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UE’s Matthew Knoester Publishes New Book on Democratic Education

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Matthew Knoester, assistant professor of education at the University of Evansville, has published a new book, Democratic Education in Practice: Inside the Mission Hill School.

Published through Teachers College Press, the book evaluates and describes a high-performing public school in Boston. The book describes the school’s successes — such as a high college attendance rate by its graduates and the portfolio process required for graduation — and also the challenges faced by schools like Mission Hill, including pressure to teach to standardized tests.

“The Mission Hill School is a small, personal, but informal K-8 learning environment where teachers hold high standards for children, who rise to those standards while taking a large amount of ownership over their own learning,” Knoester said. “Even if school leaders elsewhere cannot replicate the school due to various constraints, I hope there are parts that educators will find useful.”

“Matthew Knoester has done us an enormous favor by showing us, in detail, what could be — one example of how schools can be the building blocks for democracy, recreating community for all to taste, feel, hear, and see,” said Deborah W. Meier, author of the book’s foreword and a MacArthur Fellow who founded Mission Hill School.

Knoester is a National Board Certified Teacher and former teacher at the Mission Hill School in Boston, as well as schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Olaf College, his Master of Education degree from Harvard University, and his PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Knoester has published articles in journals such as Educational Policy; Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; Pedagogy, Culture & Society; and Schools: Studies in Education. He is also the editor of the book International Struggles for Critical Democratic Education (Peter Lang Publishing, 2012).

Democratic Education in Practice: Inside the Mission Hill School is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Teachers College Press.

Source: Evansville.edu

USI’s Paul Rynkiewich ’81 is Peabody Energy Leaders in Education Award winner

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Paul Rynkiewich ’81, a teacher and football coach at North Posey Senior High School, is one of only 26 teachers from five regions across the United States to receive the 2012-13 Peabody Energy Leaders in Education Award. He was surprised with the award and an oversized check for $1,000 at a special assembly held at the school in November.

Known to students and colleagues as “Mr. Rynk,” Rynkiewich was instrumental in establishing North Posey High’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes program and instituted anthropology in the school’s curriculum. He also teaches advanced college credit courses to help prepare students pursuing higher education.

Rynkiewich holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Southern Indiana and a master’s degree from the University of Evansville. Immediately following his graduation from USI, Rynkiewich taught at Castle High School in Newburgh, Indiana. He joined the staff at North Posey High School in fall of 1983. He has taught there ever since, influencing and inspiring generations of students.

Erin Gibson, USI instructor in journalism and a 1992 alumnus of North Posey High School, said, “Mr. Rynk taught one of my history classes and my geography class. He was so engaging and really enjoyed teaching.”

The teachers at North Posey High were known for puns and tried to out-pun each other in class, Gibson said. “I will never forget Mr. Rynk teaching us about the volcanos of Krakatoa,” she said. “He would accidentally kick the desk and say, ‘Oh, I cracked my toe-a,’ and that’s how we remembered that. I loved history and geography but even students who didn’t could appreciate his lectures.”

Erin Koester, the assistant principal at North Posey High School who nominated Rynkiewich for the award, is also a former student. In nominating him, she wrote, “After 31 years of being an educator, many teachers lose that spark and passion for their content area that students long to see as they sit in those desks day after day. ‘Mr. Rynk’ is definitely not an example of this trend. His thunderous voice and commitment to providing his students with the opportunity to relive history in every lesson plan has never diminished.”

Koester said that Rynkiewich inspired her to seek leadership roles in education. “He has not only used his integrity to be a leader in education, but also to form a legacy with hundreds of North Posey graduates that have gone on to be leaders in their careers and strive to have the same genuine integrity in their lives.”

Rynkiewich and his wife Melissa have two grown children. Their daughter Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude from USI in spring 2012 and is an emergency room nurse at Deaconess Health System. Their son Frank will graduate from USI in spring 2013 with a degree in mechanical engineering and has secured a position at Alcoa after interning there.

