Education Policy Analysis Archives
Volume 8 Number 41
The Texas Miracle in Education
Walt Haney
3. Evidence and Boosters of the Myth
Given the consequences attached to performance on TAAS, it is not surprising that this test has had major impact on education in Texas. At first glance, this impact appears to have been largely positive; and it is evidence of the apparent positive impact of TAAS, and the Texas system of school accountability, that has helped give rise to the "miracle" story of education reform in Texas over the last decade.
Four kinds of evidence seem to have been most widely cited as indicative of major improvements in education in Texas, namely: 1) sharp increases in the overall pass rates on TAAS during the 1990s; 2) apparent decreases in the achievement gap between White and minority students in Texas (again based on TAAS scores); 3) seemingly decreasing rates of students dropping out of school before high school graduation; and, 4) apparent confirmation of TAAS gains by results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
3.1 Improved results on TAAS
The main evidence contributing to the perception of dramatic educational gains in Texas during the 1990s (what the March 21, 2000 USA Today editorial called "widespread improvement in student achievement") seems to have been sharp increases in passing rates on the TAAS. TAAS was introduced in Texas in 1990-91, and, as recounted previously, was administered at somewhat varied grades (and seasons) during the early 1990s. In several publications, the TEA has presented TAAS pass rates aggregated across different grades. Inasmuch as this sort of aggregation may obscure as much as it reveals, here I present results mainly for grade 10 TAAS testing.
Table 3.1 (and corresponding Figure 3.1) shows the results on the grade 10 TAAS test from 1994 to 1998.
Table 3.1
TAAS Grade 10 Percent Passing 1994-1998
All Students Not in Special Education
(Does Not Include Year-Round Education Results)
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
TAAS Reading 76% 76% 81% 86% 88%
TAAS Math 57% 59% 65% 72% 78%
TAAS Writing 81% 86% 85% 88% 89%
TAAS All Tests 52% 54% 60% 67% 72%
Source: Selected State AEIS Data: A Multi-Year History (www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/swresult/gd10sp98.htm)
As can be seen from these data, grade 10 TAAS results show a pattern of steady improvement from 1994 through 1998, with the percentage of students passing the TAAS reading test rising from 76% to 88%; the percentage passing the TAAS math test rising from 57% to 78%; and the corresponding increase for the TAAS writing test going from 81% to 89%. The percentage of grade 10 students passing all three tests increased from 52% in 1994 to 72% in 1998.
3.2 Decrease in Race Gap in Test Scores
Even as test scores were improving overall, the gaps in achievement between White and nonwhite students (specifically Black and Hispanic students) appeared to have been narrowing. The USA Today editorial (3/21/2000) reported that "Texas is one of the few states that has narrowed its racial learning gap." Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2 show how the "racial learning gap" appears to have narrowed on the grade 10 TAAS tests (for economy of presentation here, I do not show results separately for the reading, writing, and math tests, but only the percentages of grade 10 students passing all three tests).
Table 3.2
TAAS Grade 10 Percent Passing All Tests by Race 1994-1998
All Students Not in Special Education
(Does Not Include Year-Round Education Results)
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Black 29% 32% 38% 48% 55%
Hispanic 35% 37% 44% 52% 59%
White 67% 70% 74% 81% 85%
Source: Selected State AEIS Data: A Multi-Year History: www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/swresult/gd10sp98.htm
As can be seen, in 1994 there was a huge disparity in the grade 10 pass rates for Black and Hispanic students as compared with White students. The 1994 White pass rate of 67% was 38 points higher than the Black pass rate of 29%; and 32 points more than the Hispanic rate of 35%. In other words, in 1994, White students were passing the grade 10 TAAS tests at about double the rate of Black and Hispanic students. This gap was just about what might have been predicted based on the 1990 field test results (see Table 2.1). By 1998, the White grade 10 pass rate had climbed 18 points to 85%. But the Black and Hispanic pass rates had climbed even more, 26 and 24 points respectively. So in a period of just five years, the race gaps had been reduced from 38 to 30 percentage points for Whites and Blacks and from 32 to 26 for Whites compared with Hispanic tenth grade students. Or in other words, minorities had increased their rate of passing grade 10 TAAS tests from less than 50% of the White pass rate to two-thirds of the White pass rate in just four years.
3.3 Decreases in Dropout Rates
If the dramatic gains in grade 10 pass rates overall and substantial decreases in the "racial learning gap" were not sufficiently remarkable, official TEA statistics indicated that over the same interval high school dropout rates were also declining.
Table 3.3
Texas Annual Dropout Rate, Grades 7-12 1994-1998
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
All Students 2.8% 2.6% 1.8% 1.8% 1.6%
Black 3.6% 3.2% 2.3% 2.3% 2.0%
Hispanic 4.2% 3.9% 2.7% 2.5% 2.3%
White 1.7% 1.5% 1.2% 1.1% 1.0%
Source: Selected State AEIS Data: Five Year History
www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/hist/state.html
As shown in Table 3.3, TEA data indicated that between 1994 and 1998, even as pass rates on the TAAS were increasing among grade 10 students, dropout rates were decreasing not just among secondary students overall, but also for each of the three race groups for which data were disaggregated. In short, what appeared to be happening in Texas schools in the 1990s truly did seem to be a miracle.
As Peter Schrag has recently written: "Some of Texas's claims are so striking they border on the incredible. The state's official numbers show that even as TAAS scores were going up, dropout rates were cut from an annual 6.1 percent in 1989-90 to 1.6 percent last year. If ever there was a case of something being too good to be true, this is it" (Schrag, 2000). But before reviewing the doubts of Schrag and others, let me recap one additional source of evidence that seemed to confirm the miracle story.
3.4 NAEP Results for Texas
Anyone even remotely familiar with recent education history of the United States must view with some skepticism the meaningfulness of the almost inevitable increases in performance that follow introduction of a new testing program. When a new testing program is introduced, students and teachers have little familiarity with the specifics of the new tests. But after a few years, they become familiar with the style and format of the tests and students can be coached specifically for the test in question. Hence, performance—or at least average test scores—almost inevitably increases.
That students can be successfully coached for particular tests has been well known among education researchers for decades. As far back as 1927, Glimore, for example, reported that students could be coached on Otis group intelligence tests "to the point of increasing their standing and score in intelligence tests even in the case of the material used in coaching being only similar and not identical with that of the basic test" (Gilmore, 1927, p. 321). Indeed what happens when students are coached for a specific test has come to called the "saw tooth" phenomenon because of the regular pattern in which scores steadily rise following introduction of a new testing program, only to fall dramatically when a different test is introduced (Linn, 2000, p. 7).
The phenomenon of falsely inflated test scores was brought to wide public attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s because of publicity for what came to be known as the "Lake Wobegon" phenomenon in test results. Lake Wobegon is the mythical town in Minnesota popularized by Garrison Keillor in his National Public Radio program "A Prairie Home Companion." It is the town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." In the late 1980s it was discovered that Lake Wobegon seemed to have invaded the nation's schools. For according to a 1987 report by John Cannell, the vast majority of school districts and all states were scoring above average on nationally normed standardized tests (Cannell, 1987). Since it is logically impossible for all of any population to be above average on a single measure, it was clear that something was amiss, that something about nationally normed standardized tests or their use had been leading to false inferences about the status of learning in the nation's schools.
Cannell was a physician by training and not a specialist in education or education research. His original (1987) report was published by "Friends for Education," the foundation he established to promote accountability in education. A revised version of Cannell's report was published in the Summer 1988 issue of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice (Cannell, 1988) together with responses and commentary from representatives of major test publishers and officials of the U.S Department of Education (Phillips and Finn, 1988; Drahozal and Frisbie, 1988; Lenke and Keene, 1988; Williams, 1988; Qualls-Payne, 1988; Stonehill, 1988). Cannell's charges regarding misleading test results were hotly debated in this and other forums. Some people doubted whether the Lake Wobegon phenomenon was real (that is, whether large majorities of states, schools and districts were in fact scoring above average on the national norms of the tests), while most observers accepted the reality of the phenomenon but disputed what caused it. Among the causes suggested and debated were problems in the original norming of the tests, outdated norms, lack of test security, manipulation of populations of students tested, artificial statistical manipulation of test results, and teachers and schools teaching to the tests, either purposely or inadvertently.
The publicity surrounding the Lake Wobegon phenomenon was sufficiently widespread that the U.S. Department of Education funded researchers at the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) to investigate. On the basis of a survey of state directors of testing, Shepard (1989) concluded that the conditions for inflated test results—such as high stakes being pinned on test results, efforts to align curricula to the tests, and direct teaching to the tests—existed in virtually all of the states. And on the basis of an analysis of up to three years of test results from 35 states from which they were available, Linn, Graue and Sanders (1989) essentially confirmed Cannell's basic finding that test results across the nation were implausibly inflated—Lake Wobegon had invaded the nation's schools. For instance, they found that "for grades 1 through 6, the percentage of students scoring above the national median in mathematics ranges from a low of 58% in grade 4 for the 1985 school year to a high of 71% in grade 2 for the 1987-88 school year . . . " (p. 8). Linn, Graue and Sanders concluded that the use of old norms was one cause of the abundance of "above average scores" (p. 23), but also pointed out that in situations in which the same form of a test is used year after year, "increased familiarity with a particular form of a test" (p.24) likely contributed to inflated scores.
The practice of using a single form of a test year after year poses a logical threat to making inferences about the larger domain of achievement. Scores may be raised by focusing narrowly on the test objectives without improving achievement across the broader domain that the test objectives are intended to represent. Worse still, practice on nearly identical or even the actual items that appear on a test may be given. But as Dyer aptly noted some years ago, "if you use the test exercises as an instrument of teaching you destroy the usefulness of the test as an instrument for measuring the effects of teaching (Dyer, 1973, p. 89)." (Linn, Graue and Sanders, 1989, p. 25).
The problem was illustrated even more clearly in a subsequent study reported by Koretz, Linn, Dunbar & Shepard (1991), which compared test results on one "high- stakes" test, used for several years in a large urban school district, with those on a comparable test that had not been used in that district for several years. They found that performance on the regularly used high-stakes test did not generalize to other tests for which students had not been specifically coached, and again commented that "students in this district are prepared for high-stakes testing in ways that boost scores . . . substantially more than actual achievement in domains that the tests are intended to measure" (p. 2). To put the matter bluntly, teaching to a particular test undermines the validity of test results as measures of more general learning.
While education researchers were essentially confirming Cannell's initial charges, the intrepid physician was continuing his own investigations. In late summer 1989, Cannell released a new report entitled The "Lake Wobegon" Report: How Public Educators Cheat on Standardized Achievement Tests. This time Cannell presented new instances of the Lake Wobegon phenomenon and a variety of evidence of outright fraud in school testing programs, including a sampling of testimony from teachers concerned about cheating on tests. After presenting results of his own survey of test security in the 50 states (concluding that security is generally so lax as to invite cheating), Cannell outlined methods to help people detect whether cheating is going on in their school districts, and "inexpensive steps" to help prevent it.
More recently Koretz and Barron (1998; RAND, 1999) of the RAND Corporation investigated the validity of dramatic gains on Kentucky's high stakes statewide tests. Like Texas, Kentucky had adopted policies to hold schools and teachers accountable for student performance on statewide tests. During the first four years of the program, Kentucky students showed dramatic improvements on the state tests. What Koretz and Barron sought to assess was the validity of the Kentucky test gains by comparing them with Kentucky student performance on comparable tests, specifically the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the American College Testing Program (ACT) college admissions tests. What they found was that the dramatic gains on the Kentucky test between 1992 and 1996 were simply not reflected in NAEP and ACT scores. They concluded that the Kentucky test scores "have been inflated and are therefore not a meaningful indicator of increased learning" (RAND, 1999).
