The State Board of Education’s decision to end the takeover confirmed the waning enthusiasm in Indiana for state oversight of failing schools. But it also revealed how much Indianapolis Public Schools has transformed in recent years.
Republican leadership has been itching to see Glenda Ritz out the door but struggled to recruit a candidate to lead the charge. Even though this is a no-brainer priority race, it took Indiana Republicans until the end of January to field a viable candidate to challenge her: Jennifer McCormick, the current superintendent of Yorktown Public Schools.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced Friday that his staff reviewed hundreds of documents and thousands of emails, but the evidence didn't justify criminal charges against former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry and state Inspector General David Thomas should acknowledge the mysteries swirling around an investigation into former state schools chief Tony Bennett and explain to Hoosiers exactly what happened, and how it won’t happen again.
In a letter, Indiana’s top ethics watchdog notified a local prosecutor of evidence suggesting former schools chief Tony Bennett violated the state’s “ghost employment” and federal wire fraud laws.
The investigation of former Indiana schools Superintendent Tony Bennett found more than 100 instances in which he or his employees violated federal law. The state’s formal report in February minimized the infractions, and Bennett has never faced prosecution.
Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett helped push through monumental changes in Indiana education policies. But teachers revolted against Bennett, leading to his stunning re-election loss in 2012.
Rattled by new state teacher ratings, the colleges hope to avoid black eyes, themselves.
Glenda Ritz isn’t responsible for politicizing education policy. That distinction goes to her predecessor, Tony Bennett, the Republican she unseated two years ago.
Former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett's hearing over charges that he violated state ethics laws was moved Monday to August as defense attorneys review thousands of pages of evidence turned over by the state inspector general.
In November 2012, Democrat Glenda Ritz defeated Republican Tony Bennett in the race for Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction. But the two never stopped fighting each other.
Despite being an underdog in her first run for public office, Glenda Ritz defeated incumbent Tony Bennett to become Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction in November.
In the modern political world, it seems the validity or importance of an idea is treated no more seriously than what brand of butter substitute you buy from the local grocery store. Most recently, Indiana has experienced this phenomenon in education policy.
Ritz told Democratic activists last week "If you believe those (changed grades) were done because they should have been, you're fooling yourself."
Indiana's education leaders are learning from the mistakes of former School Superintendent Tony Bennett, starting with their promise to spend more time crafting Indiana's new school grading formula and doing so in the open.
The Indiana education overhaul associated with Tony Bennett and then-Gov. Mitch Daniels actually was crafted in private by a handful of state GOP bigwigs, including Al Hubbard, Mark Miles and Mark Lubbers, according to emails obtained by the Associated Press. Elected officials weren’t included for months.
It was a warm, sunny Monday in November when John McCain came to the Indianapolis airport seeking to pull out an Indiana win in the 2008 race for presidency. It was the day before Election Day. Confident Hoosier Republicans were thrilled about the first real campaign rally in this state by that year’s GOP nominee.
Here’s something to ponder in the wake of the big stories that keep trickling out from the emails released by state Superintendent of Public Education Glenda Ritz: What if the emails in question had been from her own tenure in that office? Or, what if a reporter had asked Tony Bennett for the same emails while he was still in office (or asked for the emails from then-Gov. Mitch Daniels)?
When I read what then-Gov. Mitch Daniels said in an email to then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett about Marxist historian Howard Zinn’s work, my immediate reaction was, “My thoughts exactly!” I take great exception to Zinn’s characterization of American history.
Florida’s education commissioner resigned Thursday amid allegations that he changed the grade of a charter school run by a major Republican donor during his previous job as Indiana’s school chief.
