Blue Mass Group

After all the fanfare surrounding the Federal requirements for lifting the charter school cap, here comes a different story in Education Week:

‘Race to Top’ Guidelines Stress Use of Test Data

By Michele McNeil

The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed guidelines for awarding $4 billion in Race to the Top money send a strong message that any state hoping to land a grant must allow student test scores to be used in decisions about teacher compensation and evaluation.

According to draft plans to be outlined by department officials on Friday, states would be judged on 19 education reform criteria, from how friendly their charter school climates are to whether they cut state K-12 funding this year.

But only two criteria would be absolute requirements: States must have been approved by the Education Department for stabilization funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (most already have been), and states must not have any laws in place barring the use of student-achievement data for evaluating teachers and principals.

States not meeting those two absolutes would be ineligible to compete for aid from the Race to the Top Fund, a small but highly coveted slice of some $100 billion in federal economic-stimulus aid for education. That policy could eliminate California and New York-big states with powerful congressional delegations and a lot of students, but with legal firewalls between student and teacher data.

Being able to link teacher and student data is “absolutely fundamental-it’s a building block,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview. “We believe great teachers matter tremendously. When you’re reluctant or scared to make that link, you do a grave disservice to the teaching profession and to our nation’s children.”

This absurdity — nay, this calumny! — from the guy who’s supposedly going to transform Christy Mihos from 2006′s comic relief to next year’s Charlie-slayer. Question for Christy Mihos: do you agree with “Dick” Morris that President Obama’s health plan is going to kill people?

I suspect everyone is getting sick of this and Bob, David, and others are well covering the notable press conference by the assorted Cambridge Police unions and their assorted lawyers, but there was one moment that really deserves extra attention and demands to be corrected.  I’ll try to stay focused…towards the end, Alan McDonald, lawyer for one of the unions, was chastising President Obama for putting this event, and people’s reaction to it, in the context of a history of maltreatment by minorities at the hands of law enforcement.  Attorney McDonald stated that while a history like that “was true in some localities, it isn’t true in Cambridge” and continued that it was “inappropriate” for the President to draw such a connection.

While much about this event is open to debate, a very quick search of old newspaper article reveals that on the question of race and the Cambridge PD, Attorney McDonald is either woefully uninformed or lying.

One truly bizarre happening immediately jumps out of the archives.  Less than ten years ago, Cambridge PD was actually teaching it’s recruits that people who like spicy foods, like Mexicans, or handle a lot of produce, like Mexicans, have an increased tolerance for pepper spray.  Sorry, THIS IS NOT A JOKE, from the Globe, August 13 1999:

CAMBRIDGE — Many doctors and law enforcement specialists say it sounds crazy. Nonetheless, police here assert that they instruct their officers that a potent anticrime weapon, pepper spray, is less effective against Mexican-Americans, Cajuns, and other ethnic groups, because of their fondness for spicy foods.

I’m going to the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony this weekend for the first time.  I have to go; I’ve been rooting for Jim Rice’s election since he was eligible, and I’ve witnessed Rickey Henderson’s career first-hand from start to finish.  There were a few years when I lived in the Bay Area and saw a lot of baseball games — mostly in Oakland — when both players’ careers and my experience of the time were intertwined.

Several of my close friends in San Francisco were Red Sox fans from Connecticut, so we saw the Red Sox whenever they came to Oakland Coliseum.  (I remember another game from that time in which Danny Ainge played third base for the Blue Jays, but that’s another story.)  I have my memories of Yaz (including his farewell tour) and Bob Stanley (at that time, when he came into the game with a lead, the Oakland fans could start heading for the exits), but I witnessed first-hand and will always remember the visceral fear Jim Rice created in his opponents and their fans when he came up to bat.  Then, when I moved to Mass. in 1986, I got to see it from the other side; Rice hit .324 that fabled year.  It’s all this, and not just his stats alone, that got Jim Rice into the Hall of Fame, as Yaz is quoted as pointing out in the excellent John Powers article in today’s Globe.

I see that Bob has just written a similar post.  But I was working on this when his went up, so I’m posting it anyway.  ;-) Around here, things seem to be going from bad to worse. Police unions today called on President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick to apologize to “all law enforcement personnel,” saying they “deeply resent the implication” of their comments about racial profiling and the arrest of an African-American scholar last week at his home near Harvard Square…. “As far as the president’s comments, the governor’s comments, and comments that I did not hear that our mayor made, I think when the time is right they should make an apology to us,” [union president Steve] Killian said. “I think the president should make an apology to all law enforcement personnel throughout the entire country, [they] took offense to this.” First, I don’t see why they are dragging the Governor into this.  Whatever one may think of Obama’s “acted stupidly” remark, the Gov’s comments have been measured and respectful, while also recognizing what Gates experienced.  Here’s the Gov: “In some ways this is every black man’s nightmare and a reality for many black men…. I guess I [...]

