Comeback Kids Should be Cheered, not Feared

From San Diego's North County Times

Americans have loved the underdog ever since a ragtag bunch of patriots whipped a king's army. But a darker side of our history reveals how often we label individuals who don't fit the norm; creating the very obstacles to success we praise them for overcoming.

Newspaper opinionators can do a lot to expose the damage done by stereotyping.

That's why it was disappointing to read local columnist Thomas Arnold's take on Carlsbad Village Academy students, ("Decision jeopardizes student safety," May 2).

Budget cuts have forced the closure of the CVA campus next year, requiring its students to move to Carlsbad High. That spurred Arnold to suggest CHS student safety will be at risk from those who "couldn't cut it in regular school because they got pregnant, were expelled, or have behavioral problems."

After quoting a Carlsbad High student who's afraid his new classmates might establish a "turf" and "start fights," Arnold concludes, "I'd be every bit as alarmed as this 10th-grader is."

That sounded like stereotyping to me, so I took a closer look at the school designed for students who fall behind. The main difference I found between CVA and CHS students is that more of them are English learners, Latino and economically disadvantaged.

Arnold may be surprised by what else I learned about the school from Suzanne O'Connell, the district's assistant superintendent for instructional services and CVA Principal Keith Holley's recent report to the school board.

O'Connell assured me students are not banished to the CVA for misbehavior. They enter the school voluntarily, most often in the 10th grade, to recover credits after falling behind their classmates in local middle schools. Their behavioral problems are no different from those of their peers at CHS. Arnold's young friend can rest assured the school's not a dumping ground for expelled gang bangers. He has nothing to fear from the return of his middle school classmates.

Carlsbad Village Academy is proud of its academic achievements, including a 98 percent graduation rate, a 100 percent passing rate on the High School Exit Exam, and an 86 point increase last year in its Academic Performance Index. Latino students and English learners led the way. Eleven percent of CVA students recover enough credits to return to regular classes at CHS at midyear.

O'Connell told me that planning has not yet begun on the details for transforming CVA into a school-within-a-school on the CHS campus next year. The objective is to provide a wider, college prep curriculum for CVA students, while retaining the individual support and fast-track class scheduling that will help them catch up with their classmates.

You'd think Carlsbad's comeback kids would be more cheered than feared.

Politics and Religion a bad mix

For San Diego's North County Times

Miss Manners tells us to avoid religion and politics in polite conversation. But the gloves are off in the letters section of this newspaper, where the link between God and government is the favorite subject of habitual letter writers. Depending on the individual's reading of the Bible and the Constitution, we live in either a Christian nation, assailed by the godless left, or a secular one, threatened by the religious right.

A local church leader weighed in on the God gap last month, writing, "We're out of our pews now, and we're coming in love to you at the polls ... to propose for conversion to God and peace in the heart." His name and denomination are not important. An Internet search of his homilies reveals the pastor's path from the pews to the polls.

Here's a sample of direct quotes taken from sermons he gave a month after the 2008 presidential election and a month before the midterms two years later: "Socialism is our god, and Obama is his prophet ... Jesus came to save us from abortion, homosexual lust, socialism, liberalism. ... We can establish the Kingdom of God here in the U.S. and still respect our Constitution. ... That means we exclude abortion, exclude gender confusion, exclude some people from marrying because they don't want to marry someone of the opposite gender ... and if we're the majority we have the right to do so, and we say no, the minority doesn't have the right to impose itself upon us."

During my entire Catholic education, from elementary school through college, I'd never heard of Jesus' plan to save us from turning gay, liberal or socialist, or that majority rule trumps minority rights.

In a recently published essay, "God and Caesar in America," based on their 2010 book, "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us," a couple of university professors explained why mixing religion and politics is bad for both.

David E. Campbell of the University of Notre Dame, and Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam tracked the changing religious and political views of separate age groups from 2006 to 2011. They found "religion" to those in their 20s "means, 'Republican,' 'intolerant,' and 'homophobic.' Since those traits do not represent their views, they do not see themselves ---- or wish to be seen by their peers ---- as religious."

The researchers concluded, "All sides ---- progressive and conservative, religious and secular ---- should be concerned that placing a partisan label on religion has hurt the ability of religious leaders to summon moral arguments on behalf of causes that transcend left and right."

Before the pastor and his flock head to the polls, maybe they should think about what they're leaving behind in the pews.

A Lawmaker's Lament

You can tell from his most recent mailer that Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad, hates his job. He complains about having to work year-round in Sacramento, with little time to ask local voters what they want him to do there. Forced to accept an overblown salary while working full time on issues that "are not priorities for the hard-working people of this state," he can't take a second job in the real world.

So what's an unhappy State Assembly member to do? Survey his constituents, of course, to see if they agree he and his colleagues are overpaid, out of touch and underemployed.

Mindful of how busy we all are, Garrick boils his survey down to four simple, yes, or no questions and one "positive" or "negative" opinion. If you answer yes to the first question, lawmakers should have full-time careers and be part-time politicians, the next three are easy. Yes, you want a part-time legislature, yes, the legislature passes too many bills, and yes your representative is grossly overpaid. If you think "no" answers are acceptable, check out the answer sheet included or just Google "Congress: job ratings."