Even before the release of the report showing inflated test scores in Kentucky, anyone familiar with the Lake Wobegon phenomenon, widely publicized in the late 1980s and early 1990s, had to view the dramatic gains reported on TAAS in Texas in the 1990s with considerable skepticism. Were the gains on TAAS indicative of real gains in student learning, or just another instance of artificially inflated test scores?
In 1997, results from the 1996 the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics were released. The 1996 NAEP results showed that among the states participating in the state-level portion of the math assessment, Texas showed the greatest gains in percentages of fourth graders scoring at the proficient or advanced levels. Between 1992 and 1996, the percentage of Texas fourth grades scoring at these levels had increased from 15% to 25%. The same NAEP results also showed North Carolina to have posted unusually large gains at the grade 8 level, with the percentages of eighth graders in North Carolina scoring at the proficient or advanced levels improving from 9% in 1990 to 20% in 1996. (Reese et al., 1997)
Putting aside for the moment that the 1996 NAEP results also showed that math achievement in these two states was no better (and in some cases worse) than the national average, these findings led to considerable publicity for the apparent success of education reform in these two states. The apparent gains in math, for example, led the National Education Goals Panel in 1997 to identify Texas and North Carolina as having made unusual progress in achieving the National Education Goals.
3.5 Plaudits for the Texas Miracle
In Spring 1998, Tyce Palmaffy published an article titled "The Gold Star State: How Texas jumped to the head of the class in elementary school achievement." Citing both 1996 NAEP results and TAAS score increases, Palmaffy praised Texas for being in the vanguard of "an accountability movement sweeping the states" (not surprisingly he also mentioned North Carolina and Kentucky). Regarding TAAS, Palmaffy reported "In 1994, barely half of Texas students passed the TAAS math exam. By last year, the proportion had climbed to 80 percent. What's more, the share of black and Hispanic children who passed the test doubled during that time to 64 percent and 72 percent respectively." Palmaffy's article, published in a Heritage Foundation journal, also included testimonials for the Texas success story from divergent vantage points. Kati Haycock, "director of the Education Trust, a Washington D.C.-based organization devoted to improving educational opportunities for low-income children" was quoted as touting Texas as "a real model for other states to follow." The article also referred to "researcher Heidi Glidden of the American Federation of Teachers union" as praising the sort of education accountability system used in Texas.
Meanwhile, the National Education Goals Panel had "commissioned Dr. David Grissmer, an education researcher with the RAND Corporation, to conduct an analysis of education reforms in both states [Texas and North Carolina] to determine that the improvements were indeed significant and to seek to identify the factors that could and could not account for their progress" (Grissmer & Flanagan, 1998, p. i). The National Education Goals Panel released the Grissmer/Flanagan report in November 1998. Without trying to recap or critique the Grissmer/Flanagan report here, let me simply summarize how it was conveyed to the outside world. The report was released November 5, 1998 with a press release titled "North Carolina and Texas Recognized as Models for Boosting Student Achievement." The first paragraph of the press release read:
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) A new study that both belies conventional wisdom about problems in K-12 education and illuminates some approaches for solving them points to the extraordinarily successful policies of two states North Carolina and Texas as models for reform throughout the nation. (NEGP, 11/5/98)
After quotes from North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt and Texas Governor George W. Bush, the press release went on to summarize the Grissmer/Flanagan findings. The researchers found that "several factors commonly associated with student achievement, such as real per pupil spending, teacher pupil ratios, teachers with advanced degrees, and experience level of teachers—are not adequate for explaining the test score gains." (National Education Goals Panel, November 5, 1998, p. 1). The press release explained that, instead, Grissmer and Flanagan attributed the achievement gains in Texas and North Carolina to three broad factors common to the two states (business leadership, political leadership, consistent reform agendas) and seven educational policies (adopting statewide standards by grade for clear teaching, holding all students to the same standards, linking statewide assessments to academic standards, creating accountability systems with benefits and consequences for results, increasing local control and flexibility for administrators and teachers, providing test scores and feedback via computer for continuous improvement, and shifting resources to schools with more disadvantaged students).
Grissmer and Flanagan (1998) did not explain how they had determined that these were the factors behind the apparent achievement gains in Texas and North Carolina; but whatever the case, this 1998 report from the National Education Goals Panel, coupled with the sort of diverse support for the Texas model education accountability system cited by Palmaffy, seemed to certify the apparent miracle of education reform in Texas. The success of education reform in Texas was being heralded by observers as diverse as Palmaffy (of the Heritage Foundation), Haycock (head of an organization dedicated to improving the educational opportunities of low-income children), and Glidden (a researcher with one of the nation's largest teachers unions). The Grissmer/Flanagan report seemed to be the clincher. Here was a report from a bipartisan national group (the National Education Goals Panel), prepared by a Ph.D. researcher from a prestigious research organization, the RAND Corporation, that straight out said, "The analysis confirms that gains in academic achievement in both states are significant and sustained. North Carolina and Texas posted the largest average gains in student scores on tests of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered between 1990 and 1997. These results are mirrored in state assessments during the same period, and there is evidence of the scores of disadvantaged students improving more rapidly than those of advantaged students" (Grissmer & Flanagan, 1998, p. i). Few people seemed to notice that the Grissmer & Flanagan report was not actually published by RAND.
Nonetheless, the report from the National Education Goals Panel seemed to certify the seeming miracle of education reform in Texas. Subsequently, the story of the Texas miracle has been circulated far and wide. Without trying to document all of the stories on the Texas miracle I have seen, let me mention here just two examples. On June 10, 1999, the Boston Globe ran a front-page story headlined "Embarrassed into success: Texas school experience may hold lessons for Massachusetts" (Daley, 1999). And on March 21, 2000, in the editorial cited at the start of this article, USA Today, in urging the U.S. Senate to adopt a Texas-style school accountability system for the $8 billion Title I program providing federal aid to poor schools, the editors cited "Texas-size school success" in the Lone Star state. In an apparent reference to 1996 NAEP results, the editorial cited the Education Trust as the source of evidence about gains in Texas on 1996 math tests administered nationally.
0: Home | 1: Intro. | 2: History | 3: The Myth | 4: TAAS | 5: Missing Students
6: Teachers | 7: Other Evidence | 8: Summary | Notes & Ref. | Appendix
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Will this death be "accidental" because the "consensual" Smith says so?
What is sick is , post 28 is that you are not sick of "non nonchalant" way you are determined to get YOUR way.
"It is not like some one died or anything"? Right?
If it was Marty Jasso, would it still be "an accident"?
I remember not too long ago a cross was torched on a CCPD officers lawn, but for some reason the "sicko" has not been caught.
Is it not true that shooting range masnger or super John Graham the DMC instructor (who stole former DMC professor Alberto Benitez's "laptop" after he was in the hospital from being shot in his own home?
Where is it?
August 8, 2003
Going…Going…Going Online This Fall
High demand spurs College’s Death Investigation Program to offer Internet courses worldwide
When Del Mar College began offering its Death Investigation Program two years ago, 33 students began taking one of the first three courses developed. Over 100 other local students had to put their name on a waiting list to enroll in the classes.
But a partnership that emerged nearly four years ago with the U.S. Congress, the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office in Washington State, the Nueces County Medical Examiners Office and local computer software company INDX, Inc. is now putting death investigation at the forefront on the Internet. This fall, Del Mar will begin offering its courses online to reach more students across the country–even around the world.
“Our program has grown exponentially during the past two years,” says John Graham, instructor of criminal justice. “And we expect even more growth when our online degree program is promoted internationally through the NOMIS Project.” Online courses the College will offer include Death Investigation I, Death Investigation II and the Legal and Social Aspects of Death and Dying.
The Network of Medicolegal Investigative Systems, known as NOMIS, is a computer program developed and owned by INDX, Inc. The company offered to modify NOMIS for the government to assist in the investigation of tracking incidences of death, including those caused by weapons of mass destruction and bioterrorism. The program will facilitate the collection, analysis and retrieval of data in several areas, including identification of missing/unidentified deceased persons; mass fatality victim identification; investigator training and certification; electronic death registration; evidence control and disposition; Emergency Room casualty tracking; military combat aid station tracking; contagious diseases and epidemics; AMBER Alert communications; serial homicides; among several others.
NOMIS will offer a comprehensive solution to the needs of medicolegal and law enforcement jurisdictions and provide a common national infrastructure that serves multiple agencies at all levels of government. National security, national defense, criminal justice, public health and disaster mitigation, response and recovery will all benefit from the application.
The partnership is sponsoring the deployment of the NOMIS Basic Death Investigation Web Service application this month with an anticipated in-depth testing date set for Aug. 8. The Web site, located at www.nomisproject.com, will also link to Del Mar’s Death Investigation Program.
Of the partnership, Graham says, “This marriage was made in heaven, not only for Del Mar College but for the entire nation.” He reiterates that under the agreement, NOMIS will provide worldwide instant access to the College’s Death Investigation Program while Del Mar will have perpetual access to data stored onsite for research purposes or educational needs. “This is a great deal for us.”
Graham says that in 2001, U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz successfully funneled a line item appropriation through the Department of Justice as part of the 2002 national budget to fund INDX, Inc.’s expansion of the NOMIS application’s abilities.
According to Graham, NOMIS was created using “what experts called an impossible amount of funding, only $300,000, to complete what normally takes millions of dollars.” Del Mar College and INDX, Inc. worked together and are now close to completing the second version of the application.
“Del Mar College has achieved a minor miracle with the funding received in the line item appropriation,” he notes. “We created a new degree, a national data collection program and retained the right to access data from that program. We could not afford to purchase this kind of powerful tool or build it without the dedication of College faculty with the Legal Professions and Computer Science Departments and Information Technology personnel, who all had a hand in making this a reality.”
Additionally, Del Mar Criminal Justice students tested the Alpha version of NOMIS using a simulated attack on the Port of Corpus Christi. Many fatalities were incorporated into the exercise so that students could pretend to be first responders to a central emergency command post.
“With no training, they were able to master the program and begin downloading data within five minutes,” Graham says. “This type of usability is of paramount importance. If this system had been available on 9-11, the process of recovery and identification may have been enhanced.”
Graham says that requests for entry into the Death Investigation Program continuously come from individuals across the nation. “Demand is high, but now that the program will be promoted on the NOMIS Project homepage, the Legal Professions Division is gearing up for an additional influx of requests,” he says.
“We’re literally calling medical examiners and investigators all over the country to recruit adjunct instructors to teach this fall’s online courses,” Graham adds. “I’ve even spoken to a forensic pathologist in Great Britain.”
“Del Mar College is the only institution of higher education that offers a degree program in Death Investigation,” notes Graham. “Combined with the national deployment of NOMIS, the number of requests for this degree are probably going to be beyond our immediate ability to respond. What a wonderful problem to have.”
###
Sidebar Story:
Death Investigation Student Currently Working in Field
Director of Morgue Services with Nueces County Medical Examiners Office close to finishing program
She only lacks taking five classes to complete Del Mar College’s Death Investigation Program. But as Alex Medina puts it, “The field is not for everyone.”
“You don’t know what work is going to be like from one day to the next,” says Medina, a criminal justice and death investigations major and the director of morgue services at the Nueces County Medical Examiners Office. “You deal with death every day, and you see people you have known, friends or someone you went to school with. You just don’t know who you’ll see until you pull the cover back.”
The Corpus Christi native enrolled in Death Investigations courses when the College’s Department of Legal Professions began offering the program in fall 2001. Medina says her extensive experience in healthcare, including clinical, administrative and emergency services have been beneficial as she’s worked through the program.
“I enrolled in the Death Investigation Program during its infancy,” she notes. “But the program is expanding and is great for students here in Corpus Christi.” She notes that the high employment demand in the field means graduates have opportunities to find positions all over the country.
