--- Monday --- November 11, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 85 --- D #### ##### #### ### #### #### ##### ### #### #### A ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## I #### #### #### ## ## #### ## ## ##### #### ## ## L ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## Y ## ## ##### ## ### ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## #### THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS A service of the National Education Goals Panel __________ __________ "THE MERCANTILE JUGGERNAUT" | SPOTLIGHT | ". . . is engulfing much of | | public education," writes | INSTANT PROGRESS | George Kaplan in a special PHI | | DELTA KAPPAN Special Report. | Arnold Pinkney wants | Kaplan is not only referring | "instant progress" in | to Channel One commercials, or | Cleveland schools. Pinkney | company logos on textbook | was the campaign manager | covers. He points to the | for the city's 13.5-mill | "crazy-quilt nature" of the | school levy that last week | school/business partnership, | won strong voter approval. | which runs the gamut of | "The changes in test scores | "sterling" examples of altruism | have to occur immediately. | to what he considers to be less | Safety in the schools has | positive relationships. | to occur," he said after | Kaplan gives examples of how | the vote. | business values shape the | | attitudes of schoolchildren. | Is Pinkney setting the | Yet, he concedes that "serious | schools up for failure by | inquiry into stepped-up | demanding immediate | commercialism in the schools is | improvement? Can any | episodic or nonexistent." Only | school system, even with | the "great adventures" of EAI | sufficient funds, do what | and the Edison Project grabbed | it takes to turn the | media headlines. His | schools around overnight? | recommendation: don't ban | | business, but teach children | The PLAIN DEALER points | not to become "gluttonous, | out that since levy funds | unthinking consumers." | won't be collected until | Reprints of PDK's Special | Jan., many ed reforms won't | Reports are available by | even go into effect until | calling 800/766-1156. Fifty | next school year. Can | copies cost $15.00, 100 copies | voters and Pinkney wait | cost $25.00, plus $3.00 | that long? (#5) | shipping and handling. |_____________________________| ============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ============== "There is a difference between flirting and hurting." -- Brooks Burdette, a lawyer representing Eve Bruneau in her peer- harassment lawsuit against South Kortright Central School. (#1) _______________________________________________________________ | A service of the National Education Goals Panel | | Published by the Education Policy Network | | 1255 22nd Street NW; Wash, D.C.; 20037; 202/632-0952 | | The DRC hereby authorizes further reproduction and | | distribution with proper acknowledgement. | | Publisher: Barbara A. Pape | Staff Writer: Rosemary Polanco | |_______________________________________________________________| ============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ============== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE SEEKING JUSTICE: N.Y. peer-harassment suit goes to court.(#1) PROMISING PRACTICES ONE WAY TO CONTROL OVERCROWDING: Link schools to growth. (#2) ELECTION '96 APPOINTED WINS: School board stays under mayor's wing. (#3) ANOTHER OPTION: Ga. voters say schools can use sales tax. (#4) THE PRESSURE IS ON: Cleveland wins school levy. (#5) ===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE ===== *1 SEEKING JUSTICE: N.Y. PEER-HARASSMENT LAWSUIT GOES TO COURT Eve Bruneau's lawsuit, which alleges that South Kortright Central School officials failed to protect her from peer sexual harassment, goes to federal court today (AP/DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/3). Eve's grades dropped and she became depressed as a result of the alleged harassment. Since then, she moved to a private boarding school, where she is back to being an A student. "The fact that it hurt the girls a lot and silenced them and prevented them from participating in the academic program wasn't recognized by the school, "said Eve's attorney, City U of New York law professor Merrick Rossein. The suit claims that boys in Bruneau's sixth-grade class called Eve and other girls "dog-faced bitch," stuffed paper down their blouses, cut girls hair and grabbed another girl's breasts." Brooks Burdette, another lawyer for Eve, said "There is a difference between flirting and hurting." She added: "What happened in our case was systematic. It was a lot more than childhood horseplay." However, some residents of South Kortright, which is located 60 miles south of Albany, signed a petition supporting the school system. From the petition: "An 11- or 12-year-old child can not deliberately and-or intentionally commit acts of sexual harassment. We taxpayers believe that it is WE who are really