LAFBer JC 1 02-03-2013 0 Local-Cov B B 001 4 225324 · dile, while her friend, Lori Essert, wore a...
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A retired high school chem- istry and physics teacher, not to mention a Purdue Univer- sity graduate, state Rep. Jeff Thompson says he just wants to get at the truth in the classroom, even when it’s not necessarily some- thing he sees in the textbook handed to the teacher and dis- tributed on every student desk. A bill the Danville Repub- lican filed in the Indiana House on Jan. 23 — one that would “allow a teacher to help stu- dents understand, analyze, critique and review in an ob- jective manner the strengths and weaknesses of conclusions and theories being presented” — might not get Indiana closer to that truth. At least not this year, given that he senses that House Bill 1283 likely won’t get the cour- tesy of a House Education Committee hearing this ses- sion. “Some would argue that it’s not needed,” Thompson said last week. “What it really does is clarify that teachers, no matter the subject area, can teach facts. And if those facts are disputable, you can teach both sides. That’s all it says. Nothing more you can read into it.” Or is there? A few days after HB 1283 was filed, radar went up. The National Center for Science Education put out a notice under the headline, “A stealth antiscience bill in Indiana,” warning of a fight to be had over what might seem like innocuous buzzwords about “critical thinking” and “strengths and weaknesses” of coursework. “This is really just code Evolution of a classroom debate House bill aimed at academic freedom can be seen as stealth attack on science DAVE BANGERT COLUMNIST ONLINE » To read and track House Bill 1283, go to www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/ billwatch/billinfo and type in the number of the bill. » To read the “truth in educa- tion” law in Tennessee, along with links to similar bills filed in other states, go to jconline.com and click on the link to this story. See BANGERT, Page B3 Replicated skulls representing periods of evolution on a table in a Jefferson High School science class. J&C FILE PHOTO Jeff Thompson LOCAL Sunday, February 3, 2013 Journal & Courier • www.jconline.com B CONTACT US Local Editor Dorothy Schneider [email protected] Phone: 765-420-5339 Fax: 765-420-5246 ON JCONLINE.COM Get your crossword puzzle in print or online at jconline.com/puzzles. THINGS TO DO Malachi Jaggers: 10 a.m. today, St. Andrew United Methodist, 4703 N. County Road 50 West, West Lafayette. Search continues for missing Indy girl INDIANAPOLIS — Police continued their search Sat- urday for a 10-year-old Indi- anapolis girl missing since Friday afternoon. The girl, Tatyana Staten, disappeared about 1:45 p.m. Friday. Police think she climbed out her window and ran away after being sus- pended from school. Her brothers said Sat- urday that she was suspend- ed for stealing food from the teacher’s lounge at Robert Lee Frost Elementary School, where she is in fourth grade. Staten was afraid of being grounded at home, said her brother, Jeremiah Bonner,15. “She doesn’t like being punished,” he said. “So that’s basically it.” He and Staten’s other brother said they suspected she was in an apartment complex somewhere. Death of man found in road probed TIPTON — Police are try- ing to determine if a man whose truck crashed on a county road died from the accident or exposure to sin- gle-digit temperatures. The man’s body was dis- covered lying in the road after it was struck by another car early Saturday. Investiga- tors believe 22-year-old Jo- seph Richards was dead by then. Police say the Atlanta, Ind., man lost control of his pickup truck sometime after midnight. The truck careened down an embankment and ended up in a drainage ditch holding 3 feet of water. Richards escaped and walked about a half-mile before collapsing in the road- way, where he was later hit. Three are injured in ambulance crash NOBLESVILLE — An ambu- lance transporting a dialysis patient crashed, injuring three people and closing Indiana 37 for about two hours. Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryant Orem said the ambulance apparently hit a slick spot on the highway north of Noblesville on Sat- urday morning and veered off into a wooded ravine, where it struck a tree. Snow was falling. Orem said police closed the highway for about two hours while investigators studied the accident scene. He said the ambulance was not on an emergency run. The driver, the medic and the patient were taken to River- view Hospital in Noblesville. Toddler found in trashy hotel room BLOOMINGTON — Police have arrested a father after his 3-year-old son was found barefoot in a frigid hotel room littered with hypo- dermic needles and trash. Twenty-three-year-old Zachary Frame was being held on neglect charges Fri- day in Monroe County Jail in Bloomington. Police arrested Frame on Thursday after they found four people trespassing in an unheated, closed section of the University Inn in Bloom- ington. Police say the temper- ature was below 20 degrees. The other two adults were not arrested. Authorities said the child is with his mother. — Wire reports IN BRIEF Facebook is one of the world’s most