It’s pretty clear that James M. Crowley doesn’t like criticism. He assembled a group of fellow officers today and demanded that the President of the United States and the Governor of the Commonwealth apologize to him for criticizing his botched arrest of an innocent 58 year old man — who he knew was in his own home — that ended in a dismissal of all charges and a declaration by the Cambridge Police Department and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office that called the arrest “regrettable and unfortunate.” The next thing that will happen, if history is any guide, is that officer Crowley will remove his handcuffs from their protective case and administer a second warning to his critics. He will then proceed to arrest President Obama, Governor Patrick, and everyone else who has the effrontery to disagree with him, for disorderly conduct. Sowrya writes: “This is about police authority being challenged.” Tellingly, Alan J. MacDonald, a layer for one of the unions who spoke with Crowley, noted that the decision to dismiss the case “was a decision made without our input.” This, of course, is the way our criminal justice system works: arrest and prosecution are separated to reduce [...]

Jon Stewart, the most trusted newscaster in America, according to Time magazine, simultaneously eviscerates the birther movement, Republicans who back it, CNN, and the traditional media who have abdicated to The Daily Show: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Born Identity www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day From Daniel Kurtzman: Gov. Sanford is still trying to recover from his sex scandal. This is the latest. This weekend, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford wrote an editorial apologizing for his behavior. I’m not sure he’s sincere, though, because it starts out, ‘Dear Penthouse.’ –Conan O’Brien “On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, announced that the U.S. will send an additional 22,000 troops to Iraq to speed up the withdrawal effort. It’s all part of the Administration’s new exit strategy, ‘Reverse Psychology.’” –Jimmy Fallon “But the governor of South Carolina, Governor Sanford has lately been seen not wearing his wedding ring. And I was thinking, geez, I hope he didn’t lose it while he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Then he’ll never find it.” –David Letterman “I know where I’m going to go on my next break. I’m going to the [...]

Right after President Obama’s health care presser the other night, Chris Matthews predicted that Obama had “stepped on his headline” by venturing into the controversy still swirling around Gatesgate.  Initial results showed him to be right only around here.  But today, the national papers are getting more excited about Gates, and less excited about health care. Today’s NY Times has Gatesgate on page 1 above the fold, and health care down at the bottom.  And even the WaPo, the paper of record for the town in which the health care negotiations are actually happening, has the Gatesgate story on page 1, directly below the health care story.  (Click for larger images.)   Around here, needless to say, it’s all Gatesgate all the time — there’s hardly room on the front page for anything else.

Here’s my principal beef with this ongoing Friday morning press conference being held by the solid BLUE LINE regarding the arrest of Harvard’s Professor Gates.  They’ve decided that Governor Patrick owes an apology to the constabulary?  Are you absolutely kidding me?  I understand the beef with President Obama (though I agree with the president I would not have thrown out a form of the word stupid, or even gotten involved – as the president must maintain a distance from the quarrels of local life) but Governor Patrick has been measured and mature in his commentary and done nothing to be regretful for. This is about police authority being challenged – and they, the police, find it as distasteful as eating rotten fish cakes.  Police have developed a sense of entitlement and as a result citizens are dragged into jail every day of the week for paltry reason.  But the governor has been far from incendiary in this matter, and has yet to make any statement that should offend the hypersensitive solid BLUE LINE. The governor has been very gubernatorial throughout this event and proven a good demeanor throughout.  Maybe one of the reporters should have asked this question – “if [...]

Both Crowley and Gates are sociologically programmed to react in the ways they did. Bluntly, James Crowley comes out of a Anglo-Saxon, Irish background which has an established background of being unwelcoming to people of color. Remember,the leaders of anti-busing in South Boston – just to note one item. Perhaps, because they came to this county as immigrants with the ability to speak English the Irish felt superior to other immigrants or people who were ” not their kind.” In addition, the Ameircan Catholic Church over nearly two hundred years had never been welcoming to Black. So, there was not much of any comming together in worship which would have ameliorated some racial tensions. That being said, I don’t think Crowley is a racist. But I do think by culture and occupation he is wired to at least be more suspicious of Blacks and people of color even though it appears he has labored to counter that wiring. On the other hand, Henry Gates brings with his Black heritage and history of two centuries of measurable police crimes against Blacks. Gates’s reaction was probably as instinctual as Crowley’s. Not sure that his reaction was unwarranted but it may have been [...]