But when students at the Miramonte Elementary School in South Los Angeles return to school Thursday after a two-day break, they will be reentering a cheap burberry outlet 2012 scandal-rocked institution whose entire staff – from school head down to janitors – has been replaced.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administrators ordered the dramatic move at one of the largest elementary schools in the district – it has more than 1,000 students – in response to an investigation that followed the arrests of two teachers accused of lewd acts against multiple children.
Report: 15 cases where sex offenders got jobs at US schools
Outraged over the alleged sexual abuse, parents have demanded justice and accountability, and at least three lawsuits reportedly have been filed against the LAUSD, the second largest school district in the nation.
But anger is also brewing against the district’s remedy, with some education experts and parents saying that jettisoning everyone is too extreme.
Some 45 newly rehired teachers, drawn from a pool of recently laid-off LAUSD educators, face the unprecedented task of taking over the remainder of the school year with just two days of preparation. The school’s outgoing staff, who spent Tuesday and Wednesday briefing their replacements on lesson plans and packing their belongings, are being relocated to a school under construction where they will be interviewed and evaluated.
“It’s an over-reaction,” says Jack Jennings, founder and former CEO of the Center for Education Policy in Washington, of the top-to-bottom house-clearing. “It paints everyone with the same brush,” he says, adding that “there should be a more sophisticated response in which the people responsible should be held accountable and those who aren’t should not be implicated or labeled by association as wrongdoers.”
Situations involving children and sexual abuse are highly emotional, he notes, “so you can understand being swept away.” But, he points out that educators have a responsibility to display a calm, rational response.
“You are dealing with young kids, and obviously there appear to be people who were guilty, but you hope you could have meetings where emotions get spent out and everyone rationally tries to decide on the best course of action rather than simply throw everyone out.”
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy spent Monday meeting with teachers, parents, and then the press, where he explained that the investigation of such allegations would be disruptive and the staff would need support. He cautioned against stigmatizing the entire staff.
“You are dealing with young kids, and obviously there appear to be people who were guilty, but you hope you could have meetings where emotions get spent out and everyone rationally tries to decide on the best course of action rather than simply throw everyone out.”Burberry men shirts - designer long shirts, cheap short shirts sale.
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy spent Monday meeting with teachers, parents, and then the press, where he explained that the investigation of such allegations would be disruptive and the staff would need support. He cautioned against stigmatizing the entire staff.
“I am outraged, disgusted,” Mr. Deasy said, according to the local ABC affiliate. “I can’t have any more surprises at Miramonte, even though the police will do what they have to do. And if there are no more, thank God. We deal with the horror and the tragedy I have already. And if there are more, then we will have to deal with that.”
Many parents who object to the decision are organizing a petition to fight it. “They don’t want all the teachers to be removed because there are some very good teachers and the students get good grades with those teachers,” parent Armando Medel told KABC.
The strategy sets a bad example, says criminal defense attorney Christopher Leibig, who adds, “This sets a very negative precedent in terms of workplace fairness.” He says that the idea of one or two allegations resulting in an entire community being switched, “lacks balance. I would hope that in the interest of justice this would not stand.”
The need for the LAUSD to restore public confidence is extremely important, says Jolie Logan, CEO of Darkness to Light, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse. But, she adds, creating a public forum for addressing the issue of child sexual abuse is also important, as it can help prevent future incidents.
“LAUSD would be wise to follow the lead of other school districts nationwide,” she says via email, pointing to the South Carolina Department of Education, “which has pledged to train 100 percent of its teachers, administrators, staff, and workforce with specialized curriculum aimed at preventing child sexual abuse.”
To date, she notes, more than 50 percent of South Carolina teachers and staff have completed the training.
“LAUSD is yet another sordid example,” she says, following the recent scandals at Penn State and Syracuse, where the details of the allegations got discount burberry women coats for sale 2012 black blue more coverage than the solutions offered to prevent future abuses.
“Prevention education is the only way to bring about systemic change to end such abuse,” she says, adding that training “takes one of society’s most difficult subjects and brings it to a public forum, encouraging public dialogue. The more adults know about prevention, the more we talk openly, the better we are all prepared to protect kids.”
2012年2月8日星期三
2012年1月6日星期五
Christian Watford scored 25 points
Christian Watford scored 25 points, Cody Zeller had 18 and Zack Novak’s desperation heave bounced high off the backboard, sealing a 73-71 victory for No. 12 Indiana cheap burberry.
