Some Schools Rise From Mess to Model

By Nancy Badertscher and Gracie Bonds Staples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February, 2010

Stability in principal’s office a factor in Atlanta, Gainesville

For nearly a decade, Atlanta’s Kennedy Middle School exhibited all the signs of a failing school. Test scores were subpar, teacher morale was low and the principal’s office seemingly had a revolving door. Students roamed chaotic hallways. Broken furniture littered the building.

Today, Kennedy is dramatically different. The southwest Atlanta school is no longer one of 278 Georgia schools failing to meet student achievement standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Law. The law made standardized tests a key measure of success.

Schools are expected to improve student learning continually, with all students being proficient in math and reading by 2014, according to the law. Schools that repeatedly fail are labeled “needs improvement” and face sanctions ranging from requiring free tutoring or new teachers to being taken over by the state.

Kennedy is one of 17 Georgia schools that recently worked its way off the “needs improvement” list after five or more years. It did so by focusing on the students who were struggling most and, in some cases, expanding the learning day to include after-school time and Saturdays.

“It felt almost like my 16th birthday when I received my first car,” said Lucious Brown, 41, the school’s principal. “When you hear those scores and discover you’re off the list it’s awesome, truly awesome.”

Making it off the list is a huge achievement for schools like Kennedy Middle and East Hall Middle in Gainesville, which carried the stigma from 2002 to 2008.

East Hall’s biggest challenge: Students with disabilities were not making sufficient progress on state tests.

Under No Child Left Behind, subgroups such as low-income students, disabled students and English language learners must meet rising standards on the math and language arts portions of the Criterion Referenced Competency Test, Georgia’s state test. Otherwise, the entire school fails to make what is known as Adequate Yearly Progress, which measures performance on standardized tests as well as other factors such as attendance. In high schools, AYP is determined by the Georgia High School Graduation Tests in math and English language arts.

About 12 percent of Georgia’s schools have the “needs improvement” label, including 45 that have not met testing standards for five or more years, according to the Georgia Department of
Education.

To shake “needs improvement” status, a school must make AYP two years in a row.

The 17 schools removed from the list shared several traits, state school Superintendent Kathy Cox said recently. They had strong, instruction-focused principals, professional development and teachers who shared lesson plans and strategies.

Now, the goal is to make AYP a third straight year. In doing so, they’ll earn a new label: Title I Distinguished School.

To read the whole story go to:
http://www.ajc.com/news/some-schools-rise-from-292985.html

© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Autism Risks Detailed in Children of Older Mothers

By LINDSEY TANNER
The Associated Press
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 8, 2010


A woman's chance of having a child with autism increase substantially as she ages, but the risk may be less for older dads than previously suggested, a new study analyzing more than 5 million births found.

"Although fathers' age can contribute risk, the risk is overwhelmed by maternal age," said University of California at Davis researcher Janie Shelton, the study's lead author.

Mothers older than 40 were about 50 percent more likely to have a child with autism than those in their 20s; the risk for fathers older than 40 was 36 percent higher than for men in their 20s.

Even at that, the study suggests the risk of a woman over 40 having an autistic child was still less than 4 in 1,000, one expert noted.

The new research suggests the father's age appears to make the most difference with young mothers. Among children whose mothers were younger than 25, autism was twice as common when fathers were older than 40 than when dads were in their 20s.

The findings contrast with recent research that suggested the father's age played a bigger role than the mother's. Researchers and other autism experts said the new study is more convincing, partly because it's larger. Older mothers are known to face increased risks for having children with genetic disorders, and genes are thought to play a role in autism.

The study was released Monday in the February issue of the journal Autism Research.

Maureen Durkin, a University of Wisconsin researcher who also has studied the influence of parents' age on autism, said it's important to note that the increased risks are small and that most babies born to older mothers do not develop autism.