well-known web- sites, but Oakland High School Principal Clare Lutgen knows it by a different name: “Things I would never say to your face”- book. Lutgen is talking about cy- berbullying, a growing problem across the country and the tar- get of Indiana House Bill 1015. The bill takes aim at cyber- bullies by allowing school ad- ministrators to punish students for out-of-school activities that interfere with school purposes or educational function. “Students say horrible things to each other on Face- book that they would never, ever say in person,” Lutgen said. “And then students come to school upset and embar- rassed. It doesn’t matter where it originated, it’s disrupting their ability to learn.” As the law stands now, Bill targets cyberbullies Opponents claim law violates students’ free speech rights By Jessica Contrera [email protected] CONTACT LAWMAKERS » Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette. District includes all but the northeast quad- rant of Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9467, [email protected] » Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville. District includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery and Boone counties. 800-382-9842, [email protected] » Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek. District t includes all of White and Clinton counties and parts of Tippecanoe, Carroll, Jasper and Boone coun- ties. 800-382-9467, [email protected] » Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette. District includes much of the eastern half of Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9842, [email protected] » Rep. Don Lehe, R-Brookston. District includes a large portion of White County and sections of Cass, Carroll, Clinton and Tippecanoe counties. 800- 382-9842, [email protected] » Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica. District includes all of Benton County and portions of Newton, Jasper, White, Warren, Tippecanoe, Foundation and Montgomery counties. 800-382-9842, [email protected] » Rep. Randy Truitt, R-West Lafayette. District includes Wabash and Union townships in Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9842, [email protected] See BULLIES, Page B7 More than 400 people turned out for the Polar Plunge, a morning for participants to dress up — or down in some cases — and leap into cold water in February temperatures, all to sup- port the Special Olympics. Wearing everything from full- fledged costumes to only shorts, peo- ple lined up single file outside Purdue University’s Lambert Fieldhouse as they prepared to take the plunge. “I feel great,” said Caitlan Simpson of Lafayette, the first person to jump. Simpson came dressed as a croco- dile, while her friend, Lori Essert, wore a crocodile costume draped about her shoulders. The two were on a team representing LifeSmiles Den- tistry. “There’s a lot of anticipation, and then you jump and it’s gone,” Simpson said, describing the experience. “It was a good time. I’m glad we did this.” The event was one of 12 polar plunges to be held across the state throughout February. Funds raised go to support Special Olympic athletes throughout Indiana. Last year the event raised more than $45,000, said event co-chairwom- an Lynne Noble. This year organizers are hoping to surpass $50,000. “It’s for a great cause and everyone should do it,” Simpson said. “If you don’t give, who’s going to?” — Mikel Livingston/ [email protected] Hundreds take the plunge to chill out for Special Olympics Annual event draws more than 400 people; organizers hope to top $45,000 raised last year The Rev. Patrick Baikauskas of St. Thomas Aquinas Church reacts Saturday after leaping into a pool to benefit the Special Olympics. BRENT DRINKUT/JOURNAL & COURIER • • G GA AL LL LE ER RY Y • • V VI ID DE EO O
Transcript of LAFBer JC 1 02-03-2013 0 Local-Cov B B 001 4 225324 · dile, while her friend, Lori Essert, wore a...
A retired high school chem-istry and physics teacher, notto mention a Purdue Univer-sity graduate, state Rep. Jeff
Thompson sayshe just wants toget at the truth inthe classroom,even when it’s notnecessarily some-thing he sees inthe textbookhanded to theteacher and dis-tributed on everystudent desk.
A bill the Danville Repub-lican filed in the Indiana Houseon Jan. 23 — one that would“allow a teacher to help stu-dents understand, analyze,
critique and review in an ob-jective manner the strengthsand weaknesses of conclusionsand theories being presented”—might not get Indiana closerto that truth.
At least not this year, giventhat he senses that House Bill1283 likely won’t get the cour-tesy of a House EducationCommittee hearing this ses-sion.
“Some would argue that it’snot needed,” Thompson saidlast week. “What it really doesis clarify that teachers, nomatter the subject area, canteach facts. And if those factsare disputable, you can teachboth sides. That’s all it says.Nothing more you can read
into it.”Or is there?A few days after HB1283
was filed, radar went up. TheNational Center for ScienceEducation put out a noticeunder the headline, “A stealthantiscience bill in Indiana,”warning of a fight to be hadover what might seem likeinnocuous buzzwords about“critical thinking” and“strengths and weaknesses” ofcoursework.