getting harassed." The paper reports that Eve's case could be the first federal peer-harassment lawsuit to go to trial seeking punitive damages. A case tried under Calif. state law earlier this year awarded a girl $500,000 in damages. ==== PROMISING PRACTICES ==== *2 ONE WAY TO CONTROL OVERCROWDING: LINK SCHOOLS TO GROWTH Orlando County, Fla., school and county officials have proposed imposing on schools the same growth-management restrictions that currently apply to roads, water and sewers, writes the Orlando SENTINEL (Lancaster, 11/2). They argue that a growth plan that allows them to halt new construction when schools become crowded will ameliorate an unbearable overcrowding problem. According to the paper, 80% of the county schools are over capacity this year. Broward County is attempting to place its school system under the growth regulations, which is called concurrency. Palm Beach also is debating a similar growth- management policy for its schools, reports the paper. "There is enough attention and concern about this that we should move toward that goal," said Orlando County Chairwoman Linda Chapin. However, local developers are protesting any attempt to stop development. Some charge that a restricted-growth policy is not the solution to the school problem. "Even if they put us out of business, it's not going to solve the problem," said Tony Martin, a local developer and chairman of an education committee for the Home Builders Association of Mid-Florida. "The problem is in the [school] administration." Other developers complain of fees they already pay -- $7,000 per new house -- for water and sewer hookups, and "impact fees for schools and other county services," writes the paper. The SENTINEL notes that even if developers pay higher fees to build schools, the school district might not have the funds to run the schools. School officials estimate that the district will need $3.2B for new schools, repairs and expansions by the year 2005. State revenue and impact fees will cover only $1.1B of that cost, according to a draft proposal submitted by county and school officials. The proposal also claims the school system will need 27 more schools by 2005, including 18 elementary schools, six middle schools and three high schools. The county and school board are planning public hearings on the proposal during the upcoming months. County officials intend to send the plan to state officials early next year, reports the paper. ==== ELECTION '96 ==== *3 APPOINTED WINS: BOSTON SCHOOL BOARD STAYS UNDER MAYOR'S WING Seventy percent of Boston citizens who voted on a school referendum last week favored an appointed school board (Cornell adn Estes, BOSTON HERALD, 11/7). After the vote, school committee member Elizabeth Reilinger acknowledged that it is essential for board members to "figure out how to make it easier for people to get access to us." Gaining access is one of the key points used by those who favored an elected board. "I'd say this is the yuppies versus the poor folks," said Bob Marshall, a Million Man March campaigner for the elected school committee. "The people who have an alternative -- who live outside the city or can send their kids to other schools -- they support the appointed committee. The people who have no alternative want the vote." In an earlier article, the HERALD reported on the forging of new coalitions that emerged over the battle of the school board. For over a year, the city has been debating whether to have an appointed or elected school board. According to the paper, men from last fall's Million Man March and other black leaders in Roxbury and Mattapan "have found common ground with whites from South Boston who feel disenfranchised," writes the paper (Cornell, 11/4). On the other side, business and key educators signaled that if an elected board was the victor, they would begin to withdraw their support for the schools. "We won't b supporting the schools if it's an elected school committee," said Bill Boyan, head of John Hancock Financial Services. "Businesses like to see their money used effectively. We don't think that will happen under the elected committee." Some observers predicted that school Superintendent Thomas Payzant, who did not publicly commit one way or the other on the school committee referendum, would be forced to leave his post if an elected committee won. "He's always said he came here because everything is stable," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D). "If it goes back to the elected school committee, he won't have that anymore." Other educators said the landslide vote could turn into stronger support for the schools. "It's a ripe moment for public engagement," said Mary Ann Cohen, associate director of the Boston Plan for Excellence. "It's time for a big conversation across the city." A HERALD editorial praises Menino's efforts on behalf of an appointed board, which makes him accountable for the schools. ". . . he has staked