6 HELPFUL APPS FOR TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS TO HELP WITH CLASSROOM LEARNING AND PREPARATION
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| 6 TEACHING APPS FOR EDUCATORS |
We’ve already looked at the best back to school apps for students to help them keep organized, but what about teachers? How about a communication network built with teacher-student relations in mind? Apps for scheduling and recording attendance could prove handy. There are also some great options for creating tutorials and accessing information on different subjects. Let’s take a look at the best apps for teachers and educators.
We’ve already covered Evernote and Dropbox in the student app roundup, but before we begin it’s worth mentioning that both are great tools for teachers as well. Evernote allows you to create notes of all types and there is a version of Evernote for schools. Dropbox is ideal as free cloud storage for safely backing up and sharing your files.
Edmodo (Free)
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The advantages of having a safe, closed social network for your class are obvious. This completely free app works with the iPad or Android tablets and it allows teachers and students to stay in touch outside the classroom in an appropriate way. It is completely free, easy to set up, and it allows the discussion to continue after that bell rings. Teachers and students can share content, it can be used as a conduit for new information or notifications, and it even allows students to submit assignments and receive grades.
The ability for teachers to post assignments, give students access to digital libraries of relevant resources, post messages, polls and quizzes, and create calendars is invaluable. It’s also possible to set up specific learning groups or even set up groups for discussions with other teachers or parents. A public Edmodo API is in the works which will allow the platform to be integrated with other systems and apps and will no doubt make it more useful. There’s already a Chrome extension for quickly adding resources to your library.
It can be adapted for a variety of uses and potentially replace a learning wiki or a moodle site. As a completely free resource, Edmodo is definitely worth a look.
Teacher’s Assistant Pro: Track Student Behavior ($10)
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You have to stay organized in the classroom, but it can be very difficult to accurately remember everything and keep a record of student behavior without some help. Teacher’s Assistant Pro allows you to keep a set of records for each student in your care and offers a solution for quickly and easily recording any important information about them. Good or bad behavior can be accurately noted so the information is at your fingertips for the next parent-teacher meeting.
Contact details are there if you need them and you can email specific incidents directly from the app. You can also add photos and notes, and filter the student list using various parameters. This app really allows you to cut down on paperwork and it keeps vital information available. If you have security concerns, don’t worry, because you can PIN protect it to prevent snooping students from getting a look when your back is turned.
Sadly there is no Android version of this one, but teachers with Android tablets could try Teacher Aide Pro for similar functionality.
ScreenChomp (Free)
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Creating tutorials has never been easier. The clever idea behind ScreenChomp is that you can record your iPad screen and your own narration as you sketch out and explain an idea. You can sketch on a plain background or choose an image from your camera roll. As you sketch, you can explain what you are doing, and then you can share the video with students or other educators by sending them the unique URL.
It’s a really smart idea and very easy to use, but there is no Android version right now.
Blackboard Mobile Learn (Free)
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The idea here is to allow educators and students to easily access all the courses and content they need through a smartphone or tablet. It can also be used to send out notifications and assignments, and like Edmodo, it can be good for sharing information and discussing topics. If your school supports the app you’ll be able to take full advantage of the feature list, but you can also get a personal license which costs $2 per year or $6 for life.
The app ties in with Dropbox and, for many educators, it simply provides a great way of accessing relevant documents outside the classroom.
Zite (Free)
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Here’s a free app that allows you to create a personalized magazine for a specific topic. Tell it what you’re interested in and the app will suck in relevant blog posts, news articles, videos, and articles. It learns about your preferences over time and serves up more of the content you want. This app is ideal for teachers who want to stay on top of a subject and find the latest news to share with students without having to spend hours scouring the Web.
Educreations (Free)
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This is another interactive whiteboard app that allows you to create easy to follow tutorials for students. You can also record audio to narrate your actions and it even supports simple animations. Create diagrams, commentary, or instructions for any topic and then share the videos through email, Facebook or Twitter. There’s no Android version of this either.
LAKERS JORDAN HILL'S BENTLEY CRASHED INTO AN APARTMENT BUILDING BY HIS FRIEND
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| JORDAN HILL'S BENTLEY |
The Los Angeles player has found himself again stuck in a not so pretty situation. The ironic thing is he actually had little to nothing to do with the incident besides being naïve and trusting the wrong people.
According to Jocksandstilletojill.com, Hill’s friend Michael Lacey was driving his Bentley, drunk apparently, and crashed into an apartment complex.
A Bentley registered under the name of Lakers forward Jordan Hill crashed into an apartment building in Marina Del Rey early Saturday morning. The driver of the vehicle, 26-year-old Michael Lacey, was arrested on DUI charges. There was a female passenger who was not arrested. The accident happened around 2:21 a.m. in the 13900 block of Marquesas Way. The vehicle was totaled when it hit the luxury apartment. L.A. County Fire treated at least one patient on the scene but no one was transported to the hospital.
Neighbors said they saw blood in the complex.“I heard a loud crash and then a splash,” one neighbor said. “I guess the driver ran away. There was blood all over the gate that he jumped over.”Lacey is also a basketball player, but not a professional one.
Hill isn’t a veteran in the league, and although he is in the NBA playing for the Lakers he doesn’t make that long I can throw it away and still get paid money. This is when you need to rethink your friends. Now your name is in some stuff simply because your friend was too drunk to realize maybe I shouldn’t get in this over price Bentley while I’m drunk. Lastly your friend is 26 years-old if he is going to be irresponsible and stupid let him display those actions in his own car, if he has one.
Lesson for the day: Don’t drink and drive. Just say yes to a taxi!
MICHAEL JORDAN PLANNING TO COUNTER SUE WOMAN WHO CLAIMED HE FATHERED HER MALE CHILD
If you thought you had heard the last between Pamela Smith and Michael Jordan think again. The soon to be married basketball legend is ready to posturize Ms. Smith, after she alleged he fathered her 16 year-old son.
According to TMZ, Jordan has filed legal documents asking the courts to open the case so he can counter-sue Ms. Smith, suing her for his court cost and other sanctions that have not yet been revealed.
Good for MJ. Groupies, attention seekers, liars, or whatever you want to call them need to be stopped. They are able to spread such bizarre lies and since we all know athletes aren’t with the Poke every night we have to analyze it at face value.
However now someone is finally fighting back. unfortunately the last person you want to be in a legal battle with is the guy who is world known and worth millions on millions, but she didn’t have any problems with suing him so now it’s her turn to take the bullet.
BANKS MADE OVER $32 MILLION IN OVERDRAFT FEES LAST YEAR
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Bank customers may complain about hefty overdraft fees, but they’re using the service more and paying the price. A new report from Moebs Services, a respected economic research firm, shows overdraft revenue at banks, credit unions and thrift institutions totaled $32 billion last year. That’s an increase of $400 million or 1.3 percent from 2011.
“Consumers use of overdrafts shows no indication of going away, and is actually increasing,” said Michael Moebs, who wrote the study. At the current rate of growth, Moebs predicts revenue from overdraft fees will hit a new record by the end of 2016, topping the old record of $37 billion set in 2009. The Moebs study found that about a quarter of the people with a consumer checking account – that’s 38 million people – frequently overdraft. The median overdraft is about $40.
More than half of the customers who frequently overdraft – 57 percent or 20 million people – go to payday lenders when they are short on funds. Why? Because a payday loan is significantly cheaper. “Payday lenders are the low-price source for short-term cash needs,” Moebs said. “You can get a cash advance for $16 as opposed to $25 at a community bank, $27 a credit union and $30 at bank or thrift. Those are median prices.”
While the cost of an overdrawn account has been going up at many financial institutions, the price of borrowing from a payday lender has dropped. The median charge for a $100 cash advance dropped $1.50 from 2011 to 2012, from $17.50 to $16.
Moebs firmly believes many of the people who use a payday lender would rather not, if the cost of the overdraft penalty was more in line with what the payday stores charge. He puts that price point at $20. Debit-card transactions often cause an account to be overdrawn. Remember: Your bank or credit union will deny a point-of-purchase debit-card payment or cash withdrawal from an ATM if there is not enough money in the account to cover it, unless you “opt in” to their overdraft protection plan. In that case, the transaction will go through and you’ll get hit with a fee.
A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 54 percent of the customers who had overdrawn their accounts said they did not realize they had signed up for an overdraft service that cost money. Susan Weinstock, director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project, said this shows there is “a very high level of confusion” about how this overdraft protection works.
Shady, shady, shady. SMH.
LA-LA LOOKIN' GOOD AND JOINS THE POPULAR HOLLYWOOD DIET PLAN "60 DAYS OF FITNESS"
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| LaLa and Carmelo Anthony have both adopted hard-core diets this year. |
In January, Knick superstar Carmelo completed a 15-day fast. Now his better half, LaLa, has dropped 15 pounds off her curvy frame after joining a popular Hollywood diet plan dubbed “60 Days of Fitness.”
“It’s 60 days straight of working out and eating well,” the reality star told The Post. “After seeing his weight and body change dramatically, my curiosity piqued.”
LaLa, 33, is down to 134 pounds and is on day 47.
“60 Days of Fitness” was started by rapper The Game, a friend of LaLa’s, who enlisted her into his ever-growing ragtag group of fitness fanatics that includes fellow reality stars Rob and Khloe Kardashian.
And LaLa’s hooked even if it means taming her milk-chocolate addiction.
“It is my biggest weakness. I’ve found other things that taste healthy like dark chocolate. After a while, you train your taste buds to not want it as much,” she says.
There’s no magic or science behind the movement, which is documented on Instagram. It’s just discipline to eat more healthy and then exercise until you want to hurl. The group meets daily for three-mile runs in Los Angeles’ Runyon Canyon where they mix in lunges, squats and jump squats.
“In the beginning I could barely walk it. I thought I was going to need a wheelchair. Now I’m running more than half of it. It’s the best cardio ever,” LaLa says.
When LaLa is in the Big Apple, she puts on her boxing gloves and trains at the famed Trinity Boxing downtown, where her hubby works out in the off season.
And when it comes to food, LaLa maintains a regular menu of healthy fare.
She eats oatmeal and Greek yogurt for breakfast, a lavash turkey wrap with hummus instead of mayo for lunch, and grilled fish or chicken with quinoa for dinner.
“To get into the 120s would be a dream,” LaLa says. “I haven’t seen them in a long time. But my goal is to get toned.”
She’s careful to note that she isn’t following in the footsteps of her hubby, who famously did a 15-day spiritual cleanse, where he abstained from dairy, carbs, meats, fish and sweets.
Dubbed the “Daniel Fast,” after the prophet, the diet is limited to fruits, vegetables, raw juices and protein shakes. Carmelo, who faces the Celtics tonight at Madison Square Garden, reportedly does the plant-based partial fast every year to get some clarity in his life.
“With him it’s different,” LaLa says. “He’s so disciplined. If there was ever junk food in the house, it was because of me. If he’s splurging, he might have a Starburst.”
JAMAICAN NURSE ACCUSED OF MARRYING AND KILLING HER HUSBAND FOR A GREEN CARD AS WELL $1.5 MILLION IN BROOKLYN PROPERTIES
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| TILL DEATH: Brooklyn nurse Janet Lloyd, here with patient-turned-hubby Garth Lewis, has been accused of “orchestrating” his death. |
Relatives of Garth Lewis, 67, claim that his marriage to caregiver Janet Lloyd was nothing but a sham — and that she “was directly responsible” for the diabetes-stricken man’s death because she didn’t care for him properly, according to court papers.
Lloyd, a 47-year-old mother of five, denied the allegations, telling reporters, “I did not cause my husband’s death, and the doctors know that.”
Lewis, of Flatbush, died Feb. 26 of a heart attack. He and Lloyd had been married for a year.The family brought their concerns to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. A source said the case was referred to federal immigration authorities.
Lewis’ death, his family charges, “was premature and orchestrated by [Lloyd], whose sole purposes were to marry [Lewis] in order to obtain her green card and to deplete his assets,” according to the lawsuit.
Lloyd “never acted as, nor was, a wife in reality to [Lewis],” the relatives claim.
The marriage was real, Lloyd insisted — even showing a staffer a photo of her and Lewis engaged in a sex act to prove it.
“They said our relationship wasn’t intimate. Does this look intimate to you?” she fumed.
Her dead husband’s relatives accuse Lloyd of causing not just Garth Lewis’ death, but her first husband’s as well.
Lloyd’s first husband “also died under similar, very questionable circumstances,” Lewis’ family claims in Brooklyn Supreme Court papers.
Lloyd claims her first husband was a cop who was murdered in her native Jamaica while she was living in the United States.
Lewis’ mother, Eileen, and cousin, Shirley Cleardawn-Lewis, are fighting Lloyd’s efforts to have Lewis cremated because the family “strongly believes that preventing cremation is critical to determine the cause of [Lewis’] death and to prevent other men from experiencing the same fate,” according to court documents.
“The nature of [Lloyd’s] profession — nursing — provides her access to knowledge of ending a life based upon the diseases being untreated and the proper medication not properly administered,” the relatives allege in the lawsuit.
Lewis and Lloyd had met when she became his nurse, his family said.
“He needed particular medical care; he needed to be fed properly and at certain definite times during the day. [Lloyd] did not properly administer the necessary treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
Neighbors allegedly exposed Lloyd’s poor treatment of Lewis and alerted his family, the relatives claim in court papers.
Lloyd insisted the shocking allegations are nothing more than a money grab by her dead husband’s relatives, who want to take over the three residential Brooklyn buildings he owned.
Public records show the buildings have a market value of about a half-million dollars each.
“They are crazy,” Lloyd said, crying. “I didn’t take care of my husband?”
Lloyd said her cousin had introduced her to Lewis.
“When I met him, I was married, so we couldn’t have a relationship,” she said.
She was about to return to Jamaica for good, Lloyd said, when Lewis begged her to stay.
“He said, ‘Janet, stay,’ and I said, ‘How can I stay in America?’ He said, ‘Marry me,’ ” she recalled.
KICKOLOGY ET6: PUMA ARCHIVE LITE NYLON COLLECTION
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| PUMA ARCHIVE LITE NYLON COLLECTION |
This Spring/Summer 2013, Puma will release their Archive Lite Nylon Collection. The Nylon Collection features a range of high and low models that features different bright colors all having White accents and PUMA branding. Look for these to debut to the states in the upcoming months.
MORE THAN 50 DEAD IN NIGERIAN ATTACKS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
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| CENTRAL NIGERIA |
Attacks on villages surrounding a central Nigerian city at the heart of unrest between Christians and Muslims have killed more than 50 people this week, officials said Saturday, as authorities pleaded for peace over the Easter holiday.
The attacks around Jos, a city in Nigeria's fertile central belt, come as a string of unsolved killings continue to plague the region that has seen thousands killed in massacres in recent years. While a combined police and military presence still patrols Jos and other parts of Plateau state, many of the villages attacked sit in remote, rural corners of the area that sometimes have only a single police officer on duty.
The most recent killings happened Friday night in the Barkin Ladi area, said Lt. Jude Akpa, a military spokesman. Attackers raided a village called Bokkos and killed nine people, fleeing before soldiers arrived, Akpa said. Emmanuel Lohman, a government official there, said gunmen armed with assault rifles struck a village called Ratas and opened fire in the night while many there were sleeping.
Witnesses said the shooting lasted for almost two hours before the attackers fled. The Christian villagers there, who farm the fertile soils of Plateau state, blamed nomadic Hausa-Fulani cattle herdsmen for the attack. Such attacks remain common as Christian farmers clash with the herdsmen over land and grazing rights. Other attacks often are rooted in disputes over political and economic power in the region, which sits on the divide of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
Muhammadu Nura, the state secretary of a cattle breeders association, said Hausa-Fulani people had been killed in "reprisals," but denied herders were involved the attacks.
In recent days, witnesses and government officials say more than 50 people have been killed in attacks. That includes an assault Wednesday on a village in the Riyom local government area that killed 28 people and an attack Thursday in the Bokkos local government area that killed 18 civilians. The military said it killed six while trying to repel attackers in Thursday's assault.
Jos and surrounding Plateau state have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions — Christianity and Islam — against each other. Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010, attacks that saw whole villages killed. While major massacres haven't happened in the last few years, so-called "silent killings" continue and the two faiths have moved into different areas of the city.
Major attacks by Islamic extremists, including car bombings, also have hit the area in recent years as Nigeria's weak central government appears unable to stop the killings. With Easter on Sunday, government officials urged those living in Jos and the surrounding villages to be calm and peaceful during the holiday.
Plateau state Gov. Jonah Jang, a Christian long criticized for not doing more to stop the killings, said his government will continue to work for peace and prosperity in an area long beset by tension.
"Christians must claim this season, which symbolizes hope, by rededicating their lives to the teachings and path of Christ so as not to lose eternity," he said in a statement.
