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State Senate deadlocks over school start date bill

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The state Senate has deadlocked over whether to support a bill that would largely prohibit Indiana's public schools from starting their school years until late August.

Senators split 25-25 on the bill Tuesday, and Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman wasn't present to break the tie. The bill could be voted on again Wednesday.

The bill would allow school start dates of no earlier than the fourth Monday of August.

Supporters say such a law would mean more summer time together for families and boost the state's recreation and tourism sites. Opponents argue such decisions should made by local school boards.

The Senate voted 45-5 in favor of a bill requiring schools to teach cursive writing. The state Department of Education last year dropped cursive writing from required school curriculum in favor of keyboard proficiency.

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  • Blasphemy
    I'm shocked the Senators haven't reviewed their scripture regarding this:

    Gen 4:20 And the Lord saith "The days of the
    sowing and harvest shall not be the days of
    learning, alas, he who seeketh knowledge in
    these days shall be smoked from the face of the earth."

    And

    Gen. 9:11 And the Lord also said, "I am your
    creator; no teaching other than this is allowed; any who do shall be smoked from the
    face or the earth".

    Amen.
  • Year Round School
    Having school year round has been the best thing for my children. Pike Township added year round 10 years ago and it has been a very successful program. Leave the school year decisions to the school districts, not the legislature.
  • No more summer vacations
    This whole notion of having several months off for summer vacation is a laugh. It is an antiquated relic of days past when the children were needed to plow the fields and harvest the crops.

    Instead of insisting that our kids spend less time in school (because, for most families, at least one parent works, so that whole "extra travel and togetherness time" nonsense won't actually happen). Here's a noble idea: year round school. There would be three 2-3 week breaks for Christmas, spring, and summer. Most civilized countries already send their kids to school year round. Why don't we let Indiana rise to the top of the nation (admittedly, not a high standard) by educating our kids more, instead of arguing about how little we can teach them by starting the calendar ever-later?
  • Education Issues
    The United States ranks last among all industrialized nations when it comes to education. Indiana ranks approximately 29th among all states for education. I agree, we need more vacation time for the students, so they can get use to laying around as adult.

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  1. First, the Athenaeum is going to have to get past the hurdle with the Lockerbie residents and the agreement that the parcel would be residential. Second, and in my opinion, this prime piece of property should include parking, PLUS, a black box theater(s), some market rate and affordable artist housing and a plan to renovate and reconfigure the second story theater. I would negotiate to add the DeHaan property surface parking lot into the development mix, place a one story surface parking garage on the DeHaan lot on the street level (for the Dehaan tenants use during the daytime) and add a second story to the garage that would become an addition to the current second story theater and then change the direction of the theater by moving the stage across the alley and on top of the DeHaan lot parking. You can add all the stage elements that are currently missing from the Athenaeum stage to make it more attractive for use by Ballet, Opera and traveling productions. Plus, the theater changes would probably help solve some of the soundproofing issues. Alas,it does not seem to be a part of the strategic plan to conduct a study to determine best use of the property. Seems like the current plan is a quick and easy move that ignores the property best use/potential and any strategic property planning for the effect on future generations.

  2. I recall that MSA's pilings are still in the ground and hard to remove. It’s not likely any proposal will include significant underground construction/parking because of this. Start adding 2 floors of retail, 8 floors of parking and 5-10 floors of possible hotel, and/or 10-20 floors of residential, and you are at 30 floors already with possible expansion of all the uses. But then again I could be wrong.

  3. Accoriding to their website there is no deadline to the Do Not Call list. What is this article referring to??

  4. On what planet are they entitled to this largesse from the stockholders? These people make multi-million dollar salaries: Pay for your own personal travel.

  5. It matters because they're already paid enormously fat salaries: Pay for your own personal travel. Being "taxed on it" isn't a valid excuse--so what? They're still being gifted a raft of luxury perks from somebody else's money on top of an enormous, lavish salary.

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