Obviously, I cannot speak for everyone within the “silent majority” (of roughly 84,000 people , but I can speak for myself , my household and others that have thrown their view my way. (I shall refer to the above as “We”

Some of the “we” are of the opinion that they have already spoken via their Vote for the School Board members.

We are paying very close attention to this “situation” . We have also conducted our own “investigations” But the general concern is in how each side is handling their position. We see nothing but chaos and disruption ; insults being thrown like weapons. What might have started out as legitimate concerns, on both sides, has been soiled beyond recogition and turned into a Circus. We see unfounded street gossip making its way to public forums. We see NO position being presented that would cause us to Rally together and jump on board , disrupting our own households/neighorhoods, for the greater good of our children .

We DO see how the School Board would want an investigation. Yet we also see how the other side would be discontented with their conduct.

From both sides , we see pompous arrogance and school yard behavior. (depending on the “who”)

We understand that most involved are nice, decent, people. But then so was Hitler, to those who held his beliefs.

That being said, we know that not every one is involved with the seedier behavior. But as with most things, those few sneaky rascals are putting a very bad light on this entire issue. And now, because of these few , our Township garbage has been thrown all over the City . And if thats not bad enough, the articles are severaly biased in nature ; nowhere near Professional. There is nothing GOOD for our community that will come of such a practice.

From what we see, it really HAS turned into a fiasco ; an undesireable impact on our community and our children.
Therefore, we choose to remain the “silent majority” , for now.

Have an Excellent Day !

I, as a member of TBPS, do understand just how this “fiasco” looks to someone who isn’t directly involved. I admit to yelling and to talking to others about the 4 Board members. However, I ask you: What are we as a community to do when we have a totally “dysfunctional” school board? We cannot impeach or recall. We have no legal recourse, I am told. We have tried talking, pleading, reasoning, all in vain. Just what would you suggest we do? Just sit back and allow huge incompetence to run our schools?

We MUST return our schools to competence! Just how do you suggest that we do that? Perhaps if more folks like you would become knowledgeable about this incompetence by attending a board meeting to see for yourself, you would realize that the real problem is not our reactive behavior; instead the real problem is what makes reasonable, responsible folks sometimes loudly disagreeable. Perhaps if folks like you would have stood up with us in not tolerating incompetence on our board, this entire problem would be solved because larger numbers of the opposition would have created larger pressure thus causing the 4 to have resigned by now.

Additionally, we would not have had to go to the press for help.

We must do whatever we legally can to get those 4 off the board. The sooner the better because we have huge decisions to make concerning our schools. We can’t have these 4 making those decisions either.

We also cannot tolerate their belittling and humiliating school employees because where our children are involved, we want their environment to be as totally conducive to their learning as possible!

And the list of what we cannot tolerate goes on. Who was it who said, “We deserve what we tolerate”?

If you don’t like this situation, and believe me we do not either, do something about it rather than just sitting back and judging! Learn the facts. Then get involved!

Stand behind our elected school board and be counted!

Allow me clarify the Hitler comment further. No comparison to Hitler was made. The comparison was made in regards to people saying someone is a nice person, as if it really means something.

Dale Curtis

I want to encourage ALL people who have not attended the recent school board meetings to stop taking sides based on rummors or third party interpretations and see for yourself what is happening. As a tax payer and a parent of MSDPT children, I have been concerned and was leaning in one direction based on information I have been hearing and reading, but I was still wondering if “the 4″ had some reasonable concerns and were just being taken the wrong way at times. Even though I was not happy with the way both sides seemed to behave at times, I am even more convinced that these ladies are very unprofessional in their approach and mannerisms and it is truley a “witch hunt.”

If there appeared to be legal recourse, then the TBPS side would not be so frustrated…I do understand better now why some of those members are so vocal. We do not have a “checks and balance” system in place for Indiana School Board Members, and these four knowing this, have really over-stepped their bounds…apparently not caring that their actions greatly appear to not represent the majority of parents, teachers, students and citizens of Perry who care enough about the future of our township to show-up at the board meetings to “see for themselves” what is happening. I am betting that these women know that they would not win another election to remain on the board, nor do they care. Their purpose for being there is personal and vindictive, and they seem to have a pact to stick together.