NYC LAUNCHES APP FOR SEXUALLY ACTIVE TEENS WHICH GIVES INFO ON FREE CLINICS, HIV, AND STD TESTING
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| App for sexually active teens being launched. |
The Bloomberg administration has launched an app intended to reduce teen pregnancy called “Teens in NYC Protection+” that provides a wealth of health data for kids who are — or are thinking about becoming — sexually active.
Information about everything from free clinics for HIV and STD testing to receiving condoms and emergency contraception is just a touch away on a smartphone.
The Health Department has yet to publicly announce the app. But the information has been available on the nyc.gov Web site, which has a special section dedicated to teens.
Parents who visit the site are in for a surprising lesson about state law.
“Teens in New York state have a legal right to get sexual-health services without the permission of parents, guardians, boyfriends, girlfriends, relatives or anyone else,” the site advises.
By comparison, a teen is not allowed to go on a school trip without parental consent.
There’s also promotional material by teens for teens, some barely out of junior high school.
“I’m not having sex now, but I know where to go when I’m ready,” announces Jessica, age 16.
“It felt good to talk about sex and get information without feeling embarrassed,” adds Lisa, age 14.
Officials say they’re unapologetically using every resource at their command to convince teens not to get pregnant — and that includes explicit sex and health education.
“While the percent of high-school teens who have had sex declined by 26 percent over the last 10 years, there are more than 19,000 teen pregnancies each year and most — 87 percent — are unintended,” the Health Department said.
Earlier this month, the city released posters warning of the pitfalls of teen parenthood, including a scary statistic that the children teens have are twice as likely not to graduate high school as those of more mature parents.
The app would be the fourth that the health agency has published.
Two of the three previous ones also had teen-relevant themes: NYC Teen and the Condom Locator, which debuted on Valentine’s Day in 2011 with the five nearest locations of free condoms. The third, ABC Eats, was aimed at grub, not love.
Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the conservative Chiaroscuro Foundation, argued that the city would be better off putting more emphasis on health and safety and abstinence — and less on sexuality — to convince kids that becoming a young parent isn't a good idea.
“It goes a good degree further than the sex curriculum in schools,” he said.
Pfundtsein also said that the teen pregnancy rate has been declining steadily nationwide and is likely to keep going in that direction no matter what the city does.
“You can implement any program on earth and two years later claim it’s a success,” he argued.
In 2010, 72.6 of every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 here got pregnant, compared to 98.8 in 2001.
SYRACUSE ADVANCES TO THE FINAL FOUR AS IT'S FIRST TRIP BACK IN 10 YEARS SINCE CARMELO ANTHONY HELPED THE ORANGE WIN IT
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| Senior guard Brandon Triche hugs forward C.J. Fair as Syracuse advances to the NCAA Final Four. |
Coach Jim Boeheim and company cut down the nets Saturday for the first time since Carmelo Anthony led the charge in 2003, grinding out a 55-39 win in the East Regional Final over No. 3 Marquette at the Verizon Center to earn a trip to the Final Four in Atlanta.
The game wasn’t pretty, with No. 4 Syracuse (30-9) shooting 38 percent from the field and 5-of-17 on 3-pointers, but the aesthetics of the post-game celebration weren’t any less amazing to the pro-Orange crowd, particularly after last year’s Elite Eight loss to Ohio State.
Marquette missed its opportunity to make its first Final Four in a decade, only briefly holding the lead on a Vander Blue 3-pointer to open the game. Syracuse didn’t score until three minutes had been played, but Michael Carter-Williams’ aggressiveness,carried over from his career-high 24-point performance in the Orange’s upset of top-seeded Indiana, and gave Syracuse its first lead, 4-3, on a drive less than four minutes in. And thus began an Orange avalanche.
The Golden Eagles (26-9) may have been familiar with the 2-3 zone of Syracuse, but the baskets looked absolutely foreign to them, hitting only 22.6 percent from the field, which included 3-of-25 on 3-pointers. Marquette didn’t force shots, but did force passes, with Syracuse’s zone creating seven early turnovers.
As Marquette opened 1-for-10 from the field, Syracuse spread the floor, with James Southerland scoring eight points in the first half with two 3-pointers. The Queens native finished with a game-high 16 points, while Carter-Williams added 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Carter-Williams was named most outstanding player of the region.
