Michael Sage passed away last Saturday.
He was a true crusader for children and a critic of school privatization
in Indianapolis. Through parent and activist Matthew Brooks, I met and talked with
Mike several times while in Indy for book events, and Mike was one of the first
in Indiana to promote Hoosier School
Heist and my research in so many ways.
Mike was a sensitive and attuned soul.
I respect him immensely.
There will be a celebration of Mike's life in Indianapolis at 37th Place (2605 E. 25th
St 46218) this Friday, Jan 23, from 4:00-8:00.
Here below is Parent Power Indianapolis’ John Harris Loflin’s tribute
to Mike Sage. It traces, among other things, Mike’s enormous positive influence in
education and his many accomplishments for children in the city of Indianapolis and Indiana:
A TRIBUTE TO MIKE SAGE
Michael Kent Sage
June 17, 1955 - January 17, 2015
Mike was involved in the student “underground” at Washington Twp’s North
Central H.S. in this era. His critique of traditional education helped inspire
school staff there to create Learning Unlimited, Indiana’s first alternative
public school of choice in 1974. In 1976, he helped Cities In Schools establish
the Tech-300 Program at Arsenal Tech H.S. In 1978, he was director of Indy
Prep, the first alternative school in IPS. He made sure this unique program
loved and respected students.
He obtained a bachelor’s in Urban Studies from Indy’s Martin University
and a master’s in counseling from the Christian Theological Seminary. He was a
caseworker for Branches of Life Foster Care and so a defender of the rights of
children in and after foster care.
In early 2012, Mike formed the Education-Community Action Team, a
grassroots group questioning both IPS and corporate school reform. He wanted to
make sure we “...do not leave education reform in the
hands of 'experts' in business, finance, and law.” E-CAT continues Mike’s weekly
breakfast each Friday morning around 9-9:30 at the Kountry Kitchen (19th/College).
Anyone’s welcome. Check out E-CAT’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/287555804641345/
Mike is known locally for
bringing youth to community meetings and events during the day and evening. He
challenged both IPS and the Indiana Department of Education to 1) rethink job
descriptions by requiring all employees to engage in providing direct services
to youth, and 2) not allow student policies to be created by persons who do not
currently engage with youth. Few adults have this level of understanding,
commitment, and regard for young people.
As a critical friend of the privatization movement, he was one of the
first to see through the guise and sales talk of the corporate school reform
agenda of Dr. Tony Bennett, the Mind Trust, and the mayor’s Office of Education
Innovation. He also exposed what he saw as the hidden political-economic agenda
behind Teach for American, KIPP and Charter Schools USA, Chalkbeat Indiana, and
the Stand for Children group whose “reformers” now run the IPS school board.
From his perspective what was going on here with IPS and charter school expansion
was actually gentrification and urban real estate development.
As a critical friend of traditional public education, he questioned the
purpose of education at North Central H.S., and both inspired and ran
alternatives to it. As the number of alternative programs grew in the 80s and
90s and became warehouses for students under-served by districts, he helped
call out these schools as “soft-jails.” As a student and adult, he promoted
student voice and proposed local school boards have a student representative.
He knew children were naturally curious and didn’t need rewards or punishments
to make them learn. Thus, he believed children learned from play and denounced
those who stole playtime from children in order to make them good test takers. This was besides his critique of
standardized testing: ISTEP was “a false measurement” and didn’t assess anything.
Finally, he was an integral part of the Parent Power group and supported
the democratic empowerment of parents and their ownership of their schools via
the Local School Councils concept. Mike also co-authored the “Strength-based
IEP” concept which proposes special education students get just as much
attention paid to their strengths as their weaknesses. He had the “Education
Cities” idea for Indy added to the Northeast Corridor Quality of Life Plan.
What made Mike unique among his friends was his insistence that they not
use the verb “to be” (is, are, was, were, etc.) when writing because a verb of
being implies an amount of certainty and perfection which in reality only
exists in words and ideas. To him, such exactness gives the reader a false
sense of life which Mike saw as “all a dance.”
Right or wrong, Mike Sage questioned authority, which made him
insubordinate; he had a critical consciousness which made him a gadfly; he
respected children as they are which made him disliked by disciplinarians; and,
he rejected adultism which made him the enemy of those who are prejudice and
discriminate against children and youth systemically.
We Hoosiers have not only lost a guardian of and champion for young
people, we’ve lost a social justice warrior for all of us. Mike Sage is now the
example we must strive to follow.
________________
A
celebration of Mike's life will take place at 37th Place (2605 E. 25th St
46218), Friday Jan 23 4:00-8:00.________________
Below is a photo of Mike (left) and Doug Martin, taken by Parent Power Indianapolis' Merry Juerling, at the Rise Above the Mark movie event in Indianapolis:
