After Deadline

This Just In: Post-Pandemic Travel

2021-05-18T16:08:00.002-04:00

Archived from Chapelboro.com https://chapelboro.com/town-square/this-just-in-post-pandemic-travel

The first flight I took after the 9/11 attacks was October of that year. There were armed National Guardsmen at RDU. It felt far away from normal and caused many of us to wonder if flying could be made to feel normal again.

It took a long time, but we were pretty well there (“normal”) 19 years later, then along came COVID-19. As we all know, flying anywhere for non-emergency purpose virtually disappeared.

Even as we’re inching back to our expected freedom of movement, our society has made a great big shift in how we work, how we play and what kinds of risk we’re willing to tolerate.

I’m so very grateful that I’ve been fully vaccinated for more than a month. This has allowed me to hop a flight to Florida to visit with my father and help my step-mother to manage his closing chapters of life. I’ve been able to do this without feeling like I was putting my own life (or my dad’s) in danger just by being in the same room with him or kissing him on the forehead when I arrive and depart.

What a thing to be concerned about.

Just like post-9/11, airport security is among the most conspicuous changes. I have to give the highest marks to the TSA folks at RDU. Check-in was, as usual, quick and very easy. At Orlando airport? Well — not as quick, not as easy.

Standing in a long line is an annoyance, but just as with nearby Disney, they keep the line moving. Then I step up to the hand-over-your-stuff part of the process. Yes, I have to remove my flip-flops, because rules.

I have to laugh, because this is exactly the kid of thing that would get my father wound up and probably arrested. He would certainly refuse, citing the fact that it’s a ridiculous requirement. TSA would insist, so would he and he’d be brought to a little room for a lecture about national security.

This is why he stopped flying long ago (to avoid such an issue) but I give him credit for knowing himself well enough that he would not be able to roll over for a silly exercise (flip-flop x-rays) in the name of security. I was with him once at in a Radio Shack when he was buying a package of AA batteries. He held out a $20 bill. The clerk asked him for his ZIP code and some version of this ensued:

Dad: You don’t need my ZIP code, I’m paying cash.
Clerk: We’d like to know your ZIP code so we know where are customers are from.
Dad: I’m not giving you my ZIP code. It’s none of your business.
Clerk: I have to put something in this field so I can open the register.
Dad: That sounds like a personal problem.
Clerk: Ma’am, (me) may I have your ZIP code?
Dad: (before I can answer) No, you may not have her ZIP code. She’s not the customer here, and I won’t be either if you don’t take this cash in the next 10 seconds.

The clerk then opens the register (after putting five numbers in), bags the batteries, gives him his receipt and cheerfully invites him to return.

That was in the mid-1990s, before Facebook and Amazon became such an integral part of our lives. Now, if I buy something that needs batteries, I expect my phone to tell me to add that to the order.

We need curmudgeons like my father to think about our privacy, our actual security and what we should and should not put at risk for the benefit of our safety. That said, don’t get me started about the checkout line discussions between him and the nice folks at Best Buy trying to sell him a warranty on his new toaster.

This Just In: It's Mother's Day

2021-05-18T16:06:00.005-04:00

Archived from Chapelboro.com https://chapelboro.com/town-square/columns/this-just-in/this-just-in-mothers-day

Anna Maria Jarvis of West Virginia, born in 1864, was the ninth of eleven children. Seven of her siblings died in infancy or early childhood. Hold on to that thought… losing seven children in infancy or early childhood.

Jarvis lived a long life for her time, dying at the age of 84. Though few career options were available to her, she pursued higher education and had some success in banking and insurance jobs. This weekend, however, we remember Jarvis because of her social activism – she was the founder of America’s Mother’s Day.

She advocated for the creation of this day inspired by her own mother, whose name she shared. When the greeting card and florist industries took hold of the holiday in order to boost their business, Jarvis struck back.

“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world,” she wrote.

Ouch!

Late in her life, she was involved in an unsuccessful petition effort to rescind the holiday. The effort halted when Jarvis was admitted to a Pennsylvania Sanitarium where she died in 1948. Individuals associated with the Florist and Greeting Card industries paid her medical expenses. I’m sure they sent flowers and a card to her family when she died.

This week, we were reminded that money can’t buy happiness. Bill and Melinda Gates, America’s ultimate power couple, are going their separate ways after 27 years of marriage. These people have given a great deal to world – much more than just money – and I wish them the happiness that seems to be eluding them right now.

Several years ago, Melinda Gates was being interviewed and said something that greatly impacted me. She’s been very involved in distribution of many life-saving vaccines worldwide and she was asked about the so-called “anti-vax” movement. Her important insight – this generation considers opposing measles, mumps and rubella vaccines because as a society we have collectively forgotten how it feels when children die.

She’s right. We know that children can die from accidents and rare diseases, but my children have not seen their classmates vanish from their elementary school classrooms. For my grandparents, born at the end of the 19th century, this was common.

Anna Maria Jarvis never married and didn’t have children of her own. Her legacy in the world is one that she wanted to erase due to its crass commercialism – Mother’s Day. Consider that she didn’t have to experience what one writer called “a knife through the heart” of various promotions. His mother died 30 years ago, he says, but on this day – the wound opens right up.

I have to agree. It’s been almost 10 years since my mother passed away, and although I enjoy the day with my children and grandchildren, it still has that tinge of bittersweet, often exacerbated by special last minute offers to send mom flowers. My mother’s ashes are scattered in a rose bed. I’m covered.

This Just In: Modern Policing

2021-05-18T16:04:00.003-04:00

Archived from Chapelboro.com https://chapelboro.com/town-square/this-just-in-modern-policing

Watching the verdict of the Derek Chauvin murder trial come in, most of us were gratified to see the former officer placed into handcuffs and marched out of the courtroom by the officers on duty. He’s a convicted murderer. He belongs in handcuffs.

The outpouring of grief and overflowing frustration in this country about policing and its intersection with racism is demanding attention, as well it should. This is an unanswered public health crisis that threatens the stability of our society.

The hot button of “Defund the Police” adds heat to the discussion, but not enough light. The slogan is helpful in one very important regard. When each community passes a budget each year to fund local law enforcement, it provides authorization for those agencies to act on its behalf.

The rate at which unarmed people of color are being killed by police nationally and without consequence makes clear that many law enforcement agencies are abusing their authority, overpolicing vulnerable populations and doing so with the imprimatur of policing and public safety.

That is the part that we need to stop. These are extrajudicial assaults and murders, not policing. George Floyd’s murder was much more than a single out of control officer killing an unarmed man.

It was a lynching.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act will go a long way to interrupting this pattern of abuse. A summary of its features from Congress.gov:

This bill addresses a wide range of policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. It includes measures to increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct, to enhance transparency and data collection, and to eliminate discriminatory policing practices.
The bill facilitates federal enforcement of constitutional violations (e.g., excessive use of force) by state and local law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following:
- lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution,
- limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer or state correctional officer, and
- authorizes the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas in investigations of police departments for a pattern or practice of discrimination.
The bill also creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct.
It establishes a framework to prohibit racial profiling at the federal, state, and local levels.
The bill establishes new requirements for law enforcement officers and agencies, including to report data on use-of-force incidents, to obtain training on implicit bias and racial profiling, and to wear body cameras.

We are in the budget cycle right now. We are fortunate to have a group of local law enforcement agencies who have a history of acting responsibly in large part. Every department can improve, however, and we should be looking at ways to avoid unnecessary custodial arrests for minor matters by having policies in place that prohibit such abuse. No one should be in handcuffs for an expired license plate or passing a bad $20 bill. Avoiding that as a premise for harassment and arrest can help avoid tragedies like the Floyd murder.

If I fail to pay income tax, the IRS doesn’t roll up on my house and take me away. They send me a letter, (and then another and another) notifying me of my violation and penalties. They can attach my wages. It’s an administrative task to secure my compliance. When I run a red light somewhere, a camera can capture that and mail me a ticket. We need to use technology in ways that keep people safer and reduce the opportunities for officers to escalate situations recklessly.

We need to make the same kinds of corrections that we made 20 years ago when high speed chases were too often killing and injuring bystanders … when the suspect fleeing was under scrutiny for a minor offense.

We employ law enforcement to promote and secure public safety. They work for us. They are accountable to us. It is only our demand for reform that delivers change.

This Just In: Nobody's Perfect

2021-05-18T16:02:00.002-04:00

Archived from Chapelboro.com. https://chapelboro.com/town-square/this-just-in-nobodys-perfect

On April 1, Roy Williams had us all going with his retirement announcement. Maybe this was an elaborate April Fools prank, we hoped, but it was quite the opposite. I watched Coach Williams’ press conference and listened intently. He gave himself a platinum-standard performance evaluation and determined that he was not the best person to do a job that he loved for the university that he loves even more.

That takes humility and immense integrity. The more Roy explained the pattern of mistakes that he’d made, the more I admired him. That is a one-in-a-million demonstration of character and leadership.

In sports, we often hear descriptions of “perfection.” When a team goes undefeated all season, they’re said to have a “perfect season.” All wins, no losses. A baseball pitcher that doesn’t allow any batters to reach first base is said to have thrown a “perfect game” (and a no-hitter).

Perfect – yet, if you asked UConn’s Geno Auriemma about a couple of consecutive seasons with no losses and consecutive National Championships, he would gladly tell you that “perfect” is not a term he’d use. Likewise, most major league baseball managers would be able to cite things they could improve on, despite a “perfect” game.

Why is that? It’s because we don’t learn from perfection. Our flaws and failures show us the way to improve. The preamble to our constitution describes our aspiration to forming a more perfect union. When we know better, we do better, but knowing we’re never really done has enormous value. It means we must keep trying, keep challenging ourselves and above all else, keep learning. The struggle continues.

When a coach or a team has fallen short, that’s when great coaches do their best work. They look at the game’s films, they review game stats and they take corrective steps. Smart business leaders do the same things.

If we expect perfection – a flawless record – we can find ourselves in a bad place. One example – the “pause” ordered for the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine.

The FDA ordered this interruption in use of the J&J vaccine not because it was unsafe or even to prevent anyone from developing blood clots, a rare but serious complication with which the vaccine is associated. They ordered the pause because they need for all medical personnel who may treat those rare clots need to be informed about this… blots clots are routinely treated with the anticoagulant drug heparain and the use of this drug can be dangerous in these cases. Once that contraindication is widely known, the use of the one-shot J&J vaccine will resume. (For more information on the CDC’s announcement, click here)

As we’ve all been finding our way through our pandemic lives this past year, I find myself exploring new things and placing new emphasis on not expecting (or seeking) perfection. Never more clear on this point is the fact that I’m learning to paint. Yes, paint.