“USI has been very beneficial for my family,” Rynkiewich said. “I marvel at USI and how it’s grown, changed, expanded, and improved. I’m grateful for what it’s meant to me and to my kids.”

This marks the second consecutive year that a USI alumnus has been selected for the Peabody Energy Leaders in Education Award. USI alumnus, Chad Hartmann ’95, a mathematics teacher at Helfrich Park STEM Academy, received the award in 2011-12.

Peabody Energy selects winners of the awards among nominees from the Greater St. Louis Metro Area; Southeastern Illinois and Southwestern Indiana; Western-Central Indiana; the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming; and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The purpose of the awards is to “recognize the heroes in education who help our children achieve their true potential.”

Source: USI.edu

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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Evansville, IN – Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, December 21, 2012.

Tavon Burns Possession of Cocaine –Class D Felony
Driving While Suspended – Class A Misdemeanor

Nicholas Kelley Burglary – Class B Felony
Theft – Class D Felony

Angel Pitsonberger Theft – Class D Felony

Jeremiah Rector Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury – Class D Felony
Strangulation – Class D Felony

Leslie Rogge Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury – Class D Felony

Tyler Stokes Theft – Class D Felony

Johnny Williams Burglary –Class B Felony
Theft – Class D Felony

Evansville, IN – Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, December 26, 2012.

Adrien Horne Intimidation – Class D Felony

Lindsey Mayes Theft – Class D Felony

John Moore Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury – Class D Felony
Invasion of Privacy – Class A Misdemeanor

Jim Taylor-Smith Operating a Motor Vehicle as an Habitual Traffic Violator – Class D Felony

Tarassa Tinsley Theft – Class D Felony
Resisting Law Enforcement – Class A Misdemeanor (Two Counts)

Chauncey Suggs-Hicks Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated – Class C Misdemeanor
(Enhanced to a Class D Felony due to Prior Convictions – Two Counts)
Driving While Suspended – Class A Misdemeanor

Evans Winiger Possession of a Controlled Substance – Class D Felony
Theft – Class D Felony

For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Carly Settles at 812.435.5688 or via e-mail at csettles@vanderburghgov.org.

Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
SENTENCE CHART

Class Range
Murder 45-65 Years
Class A Felony 20-50 Years
Class B Felony 6-20 Years
Class C Felony 2-8 Years
Class D Felony ½ – 3 Years
Class A Misdemeanor 0-1 Year
Class B Misdemeanor 0-180 Days
Class C Misdemeanor 0-60 Days

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING

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BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS

REGULAR MEETING
KEVIN WINTERNHEIMER CHAMBERS
ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013
12:00 NOON

AGENDA

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. MINUTES December 5 & 12, 2012

3. CONSENT AGENDA
a. Request Re: Approve Rockin’ River City Ride with Vendors at Sunset Park April 20, 2013. –
Hayes

4. OLD BUSINESS N/A

5. NEW BUSINESS
a. Request Re: Consideration of Waiving Out of County Fee for Sports Programs. – Rehn
b. Request Re: Consideration of Fee Increases for Sports Officials/Scorekeepers. – Rehn
c. Request Re: Review and Award Pest Control Services at Various Park Facilities. – Boberg
d. Request Re: Review and Award Fire Extinguisher and Fire Suppression Systems at Various
Park Facilities. – Boberg
e. Request Re: Review and Award Exhaust Hood Cleaning Services at Various Park Facilities. –
Boberg
f. Request Re: Approve and Execute Agreement with Spear Corporation for Pool Chlorinators at
Lloyd, Mosby and Rochelle-Landers Pools. – Schall
g. Request Re: Approve Car Show at Garvin Park October 4 – 6, 2013. – Bix Branson
h. Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comments.

6. REPORTS
a. Denise Johnson, Executive Director

7. ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS

8. ADJOURN

Happy Noon Year at CMoE

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Can’t stay up to midnight? That’s ok-you can still celebrate with your family as CMoE counts down to Happy NOON Year! Enjoy all that cMoe has to offer plus Magician Don Baggett, a dance party, games, and crafts!

