Category: Heidi Taylor
High Stakes and Graduation – The MCAS Struggle
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—”Dad?” Nina Ward, a high school junior in Massachusetts recently asked her father, Larry. “So if I take the test now and pass it, do I still have to go to school?”
As Larry Ward knows, the real question is this: If his daughter fails the test next year, will she be allowed to graduate from high school and go on to college?
The exam in question is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test that high school seniors must pass before they can receive their diplomas.
This year, the first in which the test was linked to graduation, 6,000 students across the states stand to be denied diplomas. By law, the students cannot graduate even if they have fulfilled all local requirements for graduation.
In a debate that is being carried on nationally as well as in the Bay State, proponents of testing say that students must be tested to assure that they have the skills necessary for success after school.
Critics, including Ward, a coordinator for the Massachusetts Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education, counter that tying graduation to a single test does not raise educational standards or demonstrate a student’s real knowledge.
The controversy over MCAS has been heating up the past few months as school committees in Newburyport and several other school districts voted to issue diplomas to students who have fulfilled local requirements, even if they fail the MCAS test.
Gloucester and other district school committees, though they have not gone that far, say they reserve the right to issue diplomas to deserving students if the state’s Department of Education turns down students’ appeals.
Several students from districts statewide filed a class-action lawsuit against the state in January that contends the graduation requirement is illegal. A state court refused to issue an injunction to block the testing requirement, and the case is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in mid-May.
The 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act was passed years before President Bush signed the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. While they differ in many respects, both the state and federal laws share the goal of education reform and offer similar strategies to reach that goal.
The federal law mandates that all students be tested, that schools and teachers be held accountable for student progress, that teachers be better qualified than they were in the past and that parents be given the right to play bigger roles in their children’s education.
The No Child Left Behind law requires that every state set clear and high standards for what students in each grade should know in the core academic subjects of reading, math and science. It further requires states to measure progress toward the standards by testing elementary and secondary school students in many grades.
If schools cannot demonstrate that their students are making headway, they will be required to pay for tutoring and to give parents the option to transfer their children to better-performing schools. Ultimately, schools could face state takeover if they show no improvement.
In Massachusetts, the MCAS tests were developed to raise academic standards. The law requires students to take the tests in grades 3 through 8 and grade 10. Most important, to graduate, seniors beginning this year must have received scores high enough to demonstrate their competence in both English and math.
While even detractors don’t deny that testing is a legitimate way to measure student and school progress, the Bush administration and the Massachusetts Department of Education have kicked the importance of the tests up a notch by attaching stakes to the results. Along with many education experts, they say that attaching stakes, such as the graduation requirement, make the tests more significant to the students and the schools.
“Stakes associated with tests are what makes performance matter,” said Paul Reville, a lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and chairman of the Massachusetts Education Reform Review Commission. Now, he said, “it actually matters whether or not they learn.”
But critics of standardized tests argue that the stakes attached to the test results unfairly punish students who have not been adequately prepared because, for example, their schools’ curricula and textbooks don’t match the test.
“Other indications, I think, ought to be included,” said Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem. “There is more to being a graduate of high school than just taking a test.”
In Newburyport, the school committee voted to issue diplomas to seniors who flunk the test, saying that graduation decisions should be made not at the state level by a standardized test but locally by teachers and administrators who know the students and can assess their knowledge more fairly.
“We feel it is the right thing to do,” said Mary-Ann Clancy, a member of the Newburyport school committee. “As of now, we voted unanimously to issue a diploma,” she said, adding that the committee is awaiting the outcome of the MCAS lawsuit.
The Gloucester school committee’s policy is more ambiguous. Chairman Michael Faherty said eight Gloucester students who have met the local requirements and who would otherwise graduate may not receive diplomas because of their low MCAS scores.
“It is a sticky situation,” Faherty said. “The policy which we adopted three weeks ago was to encourage the administration to file appeals to the state” on behalf of those students the administration feels deserve to graduate, Faherty said. He added that of the eight, several scored 218 on the math and English sections, just two points shy of the passing mark.
“We also reserve the right,” Faherty said, “to award a diploma if we feel that is justified.”
But Gloucester, he said, is clearly not in the same category as Newburyport because the Gloucester school committee has not voted to give diplomas to all students who have met local requirements. A student who, for example, missed 35 days of school, scored 200 on the MCAS test and took part in no other school activities probably doesn’t deserve to graduate even if he or she met minimum local requirements, Faherty said.
“It’s a different kettle of fish,” he said, adding that the committee decided, “You can’t have an iron-clad rule.”
If it had such a rule, he asked, what incentive would students have to try hard on the test? Furthermore, he said, even if he may not agree with every aspect of the test, “nonetheless, it has been adopted as the standard.”
State Department of Education officials said it would be illegal for any district to issue diplomas to students who fail the MCAS test, adding that the law is designed to help students who aren’t meeting the state standard.
“These districts are essentially saying that they’re going to break the law,” Education Department spokeswoman Heidi Perlman said. Regardless of how school committee members feel about it, they must follow this law, “just like they have to stop for red lights.”
During the summer, the department will check to ensure that all diplomas were given out legally, and the repercussions for districts that broke the law could be very harsh, Perlman said. Cases could be turned over to the attorney general, she said, adding that it’s more likely districts would lose some state funding.
With states across the country facing major budget shortfalls, that is no toothless threat.
