NEW YORK TIMESBy MARY PILON
MILFORD, Pa. — As a 12-year-old seventh grader, Glenn and Kathy Kiederer’s older daughter wanted to play sports at Delaware Valley Middle School here. She also wanted to join the scrapbooking club. One day she took home a permission slip. It said that to participate in the club or any school sport, she would have to consent to drug testing. “They were asking a 12-year-old to pee in a cup,” Kathy Kiederer said. “I have a problem with that. They’re violating her right to privacy over scrapbooking? Sports?”
Olympic athletes must submit urine samples to prove they are not doping. The same is true for Tour de France cyclists, N.F.L. players, college athletes and even some high school athletes. Now, children in grades as low as middle school are being told that providing a urine sample is required to play sports or participate in extracurricular activities like drama and choir.
Such drug testing at the middle school level is confounding students and stirring objections from parents and proponents of civil liberties. The Kiederers, whose two daughters are now in high school, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Delaware Valley School District, with the daughters identified only by their first initials, A. and M. The parents said that mandatory drug testing was unnecessary and that it infringed on their daughters’ rights.
It is difficult to gauge how many middle schools conduct drug tests on students. States with middle schools that conduct drug testing include Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio, New Jersey and Texas. Some coaches, teachers and school administrators said drug-testing programs served as a deterrent for middle school students encountering drugs of all kinds, including steroids, marijuana and alcohol. “We wanted to do it to create a general awareness of drug prevention,” said Steve Klotz, assistant superintendent at Maryville School District in Missouri. “We’re no different than any other community. We have kids who are making those decisions.”
There are no known instances of a middle school student testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs like steroids or human growth hormone. The few positive results among middle school students have been attributed to marijuana, officials said, and even those cases are rare.
Maryville’s drug-testing program, which includes most of its middle and high school students, begins this fall after officials spent 18 months reviewing other programs in the state, Mr. Klotz said. In the fall of 2011, Mr. Klotz said, the school board conducted a survey of parents, and 72 percent said that a drug-testing program was necessary.
Drug testing for high school athletes, which has been around for years, was deemed constitutional in a 1995 United States Supreme Court ruling. Some districts have expanded their drug-testing programs in recent years to include middle school students.
But some experts doubt the effectiveness of such testing. “There’s little evidence these programs work,” Dr. Goldberg said. “Drug testing has never been shown to have a deterrent effect.” In 2007, Dr. Goldberg published the results of a study of athletes at five high schools with drug testing and six schools that had deferred implementing a testing policy. He found that athletes from the two groups did not differ in their recent use of drugs or alcohol.
“I think you have to look at the reason for testing,” Dr. Goldberg said. “With Olympic testing, it’s to weed out the people who are cheating. If you’re using drug testing to weed out a problem in kids, you need to get them in therapy. But it doesn’t reduce whether or not kids use drugs.”
Some coaches and school administrators, however, say the dearth of positive tests is an indication that testing is working effectively as a deterrent. “We don’t want to catch students,” said Jerry Cecil, assistant superintendent of the Greenwood School District in Arkansas. “We want them not to be using.”
Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Romney's "47 Percent" remark stirs controversy
(CBS News)
In a video unearthed recently, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was captured making some inflammatory comments about people who don't pay income tax in America - the people he says will vote for President Obama "no matter what."
The Quote "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
In a video unearthed recently, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was captured making some inflammatory comments about people who don't pay income tax in America - the people he says will vote for President Obama "no matter what."
The Quote "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Chicago teachers' strike
(CNN) -- The Chicago teachers strike drags into a second week, after a representative group of the Chicago Teachers Union decided over the weekend not to end the walkout even though union leaders and school officials had reached a tentative contract deal.
The strike in the third-largest school system in the country is affecting more than 350,000 children.
A quick primer:
Q. What's the sticking point?
A. Among the major issues, the teachers are negotiating over the length of the school day, objecting to their evaluations being tied to performance and fretting about potential job losses.
Q. How would the length of school days change?
A. Elementary students would gain 75 minutes to create a seven-hour school day. High school students would gain 30 minutes to create a seven-and-a-half-hour school day. Teachers wants additional money to teach the additional hours.