Prior to returning to Corpus Christi three years ago, Medina joined the U.S. Navy and began serving as a corpsman and EMT (emergency medical technician) in 1987. The 34-year-old is a nationally registered EMT, a certified medical assistant and a licensed ambulance driver.
But, Medina’s fascination with forensics and work with several pathology groups over the years spurned her interest to enroll in the Death Investigation Program when she decided to go back to college. “I started taking 22 to 26 credit hours when I enrolled,” she says. “I also wanted to get my foot in the door and made myself known to Ric Ortiz, who’s the chief investigator in the county’s Medical Examiners Office and was one of the first adjunct instructors to teach courses in the new program.”
“During class tours of the facility, I made a point of meeting the forensic staff and kind of pushed my way in here,” she muses. “When a position became available, I applied for it and went through the same process as the other candidates. But my education and work experience was key to my getting the position.”
Medina says death investigations is very demanding--physically and psychologically. “People are fascinated as to why I chose this field, but I believe I am where I’m suppose to be at this time in my life. I find the work intriguing. It’s like solving a puzzle.”
She adds, “This field requires special people who can find the answers as to why or how someone died.”
-DMC-me
Return to CRO News Releases
"It is not like some one died or anything"? Right?
If it was Marty Jasso, would it still be "an accident"?
I remember not too long ago a cross was torched on a CCPD officers lawn, but for some reason the "sicko" has not been caught.
Is it not true that shooting range masnger or super John Graham the DMC instructor (who stole former DMC professor Alberto Benitez's "laptop" after he was in the hospital from being shot in his own home?
Where is it?
August 8, 2003
Going…Going…Going Online This Fall
High demand spurs College’s Death Investigation Program to offer Internet courses worldwide
When Del Mar College began offering its Death Investigation Program two years ago, 33 students began taking one of the first three courses developed. Over 100 other local students had to put their name on a waiting list to enroll in the classes.
But a partnership that emerged nearly four years ago with the U.S. Congress, the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office in Washington State, the Nueces County Medical Examiners Office and local computer software company INDX, Inc. is now putting death investigation at the forefront on the Internet. This fall, Del Mar will begin offering its courses online to reach more students across the country–even around the world.
“Our program has grown exponentially during the past two years,” says John Graham, instructor of criminal justice. “And we expect even more growth when our online degree program is promoted internationally through the NOMIS Project.” Online courses the College will offer include Death Investigation I, Death Investigation II and the Legal and Social Aspects of Death and Dying.
The Network of Medicolegal Investigative Systems, known as NOMIS, is a computer program developed and owned by INDX, Inc. The company offered to modify NOMIS for the government to assist in the investigation of tracking incidences of death, including those caused by weapons of mass destruction and bioterrorism. The program will facilitate the collection, analysis and retrieval of data in several areas, including identification of missing/unidentified deceased persons; mass fatality victim identification; investigator training and certification; electronic death registration; evidence control and disposition; Emergency Room casualty tracking; military combat aid station tracking; contagious diseases and epidemics; AMBER Alert communications; serial homicides; among several others.
NOMIS will offer a comprehensive solution to the needs of medicolegal and law enforcement jurisdictions and provide a common national infrastructure that serves multiple agencies at all levels of government. National security, national defense, criminal justice, public health and disaster mitigation, response and recovery will all benefit from the application.
The partnership is sponsoring the deployment of the NOMIS Basic Death Investigation Web Service application this month with an anticipated in-depth testing date set for Aug. 8. The Web site, located at www.nomisproject.com, will also link to Del Mar’s Death Investigation Program.
Of the partnership, Graham says, “This marriage was made in heaven, not only for Del Mar College but for the entire nation.” He reiterates that under the agreement, NOMIS will provide worldwide instant access to the College’s Death Investigation Program while Del Mar will have perpetual access to data stored onsite for research purposes or educational needs. “This is a great deal for us.”
Graham says that in 2001, U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz successfully funneled a line item appropriation through the Department of Justice as part of the 2002 national budget to fund INDX, Inc.’s expansion of the NOMIS application’s abilities.
According to Graham, NOMIS was created using “what experts called an impossible amount of funding, only $300,000, to complete what normally takes millions of dollars.” Del Mar College and INDX, Inc. worked together and are now close to completing the second version of the application.
“Del Mar College has achieved a minor miracle with the funding received in the line item appropriation,” he notes. “We created a new degree, a national data collection program and retained the right to access data from that program. We could not afford to purchase this kind of powerful tool or build it without the dedication of College faculty with the Legal Professions and Computer Science Departments and Information Technology personnel, who all had a hand in making this a reality.”
Additionally, Del Mar Criminal Justice students tested the Alpha version of NOMIS using a simulated attack on the Port of Corpus Christi. Many fatalities were incorporated into the exercise so that students could pretend to be first responders to a central emergency command post.
“With no training, they were able to master the program and begin downloading data within five minutes,” Graham says. “This type of usability is of paramount importance. If this system had been available on 9-11, the process of recovery and identification may have been enhanced.”
Graham says that requests for entry into the Death Investigation Program continuously come from individuals across the nation. “Demand is high, but now that the program will be promoted on the NOMIS Project homepage, the Legal Professions Division is gearing up for an additional influx of requests,” he says.
“We’re literally calling medical examiners and investigators all over the country to recruit adjunct instructors to teach this fall’s online courses,” Graham adds. “I’ve even spoken to a forensic pathologist in Great Britain.”
“Del Mar College is the only institution of higher education that offers a degree program in Death Investigation,” notes Graham. “Combined with the national deployment of NOMIS, the number of requests for this degree are probably going to be beyond our immediate ability to respond. What a wonderful problem to have.”
###
Sidebar Story:
Death Investigation Student Currently Working in Field
Director of Morgue Services with Nueces County Medical Examiners Office close to finishing program
She only lacks taking five classes to complete Del Mar College’s Death Investigation Program. But as Alex Medina puts it, “The field is not for everyone.”
“You don’t know what work is going to be like from one day to the next,” says Medina, a criminal justice and death investigations major and the director of morgue services at the Nueces County Medical Examiners Office. “You deal with death every day, and you see people you have known, friends or someone you went to school with. You just don’t know who you’ll see until you pull the cover back.”
The Corpus Christi native enrolled in Death Investigations courses when the College’s Department of Legal Professions began offering the program in fall 2001. Medina says her extensive experience in healthcare, including clinical, administrative and emergency services have been beneficial as she’s worked through the program.
“I enrolled in the Death Investigation Program during its infancy,” she notes. “But the program is expanding and is great for students here in Corpus Christi.” She notes that the high employment demand in the field means graduates have opportunities to find positions all over the country.
Prior to returning to Corpus Christi three years ago, Medina joined the U.S. Navy and began serving as a corpsman and EMT (emergency medical technician) in 1987. The 34-year-old is a nationally registered EMT, a certified medical assistant and a licensed ambulance driver.
But, Medina’s fascination with forensics and work with several pathology groups over the years spurned her interest to enroll in the Death Investigation Program when she decided to go back to college. “I started taking 22 to 26 credit hours when I enrolled,” she says. “I also wanted to get my foot in the door and made myself known to Ric Ortiz, who’s the chief investigator in the county’s Medical Examiners Office and was one of the first adjunct instructors to teach courses in the new program.”
“During class tours of the facility, I made a point of meeting the forensic staff and kind of pushed my way in here,” she muses. “When a position became available, I applied for it and went through the same process as the other candidates. But my education and work experience was key to my getting the position.”
Medina says death investigations is very demanding--physically and psychologically. “People are fascinated as to why I chose this field, but I believe I am where I’m suppose to be at this time in my life. I find the work intriguing. It’s like solving a puzzle.”
She adds, “This field requires special people who can find the answers as to why or how someone died.”
-DMC-me
Return to CRO News Releases
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Mary Cano~That you never were the best for me.
DAUGHTRY LYRICS
"Over You"
Now that it's all said and done,
I can't believe you were the one
To build me up and tear me down,
Like an old abandoned house.
What you said when you left
Just left me cold and out of breath.
I fell too far, was in way too deep.
Guess I let you get the best of me.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
You took a hammer to these walls,
Dragged the memories down the hall,
Packed your bags and walked away.
There was nothing I could say.
And when you slammed the front door shut,
A lot of others opened up,
So did my eyes so I could see
That you never were the best for me.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
Well I'm putting my heart back together,
'Cause I got over you.
Well I got over you.
I got over you.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
"Over You"
Now that it's all said and done,
I can't believe you were the one
To build me up and tear me down,
Like an old abandoned house.
What you said when you left
Just left me cold and out of breath.
I fell too far, was in way too deep.
Guess I let you get the best of me.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
You took a hammer to these walls,
Dragged the memories down the hall,
Packed your bags and walked away.
There was nothing I could say.
And when you slammed the front door shut,
A lot of others opened up,
So did my eyes so I could see
That you never were the best for me.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
Well I'm putting my heart back together,
'Cause I got over you.
Well I got over you.
I got over you.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
How much will you bet he does not show up?
o Venessa Santos-Garza
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Local
Republician mastermind Rove to speak in CC
By Jaime Powell (Contact)
Monday, September 24, 2007
related linksMore Local News
* Police search for gunman who injured 2
* Larry Overton's trial postponed
* Overtons' defenders
CORPUS CHRISTI — Veteran political mastermind Karl Rove, President Bush’s close friend and former deputy chief of staff will headline a Wednesday, Nov. 28 fund raiser for Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse at the Solomon P. Ortiz Center, executive director Connie Scott said Monday.
Rove was at ground zero when Bush first ran for governor against Ann Richards in 1993 and ascended with Bush to the White House, where he reigned as a top advisor until the end of August, when he stepped down.
Scott and her businessman husband Mike, have known Rove since the 1980s, said Mike Scott, who sits on the BACALA board of directors.
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Post Your Comments
Post 1 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:30 p.m.
Karl Rove knows his stuff. He knew that Al Gore and John Kerry were not the right men to lead our Country! #: /
(Suggest removal)
Post 2 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:33 p.m.
The architect is coming……….
Al Gore and John Kerry can't lead themselves down a hallway!
__9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 3 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:34 p.m.
lol @ above comment.
(Suggest removal)
Post 4 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:36 p.m.
This is even better than front row seats at a Led Zeppelin reunion concert at American Bank Center
El Chavo Del Ocho
(Suggest removal)
Post 5 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:36 p.m.
architect of disasters....... It's a perfect place for him to speak, Corpus is regarded as retirement central. ;-)
(Suggest removal)
Post 6 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:38 p.m.
gotta love it __9797! Keep up those spot on one-liners. lol! #: )
(Suggest removal)
Post 7 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:38 p.m.
poster @ 3:36
Architect of desaster?........Well, he did tear down Al Gore's and John Kerry's campaigns.
_9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 8 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:41 p.m.
I've got my front row seats!! Hottest ticket in town!! # : )
3:36 p.m. poster re: I beg to differ, Al Gore & John Kerry are disasters. I'll let 9797 splain for you.
(Suggest removal)
Post 9 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:43 p.m.
Dude I need some tickets......is it open to the public.
(Suggest removal)
Post 10 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:45 p.m.
This ought to get the editors of the CC Times undies in a wad.
If their is one man they despise, it is Karl Rove.
(Suggest removal)
Post 11 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:47 p.m.
Explaining........
If after 8 years, all you can say is "I invented the internet".......not good.
If you get wounded 3 (or was it 4) times in 3 months, thats no heroic....that's just plain clumbsy.......and not good.
__9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 12 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:48 p.m.
He did tear down Kerry and Gore. With all his lies!