“We’re a tough group,” Novak said. “Even when we’d make runs, their crowd would get into it, try to hype their team back up which a lot of crowds don’t do. But I thought we did a good job of fighting through that, and I thought we stayed pretty poised for the environment we were in.”
No. 16 Michigan (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten) is 1-14 at Assembly Hall since 1996, but at least they had a chance in the latest meeting.
Despite never holding a lead, Tim Hardaway and Trey Burke scored all the points in a 13-3 run that tied the score at 68 with 3:02 to go. It was only the second tie of the game.
But the Wolverines didn’t score again until Stu Douglass’ 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left.
Hardaway finished with 19 points, Douglass had 11 and Burke had 10 points and eight assists.
It still wasn’t enough to break the Hoosiers’ hex.
“I’m really proud of our team, I thought they played really hard and did some of the things we needed to do to win,” Wolverines coach John Beilein said. “But we needed a couple more possessions or have a few possessions back. It didn’t go our way.”
The Hoosiers (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten) have won 11 straight at Assembly Hall, three times over ranked foes — their highest season total since beating four Top 25 teams in 2005-06. The 14 wins are already a season-best for Crean, who in his fourth season in Bloomington.
Watford has had a huge hand in the remarkable turnaround. Burberry sunglasses outlet, buy cheap burberry sunglasses 2012 online.
He hit the game-winning 3-pointer against No. 1 Kentucky in mid-December, sealed Saturday’s victory over No. 2 Ohio State with two free throws in the closing seconds and had the most complete game of his three-year career Thursday.
Watford led the Hoosiers with seven rebounds, was 8 of 11 from the field including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, made 6 of 8 free throws and had four assists. Zeller had 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Verdell Jones scored six of his eight points in the critical closing stretch for Indiana.
It impressed their toughest critic.
“I thought you had to recruit for grit and you had to recruit someone with grit,” coach Tom Crean said. “But I’ve learned with these guys that grit can be developed and grit can come out. Verdell Jones and Christian Watford are developing grit. And Cody Zeller came with it. They are playing with it.”
The Hoosiers had no choice on a treacherous night.
Indiana led by as many as 15 points late in the first half and seemed poised for a blowout until the Wolverines rallied within seven points at halftime. Michigan trimmed the lead to 44-43 early in the second half, and finally tied the score at 46 when Evan Smotrycz connected on a 3-pointer burberry bags cheap.
“We’re a tough group,” Novak said. “Even when we’d make runs, their crowd would get into it, try to hype their team back up which a lot of crowds don’t do. But I thought we did a good job of fighting through that, and I thought we stayed pretty poised for the environment we were in.”
No. 16 Michigan (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten) is 1-14 at Assembly Hall since 1996, but at least they had a chance in the latest meeting.
Despite never holding a lead, Tim Hardaway and Trey Burke scored all the points in a 13-3 run that tied the score at 68 with 3:02 to go. It was only the second tie of the game.
But the Wolverines didn’t score again until Stu Douglass’ 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left.
Hardaway finished with 19 points, Douglass had 11 and Burke had 10 points and eight assists.
It still wasn’t enough to break the Hoosiers’ hex.
“I’m really proud of our team, I thought they played really hard and did some of the things we needed to do to win,” Wolverines coach John Beilein said. “But we needed a couple more possessions or have a few possessions back. It didn’t go our way.”
The Hoosiers (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten) have won 11 straight at Assembly Hall, three times over ranked foes — their highest season total since beating four Top 25 teams in 2005-06. The 14 wins are already a season-best for Crean, who in his fourth season in Bloomington.
Watford has had a huge hand in the remarkable turnaround. Burberry sunglasses outlet, buy cheap burberry sunglasses 2012 online.
He hit the game-winning 3-pointer against No. 1 Kentucky in mid-December, sealed Saturday’s victory over No. 2 Ohio State with two free throws in the closing seconds and had the most complete game of his three-year career Thursday.
Watford led the Hoosiers with seven rebounds, was 8 of 11 from the field including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, made 6 of 8 free throws and had four assists. Zeller had 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Verdell Jones scored six of his eight points in the critical closing stretch for Indiana.
It impressed their toughest critic.