Chicago mayor takes strike fight to court
Q. Why are teachers objecting to evaluations tied to performance?
A. The union says student performance is directly linked to conditions in the home or neighborhood, making it unfair for teachers to be punished if students don't do well in the the classroom for those reasons.
Q. How many jobs will be lost under the evaluation plan?
A. As many as 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the evaluation system, according to CTU President Karen Lewis, who has called the system "unacceptable." The mayor's office, the city and school officials have questioned that job-loss figure.
Q. What's next?
A. The House of Delegates, a group of 800 union representatives, will reconvene Tuesday afternoon, at which point delegates could decide to end the strike. If they do, classes would resume no earlier than Wednesday. The rank-and-file of the Chicago Teachers Union would still have the opportunity at some point to accept, or reject, the proposed contract.
But as of Sunday, Lewis said a "clear majority" of union delegates did not want to suspend the strike given the proposed contract, saying "they are not happy with the agreement."
Q. How many teachers are in the union and how much do Chicago teachers make?
A. The Chicago Teachers Union represents 26,000 teachers. Chicago has the nation's third-largest school system with some 35,000 students, and its teachers are among the highest paid in the country. The median base salary for teachers in the Chicago public schools in 2011 was $67,974, according to the system's annual financial report.
Q. What sort of raise are they being offered?
A. The pay structure would change with a 3% pay hike for the first year of the contract, 2% for the second year and 2% for the third year. If a trigger extends the contract to four years, teachers would get a 3% pay increase. Union members would no longer be compensated for unused personal days, health insurance contribution rates will be frozen and the "enhanced pension program" is being eliminated.
Q. How is the public reacting to the strike?
A. The reaction is predictably mixed in the pro-union town. Parents have had to juggle work schedules and lay out money for child care, but many remain supportive of the union's action.
The strike in the third-largest school system in the country is affecting more than 350,000 children.
A quick primer:
Q. What's the sticking point?
A. Among the major issues, the teachers are negotiating over the length of the school day, objecting to their evaluations being tied to performance and fretting about potential job losses.
Q. How would the length of school days change?
A. Elementary students would gain 75 minutes to create a seven-hour school day. High school students would gain 30 minutes to create a seven-and-a-half-hour school day. Teachers wants additional money to teach the additional hours.
Chicago mayor takes strike fight to court
Q. Why are teachers objecting to evaluations tied to performance?
A. The union says student performance is directly linked to conditions in the home or neighborhood, making it unfair for teachers to be punished if students don't do well in the the classroom for those reasons.
Q. How many jobs will be lost under the evaluation plan?
A. As many as 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the evaluation system, according to CTU President Karen Lewis, who has called the system "unacceptable." The mayor's office, the city and school officials have questioned that job-loss figure.
Q. What's next?
A. The House of Delegates, a group of 800 union representatives, will reconvene Tuesday afternoon, at which point delegates could decide to end the strike. If they do, classes would resume no earlier than Wednesday. The rank-and-file of the Chicago Teachers Union would still have the opportunity at some point to accept, or reject, the proposed contract.
But as of Sunday, Lewis said a "clear majority" of union delegates did not want to suspend the strike given the proposed contract, saying "they are not happy with the agreement."
Q. How many teachers are in the union and how much do Chicago teachers make?
A. The Chicago Teachers Union represents 26,000 teachers. Chicago has the nation's third-largest school system with some 35,000 students, and its teachers are among the highest paid in the country. The median base salary for teachers in the Chicago public schools in 2011 was $67,974, according to the system's annual financial report.
Q. What sort of raise are they being offered?
A. The pay structure would change with a 3% pay hike for the first year of the contract, 2% for the second year and 2% for the third year. If a trigger extends the contract to four years, teachers would get a 3% pay increase. Union members would no longer be compensated for unused personal days, health insurance contribution rates will be frozen and the "enhanced pension program" is being eliminated.
Q. How is the public reacting to the strike?
A. The reaction is predictably mixed in the pro-union town. Parents have had to juggle work schedules and lay out money for child care, but many remain supportive of the union's action.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
U.S. ambassador to Libya killed
(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, in a rocket attack on the U.S. Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday. He called the attack "outrageous," and confirmed that four Americans, including Stevens, were killed.
"Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States," Obama said. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979.
Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls
Libya's Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib apologized "to the American people and the government, and also to the rest of the world" for the "cowardly criminal act."
