Thursday, February 28, 2013
'Harlem Shake' poses school safety quandaries across Twin Cities
Article by: KELLY SMITH , Star Tribune
The backlash from the “Harlem Shake” Internet fad is just the latest to plague school administrators. The Harlem Shake is a hit with students, but it isn’t playing well at some schools.
As the latest flash-mob dance spreads across metro-area high schools, it has prompted suspensions and even police citations when deemed disruptive or a school safety threat. That’s leaving communities asking whether the viral video imitation is a harmless diversion or dangerous distraction.
In Eden Prairie, 16 high school students were suspended after a Harlem Shake dance in the school cafeteria that included jumping on lunchroom tables and turning one over. In Wayzata, 15 students were banned from the weight room after doing a similar dance there last week.
And at Mound Westonka High School, school leaders are still dealing with the backlash from suspending and citing six varsity hockey players before a playoff game because of a Harlem Shake rendition, with some students dancing on top of tables and chairs.
It’s a trend also seen in schools in Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan, with a suburban Detroit school suspending more than 30 kids.
For school leaders, such episodes are part of the growing challenge posed by social media, forcing them to react to the latest online craze surfacing almost overnight.
“It takes moments, milliseconds [for a trend to spread],” said Don Johnson, a former principal and now head of a state group for middle and high school principals. “They happen more often and with greater intensity, which makes it hard to combat.”
Rowdy riot or fun dance?
The Harlem Shake has become an Internet phenomenon, with thousands of YouTube videos. Most feature one person dancing and, when the lyrics command to “do the Harlem Shake,” it cuts to a wild group dance.
While schools have long suffered through fashion or dance trends, Gary Amoroso, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, said the viral videos pose even more difficulty because of how quickly they spread.
“The whole issue of social media is a challenge because it is evolving so quickly,” he said. “Schools are trying to do the best to know what’s out there and how to incorporate that positively in the schools.”
He defended local schools’ disciplinary actions, arguing that safety has to be administrators’ top priority.
Westonka investigation
In Westonka schools, district leaders said Wednesday that an outside investigation will establish what happened at the high school last Friday and whether the consequences were appropriate.
Parents and students continue to criticize the district for suspending the hockey players hours before their playoff game, arguing that officials rushed to judgment after students did the dance in the cafeteria. A cellphone video shows students dancing on tables or chairs, but no damage was reported besides a broken lunch tray.
On Monday, the hockey players and two members of a school swim team saw their two-day suspensions cut in half. The $75 citations they got from Minnetrista police were rescinded and Superintendent Kevin Borg apologized to a crowd of 250 parents and students at a school board meeting, announcing that Activities Director Dion Koltes was put on paid leave.
Monday, February 25, 2013
"Harlem Shake" suspensions end Mound Westonka Hockey season
The principal of Mound Westonka High School said students, including varsity hockey players, who were suspended Friday for their lunchroom rendition of popular dance craze the “Harlem Shake” went beyond just dancing, but a student disciplined for participating said Saturday that they did nothing wrong.
Senior Jack Brandstetter, 17, is among parents and students who have criticized the school’s decision not to allow him and several other players on the school’s boys’ hockey team to play in their section playoff game Friday night because of the incident.
Principal Keith Randklev defended the school’s actions Saturday, saying, “In and of itself, that type of activity would not necessarily lead to any type of school consequences. … This went beyond that.”
Brandstetter thought differently. The students, including six hockey players, were recording a school-sanctioned video of themselves performing the “Harlem Shake” in the cafeteria so that they could submit for a weekly school broadcast, he said.
As two lunchroom supervisors watched approvingly, the dancers recruited other students to join in and some of the dancers jumped onto lunch tables, Brandstetter said.
He said he did not see any tables or other school property damaged or any food thrown. After the dance, as he and others were returning their lunch trays, the school’s resident police officer and its activities director, Dion Koltes, confiscated the video camera students had been using, Brandstetter said.
He and the others then returned to their classrooms, where they heard that other police officers had been called to the school to help examine the video.
About 2 p.m., he said, he was called into the office, where Randklev, Koltes, the school police officer and an assistant principal handed him a $75 ticket they said was for “engaging in a riotlike activity and starting a mob.”
He was also told that he would be suspended for two days and would not be allowed to play in Friday night’s game.“I was totally, wrongfully accused, and not given a chance to defend myself,” he said. The other dance participants were called in one by one after him, and told the same thing, he said.