After acing the yes/no part of the test, you can find out why you should believe the legislature is having a negative effect on your quality of life. Garrick explains we could be better off emulating large states that have lower-paid, part-time politicians.

He praises Texas for enjoying "one of the fastest and most robust economies in the country." The Lone Star State also leads the nation for its low cost of labor. One in every ten workers is paid at or below the federal minimum wage. Only 2 percent of California's workforce earns $7.25 an hour or less.

While trickle-down economics doesn't seem to be working in Texas, we could give it a try in California if we only had part-time, more business friendly lawmakers.

Calling his Sacramento workplace "nothing more than a bill factory," Garrick says the 2,719 bills introduced last year were mostly unnecessary. He takes credit on his website for writing fifteen. The only one of his signed into law was a resolution declaring February 6, 2011 "Ronald Reagan Day," apparently one of his "priorities for the hardworking people of this state." With a record like that, who can blame him for feeling grumpy in his termed-out year?

Disgruntled, if not discouraged, Garrick has already formed an exploratory committee to consider a run for the state senate in 2014, when 38th District Senator Mark Wyland is termed out. Maybe he was persuaded to go back to work in the bill factory by a variation of the old Peace Corps recruitment pitch: Serving in the State Legislature ---- The Worst Job You'll Ever Love.

The pay gap widens between worker bees and their bosses

For San Diego's North County Times and Carlsbadistan.com

Last week Carlsbad’s city council approved an amended employment agreement with City Manager Lisa Hildabrand, effective January 1, 2012, listing her new salary at $230,000.

Communications Director Kristina Ray told me Hildabrand’s $13,000 pay hike, which became effective November 28, was based on her 2008 contract.

You could hear the buzzing of angry city worker bees in Carlsbad and Escondido when they learned their bosses were getting huge salary increases while their own pay remained frozen. Adding insult to injury, some of Carlsbad’s lowest paid workers are facing cuts in take-home pay because of an increase in what they’re required to pay into the state’s retirement system.

The salary of Carlsbad’s city manager is linked to the second highest paid city manager in the county, excluding the city of San Diego. Annual increases are limited to the rise in California’s Consumer Price Index. But additional “salary adjustments” are allowed if the price of city managers is driven up by pay increases in other cities.

Hildabrand received no pay raises in 2009 and 2010, while general employees got yearly increases of 3.2 percent. The city manager cannot, by contract, receive salary adjustments “if economic considerations indicate no salary increases for employees are appropriate.”

So why did she get a 6 percent raise in November while the city’s lowest paid workers faced a two-year wage freeze? 

Ray explained, “Since city employees (police officers only) have received salary increases each year she has been city manager, this provision has not been triggered. The contract does not refer to any one employee group, rather ‘employees’ in general.”

Apparently, when it comes to executive pay hikes, the wages of firefighters and those who keep parks meticulously groomed, city libraries customer-friendly, and drinking water, traffic and sewage flowing safely can be disregarded.

Councilman Keith Blackburn said he wants city employees to be paid enough so that “we don’t lose our best people.” The lowest paid workers, of course, are the ones who can least afford to move. When they ask for pay raises they’re often reminded of how lucky they are to live and work in such a beautiful city. So why would a paycheck be the only thing keeping city executives from leaving Camelot to live and work in a less attractive, less manageable city?

If we value our lowest paid workers as much as we say we do, maybe their pay should be linked to the salaries of our highest paid employees. Carlsbad’s city manager now makes 7 times more than a first year park maintenance worker, up from 6 times last year. Will the worker bees get a 6 percent increase after two years of no raises to help them close the gap? Don’t hold your breath. I’m guessing the gap will only widen over the years, as it has in the private sector.

I hope Councilman Blackburn would agree our “best people” can be found at the bottom, as well as the top, of the pay scale.   

Don't Blame Schools for Budget Cuts

For San Diego's North County Times

Carlsbad school officials are getting lots of advice lately about how to save money without hurting students. But it amounts mostly to blaming the victims of a budget crisis they didn't create: the teachers union for selfishness and protecting bad teachers from layoffs, administrators for wasting money on frills.

Those who think unions are "wicked," the word used by one community columnist, often praise teachers for their good work as individuals. But when they organize to improve their profession, they're accused of putting their own interests ahead of kids. Using that logic, you might say the same about parents who follow flight attendant instructions to put on their own oxygen masks before helping their kids with theirs.

Teachers face obstacles to their effectiveness when they work in overcrowded classrooms, have to buy their own teaching materials, and are given little time to collaborate on lesson plans. Union efforts to reduce those obstacles are truly in the best interests of students.

Common sense might suggest a "keep the best and fire the rest" layoff policy. But in this case common sense doesn't make good sense.

Here's why. The best and worst teachers often stand out. But it's much harder to rank those who fall in between. Evaluating teachers on test scores alone ignores learning that can't be measured by multiple choice. Congeniality and budget savings could become the primary criteria if administrators alone make the call. Most would agree that popularity isn't the best measure of teaching excellence.

