Hi. Thanks for visiting. I’m Jim May. Before we go on, you need to know that this site contains both facts and my opinions on those facts. I believe the difference is quite obvious, but if you question which category any particular statement falls into, please reach out via the Contact page and I will be glad to clarify.

​

Now, back to it.

​

I'm a proud parent of two CCS students. I'm also a proud supporter of Support CCS, as well as their two endorsed candidates, Jon Shapiro and Kris Wheeler. That said, I have no official affiliation with them, nor do I speak for them. 

Now let’s jump right into what you should know about Carmel Excellence and their candidates for school board, Robin Clark and Dina Ferchmin.

As part of their election strategy, Carmel Excellence has intentionally avoided taking detailed public stances on specific things they would change at CCS. This leads some people to assume they would change little if anything. While that’s clearly what they want the average voter to think, there’s a lot of evidence to the contrary.

There are many links below and throughout this site if you want to take a deeper dive, but here’s a top-level summary of why this group would be bad for Carmel Clay Schools and how their stances are at odds with the values of our moderate, welcoming city.

​

• Carmel Excellence is organized as a statewide PAC, not a local one. That’s because they’re treating CCS as an experiment, pouring resources into our school board race to develop an approach they can use to attack other school districts throughout Indiana. (Click here for more.)

​​

• Carmel Excellence claims to want to keep the teaching of “values” out of our schools, but Dina Ferchmin has a record of creating propaganda promoting her values and pushing it into Carmel High School. (Click here for more.)

• Carmel Excellence has an anti-LGBTQ history, including Dina Ferchmin protesting against efforts to eliminate discrimination and Robin Clark serving on the board of a private school that’s official stance is kids should be kept away from gay people. (Click here for more.)

• Carmel Excellence candidate Dina Ferchmin has advocated for giving a taxpayer-purchased CCS school building to a privately held, politically oriented charter school. (Click here for more.)

• Carmel Excellence criticizes our schools based on ILEARN proficiency rates, despite the data showing such criticism to be faulty and the fact that Robin Clark served on the board of a school with a proficiency rate far below what we're used to in Carmel. (Click here for more.)

• Carmel Excellence’s candidates have both had personal grievances with CCS. (Click here for more.)

• Carmel Excellence includes current CCS board member Greg Brown, who has consistently prioritized pushing his personal values and political views over learning about our schools and fulfilling the actual responsibilities of serving on the board. (Click here for more.)

​