For now, the state and districts are waiting to see what happens with the MCAS lawsuit, set to be heard May 15 by U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor. In state court, Judge Margot Botsford denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, holding that such an order would be detrimental to education reform.
Nadine Cohen, one of the attorneys representing the students, said the lawsuit charges that students are being denied due process because they were not taught all the material tested on the exam.
“It really puts a stigma on the students,” Cohen said, noting that the eight students who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit have asked for anonymity. She added that because it is a class-action suit, the eight are really representing all students in the class of 2003.
Although standardized testing has a long history in this country — it first was used by the U.S. Army for recruitment in World War I — many now question whether too much weight is being placed on testing and not enough on learning.
State Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, who has opposed using the MCAS results as a graduation requirement, argues that students from poor families, minorities and those with difficult home lives often do worse on the tests and suffer greater adverse consequences if they fail than do students from affluent homes.
For example, 90 percent of all students in the class of 2003 have passed the MCAS test. That compares to only 75 percent of African-Americans, 70 percent of Latinos, 67 percent of those with limited English proficiency and 69 percent of those with disabilities.
Ward, of the Massachusetts Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education, said he recognizes that testing is necessary to gauge student progress in such things as reading and math, but insists that the MCAS test should be used as a diagnostic tool to help improve schools rather than as the high-stakes test it is now.
“It is just bizarre to require that students go through 13 years of school but then boil the outcome down to one test,” he said, adding that the Department of Education has overstepped its mandate on this issue. He accused state officials of using the test “to flunk kids out of school.”
But Perlman said that from the beginning, the plan was to attach stakes, based on certain criteria, to the test. Students are now “required to meet those standards to get a diploma,” she added.
Without the tough requirements, high standards and stakes, supporters of the tests say, schools would be doing students a disservice by allowing them to pass through the educational system without the proper skills and knowledge needed for success later in life.
“I support the test because it’s the best tool available to us for achieving the twin goals of equity and excellence” in education, Harvard’s Reville said. “This reform is not about tests,” which are only one instrument in the broader goal of education reform. “It is about high standards for all students.”
Still, some teachers say the reform may not be producing higher teaching standards. A national survey of more than 4,000 teachers conducted by the National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy (NBETPP), an independent monitoring system at Boston College, reported that a large majority felt “there is so much pressure for high scores on the state-mandated test that they have little time to teach anything not covered on the test.”
A majority of the teachers also said that state-testing programs had “led them to teach in ways that contradict their ideas of sound instructional practices.” And 40 percent responded that in high-stakes states like Massachusetts, their teaching was affected on a daily basis.
“Of course” teachers feel pressured to teach to the test, said Laura Barrett, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “So much is determined by the results.” But, she added, “most teachers try to resist this and do what is educationally sound.”
The problem, Barrett said, is that the results matter so much. “A child’s future should not be decided based on a single test.” Nevertheless, she added, the MCAS tests can be used successfully as diagnostic tools to measure progress.
The nationwide survey of teachers also included interviews with 360 teachers and administrators in Kansas, Massachusetts and Michigan who, though critical of the tests, also noted some positive outcomes of tougher assessment systems. They said tough new standards have helped them to replace unneeded content with better material and to put a renewed emphasis on writing, critical thinking skills, discussion and explanation.
“Generally, the concern with high-stakes, no-passing-without-MCAS is that people will be denied advancement,” Rep. Tierney said. He said such things as college enrollment and financial aid should not be out of reach for students who haven’t passed the MCAS test. But he also said he recognized the importance of the tests to education reform.
“I intend to keep pushing forward with those issues,” he said, adding that he would like state education commissioner David Driscoll to remain involved in helping students who fail the test with such things as financial aid options.
The department has said that it does have those students in mind. “It is imperative that they know we have not given up on them and do not intend do,” Driscoll said in a March press release that laid out the department’s plan for helping students who have not passed.
Students have the option of going through an appeals process for graduation, and if that is unsuccessful, they can take the test again in May and in August. And as long as they fulfill local requirements, they can participate in graduation ceremonies and receive certificates of attainment.
The department is also offering a host of other options, including summer work and learning programs — which will allow students to get tutoring in the mornings and get paid to work in the afternoons — career centers that will help students decide on their next steps and remedial community college courses that would allow students to study for the MCAS.
And, Perlman said, things could change depending on the outcome of the federal lawsuit.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Democrats Meet to Discuss Their Presidential Agendas
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—Although they came to discuss children's issues, the nine candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination-who made their first joint appearance in Washington last night-were first asked to listen to some choice leadership advice.
Nicky, a fourth grader from Charlotte, North Carolina advised the Democratic hopefuls that power is the strength to do the right thing. "And when you make a mistake," she added, "admit it."
Oscar, also a fourth grader from North Carolina said that "A leader acts responsible and fair, and he shows justice."
The forum, sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, a non-profit advocacy group that says President Bush is not living up to his promise to leave no child behind, offered candidates the chance to introduce their campaign agendas and their ideas on children's issues. But first, moderator Judy Woodruff of CNN asked each to touch on the war in Iraq-the issue, perhaps, that divides the candidates most noticeably.
Four, including Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn, supported the war and defended their positions. With Saddam Hussein's regime all but toppled last night and news stations airing footage of Iraqis cheering in the streets, the candidates said that, as a great and powerful nation, the United States did have the responsibility to liberate the people of Iraq from tyranny.