With President Barack Obama watching from a luxury box, the crowd went crazy when his picture flashed on the video screen. The crowd got nearly as loud after Brandon Triche scored five straight points to give Syracuse an 18-7 lead with 7:47 left.
While Syracuse’s first-half lead hit 12, Boeheim stood on the sidelines looking like he was waiting to hear his name called to see a doctor. On the other end of the scorer’s table, Marquette coach Buzz William paced and screamed like an emergency room wouldn’t have provided urgent enough care.
The passion paid off, embodied by big man Davante Gardner, who owned Syracuse in Marquette’s regular season win. After one made shot, the junior was yelling and pounding his chest, having found room at the high post, which he repeatedly took advantage of, opening 4-of-5 from the field with nine first-half points, closing the deficit to 21-18 with just over three minutes left in the half. Then, after nearly five minutes without a point, Southerland hit a 3-pointer to give Syracuse a 24-18 halftime lead.
The second half started even uglier than the first, with the Golden Eagles making 5-of-17 from the field and the Syracuse section standing for more than five minutes since the Orange didn’t make their first field goal of the half until more than five minutes had passed.
Blue, who had made it possible for Marquette to even make it this far, was unable to shoulder the load once more, sharing a team-high 14 points with Gardner, while hitting only 3-of-15 from the field. He cut the lead to four on a 3-point play less than two minutes into the half, but the Golden Eagles wouldn’t get any closer.
GUN VIOLENCE ERUPTS LEAVING 12 PEOPLE SHOT IN CHICAGO IN A 6 HOUR TIME SPAN LEAVING ONE DEAD
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| CHICAGO GUN VIOLENCE |
A string of gun violence erupted in Chicago on Friday, leaving a dozen people injured, including one dead, within only a 6-hour time period.
via Chicago Tribune
A shooting in the Logan Square neighborhood left one man dead and another wounded Friday night as at least a dozen people were shot between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Just after 8 p.m., three people asked for directions from a 23-year-old man and a 44-year-old man walking, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.
Moments later, one of the three took out a gun and opened fire, striking the younger man in the chest, according to police.
The older man took off running and was shot in the hand as he tried to flee, Greer said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was treated and released.
The younger man, who was 23, was found unresponsive and died on the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
In other shootings since Friday afternoon:
-About 2:30 a.m. this morning, a 27-year-old man was shot in the chest
-An 18-year-old woman was shot in the leg about 12:05 a.m.
-A 35-year-old man was shot in the head about 11:40 p.m.
-About 10:30 p.m. in the Longwood Manor neighborhood, a 41-year-old man was shot in the leg
-About 8:20 p.m. a man in his 20's was shot in the 5500 block of South Hoyne Avenue
-Also about 8:20 p.m., a group of males shouting gang slogans attacked another group of people walking down in the sidewalk. One of the attackers shot a 23-year-old man in the buttocks.
-A 22-year-old man who had been walking with the 23-year-old sustained lacerations to the side of his mouth during the attack
-Just before 7 p.m., someone in a van shot a 22-year-old man standing on a street corner
-Also Friday, police shot and critically injured someone during a foot pursuit, and two men were critically injured in a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood.
Chicago police certainly have their hands full and we’re not even half way through the year yet. Hopefully Chi-town won’t see another repeat of summer 2012.
BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT COMPOUNDED BY WHITE AMERICA HOARDING JOBS
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| BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT AT HIGH RATES |
Via HuffPo reports:
Racism and racial inequality aren’t just supported by old ideas, unfounded group esteem or intentional efforts to mistreat others, said Nancy DiTomaso, author of the new book, The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism. They’re also based on privilege, she said — how it is shared, how opportunities are hoarded and how most white Americans think their career and economic advantages have been entirely earned, not passed down or parceled out.
The way that whites, often unconsciously, hoard and distribute advantage inside their almost all white networks of family and friends is one of the driving reasons that in February just 6.8 percent of white workers remained unemployed while 13.8 percent of black workers and 9.6 percent of Hispanic workers were unable to find jobs, DiTomaso said.
“Across all three states where I did my research, I heard over and over again [white] people admitting that they don’t interact very often with nonwhites, not at work, not at home or otherwise,” said DiTomaso about the 246 interviews with working-class and middle-class whites she did over the course of about a decade in Tennessee, Ohio and New Jersey. Her research included detailed job histories and information about the way her study participants obtained jobs over the course of their careers.