“I thought you had to recruit for grit and you had to recruit someone with grit,” coach Tom Crean said. “But I’ve learned with these guys that grit can be developed and grit can come out. Verdell Jones and Christian Watford are developing grit. And Cody Zeller came with it. They are playing with it.”
The Hoosiers had no choice on a treacherous night.
Indiana led by as many as 15 points late in the first half and seemed poised for a blowout until the Wolverines rallied within seven points at halftime. Michigan trimmed the lead to 44-43 early in the second half, and finally tied the score at 46 when Evan Smotrycz connected on a 3-pointer burberry bags cheap.
2012年1月5日星期四
Well what about three men?
“I’m surprised I got a gay marriage question at a college crowd; really that’s a shock to me,” he joked.
For the most part, his audience was booing, not laughing. Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.
The issue sparked what was, at several points over the course of an almost hour-long question and answer session, a contentious back and forth between Santorum and New Hampshire college students on social issues.
“Well what about three men?,” Santorum responded to a female student who asked him about his position on gay marriage. “If reason says that if you think it’s OK for two, then you have to differentiate with me as to why it’s not okay for three.”
Santorum initially welcomed the exchanges with several students. Then he tried to move on to other subjects as the audience interrupted and cheered the questioners rather than the candidate. The former Pennsylvania senator said he welcomed the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage because it was decided by the legislature.
Defending Marriage
Still, he defended his position to keep marriage a union between a man and a woman: “Because I believe we are made the way God made man and woman and man and woman come together to have a union to produce children which keeps civilization going and provide the best environment for children to be raised,” Santorum said. “I think that is something society should value and should give privileged status over a group of people who want to have a relationship together.”
The reception was an anomaly of sorts for Santorum, who arrived in New Hampshire last night to large and receptive crowds fresh off his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
At his other events today, Santorum connected with his audiences, focusing on his economic prescriptions and his personal narrative of coming from a Catholic, working-class family with immigrant grandparents. So, it seemed an odd choice to address a crowd of students speaking about American exceptionalism and focusing on conservative social values.
Medical Marijuana
About 40 minutes into the questions, the audience clapped when another student asked Santorum whether, as president, he would allow state gay marriage and medical marijuana laws to operate without federal government interference.
“I don’t believe that we can have 50 definitions of marriage,” Santorum said. “Just to say that we should have 50 definitions of what life is. I don’t think that works either. I think there are certain things that are essential elements of society upon which society rests that we have to have a consensus cheapburberryoutlet2012.”
Pressed on his stance on medical marijuana, Santorum mistakenly identified the drug as a narcotic before being corrected by the audience.
“I don’t know my medical marijuana laws very well,” he joked. Still, he called the drug a hazard to society, and when someone shouted a question asking him how he formed that opinion, Santorum said: “I form that opinion from my own life experiences and having experiences, I went to college, too.”
The reference to what he may or may not have done during his days at Pennsylvania State University didn’t quell the majority of those in the audience, whose boos trumped any applause Santorum received at the end.
For the most part, his audience was booing, not laughing. Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.
The issue sparked what was, at several points over the course of an almost hour-long question and answer session, a contentious back and forth between Santorum and New Hampshire college students on social issues.
“Well what about three men?,” Santorum responded to a female student who asked him about his position on gay marriage. “If reason says that if you think it’s OK for two, then you have to differentiate with me as to why it’s not okay for three.”
Santorum initially welcomed the exchanges with several students. Then he tried to move on to other subjects as the audience interrupted and cheered the questioners rather than the candidate. The former Pennsylvania senator said he welcomed the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage because it was decided by the legislature.
Defending Marriage
Still, he defended his position to keep marriage a union between a man and a woman: “Because I believe we are made the way God made man and woman and man and woman come together to have a union to produce children which keeps civilization going and provide the best environment for children to be raised,” Santorum said. “I think that is something society should value and should give privileged status over a group of people who want to have a relationship together.”
The reception was an anomaly of sorts for Santorum, who arrived in New Hampshire last night to large and receptive crowds fresh off his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
At his other events today, Santorum connected with his audiences, focusing on his economic prescriptions and his personal narrative of coming from a Catholic, working-class family with immigrant grandparents. So, it seemed an odd choice to address a crowd of students speaking about American exceptionalism and focusing on conservative social values.