I cant' believe you people are actually defending this lying sack of dung! Bush was the only President that was NOT elected. I'm not sure if most of you are from the so-called greatest generation or not, but the only consolation we have is that you all will die soon!
(Suggest removal)
Post 13 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:53 p.m.
3:48 p.m. poster, how many times must you count ballots before you concede? All investigations have proven Bush won.......TWICE.
But fear not, we will all soon die, as will you. And as the world morns the loss of me, they will rejoice in the loss of you.
Damn, my dad was right, life really is "Give and Take".
__9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 14 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:58 p.m.
poster3:48, you will die right along with the rest of us! Remember? We recounted the Votes and Recounted them Again, And then we RECOUNTED THEM AGAIN!!! Thank God Al Gore has found his true calling! "Don't leave your CARBON FOOTPRINT ON AMERICA" while we watch him hop aboard his private jets on a daily basis so he can get to one of his palacious homes that have a 5000.00 a month electric bill. What a hipocrit.
And all John Kerry did is ruin the Heinz Ketchup Name!!! I refuse to buy a Heinz product for the rest of my life!!!! HUNTS HUNTS HUNTS!! FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT!!!! Fred or Dead!!
# : )
(Suggest removal)
Post 15 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:01 p.m.
all investigations lead by the republicans. don't forget that.
If you aren't upset about everything Bush has done to the U.S. then you are just as ignorant as all the other BLIND people. it's people like you that have made the USA one of the most hated countries in the world.
(Suggest removal)
Post 16 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:02 p.m.
Fred Thompson is nothing but Reagan Lite. He's a bigger joke than Bush!!
(Suggest removal)
Post 17 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:05 p.m.
My man George Wallace was spot on, there is no difference between a Republican and a Democrat.
Chads and a helping hand from the Supreme Court.
Ann Coulter and now Karl Rove. They'll be thousands in attendence. That in itself says a lot.
(Suggest removal)
Post 18 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:06 p.m.
post @ 4:01, It's comments like yours and those of the left wing demo-craps that give the USA a bad name. You are to busy looking for the worse in a man you hate simply because he is republican, and fail to see the misery you and youe ilk bring upon yourselves and others. Please die first.
__9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 19 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:09 p.m.
Reagan Lite any day is better than Billary heavy, full, bloated......etc.
__9797
(Suggest removal)
Post 20 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:30 p.m.
You know Hillary might not be all that bad. I have realized Hillary and I have one thing in common. We both like girls.
(Suggest removal)
Post 21 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:32 p.m.
WOW Rove at the Solomon Ortiz Center --- Rove ---Solomon Ortiz
(Suggest removal)
Post 22 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:55 p.m.
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse or the Nueces Country Republican Party Forum?
(Suggest removal)
Post 23 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:01 p.m.
post 22. Or it could be said that Democrats are FOR lawsuit abuse. The party is chock full of trial lawyers.
(Suggest removal)
Post 24 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:05 p.m.
Poster 4:01 "don't forget that.
If you aren't upset about everything Bush has done to the U.S. then you are just as ignorant as all the other BLIND people. it's people like you that have made the USA one of the most hated countries in the world."
You can always leave. I am sure you would be happier in a more "liked country"
Dont Hate me cuz you aint me.
LC
(Suggest removal)
Post 25 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:15 p.m.
Post 401 and 505. You two were the type always trying to win the popularity contests in grade school were you not?
Piss on all the other countries. I don't care what they think. I am not interested in being popular. I am interested in defending this country and our way of life. I'll sacrifice my popularity as an American for that principal.
Besides, I do not accept the premise that the U.S. is the most hated country in the world. The media would like for you to believe that. I travel extensively and interact with foriegn visitors to this country frequently and do not experience that sentiment.
(Suggest removal)
Post 26 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:23 p.m.
hmmmm Poster 5:15
I am a little confused since I merely stated to poster 4:01 he could leave to a more liked country. I never stated that I had any concern myself being worried if we where not liked. In fact I take pride in the fact that the lunitics of the world (Chavez, Castro, bin Laden, etc. etc) do not care for us.
(Suggest removal)
Post 27 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:26 p.m.
poster 523
I stand corrected. I meant to direct my post only to 401.
(Suggest removal)
Post 28 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:43 p.m.
Hate breeds hate. It is truly sad that anyone ever coined the description, 'architect', for Karl Rove. Famous and respected architects design and create original structures of beauty, strength and sustainability. The only thing Karl Rove achieved was how to win an election at all costs. Due to the dumbing-down methodology used on their base and the moral superiority complex exerted over their opponents, their campaign divided our nation and altered, if not ended, many personal friendships. Rove helped to create a verbal civil-war of sorts. History will leave him and people like Tom DeLay, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and the like as footnotes to the legacy of hate-fest in the Bush administration. Above comments such as Post 13 & 14 are nothing more than simple, ignorant, and lame personal attacks, obviously written by uninformed people who have been caught up in the propaganda vacuum of Fox, aka Faux, News and Rush "Credential-LESS" Limbaugh. True skeptical thinkers get their facts from a variety of credible news sources and independent journalists. As Emerson wrote in 1842, "The two parties which divide the State, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made ... Now one, then the other gets the day, and still the fight renews itself as if for the first time, under new names and hot personalities ... Innovation is the salient energy; Conservatism the pause on the last movement. ...There is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism, joined with a certain superiority in its fact." from: The Conservative (1842) Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Suggest removal)
Post 29 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 6:07 p.m.
Hey _9797, and buddies
you seem to have some real issues. I've been to CC and it's obvious that it's about as backward as they come but you my friend have set the bar at a new low.
Former CC tourist dollar spender
(Suggest removal)
Post 30 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 6:19 p.m.
Just an open note to all of you who are still arguing about the 2000 and 2004 elections:
GET OVER IT!
Bush won.
(Suggest removal)
Post 31 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7 p.m.
Do the democrats have a mastermind?
No?
Didn't think so.
(Suggest removal)
Post 32 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:02 p.m.
The world's biggest idiot is coming to CC. The man responsible for the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY, is going to leave a slime trail to CC.
Perhaps he will take responsibility for being the mastermind that has destroyed the all volunteer military?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for running up the largest deficit in the history of the United States?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for having the most scandal plagued executive branch ever?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for driving up oil prices, and making the Arabs the richest bunch of wackos since WWII.
Perhaps he will take responsibility for making economic policy that has made the richest folks even richer while working folks get screwed.
Perhaps pigs will fly.
You sir are an embarrassment to the beloved Constitution of the Unites States of America.
As an US Army Veteran I hope that you just go away. You have caused enough damage.
Why don't you enlist in the Army?
(Suggest removal)
Post 33 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:06 p.m.
"Scott and her businessman husband Mike, have known Rove since the 1980s, said Mike Scott, who sits on the BACALA board of directors."
All this means is that everyone is connected. If you are rich and someone involved you are in, if not they have a nice life. Everyone is corrupted it seems these days, Bush with oil friends, Kerry with Ketchup, Clinton with donations, Bush Sr. with the Saudi's, all the contracts for Iraq to friends companies. Oh and don't forget the gay sex stories from several states.
Also why would you want to hear someone who stepped down from a job? Doesn't that admit failure of some sort? If is was so good why is he still not there?
Also for all the Bush supporters, what has he done durning his administration that helped our country? What did Rove do in office that helped our country?
This is not an attack on them just a real question from someone who is loosing faith is all leaders democrat and republican...
(Suggest removal)
Post 34 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:23 p.m.
Financially this group will be well compensated into the third and fourth generation.
But, one day out of nowhere a conscience will awaken and then the suffering will begin.
(Suggest removal)
Post 35 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:40 p.m.
President Bush has his faults no doubt. He didn't secure our borders like he should have. For that I am truely dissapointed. But he did promise America that he would take this fight over to the terrorists and keep another profound attack off our soil. He said this would take a very long time. He said that right from the start.
Osama Bin Laden has been attacking us way back since the Clintons were in office, and nothing was ever done about it. Bush showed up and had to endure the worst Terrorist Attack on US soil in the history of our Country. He vowed that he would take the fight to them. Thats exactly what he has done. He has not APPEASED THEM AS Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry would've done. Anything is better than the do nothing, (diplomacy only) APPEASERS!!
That is what Bush has done for our Country. History will only tell the whole story. KUMBAYA MY LORD does not work with these haters in the middle east. They hate everything about the West. Ackmadbudimwithajad said there is no such thing as a homosexual in his land of Iran. The Democraps wouldn't stand a chance in Iran. Democraps love homosexuals!
If America is so hated in this World, then why in the hell is everyone trying to come to our Country? Huh? Answer that one?
(Suggest removal)
Post 36 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 8:23 p.m.
People, it's just a fundraiser.
(Suggest removal)
Post 37 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 8:48 p.m.
Why do people come to America? Not for our life style. MONEY!!
Osama by the force of circumstance created BUSH.
Diplomacy (appeasers). Well, the talk around the BUSH camp is exactly that.
Osama lives in hiding always has always will. How do you find what appears to be ghost? Where's his great army to be bombed to hell and back?
Even the great American spy works couldnt locate him. Bill Clinton took a shot and missed.
But, oh wait. There sits old Saddam. "Slam dunk" "mission accomplished".
Yes sir'ee bobby, Democraps love homosexuals how infintile.
(Suggest removal)
Post 38 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 9:20 p.m.
Bush's brain is coming to town. The king of the neo-con fascist slime is coming to spew his lies and hate and you people actually want to hear this pitiful little man? Hey Post 24, the reason the entire world hates us is because of this administration's imperialistic ideology to take over the world no matter what the cost, no matter what the majority of the American people think. What a great achievement..the architect of a failed presidency and a continuous failed policy. And you people are going to pay to see this idiot???
...genius!
(Suggest removal)
Post 39 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 9:23 p.m.
Hillary Clinton will save us!!!! All will be good when she becomes the next Democratic President. (The biggest flip-flopper) in American history. You will eat your words
3rd coast girl
(Suggest removal)
Post 40 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:09 p.m.
post 38, i can't believe your that stupid!!! who's the idiot?
(Suggest removal)
Post 41 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:10 p.m.
BushBaby really misses his brain. His lastest gaff "Mandella is dead"may be just a freudian slip. Maybe someone could slip something in Rove's drink when he comes to CC,like Truth serum.
No wait -don't-from him it would be just- too- ugly.
"Trying to be Amused , but mostly disgusted"
(Suggest removal)
Post 42 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:18 p.m.
This country is split right down the middle 50/50. I hope and pray we can all come together for the good of our country. I guess that will never be possible. I personally do not support everything the Republicans do but on the other hand I certainly do NOT support what the Democrats stand for. Hillary Clinton is just as bad in my opinion as Bush ever was. She lies, cheats, and steals and tells you what she thinks you want to hear because of her strong desire to be in power. God willing that will never happen.
Third Coast Girl
(Suggest removal)
Post 43 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:19 p.m.
Nice Going BACALA....or whatever you're called. Ann Coulter, now this piece of work. Is Jim "the Joke" Lago going to introduce this guy too? I hear that Bin Laden is set to speak next year.
(Suggest removal)
Post 44 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:42 p.m.
Yeah he is coming to get surgery on his balls and his head cut out of Cornyns arse.
(Suggest removal)
Post 45 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:22 p.m.
The Destroyer of Democracy, The Architect of Disaster, the biggest slimeball this side of Cheney.
He has turned our political system into one of filth and dirt, and illegally forced non-partisan government agencies and positions to commit themselves to working for the Republican Party, in clear violation of federal law.
He is widely regarded as one of the masterminds behind the Valerie Plame scandal, the illegal outing a working CIA agent and the compromization and/or deaths of American agents overseas, all to punish Plame's husband for informing the nation that Bush had lied about Iraq seeking yellowcake uranium in his case for war.