“That was true for just about everybody unless they were still in college,” DiTomaso continued. “Others would allude to some college friend or experience. But since then, they had not had much contact with blacks. So how would they pass opportunities and information across race lines?”
DiTomaso concludes, based on her research, that most white Americans engage, at least a few times per year, in the activities that foster inequality. While they may not deliberately discriminate against black and other non-white job seekers, they take actions that make it more likely that white people will be employed — without thinking that what they’re doing amounts to discrimination.
“The vast majority assumed everyone has the same opportunities, and they just somehow tried harder, were smarter,” DiTomaso said of those she interviewed. “Not seeing how whites help other whites as the primary way that inequality gets reproduced today is very helpful. It’s easy on the mind.”
So white Americans tell a neighbor’s son about a job, hire a friend’s daughter, carry the resume of a friend (or, for that matter, a friend’s boyfriend’s sister) into the boss’s office, recommend an old school mate or co-worker for an unadvertised opening, or just say great things about that job applicant whom they happen to know. But since most Americans, white and black, live virtually segregated lives, and since advantages, privileges and economic progress have already accrued in favor of whites, the additional advantages that flow from this help go almost exclusively to whites, DiTomaso said.
Sounds like if you’re black and you don’t have a job, you may want to start making some white friends.
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT INDICTED ALONG WITH 34 OTHERS CAPPING A FOUR YEAR INVESTIGATION
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| Former Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Beverly Hall. |
Capping a series of investigations that spanned four years, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Hall and 34 others on charges that they conspired to cheat on federally mandated standardized tests from at least 2005 to 2010. Further, the grand jury charged, Hall, several top aides, principals and teachers engaged in the scheme for their own financial gain. And with investigators closing in, the jury said, Hall and others lied to cover up their crimes.
Hall inculcated an atmosphere that encouraged using any means necessary to achieve test-score targets, the indictment said, and then “publicly misrepresented the academic performance of schools throughout APS.” Pressuring subordinates to produce targeted scores, the indictment said, “created an environment where achieving the desired end result was more important than the students’ education.”
“This is nothing but pervasive and rank thuggery,” said Richard Hyde, one of the special investigators appointed in 2010 by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue to delve into what has become the largest academic cheating scandal in U.S. history.
The indictment served as a resounding refutation of Hall’s assertions that Atlanta had found the secret formula that had long eluded educators elsewhere: how to get strong performances from poor, mostly minority students in decaying urban schools. For her efforts, Hall was named the national superintendent of the year in 2009.
Now Hall, 66, faces as much as 45 years in prison. Grand jurors recommended that a judge set her bond at $7.5 million. Authorities gave all the defendants until Tuesday to surrender.
Along with Hall, the grand jury indicted four other former top administrators: Millicent Few, who ran the district’s human resources division, and area supervisors Sharon Davis-Williams, Tamara Cotman and Michael Pitts.
Lawyers for most of the defendants denied the charges and promised to fight in court. Hall’s lawyers, Richard Deane and David Bailey, said in a statement that the former superintendent had no involvement in cheating on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test or “any other wrongdoing.”
“Not a single person,” they said, “reported that Dr. Hall participated in or directed them to cheat on the CRCT.”
The indictment charged Hall and the others with racketeering, theft, making false statements and false swearing. Others named included seven principals, two assistant principals, 14 teachers, five testing coordinators, one instructional coach and even a school secretary. Authorities accused some educators of influencing witnesses by pressuring them to lie to investigators about cheating.
The grand jurors filed the indictment just before 5 p.m. Friday after hearing from witnesses since Wednesday. District Attorney Paul Howard, whose office spent 21 months on the case, capped off the day with a somber news conference, broadcast live on Atlanta television stations, in which he lamented “the crimes that have been committed against the children of the city of Atlanta.”
Beyond the criminal acts it alleged, the indictment revealed the human toll exacted by years of test-score manipulation, first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2008.
When a teacher at C.W. Hill Elementary complained about cheating by a colleague in 2005, Hall suspended the accused educator for 20 days. As for the whistle-blower, Hall fired her.
Hall repeatedly ignored or disregarded reports of cheating or other questions about test scores. In 2006, Howard said, Atlanta resident Justina Collins was concerned when her daughter received the lowest score on a benchmark examination in her third-grade reading class — but then, somehow, exceeded reading standards on the CRCT.