Medical Marijuana
About 40 minutes into the questions, the audience clapped when another student asked Santorum whether, as president, he would allow state gay marriage and medical marijuana laws to operate without federal government interference.
“I don’t believe that we can have 50 definitions of marriage,” Santorum said. “Just to say that we should have 50 definitions of what life is. I don’t think that works either. I think there are certain things that are essential elements of society upon which society rests that we have to have a consensus cheapburberryoutlet2012.”
Pressed on his stance on medical marijuana, Santorum mistakenly identified the drug as a narcotic before being corrected by the audience.
“I don’t know my medical marijuana laws very well,” he joked. Still, he called the drug a hazard to society, and when someone shouted a question asking him how he formed that opinion, Santorum said: “I form that opinion from my own life experiences and having experiences, I went to college, too.”
The reference to what he may or may not have done during his days at Pennsylvania State University didn’t quell the majority of those in the audience, whose boos trumped any applause Santorum received at the end.
2012年1月4日星期三
The mission of the observers
The league said on Tuesday that it would send more monitors to Syria to shore up its heavily criticized mission. In a statement, Adnan Khudair, the chief of the observers’ operations room, said that 50 more monitors would be sent to Syria by the end of the week, to join the 60 who are already there. Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.
The mission of the observers is to ensure that the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad lives up to its promises, including to withdraw troops from cities and to release political prisoners.
But Syrian activists say that at least 150 people have been killed in the country since the observers started their work a week ago. The activists argue that the Arab League monitoring effort is far too small to be effective; hundreds or perhaps thousands of observers would be needed, they say.
Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France issued a new call on Tuesday for Mr. Assad to step down because of massacres carried out by his government, The Associated Press reported. The killings “rightly arouse disgust,” said Mr. Sarkozy, who in August joined other Western powers in asking Mr. Assad to “step aside.”
Opposition activists in Hama said that government troops opened fire on a demonstration there on Tuesday.
The Arab League recently set up an office in Hama to hear complaints from citizens, but an activist who uses the name Abu Faysal said: “Frankly, who dares go there? It’s completely controlled by government people; there are bodyguards downstairs searching people.”
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that “the Syrian regime has not lived up to the full spectrum of commitments that it made to the Arab League when it accepted its proposal some nine weeks ago,” and noted that “the violence hasn’t stopped — far from it,” Reuters reported.
Some of the recent violence has stemmed from clashes between security forces and army defectors, or ambushes of government troops by armed rebels www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com.
On Tuesday, Col. Riad al-As’aad, the leader of an opposition militia, the Free Syrian Army, said that his group might soon intensify its attacks because the Arab League observer mission had proved ineffective.
“Thugs and security people are escorting them all the time,” Colonel As’aad said. “We haven’t seen snipers leaving the roofs of buildings. The killing has increased with the presence of the observers.”
The mission of the observers is to ensure that the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad lives up to its promises, including to withdraw troops from cities and to release political prisoners.
But Syrian activists say that at least 150 people have been killed in the country since the observers started their work a week ago. The activists argue that the Arab League monitoring effort is far too small to be effective; hundreds or perhaps thousands of observers would be needed, they say.
Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France issued a new call on Tuesday for Mr. Assad to step down because of massacres carried out by his government, The Associated Press reported. The killings “rightly arouse disgust,” said Mr. Sarkozy, who in August joined other Western powers in asking Mr. Assad to “step aside.”
Opposition activists in Hama said that government troops opened fire on a demonstration there on Tuesday.
The Arab League recently set up an office in Hama to hear complaints from citizens, but an activist who uses the name Abu Faysal said: “Frankly, who dares go there? It’s completely controlled by government people; there are bodyguards downstairs searching people.”
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that “the Syrian regime has not lived up to the full spectrum of commitments that it made to the Arab League when it accepted its proposal some nine weeks ago,” and noted that “the violence hasn’t stopped — far from it,” Reuters reported.
Some of the recent violence has stemmed from clashes between security forces and army defectors, or ambushes of government troops by armed rebels www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com.
On Tuesday, Col. Riad al-As’aad, the leader of an opposition militia, the Free Syrian Army, said that his group might soon intensify its attacks because the Arab League observer mission had proved ineffective.
“Thugs and security people are escorting them all the time,” Colonel As’aad said. “We haven’t seen snipers leaving the roofs of buildings. The killing has increased with the presence of the observers.”
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