Durkin said the overall low risk for autism "may be the most important take-home message," especially for prospective parents

The study was based on records of all 5.6 million births in California between Jan. 1, 1990 and Dec. 31, 1999, and on cases of autism diagnosed before age 6. That number totaled more than 13,000; the study involved 12,159 autistic children for whom information on both parents' ages was also available.

The researchers took into account factors that might affect autism diagnosis, including parents' education and race.

Catherine Lord, director of the University of Michigan's Autism and Communication Disorders Center, said the study is stronger than previous research focusing on paternal age, and "gives us a fuller picture of what is going on."

Autism is a developmental disorder that involves mild to severe problems with behavior, communication and socializing.

Recent data suggest about 1 in 100 U.S. children are autistic, a rate that appears to have increased substantially in recent decades. Many experts believe that rise reflects better awareness and a broadening of the definition of autism rather than a true increase in affected children.

Births to older mothers also have risen in recent years, but that likely only accounts for a small part of the increase in cases, said study co-author and UC-Davis researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto.

Dr. Edwin Cook, an autism researcher with University of Illinois at Chicago, offered a novel theory for why autism is more common among children with older parents: Autism is known to run in families and it may be that adults with mild or undiagnosed autism have children at later ages, Cook said.

The study doesn't include information on autism in adults.

http://www.ajc.com/health/autism-risks-detailed-in-293801.html


© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta Mayor Reed's Rivals To Help Pick Personnel for Key Posts

Reed's competitors to help choose police chief, other posts

By Eric Stirgus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 8, 2010

Talk about a team of rivals!

Three candidates who unsuccessfully ran for Atlanta mayor last year have joined forces with the winner, Kasim Reed, to help him pick a police chief and a fire rescue chief.

Reed announced Monday that former City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who lost the Dec. 1 runoff by 714 votes out of about 83,000 ballots cast, will serve on the fire rescue chief search committee. Atlantans Together Against Crime founder Kyle Keyser, who finished a distant fifth among the six candidates in Nov. 3 general election, will serve on the police chief search committee.

Former Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, who finished third in the general election, is co-chair of an 18-member transition team that will recommend three to five candidates for those two jobs. The team is expected to make those recommendations by the end of April. Reed is expected to announce his picks in early May.

Reed said he wanted a diverse group of people on his transition team and search committees, including those who battled him for the job.

"It's easier to look through a windshield than a rear view mirror," Reed told reporters, suggesting it's easier to focus on the future than the past.

Transition co-chair Lawrence Ashe said the search committees will conduct the initial research of possible candidates and reach out to others for suggestions of qualifications they want in a police chief and a fire rescue chief. Borders said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will perform background searches of potential finalists.

Acting police chief George N. Turner and acting fire rescue chief Joel G. Baker will be allowed to compete for those jobs, Reed said. Professional Association of City Employees leader Gina Pagnotta said Monday she hopes to encourage Reed to hire Baker. "(Baker) is stern, but he's fair," she told the AJC.

The transition team and search committee members will not be paid for their work, Borders said. Similar search committees will be set up to help choose a chief financial officer, city attorney and a Public Works commissioner, she said.


http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/reed-s-competitors-to-293858.html

© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Proposal Alters School Tax Rules

Albany Herald
Editorial
February 9, 2010


With downward pressure on education spending coming from the federal level to the state and then to local school districts, some legislation entered in the state House on Monday merits a close look.

State Reps. Ed Rynders, R-Leesburg, and Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, say that House Resolution 1203 and House Bill 1020 would change state law to allow local school systems much more flexibility in how sales tax revenues are utilized for education purposes.

HR 1203 and HB 1020 would change the rules regarding special local option sales taxes that are passed by local voters for education purposes. Currently, only capital projects, such as building construction, can be funded by the education sales tax. Under the proposed legislation, the legal expenditures would be expanded to include maintenance and operations.

“Current law ties the hands of local school systems and only allows for sales tax revenues dedicated to education spending to be used for capital outlay projects like new buildings,” Rynders said Monday.