However, not one commended Bush's tactics.
"I voted for the resolution to provide the President with the credible threat-force which I believe the President has to have," Kerry said, but added that he had presumed that Bush would respect multilateral institutions like the United Nations and would work with the world rather than going it alone.
But with the United States alone funding the now $80 billion dollar war, and with only American and British troops in the battle, Kerry said, "I have been very critical of the way this administration went at it."
Although the forum was meant to focus on children's issues, the panel of journalists had many hard-ball questions for the candidates, asking them to discuss topics ranging from abortion to affirmative action.
Asked about his controversial pledge this week that, as president, he would nominate only supporters of abortion rights to the Supreme Court, Kerry responded that he believes that women in this country have the constitutional right to privacy.
"Women have the right to make that critical, painful, and difficult decision," Kerry said, adding, "and the government has no business intervening in it."
Among the many topics, there was one area of agreement between the candidates: Americans in general, and Democrats especially, must be willing to open a dialogue on race relations.
Asked to comment what they would do as president if the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in the University of Michigan case they are now hearing, Kerry responded that the matter at hand is the "greatest unresolved issue" in the country. He promised, as did the Reverend Al Sharpton and former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun-the two African American candidates running-as well as all the other candidates, that he would restore affirmative action if he became President.
At the end of the evening, as the candidates made their closing remarks focusing mostly on children, Lieberman caught the crowd's attention when he said that although many in this nation think it will be impossible for a Democrat to beat Bush in the 2004 presidential election, he knows otherwise. "Because," he said, "I did it with Al Gore in 2000."
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Gasoline Prices Expected to Decline, But Are Still Higher Than Last Year
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—There was some good news and some not-so-good news Tuesday as the Energy Information Administration announced its forecast for summer gasoline prices.
The good news: motorists may already have paid the highest prices for gas this year when the national average hit $1.73 per gallon in March.
The bad news: the national average price per gallon this summer is expected to be $1.56, nearly 20 cents more than it was last summer.
Still, the forecast from the Energy Information Administration was unexpectedly optimistic. Despite nationwide fears that the war in Iraq and the recent political turmoil in Venezuela would lead to gas shortages and price hikes, EIA officials said they expect gasoline prices to continue dropping throughout the summer.
With prices down to an average of $1.63 this week, officials forecast that gas would cost about the same amount this summer as it did in the summers of 2000 and 2001. The $1.56 per gallon average price forecast for this summer is nowhere near the record of $2.77 (adjusted for inflation) that motorists paid in the summer of 1980.
Guy Caruso, the EIA's administrator, warned, however, that high crude oil costs, low motor gasoline inventories and growing demand-expected to increase by 1.6 percent this summer-mean gas prices may rise above those forecast. And some parts of the country are expected to see much higher prices. California may be hit particularly hard because it is implementing a ban on the gas additive MTBE, which was polluting groundwater, and replacing it with pricier ethanol, Caruso said.
"We've got an uphill battle to meet the inventory requirements," Caruso said. He added that while he didn't expect Iraq to resume oil exports for some months, other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had increased their outputs, which was helping to hold down prices.
On a local level, Jeff Worthley, the economic development manger for the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, said that although he didn't expect high gas prices to reduce tourism, visitors would have less money to spend on local activities and at local shops.
Worthley said that in the past five years, an average of 65,000 people visited Cape Ann each summer, regardless of gas prices. He added that after Sept. 11, 2001, many people prefer to drive rather than to fly.
"The impact of high gas prices is that people have $10 or $20 less in their pockets" once they get to Cape Ann, Worthley said, adding "so they have that much less to spend while they're here."
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Kerry’s Presidential Campaign Shapes Up with Heavy Fundraising
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—With less than 600 days until the next presidential election, the Democratic field is filling with contenders in what promises to be a crowded race for the party's bid. And while several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls boast big names, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry has positioned himself near the top-of the fundraising race at least.
According to reports filed to the Federal Election Commission in January detailing his fundraising efforts in the 2001-02 cycle, Kerry raised nearly $3.2 million, and had over $3 million cash on hand in his presidential campaign account as of December 31, 2002. He also reported $20,000 in his political action committee, Citizen Soldier Fund.
Kerry has been aggressive in his fundraising efforts since the beginning of this year as well, wooing Iowa Democrats for the Iowa caucuses-the first in the nation-which have proven to be crucial in the presidential campaign process, and holding major fundraisers in Boston and New York recently, raising over $2 million in Boston and half that in New York.
As of the year-end FEC filing, Kerry's closest competitor in fundraising was Rep. Richard Gephardt, MO, who reported nearly $1 million less, with $2.4 million cash on hand from his House campaign account, which he will transfer to his presidential campaign account.
In spite of Kerry's fundraising success however, the crowd of Democratic contenders may be heard sighing in relief, as it appears unlikely that he will tap into the nearly $6 million family fortune he shares with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry. Using that money, many strategists believe, would put Kerry at an advantage over his rivals.
His wife since 1995, Heinz Kerry inherited her late husband Sen. John Heinz's ketchup fortune in 1991 when he died in a plane crash. But Kerry has said time and again that his wife's money is his wife's money, and that he is planning to run on his own initiative, as he has in the past.
Kerry has long been a proponent of legitimate fundraising that the people of the country can be involved in, arguing as a Senator for public funding of campaigns. In his four Senate runs in fact, Kerry relied very minimally on political action committee contributions, garnering most of his money-98 percent in his 2002 Senate campaign according to The Center for Responsive Politics-from individual contributors.
