Salem Indiana and Woefully Ran Schools

 I've long been an educated person and relatively well educated and somewhat well traveled. The public education system in the United States these days is in many ways in total disarray as the education system has many flaws and a significant deal of incompetence and corruption in the said system. Instead being professional educators the school have become a paycheck for many and a theft of public funds and taxpayers dollars. Here in Indiana of course the schools are funded primarily through the property taxes of landowners and productive assets and land and homes that end up funding the school systems and public works. 

That said its pretty obvious to me and countless other parents and of course taxpayers who are being hosed by the public school system tax levies and administration but also staff that is often lack at professionalism at their jobs and not doing their job. 

An instance is the Salem Community Schools here in Salem, Indiana where the good old boy system is alive and well and the incompetence of many is off the charts. It might be added there are plenty of metrics and statistics that might be added here and over the next couple of weeks I will be exposing the Salem Community Schools as being lacking in so many areas of educational competence that such lack of action by administrators and staff should be considered criminal or neglect of students. I will be adding more to this blog post later on May 26, 2024 and May 27, 2024 and statistics and links from educational based webpages where the Salem Community Schools are regularly failing the students and improperly administering the schools and the benefits that the community and foremost the students should be receiving from their public education funded by the taxpayers through their property taxes. Thank you. 

Salem Indiana Schools and Nefarious Behavior of Public Servants and Officials.

Its quite interesting to watch the fustercluck that is currently the Salem Community Schools which is a school system I attended for 13 years from age 6 many decades ago until I graduated from said school system over 3 decades ago. I might also mention that not only did I graduate with a relatively good GPA while maintaining a rigorous course structure and graduated with 52 credits at a time when I only needed 38 credits but that I also was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. 

That being said I later attended university and also matched my High School GPA and graduated with a degree after a few years. 

What exists at the Salem Community Schools these days for those who are here now is a laughingstock at the administrative levels of the school and there are plenty of people who need to be replaced because they're products of a incompetence based system where butt kissing is more important than being proficient at your job as an educator and leader. None of which exists in the sorry assed state of the Salem Schools these days including allowing bullying and harassment and people getting beat up in the schools. These same schools never bother to report these bullying incidents to the police or authorities but if a kid has an accident and ends up with a black eye or some other injury these same principals, administrators and teachers and counselors are readily available to accuse a parent of child abuse or some other offense against a child knowing that the law shield their sorry asses from legal repercussions from making a false claim or some other bullshittery about how the child may have been abused. 

All the while none of the accusations are actually true but it allows public officials, school administration, teachers and counselors to make false accusations about something that simply didn't happen. I don't appreciate being smeared by some sorry ass school official in his welfare job sucking down taxpayer money from the taxpayers and being able to openly accuse anyone and parents of students because they don't like that someone is on to their BS games and onto their lechery and hypocrisy. All the while the Salem Schools allow a massive amount of bullying at all three schools including Bradie Shrum Elementary as evidenced by myself and brought up to the school officials including a former principal and now current principal who was formerly assistant principal. 

The same events occur regularly at Salem Middle School where bullying and harassment is tolerated by teachers, staff and counselors and the administrators as well. This has been doing with the knowledge of a lot of people for many years and yet no one is terminated or loses their job or position due to being a bully enabler. This also goes on and went in the 1980s and 1990s when I was in the Salem Community Schools. Its about time its called out and gets nipped in the bud so to speak. Maybe one has to start filing lawsuits against the school corporation to put a stop to this nonsense and maybe the Indiana State Board of Education needs to start removing the teaching licenses and administration licenses of those involved in the school corporation that don't take a strict stand against bullying and harassment. Which ought to include administrators and staff and teachers and counselors making false reports of child neglect against parents they know nothing about nor have talked to the parents and the kids of such events. I don't appreciate having a lifetime clear record smeared by some nincompoop on a public salary who has been sitting on their asses on my dime and my tax monies and those of my community waging war against parents who call out bullying, corruption, nepotism and nefarious behavior in a school system that regularly ranks in the bottom half of all Indiana school systems at all three levels including elementary school, middle school and high school. 

I guess one has to start taking legal remedies outside of the Washington County corrupt courts and injustice system in Washington County, Indiana to get this problem resolved. 

