Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Report: Harvard Scholar Gates' Arrest Avoidable - CBS News

Report: Harvard Scholar Gates' Arrest Avoidable

"Certain Degree of Fear" Between Black Scholar, White Cop Led to Arrest that Fueled Debate on Race Relations, Panel Says

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In this photo taken by a neighbor July 16, 2009. Henry Louis Gates Jr. center, the director of Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, is arrested at his home in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Demotix Images, B. Carter)

PHOTO ESSAYHenry Louis Gates Jr.
Accusations of racial profiling in the arrest of the Harvard professor have stirred controversy

(CBS/AP) A Harvard scholar and the police sergeant who arrested him last July after a confrontation outside his home both missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly, according to a review of the case released Wednesday.

The independent review said "misunderstandings and failed communications" and a "certain degree of fear" each man had for the other led to the six-minute dispute that ended with the renowned black scholar being placed in handcuffs by the veteran white Cambridge police sergeant.

Read the full report

Sgt. James Crowley arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct at his Cambridge home July 16 while investigating a possible burglary. Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling. Charges were later dropped.

Photo Essay: Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The conflict sparked a national debate on race relations, and President Barack Obama invited both men to the White House for a "beer summit," where Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sat down with the two men for a drink at a table on a White House lawn.

Watch: The July 2009 Beer Summit

The situation at Gates' home quickly escalated when it shouldn't have, according to the review put together by a 12-member panel assembled in September. The panel was made up of law enforcement personnel, academics, and experts on race relations and conflict resolution, none of whom had direct ties to the Cambridge Police Department.

The report suggests that Crowley could have more clearly explained what he was doing and why he was doing it, especially after being shown Gates' license and university ID. For his part, Gates could have used a more respectful tone to address the officer.

Neither man, in interviews with the panel, said he would have acted differently.

The incident was a "textbook example of how a police officer and a member of the community can clash

Your comments: Frustration with Portland Public Schools' budget, proposed PE cuts | OregonLive.com

Your comments: Frustration with Portland Public Schools' budget, proposed PE cuts

Published: Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 10:37 AM Updated: Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 11:09 AM

Michelle Brence, The Oregonian
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Here are a couple of the more thoughtful comments on the story "Portland school board reluctant to spend more from savings to prevent painful teacher cutbacks."

geoffk writes:

"My letter to Carol Smith and the PPS Schoolboard:

In the span of a single month you've gone from a battle to close the achievement gap now to cutting the budget gap. Rather than standing up and fighting for the schools you've shown that you have absolutely no power and are giving our children absolutely no voice with the state government.

The answer here is clear, stand before the governor and say that PPS can not absorb the proposed budget cuts and still serve the children of Portland. You had your opportunity to speak out about this tonight at the Board Meeting. You could have refused to cut and sent a message across the entire state that schools can only be cut

Portland school board reluctant to spend more from savings to prevent painful teacher cutbacks

by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

Board members said they must hold the line given a $19 million cut in state spending and a looming $50 million shortfall in the next two school years.

This Week In Education Media: Who Was On "Journolist"?

This Week In Education

Media: Who Was On "Journolist"?

by Alexander Russo

I'm not willing to pay $100K for the archive -- and I don't think that there's any problem with journalists having opinions about things -- but I am pretty opposed to secrecy and to journalists getting too friendly with their sources and so I'm curious about which education types were on Ezra Klein's journolist, a closed listserv of wonks, pundits, and journalists that was exposed and then shut down last week when a Washington Post blogger named Dave Weigel was found to be not as conservative as the Washington

The American Spectator : Fenty Gets Schooled

Fenty Gets Schooled

By RiShawn Biddle on 6.30.10 @ 6:07AM

Even among the array of big-city mayors staking their political aspirations (and legacies) on reforming woeful public school districts, Adrian Fenty stands out for having bet more of his future on such reforms than anyone else. The Washington, D.C., mayor's takeover of D.C. Public Schools -- and its (so-far successful) overhaul effort by controversial reform stalwart Michelle Rhee -- remains his biggest success in a first term renowned for spats with the clown college known as the city council and incidents of alleged cronyism.

The focus on improving the school system -- once called the Superfund site of American public education -- has also been the only reason why Fenty has remained a shoo-in for a second term. Unlike the old-school black Democrats, civil servant union members, hard-core left-leaners, and aging civil rights leaders that Fenty has rubbed the wrong way, the motley crew of inside-the-Beltway policy wonks, Teach For America alumni and young urbanites who make up part of the District's -- and America's -- school reform movement have been among his biggest supporters.

But Fenty may have doomed his own chances for re-election and his aspirations for higher office -- by standing up the very school reformers otherwise loyal to his cause.

