Dear Friends,

Our ICPE Annual Meeting this coming Saturday, August 21st will be a virtual meeting. You can join us from your home!

We had high hopes of having an August in-person meeting as we did for years before the pandemic last year changed our plans. As you now know, the delta variant is getting worse, and having a virtual meeting again this year is the best plan to keep our valued members of ICPE safe. Please join us online!

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education is inviting all ICPE members as well as all who support public education to its annual fall membership meeting, the 11th since its inception in 2011. The pandemic has forced a virtual format but the meeting in support of public education is on!

The format will allow you to participate from home on a Zoom webinar or using your phone for audio only.

Here are the details:

DATE & TIME:

Saturday, August 21, 2021, 2 p.m.

OPEN TO:

All ICPE members and to all who support public education.

Join the ICPE Zoom webinar by clicking on this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82872280075?pwd=cVRxTm9HOHczUVRUWVZ3NzFMTzM2Zz09

Passcode: 922588
Webinar ID: 828 7228 0075

One-tap mobile : +19292056099,,82872280075#,,,,*922588#
For telephone audio only: call 312 626 6799

Attendees will not be seen on screen. Questions can be submitted in the chat function. You can also participate by phone.

SPEAKERS:

We invited Republican and Democratic legislators and other leaders to speak on the panel reviewing the past legislative session, what to expect in the 2022 session, and recommendations for what advocates should do to support public schools.

Panelists who have accepted include:

Senator Vaneta Becker, Republican
Senator J.D. Ford, Democrat
Representative Vernon Smith, Democrat
Terry Spradlin, Executive Director, Indiana School Boards Association
Joel Hand, Attorney and Lobbyist for the Indiana Coalition for Public Education

IN ADDITION:

A celebration of ICPE’s 10 years of accomplishments since forming in 2011 is planned. Don’t miss it!

Join us online on Saturday, August 21st at 2pm!

Tell your public education friends about this virtual meeting!

Thank you for your active support of public education in Indiana!

Stay safe and best wishes,

Vic Smith vic790@aol.com

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries.  The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis.  Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!  

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools.  We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts.  As of July 1^st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership. 

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is representing ICPE extremely well in the extraordinary 2021 budget session.  We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations.  We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education!  Please pass the word!  

Go to www.indianacoalitionforpubliced.org for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education.  Thanks!

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools.  Thanks for asking!  Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969.  I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor.   I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009.  I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.  In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.  In April of 2018, I was honored to receive the 2018 Friend of Education Award from the Indiana State Teachers Association.