The new collusion between the Mayor of Hammond and the Chancellor of Purdue University Calumet is designed to promote the political future of a Democratic Party elected official through the good offices of the Indiana taxpayers via a state-funded institution.
Almost a year ago, I wrote a column in the Gary Post-Tribune, indicating how the collusion was getting ready to take tax money to fund family, friends, and acquaintances. I also suggested that the original plan was a cover for getting money to underwrite the misappropriation and incompetence of Father McDermott when his company was running the City's Health Insurance Program, a hole that the City of Hammond still has not dug itself out of. What was never explained is how did a State institution, Purdue University, get into the act of saving the Mayor and his father?
This was clearly outlined in a recent article in the local newspaper The Times. This is the specific story by Susan Brown: grant_paves_way.htm. First, U. S. Representative Peter Visclosky was able to get $250,000 to start the process. (Remember this is the same Congressman who got $7 million in federal tax dollars for an incubator in Merrillville that is not an incubator.)
In the first part of the story State Appointed Employee Purdue University Chancellor Howard Cohen is providing a wonderful political presentation for Mayor Tom McDermott's re-election. It is amazing that there is no protest from any Republicans in the State for this obvious partisan abuse of power. Cohen's political presentation is that the goal of the academy sponsored by Purdue University's Board of Trustees is to increase "retention of families" in Hammond, which is ostensibly tied to increased home-ownership (a point McDermott Jr. made in that same article). First, what is the evidence that this is a primary problem that needs solving in Hammond (it has one of the highest homeownership rates in Lake County)? Second, since when has this been the goal of a State University to help an individual city to retain citizens? Third, why the concern only with Hammond and its citizens, or mayor, when the University serves all of NWI?
The central question that Purdue University's Board of Trustees needs to ask is: Where does the School City of Hammond stand on this proposal?
Why does the Hammond School City have nothing to do with this program? Here is what I think: because they know that the plan and the criteria that it encompasses is a form of racism -- maybe not in intent but certainly in its application and outcome. The plan will leave out the majority of the Hispanic and African-American students of Hammond, East Chicago, and Gary (with a few exceptions) while catering to the predominantly white students from the surrounding schools.
The new "urban academy" is focused on bringing in kids who fulfill certain criteria through a lottery system that ensures that most of the students will not be from the northern part of the County. This is Cohen's specific presentation in the second part of The Times article where he completely contradicts his and Mayor McDermott's earlier justification, which is improving residency in Hammond, by telling us that students will be drawn from the entire state on a lottery basis (assuming they meet the pre-set criteria, which is biased toward white middle class students). I suspect that McDermott and Cohen know that according to the criteria they set that they cannot get enough students from Hammond to fill the school. They have set up the criteria so that most of the students will be white, economically better off, kids from south County or Porter County. How this helps Hammond's residency rate or "retention of families" is anybody's guess but it certainly suggests that McDermott and Cohen do not want predominantly Hammond students.
With $250,000 from the Federal taxpayers, $15 million from the Hammond tax payers, and lots of money from State Taxpayers to run the Academy, Purdue University's Board of Trustees should be asking: What is the position of the Hammond School District as to how to best use this money for Hammond's children? The Board of Trustees might also consider asking: Why was the Hammond School District never consulted by the Mayor about what would benefit Hammond students if $15 million dollars of taxpayer money is to be spent?
Here is what Cohen and McDermott (with the aid of at least Dabertin) have in mind. First, Hammond will build the school from its taxpayers money to the tune of $12-15 million. Then Hammond will "give" the building, i.e. school, to Purdue Calumet to own so that PUC has to run it. As Cohen explains to McDermott, "if we [Purdue] build, Purdue West Lafayette construction management gets involved at extra expense and supervision." Of course, Purdue Calumet, will "assume all operating expenses." In MauriceSpeak this means that the State will be on the hook for operating expenses.
Purdue University's Board of Trustees has a fiduciary duty to find out the answers to those questions before it commits a State-wide institution to a long term entanglement in the most corrupt and politically partisan part of the State, northern Lake County. Purdue's Board of Trustees have never approved such a plan anywhere in the State. They specifically reiterated several years ago that they will not get into the "charter" school "business." The only university in Indiana that has made such sponsorships is Ball State University.
So now for its first venture, the Board of Trustees is thinking of approving a plan that has been solely developed by Tom McDermott and Howard Cohen (and possibly Tom Dabertin), none of whom have an hour's worth of experience, between them, in K-12 education. In addition, the Board of Trustees is going to approve being responsible for a multi-million dollar project in the most corrupt area in the State if not the Country. All without even asking for any input from the Hammond School District who are responsible for the students in the area. This by itself should raise the biggest red flag on the part of any thinking individual. Where is the red flag in their minds when they realize this is one of the most, if not the most, segregated parts of the country, especially when it comes to education and there is nothing in this new "program" that addresses this issue; it actually exacerbates it.
The School City may very well be far from perfect; but one thing they can tell is (intended or not) racism when they see it. The McDermott, Cohen, and Dabertin "team" is creating a system of providing predominantly white kids with improved K-12 education on the back of Hammond minority students. The Hammond School District knows this well.
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