At least when we have a President of the US in office who seems to “go astray” from what the majority sees as right, we have a checks and balance system that allows bills to be turned around or for him to be impeached if need be! We don’t have this with these four, and it is scary to me that their actions seems to be leading them to bankrupt this school system. I have personally talked to others who are looking to purchase houses outside Perry to escape this mess. With all the embarrassing articles being published in the papers showing the ugliness and unprofessionalism of the meetings, who would want to move their family into Perry and put their children in such a school system? I have been very happy with the education my children have gotten…but where are we headed? And, if Dr. Williams is not reinstated, like they so GREATLY desire, what good candidate, in his/her right mind, want to come and try to work with these four???

If you claim to be in the “silent majority” or “on the fence,” I again, strongly encourage you to attend the next school board meeting and see for yourself what is happening. And, for heavens sake, let’s all carefully study our candidates running for school boards a lot more closely before voting for them! E-mail your state legislators to set-up some kind of checks and balance system so that members can be monitored for their actions, and not take a only a felony to remove them!

Matthew Tully stated,

“Welcome to another session of the Perry Township School Board — the city’s most dysfunctional government body.”

I personally know of a family that just bought a house outside of Perry Township that cited the school board as a major reason for selling. They didn’t want to take the chance on the four young children’s education suffering.

Yes, I had to reply to this. I believe our entire community “cares” about the school system. We have people in our community who have to work at the time of the board meetings, who are sick, who have other commitments scheduled, who have several little ones to tend to, and yes even those who are involved elsewhere within the same school system during the time of the meetings. There are many reasons why people may not be able to attend school board meetings. Their lack of attendance in no way makes them less knowledgable of facts, if thats what they seek. But you could see about having an informative, unbiased bulletin written up after each meeting, just for those people, and see that they get it. (???) Just a thought.

It would have been nice had the candidates announced their intentions before they were voted in, but as far as I know, they did not (unless I missed it . I don’t know that a careful study of candidates would have made a difference. We can only know what is available to know, as you know.

**Hello there School Board Apologist ! (I like that

I agree that those who hold the same ideals should band together. But weakness would be to choose a side even though you don’t agree with the view

Do you know if the board has made up any type of informative flyer or the like ?

**Hello there Aware ,but…..

Folks like me huh. Nice…..How do I suggest you do what you’re set out to do ? You could probably start with not personally attacking us middle ground posters But how about a Petition ? Has one been started ? If you could get the majority of the Township, or in the least, the families of enrolled students, to sign on, do you think you’d have more board resignation leverage than you do now ? Just a thought. But it also seems that tempers are too high for communication. Too much “reaction”.

This needs resolved in the best interest of the Students. But nomatter how you cut it, we’re STILL a Community, and we can’t have all of this animosity towards one another over differences of perspective. Keep pitting neighbor against neighbor and we ALL lose.

Have A Great Night !

We are frequently reminded by William-ized et al that this school board is elected. Perhaps pointing to Hitler, Chavez, Castro and Ahmadinejad serves a purpose since they were also elected to their offices?

I am interested in how the Walsh-Thompson-Adams group likes this analogy. Maybe it is not being elected that is most important? Maybe it is how you govern after being elected that really matters?

Thank you for your comments and giving us additional ideas for how we can better distribute information to the public. I wanted to comment real quickly about your idea for a petition. Honestly, we’ve found and been informed that a petition is basically useless as a resolution to action for this board. As many on the pro-board camp have stated, elections are over and these elected officials basically get to keep their seats unless they’ve committed a felony or they resign. The good news is one of the board members committed a class d felony on Monday night. Hopefully it will meet the requirements of giving us another avenue of action against the board’s current “majority” of four.

Thank you for the info. But , in fairness, my reason behind posting should be made clear to avoid confusion. I am not Pro-Williams, nor do I side with “Take Back Perry Schools”. I am , however, still a Community Member . As is stated so often, every community member has a responsibility to speak out when they see something “wrong” , so I did. It is no ones job to berate another over difference of opinion ; it is the entire communities job to work together on finding a civil conclusion to the situation. Hence, the suggestions/comments.