Dismissing the value of seniority rests on the mistaken assumptions that teachers, unlike other professionals, don't improve with experience, and that good ones are born, not made. Speaking from experience, I was a far better high school English teacher in my fifth year than I was as a rookie.

I suspect the anti-seniority crowd is more interested in saving money than serving students. Not as many teachers would have to be laid off if the more experienced were not on the payroll.

The same local columnist who called unions "wicked" lists frills as transportation from home to school, free meals, after-school activities, preschool and continuation schools (such as the Carlsbad Village Academy). In other words, every program designed for students who need help outside the classroom for the opportunity to succeed inside the classroom. That's a survival of the fittest prescription for public schools.

The sad fact is that kids always suffer from school budget cuts. Not because of union selfishness, laying off the wrong teachers, or reckless spending, but because of our own upside-down priorities. While teachers are being laid off, deep-pocket donors will gladly spend an estimated $6 billion to $7 billion to influence this year's presidential election.

Prison reform at last

For San Diego's North County Times

It took a federal court ruling and a $28 billion budget deficit for California to finally do something about its obsolete prison system. San Diego County's chief probation officer, Mack Jenkins, told the Carlsbad City Council last month that implementing Assembly Bill 109, the Public Safety Realignment Act, will be "the most significant change in California's correctional system in at least 30 years."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last May that conditions caused by crowding 167,000 inmates into buildings built for 90,000 were in violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Now it's a question of how to reduce the prison population while protecting the public and reducing the deficit. San Diego County's community corrections plan is on track to do all three.

Contrary to a wealth of misinformation, no state prison inmates are being transferred to local jails. Those who've served their sentences, are at low risk for reoffending and are eligible for parole are being assigned to local probation officers who will engage in far more proactive follow-up than the state parole system. Jenkins said it will include both announced and unannounced visits and more careful tracking.

Only four of the 1,000 parolees shifted to San Diego County to this date reside in Carlsbad. Vista has 61, Escondido 55 and Oceanside 41. Carlsbad Police Chief Gary Morrison reported there's been no increase in the city's crime rate.

Future nonviolent and non-high-risk sex offenders who were previously sent to state prisons will now serve their sentences in county jails, as will parole violators who haven't committed another crime. Criminal reoffenders will return to prison.

The goals of the Community Corrections Partnership, which Jenkins chairs, are to provide more efficient use of jails by using electronic tracking and house arrest, in-custody re-entry programming, evidence-based supervision practices and asking judges to use evidence-based practices in sentencing. In other words, to spend less money on warehousing nonviolent, low-risk inmates and investing more in tracking and rehabilitating them.

An April 2011 report by the Pew Center on the States, "State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America's Prisons," revealed California has the country's largest prison population as well as its highest recidivism rate, at 58 percent reoffending within three years of release.

Oregon has the lowest at 23 percent. That's been attributed to the same careful risk management, transition planning, community-based probation and evidence-based design and delivery that San Diego County is pursuing.

In his report, Jenkins told Carlsbad officials it costs the state about $50,000 a year to house a prison inmate. According to the Pew report, California could save as much as $233 million in a single year if it reduces its recidivism rate by just 10 percent.

The Value of Work to a Kid

For San Diego's North County Times

Newt Gingrich has a cure for failing schools. “Get rid of the unionized janitors,” he declared in a recent speech, “have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools." I’m guessing he’d give the same advice to Carlsbad school officials considering layoffs as a cost savings measure to close next year’s estimated $7.8 million budget shortfall.

It’s hard to picture ten-year-olds eagerly signing up to clean toilets. But Gingrich’s put-children-to-work plan got me to thinking about what I learned from the jobs I had as a kid.

I entered the work world as an assistant paper boy, helping my big brother with his route. I continued to deliver daily newspapers until I graduated from high school.

Picking strawberries was a given for June. I looked for other summer jobs to escape the raspberry and bean fields in July and August.

Hauling hay was one of my favorite jobs. I reveled in the manliness of snatching up 40-pound bales, tossing them on to a slowly moving flatbed truck, then riding atop the bales back to the barn.

A job in a raspberry packaging plant involved the use of my index finger only, as I stood at the end of a chain line that emptied berries into 10-ounce cartons passing before me on another line.

One summer I helped put a roof on a warehouse. My task was to pound nails all day, motivated by a boss shouting at me periodically, “I wanna hear that hammer rattling, kid!”

I learned a lot from those menial jobs: a work ethic, how to get along with a boss, coping with tedium, the satisfaction of spending the money I earned through hard work, and the importance of getting an education that would save me from a lifetime of unskilled labor.

I grew up at a time when kids were expected to work during the summer to pay for their school clothes. Today those who can afford it head for summer camps or travel the world.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in July, 2011 the population of 16 to 24 year-olds working or looking for work, was less than 60 percent, the lowest on record and 18 percentage points below the 1989 peak.

A friend once told me she wouldn’t let her teenage daughter work before finishing high school, vowing to give her a carefree childhood before having to face the hard reality of earning a living.

Working may, indeed, make childhood a little less carefree. But maybe the payoff is in a more carefree adulthood made possible because of lessons learned from the experience.