The “Harlem Shake” has become an Internet phenomenon, with thousands of YouTube videos of people dancing to the song by New York producer Baauer. While versions differ greatly, most videos consist of one person dancing by themselves and then when the lyrics command to “do the Harlem Shake” the video cuts to a group dancing crazily.A student’s 17-second cellphone video shows noisy students dancing in a cluster, some of them on tables.
Randklev wouldn’t say what exactly the students were doing that went beyond dancing but he said, “school policies were infringed upon.”
The Minnetrista police conducted its own investigation, but Randklev wouldn’t detail the results.On Friday night, the boys’ varsity team played Blake School in Minneapolis in a section quarterfinal playoff game. Blake had twice as many players on the bench as Mound Westonka. The Bears won 6-4. Parents and students expressed their anger toward Koltes at the game and on social media.
Coach Doug Runke said on Friday that the suspensions cost the team five skaters and the regular goalie. “This was not in the playbook,” he said. “We were in a tough spot.”
However, he added, that he was proud about how the rest of the team handled it. “They responded to the situation and played their hearts out.”
Brandstetter said that he and other players, along with their parents, plan to challenge the discipline. “As hockey players, we had taken away from us something we worked for our entire lives, a chance to play in a championship. It was completely unfair.”
Senior Jack Brandstetter, 17, is among parents and students who have criticized the school’s decision not to allow him and several other players on the school’s boys’ hockey team to play in their section playoff game Friday night because of the incident.
Principal Keith Randklev defended the school’s actions Saturday, saying, “In and of itself, that type of activity would not necessarily lead to any type of school consequences. … This went beyond that.”
Brandstetter thought differently. The students, including six hockey players, were recording a school-sanctioned video of themselves performing the “Harlem Shake” in the cafeteria so that they could submit for a weekly school broadcast, he said.
As two lunchroom supervisors watched approvingly, the dancers recruited other students to join in and some of the dancers jumped onto lunch tables, Brandstetter said.
He said he did not see any tables or other school property damaged or any food thrown. After the dance, as he and others were returning their lunch trays, the school’s resident police officer and its activities director, Dion Koltes, confiscated the video camera students had been using, Brandstetter said.
He and the others then returned to their classrooms, where they heard that other police officers had been called to the school to help examine the video.
About 2 p.m., he said, he was called into the office, where Randklev, Koltes, the school police officer and an assistant principal handed him a $75 ticket they said was for “engaging in a riotlike activity and starting a mob.”
He was also told that he would be suspended for two days and would not be allowed to play in Friday night’s game.“I was totally, wrongfully accused, and not given a chance to defend myself,” he said. The other dance participants were called in one by one after him, and told the same thing, he said.
The “Harlem Shake” has become an Internet phenomenon, with thousands of YouTube videos of people dancing to the song by New York producer Baauer. While versions differ greatly, most videos consist of one person dancing by themselves and then when the lyrics command to “do the Harlem Shake” the video cuts to a group dancing crazily.A student’s 17-second cellphone video shows noisy students dancing in a cluster, some of them on tables.
Randklev wouldn’t say what exactly the students were doing that went beyond dancing but he said, “school policies were infringed upon.”
The Minnetrista police conducted its own investigation, but Randklev wouldn’t detail the results.On Friday night, the boys’ varsity team played Blake School in Minneapolis in a section quarterfinal playoff game. Blake had twice as many players on the bench as Mound Westonka. The Bears won 6-4. Parents and students expressed their anger toward Koltes at the game and on social media.
Coach Doug Runke said on Friday that the suspensions cost the team five skaters and the regular goalie. “This was not in the playbook,” he said. “We were in a tough spot.”
However, he added, that he was proud about how the rest of the team handled it. “They responded to the situation and played their hearts out.”
Brandstetter said that he and other players, along with their parents, plan to challenge the discipline. “As hockey players, we had taken away from us something we worked for our entire lives, a chance to play in a championship. It was completely unfair.”
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Gas prices skyrocket AGAIN!
CNN By Emily Jane Fox
Gas prices have risen for 32 days straight, according to AAA. That means that the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has increased more than 13% over that period to $3.73.
It's hitting wallets right in the middle of winter, when people are already looking at large home heating bills. And it comes just after many Americans have been hit with smaller paychecks, and are worried about looming budget cuts that could deliver an even deeper blow. What's behind the higher prices at the pump? It's a confluence of factors, from rising crude oil prices, to production cuts and refinery closings.