But choosing public financing for the primary campaign would set spending limits that campaign experts say could put Kerry at a disadvantage, in the case that other contenders don't use the public funding.
In the primaries, contenders have the option to accept federal funds-the government matches every dollar raised from individual contributions under $250-but the candidate also must comply with a spending limit of about $45 million. If a contender chooses not to accept the matching funds in the primary, they are not subject to any limitations.
According to William Heineman, chair of the History and Government Department at Northern Essex Community College, until recently, almost all successful presidential campaigners have chosen to use public funding. However, things changed with George Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, Heineman said, adding that because Bush turned down public spending and so was not subject to limitation, he basically blew his Republican competition away in the primaries.
"He was an incredible fundraiser," Heineman said, adding that Bush raised over $100 million dollars, nearly five times more than anyone had ever raised before. Where a competitive election in the 1990s cost an average of $20 million, Heineman said, "Bush blew that out of the water," adding that one way to look at it is that Bush sucked all the oxygen out of the water, basically making it a one-man race.
"I don't know if Bush was a fluke," Heineman said, but the new factor since Bush's campaign is that presidential hopefuls have now seen a candidate opt out of public funds, raise huge amounts of money, and then win the election.
A few of the other Democratic presidential campaigners, including Gephardt and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, CT, have not signaled whether they will use public funding.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Win Without War Faces War With a Three-Prong Plan
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—With a U.S. attack on Iraq seemingly inevitable, leaders of the Win Without War coalition met in the capital Wednesday to announce plans for dissent against the war. Former Maine Congressman Tom Andrews, the national director of Win Without War, said that the group remained "steadfastly opposed to the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive attack and the reckless use of military power."
Win Without War has planned a "global citizen's movement" they hope will become a force for peace, Andrews said, detailing a three-pronged approach, including candlelight peace vigils, an e-mail and snail-mail support network for troops in the Middle East called "Operation Dear Abby" and a "Citizen Declaration" against the Bush administration's first-strike doctrine that people worldwide will be encouraged to sign.
War protests have been going on in the North Shore area for some time, according to Barbara Hildt, spokeswoman for the Newburyport chapter of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), part of the Win Without War coalition. Hildt said that WAND and other area groups have been involved in antiwar actions since September, when President Bush, in his address to the United Nations, threatened war against Iraq if the country did not disarm.
Hildt called Bush's Monday night ultimatum and the war itself "a very sad and avoidable tragedy," adding that the President simply did not give negotiations a fair chance.
"We are grossly under-prepared" to face the humanitarian catastrophe of an attack on Baghdad and other Iraqi urban regions, Andrews said at the Washington meeting, adding that aside from thousands of expected U.S. and Iraqi casualties, Americans are facing a multi-year occupation of Iraq and unknown economic costs as that country rebuilds
"This U.S.-led war will threaten our economy, jeopardize our security and cost countless lives," Washington's WAND Director Darcy Scott Martin said at the meeting, adding that the group has pledged to take protest action.
In Newburyport, Hildt expects a lot of demonstrations, saying that WAND recently sent e-mails asking people to gather for a candlelight vigil in Market Square on the war's first day.
"People that are for peace are concerned our stand for peace not be interpreted as not supportive of the troops," Hildt said. For the vigil, WAND has asked people to dress in black, as a way to show "solidarity in mourning" for the many U.S. and Iraqi casualties they expect from the war.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
As Bush Administration Marches Toward War, Thousands Turn Out to March Against It
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—The streets around the White House were crowded this weekend as thousands flooded the capital for an antiwar march in what could be a last-ditch attempt to stop the Bush administration on its path to war. Sleepy-eyed as they stepped off buses many had ridden through the night, protesters gained spirit and enthusiasm from the crisp air and early-morning sun light that shone on the National Monument, where the march began.
President Bush, who has been unable to gain the support of the United Nations for a military strike on Iraq, was at Camp David during the march preparing for a meeting with Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar, the leaders of England and Spain, his two staunchest allies in the push for war. But protesters and organizers of this march believe that the antiwar movement in the United States has been influential in stalling plans for war, despite dismissive comments about the movement from Bush last month.
A march in January dwarfed this weekend's march, District police said, estimating the turnout for this Saturday's march at only 40,000 people. But International ANSWER-- which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism--the sponsor of the event, said that although they only had three weeks to plan the march, at least 100,000 people showed up at the march, with buses arriving from as far away as Iowa, Florida, and Maine.
Among the thousands of marchers and the hundreds of buses that lined the Mall was a busload of people representing the North Shore, according to Ted VanNahl, who arranged a bus from Newburyport. VanNahl said that participants included students from local colleges, a group from New Hampshire Peace Action, members of the North Shore Peace Coalition, and members of the woman's group W.A.N.D.
"We're doing this almost entirely electronically," VanNahl said, adding that until people stepped on the bus, they had not met each other. "We're just down here to participate and be a part," he said.
Christine Malpica, director of a community arts center in Amesbury, who rode to Washington on the Newburyport bus said of her North Shore protest companions, "It's a wonderfully diverse group-grandmothers and young people, 16 year olds, students, moms, husbands, wives." This idea that protesters represented mainstream America was echoed by many marchers throughout the day.