An "angry crowd" marched on the consulate on Tuesday, furious about an online film considered offensive to Islam, Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said Wednesday. The U.S. mission in Egypt was also attacked Tuesday in response to the film.
Al-Sharif said that consulate security staff opened fire when they heard gunfire outside the mission. "This led to more anger and this is when the consulate was stormed," he said, suggesting that there were elements loyal to the regime of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi aiming to create chaos among the protesters.
"Criminals managed to get in and they burned and ransacked the consulate," he said. The U.S. mission is very badly damaged and was being looted on Wednesday, said a contractor working at the mission, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
He said he saw the bodies of all four Americans on the street Wednesday morning.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi." "I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.
"Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States," Obama said. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979.
Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls
Libya's Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib apologized "to the American people and the government, and also to the rest of the world" for the "cowardly criminal act."
An "angry crowd" marched on the consulate on Tuesday, furious about an online film considered offensive to Islam, Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said Wednesday. The U.S. mission in Egypt was also attacked Tuesday in response to the film.
Al-Sharif said that consulate security staff opened fire when they heard gunfire outside the mission. "This led to more anger and this is when the consulate was stormed," he said, suggesting that there were elements loyal to the regime of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi aiming to create chaos among the protesters.
"Criminals managed to get in and they burned and ransacked the consulate," he said. The U.S. mission is very badly damaged and was being looted on Wednesday, said a contractor working at the mission, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
He said he saw the bodies of all four Americans on the street Wednesday morning.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi." "I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Poll shows most Minnesotans favor Marriage Amendment
Pioneer Press
A poll of likely Minnesota voters showed a 15 percent lead in favor of the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, according to a SurveyUSA and KSTP-TV poll released Sunday, July 22.
The poll by SurveyUSA, a public polling firm that partners with local TV stations, had 52 percent of voters saying they would vote for the amendment to 37 percent against it. Six percent were unsure; 5 percent would not vote.
A previous SurveyUSA poll in February showed 47 percent would vote for the amendment to 39 percent against it.
Other recent polls display different numbers. Public Policy Polling showed 49 percent oppose the amendment and 43 percent in support in early June. A Gallup poll of about 1,000 Americans in May had 50 percent in favor of recognizing same-sex marriages with the same rights of traditional marriage.
-- Andy Greder
A poll of likely Minnesota voters showed a 15 percent lead in favor of the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, according to a SurveyUSA and KSTP-TV poll released Sunday, July 22.
The poll by SurveyUSA, a public polling firm that partners with local TV stations, had 52 percent of voters saying they would vote for the amendment to 37 percent against it. Six percent were unsure; 5 percent would not vote.
A previous SurveyUSA poll in February showed 47 percent would vote for the amendment to 39 percent against it.
Other recent polls display different numbers. Public Policy Polling showed 49 percent oppose the amendment and 43 percent in support in early June. A Gallup poll of about 1,000 Americans in May had 50 percent in favor of recognizing same-sex marriages with the same rights of traditional marriage.
-- Andy Greder
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Obama's report card
Washington (CNN) -- An energized electorate inspired by a groundbreaking election and expectations as high as Mount Everest had grown accustomed to greeting him with spontaneous chants of "yes we can."
He promised to take "bold, swift action" on the ailing economy and break the partisan grip on Washington by ending what he called "petty grievances and false promises."
"There are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans," the president told the nation during his inaugural address in 2009. "Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done."
This high bar assured there would be a very long to-do-list, and some Republicans were quick to publicly admit they would not make his job easy. But some political observers make the case that pushing a lot of promises was a necessity for an unproven freshman senator.
"He really needed to prove himself to a lot of individual Democratic constituencies," said Bill Adair, the creator and editor of PolitiFact, an online site best known for rating the truth in campaign advertisements. "He made dozens and dozens of small but very narrow promises."
PolitiFact evaluated 508 promises and concluded that the president has kept 37% of them, compromised on 14% of them, has broken 16% of them, has gotten stalled on 10% of them and 22% are still "in the works."
One big stumble came soon after the president took office. During an interview on the CBS program "60 Minutes," Obama had said he intended to "close Guantanamo" and vowed to "follow through on that."
But legal hurdles and resistance in Congress neutralized his executive order to close the detention facility within a year.