“This is really just code
Evolution of a classroom debateHouse bill aimed at academic freedomcan be seen as stealth attack on science DAVE
BANGERTCOLUMNIST
ONLINE» To read and track House Bill1283, go towww.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo and type in thenumber of the bill.» To read the “truth in educa-tion” law in Tennessee, alongwith links to similar bills filed inother states, go to jconline.comand click on the link to this story.
See BANGERT, Page B3
Replicated skulls representingperiods of evolution on a tablein a Jefferson High Schoolscience class. J&C FILE PHOTO
JeffThompson
LOCALSunday, February 3, 2013
Journal & Courier • www.jconline.com
BCONTACT US
Local Editor Dorothy [email protected]: 765-420-5339Fax: 765-420-5246
ON JCONLINE.COM
Get your crossword puzzlein print or online atjconline.com/puzzles.
THINGS TO DO
Malachi Jaggers: 10 a.m.today, St. Andrew UnitedMethodist, 4703 N. CountyRoad 50 West, West Lafayette.
Search continuesfor missing Indy girl
INDIANAPOLIS — Policecontinued their search Sat-urday for a 10-year-old Indi-anapolis girl missing sinceFriday afternoon.
The girl, Tatyana Staten,disappeared about 1:45 p.m.Friday. Police think sheclimbed out her window andran away after being sus-pended from school.
Her brothers said Sat-urday that she was suspend-ed for stealing food from theteacher’s lounge at RobertLee Frost Elementary School,where she is in fourth grade.Staten was afraid of beinggrounded at home, said herbrother, Jeremiah Bonner, 15.
“She doesn’t like beingpunished,” he said. “So that’sbasically it.”
He and Staten’s otherbrother said they suspectedshe was in an apartmentcomplex somewhere.
Death of man foundin road probed
TIPTON— Police are try-ing to determine if a manwhose truck crashed on acounty road died from theaccident or exposure to sin-gle-digit temperatures.
The man’s body was dis-covered lying in the roadafter it was struck by anothercar early Saturday. Investiga-tors believe 22-year-old Jo-seph Richards was dead bythen.
Police say the Atlanta,Ind., man lost control of hispickup truck sometime aftermidnight. The truck careeneddown an embankment andended up in a drainage ditchholding 3 feet of water.
Richards escaped andwalked about a half-milebefore collapsing in the road-way, where he was later hit.
Three are injuredin ambulance crash
NOBLESVILLE—An ambu-lance transporting a dialysispatient crashed, injuringthree people and closingIndiana 37 for about twohours.
Hamilton County Sheriff’sDeputy Bryant Orem said theambulance apparently hit aslick spot on the highwaynorth of Noblesville on Sat-urday morning and veeredoff into a wooded ravine,where it struck a tree.
Snow was falling.Orem said police closed
the highway for about twohours while investigatorsstudied the accident scene.
He said the ambulancewas not on an emergency run.The driver, the medic and thepatient were taken to River-view Hospital in Noblesville.
Toddler found intrashy hotel room
BLOOMINGTON— Policehave arrested a father afterhis 3-year-old son was foundbarefoot in a frigid hotelroom littered with hypo-dermic needles and trash.
Twenty-three-year-oldZachary Frame was beingheld on neglect charges Fri-day in Monroe County Jail inBloomington.
Police arrested Frame onThursday after they foundfour people trespassing in anunheated, closed section ofthe University Inn in Bloom-ington. Police say the temper-ature was below 20 degrees.
The other two adults werenot arrested.
Authorities said the childis with his mother.
—Wire reports
IN BRIEF
Facebook is one of theworld’s most well-known web-sites, but Oakland High SchoolPrincipal Clare Lutgen knows itby a different name: “Things Iwould never say to your face”-book.
Lutgen is talking about cy-berbullying, a growingproblemacross the country and the tar-
get of Indiana House Bill 1015.The bill takes aim at cyber-
bullies by allowing school ad-ministrators to punish studentsfor out-of-school activities thatinterfere with school purposesor educational function.
“Students say horriblethings to each other on Face-book that they would never,ever say in person,” Lutgensaid. “And then students cometo school upset and embar-rassed. It doesn’t matter whereit originated, it’s disruptingtheir ability to learn.”
