School Crisis

For a while now the Clayton County School Board has had the threat of it’s accreditation being revoked by (SACS) The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS has recommended revocaking the district’s accreditation if certain mandates are not met by September 1, 2008. Some of SACS mandates are:

1. 
   Establish a governing board that is capable of fulfilling its role and responsibilities.


2. 
   Enact and commit to an ethics policy that governs the actions and work of the members of the board.


3. 
   Conduct a full forensic audit of financials by an independent, certified accounting firm.


4. 
   Secure the services of outside consultants with expertise in conflict resolution, governance and organizational effectiveness.


5. 
   Appoint a permanent superintendent with expertise and experience t lead the school district and establish the proper conditions for effectiveness.
   
   I have never seen a group of people so hell bent on failing. The Clayton County Board of Education or what remains of it has made it clear that they won’t tolerate any input from parents, elected officials and certainly not an accrediting agency. The board continues to violate its own policies and state law by conducting closed door meetings in relation to the accreditation crisis. Within the last few weeks one of the board’s members was removed from the board because he lived outside of Clayton County,. It was later determined by a state investigation that he did reside in Clayton County. The board’s chairwoman Erica Davis resigned her post, making it available for special election before the SACS deadline. The most recent chairman of the board has announced his resignation and the attorney hired to help the school board weather the accreditation crisis has also tendered his resignation. Both men cited the board’s unethical behavior, and the way the board hired it’s new “corrective superintendent.”
   
   The president and CEO of SACS’ and two liaisons appointed by Governor Purdue have all said that the new superintendent is not qualified. However that did not stop the board from not only hiring him, but giving him unprecedented authority. He has the ability to hire consultants, create new administrative positions with no clear budget limitations. The new super can make changes without board approval regardless of current policy. He will receive security if he feels the need. He’s allowed to take 107 of the 240 workdays off as vacation/sick time that is much more than the school system’s regular employees. The new super can also take 2 paid days a month to do consulting work outside the school district. And finally he’s entitled to a car for business and personal use. His salary is more than 285,000 plus $2,000 monthly housing stipend. I think this guy has taken total advantage of the school system’s situation to get a dream deal. On the other hand, I don’t think there are too many people willing to come in and try to fix the mess the school board has created. So I’ll give him credit for that, but the board has signed off on his contract. I think the best thing parents can do is get behind the new superintendent and support him as he attempts to save the Clayton County Schools accreditation.
   
   The school board is another matter, they’ve ignored the law and it’s own policy. It makes one wonder if the board cares about the student’s best interest. Why would they ignore the advice of experts and the agency that is trying to remove the school system’s accreditation? They should all be removed from their seats. It’s a shame that the school board has allowed this situation to get out of control. What happens to the thousands of students and their future academic career? I guess everything is riding on the new superintendent and what plans he implements to save the school system.

Nevada Health Crisis

I just spent4 days and 3 nights in fabulous Las Vegas and it started out as a much needed relaxing trip. However something that I heard in the local media quickly got me out of the relaxing mood I was enjoying. It seems that a Las Vegas clinic has possibly exposed as many as 40,000 patients with hepatitis B, C and HIV. For the Life of me I can't figure out why this story hasn't gotten any national coverage.

The Southern Nevada Health District, the regulatory agency that oversees the public health of Las Vegas and surrounding areas discovered through an investigation that a clinic was not following safety protocols. The investigation started because of a increase of patients reported with hepatitis. A number of those patients were linked to this clinic. It appears that the clinic was reusing syringes on patients. It appears that this practice may have been going on as far back as March of 2004.

It is inexcusable for someone to act in such disregard to people's safety, especially from someone you trust with your life like a medical professional. I think it is pure evil what has been done to these people. Officials are asking patients to go get tested. I can only imagine what these people are going through while they wait to learn the results. No one should be subjected to this.

The city has been holding public information meetings trying to help patients understand what exposure to these diseases may mean to them. But no one seems to be answering people's burning questions. How did this happen? Who was involved? Officials are tight lipped about many of these questions. It's unclear to me if they just don't know the answer or can't talk about them while the investigation continues.

As I think about what's happened in Las Vegas, it makes me see red! People paid that clinic to perform a service, and what they got in exchange was a nightmare. According to The National Coalition on Health Care, health insurance premiums rose by 6.1 percent in 2007 and total spending on health care was nearly $2.3 trillion. People are already paying a lot for health care; the last thing they need to worry about is trust their health care professional.

First and foremost these people needed to be tested and treated for their exposure to these diseases. Second the people who carried out these procedures that possibly exposed thousands of patients need to be prosecuted. There needs to be some kind of accountability. The people this is affecting need answers sooner rather than later. Lawsuits are already being filed; hopefully they will lead to answers. Why did this happen and who started it all?

Polygamy Custody Fight

Many of you have either heard about or are following the case in the news about the polygamous sect in Texas. Authorities removed 416 children from the church’s compound in Eldorado, Texas. Police raided the compound after receiving a call from someone who claimed to be 16 years old girl inside the FLDS ranch. The caller described being forced into a “spiritual marriage” with an older man. She told police that the man abused her physically and sexually.