“Many school systems are at a point where the use of sales tax revenues would be better suited for other purposes besides construction, particularly in these trying economic times. This legislation gives voters the option to make this decision through a locally held referendum. The bottom line is to let the people decide if they want to build buildings or furlough teachers.”

Parrish added, “By expanding the use of ELOST funds, local school systems will have greater flexibility over how taxpayer dollars are used to meet their most pressing needs.”

The proposal comes as the Legislature struggles with more cuts to a state budget that is, in many ways, already lean. The resolution and bill won’t have any immediate impact, since the earliest they could possibly go into effect is some time after the November elections.

HR 1203 is a constitutional amendment and as such must be approved by supermajorities in the Legislature. Both the House and Senate will need approval from two-thirds of their respective members for the measure to go to the governor for his signature. If signed by the governor, the measure would be decided by Georgia voters during the November general election.

HB 1020, meanwhile, needs only simple majorities (50 percent plus one) in both legislative chambers and the signature of the governor to be adopted. It would go into effect if the resolution is ratified by the state’s voters.

There may be some reasons not to do this. For instance, state officials could see the ability of local school districts to pay for expanded spending categories as a reason to cut state spending in those areas. On the other hand, it could also bring tax relief to property owners who bear the brunt of local education costs now.

The ramifications should be looked at from all sides.

But there is plenty of time to gather information and to debate the potential positive and negative effects of the legislation before the general election comes around. The voters of Georgia pay these sales taxes, and they should be the ones who decide how they want the money spent. The Legislature should give the voters a chance to do that this fall.

http://www.albanyherald.com/editorials/headlines/83849702.html?storySection=story

Triple Crown Media. - Copyright © 2002-2010

Georgia Governor Perdue Introduces Legislation To Increase Educators' Pay and Increase the Integrity of Georgia's Testing System

STATE OF GEORGIA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Sonny Perdue, GOVERNOR

For Immediate Release
Monday, February 8, 2010

Governor Perdue Introduces Education Legislation

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today education legislation has been introduced that would increase pay for Georgia’s top teachers and principals, and increase the integrity of Georgia’s testing system.

“Boosting pay for Georgia’s top teachers is an idea whose time has come,” said Governor Perdue. “Focusing on student improvement with other measures like peer evaluations aligns state funding with our policy priority: improving the education of our students. The new pay model will help the state attract, reward, encourage and retain top teachers.”

Sen. Don Balfour, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, is introducing SB 386, the Governor’s legislation to increase pay for high performing teachers and principals.

“This legislation rewards our All-Star teachers through higher pay,” said Senator Balfour. “These teachers go all the way for our students and should be rewarded appropriately.”

Current teachers and principals would have the choice to opt into the enhanced pay model under the proposed legislation. The legislation would require the State Board of Education to adopt a common, statewide evaluation tool that takes student improvement into account in addition to peer observation of planning and instruction when assessing teachers and leaders by July 1, 2011. Using this tool, the state will calculate an Effectiveness Measure which will allow for increased pay for the state’s most effective educators.

Already twenty-three local school districts making up 41 percent of Georgia’s public school students have committed to a similar compensation model through the state’s federal Race to the Top application. The state will implement best practices from those districts in developing and implementing the statewide system.

The Governor also announced today that State Rep. Matt Ramsey, a Floor Leader in the House, is introducing HB 1121 and HB 1111, legislation that will ensure the integrity of the state’s education data.

“We must ensure integrity in our tests. This becomes even more important when we tie teacher evaluations to student improvement,” said Governor Perdue. “Valid data is the key to making good public policy decisions and developing a credible system of rewarding our top educators.”

HB 1121 will make it unlawful for anyone to knowingly tamper with or facilitate cheating on tests required by the State Department of Education. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) will examine the results of mandated tests. GOSA may submit requests for investigation to the Professional Standards Commission and the Attorney General. Violators will be guilty of a misdemeanor and have their certification suspended or revoked.

Under HB 1111, violators will also be subject to the loss of their pensions. “We need accurate data to base policy decisions on,” said Rep. Ramsey. “This legislation will make it clear what the penalties are for tampering with tests.