To be clear, I’ve always painted – I’ve painted every room in my house. When we lived in Durham (in a smaller house) I did that, too, and painted the outside of the house. Just me and ladder, a bucket of paint and a big fat brush. None of these fancy sprayers. Old School.

During the pandemic, it’s been pictures – abstract, impressionist, geometric and collage. I love it. A lot of what I’ve created is just terrible – no kidding. Awful. But I have learned so much from this amazingly relaxing activity, so I have managed to create some pieces that, without irony, hang on the walls of my home. I never knew I had this urge within me, but there it is. And here’s the thing – perfection, even the concept of it, has no place in this creative process. It is the enemy of a creative process whether painting or writing.

Nobody’s perfect, thank goodness.

Chronic Illness Survey

2016-04-25T15:22:00.002-04:00

After posting about my thoughts, experiences and sometimes comedic adventures living with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I was contacted by a publisher who thought that a book with such a perspective would really help some folks. I also got my 15 minutes with "Everyday Health", a website with millions of readers, I'm told. Click here to check it out (I feel very famous).

So ... I'm writing a book about living with chronic illness. Working title:

Living with Chronic Illness:

When Your Body's Trying to Kill You, But Dinner Can't Be Late

If you'd like to HELP me write this book and you have a chronic illness, like RA (or any other form of inflammatory arthritis), Lupus, Fibromyalgia, diabetes or other chronic ailments that so many of us are living with these days, please participate with this survey to add your voice to those going through this diagnosis and management process: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7VJD9KC

I'm not selling anything. You can remain anonymous if you're prefer. I'm trying to develop some documentation that how things are for me is not at all unique. It's 10 questions. Maybe 10 minutes.

Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

2016-02-09T14:12:00.000-05:00

With the news of music legend Glenn Frey’s passing came a question for many: How could a form of arthritis–specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) –cause someone’s death? Isn’t it just achy joints and extra misery during cold weather?

RA is an autoimmune disease much closer to the Lupus that shortened the life of Charles Kuralt than the Osteoarthritis that tells your grandma it’s going to rain tomorrow. With RA, the body’s immune system attacks itself, primarily in the synovial fluids in joints. Any joint. Every joint.

I was diagnosed with RA in 2013 while I was recovering from surgery to replace my knees. A veteran knee patient, I had them done the same day. One morning about 7 weeks after the surgery, I awoke in a whole new world.

My hands and wrists were on fire with pain. I couldn’t grip my bed sheet to pull it over me. In comparison with double knee surgeries and childbearing, this was near the top of my “impressive pain” scale.

As the day wore on, I had the ache and misery that we all remember as the feeling you have when coming down with the flu. That first day as a slow-rolling sense of “this is getting worse” comes over you. I describe it as full-body tendonitis.

I tried to sleep, hoping it will resolve. It didn’t. I’m a person who rarely runs a fever, but my thermostat couldn’t figure out what it wanted. I sat up in my bed, sweating, with chills, wrapping myself in towels and blankets, then throwing them off. It was like an Olympic hot flash.

I went to physical therapy as planned. My wonderful therapist suspected RA right away, gave me a very light day’s activity and got me an appointment within a day or two to see a Rheumatologist. These symptoms were a classic presentation for RA, she said. I was diagnosed immediately.

Many RA patients have a very different experience, however. Their symptoms can be more vague, more gradual. Misdiagnosis is common and the delay in starting treatment can come at a great cost.

Treatment for RA suppresses the overactive immune system. Without it, RA patients will suffer deformities in their joints, most commonly in the hands. You’ve probably seen hands with crooked, swollen fingers. That’s the signature of RA, but not the limit of its wrath.

Left untreated, RA can attack throughout the body, striking with inflammation in the organs, tendons and the vascular system. RA patients are at higher risk for heart disease, pneumonia and lung complications.

Some of the disease modification drugs that treat RA have been around a long time and are still used to treat cancer. The new “biologics” are very effective in driving the disease into remission, but can make patients more vulnerable to infection and some forms of cancer.

We’ve all been bombarded with advertising for these biologic treatments. You see a young father working on his daughter’s doll house, a woman cheerfully running her catering business. The ads emphasize that these people can do these things that are stressful for their hands, thanks to these drugs.

In the RA community, we have a name for the people in these ads. We call them “actors.”

In reality, living with RA is about mitigating chronic pain and restriction of activities. It’s about fatigue. Lots of fatigue. It’s the frustration of a kind of brain fog that’s hard to describe. I’ll tell you about it when I find my keys.

It’s also about avoiding getting sick with colds and stomach bugs. Less hugging and kissing. More waving and sending emoticons for events we have to skip because there will be a crowd of people. This time of year, it can be very isolating to be an RA patient.

For me, the development of voice-activated word processing and Siri have kept me connected to the world and the work I love – writing. Some days, everything hurts and that totally stinks.

Every now and then (a day or two each month) I enjoy the miracle of a full night’s sleep, a hot shower in the morning and a day where almost nothing hurts at all.

Imagine that!

Obama's last State of the Union

2016-01-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Some of the speech I wish the President had made (please share if you agree):

My fellow Americans, the State of Our Union is “strong.” The State of Our Politics, however, is in critical condition.

In America this morning, a nurse and a teacher arose before dawn to go into work caring for our most vulnerable populations. Restaurants served their patrons. A cop walked the beat. A firefighter ran into a burning building. Americans are strong and more resilient than ever. The capacity of Americans to work for a better world is well established.

But in this chamber and across the various levels of the political spectrum, a poison is coursing through the veins of our body politic. It is fed by fear and isolationism. It is metastasizing across social media where vicious attacks become viral sensations. It destroys our good faith in the institutions of a civilized society. It helps and gives encouragement to our enemies.

Only Americans possess the ability to damage and undermine American values. We do this when we limit voting rights, stay home on Election Day and surrender to cynicism. We do this when we pull the ladder of progress up behind us and say “I’ve got mine, you stay out.” We do this when we argue for decades against ensuring that all citizens have access to quality healthcare. We do this when 20 first graders are brutally murdered in a public school and we do nothing about it.

Nothing.

Shame on us. Shame on all of us, without exception. The American people are getting up every morning and going to work to take care of themselves; to provide a better future for their children; to serve their communities. Why isn’t the Congress doing at least as much for kids as a cafeteria worker? Why does it take a campaign of shaming Congress to pass a bill providing medical care for 9/11 first responders? Why is it that the mass shooting of civilians on a regular basis is not the subject of official inquiry by a select committee?

Where would we be if the NYPD and FDNY behaved on 9/11 as you do today?

This can change and it can happen overnight. The people in this room can make that happen by making a choice. You can choose to elect citizenship over partisan rancor and you can do it right night now. You can decide that some things have to be handled without a political lens – things like security and infrastructure. You can do things for the good of the country, regardless of how it plays in your district, then you can explain that to you constituents. You can be leaders. And you know what? You SHOULD do that, because that’s what the voters sent you here to do.

One of these days, they’re going start measuring you against THAT standard – what’s good for the country, not just what’s good for keeping you in office. Will you be ready?

Chapel Hill School Board Race (2015) Responses (unedited)

2015-10-28T14:50:00.000-04:00

Watson – September 23, 2015

Please support your answers on policy questions with elaboration and specifics.
Please provide your responses by the end of the day (5:00 pm) on Friday, September 25th.

Question
1. What did you read this summer?

A. 2014–15 Performance and Growth of North Carolina Public Schools http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/accountability/reporting/exsumm15.pdf

B. Project Advance – CHCCS http://www.chccs.k12.nc.us/home/featured/project-advance

C. Several articles on the Achievement Gap –

D. Books: Amazing Queen Bea, called To Be, The Bible, Safe People The Cross and The Lynching Tree, Walking With God, Altruism At HBCUs, Dream Keeper and Expect To Win

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.

Funding for CH-C schools has been challenging because of the economy and because of changes in North Carolina’s legislative directions. Naturally, all bureaucracies desire more funding and I believe that our school board has done well with the funding that has been available over the last decade.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education?

Poverty can have a tremendous effect on K-12 education outcomes. Poverty can be negative if it inhibits academic achievement, but positive if it inspires student to try harder and to perform better. It is my hope that our educational system offers the best possible educational opportunities to help students overcome any negative effects from poverty.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education?

I think such experiences can be a positive enhancement to students learning about other cultures and other countries forms of government and commerce. Furthermore, it creates appreciation for others and their history. I believe it teaches us that we all add meaningful value to our society.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

I believe that continuing and expanding programs that expose students to team building with multi-racial team members provides the best exposure to improve race relations through common efforts and common shared goals. Furthermore, I believe that it would be beneficial if school board members would commit to being involved in events and activities in all of our communities. You can’t know what goes on in the poor or rich communities if you only stay in your comfort zone/community.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member?

I believe that the district is doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty. My biggest concern is with enhancing some specific cross walk areas to improve pedestrian travel for students and faculty.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?

I believe that more mentoring programs offer the best opportunities to assist students in narrowing the achievement gap. Leveraging the resources and intellectual capital in our town to expand educational and enrichment opportunities for students.

8. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.

Mrs. Harrison made a difference in my life. I had a problem with my speech. Mrs. Harrison recognized it in the first grade. She spent a great deal of time with me before and after school. She would even come to my home on many Sundays. It is not recognizable today. It formed my views about education in a profound way. I developed a passion to helping others get to the next level. I developed an attitude that “where you are today does not mean that is where you have to be tomorrow.” I have a son that had many learning disabilities and many teachers (from CHCCS) thought that his path would be vocational schools more specific a job working with his hands. He finished college with a 2.6 GPA from Hampton University. He is currently in a dual degree MBA/Law program. If it had not been for Mrs. Harrison and of course my parents, I don’t know if I would have the drive I have today to help others reach their potential.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story. WatsonForEducation.Com

Pat Heinrich

1. What did you read this summer?

10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.

I think that funding has not kept up with need. This is why we're facing a potential bond referendum to provide funding to address safety concerns, water leakage and aging facilities.

Many funding sources are declining or increasing more slowly that they have in the past, the diversity of our community is continuing to increase. Our schools are being asked to address the achievement gap and provide excellent outcomes for students in the face of more diversity and fewer resources. To provide excellent outcomes for our students, we will need to better utilize our resources in creative and flexible ways. We should also leverage more public/private partnerships to encourage more community involvement in our schools.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education?

Unfortunately poverty makes positive outcomes more difficult.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education?

Experiences outside of the classroom can have a huge impact on education. However this doesn't have to be as big as international travel. Anecdotally, my daughter and I share "teachable moments" on the North Carolina Beaches and at museums right here in the triangle. Even more than the particular experience, how it is contextualized into a learning experience by parents and other caregivers determines what a child gets out of the experience.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

Track and publish achievement gaps and how disciplinary actions are being applied to different segments of the community to provide transparency. Provide meaningful diversity training to teachers, and more importantly, ensure that what is learned is being applied. Promote dialog with and make stronger outreach efforts to the affected communities.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member?

I think there needs to be clearer division of responsibilities between the school resource officers (law enforcement officers in our schools) and school faculty & staff at our schools. I'd would advocate for a joint policy developed by the schools and organizations that provide resource officers.

Additionally, some classrooms exit to breezeways, meaning that the exit to the immediate outdoors without a hallway or other enclosed space. I would like to see these enclosed to provide a secured indoor path for students. Some hallways 'dead end' without appropriate emergency exists. I would make addressing these safety improvements a higher priority.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?

Education doesn’t begin and end at the doors of the schools; the schools can encourage activities outside of the school e.g. closing the “word gap” between economically advantaged and disadvantaged families before children are old enough for school. This outreach can be and should be led by individual board members as an example for the community. (The word gap is the disparity in words heard by young children from parents and caregivers. Research indicates that the word gap is a factor in the difference in positive outcomes for school age children.)

While we’ve acknowledged that different segments of our community may have different needs, we haven’t segmented our teaching to address more individualized needs. To do this we either need more teachers or we need a different way to provide more individualized instruction to our increasing diverse population of students. While no technology is a substitute for the interaction between teachers and students, I believe that we can use technology to provide more individualized tutoring and practice to students. This could more closely meet the needs of the individual student. In other words if half the students in a classroom excel at fractions and has difficulty with multiplication and the other half excels at multiplication but has difficulty with fractions, what should the teacher prescribe to help the whole class? Though that example is somewhat contrived, if the school can provide more individualized instruction that helps students with their particular needs then we can better disaggregate teaching and instruction. Using technology to supplement teacher efforts can do this without putting overly demanding expectations our teachers. I’d like to see this idea explored by CHCCS, and I will advocate strongly for tools that enable more individualized instruction.

8. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.

My twelfth grade creative writing teacher had us spend the first few minutes of every class arranging desks in a circle. He sat in one of the student desks in the circle. It was the first time I experienced a discussion among peers as a form of teaching.

Though lectured classes are important, students also need to experience a learning environment that more closely reflects what they will experience as adults. Teaching students how to learn and think critically with a group of peers better reflects the expectations of the modern workplace. We need to more strongly emphasize exploration, teamwork and critical thinking in our schools.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story.

http://patheinrich.org

-----------------------------------------

Annetta Streater

1. What did you read this summer?
The Bible
Chesapeake by Nora Roberts

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.
Over the last decade, we have received local funding support from our Commissioners to fund our operational expenses. Funding for capital needs, on the other hand have not been sufficient to complete capital improvements in a timely fashion. The Board is collaborating with the BOCC to introduce a bond referendum to provide funding to renovate our older campuses. From the state level we receive our teacher allotments and some special funding for programs such as Drivers Education. The most impactful reduction in state funding has been with teacher assistants.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education?
Poverty does have an impact on education outcomes in K-12 education. There are correlations between poverty and state of health. Children with chronic, unmanaged illnesses do not perform as well academically. Excessive absences due to chronic illness can also contributes to delays and gaps in learning. Children living in poverty are less likely to access extracurricular enrichment opportunities and tutoring as many of these opportunities have associated fees. I have always advocated for district sponsored opportunities that are accessible to all regardless of economic status.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education? International travel is a wonderful example of enrichment that can support academic achievement. Unfortunately, not all students have the resources to travel outside the U.S. There are school based clubs and mentoring groups that provide it's members this opportunity that includes a student commitment to raise funds. An innovative strategy used by some of our schools uses technology to bring other countries and cultures and classrooms to students without leaving their classroom. I'm very supportive of the district increasing its partnerships that can support integrative technology as a means to eliminate socioeconomic status as a barrier to international travel.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?
We must demonstrate that we embrace multiculturalism; that we respect each other and that we believe all children can learn, grow and be successful. Race relations can improve if there is a level of trust and respect. Additionally, race relations can improve if the district can ensure that teachers are providing instruction through a an equity lens, utilizing examples that show diversity while demonstrating concepts. Students and families must see that we are willing to involve the community in partnerships that support children from diverse backgrounds. Inclusivity is key.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member?
The district been very thoughtful in providing safe campuses for our students. Our capital improvement plans consistently include expansion or improvements in security and ADA compliance. Our older campuses require the most attention and for this reason I will support the bond referendum. Regular staff training can also play a part in fast and effective responses to dangerous situations.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?
Training for teachers in writing lesson plans that include pre-teaching, teaching and acceleration. Training must also include intervention strategies to support struggling learners. Recruitment searches have to seek out those who genuinely love children and believe all children can grow. Early childhood education programs better prepare children for kindergarten.

8. Have you ever been arrested?
No

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.
My choral music teacher had a profound impact on my view of public education and the arts. I know first hand that public education works. She was the epitome of a teacher and mentor. She set high expectations, made you accountable, celebrated your successes, brought the world to you by teaching diverse genre, was firm with behavioral expectations and instilled a love of music by sharing her love of music.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story.
www.streaterforschoolboard.org

Joal Hall Broun Answers to Herald Questions

1. What did you read this summer?

I’ll Take You there, Mavis Staples, The Staples Singers

The Warmth of Other Suns

All the Single Ladies

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.

In the last eight fiscal years, funding has been decreased approximately 1.1 million dollars per year on the local level and about the same amount from the state contribution. These reductions have resulted in the decrease of instructional and support staff in many areas, including gifted and talented, special education, and languages. Local funds for teacher salary increases, professional development, teacher bonuses and teacher recruitment have been reduced as well. There has also been a reduction in the amount of resources for the purchase of new textbooks and buses. These types of reductions over a long period of time have affected the quality of the education received by students in the District.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education? I think poverty makes it more difficult, but not impossible to have positive outcomes in K-12 education. The children have a more difficult time being prepared because the parents do not have the resources to give children if they need them as other wealthier parents do. If the parents have to work two jobs instead of one to provide for their families, then they do not have as much free time to address their child’s academic needs.

Poverty stigmatizes children psychologically because those children work harder in school, not to be stigmatized by their peers when they do not have the trappings of wealth. This puts an additional burden upon the student when trying to achieve and to thrive while learning.

That is why it is vital that the District create a culture that values each student, no matter their ethnic background or economic status. It means that we as a community need to address the issue of achievement by looking at the entire child and not just whatever academic deficits that exist.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education?

International travel for students and teachers expands one’s learning capabilities and their social engagement and growth. Travelling to other countries gives both students and teachers exposure to how education or life is lived differently from the United States. This aids in the enthusiasm for teaching and the enthusiasm for learning. The experiences and education gained from international travel can be shared with other teachers and other students as well. This also prepares students for opportunities overseas while they are in college and when they are looking for permanent work.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

In order to improve race relations in the community, the District needs to seek to create a culture of equity and not allow those that oppose it to believe that excellence suffers when you seek equity for all students, instructors, and non-instructional staff. The District needs to be proactive about the contributions of Lincoln High School, Orange County training school, and old Northside elementary school. The District needs to be an example of valuing diversity.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member?

The District has nine schools that are over 43 years old. Those schools were designed and constructed with more open campuses during a time when there were no school shootings.

As a board member, I would advocate for safety features that limit the ability of someone with a gun to kill students or teachers and that limit access to the classrooms without first having to stop at the front desk. In addition, I would seek a review of all the schools and then allocate resources to renovate those access points that permit someone from avoiding the front office and entering the school without detection. Finally, I would seek to add any additional safety features in all the schools that increase safety for students, teachers, and administrative staff.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap? I would advocate for creating a culture of excellence for all students, teachers, and administrators. I would advocate for those programs that have proven effective to eliminate the achievement gap. Those programs and policies that eliminate the achievement gap contain these components:

a. Professional growth that produces excellent teaching skill for teachers and teacher assistants;

b. Expectation from the start that all students can excel;

c. An elimination of disparate discipline;

d. A culture that encourages and supports teachers to implement those teaching skills that have proven effective in teaching students who have different learning styles; and

e. A culture that does not equate equity with a reduction in excellence.

Finally, I would advocate for a regular and timely review of all policies that are implemented to eliminate the achievement gap. I would also repeatedly express the theme that the elimination of the achievement gap requires long term and consistent effort.

8. Have you ever been arrested? No.

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.

I had a number of teachers that made a difference in my K-12 education experience. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Wiseman and my Advanced Placement biology teacher, Mrs. Parker made a positive difference in my education. First, Mrs. Wiseman was an enthusiastic first grade teacher, who had great classroom management without us knowing it and who pushed us to excel in our reading. I love to read and I believe that Mrs. Wiseman played a part in my continued love of reading. When I left her class at the end of first grade, I was reading at the second grade level. I was the new kid in the class because my family moved back to Greensboro in the middle of the year because my father was transferred back to North Carolina. She made me feel welcome as if I had been there from the first day.

My biology teacher Mrs. Parker gave me the grit to push harder. She was the high school teacher who expected great things from her students and we wanted to achieve excellence in her class. She was tough, but fair. She wanted everyone to do their best, even in the regular biology classes. She did not give up on anyone.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story.

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/Joal-Broun-for-School-Board-857320661026591/timeline/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter-@Broun4Board

Website-http://joalbroun.wix.com/joalbrounschoolboard

Margaret Samuels

1. What did you read this summer?

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear

The Good Listener, Helen Bamber: A Life against Cruelty by Neil Belton

The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

Five days At Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sherri Fink

The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? by Dale Russakoff

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.

Over the past decade we have seen our district placed under increasing financial pressure and this has had pretty serious consequences for our students. Thankfully our community really values education and we have found the will to make it work. We will likely have to continue to do this and I support the Orange County Bond, but we also have to put pressure on the state legislature to step up to the plate. As a professional who has worked in early childhood education and disability services in North Carolina, I understand the various roles that the General Assembly, the County Commissioners and the Federal Government play in the funding process and I have worked extensively with county and state legislators and officials. I have also managed the allocation of large budgets and overseen complex programs. I also understand the complex early childhood funding system that starts children on their educational path, and I believe that securing adequate funding for all children in our school district is one of the primary roles of a school board member. I am profoundly committed to ensuring a well-funded future for our schools. To this end we must focus as a district on developing a long-range funding plan to complement our long-range outcome plan. We must continue to advocate at the State level for the funding our school district needs to move forward. We must also build partnerships at the local level to ensure that our county places school funding at the forefront of every decision. The funding we receive must be sufficient for us to offer competitive compensation packages to our teachers. Finally, I do fully appreciate that in today’s financial climate we must watch every penny and make sure that it is being spent where it can do the most good, so pushing for a full review of finances and budgets would be one of my first tasks as a Board member. I would also push the Board to further explore the potential for creating public-private partnerships to fund certain activities.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education?

Research continues to show a widening gap for outcomes between children from different socio-economic backgrounds, and this is true at all levels of the education system. Poorer students are significantly less likely to graduate from college, which of course is a huge predictor of future employment and income levels. Access to additional experiences and programs that enrich school life are much more readily accessed by those with more financial resources, leaving families struggling financially at a disadvantage in providing those opportunities to their children. In particular, poverty experienced in early childhood can have an impact on all aspects of a child’s development – poor diet and lack of adequate housing can create challenges that are very difficult to overcome. Research shows that by age three children from low income households have heard 30 million fewer words than their more privileged counterparts, which means when they start school they are already significantly behind. A child’s success in school should not be determined by their zip code or their economic status. Early literacy programs can help to bridge the 30 million word gap and, thankfully, we live in a resource-rich community in this regard. Increased collaboration with our libraries and our local universities could help us address this shortfall and ensure that all children in the District are ready for school. As a district we must forge effective partnerships with service and resource providers in our community to find solutions to these problems and ensure that our children are afforded as many mitigating services as possible. Collaboration at all levels of government, nonprofit and community stakeholders is vital.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education?

As a former Peace Corps volunteer who has worked internationally in the Balkans and the Middle East with Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, I am great believer in the positive benefits of cross-cultural exchanges. Our School District is incredibly diverse, and ensuring that the education we provide has a global outlook is vitally important – it will widen the horizons of every student that passes through our schools. You don’t have to leave the country to get a global perspective – I have been very impressed by the Global Connections program and the Social Justice Academy, which both do a fantastic job of introducing students to international events and contemporary debates. I have also been excited to see classes make use of new technologies to connect and partner with classrooms abroad – low cost initiatives like this can bring a new level of excitement to learning. However, I do believe in providing our children the opportunity to take school trips abroad - we were lucky enough to be able to send our son on a Smith Middle School trip to Costa Rica this spring and we have seen firsthand the positive impact this experience had on him. However, there is no escaping the fact that such trips are expensive and I would like to see some thought given to providing opportunities for all students to take part.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

As a School Board member I will support programs that show promise in addressing social inequalities, especially regarding the glaring disparities that exist in the way minority students are disciplined. I will press the District to pay much greater attention to the actual intent behind student actions and to explore restorative justice alternatives to more punitive sanctions. Research shows that restorative justice solutions promote equity, improve student connections, and lead to better outcomes for all concerned. As PTA Council President in both 2011 and 2013 I partnered with our local NAACP Chapter in sponsoring events and I believe that the District’s efforts to address disparities and promote equity must involve a diverse range of community stakeholders so that minority voices are heard loud and clear.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member?

The School Board has a profound responsibility to keep students and faculty and staff safe. Providing a safe work environment is a fundamental requirement for any employer. Having strict access guidelines and ensuring that modern security measures are used to monitor individuals entering and leaving our facilities is of the utmost importance. The Capital Improvement Plan developed by the Board and administrators has identified potential safety concerns including areas that are not accessible to students with disabilities; areas and schools that have too much outside access; drainage issues, and aging systems. We must ensure a responsible and timely improvement plan and advocate for the funding necessary to meet these improvements. Collaboration with our local law enforcement departments and continually evaluating their role within our schools is also of fundamental importance. I would work with police officers to ensure that they are receiving the appropriate training to operate sensitively and effectively within our schools, this would include the provision of racial equity training and guidance on working with individuals with disabilities. Making time for ongoing security assessments, training and practice drills for our students, staff and faculty are a must.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?

I am committed to creating a blueprint for educational excellence by setting high expectations for every student. We know that educational opportunities make all the difference in realizing each child’s potential, and securing them a rewarding and successful future. I would work to support and implement a plan that mandates equity training at all levels of our district, which is both hands on and grounded in real world classroom settings. I have taken similar courses myself and know their fundamental value. Understanding why and how the achievement gap has arisen is the first step to solving it. I will also ensure that the School District utilizes evidence-based trainings with a proven track record and that the necessary data is collected by the District to monitor the impact of this training.

I would also work to highlight the value of Pre K services. We know from extensive academic research that such services not only assist in closing the achievement gap but also provide a boost in social and behavioral interactions and long-term success. My professional experience has given me an intimate understanding of the complexities of the early childhood funding system that starts children on their educational path. If we really want to make a difference the School Board must become a major partner in community-wide initiatives that are providing support for 0-3 services. Evidence-based programs like the Nurse-Family Partnership, Early Head Start, and the Family Success Alliance are innovative ways to prepare both children and parents for school success. Creating more partnerships similar to Smart Start and NC Pre K would allow our School District to maximize limited funds for a very important cause.

It is also important to continue providing similar support services to students as they progress through the school system. We have a highly mobile student population and students with critical needs can enter District schools at every level. Mentoring programs, and initiatives like Parent University, can help to provide this support. I would also like to applaud the Superintendent’s initiative to provide additional academic support to students in High School who have demonstrated the ability to perform in AP classes but need help in unlocking that potential.

8. Have you ever been arrested?

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.

My high school American history teacher, Mrs. Rambough, was an amazing teacher. She had been teaching for a number of years and was considered “tough” by the students, so I was excited to take her class but a little nervous as well. What I loved most about her was that she never shied away from a difficult discussion in class and she always encouraged active debate. She challenged us to think critically about our country’s history and explore the endless diversity of human motivations. She gave us the opportunity to dwell on themes that resonated with us, and pushed us to research beyond the parameters of the course. I credit her with my passion for learning about new cultures, exploring the world, and social justice. In my senior year I organized a register-to-vote campaign and wrote an article for our High School Yearbook entitled “Choices: Seniors realize what it means to vote.” She encouraged me to do research about the number of 18-year-olds that voted in our county and to interview my classmates about what elections meant to them. It helped me to appreciate the complexities of our democratic system, and our failure to successfully engage many segments of our community in the democratic process. The lessons I learned from Mrs. Rambough have stayed with me and I like to think she would be very proud to see one of her former students running for School Board!

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story.

www.margaretsamuelsforschoolboard.com

Name: Rani Dasi

Chapel Hill News Questionnaire

1. What did you read this summer?

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. This summer I primarily read articles on education and fiction books. Some of the books are: The Art of Fielding

· The Rosie Effect

· Rules of Civility

· The Narrow Road to the Deep North

· City of Thieves

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade.

Overall funding to public education from state and federal sources has declined significantly over the last ten years. With the Great Recession in 2007, many states reduced funding to public education and that reduction has continued to the present. According to the Washington D.C. based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), “North Carolina's percentage change in spending per student, inflation-adjusted, from 2008-2015 was (-14.5%), worse than all other states except Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin and Kansas. In 2014-2105 alone, while many other states were increasing per-pupil school funding, North Carolina's decreased by 4.7 percent, the worst one-year change in the country, except Nevada. From a money standpoint, North Carolina was the worst in the country with a drop of $250 dollars in per-pupil funding for FY 2014-2015.” The state reduction has affected many areas such as funding textbooks (78% reduction from 2008-9 to 2014-15), and instructional supplies (53% reduction from 2008-9 to 2014-15).

Source: http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Report--279510312.html

To make matters worse, major federal education aid programs for states have also been drying up since the recession. For example, federal aid for K-12 education for schools with high proportions of low-income families decreased by 10% between 2010 and 2014.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/11/02/24-7-wall-st-states-slashing-education-spending/18046297/

In Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, we are fortunate to have been able to supplement state and federal reductions with local funding (one of largest per pupil supplement in the state) but have likely reached the limit of local support.

Given the direction of the NC legislature, we can anticipate that we continue to face revenue uncertainty in an environment where we see increasing needs to support our students (increased charter school enrollment and payments, increasing employment benefit costs, increasing needs for mental health and English language support, among others).

This environment requires that we think differently about how to fund education. We will need to consider how to increase our tax base so that the residential base does not bear so much of the burden and consider long term sustainable revenue sources.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education?

Living in poverty requires concentrated focus on basic survival needs like food, shelter and safety, leaving little energy or resources for other important needs like education. Education can have a positive impact but the resources to obtain quality education are not always easily accessible to those in poverty.

The effects of poverty can be far reaching. A school could provide the best teachers and learning environment, but if a child or teacher comes to school hungry, or uncertain of where s/he will sleep that night or worried about a parent or spouse’s employment status, it will be much more difficult for quality learning to happen. The largest gap to overcome in learning is the lack of vocabulary due to poverty.

One idea to address poverty in our community and improve school outcomes is to have a broader partnership with local community organizations to support families in areas such as preparation for employment opportunities, food security and affordable housing.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education?

Learning is a function of exposure. Exposure is broadened via introduction to other cultures, systems, and ideas, and international travel and similar experiences are important to the learning process. Additionally, as our community continues to become more international and the world more globally interconnected, understanding other cultures is critical to success.

In Chapel Hill and Carrboro, we are fortunate to have a variety of cultures as part of our community. We can strengthen our learning environment by creating opportunities to leverage this diversity and gain further benefits as we are able to travel internationally and learn more.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

· Ensure that professional development includes equity training (Teacher, staff, administrator and community awareness of historic context must inform engagement with students.)

· Ensure curriculum includes understanding of all cultures in our community

· Address issues of disparate discipline among populations

· Look for opportunities to engage within all populations. More district and board member attending events and getting to know community members. Not simply asking them to plug into broader events but seeking opportunities to learn and engage in other communities.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a school board member?

· I’d like to see mental health professionals embedded into some of our schools. This support should work to address issues that inhibit learning and increase safety outcomes for all community members.

· Long term school level planning to avoid overcrowded schools

· Physical structure of buildings needs to be addressed (Issues such as open campuses, mold and asbestos in buildings)

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?

Two paths of action:

I. In schools:

1. Recruit, train (including understanding the context of historical disenfranchised students) and retain high quality teachers with high expectations of all students.

2. Focus on early childhood education. Ensure early identification of issues that challenge the learning process.

3. Pilot a year round school program. Students need more time in the learning environment and reducing the gaps in instruction time would enable more learning.

4. Focused action on issues that impact learning (e.g. reducing disproportionate punishments for some students (predominately people of color) that reduce available instruction time)

5. Determine milestones that indicate success and review at least semi-annually with the board and community members

II. Outside the classroom:

Educational outcomes are highly affected by family engagement, economic resources and community engagement. Within that context, there are key ideas that could improve results:

Community engagement to support families – Harlem Children’s Zone model of a holistic approach to the community with ideas such as:

a. Affordable housing. Children need safe, stable housing to learn effectively

b. Providing employment opportunities with living wage

c. Mentors who can provide exposure opportunities

d. Reliable access to food and nutrition

The school board and the district can partner with community groups (like: TABLE, Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate, Family Success Alliance, Parent University, etc.) to support these efforts.

8. Have you ever been arrested? No

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today.

My mother is an educator and was my first teacher. She homeschooled me and my nine siblings and being the oldest sibling, I was also involved in the teaching process. I learned a lot about the importance of focusing on the individual learner, understanding individual motivation and the importance of understanding that individuals may reach different levels of learning at different times.

When I went to public school in sixth grade, I was surprised to find a process that did not seem to appreciate the range of learning levels present in a classroom. The teacher usually focused on the middle range so that many students felt disconnected from the instruction.

What inspires me about public education is the potential we can achieve by reaching each student where they are and ensuring that they feel connected to the instruction and are sufficiently challenged.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story.

http://www.dasiforschoolboard.com/

David Saussy

1. What did you read this summer? Mostly non-fiction, e.g. Bill Bryson’s “At Home: A Short History of Private Life”, and David McCullogh’s “The Wright Brothers”, along with books and blogs on trails, geology, flora and fauna of Utah’s Uintas mountains and California’s Sierra Nevada range in preparation for extended backpacking trips.

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade. While the Orange County BOCC and city and county residents have been very supportive of the schools, the economic challenges from the recent recession and the generally negative attitude towards public education from the state legislature have shortchanged the schools, and not provided adequate funding to attract and retain the best teachers, nor to adequately fund operational expenses. I also feel that funding has not allowed us to properly keep up with long range capital needs, so now we’re looking at huge expenses to update aging buildings.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education? Poverty has a negative impact on outcomes for K-12 students though inadequate nutrition, unstable housing and home life, lack of resources for building a foundation for learning prior to starting kindergarten and continuing learning outside of school.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education? Experiences outside of the classroom can provide a beneficial adjunct to traditional education. These can reasonably include field trips to museums, etc. so supplement what students are learning in art, science, and history. They could also include visits to or from local businesses to give students a better understanding of how things work. For better awareness of their impact in the community, visits to landfills, recycling centers, water treatment and sewage facilities would give students a better grasp of things they normally take for granted. International travel would be very broadening, especially in the context of cultural awareness, but is probably a bigger challenge to do in an equitable fashion given the costs.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community? Ensure diversity in faculty and staff at every school. Ensure equitable treatment of all staff and students. Ensure that the curriculum provides an accurate description of race relations and the impact of race throughout the history of the US.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member? Within the constraints of the operating and especially the capital budget, yes, the district is doing the best it can. I would continue to advocate for sufficient capital funds to renovate and expand older buildings to provide for a safer environment through elimination of “trailers” and changing the older campus style buildings to limit access.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap? Expand Pre-K opportunities to provide a better educational foundation for more at-risk youth. Offer an option for year round education at least at the elementary level to reinforce learning and prevent the drop-off that often occurs during the long summer break.

8. Have you ever been arrested? No

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today. It’s hard to single one out, especially as it’s been nearly 40 years since I graduated, but I’ll focus on the two teachers (Ms. Riley and Ms. Lance) that I had in 5^th and 6^th grade. I remember being made aware that teachers weren’t adequately paid as both had second jobs to help meet expenses. I remember their hard work in providing differentiated learning to classes that included gifted students who needed more work to challenge them, and struggling students who needed additional help just to keep up. I remember them respecting every student regardless of their innate talents, and teaching us to do so as well.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story. Saussyforschools.com

Gregg Gerdau

1. What did you read this summer? The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch; Barefoot To Avalon by David Payne.

2. Please share your thoughts on funding for the CH-C schools over the last decade. Personnel expenses, which are not entirely under the control of our School District, have not kept pace with national averages. Capital expenses appear to have been inadequate. Managing expense by deferring maintenance seems to have created an enormous burden.

3. How do you think poverty affects outcomes in K-12 education? Poverty can contribute to student achievement gaps, readiness for school, increases in absenteeism, and developmental delays. CHCCS strives to provide an environment where student outcomes are not predetermined by any preset criteria and I will fully support that goal.

4. How do experiences (such as international travel) outside the classroom affect K-12 education? For those students I know who have experienced international travel with their classmates, it has led to a much broader understanding of second languages as well as appreciation for different cultures. I am fully in support of outside experiences when available to all.

5. What can CH-C schools do to improve race relations in the larger community?

Given the concerns expressed by parents attending the September 26^th Community Forum co-sponsored by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, CHCCS Multicultural Student Achievement Network, Organizing Against Racism, and the CHCCS PTA Council, we still have much to accomplish.

The Board of Education must communicate more effectively with its constituents. I will work towards having more open dialogue opportunities for parents, children and teachers to collaborate with Board Members. Better communication and engagement with all stakeholders in this process will substantially improve the strategies and tactics envisioned by the District.

6. Is the district doing enough to ensure the safety of students and faculty? If not, what more would you advocate for as a board member? We have many protections in place and they are adequate on many Levels. There are some areas where we could improve, such as refining the policy guidance on bullying versus transgender aggression, and I will be an advocate for those improvements.

7. What specific things would you advocate for to narrow the achievement gap?

I will advocate for a Pledge of Performance for all District employees to model their shared experiences of justice, fairness, recognition of every contribution and encouraging every student to develop to their full potential.

Today’s students have communication and learning attributes significantly different than the generations who preceded them. It is crucial for effective teaching and learning that we improve teacher training resources for teachers to adapt to the most diverse generation of students we have ever had to educate.

New policies much replace old, pervasive practices of “parent push out” to include parents and families on a shorter path to solving this old problem in our District.

8. Have you ever been arrested? No.

9. Please share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your K-12 educational experience and how that informs your view of public education today. My high school industrial arts teacher challenged me to understand every aspect of mechanical drawing and design. He gave me extra assignments when I completed the required work early and kept raising the level of complexity of the extra assignments. Ultimately, I chose to study architectural design which led me to understand systems thinking. Systems thinking gave me enormous advantage in my finance, business and technology career. To this day, I think of all the lessons he taught me about systems relationships and how the best outcomes are functioning according to the best designs.

10. Please provide the URL for your website to accompany this story. http://www.gerdau.org

Now, it's just marriage

2015-06-26T12:37:00.002-04:00

As a friend of mine says, he's not for gay marriage ... just like he's not for gay parking, gay grocery shopping or other things made controversial by a prefix. We're for marriage. Period.

As I've written so often, the argument here is about a simple question. Are all Americans entitled to get married - a contract of monogamy and devotion for life and extending beyond death (inheritance, notice on public records, etc) or not? If some Americans are deprived of that right -- a natural right -- what is the state's compelling interest in that deprivation?

There is none, of course, and logic has had its way. And the arc of history bends once more. Now, it's just marriage, as it should be.

The Supremes

2015-06-25T15:58:00.000-04:00

It seems that Chief Justice John Roberts actually does care about whether or not the Supreme Court considers cases of substance. Lately, it has felt like his court was being used as a bonus bite at the apple for GOP lawsuits that failed in the system. The ACA case prompted Roberts to instruct on the role of the Court. His interpretation is a conservative one: “Our duty, after all, is ‘to construe statutes, not isolated provisions.’”
And thus, health insurance made affordable for millions of Americans will remain so. Unfortunately, this also allows the GOP to continue to demagogue on the topic, crying for the repeal and reform of the law that is saving lives for some and improving its quality for all.
That's right--ALL. When the rise in health care costs and the accountability that comes with the ACA holds down costs, it benefits all Americans. If you're employer provides your coverage, the benefit costs are less, relative to the total cost of employing you. That means more cash is available for that raise you haven't had for years.
The dissent in the King v. Burwell case is what really tells the story. It says that Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito are making up their minds on a political basis, not on the merits of the case or on strict interpretation of the law. What a shame.

The Scar of American Slavery

2015-06-22T12:42:00.000-04:00

I have bad knees. Because of this I've had a lot of knee surgery which has led to scars.
Without a doubt, each time my knees were better after the procedure, but one of the surgeries was to remove scar tissue from the previous procedure.
Sometimes in the healing process, the body overcorrects, creating too much scar tissue and that's a problem in itself.
In healing our uniquely American wound from slavery's assault, our scar tissue of political correctness may be obscuring our view of today's real problem: white supremacy, white privilege and the hardwired sense of entitlement that white citizens seem to possess.
In deflecting this, white conservatives project criticisms of entitlement onto the African-American community with talk of a welfare state and laziness. Centuries-old racist arguments demonstrate clearly the lack of intellectual work on the problem. In fact, an outright rejection of there being a problem. So many believe that if they didn't personally enslave anyone, they're not in this problem.
There's no denying that all Caucasian Americans have benefitted from their accident of birth. We're less likely to be incarcerated. We live longer. We live better. And we're simply more free. All because we were born with this skin color.
And that's wrong.
Until and unless Caucasians reject these structures of unfairness in our justice system, our politics, our schools and our hearts, the poison of white supremacy will continue its attack on America's collective body.

Take a Hike

2014-10-04T15:48:00.001-04:00

No, seriously, take a hike ... along the Eno in Hillsborough on the newly completed Riverwalk. Read all about it: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2014/10/03/4201544/hillsborough-to-open-completed.html?sp=/99/586/885/

Carrboro Honors Music Festival Organizers

2014-09-24T16:01:00.002-04:00

Here's my story (and I'm sticking with it) on the Chapel Hill News | News Observer: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2014/09/22/4173712/carrboro-honors-carrboro-music.html?sp=/99/586/885/

Calling Orange County “Home”

2014-08-06T20:18:00.002-04:00

We came to Orange County in the autumn of 1978. Though we lived in Durham for a few years, we moved back to Chapel Hill in the mid-80s and have called it home ever since. We made a choice to live in this community.

This year, I am proud to serve as the 2014 Chair of the Orange County Housing Authority, a relatively new community board appointed by the County Commissioners. We provide citizen oversight of the County’s Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly known as “Section 8.” Just under 600 families in this community are the direct beneficiaries of this rental subsidy, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program brings about $3.5 million into our community every year.

That support is vital for those families, but did you know that you benefit from it too? The effect on you and your family or your business may be indirect, but it’s right in front of you. Keeping housing affordable leads directly to spending money in the Orange County economy.

Because their housing is affordable, voucher holders can spend their limited income in a more diverse, balanced way. They can shop for back-to-school clothes for the kids, go to a concert or eat in a restaurant occasionally and manage the cost of their healthcare.

If participants cannot locate housing that accepts an HCV voucher and they have to leave the program, they may remain in Orange County, they may live in the same apartment. If they have to spend 50-60% of their income on their rent, it will not be spent in restaurants, in retail shops or entertainment venues. For elderly and disabled citizens, medicines may have to last longer, putting their health at risk.

Disproportionate rent burden for low income families has a negative ripple effect in the local economy – it hurts all of us in lost tax revenues and sales to local businesses.

Who are these people? They are people who work all over the county and serve you directly every day. They are hospital staff, restaurant workers, entrepreneurs, artists, first responders (police, fire and emergency response), bus drivers, home health aides, daycare workers, public school and University support staff. Our community needs these people in order to thrive and we are losing our capacity to make housing affordable for them.

The Mayors of Carrboro and Chapel Hill have made clear that they are committed to supporting the stability of affordable housing and the awareness of the Housing Choice Voucher Program. We are grateful for their leadership in this effort.

That said, the local governments are limited in what they can do in holding down pricing in the rental housing market. Mayor Kleinschmidt correctly points to state laws that prohibit measures that would be considered “rent control.”

There is direct action available to all of us. If you own a property that you’d like to make available to rent, you may be eligible to do so through the Housing Choice Voucher Program. We need more participation from local landlords, providing a strong portfolio of choices for voucher holders. We need local government incentives and new ideas. Speak up. Demand solutions to this long term problem.

We will be announcing information sessions (sponsored by the housing authority) for prospective landlords sometime in September. Meanwhile, keep your mind and your heart open to the knock on the door that comes from a voucher holder looking for a place for his or her family to live. These families choose to live here. They work here, spend their money here and they vote here. We depend on them for many vital services and they’re counting on us to keep Orange County an affordable place to call home.

Power Politics

2014-03-10T15:49:00.000-04:00

A few days of no electricity restores the ability to think in complete sentences ... dare I suggest - even paragraphs?

My street - a mile-long cut-in near Camp New Hope- suffered a downed power line across the road. Very dangerous. Not only was the line down, the pole from whence it came was jutting out at about 45 degrees, as though it wanted to fall but lacked the nerve. It was falling not from ice, but from mud. The ground it sits on just off the road and up a few feet in elevation was giving way. Nerve wracking to drive under and scary to imagine it coming down. From Friday morning until yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, we watched and waited. Though Piedmont trucks were often nearby, we didn't see them in the neighborhood until yesterday afternoon. Not even to evaluate. No cones - nothing.

A couple of our neighbors (I don't know who, but they SHOULDN'T HAVE) freed the lines somewhat by cutting away trees that were laying on them. With the nice weather on Saturday and Sunday, we were outside here and their and encountering many of our neighbors, comparing notes.

Indeed, we had ALL called Piedmont Electric and reported the downed lines. I posted pictures on WTVD's website and then linked to that via Piedmont's Facebook page --- expressing my unhappiness. I can understand that we have to wait out turn and, compared to post-Fran, these were NOT the worst of times. What bothered me was Piedmont's lack of information systems both for managing incoming reports of outages and for updating the public on status. Their "outage viewer" online is a piece of crap on a smart phone - which is all many of us have (with gratitude) for getting information. I called at least twice and it seemed each time that the person I spoke to had no idea there was a pole about to fall onto the street.

And, of course, I saw no sign of good old Governor McNugget during any of this storm. Perhaps he was working on the coal ash problem, but I thought that even if I saw him on TV or heard him on the radio, what would he say that would help me in any way? Nothing. He, like Piedmont Electric at this point, doesn't have much credibility with many of us. That's an enormous problem during an emergency. I need to feel confident that my governor is on top of things on a simple human level -- looking out for us, whether we voted for him or not. Perhaps I'm sentimental, but that's the standard I look to and nearly never like what I see.

Women's History Month

2014-03-02T12:27:00.000-05:00

The downside of observing under-appreciated achievements with Black and Women’s History month-long observances is they invariably miss something that was (for someone) very important. That makes something that was under-appreciated seem UNappreciated, which is probably not the case.

Here’s an example of that problem. Last February (at month’s end), there was a documentary called “Makers: Women Who Make America” on PBS, kicking off Women’s History Month. It was about the evolving image of working women and their roles within families. The film was narrated by Meryl Streep, an indisputable giant in film and champion of strong women being portrayed in three dimensions. Imperfect. Struggling. Growing.

The film featured various iconic milestones and talked a fair amount about how the image of women in television and films can help us imagine ourselves differently. We saw Marlo Thomas and Mary Tyler Moore as independent professionals on “That Girl” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” We saw “Maude” talk about abortion on television for the first time. Not mentioned on the program was “The West Wing”, where we saw Glenn Close portray a judge being vetted for the Supreme Court disclosing that she’d had an abortion. In that episode (admittedly on a program that is a liberal fantasy) she becomes Chief Justice of the United States.

That omission didn’t bother me. Here’s the one that did – in this program that was narrated by Streep, there was no mention at all of one of her first films, Kramer vs. Kramer. In the movie, thought to be quite a breakthrough at the time, Ted and Joanna Kramer are fighting over custody of their son and the court rules, wrongly, that Joanna Kramer will get full custody. It’s Hollywood, though, so the Kramers work it out in the end (as they never could in the beginning) and they informally arrange to share custody.

Presumably the filmmakers didn’t want to distract from the focus on women – women being great, courageous leaders. I get that. Sometimes, and especially in complicated situations, being a leader is mostly about seeing more than one possible right answer and (in rare occurrences) it’s about letting go of some power to get the best solution for everyone involved. “Joanna Kramer” was a leader of women, ahead of her time. She taught the hard lesson of humility, the need for partnership and the integrity of objectively seeing and admitting when you’ve been wrong. If America’s investment banks had taken that lesson, our economy would be in much better shape right now.

So, to look at women’s history with some integrity and through today’s perspective, it’s not a good time to take a victory lap. To wit:

We still have an embarrassing level of representation in the Congress (both houses).
We are still fighting for reproductive rights.
We carry most of the load in caring for our aging parents (and in-laws).
We comprise the bulk of minimum wage workers.
We are most of the population living in poverty.

For all the attention that an openly gay defensive lineman gets for possible “distractions” to his NFL team, there is almost no possibility that a professional football, basketball or baseball player would be “distracted by” a player raping or beating the shit out of a woman.

As I watch Wendy Davis running for governor in Texas, I am hopeful that we might be getting to the next level of our struggle, largely because she is providing clear evidence that we are in a struggle. It’s not up to her to carry this burden, though, it is up to each and every one of US.

Happy Women’s History Month. Now, let’s get back to work.

Mission Control

2014-01-05T09:53:00.001-05:00

The first visit to the gym went great. The treadmill .. Wow. It's not a workout, it's mission control. Built-in fans and cupholders, constant readout of your heart rate, a chart telling me the sweet spot (target heart rate) to focus on. How appropriate - for a mission that's never really accomplished.

Easy to see how people get into this and overdo it. There's a lot to try and it's not all torture. I wanted to be sure and leave still able to walk and have a desire to come back. So on that, FIRST DOWN!

Football and Fitness

2014-01-02T20:58:00.001-05:00

Happy new year. We all have our resolutions, I suppose. Published or not, there's a cleansing feeling in seeing a blank January. We can try again. We can turn a page. It's more than a new month. It's a new beginning.

I've been watching a LOT of football and you have to admire one genius thing about the game. You go on the field knowing you need to score, but the game is structured to break that big goal into smaller ones. First downs. Take four plays. Get at least ten yards and you can keep the ball. Move the chains. Smart.

I think it's the often welcome disruption of routine that the holidays deliver unto us. By January, we are yearning for the daily grind to come back - resetting the calendar resets the alarm, the promised diet and exercise commitment. I usually go through that "miscellaneous" pile on my desk and discover something I started looking for during the previous Easter weekend.

This year, it's time to deploy stage two of the getting into shape plan. The first stage was fixing a lifetime of bad news in the knees department and boy oh boy did THAT turn out to be more complicated than planned. Bilateral knee replacement (2 knees on same day) is never going to be a picnic but my experience added some ugly setbacks including a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis during my recovery - cause, yeah, I relish challenge.

Ok fine. I have this. I'm living with it. I've beaten it into remission now, so ... What's next?

One thing is, this year must feature regular visits to a gym to work on machines. I told myself I'd get enough physical activity without doing this. I was wrong. Way wrong. So new year, new opportunities. Off to the gym we go, hubby and I.

It sounds like way more fun than cleaning the house. Unfortunately, gotta do that too. But we're joining and doing this stuff together.

First down, ten yards to go.

Affording Care

2013-12-09T21:49:00.001-05:00

I completed my enrollment via Healthcare.gov on Sunday afternoon (12/1). On Monday, BCBSNC generated a letter and payment coupon. On Tuesday, They mailed it. Today, (Thursday, Dec 5) I got it. When they process my payment, I should expect my welcome kit and insurance card. I'm guessing that'll take a week.

So, THAT happened.

