He feels that paying the tuition to have them in private school keeps them away from some of the negative elements of public schools… some of the bad seeds or the distractions that public schools have inherently in each classroom (after all public schools are there to serve ALL kids, regardless of their cultural or socio-economic conditions). So, when the loving parents of the marginally behaving kids decide to send their kids to your private school classrooms, your bubble begins to burst. Your class sizes grow and you have some lesser performing or lesser attentive kids in your kid’s classrooms than what you might prefer. The end result - all of that private school tuition you pay becomes diluted because your kids get less attention than they did before. As my friend said, “It only takes one or two challenging kids added to a class.” All of this happens because instead of supporting the referendum and keeping the public school kids where they are so you can “protect” your private school environment… you said you don’t want to pay additional taxes to support the public schools your kids don’t go to.
The funny thing is that some of you private school parents will eventually decide it isn’t worth the private school tuition you are paying because you no longer have your protected “bubble” and the advantages you previously had with smaller school sizes, such as greater participation opportunities for your kids at the private school, so you’ll decide to send your kids to public school… then wish you had the bus transportation, smaller class sizes, art, music and PE for your young kids. How ironic will that be?
So, to quickly recap and predict the future… 81 fewer teachers, schools closed, programs cut and the trends of rising test scores we’ve become accustomed to now reverse. You see, the schools hands are tied and they just aren’t able to be quite as good as they once were. More parents then move their kids to other schools… instead of “urban flight” I’ll call it SUBURBAN FLIGHT. What’s left is a declining school system in both performance and even in behavior. Lower performing students in larger classes lead to lower graduation rates and lower graduation rates lead to higher crime rates. More kids get left behind. Now this community gets to foot the bill of more tax dollars required to increase police presence, service the judicial system and contribute to government assistance programs so we may help those that we consciously chose not to properly prepare in our schools so they could help themselves.
Most importantly, new families considering Franklin Township as a potential home see the performance of the schools slipping… they see a community that doesn’t value education because it voted down 2 referendums… and they observe higher crime rates – then they simply choose not to move their families into the homes available in Franklin Township. They think their kids will have better OPPORTUNITIES elsewhere in communities that care about their schools and value education. Now, homes sit on the market even longer than they are today. Home values diminish even further. All of you in the older generation and those of you without children decide you are ready to sell your Franklin Township properties, but you and your families cannot get the value you believe the home is worth. Why? Because your NO vote for this referendum set off a chain of events in Franklin Township that started this community on a downward spiral.
Most importantly, new families considering Franklin Township as a potential home see the performance of the schools slipping… they see a community that doesn’t value education because it voted down 2 referendums… and they observe higher crime rates – then they simply choose not to move their families into the homes available in Franklin Township. They think their kids will have better OPPORTUNITIES elsewhere in communities that care about their schools and value education. Now, homes sit on the market even longer than they are today. Home values diminish even further. All of you in the older generation and those of you without children decide you are ready to sell your Franklin Township properties, but you and your families cannot get the value you believe the home is worth. Why? Because your NO vote for this referendum set off a chain of events in Franklin Township that started this community on a downward spiral.
Need a real life visual example? IPS is my example… with no disrespect intended to anyone. URBAN FLIGHT took place because as socioeconomic conditions deteriorated in certain areas, many residents with the financial means available chose to send their kids to better schools, which led to declining enrollments, lesser student performance and lower home values for those who remain. Just because one is urban and Franklin Township is suburban means nothing… and it also has nothing to do with the efforts and caring of professional teachers, whether it be at IPS or in Franklin Township. Most teachers do everything within their power to reach and help kids. Just know this downward spiral can absolutely happen as a result of this vote and it can happen rapidly.
Let’s play this out a bit further… what type of housing then gets built in Franklin Township to meet the lower socio-economic conditions the market demands? Higher density housing gets approved and built, which leads to more crime and even more traffic… yes, more traffic than will be created with 8,945 children being taken to school and picked up from school every day throughout Franklin Township.
What’s In It For Me?
I mentioned in an earlier message the concept of it takes village to raise a child. In prior generations, there was a high value placed on education. Many years ago, back in 1838, Horace Mann published six principles that he believed to be the foundation to sustain the American way of life. Here are the first two; (1) the public should not remain ignorant; (2) education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public.