The ultimate victims in these cases are the students, and we must do everything we can to ensure our students receive the services they need to progress.”

###

Kemp Backs Bills To Make Voting Easier

By BLAKE AUED
Athens Banner-Herald
February 08, 2010

Secretary of State Brian Kemp is backing two bills recently introduced in the state legislature that would make it easier for soldiers serving overseas and other Americans living abroad to vote.

One bill, sponsored by state Rep. John Meadows, R-Calhoun, would give Americans overseas more time to request absentee ballots. Another, sponsored by state Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, would let them cast their ballots electronically.

"For folks that are fighting and dying for our freedom, we need to make sure everyone who wants to vote can," said Kemp, an Athens resident.

The Meadows bill, House Bill 1073, would allow Americans abroad to request absentee ballots 45 days before an election. It would give people more opportunity to vote in runoffs, Kemp said.

Mailing a ballot overseas in time to fill it out and send it back in the four weeks between an election and a runoff can be challenging, he said.

The Hamilton bill, House Bill 665, would start a pilot program to allow soldiers overseas to vote electronically via a secure network set up by the U.S. Department of Defense, ensuring their ballots arrive in time to be counted.

A similar pilot program in Florida worked well, Kemp said. The bill doesn't provide any funding, but Kemp said he hopes a nonprofit or corporate foundation will agree to fund it in Georgia.

About 200,000 Georgians - soldiers, civilian contractors, their families and others - are living abroad, Kemp said.

Kemp's Republican primary opponent, Sandy Springs City Councilman Doug MacGinnitie, has a

Web site called www.helpheroesvote.com devoted to speeding up the voting process for overseas military personnel.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, February 08, 2010

blake.aued@onlineathens.com

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/020810/gen_559934115.shtml

© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald • Morris Digital Works

Georgia House Aims For Budget Vote This Week

By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
The Augusta Chronicle
Feb. 8, 2010

ATLANTA --- House budget writers hope to finish adjustments to the current year's budget in the coming week, while Senate leaders aim to begin implementing ideas they've received on spending reform.

The House is close to completion of its consideration of the "little budget," the amendments to the spending plan for the few months remaining before the fiscal year ends June 30.

"It's going to be basically cuts," said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island. "There's not a lot to argue over but the cuts."

Keen predicted the eight subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee would finish considering their parts of the budget today and that the full committee would vote Wednesday. That would allow the House to vote Thursday. Then consideration of the budget for the coming fiscal year will begin.

Senate leaders plan to introduce legislation today to put into law the first recommendations from a seven-member task force Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle recruited. The corporate executives and accounting experts have been combing through the budget for suggestions on how they would react if a business were facing the state's financial problems.

Besides budget issues, House committees approved 19 bills last week for consideration by the full House, and the Senate is moving at nearly the same pace. Among the bills coming up for a hearing in committee this week is one that would allow sales over the Internet to food stamp holders who shop with charities, such as the Atlanta Food Bank.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2010-02-08/georgia-house-aims-budget-vote-week?v=1265590975

The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

In Funding Health Care Reform, The World According to AARP

Group expected to play key role in fight to increase alcohol tax


by Douglas Tallman
Staff Writer
Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Gazette.com
February 5,2010

ANNAPOLIS — As lawmakers debate whether to impose an election-year tax increase on alcoholic beverages, the Maryland chapter of AARP is supporting the tax as a means to pay for expanded health care.

The organization, with 850,000 members, has played significant roles in previous tax and health care issues in Maryland, including 2007 efforts to double the tobacco tax and expand Medicaid.

"They are a powerful organization. They have clout because of their name, and they have a lot of people," said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative.

AARP's involvement can be critically important, Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. said.

"It helps spread the word around the state to make the case outside of Annapolis on why this is needed and needed now," said Madaleno (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington.

Conventional wisdom might say senior citizens generally oppose tax increases. And that same wisdom would say a tax increase in an election year is a non-starter.