Texas Child Protective Services are scrambling to identify the children’s parents. DNA tests have been ordered to help match the children to the parents. Recently the mothers of the removed children held interviews with the media. They continued to plead to the government to return their children. Interestingly the women refused to answer some questions including the number of wives their husbands may have. The women reminded me of the wives from the movie “The Stepford Wives”. They all seem to be robotic in their responses to questions being asked of them.

Now I don’t personally agree with the polygamist lifestyle but if these people want to practice it, that none of my business. However with allegations that underage children are being forced into marriages, that’s when religious freedom has gone too far. We all have the right to practice any religion we want, but the practice of that religion can not and should violate the law. I don’t know if these allegations are true are not, but I have to say that I’m getting a not so good feeling about this case.

Whether or not the allegations are true, how much evidence should the government have before they are allowed to take your child?

In this particular case, a phone call from 16 year old led to the raid on the compound.

Should a phone call be enough justification to remove children from their parents? I would think it depends on the circumstances. I think given the nature of the allegations, the location of the ranch and how closed off this community is from the rest of the world, I can understand that authorities feared that the children were in immediate danger.

So what happens if it turns out that the 16 year old girl doesn’t exist? Does the state’s investigation continue? Would the courts return the children? There are a lot of legal issues at play here, none of which are likely to be solved anytime soon.

I think any allegation of child abuse should be thoroughly investigated. I think that a child should be removed if there is evidence that would suggest that they would be in danger. It should take an extraordinary situation to remove a child before an investigation is conducted. This was just such a situation that required the removal of those children. For now the courts have ruled the children remain in the state’s custody.

Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense

The concept of zero tolerance is becoming popular in communities around the country. Zero tolerance is the idea of handing down a uniform punishment for everyone regardless of a person’s culpability. I think it’s a dangerous practice to lump everyone in one category. In today’s judicial system judges usually have discretion in sentencing defendants. The judge can take in account many different factors such as the level of involvement in the crime, motive, age, health, etc. All of these extenuating circumstances can be used by a judge to determine the appropriate sentence. Our justice system has by the most part advocated a sentence that fits the crime. That’s why we have judges and alternate punishments like community service and probation.

I think what it boils down to is that society is tired of crime period! It seems that major crime is on the rise and people are afraid and frustrated. Communities see the same crimes committed over and over, and I can honestly understand their frustration with it. They feel that they can’t stop the major crimes but they can probably do something about the minor offenses. So communities, school districts, etc employ this system to try to deter crime by punishing everyone the same way. The problem I have with that is these crimes may happen over and over but most times the person who has the misfortune of committing a crime for the first time gets the brunt of the punishment. With zero tolerance that first timer doesn’t get any consideration for a first offense. People make mistakes in their life and sometimes all they need is a break, a little push to get their life together.

You see on the news all the time about students getting harsh punishments for infractions that go way beyond common sense. I remember a case a while back about a girl 7 or 8 years old who was suspended from school because she had a cartoon keychain on her book bag. The school had a zero tolerance policy against chains. The spirit of the rule was to ban weapons like those heavy link chains that are used to secure gates. In that case the girl’s keychain was blown out of proportion. It’s like common sense is thrown out of the window. Now parents have to rely on the legal system to remedy unjust punishments.

So when do we say we have had enough with cookie cutter justice? Is society too lazy to deal out justice on a case by case basis? Well that would mean society would actually have to care about solving our social problems. Can you imagine living in a society where everything is zero tolerance? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a really scary place. I would love to see those who are so eager to adopt zero tolerance policies end up on the receiving end of the punishment.

Public Safety or Public Image?

Over the last few weeks the FAA has initiated a campaign to enforce the agency's inspection guidelines. This action comes after congressional investigators found out that some Southwest Airlines planes had not been inspected as mandated by FAA guidelines. The agency issued a 10.2 million dollar penalty against Southwest for flying planes that missed inspections. So now the agency, under intense scrutiny by congress has started enforcing its so-called mandatory guidelines.

Air carriers such as Delta, United, Southwest and American all grounded flights to inspect wiring in the wheel wells of their MD-80 jets. At issue is the spacing and direction of the wiring in the planes' auxiliary hydraulic systems. The airlines insist that safety was never compromised; however thousands of flights were cancelled so planes could be reinspected.

Here is my concern, if a plane has been inspected and passed why would there be a need to reinspect a plane. I would think that the inspectors would have caught any problems the first time, well that's the way it is suppose to work. American Airlines took the biggest hit so far, grounding more than 3,000 flights and affecting more than 300,000 passengers. I think if the FAA wasn't trying to protect their own hides, they could have allowed the airlines to reinspect the planes in stages as not to disrupt air travel. The air industry is already fighting rising fuel costs and trying to stay out of bankruptcy, the loss of revenue like American airlines has experienced isn't helping.