Well, are you part of the interested public or part of the ignorant public? When you say, “I can think of better ways to use my money than to give it to the schools”, I think about these emails I’ve received in the last week:
There’s an 83 year old man in Franklin Township who sent me this message last week:
“I feel strongly that this MUST pass. I am 83 years old and you might wonder why I'm interesting is seeing this pass. Well, to start with I have two grand-children in the Township system. A grand-daughter at Acton and a grandson at Middle East. I can't imagine that any parents or grandparents could oppose this referendum. But for those others with no close ties there are many reasons why they should support this. I live in a condo association of 140 units, not one child to be seen. I have worked out what this would mean for a condo such as mine and it only amounts to $89.00/half.”
Here’s a message from another Franklin Township Resident:
I guess I feel people who don't vote yes this time around should stop and think about their own budget. If the main bread winner of the family was to loss their job for one reason or another, what would average person do? We first would drop the "Extras" in our lives; i.e. dish, high speed internet, cell phones, going out to eat, and peanut butter and jelly instead of steak. We would use our savings to pay our debt. Eventually, down size to a cheaper living situation. We might even look at family to help us in our time of crisis. I guess I feel that Dr. Bourke is doing just that. He has cut the extras out of the budget, used the rainy day fund to keep our schools open to maintain status quo for our students, and has given us a choice to down size and risk losing valuable assets to commercial investors (ie. Charter schools) or ask our family for help. I guess I feel I am the family. I chose to make Franklin Township my community to raise my children, therefore this community is my family. I gave tough love with my vote the last time, but the cuts in the budget have shown the willingness to attempt to make amends to the Financial issues, and now it is my turn to step in and help by supporting the referendum to keep the school status quo to prevent my family from losing a valuable asset -a strong foundation of our youth who will lead us in the future. I would do no less if the school district was my own family (child, sister, brother, or parent). This is why I am voting yes this time around.
Before I give you a few more faces of those who will be impacted by this referendum vote below, I’ll pose a final question for you to think about. Where is our society going? Those of you who won’t vote for this referendum are likely the same people who will place blame on these young kids for not caring and not contributing to society.
You have a chance to be a role model. You have a vote that could make sure kids continue to have tremendous educational opportunities… but only when you invest in them and lift them up by providing the opportunities can you fairly hold them accountable. Don’t you dare come complaining about the troubled youth and deteriorating neighborhoods and home values when you make the decision to vote against schools and directly harm kids!
The schools are the hub of the Franklin Township community. Youth sports leagues already pay higher fees to cover the costs once absorbed by the tax payers for the use of our schools. “Pay to play” has already been created and is in full swing… and I am one of many paying $170-$180 for each sport my youngest daughter plays. Parents are already bearing the burden of these tough times, so extra-curricular activities are not what you are paying for with a YES vote. You certainly aren’t paying for my older daughter’s high school show choir because I wrote the checks totalling $1,800 to give her that opportunity… an opportunity you very well may be taking away from her with a NO vote as the high school show choir directors are casualties of this referendum and the program may no longer exist.
Please just think of the impact of your vote before you cast it.
WHO’S BEING AFFECTED… MORE PROFILES OF THOSE WHO WILL SUFFER THIS WEEK:
Cherie Whitacker, FTMS East & West - Health / PE Teacher of 19 Years
Another one of the 85 teachers on the cut list, Cherie started her career in Franklin Township and hoped to end it here, but out of fear has started back to school concerned she is going to have to make a career change if the referendum is voted down.
Marci Atkins, CIP Instructional Assistant, Thompson Crossing Elementary
Marci is currently an instructional assistant (and also a licensed teacher). She had hoped that the experience in Franklin Township would lead to a classroom teaching position, but instead in the three years that she has been an employee in Franklin Township Schools (she is also a resident in Franklin Township), her health insurance costs have quadrupled, she no longer get paid for any holidays, and if the referendum fails she will not have any health insurance at all. She makes a very low hourly wage to work with “the most challenging and wonderful students in our schools” (her words). She is also a parent who, like any of us, has to have health insurance. If this referendum fails, what will she do? This is just to let you know that it is not only great teachers that are being impacted. And also, don’t tell me all we have is a bunch of overpaid people working for our schools.
Karie Cook, Proud Mom – I’ll let Karie share her message in her own words below:
“I moved to this township because of the school system. So, I completely understand the importance of our children. My youngest daughter came to Franklin Township with a C, D average.
Within one grading period at Thompson Crossing, taught by the awesome young teacher, Mrs. Huff, my daughter earned A’s and B’s for the first time! Oh did I mention, my daughter has medical issues and that grading period she was absent 14 days!
We have been in the township for three years now and my youngest daughter is still earning A’s & B’s. Both my daughters are active in sports and music. Also, they both are almost always on Honor Roll. They both benefit greatly from the programs offered by our township.”
Register To Vote – Time is running out!
Have a great week!
