Northwest Indiana Discussion

ok, let me get this striaght. the woman who was going to make the decision by this week as to the new hammond highs school (whether it needs a referendum or not) decided to up and quit instead?

very interesting...this may have been a great week for watkins...what with his extension and all...or a very bad one. what with his extension and all and not getting the school he wants.

i guess we will all find out soon when the eventual verdict comes down.

Whether the new high is approved now or constructed sometime in the future, Dr. Watkin's has presided over one of the largest school building and consolidation programs in the state. Hammond has many new elementary schools that it can point to with pride. Good schools are just as important to Hammond's future success as anything that the civil city does. If the state stops the new high school from being built, it will be a bad day for Hammond and especially the students that are forced to attend substandard schools.

Please share with everyone your definition of "good schools".

The only person forcing your daughter to attend a substandard school is you. If you want her to attend a good high school instead of one of a high school in one of the worst schools systems in Indiana, all you have to do is enroll her in the school system of your choice.

It is your fault that your daughter attends a substandard school. Not the State's, not Tiger1's, not the Mayor's, not anyone else's.

Schools that have sprinkler systems, are handicapped accessible, have large classrooms with windows to let in daylight and the technology needed to provide modern education.Here is a link that shows how the Crown Point school system is using technology to help struggling students succeed.
Newer facilities are also more energy efficient and require far less upkeep than buildings that are 90 years old, like Hammond High. We are going to spend money either way,either repairing an obsolete school or building a modern one that will be an asset to Hammond. I am troubled by the fact that as you read the papers, Hammond is the only community in NW IN that is not supporting education. School districts from Chesterton to Lake Central to Munster are investing millions of dollars on their schools. If Hammond cannot get citizens to step up and support their schools, the city will decline and become more like Gary or East Chicago.

I see that the laws can be twisted and turned to suit the wants of the politico's. The Times article this morning, stated that the DLGF says now, that the deadline was NOT Saturday, the 13th, and they have until Tuesday the 16th. Reportedly, they recalculated the numbers.
It makes you wonder what is truly going on, when the head of the DLGF abruptly resigned on Friday, and now the deadline has been magically extended because they didn't count the days right.

What a croc of crap !!!

Call, email, or fax them jerks at the DLGF, and make them know you do not appreciate their game playing.

Department Of Local Government Finance

ph: 317-232-3775

fax: 317-232-8779

Here is the old email of Cheryl Musgrave. It is possible that someone else is checking it. It's worth a try.

cmusgrave@dlgf.in.gov

I also urge everyone to call or email the Governor, to express your outrage at this.

You are correct.

I already sent my letter, this is a copy of it.
Cheryl Musgrave Dec.12,2008
Indiana Dept. of Local Govt. Finance
100 N. Senate N-1058B
Indianapolis,IN 46204
David A Hein


Dear Cheryl Musgrave:

I am a resident of Hammond and have a daughter who is an honors student in the Hammond Public School system. I am writing you to voice support for the new Hammond High School project. The school board has put a considerable amount of thought and effort into this plan. It is the last project in a long term plan to consolidate and rebuild the Hammond Public schools.

As Indiana moves forward into the 21 st century, it is vital that we continue to invest in our communities and schools. The present high is one of the oldest schools in the state and is inadequate to provide the type of education students need to compete in the global economy. In addition to being functionally inadequate, the present structure is very expensive to operate and repair and lacks modern safety features like a fire sprinkler system. I urge you to approve this project.

Sincerely,

It is ridiculous that this project has been delayed as long as it has. The students in Hammond deserve to have the same kind of modern,safe high schools that other communities have. I really hope that you use the same language in your email to the DLGF that you use in this post,Mary Ellen. That way, the state can see the type of person that they are dealing with.

I would like to thank you for writing this post. I am going to forward it to the DLGF so they can see for themselves the type of person that is opposing this project. Thanks so much for your help. The type of language that a person uses reveals so much about the kind of person that they are. I always enjoy it when the words we write on this forum spill over into real life.

Dr. Watkins has presided over one of the biggest waste of tax dollars in school city history, but we all remember that some of this blame falls on the former board president. Watkins was given the new buildings and hasn't been able to do anything with them except stuff them full of cronies. He has removed people that tried to make schools a better place for learning and has replaced them with 'yesmen' and/or close friends or family. He has also allowed people close to him to steal from the kids for their own personal gain with no repercussions. The new buildings have been around for a while now and I am still waiting to see the great test scores we were promised when they were being built.

P81, the only reason sparks is for the new schools is because he stands to make a bunch of money off of them, since he works in the electrical trade union. Of course he is going to want all the bells and whistles in the new building because that means more work for him and his friends.

schools where ISTEP scores in some area's go up, and they drop in other


At least they took a step forward, you just need to ignore that they also took two step backwards

It may be easier to support a new school if the present schools were not some of the worst in the state from an academic perspective. What is the overall graduation rate of Hammond public schools again?

Actually, the building trades will make more money from the Hammond schools in the long run if the old,obsolete buildings are not replaced because those old schools continually require costly repairs and retrofits. There is a new roof going up on the ACC as we speak, and it is very rare that you don't see service trucks at Hammond High trying to repair something that is broken. In addition to service work, all of the union trades continue to stay busy building or renovating schools in communities that value education like Chesterton,Schererville,Munster and Highland. As long as Hammond continues to have people like you who bash the schools, Hammond will continue to become more like Gary or East Chicago.

Since when is pointing out the failures of Hammond schools "bashing"? If using hard numbers such as graduation rates and ISTEP scores as a yardstick to measure success or failure is considered bashing then you don't have much of an arguement.