Collins managed to get an appointment with Hall, who told her there was no evidence her daughter needed help. She had, after all, done well on the CRCT. “Your daughter is the kind of person who tests well,” Collins said she was told.
Now in the ninth grade, her daughter reads at a fifth-grade level.
‘NO EXCUSES’
Not long after she became Atlanta’s superintendent in 1999, Hall established increasingly tough performance targets for every school that would become progressively more difficult to hit. Her mantra: “No exceptions and no excuses.”
Hall told principals and teachers that falling short was not acceptable. “Their performance was criticized,” the indictment said, “their jobs were threatened, and some were terminated.”
When she told one principal in 2005 that his contract was not being renewed, Hall reportedly said it was because she was “not interested in incremental gains.”
For those who met Hall’s mandates, however, rewards followed — public praise and financial bonuses alike.
Those bonuses are at the heart of the theft charges against Hall and others.
If a school met 70 percent of its annual targets, every employee received a bonus, as low as a few hundred dollars and as high as $1,000 or more.
Moreover, Hall’s annual bonuses depended largely on test scores, the indictment said. Grand jurors specifically accused Hall of qualifying for bonuses in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by certifying test scores “which she knew were false.”
Hall collected bonuses totaling more than $225,000 for those years, on top of a base salary that, by 2009, exceeded $300,000. Altogether, she received bonuses of about $580,000 over 10 years.
TEACHERS ‘COERCED’
Beginning in 2006, according to the indictment, Hall was getting numerous reports about cheating and other irregularities at Parks Middle School, most involving principal Christopher Waller. Staff members had complained that Waller was falsifying student attendance records, among other documents; had sexually harassed women who worked for him; and had pressured teachers to change students’ answers on the CRCT.
A private detective hired by the district reported to Hall in writing and in person, the indictment said, telling her that Waller had “coerced teachers to cheat” and “was threatening and intimidating teachers not to reveal information” about the allegations against him.
Nevertheless, Hall took no action against Waller, whom she had publicly lauded for rapidly boosting Parks’ test scores. And, the indictment said, the allegations didn’t stop her from approving bonuses for Waller and others at the school.
But when investigators asked her about Waller in 2011, the indictment said, Hall denied receiving complaints involving the principal or meeting with the detective — willful lies, the grand jury alleged.
The allegations concerning Parks illustrate several facets of the racketeering case that prosecutors presented to the grand jury.
The conspiracy began when numerous defendants pressured other educators to cheat on the CRCT, the indictment said.
Then, if anyone complained about test manipulation, Hall and others would “interfere with, suppress and obstruct investigations,” according to the indictment. In some instances, grand jurors said, Hall and others refused to investigate cheating reports at all, while in others, they suppressed critical findings by their own investigators.
Finally, the indictment said, Hall and others lied about the cheating cases to state investigators and withheld documents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the district attorney’s office.
The indictment offers no evidence that Hall or anyone else laid out a specific scheme for the cheating or the cover-up. Such an agreement is not necessary to establish a conspiracy, said Howard, the district attorney.
“Because there is a single-minded purpose, and that purpose is to cheat to manipulate the grades, what we are alleging is that she was a full participant in that conspiracy,” Howard said. “Without her, the conspiracy could not have taken place.”
RETALIATION ‘RAMPANT’
Secrecy was key to the alleged conspiracy, the grand jury said.
The indictment describes numerous instances in which district officials withheld documents requested by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under the state Open Records Act. It also says Hall gave false information to a state official about the district’s investigation of cheating allegations at one school.
Hall and her administrators routinely tamped down cheating allegations, the indictment said, often by simply taking no action. In August 2009, the state Education Department forwarded an anonymous letter to Hall and Few that claimed “retaliation runs rampant” in the district. State officials asked Hall and Few to investigate. Instead, the indictment said, they ignored it.
Hall even lied to groups that supported the district’s efforts to improve performance, the indictment said.
In 2007, it said, Hall met with a representative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation about the organization’s interest in working with Waller at Parks Middle School. Hall said nothing about the multiple complaints about cheating and other improprieties, the indictment said, and allowed the foundation to supplement Waller’s salary.
Later the same year, the indictment said, Hall was interviewed for an article in a Casey foundation publication. Again, the indictment said, she said nothing about irregularities involving Parks, but instead “praised Waller for his leadership.”
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