Because of difference of opinion , beliefs, and perception of facts, each side should do all they can, in good form, to stand their ground. I would never say otherwise. But there is a third side here , the side I am on, the side that agrees that “the house needs cleaned every once in awhile”, that “change is good”, that “power has a way of getting out of control”, etc. etc. We’re not represented , but we will be there, if needed, broom in hand.

Thank you for this site .

Have An Excellent Day !

Why can one not argue with elections? Of course the results of a given election are certified after a period of time; however, the impact of the election on a given locality and the quality of government that is a result of the election should be argued frequently.

Please clarify your point.

If you are simply stating that the election resulted in certain individuals filling particular government posts and no one can express disapproval for how those individuals govern, you are wrong. Nevertheless, feel free to add a bit of substance to your trite remarks. Unlike those for which you advocate, opposing views are allowed and even welcomed here. You may feel free to advise the “Gang of Four” that this is normally seen as a positive thing in democracies.

An election does not end the electorate’s involvement in being governed. It is simply a milestone date in the ongoing process of the government listening to the people. It is the beginning of the government listening anew not the end of the electorate speaking.

I await your thoughtful response.

As a matter of fact, we agree with each other. We are members of a community who should work together for the betterment of our schools and our community. That is why I suggest that you attend the meetings to judge the facts for yourself, and then decide which direction you want to take.

I like change too, but change isn’t always good, as you well know. This change isn’t good at all, but you need to see for yourself because then you will never again say that you are on the side of change for change sake. The change you would witness is a huge violation of power by these 4 women! Getting rid of these 4 would be a good change for us all. If you were to attend the meeting to see for yourself, I think you would agree - most wholeheartedly.

I am not chastizing you in the least. I love differences of opinion - mostly when folks actually know the facts of a situation and can share different perspectives and ideas. That’s when real debate, solutions, and healing can take place. Goodness, we do need that healing!

But first, we need to fix our problem! We all know that. The 4 women on our board are the problem, and the only way to fix it is for them to go. They won’t moderate with Dr. Williams and they won’t even let us speak so they can know what we object to, nevermind moderate with us.

Oh, the petition? Over 600 SHS students signed a petition asking for the 4 women to resign and presented it to the board, and the 4 totally ignored it. There have been other petitions going around, even in some of the churches, but they too hold no power for recall or impeachment. These are the kinds of things I wish you already knew because you would know this is not an option. You would have to think of other ways to effect change on this board.

Perhaps this problem will be more personal to you when you are directly affected, or your children are. When that happens, my guess is that you will choose not to remain in the “change is good” lanes any longer. When we are directly affected, we then realize that standing up to wrong is what we must do and do it strongly! Sitting quietly and accepting what we get is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place!

In this sad case, it seems standing strong and tall is the only option we have.

Thank you for your view and the information about the Petitions. And Yes, I am very relieved to know that we do agree on something . But I have to wonder why the Petition’s were so limited (within some of the churches, the School, etc) . What I was referring to was a Community Wide Petition ; the knocking on doors , explaining the real problem as TBPS see’s it, presenting the Petition , etc. Although I have been offered a Sign a couple of times, I have not seen nor heard of any Petition . I’m afraid I fail to see the significance of a “localized” petition, but that’s just my opinion.

One thing we need to stop doing is falsly accusing and/or assuming that when there IS a difference of opinion, that the other person simply “doesn’t have all the facts”. It IS what it is : a difference of opinion based upon those facts. And by all means, this includes Petitions. If Petitions are not making it to those who Do Not agree with TBPS, then the Petitions are not a Fact to anyone other than those already in agreement, or involved with TBPS.

Board meeting minutes are located on MSDPT . Please explain to me what TBPS is trying to relate when they tell people they have to go to Board Meetings so they know something ? (or in other wording) Are we basing this on witnessing behavior from the Board ?

Speaking of that, “meetings” have always been an issue with this Township. Too much emphasis is placed on who attends and who doesn’t. Those who do not attend are typically treated as if they don’t know anything and/or don’t matter. This is a serious public relations problem.

I am still waiting for a thoughtful response to my most recent query. Repeating the same accusations over and over again does not qualify as thoughtful. Thank heavens you have not won any elections. You might actually be worse than Adams and Thompson.

I have spent many hours in the hallways of various MSD Perry Township school buildings over the past 6 years. I have been to more than a few board meetings. I have watched a few board meetings that were recorded on video tape or copied to a computer hard drive. I attended the last few board member discussions at Southport Middle School prior to each of the last few elections. I have attended each of the last five Back to School Nights at the school my child attended. I attend both regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences and the impromptu ones scheduled as needed throughout the school year. I am always at the IEP conference for my child at the end of the school year and at the beginning of the next school year.

Anyone that knows me is aware that I am an involved father. I believe that I have meet and personally talked with every teacher, guidance counselor, resource teacher, special ed aide, principal and assistant principal from each of the schools that my child has attended in MSD Perry Township.

By any stretch of the imagination I cannot see that I qualify as a “johnny come lately”. If you must resort to false labels, at least show some creativity. Arrogant from Renee was a label applied with at least some honesty and accuracy.

I am betting your kids go to an Edison school and most likely Rosa Parks. This assumption is based soley on my observations and readings of your writings.

You exhibit the qualities I would expect from them. Not just the good ones, yes there are some good qualities but also bad ones. Being involved is good, over involved is a pain.

I just don’t understand why some that post here just don’t send their kids to private school or move. For many, they could not imagine their child going to any Elementary school in PT that wasn’t Edison.

It makes you feel good. It makes you feel better. If those feelings and emotions are challenged then you lash out at the person who disagrees.

Center Grove for years always looked down their nose at PT. They thought they were better just because of where they lived and what school they went to. Perry Meridian has always looked down at Southport. I know what I am talking about, I have been around here for a very long time.

Grow up or move, all of you. Please!

You asked a question, so please do not take offense to my answer. I mean no disrespect, but there is a huge difference between attending a board meeting and reading the minutes.

Since I’m a nurse, I will use a medical analogy. You may read in the paper, a birth announcement, that so-and-so had a baby girl. What the paper does not tell you is that the mother developed pulmonary emboli (blood clots in her lungs), and was transferred to CCU with this life-threatening condition. Her baby was taken to Neonatal ICU, is on a ventilator, and not doing well. According to the paper, nothing seems wrong, when in reality, they both may die.

While the board meeting minutes do describe SOME of the tensions present at the meetings, they don’t begin to tell the whole story. First of all, the minutes do not include any of the public comments, nor do they include the board’s responses. The minutes do not include the unprofessional, rude behavior of the board majority, including whispering, nail tapping, eye rolling, note passing, interrupting, and simply not listening…even to fellow board members. The behavior is so completely childish that you just can’t imagine it until you see it. The minute meetings do not describe how Mrs. Adams passes out agenda AT the meetings to her fellow board members rather than in the Friday packets. Not only is this against board policy, it does not allow the fellow board members to prepare any type of response or collect data to substantiate their rebuttle. The minute meetings will not include how Mrs. Walsh walked up to a seated Mrs. Houchin, her fellow board member, and started a verbal altercation, including threatening to slap her in the face. You would have to be present to see how Mrs. Adams taunts and mocks the audience like an adolescent. You’d have to be present to feel the darts Mrs. Walsh was shooting as she accused the entire audience of being guilty of “Abusing” her son because he was called to the office and questioned regarding something he had put on the internet. (Please keep in mind that the schools are now getting more involved in what students post on the internet because of incidences involving schools shootings and threats to students’ safety.)

Unfortunately, a community-wide petition would do no good. There are no checks and balances within the local government. The only thing a petition would do is tell the board that the public is unhappy with their actions. However, the board majority is well aware that the public is unhappy, and they have made it clear that they are not interested in anything the public has to say.

We ALL have busy lives, jobs, children, homework, activities, etc…and attending meetings is an inconvenience. But I assure you that it would take attending only ONE board meeting to see what everyone is trying to say. The board majority has their own agenda, and they clearly are making no attempts to represent the public. Again, I mean no disrespect to you. You would just have to be present to really fully know what is going on, and I invite you to attend the meeting on February 12th at 6:30pm at the Southport High School auditorium.