He illegally used Republican Party emails for government business instead of White House emails, and had those emails deleted to cover his tracks, in clear violation of federal law requiring all official white house business communications to be saved.
He falsely attacked Ann Richards, saying that she was a lesbian.
He falsely attacked John McCain in South Carolina, saying that he had fathered a black baby.
He falsely attacked John Kerry, a great war hero, saying that he had lied about his record (a claim later confirmed to be completely false) while at the same time, Daddy's little baby Bush was snorting coke, getting drunk, and going AWOL from his safe little National Guard hidey-hole with all of the other cowardly rich kids.
He attacked Max Cleland, a man wheel-chair bound after horrible injuries in Vietnam, calling him a traitor, weak on national security. The Republicans even stooped to running an add merging Cleland's face with Bin Laden's.
He had good, competent, hard-working United States attorneys fired because either they wouldn't prosecute innocent Democrats, or they were prosecuting guilty Republicans, or he wanted to give one of his buddies their job.
He even wouldn't let the Surgeon General attend the special olympics because the Kennedy family supported the event, and he didn't want them to have any publicity. THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS, POLITICIZED!
I could go on; there are dozens of instances of Rove's perversions of all that America stands for out there for true-blooded Americans (those who vote Democratic) to read.
Karl Rove is scum, and anyone who supports him is an anti-American TRAITOR and needs to GET OUT of this country. I cannot wait to see the day when he is brought to justice for his crimes and sent to prison for the rest of his miserable life.
(Suggest removal)
Post 46 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:41 p.m.
Karl Rove isn't worth talking about. We just need someone to get into the White House and clean up the mess. Republicans need to stop marching blindly down a path of corruption. The Country should always come first. We should have sent soldiers to kill Osama Bin Laden and we didn't. Gasoline prices shouldn't be as high as they are, but because of Republican scare tactics, the price stays high. I don't know if I can name a benefit of having a Republican in office. They all say the same things and what they accomplish is not in the best interest of the Country. We need someone to rise up and steer our ship down a sensible path. Not one based on some weird ideology, which just so happens to benefit only the rich.
(Suggest removal)
Post 47 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:48 p.m.
"Daddy's little baby Bush was snorting coke, getting drunk, and going AWOL"
Bush was not AWOL.
"Karl Rove is scum, and anyone who supports him is an anti-American TRAITOR and needs to GET OUT of this country. I cannot wait to see the day when he is brought to justice for his crimes and sent to prison for the rest of his miserable life."
So much for due process, eh, "comrade"?
(Suggest removal)
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Local
Republician mastermind Rove to speak in CC
By Jaime Powell (Contact)
Monday, September 24, 2007
related linksMore Local News
* Police search for gunman who injured 2
* Larry Overton's trial postponed
* Overtons' defenders
CORPUS CHRISTI — Veteran political mastermind Karl Rove, President Bush’s close friend and former deputy chief of staff will headline a Wednesday, Nov. 28 fund raiser for Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse at the Solomon P. Ortiz Center, executive director Connie Scott said Monday.
Rove was at ground zero when Bush first ran for governor against Ann Richards in 1993 and ascended with Bush to the White House, where he reigned as a top advisor until the end of August, when he stepped down.
Scott and her businessman husband Mike, have known Rove since the 1980s, said Mike Scott, who sits on the BACALA board of directors.
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Post Your Comments
Post 1 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:30 p.m.
Karl Rove knows his stuff. He knew that Al Gore and John Kerry were not the right men to lead our Country! #: /
(Suggest removal)
Post 2 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:33 p.m.
The architect is coming……….
Al Gore and John Kerry can't lead themselves down a hallway!
__9797
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Post 3 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:34 p.m.
lol @ above comment.
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Post 4 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:36 p.m.
This is even better than front row seats at a Led Zeppelin reunion concert at American Bank Center
El Chavo Del Ocho
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Post 5 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:36 p.m.
architect of disasters....... It's a perfect place for him to speak, Corpus is regarded as retirement central. ;-)
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Post 6 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:38 p.m.
gotta love it __9797! Keep up those spot on one-liners. lol! #: )
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Post 7 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:38 p.m.
poster @ 3:36
Architect of desaster?........Well, he did tear down Al Gore's and John Kerry's campaigns.
_9797
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Post 8 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:41 p.m.
I've got my front row seats!! Hottest ticket in town!! # : )
3:36 p.m. poster re: I beg to differ, Al Gore & John Kerry are disasters. I'll let 9797 splain for you.
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Post 9 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:43 p.m.
Dude I need some tickets......is it open to the public.
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Post 10 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:45 p.m.
This ought to get the editors of the CC Times undies in a wad.
If their is one man they despise, it is Karl Rove.
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Post 11 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:47 p.m.
Explaining........
If after 8 years, all you can say is "I invented the internet".......not good.
If you get wounded 3 (or was it 4) times in 3 months, thats no heroic....that's just plain clumbsy.......and not good.
__9797
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Post 12 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:48 p.m.
He did tear down Kerry and Gore. With all his lies!
I cant' believe you people are actually defending this lying sack of dung! Bush was the only President that was NOT elected. I'm not sure if most of you are from the so-called greatest generation or not, but the only consolation we have is that you all will die soon!
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Post 13 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:53 p.m.
3:48 p.m. poster, how many times must you count ballots before you concede? All investigations have proven Bush won.......TWICE.
But fear not, we will all soon die, as will you. And as the world morns the loss of me, they will rejoice in the loss of you.
Damn, my dad was right, life really is "Give and Take".
__9797
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Post 14 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 3:58 p.m.
poster3:48, you will die right along with the rest of us! Remember? We recounted the Votes and Recounted them Again, And then we RECOUNTED THEM AGAIN!!! Thank God Al Gore has found his true calling! "Don't leave your CARBON FOOTPRINT ON AMERICA" while we watch him hop aboard his private jets on a daily basis so he can get to one of his palacious homes that have a 5000.00 a month electric bill. What a hipocrit.
And all John Kerry did is ruin the Heinz Ketchup Name!!! I refuse to buy a Heinz product for the rest of my life!!!! HUNTS HUNTS HUNTS!! FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT!!!! Fred or Dead!!
# : )
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Post 15 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:01 p.m.
all investigations lead by the republicans. don't forget that.
If you aren't upset about everything Bush has done to the U.S. then you are just as ignorant as all the other BLIND people. it's people like you that have made the USA one of the most hated countries in the world.
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Post 16 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:02 p.m.
Fred Thompson is nothing but Reagan Lite. He's a bigger joke than Bush!!
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Post 17 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:05 p.m.
My man George Wallace was spot on, there is no difference between a Republican and a Democrat.
Chads and a helping hand from the Supreme Court.
Ann Coulter and now Karl Rove. They'll be thousands in attendence. That in itself says a lot.
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Post 18 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:06 p.m.
post @ 4:01, It's comments like yours and those of the left wing demo-craps that give the USA a bad name. You are to busy looking for the worse in a man you hate simply because he is republican, and fail to see the misery you and youe ilk bring upon yourselves and others. Please die first.
__9797
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Post 19 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:09 p.m.
Reagan Lite any day is better than Billary heavy, full, bloated......etc.
__9797
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Post 20 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:30 p.m.
You know Hillary might not be all that bad. I have realized Hillary and I have one thing in common. We both like girls.
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Post 21 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:32 p.m.
WOW Rove at the Solomon Ortiz Center --- Rove ---Solomon Ortiz
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Post 22 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 4:55 p.m.
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse or the Nueces Country Republican Party Forum?
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Post 23 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:01 p.m.
post 22. Or it could be said that Democrats are FOR lawsuit abuse. The party is chock full of trial lawyers.
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Post 24 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:05 p.m.
Poster 4:01 "don't forget that.
If you aren't upset about everything Bush has done to the U.S. then you are just as ignorant as all the other BLIND people. it's people like you that have made the USA one of the most hated countries in the world."
You can always leave. I am sure you would be happier in a more "liked country"
Dont Hate me cuz you aint me.
LC
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Post 25 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:15 p.m.
Post 401 and 505. You two were the type always trying to win the popularity contests in grade school were you not?
Piss on all the other countries. I don't care what they think. I am not interested in being popular. I am interested in defending this country and our way of life. I'll sacrifice my popularity as an American for that principal.
Besides, I do not accept the premise that the U.S. is the most hated country in the world. The media would like for you to believe that. I travel extensively and interact with foriegn visitors to this country frequently and do not experience that sentiment.
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Post 26 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:23 p.m.
hmmmm Poster 5:15
I am a little confused since I merely stated to poster 4:01 he could leave to a more liked country. I never stated that I had any concern myself being worried if we where not liked. In fact I take pride in the fact that the lunitics of the world (Chavez, Castro, bin Laden, etc. etc) do not care for us.
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Post 27 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:26 p.m.
poster 523
I stand corrected. I meant to direct my post only to 401.
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Post 28 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 5:43 p.m.
Hate breeds hate. It is truly sad that anyone ever coined the description, 'architect', for Karl Rove. Famous and respected architects design and create original structures of beauty, strength and sustainability. The only thing Karl Rove achieved was how to win an election at all costs. Due to the dumbing-down methodology used on their base and the moral superiority complex exerted over their opponents, their campaign divided our nation and altered, if not ended, many personal friendships. Rove helped to create a verbal civil-war of sorts. History will leave him and people like Tom DeLay, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and the like as footnotes to the legacy of hate-fest in the Bush administration. Above comments such as Post 13 & 14 are nothing more than simple, ignorant, and lame personal attacks, obviously written by uninformed people who have been caught up in the propaganda vacuum of Fox, aka Faux, News and Rush "Credential-LESS" Limbaugh. True skeptical thinkers get their facts from a variety of credible news sources and independent journalists. As Emerson wrote in 1842, "The two parties which divide the State, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made ... Now one, then the other gets the day, and still the fight renews itself as if for the first time, under new names and hot personalities ... Innovation is the salient energy; Conservatism the pause on the last movement. ...There is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism, joined with a certain superiority in its fact." from: The Conservative (1842) Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Post 29 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 6:07 p.m.
Hey _9797, and buddies
you seem to have some real issues. I've been to CC and it's obvious that it's about as backward as they come but you my friend have set the bar at a new low.
Former CC tourist dollar spender
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Post 30 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 6:19 p.m.
Just an open note to all of you who are still arguing about the 2000 and 2004 elections:
GET OVER IT!
Bush won.
(Suggest removal)
Post 31 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7 p.m.
Do the democrats have a mastermind?
No?
Didn't think so.
(Suggest removal)
Post 32 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:02 p.m.
The world's biggest idiot is coming to CC. The man responsible for the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY, is going to leave a slime trail to CC.
Perhaps he will take responsibility for being the mastermind that has destroyed the all volunteer military?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for running up the largest deficit in the history of the United States?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for having the most scandal plagued executive branch ever?
Perhaps he will take responsibility for driving up oil prices, and making the Arabs the richest bunch of wackos since WWII.
Perhaps he will take responsibility for making economic policy that has made the richest folks even richer while working folks get screwed.
Perhaps pigs will fly.
You sir are an embarrassment to the beloved Constitution of the Unites States of America.
As an US Army Veteran I hope that you just go away. You have caused enough damage.
Why don't you enlist in the Army?
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Post 33 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:06 p.m.
"Scott and her businessman husband Mike, have known Rove since the 1980s, said Mike Scott, who sits on the BACALA board of directors."
All this means is that everyone is connected. If you are rich and someone involved you are in, if not they have a nice life. Everyone is corrupted it seems these days, Bush with oil friends, Kerry with Ketchup, Clinton with donations, Bush Sr. with the Saudi's, all the contracts for Iraq to friends companies. Oh and don't forget the gay sex stories from several states.
