Wednesday, January 22, 2020

A fox in the hen house?

“It could bring more students back to Washington, give students more opportunity and we could end up with some financial benefit,” Cummings said. “Should the board choose not to do this, take $7,000 per student and that 125 will go to (Purdue Polytechnic). We will lose those students.”

These are the words of the South Bend Community School Corporation Superintendent Todd Cummings in support of an "Innovation School" collaboration with Purdue Polytechnic High School, recently approved for a charter in South Bend.

This is the same man that actively courted PPHS to come here, and offered the only public comment on record in support of charter authorization. Once that was accomplished, he pivoted to a "Now they're here - we better make the best of it" narrative.  This would be the best of it, according to him. 

(Or: Nice little school Corporation you have there.  It'd be a shame if something should happen to it.)

It would seem as though the guy we hired to bolster and protect public education in South Bend actively sought to infiltrate it.  As though privatizing was his agenda in the first place.

And think about who is behind this whole scheme of "a nationwide network of charter high schools providing a conduit of students to the Purdue Polytechnic University program" (per their charter application).  Mitch Daniels.  The guy who sold the Toll Road, leaving us with inadequate revenue to maintain our state roads and bridges.  The guy who assured us the Iraq war would be paid for via income tax cuts.

Neither of these gents inspire much trust at this point.


PPHS will struggle to attract students.  It offers an inferior program.  The have had trouble attracting students in Indianapolis - a city much larger than South Bend.  If we "hook up", we could be on the hook for the excessive cost per student that results from this.

Just say no.

What do you think it symbolizes?