"I wouldn't say anyone here is an extremist," J.R. Balanger, of New Market, NH said, noting that on the Newburyport bus, "there were all kinds of people-all ages."
And while all had their own reasons for making the almost eleven-hour bus trip from Newburyport to Washington, D.C., Malpica said that she and others involved hoped to show President Bush and the world that many Americans want to find another solution.
"I felt it was very important at this critical time-the eleventh-hour according to the President who says time for diplomacy has run out-to show that there is a significant resistance movement in this country," Malpica said from the bus.
Following President Bush's September 2002 address to the United Nations threatening war if Iraq did not follow disarmament requirements, an anti-war movement has been brewing in the United States and abroad. In January of this year, a demonstration in Washington saw the largest turnout since the Vietnam War, with crowd estimates ranging from 250,000 to 500,000.
As far back as the American Revolution, protests have played a part in all conflicts within the United States. And according to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, antiwar movements are one way for a president to hear, from the people, both sides of the argument. This can help a president to focus his agenda and gain broader support for the war.
But the antiwar movement has also had negative effects for presidents in history. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon both experienced turmoil in their careers because they refused to hear the thousands upon thousands protesting the Vietnam War. They both took the stance that the protesters were anti-American and relegated them almost to the side of the enemy.
And while history has not had a chance to play itself out in the current crisis with Iraq, Bush is taking a similar stance to that of Johnson who discredited the protesters, and Nixon who, in 1969, said he would not let his political position be affected by the antiwar movement.
In February, Bush said that despite a turnout of hundreds of thousands of protesters in Washington, D.C. alone, he was not to be deterred from his mission. And although he didn't come right out and call them un-American, Bush drew a sharp line between his administration and people who supported the war, and those marching against the war in the streets.
"Some in the world don't view Saddam Hussein as a risk to peace. I respectfully disagree," Bush said, adding, "Often the message of protesters is contradicted by history."
In World War II, this was the case. In the 1930s, there was a big movement against United States involvement in what many in this country saw as 'not our war', according to Philip Zelikow, director of the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. This movement against war was very effective unfortunately as it turned out that millions of innocent people had been tortured and killed in war camps during the period American was not in the war.
Nonetheless, the strength of antiwar demonstrations was evident then as protests had the power to shape diplomacy and foreign policy, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, where over 2,000 Americans were killed almost everyone in the country turned to internationalism and support of the war.
This is the ticket Bush has used to push for a military strike on Iraq, repeatedly linking Iraq to the threat of terrorism and September 11, 2001, and saying that the risk of not acting is far higher than that of taking preemptive measures.
Many lawmakers around the country-not to mention the people they represent-feel that these links are not strong enough for Bush to have made a convincing case for war.
"It has not been made to the American people. It has not been made to the world community. It has not been made to the United Nations Security Council that war is the best way," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, said recently in a release.
This weekend the efforts against the war have taken on a new urgency because the diplomatic clock can be heard ticking. Huge antiwar protests were staged across the country and around the globe, with thousands of marchers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland, and millions across Europe in Spain, Italy, France, and other countries taking to the streets to protest war.
The tension has risen in response to a new resolution presented to the U.N. Security Council by the United States, England and Spain that would give March 17 as the deadline for Saddam Hussein to give up his weapons of mass destruction, or face an invasion.
But protesters in Washington say they hope Bush will reconsider this ultimatum. Suzanne Wadia-Ells, director of The Wise Ones, an optimal health institute in Manchester-by-the-Sea, said that she came to the march as a statement to members of Congress that they need to concentrate their efforts on avoiding what she said would be an illegal war.
"If President Bush drops even one bomb," Wadia-Ells said, "it is totally unconstitutional," adding that she believes every person at the march represented thousands of other Americans against the war. If Bush does go to war without U.N. sanctions, Wadia-Ells said, the next demonstration she hopes to attend will be for his impeachment.
But not everyone thinks this war is a bad idea, according to Kathryn Wood, co-director of the DC Chapter of Free Republic, a group that held a counter-protest on Saturday. "In this case, the diplomatic solution has gone on for 12 years and hasn't worked," Wood said, "adding that sometimes, "you've got to do what needs to be done-get in there and win, fast."
While police estimated 75 counter protesters, according to Free Republic nearly 300 people turned out on Saturday to oppose the antiwar march. "We're not warmongers," Wood said, but noted that now is time to support the U.S. government and troops. Counter protesters chose to line the Pennsylvania Avenue holding American flags, because they wanted to show they are "pro-troops, pro-Bush, and pro-liberating Iraq," Wood said. "This is not another Vietnam."
Although some name-calling between the antiwar marchers and those countering the march had police on edge, for the most part, the day had a carnival-like flair. A group of people danced to drum-beats at the bottom of the Monument before the march began. A vendor sold pretzels out of a shopping cart to teachers who carried signs that said, 'Money For Education, Not War.'
Pick-up soccer and Frisbee games dotted the grass around the event. Families turned out with strollers and home-made signs with slogans like 'No Iraq War' and 'Pro-peace is not anti-American.' A rainbow kite with 'Peace' written on it sailed above marchers' heads.
Members of ANSWER, a group that has been criticized for what many call socialist causes and controversial positions, used the event to touch on causes other than the war. From the stage, ANSWER representatives made speeches about such things as Palestinian statehood, world hunger, and political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal. Congressman John Conyers Jr., D-MI, however, brought a focus back to the event when he took the stage.