"Right now, things are tight worldwide," said Ray Carbone, president of New York commodities trading firm Paramount Options. "Refineries going down, unanticipated maintenance, and higher demand ... going into driving season."
Two-thirds of the cost of one gallon of gas comes from the price of crude, which has jumped 10% in the last two months, according to the Energy Information Administration. As the U.S. housing market experiences a resurgence, the jobs picture brightens and consumer spending expands, anticipation of higher oil demand is driving up prices. At the same time, fears have ebbed that there would be a protracted slowdown in China's economy, which would have dampened global demand for oil.
OPEC, the powerful cartel of petroleum exporting countries, is also believed to have cut production by about 1 million barrels a day in the last few months, partly in response to rising oil production elsewhere, notably the United States.
Adding to that, several refineries are either preparing to, or have already, shut down for maintenance before their annual switch to summer gasoline, which is formulated differently.
For the average American, all this couldn't be happening at a worse time.
Most of the country's 160 million workers are taking home less pay each week since the payroll tax cuts expired last month.
Gas prices have risen for 32 days straight, according to AAA. That means that the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has increased more than 13% over that period to $3.73.
It's hitting wallets right in the middle of winter, when people are already looking at large home heating bills. And it comes just after many Americans have been hit with smaller paychecks, and are worried about looming budget cuts that could deliver an even deeper blow. What's behind the higher prices at the pump? It's a confluence of factors, from rising crude oil prices, to production cuts and refinery closings.
"Right now, things are tight worldwide," said Ray Carbone, president of New York commodities trading firm Paramount Options. "Refineries going down, unanticipated maintenance, and higher demand ... going into driving season."
Two-thirds of the cost of one gallon of gas comes from the price of crude, which has jumped 10% in the last two months, according to the Energy Information Administration. As the U.S. housing market experiences a resurgence, the jobs picture brightens and consumer spending expands, anticipation of higher oil demand is driving up prices. At the same time, fears have ebbed that there would be a protracted slowdown in China's economy, which would have dampened global demand for oil.
OPEC, the powerful cartel of petroleum exporting countries, is also believed to have cut production by about 1 million barrels a day in the last few months, partly in response to rising oil production elsewhere, notably the United States.
Adding to that, several refineries are either preparing to, or have already, shut down for maintenance before their annual switch to summer gasoline, which is formulated differently.
For the average American, all this couldn't be happening at a worse time.
Most of the country's 160 million workers are taking home less pay each week since the payroll tax cuts expired last month.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Pope Benedict resigns
Rome (CNN) -- The spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI, surprised the world Monday by saying he will resign at the end of the month "because of advanced age."
It's the first time a pope has stepped down in nearly 600 years.
"Strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," said Benedict, 85, according to the Vatican.
The news startled the Catholic world and led to frenzied speculation about who would replace him, including a debate about the merits of naming a pontiff from the developing world, where the church continues to grow, versus one from Europe, where it has deep historical roots.
But that decision will not be made by Benedict, who will leave his post at 8 p.m. on February 28, said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman. "Before Easter, we will have the new pope," he said.
While Benedict won't be directly involved in his successor's selection, his influence will undoubtedly be felt. He appointed 67 of the 117 cardinals that -- as of Monday -- are set to make the decision.
The number of electors could drop to 115, as two cardinals will turn 80 in March, when their age makes them ineligible to cast a vote. More than two thirds of whatever the final number must agree on the next pope, a decision that will be announced to the world in the form a puff of white smoke emerging from a chimney in the Vatican.
CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen said that means the next pope, no matter where he is from, will probably continue in Benedict's conservative tradition, which has seen the church take a firm line on issues such as abortion, birth control and divorce.
While not quite unprecedented, his resignation is certainly historic. The last pope to step down before his death was Gregory XII, who in 1415 quit to end a civil war within the church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
A family friend in Regensburg, Germany, told CNN that Benedict had been thinking resigning for some time because of his age. He had discussed the decision with his older brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, according to the friend, who asked not to be named because he does not speak for Georg Ratzinger.
Several years ago, Benedict had suggested he would be open to resigning should his health fail, Allen said. But no one expected him to do so this soon.