his own political future on it, and that's a gutsy thing to do," writes the paper. *4 ANOTHER OPTION: GA. VOTERS SAY SCHOOLS CAN USE SALES TAX Ga. citizens voted in favor of Amendment 2, which would allow school boards to seek voter approval for a 1% sales tax to build new schools or pay off debt (White, ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION, 11/6). The vote in favor of amending the state constitution would give school boards the option to use sales taxes, not just property taxes, to fund school construction, writes the paper. "A lot of people understand that we need an alternative source of revenue for education, and particularly for school construction, " said Cobb County PTA leader Cathy Henson. "If you hear one common complaint from parents it's about classes being overcrowded, and there's no way to reduce class size if you don't have classrooms to put those classes in." According to the paper, the amendment was supported by both "die-hard" Democrats and "die-hard" Republicans. Many restrictions apply to the use of the sales tax for school construction. From the paper: "Before a countywide 1 percent tax could be enacted, the school board would have to specify which projects it would fund and how much money it planed to raise." The next step: voters must approve the tax. And the tax would last only five years or until the "designated amount of money was raised, whichever came first," writes the paper. Restrictions also apply to the type of project covered by the funds. The paper reports that only school construction, renovation, technology or the retirement of past debts for those capital costs are allowed to be covered by sales tax revenue. *5 THE PRESSURE IS ON: CLEVELAND WINS SCHOOL LEVY Cleveland voters last week approved the 13.5-mill school levy "by a margin that even the campaign's wildest optimists could not have hoped for" -- 54-46 percent margin, reports the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER (Oritz, Stephens and Lane, 11/7). "The majority of people who voted for [the levy] said, 'We're going to give you a chance,'" said levy campaign manager Arnold Pinkney. "We can't fail them this time. The changes in test scores have to occur immediately. Safety in the schools has to occur. There has to be instant progress." Cleveland Mayor Michael White agreed. "We don't have any excuse now. We've got to do exactly what we promised without any excuse whatsoever." The paper concedes that the going may be tougher than Pinkney and White think. The levy is expected to raise about $100M in an 18-month period beginning in January. About two- thirds of the funds are targeted for education, including full=- day kindergarten, textbooks and security guards. The remaining funds will be directed to the system's general expenses and to help reduce the district's "mounting debt load," writes the paper. However, only a few of the programs will begin immediately since the money will not be collected until January. Most of the programs will be phased in during the 1997-1998 school year, notes the paper. It is possible that soon the district again will be short of cash and forced to seek another levy, according to some officials. School officials also project that the levy will cost the owner of an average Cleveland home slightly more than $200 annually. A citizens advisory panel, appointed by White and School Superintendent Richard Boyd, and a financial oversight commission will oversee the spending of the levy proceeds, reports the paper. The financial commission will have the final say on all district spending. State Auditor Jim Petro declared the district, which has been taken over by the state, to be in fiscal crisis. Levy funds will help the district restructure its $152M debt, "now due over two years, into a more manageable 10-year payment," explained Gilman King, the district's chief administrative officer. The passage of the levy also will enable the district to borrow money. Rep. William Batchelder (R), deputy to the House speaker, said the Republican-ruled Legislature will be more willing to help Cleveland schools since the residents so strongly supported the levy. "Clearly there's going to be a good feeling about the district that flat-out had not been there before," he said. Batchelder added that the Legislature could help by sending Cleveland more operating money and capital-improvement funds. However, Batchelder was clear that the levy vote "will not affect the Mike White situation. . . . We want to put that district back in local hands as soon as possible." White is interested in having the schools placed under his wing, similar to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's situation. White conceded that although the school district now has the money, there are "a lot of problems, a lot of things broken in the Cleveland public school system that money can't fix." However, he added that he is confident the schools will get the job done.