"The people can stop the war," Conyers said, adding that in order for the "madness" that the Bush administration is carrying out to end, people must continue to be aggressive in their antiwar activities.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Child Nutrition Heads for Reauthorization
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—Today is sloppy joe day! But that's not all that kids at North Shore schools will eat. They'll also get corn, an apple and milk with lunch, and if they participate in the breakfast program, French toast sticks with syrup, fruit juice and some more milk--all in accordance with national nutrition guidelines set under the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966 that authorizes such school meal programs.
The act comes up for reauthorization in Congress this year, and with the struggling economy and some new proposals by the Bush administration, many legislators and schools across the country are worried that needy children will go hungry. Amid concern that ineligible children are participating in the free and reduced-price meal programs that are aimed at children from low-income families, the administration has proposed increased income documentation requirements and more stringent audits to verify eligibility.
"It is serious business," Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, said Thursday in a phone interview, adding that if the country is serious about its desire to see children perform well in school, then it must also make it a priority to see them fed well. Any proposals to alter the current system must be thoroughly tested on a representative group of schools to ensure that there are no unintended consequences, he said.
ws Congress originally enacted the nutrition legislation to safeguard the health and well-being of children by giving states grants and other aid so that schools would be able to meet the nutritional needs of their students. Each school day, over 28 million children receive federally funded school meals, according to Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
However, Harkin said at a hearing Tuesday, far too many children who need school meals are not getting them. And the documentation and audit proposals could affect low-income children, and mean that even more of them will go underfed, Democrats say.
The nutrition law requires that free or reduced-price meals be offered to children from families with incomes that don't exceed130 to 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Under this year's Health and Human Services Department's poverty guidelines, that means that a child from a family of four is eligible for free meals if the family income is below about $24,000. For reducedprice meal, a child is eligible if the family income is below about $34,000.
According to Janice Harkins, director of food services for Peabody Public Schools, that means that of the approximately 7,000 children enrolled in the district, about 1,200 qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Of those, she says, 400 to 500 come from families who have already qualified for welfare programs like Food Stamps or Medicaid and so automatically qualified under the direct certification program that Harkins has implemented.
And although Harkins says that she's never seen any proof of someone trying to beat the system to get free or reduced-price meals they don't qualify for, the Bush administration has increasingly expressed concern in that ineligible children are participating in those programs. The administration has made some preliminary proposals to combat this problem, such as increasing the required documentation--families' income statements and application materials-- and conducting more stringent audits of participants through the year.
According to Gloucester Public Schools food service director Mark Lidano, families in Massachusetts must fill out applications, and, if qualified, the children are enrolled in either the free or reduced-price program. At one point in the year, Lidano said, 3 percent of participants are audited, but schools already are having a difficult time getting just that 3 percent to prove they qualify. And requiring more from people who are not quick to respond or just unwilling doesn't seem like a solution to the problem, he said.
Referring to past studies which he said showed that increased documentation requirements caused eligible low-income children to drop from the meal programs, Tierney said that the proposals have the possibility of creating very adverse effects. "There is a stigma here," he said, adding that some families may opt out of the program rather than be forced to provide their income statements. Harkins agreed, saying that families would probably be more reluctant to apply. And that could mean that children go hungry, they both said.
"Ongoing studies confirm that a hungry child cannot learn effectively," Gaye Lynn MacDonald, president of the American School Food Service Association, said at the hearing, adding that a hungry child is distracted from learning and more likely to experience discipline and health problems. "It is critically important that child nutrition programs be effectively extended and easily accessible to all children who are eligible."
Democrats say the new proposals would not necessarily solve the problem, but instead would have a negative impact on hungry children. In past studies in which pilot programs tested increased documentation requirements, Tierney and several other Democrats say, eligible children were impeded from receiving benefits. In fact, they say, when documentation was required at the beginning of the year, five eligible children were deterred from enrolling for every ineligible child deterred.
"Not enough has changed in the school meal programs since these studies to suggest that such approaches would not similarly cause substantial numbers of eligible children to lose benefits today," Tierney and other Democrats said in a letter to Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, released similar information this week indicating that national school lunch studies have found that three-quarters of families that did not respond or were unable to respond to requests for documentation because of literacy, language or other problems would actually have been found eligible for the meal program.
Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that in most programs that limit benefits to families based on certain income levels, errors in which ineligible people benefit occur. "The school lunch program is no exception to this phenomenon," he said at the hearing, adding that it is a problem that needs to be dealt with, albeit carefully.
Tierney stressed the need for more studies on the problem because, he said, "as a society, we need children to be well fed and ready to learn."
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
House and Senate Lawmakers Team Up to Put Rapists Behind Bars
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—Thirteen years ago, Debbie Smith says she was robbed of her ability to enjoy life when a man broke into her home, abducted her and brutally raped her. This week, she said she was glad that some good might come of her ordeal as she stood in the Capitol with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and asked Congress to pass legislation to help women like her, who, after their attacks, felt victimized by the legal system as well.
On Tuesday, several lawmakers introduced the Debbie Smith Act in the House. The bill--identical to one introduced in the Senate in January by Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Joe Biden, D-DE, Maria Cantwell D-WA, and Arlen Specter, R-PA--would provide more than $600 million to process DNA evidence in rape cases and to train emergency responders and health specialists in proper evidence collection.