No screaming headlines, just the government doing what it promised, the health insurance provider responding efficiently and now I can expect to be insured on New Year's day for LESS than I paid for my previous coverage.

Also, this ... the word "Obama" did not and will not appear anywhere on my insurance materials, because the government is not providing my insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield is doing that.

The fact is, though, that without the Affordable Care Act I would have to remain as I am now - without health insurance (my COBRA has expired). So, for all my friends and relatives (and you know who you are) who berate the president and embrace the "repeal Obamacare" chant from the GOP citing nonsense about "the government takeover of healthcare", you can now continue expressing yourself knowing that you are advocating for me to be uninsured and unable to pay for my insulin and the many medicines I take daily to manage other conditions. Not that much of a stretch to call that a death panel, is it?

If it sounds like I take it personally, I do. A misinformed electorate could cost me my life.

Finally, if you're inclined to tell me about young healthy people getting into the insurance pool, please save your breath. I know that, probably better than most people. I'm an insurance baby, born in Hartford, Connecticut. It's the family business. I'm grateful for the ACA. I mourn for people who have suffered and died due to its lack in the last 30 years. As a nation, we should be ashamed that this has taken so long.

McCrory's Dog Whistle

2013-08-14T15:25:00.001-04:00

I call our Governor "McNugget" because he offers only empty, unhealthy calories.

If it's my paranoia, please tell me, but I read Gov. McNugget's outrageous editorial explaining his signature on North Carolina's new "Voter ID" bill and thought this was a cannonball headed for NorthEast Central Neighborhood of Durham, North Carolina. In his third paragraph the Governor writes:

Even if the instances of misidentified people casting votes are low, that shouldn’t prevent us from putting this non-burdensome safeguard in place. Just because you haven’t been robbed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t lock your doors at night or when you’re away from home.

He says that a law to stop/prevent in-person voting fraud didn't have to wait for the actual problem to exist, but I think it's it something else and much more sinister.

I think the governor is not accidental in his language. He's not a lawyer (neither am I), so maybe he doesn't know that if someone breaks into your house when you're not home, it's a burglary, not a robbery. He does know, with certainty, that those most affected by his reduction in access to voting are African American, elderly, disabled and/or poor. Northeast Central Durham, a democratic party stronghold, and it's ground zero for this law. There's a bullseye on the Bull City. The GOP has a storied history of disrupting voting in Durham to win elections. We hear the dog whistle.

In explaining his reasons for reducing access to voting for low income, vulnerable people, McNugget wants to reminds us about scary crime - specifically home invasion.

I find no coincidence in it - just as I didn't think he was tone deaf at all when he brought cookies out to women who were protesting to keep the keys to their own wombs. One should know when one is being arrogantly insulted. He wasn't clueless, he was showing the extreme right that he knows where women belong.

The one good thing about what the GOP is up to in Raleigh is that they have abandoned all sense of subtlety or appearance of interest in the public good or responsible governance. They are nakedly pursuing the agenda that the national GOP is grasping for with manifest desperation:

Restore Us To Power Because We Should Be In Power. We have money and connections and we'll know what to do.

ALL of their strategies for accomplishing their return to power are predicated on one thing - NOT THEM (Democrats). NOT THEM because they're non-white. NOT THEM because they're women. NOT THEM because they're gay, poor, disabled. Just NOT THEM.

They have no real platform or cohesion to what they are doing or why (in terms of an actual philosophy or policy). It's almost literally as through the left hand doesn't know that the right hand already robbed that bank.

A moment after state employees demonstrate their displeasure at going yet another year with raises, the Department of Health and Human Services gives raises in excess of $20,000 each to two "leadership team" members who are obviously patronage appointees from the McNugget campaign.

Ricky Diaz and Matthew McKillop, both 24 years old, were bumped up to annual salaries of more than $80,000. Without an amazing fastball or a .380 batting average, you cannot justify those numbers.

And they have no intention of justifying those numbers, because elderly, disabled, poor African Americans or teachers or families that won't be covered under a passed-up Medicaid expansion are too busy struggling to figure out the political action that's necessary to slow the process of the rich getting richer.

And the governor wants us to equate making it easy for low income, elderly, disabled citizens to vote with the careless practice of leaving your house unlocked when you go out - an invitation to violation and theft. Governor, you're as subtle as a sticky doorknob, with half the charm.

It's not paranoia when they're really after you.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/12/3102124/gov-pat-mccrory-why-i-signed-the.html#storylink=cpy

To My Representatives: A Call for Action

2013-03-28T16:35:00.000-04:00

I attended elementary school at Keeney Street School in Manchester, Connecticut. This school is still operating and if you were to visit, you'd find little difference between it and Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. In my adult life, I've been a North Carolinian. When my children were in school, I volunteered to serve on a Safe Schools task force and as a result, I wrote a winning grant to launch a school violence prevention program in Orange County in the 1990s. This program has produced significant results, but it wasn't without controversy.

I mention this because I know the pressure to stop school shootings and violent incidents had reached a near fever pitch in North Carolina (and elsewhere). We all hoped that taking a community policing approach within the schools would be effective and to an extent, it has been. My point is WE ACTED. Wringing our hands and hoping it would go away was not an option. This was about protecting children.

With that said, our country is suffering from a devastating level of ongoing loss from gun violence on a daily basis. Losing more than 11,000 citizens every year is not a level of violent and preventable deaths that we can allow. We could never tolerate a foreign influence that delivered this kind of damage to our nation. The deaths from one year's gun violence exceeds those from The September 11th attacks and the wars that followed ... Combined. During the years since those attacks, we have lost more than 100,000 citizens to this insidious cause of death. This is a shameful failure of leadership and human compassion. How is it that this is not viewed as a threat to our national security?

I'm writing to you today to ask that you support legislation to regulate the ownership of deadly force - the possession of particular firearms and ammunition. The measures that make sense in our society are universal background checks, restrictions on high capacity magazines and a ban on the sale of military grade assault weapons.

I'm writing to you today to simply say that you represent me and these measures will be before you for a vote. I want you to support them. I will remember if you don't.

Thank you for your service. If I can be of service to you in supporting these legislative initiatives, please let me know.

It's the Policy, Stupid (Party)

2013-03-19T15:22:00.002-04:00

The GOP is doing a lot of thinking lately, or at least they're trying to take on that appearance. With conflicting messages coming out of CPAC (We must change, We must not change) the RNC is struggling to get to center stage, throwing sharp elbows and expecting them in return. It's ugly to watch.

Although we Democrats relish the image of the sometimes insufferable Republicans thrashing around, trying to find a message they can agree on, the fact is ... it helps no one for one party to be so completely rudderless. We ached about it when the GOP was disciplined and the Dems were all over the place and now the reverse is true. The left finally remembers what it's FOR and how to fight the good fight, but we can't slug it out with an opponent who doesn't seem able to explain his/her own position beyond "It's how I was raised. It's what my church tells me," as House Speaker John Boehner explained is unwavering opposition to marriage equality.

For the record, Mr. Speaker, Americans reject the notion that a leader in the federal government cannot change a political position because of what his church tells him. (See: Kennedy, Catholic, 50+ years ago)

The only answer to this problem, it seems to me, is for someone to tell these desperate Republicans what the genuinely conservative positions are on the issues of the day. As a one-time Republican (yes, Chapel Hill, it's true) I can offer these broad principles -- for the sake of the nation, I hope somebody reads them and gives this some thought.

It's not the messaging or the wrapper or the lipstick on the GOP pig. It's the policies on the GOP for the last 20 years or so that have brought the party to its knees. Perhaps just a reminder of what the genuinely conservative positions are on these issues will help you think it through.

Here they are -
Top 10 Conservative Arguments for a Modern GOP

Marriage Equality - Yes
This one is probably the easiest, so let's start off with it. To be conservative is to believe in a minimal role for government. That is, the federal government shouldn't lead social policy or be in the business of inventing "special rights." True! So, strip this down to the country's declaration document - the one that told old King George we are endowed by our creator with INALIENABLE rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. There it is, right there. The pursuit of happiness and liberty. These rights cannot be taken from us without due process and no one can identify a due process of law that denies marriage to any class of people.

(Loving v. Virginia) Chief Justice Warren: Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

GOP, be practical. When the court reverses the Defense of Marriage Act and declares that California PROP 8 is unconstitutional (they will - Republican attorney Ted Olsen has a great case), that's the time to jump ahead and declare victory because it's the law of the land. Conservatives respect the law.

Then, LET IT GO.

Climate Change/Environmental Protection - Yes
Again, this one's easy. Pick up a book if you need to or Google "Teddy Roosevelt." He's one of your own. To be conservative is to seek to minimize to expense of resources, natural and otherwise. Protecting the land, air and water is an obvious expression of these principles. Even Tricky Dick Nixon saw this when he created the EPA in the 70s. Beyond this, your religious right supporters should be happy to accept that you are protecting the land that God made, rather than drilling, strip mining and fracking your way to your next election. Smart, efficient use of natural resources and responsible stewardship of our investments in clean energy is a conservative course. It isn't trendy or the work of any "fringe" group to ask what today's policy decisions will do to Americans born in the next decade, who will die after 2100. Lincoln thought that way about us when it came to slavery. You can do that too.

Reproductive Rights - Yes
This one's a little counter-intuitive, but yes, the GOP loves to talk about the constitution as a near-sacred document. Well, that document clearly states that the rights of Americans convey those BORN in the U.S. or naturalized. This is where the Republican party is going to have to undergo a fundamental shift in posture -- into one that assumes that women don't want abortions. Until you take that fact on board as your operating assumption (you haven't) you simply will not be able to resolve this issue. And until you can speak credibly about the need for responsible women (and men) to have easy access to birth control, NO ONE WILL LISTEN TO YOU. This is the world you're in. Adapt. Accept. Take a position on protecting the right of responsible adults to access safe, effective birth control. That will prevent more abortions than anything you've done to date. But you'll have to accept something - consenting, responsible adults want to have sex outside of marriage. As conservatives, you should be interested in protecting children from predators, and protecting the rights of consenting adults to be left alone. Remember your roots -- LIBERTY, PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Keep the government off our backs -- especially when we're home alone in our bedrooms.

Public Education Reform - Yes
As a means of providing good stewardship of the taxpayers dollars, Conservatives should stand strong for public schools that are properly and equitably funded. That means throwing OUT the property tax model for funding public schools. Create a commission to reinvent the funding model that will deliver the same quality in Bumpkin, Idaho as it does in Beverly Hills, California. Have students design a pilot program. Experiment, document, learn. Education is the one area that can be expected to reinvent itself. That's the business of education.