I know there are some who say that the airlines have brought some of this trouble on themselves by not completing the mandatory inspections in the first place, but I counter that argument. If the agency which regulates the industry and enforces the guidelines gives you a pass or turns a blind eye for years why would they (the airlines) think that mandatory inspections are actually mandatory?

The FAA has been accused of being too cozy with the airline industry, and maybe its true. I think that the agency needs to maintain a certain level of partnership with the airlines in order to better protect the public. But it's very obvious that the agency dropped the ball when comes to enforcement. Investigators are working on new cases of guidelines not being met so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more rounds of flight cancellations.

Bottom line, the agency charged with the safety of America's aviation system has to enforce its own directives. The public has to be able to trust that the government is watching out for its safety. The airlines need to shape up and start running a tighter ship.

City In Chaos

The City of Lithonia located in Dekalb County, Georgia has a population of more than 2,100 residents. Who would have thought that this small suburban Atlanta community would be in the mist of a soap opera like power struggle?

Lithonia’s most recent trouble started when recently elected Mayor Joyce McKibben fired Lithonia's police chief, Willie Rosser. That set off a chain of events that has kept the city in spotlight for nearly two weeks. The mayor claims that the chief violated city policies and fired him. Hours later the city council reinstated the chief saying that the mayor does not have the power to fire him. That night’s city council meeting turned into a heated confrontation between the mayor and her supporters and the city council and the chief’s supporters. Since then two of the mayor’s aides were arrested and the mayor herself charged with obstruction and theft. City employees were paid late because of the fighting between the mayor and city council. State officials were scheduled to help mediate the dispute between the parties involved but that meeting was canceled.

So what’s next? I’m sure most residents are embarrassed with the way their elected officials have behaved. It looks like people’s egos are getting in the way of handling the city’s business. With allegations of theft, police harassment, abuse of city credit cards and poor financial management, someone from the Attorney General’s office should step in and start an investigation.

I think everyone involved has to take some responsibility. The mayor should have consulted someone like the city attorney before firing the police chief. The city council should have listened to the mayor’s accusations and investigated. And finally the police chief should remove himself from the center of the controversy and not fuel the fire. The people of Lithonia should not be further subjected to the petty fighting among city leaders. Bottom line these people should act like professionals, conduct the city’s business and allow an outside party to investigate all the allegations and let the cards fall where they fall.

Northwest's Merger With Delta Airlines

It's the deal of the moment!

Northwest's merger with Delta will create the largest airline in the world. The deal has the potential to create a strong competitor in the airline industry or one big loser. Only time will tell which one it will become. Most people are concerned about ticket prices while others care about better service and frequent flyer miles. I think what's important to remember is mega deals like this take a lot of time to fully come together, especially with such different corporate cultures.

When I started at Turner Broadcasting, it was just a few months after the announcement of the Time Warner merger. There was so much excitement in the company and also a lot of uncertainty. The Time Warner merger with AOL was suppose to create the largest media conglomerate with all these high expectations. Well those expectations kind of fizzed out and a whole new set of problems were created. And let's not forget about the billions of dollars of corporate debt, however the company started to slowly turn around.

By combining Northwest and Delta, we are
building a stronger, more resilient airline that will be a leader in providing customer service and value. Our combined airline will offer unprecedented access to the world, enabling you to fly to more destinations, have more flight choices and more ways than ever to earn and redeem your WorldPerks miles.

- Bob Soukup

Managing Director, Northwest Airlines WorldPerks

During the first Time Warner merger, hundreds of people were laid off, and it was the beginning of the end of the "Turner Culture". The "little company that could" feeling that was so unique to Turner slowly eroded away as Time Warner and later AOL reorganized the company. Time Warner's stock price hasn't come anywhere near it's pre-merger price. Employees who bought stock before the mergers took place got a really bad deal.

My hope with the Northwest/Delta merger is that prices stay competitive and both airlines find a way to successfully merge the employees to make for a pleasant travel experience. One of the many things that must do is keep the front line employees happy and motivated. There is nothing like an unhappy flight attendant or a grumpy ticket agent handling your customers. It's also going to take a little finesse to win over Northwest's customers. It will be interesting to see how things play out.

Calls For Sen. Hillary Clinton To Quit

The calls being made to get Sen. Clinton to drop out of the Democratic nomination race are outrageous. She has more than proven that she is a formidable contender. She’s almost neck and neck with Sen. Obama. I could understand and support calls for her to call it a day if she were significantly low on the delegate count, but the fact of the matter is, she is not. She is so far holding her own at the moment. Throughout the race so far, she’s been able to bounce back and stay competitive. I sometimes ask myself if Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama's positions were switched would people be asking him to drop out. Nevertheless she has the right as an American to continue her quest for the nomination.

People are trying to make the argument that the race for the Democratic nomination is tearing the party apart, I disagree. I think its drawing people into the process that would not have otherwise participated. We are seeing an increase in African American voters and younger people taking an interest and getting involved. I think it’s a great thing for the party and the process as a whole. Although the candidates need to stay focused on the topics and do away with all the distractions such as the personal jabs at each other.