"Our members vote; they are concerned about promises made in 2007 and 2008 that have not been kept," said Rawle Andrews Jr., AARP's interim state director.

The unmet promises involve the 2007 Medicaid coverage expansion. Childless adults, which would include grandparents caring for an adult child's children, were to be insured by that expansion, but the plan was set aside because of the recession.

"People are suffering in silence because they can't get the health care coverage that they need," Andrews said.

Ted Meyerson, president of United Seniors of Maryland, a consortium of 65 organizations that advocate for senior citizens, said his members could support the increase.

"They would not be opposed to an increase in the alcohol tax," Meyerson said. "They know that you're going to have to have revenue to get out of this. They're willing to pay their fair share."

Even with the support of seniors, the tax has an uphill climb. The General Assembly's Democratic leadership said it doesn't want to see tax increases during the 2010 session, most recently in a Jan. 29 letter to the Republican leadership from Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie and House Appropriations Chairman Norman H. Conway.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell said the alcohol tax would hurt the hospitality industry.

"This will cost people's jobs, jobs, jobs, and I'm opposed, opposed, opposed," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby.

The sentiment was echoed by Zsoka McDonald, spokeswoman for Diageo, an alcoholic beverage company based in London. Three-hundred employees work at its bottling plant in Relay, Md., McDonald said.

"Any increase on taxes would certainly impact our employees, but it would also impact employees of local businesses in Maryland," she said.

"It's a regressive tax. Any regressive taxes will hurt consumers, and it will have an impact on jobs. And in this economy we can't afford to have [that] happen."

But Sen. Verna Jones, a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee who will be the lead sponsor of the tax in the upper chamber, said no one group should have more privileges than another.

"Everybody has to suffer a little bit so everybody can gain a lot," said Jones (D-Dist. 44) of Baltimore.

And to Andrews, it's a user's tax. "If you enjoy an adult beverage, then you pay a little more," he said.

Proponents expect to introduce legislation this week that would call for significant increases in the tax — to a dime a drink. A Johns Hopkins University study estimates the increase would raise $214 million.

The tax currently is divided between spirits and beer and wine. For spirits, the tax is two cents for 1.5 ounces. On beer, the tax is one cent on 12 ounces. And a 5.5-ounce glass of wine has a two-cent levy. The money would support the Developmental Disability Support Fund, the Addiction Treatment and Prevention Fund and the Mental Health Care Fund. More than 40 percent of the funding would go to Medicaid to cover childless adults.

Del. William Bronrott, a House sponsor of the legislation, said health programs have been hit disproportionately by the recession.

"A lot of backs are up against the wall, and many families are suffering," said Bronrott (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda.

The proposal pits AARP and other supporters against the liquor lobby, which has fended off previous attempts to increase the tax. The beer and wine tax hasn't changed since 1972, and the spirits levy has been the same since 1955, Bronrott said.

"We're going to see whether the legislature is driving under the influence of the liquor lobby," quipped Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring.

Last year, AARP took heat for supporting federal health-care reform, losing almost 150,000 members nationwide. The organization hasn't found similar concerns at the state level, Andrews said.

"What we find out when we go out to the chapters, the chapters are divided. There's virtually no one chapter where everyone is saying, ‘We're walking out the door and you can have your AARP banner back,'" Andrews said.

Despite the health-care controversy, the organization's membership is up 2 million nationwide, Andrews said, and would fight to get all its members back.

"The people who left, our extended family, may not come to the next birthday party," he said. "But by the time of the next family reunion, they're going to come back to us."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/02052010/polinew203341_32559.php

Copyright © 2010 Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net

Parent to Parent of GA Accepting Nominations For Impact Awards

Parent to Parent of Georgia Is Accepting Nominations For Georgia's 2010 Impact Awards.

Deadline for nominations February 12.

The Impact Awards recognize individuals whose actions demonstrate, support, or lead to inclusion of individuals with disabilities so they can meaningfully participate in all aspects of life.