As the law stands now,
Bill targets cyberbulliesOpponents claim lawviolates students’free speech rightsBy Jessica [email protected]
CONTACT LAWMAKERS» Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette. District includes all but the northeast quad-rant of Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9467, [email protected]» Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville. District includes parts of Tippecanoe,Montgomery and Boone counties. 800-382-9842, [email protected]» Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek. District t includes all of White andClinton counties and parts of Tippecanoe, Carroll, Jasper and Boone coun-ties. 800-382-9467, [email protected]» Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette. District includes much of the eastern halfof Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9842, [email protected]» Rep. Don Lehe, R-Brookston. District includes a large portion of WhiteCounty and sections of Cass, Carroll, Clinton and Tippecanoe counties. 800-382-9842, [email protected]» Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica. District includes all of Benton County andportions of Newton, Jasper, White, Warren, Tippecanoe, Foundation andMontgomery counties. 800-382-9842, [email protected]» Rep. Randy Truitt, R-West Lafayette. District includes Wabash and Uniontownships in Tippecanoe County. 800-382-9842, [email protected] BULLIES, Page B7
More than 400 people turned outfor the Polar Plunge, a morning forparticipants to dress up — or down insomecases—and leap into coldwaterin February temperatures, all to sup-port the Special Olympics.
Wearing everything from full-fledged costumes to only shorts, peo-ple lined up single file outside PurdueUniversity’s Lambert Fieldhouse asthey prepared to take the plunge.
“I feel great,” saidCaitlan Simpsonof Lafayette, the first person to jump.
Simpson came dressed as a croco-dile, while her friend, Lori Essert,wore a crocodile costume drapedabout her shoulders. The two were ona team representing LifeSmiles Den-tistry.
“There’s a lot of anticipation, andthen you jump and it’s gone,” Simpsonsaid, describing the experience. “Itwas a good time. I’mgladwedid this.”
The event was one of 12 polarplunges to be held across the statethroughoutFebruary. Funds raisedgoto support Special Olympic athletesthroughout Indiana.
Last year the event raised morethan $45,000, said event co-chairwom-an Lynne Noble. This year organizersare hoping to surpass $50,000.
“It’s foragreat causeandeveryoneshould do it,” Simpson said. “If youdon’t give, who’s going to?”
—Mikel Livingston/[email protected]
Hundreds take the plunge tochill out for Special OlympicsAnnual event drawsmore than 400 people;organizers hope to top$45,000 raised last year
The Rev. Patrick Baikauskas of St. ThomasAquinas Church reacts Saturday after leapinginto a pool to benefit the Special Olympics.BRENT DRINKUT/JOURNAL & COURIER
•• GGAALLLLEERRYY •• VVIIDDEEOO
www.jconline.com • Journal & Courier Sunday, February 3, 2013 B7
Kids delight in drawingsSeung Ju, 6, worksSaturday ondrawing agroundhog inside ahole during“Shadows andGroundhogs”inside the CreationStation at Teacher’sDelight inLafayette. The kidsclub meets from 3to 4 p.m. everySaturday. BRENTDRINKUT/JOURNAL &COURIER
schools can discipline stu-dents for “unlawful” out-of-school activitiesagainst other students orteachers. HB 1015 wouldbroaden that to any “de-linquent, criminal or tor-tious” act.
Supporters of the billsay it would provideschool administratorswith the legal supportthey need to properly dis-cipline online bullies. Thebill’s critics argue that itis a violation of students’First Amendment rightsand a burden to already-busy teachers and princi-pals.
HB1015’s purpose
State Rep. Eric Koch,R-Bedford, authored HB1015 in response to feed-back from the IndianaSchoolBoardAssociation.In 2012, he co-authored asimilar bill, but it did notpass the Senate becauseof complaints that it wastoo broad.
Kochsaid thenewbill’sfocus is narrower butwould achieve the samegoal.
“Our existing lawswere written before to-day’s technologyexisted,”Koch said. “The laws areno longer adequate to al-lowadministrators tohan-dle the cyberbullying is-sue.”
By giving the schoolpermission to punish foracts that are “tortious,”students can be disci-plined for defamation, orintentionally sayingsomething false about aperson to harm his or herreputation.
The bill also allows stu-dents to be penalized for“juvenile” acts. IndianaUniversity law professorDaniel Conkle said sincethe word juvenile is notspecifically defined in In-diana law, administratorswould have more leewayto determine what to pun-ish someone for.