Also why would you want to hear someone who stepped down from a job? Doesn't that admit failure of some sort? If is was so good why is he still not there?
Also for all the Bush supporters, what has he done durning his administration that helped our country? What did Rove do in office that helped our country?
This is not an attack on them just a real question from someone who is loosing faith is all leaders democrat and republican...
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Post 34 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:23 p.m.
Financially this group will be well compensated into the third and fourth generation.
But, one day out of nowhere a conscience will awaken and then the suffering will begin.
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Post 35 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 7:40 p.m.
President Bush has his faults no doubt. He didn't secure our borders like he should have. For that I am truely dissapointed. But he did promise America that he would take this fight over to the terrorists and keep another profound attack off our soil. He said this would take a very long time. He said that right from the start.
Osama Bin Laden has been attacking us way back since the Clintons were in office, and nothing was ever done about it. Bush showed up and had to endure the worst Terrorist Attack on US soil in the history of our Country. He vowed that he would take the fight to them. Thats exactly what he has done. He has not APPEASED THEM AS Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry would've done. Anything is better than the do nothing, (diplomacy only) APPEASERS!!
That is what Bush has done for our Country. History will only tell the whole story. KUMBAYA MY LORD does not work with these haters in the middle east. They hate everything about the West. Ackmadbudimwithajad said there is no such thing as a homosexual in his land of Iran. The Democraps wouldn't stand a chance in Iran. Democraps love homosexuals!
If America is so hated in this World, then why in the hell is everyone trying to come to our Country? Huh? Answer that one?
(Suggest removal)
Post 36 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 8:23 p.m.
People, it's just a fundraiser.
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Post 37 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 8:48 p.m.
Why do people come to America? Not for our life style. MONEY!!
Osama by the force of circumstance created BUSH.
Diplomacy (appeasers). Well, the talk around the BUSH camp is exactly that.
Osama lives in hiding always has always will. How do you find what appears to be ghost? Where's his great army to be bombed to hell and back?
Even the great American spy works couldnt locate him. Bill Clinton took a shot and missed.
But, oh wait. There sits old Saddam. "Slam dunk" "mission accomplished".
Yes sir'ee bobby, Democraps love homosexuals how infintile.
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Post 38 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 9:20 p.m.
Bush's brain is coming to town. The king of the neo-con fascist slime is coming to spew his lies and hate and you people actually want to hear this pitiful little man? Hey Post 24, the reason the entire world hates us is because of this administration's imperialistic ideology to take over the world no matter what the cost, no matter what the majority of the American people think. What a great achievement..the architect of a failed presidency and a continuous failed policy. And you people are going to pay to see this idiot???
...genius!
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Post 39 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 9:23 p.m.
Hillary Clinton will save us!!!! All will be good when she becomes the next Democratic President. (The biggest flip-flopper) in American history. You will eat your words
3rd coast girl
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Post 40 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:09 p.m.
post 38, i can't believe your that stupid!!! who's the idiot?
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Post 41 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:10 p.m.
BushBaby really misses his brain. His lastest gaff "Mandella is dead"may be just a freudian slip. Maybe someone could slip something in Rove's drink when he comes to CC,like Truth serum.
No wait -don't-from him it would be just- too- ugly.
"Trying to be Amused , but mostly disgusted"
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Post 42 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:18 p.m.
This country is split right down the middle 50/50. I hope and pray we can all come together for the good of our country. I guess that will never be possible. I personally do not support everything the Republicans do but on the other hand I certainly do NOT support what the Democrats stand for. Hillary Clinton is just as bad in my opinion as Bush ever was. She lies, cheats, and steals and tells you what she thinks you want to hear because of her strong desire to be in power. God willing that will never happen.
Third Coast Girl
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Post 43 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:19 p.m.
Nice Going BACALA....or whatever you're called. Ann Coulter, now this piece of work. Is Jim "the Joke" Lago going to introduce this guy too? I hear that Bin Laden is set to speak next year.
(Suggest removal)
Post 44 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 10:42 p.m.
Yeah he is coming to get surgery on his balls and his head cut out of Cornyns arse.
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Post 45 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:22 p.m.
The Destroyer of Democracy, The Architect of Disaster, the biggest slimeball this side of Cheney.
He has turned our political system into one of filth and dirt, and illegally forced non-partisan government agencies and positions to commit themselves to working for the Republican Party, in clear violation of federal law.
He is widely regarded as one of the masterminds behind the Valerie Plame scandal, the illegal outing a working CIA agent and the compromization and/or deaths of American agents overseas, all to punish Plame's husband for informing the nation that Bush had lied about Iraq seeking yellowcake uranium in his case for war.
He illegally used Republican Party emails for government business instead of White House emails, and had those emails deleted to cover his tracks, in clear violation of federal law requiring all official white house business communications to be saved.
He falsely attacked Ann Richards, saying that she was a lesbian.
He falsely attacked John McCain in South Carolina, saying that he had fathered a black baby.
He falsely attacked John Kerry, a great war hero, saying that he had lied about his record (a claim later confirmed to be completely false) while at the same time, Daddy's little baby Bush was snorting coke, getting drunk, and going AWOL from his safe little National Guard hidey-hole with all of the other cowardly rich kids.
He attacked Max Cleland, a man wheel-chair bound after horrible injuries in Vietnam, calling him a traitor, weak on national security. The Republicans even stooped to running an add merging Cleland's face with Bin Laden's.
He had good, competent, hard-working United States attorneys fired because either they wouldn't prosecute innocent Democrats, or they were prosecuting guilty Republicans, or he wanted to give one of his buddies their job.
He even wouldn't let the Surgeon General attend the special olympics because the Kennedy family supported the event, and he didn't want them to have any publicity. THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS, POLITICIZED!
I could go on; there are dozens of instances of Rove's perversions of all that America stands for out there for true-blooded Americans (those who vote Democratic) to read.
Karl Rove is scum, and anyone who supports him is an anti-American TRAITOR and needs to GET OUT of this country. I cannot wait to see the day when he is brought to justice for his crimes and sent to prison for the rest of his miserable life.
(Suggest removal)
Post 46 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:41 p.m.
Karl Rove isn't worth talking about. We just need someone to get into the White House and clean up the mess. Republicans need to stop marching blindly down a path of corruption. The Country should always come first. We should have sent soldiers to kill Osama Bin Laden and we didn't. Gasoline prices shouldn't be as high as they are, but because of Republican scare tactics, the price stays high. I don't know if I can name a benefit of having a Republican in office. They all say the same things and what they accomplish is not in the best interest of the Country. We need someone to rise up and steer our ship down a sensible path. Not one based on some weird ideology, which just so happens to benefit only the rich.
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Post 47 Posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:48 p.m.
"Daddy's little baby Bush was snorting coke, getting drunk, and going AWOL"
Bush was not AWOL.
"Karl Rove is scum, and anyone who supports him is an anti-American TRAITOR and needs to GET OUT of this country. I cannot wait to see the day when he is brought to justice for his crimes and sent to prison for the rest of his miserable life."
So much for due process, eh, "comrade"?
(Suggest removal)
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Monday, July 30, 2007
Good cop gets fired..........dude!
Psycho dudes .......Just the facts danno........
Posted on June 30, 2007 at 06:55:33 PM by D1
Good Cop, Sad Cop
Meet former King County Sheriff's Deputy Angela Holland. She was a great street cop with numerous commendations and a spotless record. But she was mildly bipolar, so they fired her.
By Philip Dawdy
Former King County Sheriff's Deputy Angela Holland.
Judith Eve Lipton
Perps must have done a double take when Deputy Angela Holland popped out of her patrol car. It was the usual white Crown Victoria with "Sheriff" in big green letters on the side, and perps know how hot the hood of a King County Sheriff's patrol car feels. But a 5-foot-6 cop with blue eyes and blond hair pulled back in a ponytail? That was different. So, too, was Holland's manner, as bright and perky as a corporate publicist. Of course, she could go from Deputy Friendly to Deputy Hard-Ass on a dime. She was a cop, after all.
Holland, 30, shape-shifted like that all the time while on patrol just south of the Seattle city line in the unincorporated parts of South Park and White Center, known to some as "Rat City," as well as in a healthy slice of the unhealthy sides of Burien and SeaTac. There were a lot of rats in those parts. Gangsters of every ethnic stripe, crack dealers, meth heads, murderers, rapists, and folks gone crazy from drink and drugs, putting fists and guns to whoever was handy. Holland's job was to help keep all of that from getting out of control.
She had a way of doing it.
One night in 2002, she went with several deputies to collar a man in SeaTac. The man was a 6-foot-4 Samoan and had a good 200 pounds on Holland. Samoans are known for their ability to throw down harder than any other humans. This man had recently gotten out of the psych unit at Harborview Medical Center. One of the deputies wanted to use a Taser on the man, who was verbally combative. He was off his meds, out of control. Even his family feared him when he got this way. Holland stepped up to the man, with whom she'd dealt before, and said, "I give you respect. You owe me some."
.
Also remaining on the KCSO payroll is Deputy John Vanderwalker, who, during the WTO protests in 1999, pepper-sprayed two women, temporarily blinding them, and kicked a protester, an incident famously captured on video. Reichert fired him, but Vanderwalker was reinstated by a federal arbitrator.
"If you have extreme behaviors, we'll give you a second chance," says Jack Kitaeff, a police psychologist and assistant professor of forensic psychology at Marymount University in Virginia. "But if you seek out psychiatric assistance, look what that gets you."
The discrepancy mystifies cops. "I could understand firing her if she'd done something questionable," says a veteran KCSO deputy, who requested anonymity. "But her job performance wasn't affected. Everything was under control. I would've never guessed she was bipolar unless she'd told me." Says another deputy: "She had no acting out, nothing to make you think she was a risk. I think they treated her like shit."
One deputy, however, says that Holland did have a problem. She used the word "dude" too much early in her career.
Experts in police psychology have concerns about the process, as well.
"If her performance is up to snuff so far and colleagues never noticed anything strange, I would not recommend a suspension or firing," says Stephen Rubin, a police psychologist and professor of psychology at Whitman College in Walla Walla. "To make a very quick call on only one professional opinion in contradiction of other professionals and in contradiction of other colleagues seems to me a bit radical, a bit too quick. I hate to see a career end based on this."
Says John Nicoletti, a police psychologist in Denver and chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police psychology section: "You have to look at what were the behaviors that were occurring" on the job.
It is unclear on what basis Decker found Holland unfit for duty. She did not return repeated requests for comment.
Sheriff Rahr, appointed to office last November after Reichert was elected to Congress, declined to discuss the specifics of Holland's firing. "We will rely on the judgment of the psychiatrist," Rahr says.
She says it is "very rare" for a deputy to be found unfit for duty. Most terminations at KCSO are for deputies fresh from the police academy who fail their field training.
In the instance of cops with medical issues, both psychological and physical, if a doctor finds that the deputy cannot expect to make a full recovery within six months, Rahr says, "We then move to medical termination."
I asked Holland why she could do well on the job, while having issues with bipolar after hours. "It's because of my training," she says. "When you are on the job, you are so focused on an incident that your training takes over. It's easy after that."
As bipolar disorder goes, Holland barely tips the scale. The disorder operates on a continuum. At one end are the mildest cases, where the sleep disturbances and racing thoughts reign—hypomania, in other words. People on this end of the scale almost never experience true manic episodes, although they are subject to bouts of depression. Cases like these often fall into two subcategories of the disorder called bipolar 2 and cyclothymia, which is to say these people are bipolar but are tapped for a lesser form of the illness, "bipolar lite," as some have dubbed it.
On the other end of the scale is bipolar 1, classic manic-depression. At its worst, it is an unholy trinity of psychotic and suicidal episodes and hospitalization. Holland isn't even close to that. She's never experienced psychosis or been suicidal, nor has she been hospitalized, according to her and Kent, her psychiatrist.
