Letters to the Editor 02-17-2000
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Cavalier Treatment
Cavalier Treatment
Editor, Times-Union:I am a teacher for Warsaw Community Schools. I teach fifth grade at Eisenhower Elementary, and Chris Gensinger is my principal. I took great offense at your cavalier treatment of him, and other education professionals, in your Potpourri column this past Saturday.
Without even a phone call to check, you assumed that because Mr. Gensinger was not at the finals of the County Spelling Bee, he obviously did not care about academic events in our school system. Did you know that he was responsible for the semi-final round of the elementary basketball tourney in another location at the exact same time? Other Eisenhower staff members joined him to sell tickets, run the clock and score boards, keep the stat's book, supervise the students and staff the snack bar.
All of these people, including Mr. Gensinger, were at Lakeview because they care about kids, not because they were being paid. They weren't being paid. He actually asked another staff member, Bryce Durgin's teacher, to represent him at the Bee. He knew he couldn't be two places at once. (Apparently, the Times-Union only understands that problem when it comes to newspaper coverage of school and sporting events.)
This year Eisenhower School was selected as a Four Star School for the seventh time in eight years. This means that this school was in the top 25% of all Indiana elementary schools in attendance, language scores, math scores and overall ISTEP scores. This is due, in great measure, to the leadership that Mr. Gensinger demonstrates with students, teachers, staff and our wonderful parents. The Times-Union has barely mentioned this unique academic achievement in its coverage of school news.
If the Times-Union wants to see if Mr. Gensinger truly cares about academics at Eisenhower School, they might want to send a reporter out to the school on Friday evening. Have the reporter bring a sleeping bag and some books, and he can help Mr. Gensinger and staff members supervise more than 200 youngsters who will be sleeping over in an all-night celebration of reading. There will be lots of games, food, reading and educational activities. We'll see who has the most enthusiasm (and stamina) for education!
Jan Knoop
via e-mail
Note: The letter writer seems to have missed the point of the Potpourri item. The point was not that Gensinger and others do not care about kids, that kids are getting a bad education or that our schools are bad. The point was that academics seem to take a back seat to athletics. Attending the three-day spelling bee would have been a good way for local education officials to show support for academics. They chose not to attend. The letter writer's admission that at least some of them chose to attend a basketball tourney instead validates our point. A story on Eisenhower's Four Star School status (six of 12 Warsaw schools achieved the same status) ran on Feb. 1.
Gary Gerard, Managing Editor
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- Cavalier Treatment
Cavalier Treatment
Editor, Times-Union:I am a teacher for Warsaw Community Schools. I teach fifth grade at Eisenhower Elementary, and Chris Gensinger is my principal. I took great offense at your cavalier treatment of him, and other education professionals, in your Potpourri column this past Saturday.
Without even a phone call to check, you assumed that because Mr. Gensinger was not at the finals of the County Spelling Bee, he obviously did not care about academic events in our school system. Did you know that he was responsible for the semi-final round of the elementary basketball tourney in another location at the exact same time? Other Eisenhower staff members joined him to sell tickets, run the clock and score boards, keep the stat's book, supervise the students and staff the snack bar.
All of these people, including Mr. Gensinger, were at Lakeview because they care about kids, not because they were being paid. They weren't being paid. He actually asked another staff member, Bryce Durgin's teacher, to represent him at the Bee. He knew he couldn't be two places at once. (Apparently, the Times-Union only understands that problem when it comes to newspaper coverage of school and sporting events.)
This year Eisenhower School was selected as a Four Star School for the seventh time in eight years. This means that this school was in the top 25% of all Indiana elementary schools in attendance, language scores, math scores and overall ISTEP scores. This is due, in great measure, to the leadership that Mr. Gensinger demonstrates with students, teachers, staff and our wonderful parents. The Times-Union has barely mentioned this unique academic achievement in its coverage of school news.
If the Times-Union wants to see if Mr. Gensinger truly cares about academics at Eisenhower School, they might want to send a reporter out to the school on Friday evening. Have the reporter bring a sleeping bag and some books, and he can help Mr. Gensinger and staff members supervise more than 200 youngsters who will be sleeping over in an all-night celebration of reading. There will be lots of games, food, reading and educational activities. We'll see who has the most enthusiasm (and stamina) for education!
Jan Knoop
via e-mail
Note: The letter writer seems to have missed the point of the Potpourri item. The point was not that Gensinger and others do not care about kids, that kids are getting a bad education or that our schools are bad. The point was that academics seem to take a back seat to athletics. Attending the three-day spelling bee would have been a good way for local education officials to show support for academics. They chose not to attend. The letter writer's admission that at least some of them chose to attend a basketball tourney instead validates our point. A story on Eisenhower's Four Star School status (six of 12 Warsaw schools achieved the same status) ran on Feb. 1.
Gary Gerard, Managing Editor
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