The Salem Indiana Drug Den

 Since the 1990s when Salem became a drug infested town under the guise of certain members of the local legal guild and legal society and became known for people getting out of drug crimes by going to these lawyers Salem has been going downhill. 

The same could be said for the state of Washington County, Indiana which is now rapidly in decline as crime spikes due to the criminal nature of many Washington Countians and also the fact that local prosecuting attorney and judges along with law enforcement are more interested in prosecuting minor offenses while drug crimes, violence, meth distribution, meth possession, heroin distribution and possession and other serious crimes are not dealt with. Not to mention the lack of prosecution of common criminals who get plea bargains and repeated attempts at reforming themselves to no avail and end up being in the Washington County, Indiana revolving door injustice system for a lifetime instead of getting common sense rehabilitation and the ability to improve their lives through education, job training and skills. 

Instead crooked Washington County, Indiana and the crooked little town of Salem, Indiana wishes to harass people that call out criminality in government and persecute those who speak out about such crooked and corrupt practices in government. Indeed, Washington County for many years at the state capitol in Indianapolis was known as being a drug den and a place of one of the most venal and corrupt county governments in Indiana. Long has passed since that was first brought up by some state legislators in the late 1990s but the corrupt institutions remain and the revolving door justice system and police incompetence and corruption remain. Not to mention the mismanagement of Washington County finances and public administration in both the City of Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana. 

Did you know that Washington County, Indiana has a poverty rate of 18.1 percent for children and the City of Salem is about 25 percent for children living in poverty. That's not counting working age and older adults who are increasingly living in the drug infested town of Salem, Indiana living in a community of low wage jobs, poverty and lack of economic opportunity. Meanwhile the infrastructure of Salem, Indiana continues to rot despite the shiny new pavement on old Main Street between the light by CVS around the square. 

All the while the town looks like a cesspool and looks like it hasn't been painted and cleaned for a generation and is falling apart. Sure there are still some nice homes and well kept properties but the current administration and current officials in Salem, Indiana aren't held to account and are not doing their jobs as public servants. 

Instead the city of approximately 6,700 people is literally falling apart with many of the streets in poor condition, a water system that is financially mismanaged with too many cronies working in the system. Furthermore, it might be added that years of mismanagement and might I add outright nepotism and cronyism is a huge part of the problem. Or that since 2018 Salem has been fudging federal and state guidelines when it comes to water reporting and fixing the quality problems with yellow water and discolored water and many of these citizens will not drink Salem Municpal Water much less let their dog bathe in it in some cases.

I might also add that the good old boys at the Salem Police Department basically turn their heads and eyes away from known crimes and crime reports from citizens and refuse to do their jobs as a public servant by investigating and arresting those people who are committing crimes even as people report crimes to these public servants. Instead Washington County and Salem, Indiana sink more into the morass of being a crime infested community. Maybe we can put a sign up that you are in Washington County- A Certified Crime Infested Drug Den along with Salem needing a sign of more than A City With  Rich History. 

Salem has been living off its laurels for decades while the infrastructure declines, the city is deep in debt, the water system is busted and there is little or no productive new economic capacity being introduced unless you want low wage jobs, retail and donut shops. Let's get real and ask why the Salem City Council and Salem officials and Washington County officials don't get their heads out of their posteriors and do their jobs. 

A Salem Native Tells It Like It Is About Salem Indiana and Washington County

 I borrowed this with permission but it sums up pretty much the Salem, Indiana and Washington County, Indiana Mentality to a T

There’s a lot of gossip in small towns and even in workplaces because most people don’t have the mental depth, education depth or abilities to make anything out of their lives to do things that they want to do and need to do. Instead, they’ll sit on their rear ends for a lifetime and start talking about everyone in their town. Usually this kind of stupidity exists in small communities of 10 to 15,000 people in that there will be people who live in close proximity to actually worry about what you are doing. A lot of these people probably know your parents or knew your family or just want to make trouble by sticking their nose in your business or spreading rumors about things they have no right to stick their nose into.

The reason they do this is because they have nothing else in their lives to do other than gossip. Think about it. The town they live in is often boring, decrepit, run down, higher unemployment rates and underemployment not to mention a total dearth of jobs. You can also add in that these towns often have people who are of low mentality and lower educational levels than what you would find in a small city, university town or suburbs/urban areas. Small town people these days are often very dull with no real interests, activities, hobbies, etc and no way of really making friends except for their 5000 fake Facebook friends that most of them possibly don’t know very well.

