The fire was fueled by state Board of Education President Ted Mitchell, who said one of the reasons the state opted to place a trustee at the Alisal district was a "culture of intimidation" coming all the way from the board president and percolating down to all levels from the superintendent to the classrooms.
Castañeda, who became board president Dec. 9, vigorously defends his actions. In a phone interview this week, he said he is running board meetings in a legal manner (he checks with the district's attorney every step of the way), that Mitchell only received information from a select group of people, and, ultimately, he wants to make change that others want to thwart.
A few weeks ago, Castañeda changed the schedule of board meetings so that public comments on items not on the agenda would be heard after all other items were completed — effectively moving those comments from about 7 p.m. until about 10 p.m. Many parents say that effectively shut them out of meetings.
Critics say Castañeda is doing exactly what he accused the previous board of doing, keeping parents from speaking. Not true, Castañeda respond
| NASA Ames' Education Day Features Multiverse of Learning |
| MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., -- NASA's Ames Research Center will host its first Education Day in conjunction with Yuri's Night from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT on Friday, April 9, 2010. School children from grades 4-12 will be invited to participate in this free learning event. |
Posted on: Saturday, 20 March 2010, 11:05 CDT
Critical avenues to prevent cancer overlooked; immigrant women at high risk of death from breast cancer
WASHINGTON, DC -- Although Asian Americans have long been portrayed as a "model minority" with few major problems, data released online today in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) reveal that distinct groups of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPI) differ widely in death and disease rates, including from breast cancer and other conditions such as heart disease, and stand to benefit strongly from culturally appropriate care.
In the first issue of a major health journal devoted to AA and NHPI populations, data show striking disparities. For instance, Asian-born women in the United States suffer death rates from breast cancer up to four times as high as U.S.-born Asian Americans. Other studies show that culturally appropriate care would dramatically lower rates of lung, colorectal, cervical and liver cancers among distinct populations. The special issue was supported by Health Through Action, a partnership between APIAHF and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"Information, not ignorance, must shape the health care agenda for our populations," said Kathy Lim Ko, President and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF). "Aggregated data across ethnic groups masks serious health problems. Cancer often goes unrecognized and undertreated. We must move beyond generalities to address the real health needs in diverse communities," she said.
The problem has taken a serious toll on groups such as Native Hawaiians. As author Stephen Stafford at the Montefiore Medical
The only thing clear about direct democracy in Arizona via the initiative process is that it's unclear.
When the state economy is perking along, elected leaders can afford to avoid the contradictions in the process.
But when it takes a nosedive, there's no getting around the fact that the system is dysfunctional in the extreme and getting worse.
Voters statewide have said via past initiatives that they want health care for all poor families.
They also want free health care for children of the working poor.
They want higher pay for teachers.
They want early childhood education programs to be funded by the state.
And they want special funds to be set aside for the purchase of open space.
Further, they have said that all of the above cannot be amended by the Legislature -- only voters can make any changes.
LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS TOO PARTISAN
Presumably, all of the above and many more initiatives would not have been necessary if Arizona voters had put into office lawmakers who represented the majority sentiment on those
"A story that is not getting nearly enough attention is the ruinous fiscal meltdown occurring in state after state, all across the country."
Funding gap widens - ContraCostaTimes.com
| US: Decline of a once-great system | |
 It may be that higher education is in greater demand during economic downturns but - after years of insidious cutbacks - American public institutions are struggling to maintain their traditionally high standards. Indeed, the Great Recession seems poised to wreak lasting damage on one of the most successful models of higher education in the world.Higher Education Budgets and the Global Recession, a report published by the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education last month, outlines the discouraging picture. The report's author and a senior research fellow, John Aubrey Douglass, gives a global overview and explores - in particular - the situation in the union's wealthiest and most populous state, California. The report notes that, while other OECD nations are actually using the recession as an excuse to improve the quality of output in the post-secondary sector and to promote innovation, the US is witnessing uncoordinated cuts in funding at the state level. This is inevitable given the decentralised structure of higher education where colleges and universities must rely on financially-strapped state legislatures for much of their money. And more than 75% of all higher education students in the US attend publicly-funded institutions. Explains Douglass: "In short, how state budgets go, so goes US higher education; whereas [for] most national systems of higher education, financing is tied to national budgets with an ability to borrow." According to the report, 34 states have already been forced to make draconian cuts to spending on their colleges and universities, imposin |
