“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to Farce or Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”  James Madison 1788

I want to go back to the mayor’s address to the school board and suggest one more thing the mayor should do:  PUSH FOR A PARTIALLY-APPOINTED SCHOOL BOARD!!!  I know this is controversial, but I’ve lost my hope and trust in the voting electorate to select school board members who are qualified (or even smart).

Recent turmoil on the school board bears that out.  For further proof…note Roseland’s town council.  I believe in Democracy, but in local elections for school board candidates, the voting public has no clue what the candidate stands for or if they are even qualified to lead the city’s school system.  Whenever forums are offered to meet the candidate about a dozen people or less show up.  The candidates don’t have the finances for commercial spots, mass mailings, or other means to get their message out.

David Snyder

So…a voter enters the booth and chooses a name that rings most familiar (and hopefully the name isn’t familiar because of the charges that were filed against them) or one that sounds nice.  ”Spivey…that sounds nice.”  ”Stephanie Spivey…oooo…two ‘s’ words.  I like it.  I’ll vote for her!“

And then…we get what we get.  Except, it usually means inept leadership.

If the city’s well-being is intertwined with the school system’s well-being (which I believe that it is) than the Mayor has a huge stake in what happens within our school system.  All of his attempts at city growth will be undermined by a defunct school system.  There should be at least 2-3 school board members who are directly appointed by, and are accountable to, the mayor.  I know this places a lot of trust and control in the hands of the mayor.  But he has a vested interest and his voice (via his appointees) are critical.  Further, it expedites communication between the mayor’s office and the school board.  And I don’t mean just communication that occurs at their Monday night board meetings, but probably more important, the communication that goes on outside of it.

One way the city government can help our neighborhood schools is to do something about the condition of the neighborhoods that surrounds the schools.  Specifically, something about the blight and abandoned

properties that many schools on the South Side are right in the middle of.

Has anyone seen the neighborhood that surrounds Riley High School (especially facing opposite the main entrance)?  Has anyone seen the street that is directly in front of of the Riley Early College Program now meeting at the old Studebaker Primary Center (on Dubail Street)?  And now the school corporation is considering the Studebaker school building for the New High Tech School!!!  The entire block across from the school is abandoned with several scarred from arson on two of the properties (it used to be three but the city did demolish).

And where are these schools located?  In some of the most run-down and neglected neighborhoods on the South Side.

I don’t know what Code Enforcement or the city can do, but what does it communicate to our students, and to their families – to have schools in whose surroundings are so miserable?

To see Part 3 go here.

[This is a series of blogs dealing with issues pertaining to condition of neighborhoods on the South Side of South Bend.  You can read the first couple of posts here , here , & here.]

This past Monday evening the  South Bend School Board had their weekly meeting. During the meeting the newly elected Mayor, Pete Buttigieg, addressed the board.  In his address he expressed his desire to work with the school board noting how important a strong school system is to the health of a city.  He promised several things such as: 1) an open door for communication; 2) an advocate by virtue of his office; 3) pursuit of private financial investments; and 4) a call for community volunteers and mentors.

I’m glad the mayor addressed the school board.  And I couldn’t agree more in regards to the health of a city being largely dependent on the condition of its schools.  But as we talk about the south side of South Bend and schools (as has been popular on the blog this week) I believe the condition of our schools may be a contributing factor to the decline of our neighborhoods (and yes…I know the exact opposite can be said as well…the decline of our neighborhoods is a contributing factor to the condition of our schools…welcome to the chicken and the egg debate).

The one thing I hear consistently in regards to people’s decision to move to Michiana but choose a home in Mishawaka or Granger, is the condition of South Bend public schools  (even more than crime) .  I recently read a forum online of someone asking for advice because they were moving to the area.  Page after page was filled with people encouraging them NOT to move to South Bend but rather choose Lakeville, Mishawaka or Granger and the most often cited reason was the school system.