Jannet Walsh, a CNN iReporter from Murdock, Minnesota, counts herself among those "shocked" by the news of his resignation. But she said it was an admirable decision because he seemingly recognized that he could not adequately "carry out his office as pope" given his health.
"The resignation of the pope is actually a very selfless act, and it should be applauded," Walsh said.
It's the first time a pope has stepped down in nearly 600 years.
"Strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," said Benedict, 85, according to the Vatican.
The news startled the Catholic world and led to frenzied speculation about who would replace him, including a debate about the merits of naming a pontiff from the developing world, where the church continues to grow, versus one from Europe, where it has deep historical roots.
But that decision will not be made by Benedict, who will leave his post at 8 p.m. on February 28, said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman. "Before Easter, we will have the new pope," he said.
While Benedict won't be directly involved in his successor's selection, his influence will undoubtedly be felt. He appointed 67 of the 117 cardinals that -- as of Monday -- are set to make the decision.
The number of electors could drop to 115, as two cardinals will turn 80 in March, when their age makes them ineligible to cast a vote. More than two thirds of whatever the final number must agree on the next pope, a decision that will be announced to the world in the form a puff of white smoke emerging from a chimney in the Vatican.
CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen said that means the next pope, no matter where he is from, will probably continue in Benedict's conservative tradition, which has seen the church take a firm line on issues such as abortion, birth control and divorce.
While not quite unprecedented, his resignation is certainly historic. The last pope to step down before his death was Gregory XII, who in 1415 quit to end a civil war within the church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
A family friend in Regensburg, Germany, told CNN that Benedict had been thinking resigning for some time because of his age. He had discussed the decision with his older brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, according to the friend, who asked not to be named because he does not speak for Georg Ratzinger.
Several years ago, Benedict had suggested he would be open to resigning should his health fail, Allen said. But no one expected him to do so this soon.
Jannet Walsh, a CNN iReporter from Murdock, Minnesota, counts herself among those "shocked" by the news of his resignation. But she said it was an admirable decision because he seemingly recognized that he could not adequately "carry out his office as pope" given his health.
"The resignation of the pope is actually a very selfless act, and it should be applauded," Walsh said.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Price of a Super Bowl ad: $4 million
HUFFINGTON POST
In the off chance you have $4 million burning a hole in your pocket, some people at CBS Sports might like to have a word with you.
That's the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad spot on the network this year, CNN Money reports, and $500,000 more expensive than last year's average price -- a then record $3.5 million.
"We don't confirm exact pricing, since all spots are sold with different considerations and often in different packages," explained CBS spokesman Dana McClintock to CNN Money. "But it's safe to say that spots are going for $4 million each, and in some cases more."
Some advertisers this year have jumped the gun on marketing their Super Bowl ads, reports the New York Times. Traditionally, the expensive spots aren't rolled out until after New Year's Day, as publicity doesn't sink in when audiences are still engrossed in holiday festivities.
But as social media rises in prominence, advertisers have been keen to try and enter the conversation early. Some might call the strategy a false start, but with ever-increasing prices, "It’s only smart to extend the conversation,” Ellis Verdi, president of DeVito/Verdi in New York, told the Times. “You want to get as much benefit as you can.”
To all those procrastinating ad-men out there, fear not: While most 2013 Super Bowl ad spots sold in May of last year, some ad space can still be had -- for a very expensive price.
In the off chance you have $4 million burning a hole in your pocket, some people at CBS Sports might like to have a word with you.
That's the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad spot on the network this year, CNN Money reports, and $500,000 more expensive than last year's average price -- a then record $3.5 million.
"We don't confirm exact pricing, since all spots are sold with different considerations and often in different packages," explained CBS spokesman Dana McClintock to CNN Money. "But it's safe to say that spots are going for $4 million each, and in some cases more."
Some advertisers this year have jumped the gun on marketing their Super Bowl ads, reports the New York Times. Traditionally, the expensive spots aren't rolled out until after New Year's Day, as publicity doesn't sink in when audiences are still engrossed in holiday festivities.
But as social media rises in prominence, advertisers have been keen to try and enter the conversation early. Some might call the strategy a false start, but with ever-increasing prices, "It’s only smart to extend the conversation,” Ellis Verdi, president of DeVito/Verdi in New York, told the Times. “You want to get as much benefit as you can.”
To all those procrastinating ad-men out there, fear not: While most 2013 Super Bowl ad spots sold in May of last year, some ad space can still be had -- for a very expensive price.