Award winners exemplify respect and dignity for everyone, regardless of ability, and work to ensure that others embrace these same ideas. Impact Award winners believe

Inclusion means:

• Everyone (with and without disabilities) gets the same opportunities at home, school, work and play.
• Everyone has positive social relationships and friendships.
• Everyone feels like they belong and has something to contribute to society.

Nominations are due February 12, 2010

For more information and nomination forms visit our website at www.p2pga.org

Bibb Leaders Want To Share Cost Of Lobbyists

By MIKE STUCKA
Macon Telegraph
February 5, 2010


Bibb County commissioners said again Thursday that they want to hire lobbyists who can work around the area’s legislators. This time, though, they think they can get other governments to split the cost of the help.

The idea of local lobbyists isn’t new. Officials talked about it last year, when the area’s legislators were writing legislation affecting local boards and institutions without telling them about it. But the call for jointly hired lobbyists to work Atlanta and Washington drew more interest Thursday.

Macon Councilman Ed DeFore, who also is a member of the Macon Water Authority, said he’s interested in hiring lobbyists even for the current legislative term. If the local legislators can bring home the bacon, there’s no need, he said. But he argued the city needs more.

“I just wish our county delegation could go and try to bring something for back home, like Larry Walker and Sam Nunn brought the Agricenter to Perry and Houston County,” he said.

Bibb County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, who also is the Macon Water Authority’s attorney, said there are big relationship problems.

“I would be happy if we could find some way just to know what’s going on in a timely fashion so we could react to it,” Edwards said. “For each of the last several years, we’ve been blindsided by stuff we didn’t know anything about.”

Bibb County’s leaders wanted hotel-motel tax money to benefit the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Edwards said in recent years legislators wrested control of the money from local governments, then failed to pass legislation that would shift the fund.

Though local governments asked again for the split, legislators created a compromise that would share money with the Douglass Theatre.

Edwards was echoed by Bibb County Commissioner Joe Allen, who said a lobbyist hired by Albany already is getting money for that city. He said Bibb County is left without state money or knowledge of what’s going on.

“For the best interests of the taxpayers and general public, we need to hire someone who can go out and bring information back to us not just on the state level but the national level,” Allen said.

But local legislators are fragmented, as are other local politicians. Legislators disagreed about the Douglass Theatre tax money. But after Bibb County Chief Administrative Officer Steve Layson said he was “shocked” to find out Bibb County hadn’t received its fair share of stimulus funding, commissioners noted residents’ opposition to many road projects.

“We were told face-to-face we needed shovel-ready projects, and nothing is ever shovel-ready in Bibb County,” Commission Chairman Sam Hart said.

Late Thursday, Hart could not provide the amount of stimulus money that Bibb received.

State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said lobbyists can help cities and counties on specific issues.

“If it’s just to make sure they’re in the loop, I think it’s a waste of money,” he said. “We could all do a better job of communicating, and if we do, there’s no need for a lobbyist.”

Peake also said legislators are “fighting like crazy” to get state money.
“I’m a heckuva lot more motivated than a lobbyist would be,” he said.

In other business Thursday, commissioners:

• Agreed to contribute $8,500 toward a $45,000 nationwide search to replace Janice Marshall, who is retiring from the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The bureau will ask for a similar amount of money from Macon. Marshall announced her retirement in November.
  
• Learned efforts to match Macon and Bibb County health insurance plans are succeeding. The county’s plan has a 60-day waiting period, while city employees can get health insurance on the first day. The two governments may meet in the middle, at 30 days. The changes would help the governments merge departments including animal control and engineering.
  
• Discussed ways to find the best site for a new fire station near Bass Road and Interstate 75. Commissioners said they want land that’s inexpensive, easy to build on and gives good access to the area. More residents and businesses, including hotels, are moving into the area.

Telegraph staff writer Travis Fain contributed to this report, which includes information from The Telegraph’s archives.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.
mstucka@macon.com

http://www.macon.com/local/story/1011425.html

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