Several years ago I counted 18 kids that lived on my street (I live on a cul-de-sac on the South Side of South Bend).  18 kids…mostly girls! Out of those 18 kids (who are smart, well-behaved, come from stable homes, etc.), only 2 (my children) actually attended a South Bend public school (and even now I only have one in the South Bend public school).  The other 16 were attending private schools (mostly Catholic).  I couldn’t help but wonder if that was the norm on other streets as well.  It seems that anyone who can…sends their kids to another school system or a private school.

The flight out of South Bend public schools guts the neighborhood schools.  And specifically, it guts the schools of kids who are coming from stable homes with parents who are involved and who encourage their children academically.  When you take all of those kids out – how does it not devastate a school?  And now the State is offering vouchers to help in this flight (which…in a spirit of full-disclosure…we use for one of our kids).

AND another thing…I think the whole “magnet” / “traditional” school concept has not helped neighborhood schools.  I think it had the best intentions in the world.  But the end result is you have taken some of your most academically skilled kids who live on the South Side of South Bend and now bus them to Kennedy, LaSalle, etc.  The result:  the further gutting of our neighborhood schools.  I was talking to an ex-teacher at McKinley elementary the other day.  She said that is exactly what happened at McKinley.  After the magnet school came into existence McKinley now qualifies as a 100% free-lunch school and their ISTEP test scores plummeted.

I don’t know how you go back now.  But the end result and consequence has been weaker South Bend neighborhood schools – and especially around the South Side of South Bend.  Our South Side High School – who I love and graduated from (just a couple of years ago) – just barely avoided state takeover.  And when a parent has to decide where to send their kid to High School – a school that isn’t under threat of State takeover (whether it be private or in another school system) is a whole lot more attractive than one that is.

To see Part 2 go here.

You are a sinner!!!!! Leviticus 19:28! Have a good day!! I finally made my way through that book… how can they remember all that stuff!

…can’t you just feel the love?

THEN don’t miss the next two weeks as we try to unpack and articulate how we are going to live out our vision and direction for 2012 (and beyond).  See you Sunday - 9:00, 10:30, or 11:55 am! 

What do you think?  Would you sign this?  Is this healthy?  Right?  Biblical?

I feel sorry for the Kindergarten aides in the South Bend School Corporation.  I think they have a very difficult job and are underpaid.  I also think they are absolutely critical and necessary to the classroom.  But the South Bend School Corporation needs to cut $10 million.  So, what do they do…they release all the Kindergarten aides (in what meeting and who decides?), then have a public school board meeting, and change their mind.  This happens every other month.  Last night was round three of the exact same pattern.  Who can live in that stress and worry?!!  Good grief!!!

But…the school system has to cut $10 MILLION!!!

Now let me get this straight…the school system needs to cut 10,000,000 (count all the zeros) and you are going to do it off of the salaries of the Kindergarten aides!?!!  How much are they making...$250,000 a year?!  Really?  10 million and the most urgent and dispensable category is in the Kindergarten classroom!?!  You are trying to tell me that Kindergarten aides are bankrupting our school corporation (even in part)!!!!?  Come on !!!

I’ll tell you where to cut…

Cut out of the $15.2 million transportation budget!!!  Yes…that’s right.  $15.2 million (it looks like this $15,200,000) spent on busing kids from every point in our city to a different school in another part of the city!!  It is BEYOND absurd.

I’m sure it was well-intentioned and considered a great idea…but these “magnet” and “traditional” schools (at every level) that now have kids from every part of the city being bused in is outrageous.  Kids are out on the street as early as 6:20 am catching a bus to take them to the other side of town.  I’m for school choice.  If you want your kid to go to Kennedy, I’m great with that.  Then the parent can be responsible to drive their kid to Kennedy.  But for the school corporation to bear the responsibly to bus that kid to Kennedy (not to mention after school activities and the activity buses necessary for that as well) is a cost that we can clearly no longer afford.

Bring back neighborhood schools!!!

You need to cut $10 million…leave the teacher’s aides alone and pick up a transportation budget and start your cutting there!

[This humble opinion offered to you by Sam I Am.  But...I'm also looking for some pushback so come on...bring it! ]

Most of the people I minister to and hang out with aren’t farmers.  I have nothing against farmers, but my life is rooted in a city and I just don’t have a lot of farmers around me.  As a result, some of the agricultural metaphors and language that the Bible uses, is often missed.

