Sorry for the last minute news: COLLEGE FAIR at GLENDALE MALL -TUES APR 18 (Glendale Mall is on northeast side - about 62nd north on Keystone Ave.) This is a great opportunity for sophomores and juniors to start checking out schools, what they offer - might give them not only some ideas - but motivate them if they see talk to some colleges and see what they are looking for in a student. College app deadlines (usually around December of senior year) come much faster than you think.
The Century Council has launched a new initiative to help parents remind their kids to have a safe prom by sending them a text message reminder not to drink on prom night. Visit a special web site, www.centurycouncil.org/promtext - parents and/or teens, themselves, can sign up to have a safe prom text message sent free on prom night to the cell phone number they choose. An email confirmation message will be sent out to confirm that the text message was sent.
At the end of this email is a copy of the letter Carol d'Ambrosio sent to Dr White and the School Board re staff cuts and athletic proposals.... consider sending your own testimonial if you will, to Dr White and the School Board... letters can be mailed to IPS Educ Serv Ctr, 120 E Walnut, or email whiteeg@ips.k12.in.us and parksc@ips.k12.in.us
March 21, 2006
Dear Dr. White,
I attended the IPS board meeting last December and more recently the March meeting at Broad Ripple High School regarding changes to the athletic program. My daughter, Eva, is a senior at Broad Ripple High School. We are middle class and had the means to send her to North Central, Chatard or Brebeuf. We chose Broad Ripple because it was our neighborhood school offering both the Theatre and Humanities magnets as a double major. As important as academics in deciding which school to attend was the opportunity for Eva to participate in athletic programs. Not just to make the team, but to be a contributor and competitor. She had participated in both soccer and track previously and also picked up cross country as a new sport. That experience later gave her the confidence to run the 500 Mini-marathon. Because of the smaller size of the BRHS, not only did she make teams, she was able to be a starter and a co-captain. Had she attended a larger school this most likely would not have been the case. And yes, most of her sport seasons were losing seasons. And yes, often they were pummeled by larger schools with better financed and organized sport programs. But winning the games isn't the only point. I know no one wants to hear that in our sports crazed society. My daughter made friends outside of her classes, learned to incorporate exercise into her busy schedule, reduced the stresses of high school, and learned how to both win and lose. I think being a part of team sports helped her achieve academic excellence. I think academics without athletics is unbalanced. And to put athletics before academics is borderline negligence for a school system. To make a child choose sports over academics is absurd. At a time when kids are getting fatter and fatter by the day, the
last thing we need to do is reduce the opportunities to participate in sports.
I was disappointed to see how few questions were asked by some of the school board members at last December’s presentation of this proposal. My concern is the board rubber-stamping this change as a way to impress the new superintendent. However, I was relieved to see most members in attendance at the high school meeting. This meeting allowed parents and
students to voice their opinions. There was heckling of parents who opposed the changes and didn’t want to spend more money for fewer programs. I later found out this heckling was done by the BRHS football coaching staff, all of whom are in favor of the sports consolidation.
What I saw was a clash of two philosophies. One of parents wanting their child to have the option to participate in a sport without having it as the mainstay of their high school career. As Superintendent you have made your philosophy known with comments such as in, “winning is
everything” and “sports were my ticket out” and “life is full of tough choices”. You quizzed an opposing student regarding Manifest Destiny as argument for change. I was far more concerned that the student had no idea of what this controversial philosophy entailed. A philosophy which
utilized enslavement and genocide is not an appropriate argument. I am so glad my daughter is a senior and will not have to deal with the possible effects of this proposal. I realize, only by chance, that Broad Ripple will still have the sports in which she participated. But I feel bad for the kids that won't be so lucky. I think the sports program definitely needs to be improved. The development of lower school programs and the feeder system is a great idea. But, reducing availability of sports coupled with previous academic reductions (no newspaper, no speech team, faculty cuts) makes Broad Ripple less of a school for the students. So, if I had to make Eva’s high school decision today, then I would have no choice but to be a part of the middle class flight from
IPS.
Sincerely,
Carol Bott d'Ambrosio
(Eva d’Ambrosio, Class 2006: 4.0 GPA / National Merit Scholar /
Prelude Award Winner /Herman B. Wells Scholarship recipient / Indianapolis
Star Newspaper Academic All-Star
Cc: IPS Board of Commissioners; Indianapolis Star Newspaper
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Juli Van Wyk
BRHS PTA Secretary
www.BRHSPTA.org