The typical story with bipolars who do something tragic, or suffer a tragedy, is that they were not getting treatment or were off their meds. Or they were adding hard drugs and binge drinking to the mix. Either way, they are not taking responsibility for their illness. Much of the American mind-set encourages such behavior. Mental illness is a weakness. Mental illness makes you suspect. If you admit that you are mentally ill, then you are weak and suspect. So bipolars, depressives, and schizophrenics often reject, or barely embrace, the very treatment that will keep them from being the problems we fear they can become.
There is a lot of evidence that dealing with bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses in an open and intelligent fashion makes sense. In 1977, Randy Revelle was a Seattle City Council member. He testified about City Light before a congressional subcommittee in Washington, D.C., then walked outside and experienced a psychotic episode. It was not a pretty sight for his family and friends, as he had other episodes over the next few weeks. Revelle worried that his political career and life were over. But he sought treatment, was diagnosed as bipolar, and began taking lithium.
He was re-elected to Seattle City Council and, four years later, was elected King County executive. At the time, it was even more difficult than it is today for someone to openly admit they have a mental illness. But Revelle talked about it. At times, he did so very publicly.
In 28 years, he has not experienced any other psychotic episodes and continues to lead an active life in regional politics as a lobbyist for the Washington State Hospital Association. He was instrumental in getting a bill through the Legislature this year which bans the long-standing practice of health-insurance companies offering lesser benefits for mental-health treatment than they do for physical ailments. Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the bill into law on March 9.
Of Holland's firing, Revelle says, "That would've never happened if I were county exec."
Despite examples such as Revelle and Weaver, the Rochester, N.Y., cop diagnosed with depression, and the millions of other Americans who have mental illness but lead perfectly normal and productive lives, many Americans continue to think that we are freak jobs. In fact, 25 percent of Americans think that people with bipolar disorder are automatically dangerous, according to a 2002 poll by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, a national advocacy group.
If such poisonous thinking continues, cops will continue to lose their jobs, even if they've done everything right.
One evening in March 2003, Holland and four other deputies pursued a man on International Boulevard in SeaTac. He'd just knocked over a bank branch in Normandy Park and had a string of warrants on his head for other bank jobs. It was 5 p.m. and the road was clogged with traffic. The robber, presumed armed, was driving a motorcycle, and when he got into the clear, he jumped on the throttle, deputies in hot pursuit and a sheriff's helicopter calling the chase from overhead.
At 188th Street South, traffic stopped the fleeing robber. A deputy ran his patrol car into the motorcycle, and the man ran east into techniques to keep encounters with mentally ill people from going badly, for the subject or the cop.
Last year, an SPD sergeant used CIT concepts to talk a suicidal man off of the Space Needle's halo.
It has doubtlessly also saved the lives of officers facing down mentally ill people with weapons. The training could prove useful, too, the next time a King County deputy encounters a psychotic, crack-smoking, bipolar man or woman running naked in the streets.
And it might just make good cop sense to have a deputy or two who know exactly what's going on with the bipolar subject, know what the monkey on that person's back feels like.
CENTERED TEXT
good cop ruined for using the word "dude"
Posted on June 30, 2007 at 06:55:33 PM by D1
Good Cop, Sad Cop
Meet former King County Sheriff's Deputy Angela Holland. She was a great street cop with numerous commendations and a spotless record. But she was mildly bipolar, so they fired her.
By Philip Dawdy
Former King County Sheriff's Deputy Angela Holland.
Judith Eve Lipton
Perps must have done a double take when Deputy Angela Holland popped out of her patrol car. It was the usual white Crown Victoria with "Sheriff" in big green letters on the side, and perps know how hot the hood of a King County Sheriff's patrol car feels. But a 5-foot-6 cop with blue eyes and blond hair pulled back in a ponytail? That was different. So, too, was Holland's manner, as bright and perky as a corporate publicist. Of course, she could go from Deputy Friendly to Deputy Hard-Ass on a dime. She was a cop, after all.
Holland, 30, shape-shifted like that all the time while on patrol just south of the Seattle city line in the unincorporated parts of South Park and White Center, known to some as "Rat City," as well as in a healthy slice of the unhealthy sides of Burien and SeaTac. There were a lot of rats in those parts. Gangsters of every ethnic stripe, crack dealers, meth heads, murderers, rapists, and folks gone crazy from drink and drugs, putting fists and guns to whoever was handy. Holland's job was to help keep all of that from getting out of control.
She had a way of doing it.
One night in 2002, she went with several deputies to collar a man in SeaTac. The man was a 6-foot-4 Samoan and had a good 200 pounds on Holland. Samoans are known for their ability to throw down harder than any other humans. This man had recently gotten out of the psych unit at Harborview Medical Center. One of the deputies wanted to use a Taser on the man, who was verbally combative. He was off his meds, out of control. Even his family feared him when he got this way. Holland stepped up to the man, with whom she'd dealt before, and said, "I give you respect. You owe me some."
.
Also remaining on the KCSO payroll is Deputy John Vanderwalker, who, during the WTO protests in 1999, pepper-sprayed two women, temporarily blinding them, and kicked a protester, an incident famously captured on video. Reichert fired him, but Vanderwalker was reinstated by a federal arbitrator.
"If you have extreme behaviors, we'll give you a second chance," says Jack Kitaeff, a police psychologist and assistant professor of forensic psychology at Marymount University in Virginia. "But if you seek out psychiatric assistance, look what that gets you."
The discrepancy mystifies cops. "I could understand firing her if she'd done something questionable," says a veteran KCSO deputy, who requested anonymity. "But her job performance wasn't affected. Everything was under control. I would've never guessed she was bipolar unless she'd told me." Says another deputy: "She had no acting out, nothing to make you think she was a risk. I think they treated her like shit."
One deputy, however, says that Holland did have a problem. She used the word "dude" too much early in her career.
Experts in police psychology have concerns about the process, as well.
"If her performance is up to snuff so far and colleagues never noticed anything strange, I would not recommend a suspension or firing," says Stephen Rubin, a police psychologist and professor of psychology at Whitman College in Walla Walla. "To make a very quick call on only one professional opinion in contradiction of other professionals and in contradiction of other colleagues seems to me a bit radical, a bit too quick. I hate to see a career end based on this."
Says John Nicoletti, a police psychologist in Denver and chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police psychology section: "You have to look at what were the behaviors that were occurring" on the job.
It is unclear on what basis Decker found Holland unfit for duty. She did not return repeated requests for comment.
Sheriff Rahr, appointed to office last November after Reichert was elected to Congress, declined to discuss the specifics of Holland's firing. "We will rely on the judgment of the psychiatrist," Rahr says.
She says it is "very rare" for a deputy to be found unfit for duty. Most terminations at KCSO are for deputies fresh from the police academy who fail their field training.
In the instance of cops with medical issues, both psychological and physical, if a doctor finds that the deputy cannot expect to make a full recovery within six months, Rahr says, "We then move to medical termination."
I asked Holland why she could do well on the job, while having issues with bipolar after hours. "It's because of my training," she says. "When you are on the job, you are so focused on an incident that your training takes over. It's easy after that."
As bipolar disorder goes, Holland barely tips the scale. The disorder operates on a continuum. At one end are the mildest cases, where the sleep disturbances and racing thoughts reign—hypomania, in other words. People on this end of the scale almost never experience true manic episodes, although they are subject to bouts of depression. Cases like these often fall into two subcategories of the disorder called bipolar 2 and cyclothymia, which is to say these people are bipolar but are tapped for a lesser form of the illness, "bipolar lite," as some have dubbed it.
On the other end of the scale is bipolar 1, classic manic-depression. At its worst, it is an unholy trinity of psychotic and suicidal episodes and hospitalization. Holland isn't even close to that. She's never experienced psychosis or been suicidal, nor has she been hospitalized, according to her and Kent, her psychiatrist.
The typical story with bipolars who do something tragic, or suffer a tragedy, is that they were not getting treatment or were off their meds. Or they were adding hard drugs and binge drinking to the mix. Either way, they are not taking responsibility for their illness. Much of the American mind-set encourages such behavior. Mental illness is a weakness. Mental illness makes you suspect. If you admit that you are mentally ill, then you are weak and suspect. So bipolars, depressives, and schizophrenics often reject, or barely embrace, the very treatment that will keep them from being the problems we fear they can become.
There is a lot of evidence that dealing with bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses in an open and intelligent fashion makes sense. In 1977, Randy Revelle was a Seattle City Council member. He testified about City Light before a congressional subcommittee in Washington, D.C., then walked outside and experienced a psychotic episode. It was not a pretty sight for his family and friends, as he had other episodes over the next few weeks. Revelle worried that his political career and life were over. But he sought treatment, was diagnosed as bipolar, and began taking lithium.
He was re-elected to Seattle City Council and, four years later, was elected King County executive. At the time, it was even more difficult than it is today for someone to openly admit they have a mental illness. But Revelle talked about it. At times, he did so very publicly.
In 28 years, he has not experienced any other psychotic episodes and continues to lead an active life in regional politics as a lobbyist for the Washington State Hospital Association. He was instrumental in getting a bill through the Legislature this year which bans the long-standing practice of health-insurance companies offering lesser benefits for mental-health treatment than they do for physical ailments. Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the bill into law on March 9.
Of Holland's firing, Revelle says, "That would've never happened if I were county exec."
Despite examples such as Revelle and Weaver, the Rochester, N.Y., cop diagnosed with depression, and the millions of other Americans who have mental illness but lead perfectly normal and productive lives, many Americans continue to think that we are freak jobs. In fact, 25 percent of Americans think that people with bipolar disorder are automatically dangerous, according to a 2002 poll by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, a national advocacy group.
If such poisonous thinking continues, cops will continue to lose their jobs, even if they've done everything right.
One evening in March 2003, Holland and four other deputies pursued a man on International Boulevard in SeaTac. He'd just knocked over a bank branch in Normandy Park and had a string of warrants on his head for other bank jobs. It was 5 p.m. and the road was clogged with traffic. The robber, presumed armed, was driving a motorcycle, and when he got into the clear, he jumped on the throttle, deputies in hot pursuit and a sheriff's helicopter calling the chase from overhead.
At 188th Street South, traffic stopped the fleeing robber. A deputy ran his patrol car into the motorcycle, and the man ran east into techniques to keep encounters with mentally ill people from going badly, for the subject or the cop.
Last year, an SPD sergeant used CIT concepts to talk a suicidal man off of the Space Needle's halo.
It has doubtlessly also saved the lives of officers facing down mentally ill people with weapons. The training could prove useful, too, the next time a King County deputy encounters a psychotic, crack-smoking, bipolar man or woman running naked in the streets.
And it might just make good cop sense to have a deputy or two who know exactly what's going on with the bipolar subject, know what the monkey on that person's back feels like.
good cop ruined for using the word "dude"
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Watt good is an attendance committee ....and is not personally liable for any act or omission arising out of duties as a member of.....ynot?
§ 25.092. MINIMUM ATTENDANCE FOR CLASS CREDIT. (a)
Except as provided by this section, a student may not be given
credit for a class unless the student is in attendance for at least
90 percent of the days the class is offered.
(b) The board of trustees of each school district shall
appoint one or more attendance committees to hear petitions for
class credit by students who are in attendance fewer than the number
of days required under Subsection (a). Classroom teachers shall
comprise a majority of the membership of the committee. A committee
may give class credit to a student because of extenuating
circumstances. Each board of trustees shall establish guidelines
to determine what constitutes extenuating circumstances and shall
adopt policies establishing alternative ways for students to make
up work or regain credit lost because of absences. The alternative
ways must include at least one option that does not require a
student to pay a fee authorized under Section 11.158(a)(15). A
certified public school employee may not be assigned additional
instructional duties as a result of this section outside of the
regular workday unless the employee is compensated for the duties
at a reasonable rate of pay.