Champion Charter Schools. If they can achieve similar results with less regulatory burden (as they have so far) they have proven their worth. Make them dare to explore more unusual approaches. Build in incentives for special education to innovate and attract partners from the high tech sector. Empower exceptional students to drive changes in requirements and curriculum. Find a way to set high achieving students free, allowing gifted students to graduate early and surge forward into higher learning more effectively. Be FOR this. LEAD this. We need a lean, hungry clicking-on-all-cylinders workforce. Its lack is a national competitive disadvantage affecting trade and security.

Single Payer National Healthcare - Yes
Seriously, this is so simple. Follow the money. If you were inventing the healthcare system today, using all the data and experience from the last 50 years, single payer is what you'd invent. It is by far the most cost effective to the nation (regardless of source). Conservatives want efficiency, fairness, even outcomes and proper stewardship of dollars. With doctors on salaries and outcomes driving the treatment process, prevention can get more resources (because it delivers better results) and the use of data-driven programs to target high-risk patients (for diabetes, hypertension compliance and prevention, for example) will be the easy and obvious path to a healthier, more effective workforce. This could be paired with raising the social security retirement age to 70 (in 25 years) because it can reasonably be expected to positively affect life expectancy and quality of life.

Gun Control - Yes
We control alcohol, use of automobiles and access to kittens. In many communities, we must be screened for the possibility that we'd be cruel or irresponsible with a kitten, but we can buy a gun and a trunk full of ammo while barely revealing anything personal to the seller. Screening for criminal history of assaulting a former employer or family member doesn't amount to infringing on one's rights. It amounts to living in a society that values law and order. That's a conservative value, isn't it? Law and Order?

More accurately, this should be called "deadly force control." Protecting police and first responders from being vaporized by a criminal with a military-like arsenal including gasses, biological agents, shoulder-mounted missiles ... we want to protect law enforcement from these kinds of weapons, right? Yeah, see ... we already HAVE some control, we just need to tighten things up. We need to review what criminals are using and we need to adapt, adjust and move forward. That's what intelligent beings do.

A couple of U.S. Senators were having a meltdown recently over four employees of the diplomatic service getting killed in the line of duty. A thousand civilians a MONTH are being killed by gun violence in the United States. There is nothing Conservative about allowing that to go on. So, Senator McCain ... don't you CARE about a thousand civilians getting killed every month?

Review/Restructure/Reduction of Military - Yes
Outgoing President Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex and his caution has proved its worth. If Medicare is the "third rail" of politics, then the military must be the fourth ... somehow. Again, this comes down to facing the facts of America's resources - in blood and treasure. We are already a military power so great that a conventional invasion of our shores is out of the question. Mission Accomplished.

Now, we have to become more agile and prepare for high tech attacks, more terrorism and the ongoing prospect of losing our way on the world stage. We must make the world safer through influence and leadership and our disputes over how to do this must stop at the water's edge.

That's the conservative view -- an American view. One nation. Indivisible. Preserving our country's national identity and respecting that we have one president at a time on the world stage is a position consistent with respectful conservative values. All Americans want a safe, free domestic life -- one with the tranquility promised in our founding documents. Protecting citizens -- including protecting their peaceful way of life -- is a critical American value. With our world domination well-established on the military side, even the Pentagon agrees, the health and better education of America's youth is a new focus needed for the sake of national security. If we promise to listen to commanders on the ground overseas, shouldn't we listen to them from Washington?

Infrastructure Investment - Yes
Previously not controversial, this one's pretty easy.The Acme Construction Company cannot go out in the marketplace and start building roads on speculation, then sell their use to drivers. Building roads, tunnels, bridges, dams -- this is work that government must do, contracting through competitive bidding. Conserving our resources means doing these repairs and upgrades that must be done now, while borrowing money is at its cheapest. Do we have to wait for a relative to sail off a crumbling bridge to get this done? No, we do not. You don't wait for your water heater to stop working before you replace it. You do the needed maintenance. You monitor efficiency. You watch your energy usage. And when you have two pennies to put together or rates are low for borrowing, you replace it. That's the conservative approach. That's what American families DO.

Equal Pay for Equal Work - Yes
The GOP is generally a pretty big cheerleader for the free market. In that market, the best mousetrap usually outsells its competitors and the entrepreneur wins over the bureaucrat, right? Equal pay for equal work is not affording anything special to women. Instead, it says to all workers -- go forth and compete for opportunity and may the best qualified or hardest working win -- on the merits. Period.

Women excel at some areas of business, it turns out. We are good team leaders, effective managers and creative problem solvers. Whether they enter/leave the workforce for child bearing doesn't usually matter for the work that's in front of them TODAY. Besides, equal pay for equal work is the LAW and Conservatives respect the law.

Minimum Wage Increases - Yes
Last, but never least. A higher minimum wage (which costs the government nothing) moves low-skilled workers closer to self-sufficiency and reduces their risk of dependency on government subsidy. Despite the fact that GOP leaders famously point to increases in minimum wage as a job killer for small employers, there is NO evidence of this. None. Like tax cuts for the rich causing economic growth, it's an unsubstantiated theory. The Conservative approach is to take actions that have been PROVEN to work, not stand blindly defending theories proven to fail. That's delusional and extreme. It is NOT Conservative.

Conservatives are going to have to get used to a term that's been in the business world for a while and is now in the mainstream of the political lexicon: data-driven decision-making. That means that you study the facts of what's actually, provably happened and try to base your decisions on a universe of fact, free of emotional speculation or wishful thinking. It produces much more stable, predictable results. It accepts that failure is the price for trying. It studies failure for its lessons. "Failure," said Henry Ford, "is the opportunity to more intelligently begin again."

It's based on SCIENCE. When doctors are "conservative" they take a course in treating a patient that involves the least risk, is least invasive, will likely do the least harm. At least, that's what GOOD doctors do. These days, that means that orthopedic surgeons try physical therapy first and GOOD cardiologists send their patients to a nutritionist and recommend medical intervention (if their condition allows) instead of surgery. They take the long view.

THAT is the Conservative view -- the LONG view. Good luck, GOP. May the force be with you.

VETERAN’S DAY

2012-11-12T19:50:00.004-05:00

My dad is 84 years old. He served as a military officer (in National Intelligence in Washington) during the Korean War. November 11 was Veteran’s Day – the day the nation honors those who have served their country through military service. This year, it was to be the time when he and my stepmother would depart on a week-long Caribbean cruise.

They had pre-registered several weeks earlier, including full passport information. Unfortunately, my stepmom accidentally packed two passports that had expired in 2006 instead of their current passports.

Now I know that cruise ships are pretty strict on the passport issue but they are not perfectly uniform about it.

Their old passports clearly showed that they were U.S. citizens. They had photocopies of their current passports and the data from current passports was in the ship’s database. They also had current driver’s licenses. Taken together, it was totally clear who they were – U.S. Citizens and repeat Royal Caribbean customers.

Representatives from Royal Caribbean told Dad and Anna a couple of things of interest.

1) Too bad this was on a Sunday, they said, not a Monday. Had it been Monday, they could have verified their birth certificates and they’d be on their way.

2) Royal Caribbean, they said, is subject to the port’s security rules

Rules are rules, right? The Port Canaveral rules clearly state that to cruise out of that port, one should have proper identification: “U.S. citizens need proof of citizenship in the form of a passport (valid or expired for less than 10 years)”

Royal Caribbean rules? “Royal Caribbean International strongly recommends that all guests travel with a passport that is valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of the cruise.”

I’m not Perry Mason, but I do know that the term “strongly recommends” is less than “must.”

So here is my Dad, on Veterans Day – flags flying at the port. When he sees a soldier (like my nephew, a marine officer) he stands up a little straighter. He’s proud of his service and rightly so.

Royal Caribbean has nothing to be proud of in this situation. They misrepresented the regulations involved and ignored their own discretion. That’s shameful customer service that caused my 84 year-old father tremendous emotional upset. That’s not the business a cruise line is in.

Uncle Joe

2011-11-10T13:25:00.001-05:00

Lots of families have a creepy uncle. You never feel right about him, don't want to be alone with him and wouldn't bring your friends to visit him.

Now, it appears that Penn State has had one for the last 61 years, but didn't know it. Footbal icon, Coach Joe Paterno was rightfully fired last night by Penn State's Board of Trustees because, well, they don't want a Grand Jury to start looking at them and making comparisons with the Catholic Church and its monsterous worldwide criminal pedophilia organized crime family.

Grown men weep on television when discussing this sickening case of serial rape of children, because it's bringing down Uncle Joe. That one coach who everyone thought was above reproach -- he always ran a clean program. Well, now we know that ... no, no he sure didn't. He ran a dirty, disgusting, tainted program that facilitated the rape of children.

Bye-bye Uncle Joe. Good Riddance.

Now, the question turns to why-oh-why did it take a Grand Jury so long to report on this? The Justice Department should get involved here as it appears that a criminal investigation was obstructed. Penn State's season should be over as of right now and they should make no plans for next year. Instead, the numbskull who walked in the rape of a 10 year-old boy, did nothing to intervene immedately and waited a day to report it, will be coaching Saturday against Nebraska. That game should be a default win for the Cornhuskers but it won't be. I hope that whatever network is airing the game will be listing child abuse hotline numbers throughout.

It's a hope I have.

OMG, GOP

2011-10-25T16:27:00.003-04:00

What in the WORLD is happening with the Republican party? So askew are you, GOP, that I find myself with progressive columnist Dana Milbank (Washington Post), who said last night on MSNBC, "I never thought these words would pass my lips, but Karl Rove is exactly right."

Seriously. Seriously. If it's so bad that Rove states what is blisteringly obvious, then it can only mean one thing ... the GOP is now officially the Goofy Oddball Party. Maybe for keeps.

Rove was talking about Rick Perry trying to re-ignite the Birther nonsense for having heard it from His Majesty, the Donald. Desperate, pathetic Donald of Trumply. Karl Rove is now openly concerned that crazy people are noticeably running the republican party. Raising money off the wing nuts is one thing, but having them drive policy and coming down from the attic to speak to the public -- wow that's a big problem.

So, yeah, I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but Rove is right -- pairing up with these nuts is bad for the country. Of course, it was always bad, but now it's on Main Street, so I reckon it's worse.