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The Forsyth County News
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End to Dukakis ‘curse’?
WASHINGTON By qui
etly naming John Sasso to be
general election chairman of
the Democratic National
Committee, John Kerry has
served notice that he is no
longer afraid of the Michael
Duakakis curse.
Kerry does not exactly go
out of his way to remind peo
ple he was Dukakis' lieutenant
governor in Massachusetts.
The official biography on
Kerry's website says merely,
"In 1984, after winning elec
tion as lieutenant governor in
1982, Kerry ran and was elect
ed to serve in the United States
Senate...."
You can't exactly blame
Kerry for not mentioning
Dukakis' name. The Dukakis
1988 presidential campaign is
not considered one of the high
points in Democratic history,
and few in the party today want
to be cursed as a "Dukakis lib
eral."
But by naming Sasso to a
very important job at the DNC,
Kerry is signaling he really
isn't worried about labels or
curses because few people
were as closely identified with
Michael Dukakis as John
Sasso.
Come with me down mem
ory lane: In September 1987,
Dukakis was running for presi
dent and Sasso was not only
his campaign manager but a
person Dukakis considered
"like a brother."
One of Dukakis’ chief rivals
and a man neck-and-neck with
him in fund raising was Joe
Biden, senator from Delaware.
Sasso found some dirt on
Biden. At the lowa State Fair.
Biden used some of the same
words in a speech that Neil
Kinnock, leader of the British
Labor Party, had previously
used. It was not exactly a
felony, and Biden previously
had given Kinnock credit. This
time. Biden had merely forgot
ten the rule that if you steal
from one person it's called pla
giarism. and if you steal from
many it's called research.
But when Sasso got his
hands on a videotape of the
Kinnock speech and a video
tape of the Biden speech. Sasso
figured he had away of dam
aging Biden.
Sasso put the two tapes
together on one tape and
leaked the "attack video," as it
came to be known, to The New
York Times, NBC and the Des
Moines Register. All three pub
lished the story. None revealed
its source.
The story immediately
snowballed. Other Biden char-
On your payroll
CHY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
RO. Bax 3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 887-4342
Mayor Pro-Tern, Lewis Ledbetter
205 Mountain Brook Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3019
Ralph Perry
1420 Pilgrim Rd., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-7474
Quincy Holton
103 Hickory Ridge Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279
Rupert Sexton
705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-4332
John Pugh
10813th St., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Charles Lauohlnohouse. Post 1
3550 Rosewicke Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-7937; office, (770) 886-2810
David “AJ.” Pritchett, Post 2
4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024
(404) 392-6983; office, (770) 886-2809
Jonn a. jsck vonway t Host *5
6130 Polo Club Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-9226; (770) 886-2807
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
office, (770) 886-2806
Eddie Taylor, Post 5
4195 Morningside Dr., Cumming, GA 30041
(770)886-2802
\ > /
tSRf Roger
Simon
acter flaws were discovered (he
had inflated his academic
record and had insulted a voter
in New Hampshire), and Biden
withdrew from the race.
But one question still
remained: Who had leaked the
attack video?
Eventually, attention turned
to the Dukakis campaign.
Here, Sasso made his fatal
error. He denied being behind
the Biden attack. And Dukakis
denied it, too.
Eventually, Sasso went to
Dukakis and came clean.
Dukakis held a news confer
ence and apologized, saying he
had no idea that Sasso had
done it. He was reluctant to fire
Sasso, the most important fig
ure in his campaign. But this
just kept the snowball rolling,
and Dukakis was forced to
dump Sasso.
Some felt that without
Sasso the campaign never went
about the essential task of
establishing a clear and appeal
ing persona for Dukakis (who
seemed to lack one of his own).
But what had Sasso really
done that was so terrible when
he leaked the attack video?
There was ample precedent
for digging dirt on opponents.
The Republicans had a "truth
squad" following Harry
Truman around the country in
1948, leaping on his every
word and reporting on its find
ings to reporters.
Today, campaigns make
email accusations on a daily
basis. Dirt is dug and served up
to the press regularly. But
Sasso got bounced, not so
much for what he did. but for
not coming clean about it from
the very beginning.
Soon afterward, U.S. Rep.
Bruce Morrison. D-Conn., met
with Dukakis. Dukakis was
wooing congressmen, looking
for their support.
"I asked Dukakis the ques
tion that nobody else had asked
him," Morrison said. "I asked.
What would you have done if
Sasso had come to you with
the Biden tape?' And Dukakis
said, 'I would have burned it."'
"And right then," Morrison
said. "I knew Mike Dukakis
would never be president."
Roger Simon is a national
ly syndicated columnist. He
can be e-mailed at
Writeßoger@ aol. com.
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——Ktefcfr-1,
Report seeks changes in how teachers trained
By Dr. Holly Robinson
For the Forsyth County News
The Teaching Commission,
a blue-ribbon panel of leaders
in business, education and
government, recently pub
lished a major report that calls
for fundamental changes to
upgrade teaching as a profes
sion by changing the way
teachers are trained, assessed,
supported and compensated.
The report is courageous and
long overdue.
"Teaching at Risk: A Call to
Action" focuses on specific
policy recommendations to
break through barriers such as
low standards; low. lockstep
pay; mistrust of efforts to iden
tify what makes for effective
teaching; education schools out
of touch with school needs, and
outdated, inflexible work rules.