View the full flier

CMoE Website

IS IT TRUE December 27, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE that a well-known citizen of this community is being urged by numerous people of all political persuasion to run against County Commission President, Marsha Abell?…that this individual is none other than the Chairman of CORE, Bruce Ungethiem?…we hear if Mr. Ungethiem runs, Abell can expect the issues of her rudeness towards the taxpayers, nepotism and her pro-consolidation stance will be campaign issues?…if Mr. Ungethien decides to run, he shall be a candidate in the Republican primary? … that he shall enjoy votes from many crossover Democrats, Tea Party supporters and Independents? …we hear Mr. Ungethiem has about $50,000 worth of political contributions committed by his grassroots supporters so far?…that Ms. Abell can expect people of the 4th Ward to come out in droves to support Mr. Ungethiem?…if Mr. Ungenthiem runs for Vanderburgh County Commissioner, Ms. Abell shall be in the political battle of her career?

IS IT TRUE that in today’s modern technology, commerce is driven by the internet, specifically, email?… that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission says that they, the commission, discovered the missing $1.6 million, not discovered for over 13 months?…that the City, including the Commission and the Evansville Redevelopment Authority, approve bank transactions by way of Email?…that Mr. Hooper, the director of the Commission, came before the Council together with Jane Reel declaring that the funds have been reconciled?…that Councilman John Friend, CPA, requested the email traffic between the Bank and the ERA be presented to the Finance Committee concerning the found money and are still waiting for those emails?… that the North High School bond funds were disbursed from the same bank and on October 4, 2012, the $1.6 million was taking from the North High School by the bank and deposited into the City’s account?…that some are asking the question, if the EVSC had sufficient funds to cover the seizure?

IS IT TRUE that a recent readers poll that the CCO was running for a future Mayoral contest for the City of Evansville was corrupted by someone who worked very hard to skew the poll in favor of one of the candidates presented?…the level of corruption of the data was so large that we decided to remove the poll, put some extra security in place, and to restart the poll with Sheriff Eric Williams as an option?…we do have the ability to see the vote logs so we know that the actual result of the corrupted poll with the corruption removed had a “Strong Libertarian” candidate leading both Mayor Winnecke and Councilman John Friend by about a 2 to 1 margin?…that Mayor Winnecke and Councilman Friend were in a statistical tie before the poll was removed?…we will be very interested to see the results with the addition of Sheriff Williams and the elimination of corruption of the data?

IS IT TRUE that we are working on a couple of end of the year articles that have to do with the best things that happened in Evansville in 2012, the most dumbfounding negative things that happened in 2012, and of course what City government should concentrate on getting right in 2013?…we would appreciate nominations from our readership and will give each nomination due consideration for inclusion into the articles?

IS IT TRUE that a local for-profit “Business Incubator” is leasing part of their facility to an area church? …that the owners of the “Business Incubator” were told by Evansville Area Plan officials that they had to file a special use permit in order that they can continue to lease this facility to this church?…we were told that the for profit “Business Incubator” has the correct zoning to lease their facility to developing business?…we would like to point out to the leadership of “Evansville Area Planning” that they should also apply the same principals to C K Newsome Community Center because they also are allowing a church to hold services in that publicly funded facility?

USI Fall 2012 Honors List released

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USI
In recognition of outstanding academic achievement, the Honors List has been released for the 2012 fall semester at the University of Southern Indiana. Dr. Ronald Rochon, provost, reported that 2,170 undergraduates were named to the Honors List.

Semester honors are not awarded to masters students or Doctor of Nursing Practice students.

Undergraduate students must achieve a 3.5 or better grade point average (on 4.0 system) to be named to the Honors List. Students earning no IN (incomplete) or Z (missing) grades for the term, and earning letter grades of computable point value (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and Pass/No Pass graded courses do not apply) in 12 or more semester hours, with a semester grade point average between 3.5 and 4.0 are named to the list.