One such metaphor is the language of a yoke.  It is the wooden beam-like object around the neck of the two oxen.  The purpose and need for a yoke was essential in farming.  Every ox was different.  Some were stronger, some were weaker, some were faster, some were slower, one wanted to go this direction, the other wanted to head in a different direction.  What kept them together – moving at the same speed, and the same pace, and sharing the burden of the load/work was the yoke.  Without it, the oxen would find themselves going in totally different directions, with different speeds, and different levels of strength.  They would ultimately (if they were trying to pull a cart or a plow) find themselves pulling in opposing directions.  And the result – tension, conflict, added burden, and wasted expenditures of energy.

Jesus uses this metaphor when he speaks of our life of discipleship.  He says in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The apostle Paul uses this metaphor as a warning in regards to our most intimate and personal relationships, including marriage.  He says in 2 Corinthians 6:14:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

I know this is the most controversial of topics when it comes to marriage.  I can’t tell you how many Christians (especially women) have spoken to me years later with regret – who thought they were the biblical exception and married someone who wasn’t a Christian and didn’t share in their faith assumptions.  At the time they were so “in love” that they thought it wouldn’t really matter.  Or they thought they had some arrangement worked out (then the kids showed up).  Or they thought their husband-to-be would come around and join them in their faith (which we still hope and pray for).

In the end, I just can’t get around this passage in 2 Corinthians.  And there are times that I want to get around it for the sake of people who I love and who have found “someone.”  And every time I have gone ahead and officiated a wedding between someone who was a Christian and someone who wasn’t – more often than not, I have regretted it, and more importantly, the couple regretted it.  They regretted it because they found they were living a life with a spouse who was perpetually pulling in an opposite direction.  And it often ended in either divorce, or out of pure exhaustion, caused the Christian to give in.  Years later they find they practice almost no faith at all.

I want to be faithful to the Bible’s teaching.  Not because I like it all the time.  Not because I don’t want there to be exceptions.  Not because I have moments of “but they really do seem great together” kind of thoughts.  But simply because I’ve pledged, in life and vocation, to be faithful to its teachings EVEN when I might wish otherwise.

I do not know this man.

I threw out a challenge to the Living Stones Church a few weeks ago to read through the entire Bible in 2012.  We want to engage Scripture daily and get an overview of the entire Bible in the year.  I also encouraged people to have a notebook or a journal with them to write down questions, confusion, struggles, etc.

Because…when you read the Bible…you’re going to have questions, confusion, and struggles!

Yesterday one of our Living Stoners posted on her Facebook that she was reading through the Bible and enjoying the history of Israel in the Old Testament but came across a question in regards to Noah’s flood and the amount of rain that is says rose on the face of the earth (Genesis 7:20).  It is a good question.

What was interesting, however, was to see the responses to her status.  There was one in particular that posted like seven times on her status to explain the passage, offer links to answers in Genesis, reconcile the numbers, and defend the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.  It felt like he was almost panicked.  He was desperate (at least as it seemed to me) to resolve the issue so she could continue her reading knowing that there wasn’t a single question or difficulty that couldn’t be answered.

I had a few things I could have offered to reconcile the difficulty of the text.  But honestly, I think it is good to wrestle with questions and not build a faith on having a picture of the Bible like a balloon that if it has one single prick to it – the whole thing blows up.  And when I see Bible answer men (and women), or people who get very nervous at the idea that there is something in the Bible that can’t be explained or reconciled or clearly understood I think they are promoting a balloon-kind-of-faith.

If you have some questions in Genesis…just wait until you get to Leviticus.  I have a lot of questions.  And honestly, I have more faith struggles reading through that book than any other (…and yes…I know that Rob Bell started Mars Hill with a year-long study in Leviticus).  But my faith isn’t based on having a perfect understanding of everything in the Bible.  My faith isn’t threatened by having a an unresolved question or an issue that seems hard to reconcile.

My faith is in Jesus.