Published: October 11, 2009 01:32 am      

LETTERS: Oct. 11, 2009

Area educators unhappy with state



Dr. Tony Bennett and the Indiana Department of Education have failed social studies. In the rush to reform K-12 social studies education, the IDOE is harming students and teachers. The proposed changes to the way Indiana social studies teachers receive and renew their licenses will mean that excellent secondary social studies teachers will lose their jobs. This is not the way to reform K-12 education.

Currently, statistics show a 50 percent turnover rate for first-year teachers within the first five years in public schools. The proposed changes will only continue to increase the numbers of highly qualified educators leaving the profession.

In addition to changes in licensure, the IDOE implemented an inferior ISTEP+ social studies test this past spring and published the results without consideration of the test as a first-year pilot program that may have contained flaws imbedded in the questions. Because of the poor quality of the test, we do not know if 40 percent of the students failed the test or if the test failed 100 percent of our students. The test is harming the very students the reform efforts are supposed to be helping.

Finally, the IDOE refuses to communicate with schools about the changes in testing and licensure. This failure to communicate is demoralizing public education. Is the goal of K-12 educational reform to improve public education or destroy it?

We must hold Dr. Bennett and the IDOE accountable for the damage being done to our schools.

— Chris McGrew, president, Indiana Council for the Social Studies, Fort Wayne; and Todd M. Read, board member,Indiana Council for the Social Studies Teacher, Clarksville Community School Corp.



Wife writes about the real Jim Keith



By now, many people have read The Evening News articles, online blogs and forums, related to the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau.

For some, that is all they know about Jim Keith, executive director of the bureau for the past 29 years. For those of us who do know Jim, I want to set the record straight on several issues insinuated and misrepresented.

Jim Keith is the most honest man you will ever meet or get to know. He works tirelessly to bring visitors to Southern Indiana. He loves his community and is eager to share it with those outside our boundaries. He is known throughout the tourism industry as Mr. SunnySide, and the bureau’s success at branding could well be the subject of university marketing classes.

For Keith Fetz to imply that Jim Keith is “complacent” shows he doesn’t have a clue about the business of the bureau or how Jim conducts it. Fetz also states that Jim should “bend over backward to get that business,” referring to the Cooperstown baseball project. This further illustrates he doesn’t know the full story and didn’t bother to talk with both sides about it before making unsubstantiated comments.

In September, Jim and three bureau board members traveled to Cooperstown with a Jeffersonville city delegation at the request of Mayor Tom Galligan. The mayor canceled out of the trip, and even though Jim Urban — Jeffersonville’s planning director — excluded Jim Keith and the bureau from business meetings with Lou Presutti, the Cooperstown developer, Jim Keith returned with enthusiasm for the project the city was working to attract. Why Fetz feels Jim is not supportive is a mystery since no proposal has been made to the bureau for support.

The worst part of this debate and controversy is the fact that Jim Keith is a man of integrity and is the most unpolitical person in Clark and Floyd counties. He has worked with administrations and board members from all political parties for 29 years and supported their tourism efforts.

For Tom Galligan, Keith Fetz, Larry Wilder, Larry Thomas and Ed Zastawny to imply and/or insinuate that Jim Keith has done anything illegal or improper is unconscionable.

I have written this letter on behalf of friends, family and colleagues who know and respect Jim Keith for the gentleman and man of character he is.

In the end — “Truth is the best vindication against slander” — Abraham Lincoln.

— Linda F. Keith, wife of Jim Keith



Recognize accomplishments of people with disabilities

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. During this month, it is important to celebrate the achievements of people with disabilities working in our community, as well as leaders in the development of opportunities for people with disabilities. Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services is leading the way for many of our local students with disabilities by participating in Project SEARCH, a high-school internship program.

We would like to thank all FMHHS leadership and employees for their continued commitment to developing opportunities for people with disabilities in New Albany.

— Leigh Ann Lloyd, New Albany, and Project SEARCH staff and interns