In my capacity as a speech teacher at Ivy Tech Community College I give my students an assignment for their impromptu speeches.  I tell them to take a situation that started out as a negative and turned into a positive.  It’s amazing the stories that they tell me.  I give them the assignment for two reasons.  First, it helps them with their delivery skills, secondly, it’s a reminded in life that everything happens for a reason and you have to be either smart enough or patient enough to figure it out.  The same applies with yours truly.

As you likely know by now, Friday will be my last day on WXNT-AM in Indianapolis. My morning radio is being canceled (a decision made by my corporate bosses, not locally).  The reasons are simple the economy and the need for cost cutting measures.  I don’t take it personally.  In fact, when I originally came to Indy in 2004 I wasn’t expecting to be here this long.  I figured 2-3 years tops and that would be it.   However during that window, the girl I was seriously dating in Springfield called me to tell me my services as a boyfriend were no loner needed and we broke up.  Of course I was a bit broken up over it, but shortly there afterward a good friend introduced me to the woman who eventually became the Lovely Mrs. Shabazz.   The story of the Abdul life has been a series of turning lemons into vodka lemonade.  Losing my government job back in 2003 gave me the kick in the rear I needed to go into talk radio which eventually led me here.

I don’t regret my time at WXNT-AM.  We weren’t the biggest station in town, but I like to think we helped changed the dynamics of local and state politics.  And I could not have done it without the help of great people like Andrew Lee, Chris Spangle, Gary Hummel, Tom Hervey, Bob Horner, Devon Scott, Scott Sands, Scott Roddy and Jenny Skodjt.   You may not know them, but they were the people who helped make all this possible.  I also have to thank my brother Jamil for all his support for the past 7 years.  And no one tops the Lovely Mrs. Shabazz, the most awesome supportive wife a man could ask for.  Of course after about an hour of consoling me, she started making a list of things I could do around the house in the morning.  God love her.

Unfortunately for her, I plan to stay engaged.  I still plan to continue my work with RTV 6, writing monthly for the Indianapolis Star and writing Indiana Barrister.  I’ve actually got some plans in the works to expand what we do here.  I’m working on a business model that will generate revenue and local content that is really needed in this town.   I will keep you posted.  Most importantly though is that, in the immortal words of my Uncle Richard, “I ain’t goin’ no place!!!!”  So for all the people who thought, or hoped, this would be the end of Abdul, sorry to disappoint you.  I am going to be here for a while.  After all, if I left, where would you go to find out what’s going on this town?

Thanks again for all the support.  See you on the next media platform and thanks for all the fish!

Editor’s note:  August 25 was originally set for our Cocktails & Conversation at Champs at Keystone at the Crossing.  I’m going to turn that into a leaving radio and doing something else party.  Come hang out.

I was out all day yesterday attending funeral services for my wife’s aunt so I did not get a chance to put something together for this morning.  I will have something up this afternoon.  In the meantime, check out my column in today’s Indianapolis Star.  I write about entitlements and how the people who get them need to get with the program if we’re going to turn this country away from financial ruin.  I’ll be back this afternoon.

When I attended Monday night’s meeting between the Indianapolis Public School board and the Indiana Department of Education I expected some fireworks between the board and  Dr. Tony Bennett and his staff regarding state intervention and possible takeover of six schools that did not make it off academic probation.

The meeting overall was pretty tame and uneventful (despite Board President Mary Busch’s inane questions).  However one perpetual theme that carried itself through the meeting was Dr. Eugene White’s whining that IPS was being discriminated against because of its community schools: Arlington, Howe, Broad Ripple and George Washington.  In a community school 7th and 8th graders are mixed in with traditional high school students.  The logic is you an improve graduation rates by getting younger kids acclimated to the high school world.  Although IPS has tried to use that method to improve graduation rates,  Dr. White tried to argue, unconvincingly in my opinion, that the state should not count the 7th and 8th graders test scores because saying they skewed the scores of the high school students and had they been excluded the failing high schools would have made it off probation.

The two problems with Dr. White’s argument are first, there are more than 140 community schools in the state of Indiana and they were all judged by the same standards.  Second, if IPS had a problem with the way its community schools were judged you would have thought the district would have done something about by now.  But according to the Indiana Department of Education, since 2003 the school district has never filed an appeal until now.  IPS says it never bothered to appeal state decisions because it never thought it would be penalized for its community school concept.

Throughout the meeting White repeated his claims that DOE’s system was discriminatory and penalized the district.  In fact, as I left the board meeting I could hear him tell a small cadre of supporters that the state was discriminating against IPS.  I think White should get a dictionary and look up the definition of discrimination and he would find IPS is not being singled out, but instead being treated just like every other school district that is similarly situated.   But then again, I guess if a 63-year old black man who was born in Alabama doesn’t know the meaning of the word discrimination, I shouldn’t really be surprised several of his schools are in the condition they are today and on the verge of a state takeover.  And by the way,  throughout this entire ordeal, the IPS board never asked for a formal meeting with the State.

A final decision on IPS’ appeal is expected in two weeks.

Editor’s Note: Indiana officials told me Monday night the state will seek a waiver from No Child Left Behind. Tony Bennett tells me the education reforms passed out the General Assembly can help provide ample accountability for schools.