Two people in critical condition after shooting at Indiana middle school

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) -- Two people are in critical condition and a shooter is in custody after a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School.

News 8 has been told that the situation is contained. Police are on scene. The school is on lockdown. Officials are requesting more medical help on the scene.

The son of a WISH-TV producer has said that a shooter is in custody. That student heard several shots fired but did not know if they were fired inside or outside of the building.

A teacher inside of the school said students are being moved to the high school.

A public information officer with Indiana State Police said they are "sending everyone."

Shots have been reported at Noblesville West Middle School. Reports of one injury. Police are onsite and school is in lockdown. Standby for more info.

> By “viable”, I mean, if you were put in charge and given plenary authority over rules, curriculum, and structure, but you were not allowed to expel attendees for non-criminal offenses and were not allowed to segregate, could you make it work? <

That’s an interesting question. So here goes...

I’ll start off by saying that urban schools have rather unique problems due to the lack of family structure. But there is nothing schools can do about that. It’s just something that has to be accepted as part of the landscape.

Here’s what can be done, in the high schools at least. Institute a robust honors program. This program would offer challenging math and science classes. A student can only get into the program with good grades and good behavior.

Since every kid is not going to college, pair this academic program with a robust trades program. And make it a PAID program! In their junior and senior years, pay the trades kids to go out into the neighborhood and do repair work (under the supervision of their teachers).

What I just described here was - back in the 90’s - my urban high school. We had a great honors program, as good as any in the suburbs. Many of those kids went on to be doctors and engineers.

And we had a great trades program as well, first-class all the way.

All of that is gone now. The honors program fell apart when some activists noticed it was not racially balanced. And there weren’t enough “special education” (read “slow”) kids in these classes. So the new standard became come-one-come-all. Fistfights are now common in these classes.

And our trades program was eliminated. Not just reduced, but eliminated. You can thank George W. Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ for that. NCLB tests for math and English skills, not for trade skills. So principals dropped the trades programs, and shoved those kids into advanced math and English classes. Those kids didn’t want to be there. End result? More fistfights.

The class balancing scam is not going away. Neither is NCLB. So (very) long story short: No, urban schools cannot be made viable again.

You keep prefacing your statements with “I taught in urban public schools for decades”. Why? That fact is more of a liability than an asset for this particular subject, since it calls into question your objectivity.

Your career may lend you some credibility on the subject of ‘education’ (or should I say indoctrination), but frankly the way you’re going about it you may as well be running west looking for a sunrise.

Given today’s world with today’s politics and the straight jacket of political correctness, you’re looking for answers are the places where you’ll never find them.

See my post #22.

> introduce a management structure that allowed incentive compensation for teachers <

We actually have something like that in place at our school now. It’s a disaster. Teachers who are favorites of the principal get assigned the classes most likely to generate bonuses.

And you’d be surprised how seemly small factors can have a big influence on results. For example, suppose you teach Algebra 1 first period, and I teach Algebra 1 - with the same type of kids - third period.

I can guarantee it that my test scores will be higher than yours. And that’s because during first period kids are still straggling into school. On most days perhaps 1/4 of your first period class hasn’t reported yet. But by third period most of my kids are present. So I’ll get the bonus that year. You won’t.

Some folks have suggested a work-around: Rotate period assignments each year. That’s rarely possible due to the many other pressures involved in scheduling.

Then there’s the disruptive kid problem. Suppose you have five disruptive students in your class. Lucky me, I only have two. Again, your test scores will be lower. And I’ll get the bonus.

(Sorry for being so long-winded. But as you can guess, this is a real passion for me. Urban education is such a disaster. But it doesn’t have to be.)

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