The Honors List is arranged by each student’s hometown (by state and city), according to the address he/she has provided to the University. A student’s name may be listed under Evansville if the student supplied an Evansville mailing address. The honors list may be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Fall 2012 Honors List

Note to students:

If you expected your name to be on the list and you cannot find it, use the search function in the PDF document. Type in your name to search the entire list. If you still do not find your name, email Tracy Sinn in the Office of the Registrar (include your full name and student ID number). If it can be verified that you did qualify for the Honors List, that office will give News and Information Services your name and hometown.

Travel Advisory to Expire, Motorists Should Continue to Use Caution

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(Evansville, IN) – A Travel Advisory issued for Evansville and Vanderburgh County for Wednesday, December 26, will expire at midnight. Motorists are urged to continue using extreme caution when traveling city and county roadways.

The Civic Center and all city and county government offices will resume regular business hours on Thursday, December 27, 2012. The offices closed early Wednesday due to weather and road conditions.

City and County elected and appointed officials tonight held a fourth and final conference call related to the current snow event. The meeting included strategic city and county department heads, plus officials from local law enforcement, the American Red Cross, Vectren and the Emergency Management Agency.

It was determined that regular METS bus service will resume Thursday, December 27 at 6 a.m. METS stop operations were discontinued early Thursday because of the weather.

Most power outages have been restored throughout the Tri-State, according to Vectren officials. Power outages may be reported online at vectren.com/outage or by phone at 800-227-1376.

Snow removal operations will continue overnight and early Thursday morning in preparation for Thursday morning commuter traffic.

For the latest travel conditions on state maintained highways contact Indiana State Police at 800-852-3970.

US to hit $16.4 trillion debt limit on New Year’s Eve

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Federal Government Leadership

The United States will reach its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31, the Treasury Department informed congressional leaders in a letter sent Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told policymakers Wednesday that the government will need to begin “extraordinary measures” to free up cash on Monday, once the government reaches the $16.4 trillion borrowing cap. Geithner said he did not know exactly how much time the “extraordinary measures” would buy, given the uncertainty about the expiring tax cuts and automatic spending cuts that make up the “fiscal cliff.”

Travel Advisory Issued for Evansville, Vanderburgh County

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(Evansville, IN) – Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and Vanderburgh County Commission President Marsha Abel have issued a precautionary Travel Advisory for the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County effective 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, December 26, 2012 through 12:01 am. Thursday, December 27, 2012. The advisory may be lifted earlier, if conditions warrant.

The precautionary Travel Advisory means routine travel activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation. Motorists are advised to use extreme caution when traveling area roads and highways.

City and county government leaders, law enforcement officials and local emergency management personnel conducted a follow-up phone conference call Christmas night to include officials from Vectren and the American Red Cross in a review of weather emergency preparedness plans in advance of a significant weather event that will begin impacting the Tri-State Christmas night and throughout Wednesday. It was the second call of the day to discuss storm plans.

At last report, the blizzard was predicted to start as rain and eventually dump up to 9 inches of snow on the immediate Evansville area. Winds gusting to 40 mph will cause blowing snow and create occasional whiteout conditions, with the highest wind speeds expected between midnight and 6 a.m. Wednesday.

High winds coupled with heavy snows could topple tree limbs and impact power lines, creating hazardous driving conditions and power outages across the region. Vectren crews began staging Christmas Day in preparation for the storm. Power outages may be reported online at vectren.com/outage or at 800-227-1376.

Motorists traveling on state highways across the region can call the Indiana State Police to check on the latest current road conditions at 800-852-3970.

The American Red Cross of Southwest Indiana has emergency vehicles prepared to respond, if needed. Shelter supplies have also been prepared and are on standby.

City and county officials will continue to monitor the weather situation. A follow-up briefing may be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, if conditions warrant.

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