Another promise that ran into a wall on Capitol Hill was the vow to repeal Bush-era tax cuts for the very rich.
And with homeowners trying to recover from a crippling mortgage crisis, especially in states such as Nevada and Florida, a promised $10 billion dollar foreclosure prevention fund never materialized.
"He made some really sweeping promises about changing the culture of Washington, about bringing the parties together, about being more transparent in how he runs the White House," Adair said. "He ran into trouble there. There's been a real realization on the part of the White House that some of the things he said during the 2008 campaign were just not realistic given the way Washington really works."
The very long list goes on: No comprehensive immigration reform. No cap and trade system that regulates pollution emissions.
Some of these broken promises provide critics with plenty of fodder to argue he has been ineffective. But the White House views his bucket of promises as half-full.
Health care reform. Check. Auto industry bailout. Check. "Don't ask don't tell," the policy that banned openly gays and lesbians from serving in the military, repealed. Check.
The Obameter Scorecard also gives the president a thumbs up on national security.
In 2008 while visiting Jordan, the president vowed to end the war in Iraq. "My goal is to no longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat in Iraq." That promise was fulfilled in December.
Added to that is that the conflict in Afghanistan is winding down and the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead. "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda" the president said as he broke the news in a hastily arranged late-night Sunday address to the nation in May 2011.
Between now and Election Day, it's possible other promises stuck in the works could go either way, although campaigning has consumed much of the oxygen. Adair said there is plenty of blame to go around.
Congress has created some impassable barriers but at the same time, he argues other promises were "low-hanging fruit" that the president could have accomplished through executive action but so far hasn't delivered.
He promised to take "bold, swift action" on the ailing economy and break the partisan grip on Washington by ending what he called "petty grievances and false promises."
"There are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans," the president told the nation during his inaugural address in 2009. "Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done."
This high bar assured there would be a very long to-do-list, and some Republicans were quick to publicly admit they would not make his job easy. But some political observers make the case that pushing a lot of promises was a necessity for an unproven freshman senator.
"He really needed to prove himself to a lot of individual Democratic constituencies," said Bill Adair, the creator and editor of PolitiFact, an online site best known for rating the truth in campaign advertisements. "He made dozens and dozens of small but very narrow promises."
PolitiFact evaluated 508 promises and concluded that the president has kept 37% of them, compromised on 14% of them, has broken 16% of them, has gotten stalled on 10% of them and 22% are still "in the works."
One big stumble came soon after the president took office. During an interview on the CBS program "60 Minutes," Obama had said he intended to "close Guantanamo" and vowed to "follow through on that."
But legal hurdles and resistance in Congress neutralized his executive order to close the detention facility within a year.
Another promise that ran into a wall on Capitol Hill was the vow to repeal Bush-era tax cuts for the very rich.
And with homeowners trying to recover from a crippling mortgage crisis, especially in states such as Nevada and Florida, a promised $10 billion dollar foreclosure prevention fund never materialized.
"He made some really sweeping promises about changing the culture of Washington, about bringing the parties together, about being more transparent in how he runs the White House," Adair said. "He ran into trouble there. There's been a real realization on the part of the White House that some of the things he said during the 2008 campaign were just not realistic given the way Washington really works."
The very long list goes on: No comprehensive immigration reform. No cap and trade system that regulates pollution emissions.
Some of these broken promises provide critics with plenty of fodder to argue he has been ineffective. But the White House views his bucket of promises as half-full.
Health care reform. Check. Auto industry bailout. Check. "Don't ask don't tell," the policy that banned openly gays and lesbians from serving in the military, repealed. Check.
The Obameter Scorecard also gives the president a thumbs up on national security.
In 2008 while visiting Jordan, the president vowed to end the war in Iraq. "My goal is to no longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat in Iraq." That promise was fulfilled in December.
Added to that is that the conflict in Afghanistan is winding down and the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead. "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda" the president said as he broke the news in a hastily arranged late-night Sunday address to the nation in May 2011.
Between now and Election Day, it's possible other promises stuck in the works could go either way, although campaigning has consumed much of the oxygen. Adair said there is plenty of blame to go around.
Congress has created some impassable barriers but at the same time, he argues other promises were "low-hanging fruit" that the president could have accomplished through executive action but so far hasn't delivered.