Indiana already has acyberbullying law, but itis limited. It makes it ille-gal to harass another per-son using a computer net-work or other form of
electronic communica-tion. But the communica-tion must be “with a per-son” or transmitted to theperson through an “ob-scene message.”
Not all cyberbullyingis committed throughmessages or directly to aperson. One popular formof bullying seen in Great-er Lafayette and aroundthe country is throughFacebook’s “pages” func-tion.
A person can create apageanonymously.Usual-ly the page is about oneperson or a group of peo-ple. The page can includetext and photos to makefun of, harass or intimi-date the victim. Other us-ers can “like” the pageandsendmessages, usual-ly containing more ridi-culing comments, to thepage’s anonymous admin-istrator, who then oftenposts the messages to thepage for all to see.
Oakland dean of stu-dentsLindseyMartin saidstudentsandparentshavebeen found to post on andadminister such pages.The only way to stop thepostings is to contact
Facebook to take downthe site, but Facebookwillnot identify the page cre-ator.
In situations when cy-berbullies can be identi-fied, principals try to stepin as much as they can.
HB1015would give ad-ministrators more legalpower to interfere, incasetheir authority to do sowas ever questioned incourt.
Protecting theFirst Amendment
Koch’s 2012 bill did notpass largely because op-ponents believed it limit-ed students’ First Amend-ment right to free speech.TheAmericanCivilLiber-ties Union of Indianacalled it an off-campus“overreach.”
The worry is that prin-cipalswill use theirpowerto punish students forposting or doing thingsthat are constitutionallyprotected.
FrankLoMonte, execu-tive director of the Stu-dent Press Law Center,said HB 1015 is an im-provement but still is too
vague. LoMonte workedwith a number of Indianaorganizations to testifyagainst Koch’s first bill.
“If a student wants topost ‘school is a horribleplace,’ they could be pun-ished,”LaMonte said. “Or,what if they are handingout condoms on the week-ends, and the schoolteaches abstinence? Theycould be punished forvoicing any opinion con-trary to the school’s posi-tion.”
LoMonte said HB 1015not only invites censor-ship, it oversteps theboundariesofparentalau-thority.
“If my kid is doingsomething the law allowshimtodo, and Idon’tmindthat he’s doing it, whyshould the school be ableto stop him?”
A burden onprincipals?
Some local principalssaid they already dealwith cyberbullying is-sues, and they don’t wantmore authority than theyhave.
Tippecanoe School
Corp. SuperintendentScott Hanback said manysituations arise in whichdisgruntled parents ex-pect principals to getmore involved in a con-flict between two stu-dents.
“We want to protectour kids and keep themsafe,” Hanback said. “Butthere is a boundary be-tween what is a principalissue and what is a parentissue.Wedon’twant to getinto the business of polic-ing students’ home com-puters, especially if it isnot spilling over to be-come an educational dis-ruption.”
Neal McCutcheons,principal of WainwrightMiddleSchool, saidheandhis staff don’t have the re-sources or time to investi-gate what students do ontheirhomecomputers.Hetries to remind parents toteach children how to acton the Internet.
“Get toknowwhat theyare doing and who theyare talking to,” he said.“We should all promotesafe Internet activity, be-cause you never knowwho is on the other side.”
BULLIESContinued from Page B1
MUNCIE — More than100 trees will be re-moved from a Muncielevee built in the 1940sunderaU.S.ArmyCorpsof Engineers policy thatresidents say will ruin apopular greenway.
The Muncie SanitaryDistrict says the policyis forcing it to removeanestimated 135 trees, in-cluding towering shadetrees, in order for thecorps to certify the lev-
ee.Failure to remove the
trees would expand thefloodplain and requireresidents protected bythe levee to buy expen-sive flood insurance, ac-cording to Rick Conrad,director of the MuncieSanitary District’s bu-reau of water quality. ItalsowouldmeanMunciewouldn’t qualify for as-sistance from the corpsif it had to rebuild thelevee.
Conrad said that
leaves fewoptions but toremove the trees, but heacknowledged it will be“quite a change in scen-ery” along the WhiteRiver Greenway.
“It’s really disap-pointing to have to dothis,” he said.
Corps engineers wor-ry that winds couldknock down trees andundermine the stabilityof the levee. They saytrees and other vegeta-tion can block access tolevees for inspection.
Muncie levee to lose 135 treesAssociated Press