I grew in one of those small towns 5,000 population and the county had about 25,000 population and its still that way 28 years after I graduated high school. I was born there and my parents moved back there when I was six after living in a far different part of the state and in a totally different region where I lived in a county with well over 120,000 people at that time.

One of the reasons for moving back to that town where I was born was my parents wanting to be closer to their parents who are now deceased by about 10 years and in some cases 25 years. However, my parents are still steadfast in living in that community even though I’m about 75 minutes away by a 4 lane highway and I’m glad I left my hometown because it degenerated into a big pile of garbage over the years.

The sad thing is that when I went to school there in the 1980s and 1990s, the town actually produced a higher quality of people that came out of that town and produced people that were largely high quality people. So why did the town die and turn into an Indiana drug den of ignorance, poverty, stupidity and low educational levels along with having crime problems and serious methamphetamine issues?

Largely the problem was that the manufacturing base in the town stagnated and in a lot of ways decreased by plant closures and things not being attracted to improve the quality of the town. The people my age then being 18 to 22 by and large hauled their stuff out of town and went to college, trade school, 2 year community college or major universities where 5 people in my graduating class of 127 became doctors, many more became part of the medical field but also others joined the military and made something of themselves through military service. Also many of us worked our way through school or other pursuits and then graduated a bit later.

When it came time to graduate the vast majority of them decided to go to the most near large city of 1 million people and get good careers there. Hardly any of them who left for college ever came back to that small town and no one can blame them. Even a few years ago a friend of mine considered moving back there and then he realized he would have to find work 35 or 40 miles away in the nearest large city south of there. So instead he decided on living in the suburbs of the city of 1 million and lived there for quite a few years until he decided to relocate to the Western US to be closer to the family of his wife but still in a larger metro area and suburbs.

A lot of the ones who stayed either succumbed to drug abuse issues, alcoholism, criminality, did jail time, or ended up in jobs that really were a waste of their abilities. All I can say is that I am glad that I got out and pursued work accomplishments, education and continuing education.

A lot of the locals still there now have to deal with criminal records, drug abuse problems running across the community that have been ignored for 25 years by the local politicians, police, lawyers etc because it would be traced back to some of the local politicians and cops/prosecutors turning their heads away from the drug pushing being committed by some of the local politicians. Many of the towns in that region now suffer from horrendous amounts of drug addiction, mostly meth, heroin, pills, etc. The manufacturing economy went from several manufacturing plants and a vibrant town to a place that is dependent on at most 2 factories and if they ever leave the whole town will dry up.

What I am trying to point out to you is that small towns aren’t exactly places that you want to stay if you have real career goals and job ambitions to do better for yourself. As far as the gossip goes, its the people that never go anywhere in their lives and careers that worry about the gossip. Realize that the fact that you don’t gossip makes you generally a better person than the ones that think they know everything. Most of the time they don’t know what they think they do and most of the time they don’t have the ambition, drive, skills, education and training to amount to anything other than being another small town loser with nothing that they will ever accomplish that will actually stand out or change much of anything to the world they live in.

What I seen with my hometown is that it really went downhill because of the lack of jobs, manufacturing closures but also the fact that the people didn’t have any depth of thought or conversation about new industries to attract and retraining and educating the upcoming and current workforce. Instead the town fathers got this idea that could try the retirement community angle even though the town has virtually nothing to offer outside of a few fast food places, a Walmart and a few businesses in the middle of the town. Most of the rest of it is single family houses, an awful local hospital and a community with schools that are regularly rated with C and D grades by the state department of education.

What I always noticed about my hometown along with other small towns is there are a lot of people that don’t have anything else to do except pass rumors, complain or start something about someone else they don’t know. All I had to do in high school was tell some sort of story about myself and then watch the other students run around and tell the story and then I would find out about it by 3 pm that school day. Someone would come back to me and ask if I knew the rumor and I would always laugh about it and how stupid people were. Even worse is that in that small town there are people who were adults then and their kids are middle age 40s now and still act the same way. Losers.