"We would love to have this bill passed," Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a phone interview, adding that the money would be a great tool for solving and processing cases that, up to now, have gone unsolved and unprocessed.
"We don't have funding in Massachusetts to process the number of cases we see," Blodgett said, adding that all Massachusetts crime labs are in a state of crisis because they do not have enough money to meet their staffing and processing demands.
This forces prosecutors to give less attention then they'd like to cases that would require more than funding allows, according to Blodgett. And that adds up to a hard choice, he said, because "every case is an important case."
Clinton said at a press conference Tuesday that this situation would fall into the category of "shame on us if we don't finally act." According to the Department of Justice, there is a sexual assault every 82 seconds in this country. And legislators said too many go unsolved. They released estimates that up to 500,000 rape kits nationwide could contain DNA evidence that could convict a rapist but sit untested for lack of funds.
"Every unprocessed kit represents a predator," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, one of the main House sponsors, said, adding that even one rape kit left unprocessed is too many.
The legislation would authorize $300 million over five years to states and local jurisdictions for DNA analysis of unprocessed rape kits. Legislators said that it costs $500 to $1,500 for each DNA analysis and that they expect the money to make a significant dent in the number of rape kits that, they said, are just gathering dust because there is no money to process them.
The bill also would authorize $75 million in new funding for DNA analysis of convicted felons. That DNA information could then go into state and national databases so that prosecutors could search in jurisdictions other than their own for suspects.
Blodgett said that combined with an increased ability to do testing, this bigger, broader database of DNA information would be "a tremendous advantage." These improvements to the system would give prosecutors a much better chance of finding a suspect in a cold case in which there is evidence but no immediate match to a suspect, he said.
The legislation also would provide funding for communities to have nurses trained in collecting and handling forensic evidence and treating emotionally fragile patients, as well as grants to train law enforcement and first responders in collecting and handling DNA evidence. Proper collection of DNA evidence is critical, according to prosecutors, because DNA samples improperly collected can mean the end of a case.
At the press conference, Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed that they were willing to make the issue a priority. The bill was expected to pass quickly in the Senate, as it did last session, and Maloney said that there are already 85 co-sponsors of the legislation on the House side.
"This is not rocket science," Biden said, adding that there is the possibility that up to 50 percent of all unsolved rape cases could be solved just by marrying the evidence already collected to a beefed-up national database of DNA samples.
"We call them cases, but let's not make any mistakes-these are human beings," Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said. "Money is all that separates thousands of women from having closure on their cases."
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Congressmen, Sports Champions, and Celebrities Urge Leaders to Save Title IX
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—Under Title IX, a landmark civil rights law passed 31 years ago that requires schools to give equal opportunities to both sexes, the number of girls participating in high school sports alone has surged from 294,000 to nearly 2.8 million. But that law now stands to be weakened, and millions of female athletes negatively affected, critics say, if the Bush administration accepts proposed new recommendations...
"It's the wrong message at this point in time," Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, said this week. "We should be enforcing Title IX and sending the message to women that they can do anything they want to do."
The National Wrestling Coaches Association brought a lawsuit in January 2001 contending that Title IX proportionality requirements that say the percentage of women athletes at a school must mirror the percentage in the student body-are actually quotas. In response, the Bush administration appointed a 15-member commission in June and charged it with reexamining the law and recommending changes.
The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics-including the athletic director at Boston College, Gene DeFillipo--sent the report to Education Secretary Rod Paige this week amid complaints by many congressmen, female athletes and actors Geena Davis and Holly Hunter that the recommendations would seriously undermine Title IX protections. At least two members of the commission agree.
Objections to the report are wide-ranging, but in a minority report by the two dissenting commissioners, the main concerns listed were that the report failed to address discrimination that women and girls are still facing, that its recommendations would reduce opportunities open to women and girls under current law and that the entire process was curtailed without a full review of the impact of the recommendations.
One recommendation objectors singled out was that the equality standard be changed to allow as few as 47 percent female athletic participation even if total female enrollment was as high as 55 percent.
, In an executive summary of its report, the commission says it heard from more than 50 experts representing schools and Title IX groups, held town hall meetings across the country and reviewed thousands of documents, report, and correspondence from experts and citizens nationwide.
"Our work is a result of over eight months of spirited debate and an extensive fact-finding process that was open, fair and inclusive," commission co-chairs Ted Leland and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said in a letter to Secretary Paige. "We just want to make a good thing better," they said, adding that there are two main areas that require improvement: guidance by the Department of Education on policy interpretations and an enforcement process that many say needlessly results in the elimination of some men's teams.
Ben Smith, a Gloucester resident and coach of the Olympic women's ice hockey team, which won a gold medal in 1998 and a silver medal in 2002, said Title IX was instituted because women did not have a level playing field. He said he is not against changes, but that any weakening of this "forward-thinking" law would be a setback.
"It has proven to be an excellent machinery for righting a wrong-an injustice-for a gender," Smith said, adding that it has put many opportunities in place for women. Smith, who coached men's collegiate hockey for close to 30 years and remembers when women had many fewer opportunities, said you just have to look at the jump in participation over the past 32 years to see the benefits of Title IX.
"This is a thing that's got to be made public," Smith said, adding that commission member Julie Foudy has a big job ahead of her.