(c) A member of an attendance committee is not personally
liable for any act or omission arising out of duties as a member of
an attendance committee.
Except as provided by this section, a student may not be given
credit for a class unless the student is in attendance for at least
90 percent of the days the class is offered.
(b) The board of trustees of each school district shall
appoint one or more attendance committees to hear petitions for
class credit by students who are in attendance fewer than the number
of days required under Subsection (a). Classroom teachers shall
comprise a majority of the membership of the committee. A committee
may give class credit to a student because of extenuating
circumstances. Each board of trustees shall establish guidelines
to determine what constitutes extenuating circumstances and shall
adopt policies establishing alternative ways for students to make
up work or regain credit lost because of absences. The alternative
ways must include at least one option that does not require a
student to pay a fee authorized under Section 11.158(a)(15). A
certified public school employee may not be assigned additional
instructional duties as a result of this section outside of the
regular workday unless the employee is compensated for the duties
at a reasonable rate of pay.
(c) A member of an attendance committee is not personally
liable for any act or omission arising out of duties as a member of
an attendance committee.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
"IN THE KNOW": For those of you who are "In the Know"
"IN THE KNOW": For those of you who are "In the Know"
Corpus Christi Watchdog Authority: "nobody knows Mikal Watts better than Corpus Christi." But does Mikal Watts know us (the people of Corpus Christi)?
What do we want?
Go do some homework, we want responsive representation with transparent operation.
We want to not be railroaded for tardies or for absences when the District does not practice due diligence in interdicting but is very diligent in recording the events and adamantly prosecutes and collects half of the fine. When the people cant pay the kids are picked up from class and taken in handcuffs to the court of nonrecord. The Parent is contacted and ordered to appear immediately. When the Parent arrives he or she is told to pay or your kid goes to jail and sometimes the parent is threatened and / or locked up as well. I have never seen a kid who has been provided counsel but I have witnessed many a kid go to jail.
And this from non responsive legislators who have enabled the School Administration to blame the parent when they allow children in their custody to roam at large unaccounted for and the District in coordination with the Courts of non record get paid (profit) from it.
Corpus Christi Watchdog Authority: "nobody knows Mikal Watts better than Corpus Christi." But does Mikal Watts know us (the people of Corpus Christi)?
The Kenedy Pasture Company: A Civil Action in the Making?
2007-07-02
A Civil Action in the Making?
Why must we flex our muscles?
Nueces County, CCISD, 105th Judicial District Attorney; how many kids were locked up without an attorney?
- There is no excuse for violating the basic human rights afforded under the United States Constitution.
- How many kids were locked up by a court of nonrecord?
- Not even with a parent's consent unless the parent has been given the opportunity to consult with counsel.
- How many children taken into custody were advised of their Miranda Rights?
- Oh yeah, Plaisted and every CCISD kid for whom, he provided service
What do we want?
Go do some homework, we want responsive representation with transparent operation.
We want to not be railroaded for tardies or for absences when the District does not practice due diligence in interdicting but is very diligent in recording the events and adamantly prosecutes and collects half of the fine. When the people cant pay the kids are picked up from class and taken in handcuffs to the court of nonrecord. The Parent is contacted and ordered to appear immediately. When the Parent arrives he or she is told to pay or your kid goes to jail and sometimes the parent is threatened and / or locked up as well. I have never seen a kid who has been provided counsel but I have witnessed many a kid go to jail.
And this from non responsive legislators who have enabled the School Administration to blame the parent when they allow children in their custody to roam at large unaccounted for and the District in coordination with the Courts of non record get paid (profit) from it.
2007-07-01
"Court Appointed Rolodex's". Nanotechnology and "Confessing Error" in a dog and pony show who operate like they are in a Kangaroo Court.
Nanotechnology at work right before our eyes finally an acknowledgment of what has been going on for quite a while now. The information in those "Court Appointed Rolodex's", there is gold in them hills. And this is going to start becoming available when? and for who? We have came to a narrowing of the road here in this alligning of energy fields. I can see it now we got Mikal who who is the adversary of my adversary John Cornyn. We also have the Honorable Judge Manuel Banales who needs to align with Mr Watts and vice versa. Does he want to run for mayor unopposed? I would rather see him correct the errors and run for Governor or Ascend to the Texas Supreme Court. Now, John Cornyn has "Confessed Error" and I assure you it wasn't out of fairness but in the essence of knocking the checkers off of the Table because he was going to lose. And Carlos Valdez & John Hubert "Confess Error" on appeal from the 105th. Hubert & Valdez "confess error" so they can conceal Mary Cano. And that is as painless as it gets.
Anton
CCCT Political PulseMikal Watts seeks to round up list of Democrats for self, others
By Jaime PowellA Monday noontime fundraiser at Vietnam restaurant for U.S. Senate hopeful Mikal Watts was a who's who of the local bar association and judiciary, including five district judges. Watts, who is living in San Antonio, told the crowd that "nobody knows Mikal Watts better than Corpus Christi."
Watts, a Democrat, who is seeking the seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn, asked the gathering to dig through their Rolodexes and e-mail address lists because he hopes to compile a statewide database to reach Democratic voters that can be used by all Texas Democrats.
"That way, when Judge (J. Manuel) Bañales runs for mayor he can use it," Watts joked, to uproarious laughter from the crowd and a big grin from Bañales, who was sitting on the front row.
2007-06-30
If you need an attorney.....if he is any good he will tell you watt an "Ander's Appeal" is? If he tells you not to worry about it.........FIRE HIM !!!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
CCISD: Freedom of Information Request: The process the CCISD Board used is unethical and unfair.
CCISD: Freedom of Information Request: The process the CCISD Board used is unethical and unfair.
CCISD: Freedom of Information Request: The process the CCISD Board used is unethical and unfair.
Freedom of Information Request
This Publication request any and all communications including email and written correspondence from one week before Trustee Harry Williams resigned.
Must I formalize it on Monday?
Think I am bluffing?
You gotta ask yourself
Do you feel lucky?
Well Do ya?
Go ahead.........
You guys get the idea?
Now, don't go and seek the OAG's opinion as it will delay our children.
Just fess up and conduct business with honor and integrity and at least give us an appearance of due process. Not one black appointment. You guys are definitely walking on thin ice or maybe already fallen through but just don't know it. Such inadequacy is unacceptable.
Nick Adame
Where is the criteria the process for "narrowing the list"?
We have 19 Candidates who deserve Equal Opportunity and fair consideration. It is called due process.
1. Herbert Cromwell Arbuckle, III Retired Teacher
2. Rolando G. Barrera Insurance Agent
3. Tony C. Diaz, Ed.D. Retired CCISD Administrator
4. Victor Frazier, Ed.D. Minister and University Instructor
5. Cezar Galindo Business Owner and College Instructor
6. Marsha Lynn Grace Professor of Education
7. Coretta Graham Lawyer
8. Helen Gurley, Ph.D. Educator, Director of Academics
9. Patricia Harris Educator
10. Robert Elliott Jones Pastor and Business Manager
11. Deborah W. Johnson Retired Firefighter
12. Bradford Lee Kisner Director of Music and Fine Arts
13. Verna Faye Portis Retired CCISD Administrator
14. Raul R. Prezas, Ed.D. College Professor
15. Norman Haden Ransleben Certified Public Accountant
16. Woodrow Mac Sanders Medical Social Worker
17. Ronald G. Sepulveda Athletic Aquatic Superintendent
18. George Wetzel Retired Public School Administrator/Consultant
19. Goldie Lamarr Wooten Retired Educator
CCCT Editorial
CCISD: Freedom of Information Request: The process the CCISD Board used is unethical and unfair.
Freedom of Information Request
This Publication request any and all communications including email and written correspondence from one week before Trustee Harry Williams resigned.
Must I formalize it on Monday?
Think I am bluffing?
You gotta ask yourself
Do you feel lucky?
Well Do ya?
Go ahead.........
You guys get the idea?
Now, don't go and seek the OAG's opinion as it will delay our children.
Just fess up and conduct business with honor and integrity and at least give us an appearance of due process. Not one black appointment. You guys are definitely walking on thin ice or maybe already fallen through but just don't know it. Such inadequacy is unacceptable.
CORPUS CHRISTI - CCISD school board members interviewed five candidates Friday to fill the board position vacated by Reverend Harry Williams.
The school board said it will set another meeting to discuss the finalists, and will possibly make a decision then, but still no word on when that would be.
Williams served the school board for more than seven years before resigning last month.
Nick Adame
"Do not be a disservice to our community and choose because this guy is my friend or this guy is my business associate," Dr. Nick Adame said. "I don't want to hear that. I want to hear that we're going to choose somebody because they're going to do right for the community."
Last week, the board narrowed the list of 20 candidates to fiveKenedeno:
Where is the criteria the process for "narrowing the list"?
The process the CCISD Board used is unethical and unfair. Every single applicant took the time to fill out an application, and the thought process for the letter of interest and update of their resume and references. For all intensive purposes this CCISD Board just threw that work product into the trash can while opting for business partners, friends cronies and industry allies.
It is not about the 5 selected it is about how the 5 were selected. It is not about Barrera or Prezas or Bill Clark or Lucy Rubio.
It is about a change of policy where policy is defined by processes of the past. Lucy is the only one with the guts to make the motion, "for the board to scrap the current process and start over. There was no second to the motion." Are there others in that room who agree with her, but politically, they are bound & gagged. The current process is in conflict with current policy. The current process is now a civil rights issue. Is that what CCISD wanted, another Cisneros v CCISD?
We have 19 Candidates who deserve Equal Opportunity and fair consideration. It is called due process.
1. Herbert Cromwell Arbuckle, III Retired Teacher
2. Rolando G. Barrera Insurance Agent
3. Tony C. Diaz, Ed.D. Retired CCISD Administrator
4. Victor Frazier, Ed.D. Minister and University Instructor
5. Cezar Galindo Business Owner and College Instructor
6. Marsha Lynn Grace Professor of Education
7. Coretta Graham Lawyer
8. Helen Gurley, Ph.D. Educator, Director of Academics
9. Patricia Harris Educator
10. Robert Elliott Jones Pastor and Business Manager
11. Deborah W. Johnson Retired Firefighter
12. Bradford Lee Kisner Director of Music and Fine Arts
13. Verna Faye Portis Retired CCISD Administrator
14. Raul R. Prezas, Ed.D. College Professor
15. Norman Haden Ransleben Certified Public Accountant
16. Woodrow Mac Sanders Medical Social Worker
17. Ronald G. Sepulveda Athletic Aquatic Superintendent
18. George Wetzel Retired Public School Administrator/Consultant
19. Goldie Lamarr Wooten Retired Educator
We elect you guys to represent the district with honor & integrity
But before trustees interviewed the first candidate, trustee Lucy Rubio motioned for the board to scrap the current process and start over. There was no second to the motion.
Rubio has said she disagrees with the selection process and would have preferred to use a scoring system instead.
CCISD Trustees: Pick and choose Policy Making with malice. Shame on YOU.
CORPUS CHRISTI - CCISD school board members have decided not to change their policy which forbids seniors who fail the TAKS from graduating.
One parent we spoke with Thursday said the policy didn't make sense, because while students who fail the TAKS test during the school year aren't allowed to take part in graduation ceremonies. The same doesn't hold true for summer school grads. They're allowed to participate in summer graduation ceremonies without knowing whether they passed the test.
The decision didn't sit well with some parents and students.
School board member Lucy Rubio had hoped to amend the policy, and allow seniors who failed the TAKS to at least walk in with their class during may commencement. But other school board members didn't agree.
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