On Monday, Fenty was supposed to debate his foremost rival, D.C. City Council President Vincent Gray, at something called "The Great

Troubled foster children from Dallas are often shipped far from home, state official says 11:49 AM CT | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Troubled foster children from Dallas are often shipped far from home, state official says 11:49 AM CT

12:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN — The most distressed foster children in state care too often are sent far from their home counties, especially if they’re from North Texas, the state’s top protective services official said today.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is home to only six of the 66 residential treatment centers that are under contract with the state to care for abused and neglected youngsters, Anne Heiligenstein told a Texas House panel.

Half of the centers are in greater Houston, probably because it has no zoning, while “Dallas is pretty rigorous in terms of zoning, as are neighborhood organizations,” said Heiligenstein, commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Scattered availability of treatment center beds unnecessarily complicates the lives of already troubled youth, she said.

“We have a large number of children from all around the state who have to go far from their parents, far from their schools [and] far from their teachers that perhaps they had a good connection with, just to receive services,” she told the House Human Services Committee.

Currently, almost 1,600 youths – or about 10 percent of all Texas

Scholar Questions Induction Study Results - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Scholar Questions Induction Study Results

by Stephen Sawchuk

The Institute of Education Science's study on intensive teacher induction is getting a lot of buzz, and at least one scholar is worried that it may be giving an inaccurate picture of the effects of mentoring.
The study found positive effects in both reading and math that, relatively speaking, are quite large. As the New Teacher Center's Liam Goldrick points out on his blog, the effect sizes for mentoring given in this report are larger than those produced in other large-scale randomized studies, such as one on Teach For America.
But Jonah Rockoff, an associate professor at Columbia University's School of Business who's studied induction programs in New York City, said to be cautious about the results. For one, he noted that despite these large achievement boosts, the data don't show any other effects that would seem to confirm the results. Teachers

Lawmaker wants to shift some 'Race to the Top' funds to prevent teacher layoffs

By Nick Anderson

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 30, 2010; 12:40 PM

A senior House Democrat proposed Wednesday to slice President Obama's Race to the Top fund and other school reform initiatives to help pay for a $10 billion measure to save education jobs.

The proposal by Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, would eliminate about $500 million from the $4.35 billion Race to the Top fund and another $300 million in other education programs through an amendment to a supplemental war spending bill.
The amendment, pending in the House Rules Committee, is still a long way from becoming law. But Obey's proposal crystallized a debate among Democrats about federal aid to schools. Some say it should be spread as widely as possible to alleviate local budget cuts. Others argue that a significant portion should be set aside for states and schools that are the most innovative.
Race to the Top is the most prominent education initiative so far in Obama's presidency. The lure of funding has prompted many states in recent months to draft plans to expand teacher performance pay and take other steps to improve schools. The District, Maryland and more than 30 other states are applying for the grants. Tennessee won $500 million and Delaware $100 million in March in the competition's first round.
Ellis Brachman, an Obey spokesman, said the appropriations chairman believes the most important issue facing public schools is the threat of massive layoffs across the country. Estimates have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000 education jobs in jeopardy, although

This Week In Education: Movies: Weingarten Takes The "Superman" Bait

Movies: Weingarten Takes The "Superman" Bait

No one but a handful of fanboys and wishful thinkers think that "Waiting For Superman" is going to make anything more than a big media splash but Randi Weingarten and her media people may have done the movie a big favor by going

AM News: Lawmakers Raise Hopes For More Teacher Money

by Alexander Russo

Democrats add teacher money to war funding bill AP:

House Democrats who are trying to pass a long-stalled war funding bill are sweetening it with $10 billion to help local school districts avoid teacher layoffs when schools reopen... Education Secretary Hopes for Emergency Ed. Funding KCPW: Jeff Robinson asked Duncan why this funding is needed, particularly when some school districts still haven’t spent the funds they received from the federal stimulus package passed in 2009... New York public schools top nation in per-student spending USA Today: New York spent $17,173 per student for public education in 2007-08, more than any other state and 67% more than the U.S. average, according to ... Bill Gates touts charter schools, accountability AP: Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Tuesday that charter schools can revolutionize education, but that the charter school movement also must hold itself accountable for low-performing schools...More California school districts edging closer to insolvency, state says LA Times: Fourteen districts in the state are classified as in especially dire condition, including Lynwood Unified School District in Los Angeles County...No condoms for grade schoolers, Mass. schools say AP: The superintendent of a Massachusetts school district is apologizing to parents for what she calls a misunderstanding over a condom availability policy...

Update: New Pyramid Satisfies Maslow's Need

by Alexander Russo

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010