Foudy, captain of the U.S. National Women's Soccer Team, and 1964 Olympic gold medalist Donna de Varona, both members of the commission, refused to sign the final draft sent to Paige. They instead submitted a minority report recommending that the Department of Education show schools how to better use and enforce the Title IX policies already in place rather than changing them
"I didn't anticipate that I would not have a voice," Foudy said at a press conference Wednesday. "The commission's report will not only hurt women's sports, but it fails to solve the problem for men's non-revenue sports," she said, referring to criticism from many Title IX opponents who say its requirements have led to cuts in minor men's sports like gymnastics and wrestling.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, along with a bipartisan group of senators, sent a letter to President Bush this week urging him to reject what Kennedy, at Wednesday's press conference, called the commission's "ill-advised recommendations." The letter also called for stronger enforcement of a law that from the time of its enactment, Kennedy said, has addressed widespread discrimination against women in education.
Critics said that the commission makeup, rather than combating discrimination, actually fosters it. With 10 of the 15 members from NCAA Division I-A schools, opponents of the report suggested, there is a bias toward changing Title IX. Division I-A schools-big football schools-would have the most to gain from some of the proposals because of the disproportionately high spending on football versus other sports.
Foudy said the commission's report failed to recognize the problems caused by such inequities in what she called the " athletics arms race," where football teams spend more and more in order to attract recruits.
Such proposals as authorizing the Secretary of Education to allow deviation from equality that he finds "reasonable" and allowing schools to count open slots on teams as being filled and not count walk-ons would mean that significantly more men stand to participate in sports than women. This is because women's teams generally see less recruitment money and efforts and so have fewer slots filled, and because major sports like men's football and basketball see the most walk-ons, according to Foudy.
Calling the commission a design by the Bush administration to justify a predetermined plan, Kennedy said the proposals are "based on the stereotype that women are not as talented or interested in sports as men." The proposals submitted to Paige include such ideas as relying on "interest surveys" or questionnaires to prove interest rather than taking into account the number of people who walk onto the field. The National Women's Law Center says this would force women to prove interest, when the same is not required for some men's teams.
The many women athletes present at Wednesday's press conference said they wanted to combat the stereotype that they are not interested. They said that they, and the women they represent, are interested not only in sports, but also in the policies that could affect women's participation in sports.
Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, who now coaches young gymnasts, called the proposals "a step backward," adding that from sports, girls gain skills and confidence that make them successful in all areas of their life. She said that Title IX regulations that make opportunities available to women must be protected.
Proponents of keeping Title IX unchanged said that it has led to great strides, but still has a long way to go. At the high school level, according to the Woman's Sports Foundation, even 30 years after Title IX passed, girls still receive 1.1 million fewer opportunities to play sports, and women going into college receive $133 million less each year in scholarship money, based on a 1999-2000 NCAA report.
"Women deserve an equal and level playing field," Tierney said, adding that Title IX still has a long way to go but so far has given many opportunities to women.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
Activists Plan Barrage of Phone Calls, Emails, and Faxes to Protest War
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—The White House and Senate offices will be flooded with phone calls, emails and faxes today in a campaign that organizers are calling a "virtual march on Washington" in protest of the possible war. The campaign, planned by many groups joined under the umbrella Win Without War Coalition, has one message for leaders in Washington: Don't attack Iraq.
"On February 26th, we will let our fingers do the marching and demand that our voices be heard," former Maine Congressman Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, said in a press release.
Organizers of the march, say they hope that the White House and Senate offices will get one phone call a minute from "marchers" starting at 9:00 and lasting until 5:00. At the same time, they say, the offices can expect a constant stream of emails and faxes. The protest is a "first-of-its-kind" campaign according to the group, with the aim of reminding leaders that many Americans are against war.
In planning for the campaign, organizers made use of the internet and controversial radio and television ads. Martin Sheen, who plays the President on NBC's The West Wing, appeared in one ad urging people to join the virtual march. "Our message will be clear," Sheen said. "Don't invade Iraq! We can contain Saddam Hussein without killing innocent people."
In spite of an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last week in which more than half-54 percent-of the 1,024 people asked said they believed the U.S. should use military action involving ground troops to attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power, organizers of the protest believe that still millions are against war.
"Our leaders in Washington are out of step with millions of Americans," Janeane Garafalo, one of the many in the Hollywood contingent, said at an L.A. news conference. "This is clearly a time when we must join together and lead Washington back to its senses."
Although organizers say their intent is not to shut down the offices with the huge surge of communications, they do think that this will force leaders stop and listen.
Shelagh Foreman, program director for the Massachusetts chapter of Peace Action, one of the many groups involved in the campaign, said that leaders must hear voices from all over the country to show just how many people are concerned. Peace Action, she said, is involved in the virtual march because they believe that the war would not only jeopardize thousands of Iraqi civilians, but would also harm people in the U.S.
"This war has the potential of creating more of a threat for terrorism," she said, adding that it seems President Bush doesn't understand how awful a war would be. "It is disturbing to think that someone with such power, and so many weapons at his disposal, can be so unaware or careless about human lives and actually the future of the Middle East."
Foreman, who will be calling both the White House and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's office during her scheduled time slot (but not Sen. Kennedy's office), said that she wants to remind Kerry in particular that he is supposed to be representing the people of Massachusetts, something she thinks he is not doing now.
"I know that Kerry needs to hear from a lot of people because we want a senator who listens to the people that elected him," she said, adding that she may call Kennedy's office just to let him know that his push against war is appreciated.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
