Friday, April 22, 2005

PUBLIC SCHOOLS DON'T EVEN PROTECT CHILDREN

And nobody cares -- unless their negligence is publicized, of course

The horror that happened at Mifflin High School in Columbus, Ohio, is happening in public schools everywhere. While the names and ages of the young victims vary, one thing is constant across the country: spineless education bureaucrats more concerned about covering their hides than protecting innocent children from harm.

On March 9, according to press reports, a developmentally disabled girl told Mifflin school officials that four boys dragged her into the school auditorium, punched her in the head and face, pushed her to her knees, and forced her to have oral sex with two of them. A crowd of students watched, and one student videotaped the incident. The 16-year-old girl's lip was bloodied in the alleged gang attack; dazed and crying, her face swollen, she reported the assault immediately to her special education teacher, Lisa Upshaw-Haider.

One monstrosity was piled upon another. When the girl's father, who had been summoned to the school by the teacher, insisted on calling police, an assistant principal twice urged him not to call 911, according to Upshaw-Haider. Assistant Principal Rick Watson implored the girl's father to call the non-emergency police line instead of 911, a violation of Ohio state law, because "a news channel might tape his daughter and cause her further mental trauma," according to his statement to school investigators.

Meanwhile, according to witnesses, the school's principal, Regina Crenshaw, shuttered herself in a meeting about bell schedules and curriculum for a half-hour while underlings scrambled to perform damage control. Cover your ears, cower in a classroom, and pray that the media stay out of it. It's all about the children, right?

Witness statements revealed that none of the administrators bothered to call a nurse to assist the girl. Only after the girl's father called police himself did law enforcement come to the scene. By the time the cops arrived, all of the administrators had gone home for the day.

The principal is now in the process of being fired. The animals accused of assaulting the victim were suspended and may face criminal charges. But two of three assistant principals, including alleged cover-up man Rick Watson, are protesting their measly suspensions over the incident as "unwarranted." Worried as ever about his own hide, Watson said through a lawyer that he hoped to be "spared the public ordeal of a full hearing."

What about the girl's ordeal? As is frequently the case in these situations, this was probably not the first time the disabled student was attacked. Police are investigating claims that she had been previously assaulted on a school bus, and that boys had tried to disrobe her at school.

Public-school Pollyannas will dismiss the Mifflin High School horror story as an isolated case. Open your eyes. Smell the stench. It's in your neighborhood. The New York Post reported recently that assaulted or sexually abused students and staff members collected $6.9 million in negligence claims against the New York City school system in fiscal 2004, an 18 percent increase in payouts over the previous fiscal year. The largest settlement, $1 million, was awarded to a Bronx high school student whose classmates stabbed him in the head with a screwdriver. The school had refused his mother's request for a safety transfer before the assault.

In my home county, Montgomery County, Md., a local government report revealed that nearly 12,000 children ages 12 to 17 are bullied, abused or robbed by peers and others. Of that number, more than 1,000 are victims of sexual assaults. The school system, which is not required to inform police of these crimes, has been bombarded with complaints by parents that school officials ignored the victims or downplayed sexual assaults, including a number of incidents involving young girls attacked on local school buses.

These are heart-stopping nightmares every parent fears. You send your children to school to learn, not to be assaulted by classmates and abused by the negligent overseers of Public School Classrooms Gone Wild. If these assaults occurred in private schools, the institutions would be shut down. Instead, the government dance of the lemons continues, as abominable administrators skip away with "sensitivity training," "reassignment," and eternal protection from accountability.

From Michelle Malkin






OPPONENTS OF CHOICE ARE THE ENEMIES OF BLACKS

Parental choice has become a hot issue in this state. Unfortunately, it is generating the heat of controversy rather than the light of reason. Opponents of reform, including certain media, are now pulling out the race card and arguing that school choice will "re-segregate" public schools. That charge is not just false, it is hypocritical.

For all the anti-reformers talk and alleged concern, the fact is, today's public schools are disgracefully segregated. According to Harvard Professor Paul Peterson in his article School Choice: A Civil Rights Issue, "Despite the efforts of the civil rights movement, public schools today remain just as segregated as they were in the 1950s." There is ample evidence out there to support Mr. Peterson's contention. According to a published analysis of Department of Education data, 55% of public school 12th graders nationwide are in racially segregated classrooms (where more than 90% of students are of the same background) compared to 41% of private school 12th graders.

Anyone who wants local proof does not have to look far. South Carolina's record on race, justice, and equity is deplorable. Just look at a school district like Clarendon One. It is hard to imagine a school district more segregated (well over 90% Black) and one where the schools have failed the students so badly (95% of 8th graders cannot read and write at proficient level). Allendale County schools are almost 95% Black. Thanks to poor education, only 3% of Allendale students can qualify for the state's LIFE scholarship due to low SAT scores and GPAs. Jasper County's schools are 86% Black. Again, because of low achievement, less than 1% of students qualified for LIFE scholarships. Not a single one was Black. One shudders to think of the many lost opportunities for our children due to poor education that this system has provided them.

It is a shame and it is unjust that Blacks are stuck in this situation. But what is worse is that our so- called "champions of education" are working to keep Blacks in this system. Ultimately we must ask ourselves, "What sort of reform will bring about the change we need to expand opportunity?" In a word, we need choice and the power that goes with it. That is why I and other pastors across the state have formed a new association called Clergy for Educational Options (CEO). We believe school choice is a tool that will empower Black parents to the maximum extent possible and will give us the leverage necessary to secure an adequate education for all children.

Unfortunately, opponents of reform who are desperate and frightened about losing control over our children are playing the race card - saying that "school choice" is code for "re-segregation." This is a cynical, malicious attempt to kill a proposal that will finally give Blacks equal choice in education. Haven't we had enough racial hatemongering in this state's history?

Thankfully, Blacks across the state aren't buying this argument. To combat this bleak picture of lost opportunity and grinding poverty, Blacks are establishing their own schools with high academic standards, tight discipline, and absolutely first-class academic outcomes. Anyone who is skeptical should take a day trip to John's Island to see Capers Christian Academy, or visit Russellville to see Theresa Middleton's alternative school, just to name a few. Throughout the state, independent, Black-run schools are thriving, in spite of the segregation "warnings" of the education establishment. In fact, a new association comprised of black independent schools in the state (49 have been identified thus far), has been formally organized so that Black schools and parents will have an even greater voice.

More here

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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