The goal is to ensure "that stu
dent learning rather than
teacher protection is the num
ber one priority."
Three Georgians were
among the 19 members of the
commission established and
chaired by former IBM
Chairman Louis V. Gerstner Jr.:
Dr. Beverly Hall, superintendent
of Atlanta Public Schools, Scott
Painter, a chemistry and physics
teacher at South Atlanta High
School, and former Gov. Roy
Barnes. The panel also included
Sandra Feldman, president of
the American Federation of
Teachers, Barbara Bush and for
mer U.S. Secretary of Education
Richard Riley. This diverse
commission signed off unani
mously on the final report.
Research shows that top
quality teaching fosters high
student achievement. Two
recent papers, from University
of Maryland and California
State researchers and from
Harvard labor economist
Caroline Hoxby, explore fac
tors contributing to a marked
decline in the quality of the
teaching force. Both studies
acknowledge that women have
better job choices than they
once did. Hoxby illustrates,
NATIONAL LRTCIATORS
US. Sen. Zell Miller
Russell Senate Office Building, Room C-3
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3643; Fax: (202) 228-2090 jjm
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss > F J
1019 Longworth House Office Building S
Washington, D.C. 20515 A"" yi
(202)224-3521 |
< U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District
2437 Raybum House Office Building,
I Washington, DC. 20515
I * Gainesville: P.O. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503
k ■ Gainesville, (770) 535-2592; Washington: (202) 225-
1 Wfl 5211; Fax: (202) 225-8272
U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District >
1727 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515-1011 L. % .
Washington: (202) 225-4272; Fax: (202) 2264696 M
STATE LEGISLATORS BLf]
< Sen. David Shafer, 48th District
I 109 State Capitol
■ Atlanta, GA 30334
I (404)651-7738
I I Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District >
421 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 IB
r— l Telephone: (404) 6568578; (fax) (404)
WT 6518768
' ' < Sen. Dan Moody, 271 h District
(770)495-3127;
I Office (404) 463-8055
♦
however, that the percentage
of high aptitude teachers has
declined significantly over the
past five decades, due in large
part to the increasing homo
geneity of wages as a result of
collective bargaining agree
ments.
Commission member Feld
man, to her credit, throws her
union support behind reform
ing teacher compensation in
an article in this month's
"American Teacher” maga
zine. She urges schools to
consider the Milken Family
Foundation's Teacher Ad
vancement Program (TAP),
which embraces regular evalu
ations of teacher effectiveness,
market-driven compensation
to reward exemplary teachers,
and includes the performance
of their students.
Stating that "our nation's
most valuable profession is
vital to our continued econom
ic well-being and civic stabili
ty," the commission recom
mends bold efforts to improve
the quality of teaching. It cites
one-size-fits-all compensation,
flawed teacher preparation,
ineffective leadership and poor
working conditions as major
culprits. It recommends a new
compact for teachers: "The
nation must increase base pay
for teachers, but also teachers
must be measured - and com
pensated - on the basis of their
classroom performance,
including the academic gains
made by their students."
The report recommends
higher salaries for teachers in
the "toughest" classrooms, in
shortage areas such as math
and science, and who are men
tors and master teachers.
Additionally, it calls for uni
versity preparation programs
and district-run professional
development classes to be tied
to improving student perform
ance.
Startling statistics back up
the Commission's concerns:
"Fully one-third of students in
high-poverty secondary
schools take at least one class
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS -Thurxtey, April», 2004 -1
with a teacher who lacks even
a college minor in the sub
ject," the report states. The
Commission urges state lead
ers to raise the passing scores
for teacher certification exams
and ensure every new teacher
passes a rigorous test of both
content and essential skills.
Georgia is ahead of the
game on one recommendation:
streamlining the often-cum
bersome bureaucracy sur
rounding teacher licensure.
The state recently passed an
alternative certification route
for teachers, allowing college
graduates who have not taken
college-level education classes
to teach if they pass the state's
certification exams in content
and pedagogy and have a
degree in the subject they
would teach or a subject relat
ed to the one they will teach.
The Commission also urges
improvements in compensation
and performance, skills and
preparation and leadership and
support, three areas found to
undermine the professionalism
of teaching. The Commission
wants teachers to be paid more
for high performance, "meas
ured by fair evaluations and
clear evidence of improved stu
dent learning." Teachers must
be given the responsibility and
rewarded for what is most
important: better student per
formance. Some version of the
"value-added" method, the rate
of improvement in student per
formance each school year, is
recommended as an evaluation
system.
"A system that does not
reward excellence cannot
inspire it," the report says.
The Commission wants
university presidents to
revamp teacher education pro
grams, raise standards for
entry and strengthen their aca
demic content. And it wants
the federal government to "tie
continued funding of teacher
education programs to meas
ures of success for graduates
of these programs." This is
significant because, despite
Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District >
(770)466-1507; MH
Office (404) 463-1368 ’ ■
Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District kJ '' ■
Legislative Office Building, Room 504
18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 6568188, or (770) 887-0400, law office
Dam lamaa OOM* Ri-t-J-*
nep. Jan jones, Join District >
412 Legislative Office Building, I J*"W|
Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0137
r< Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District
Legislative office Building,
Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0325; (770) 781-9319, home
BQARDIQEEDUCADQN
Ann Crow
96 Barker Rd., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 887-9640; acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
PaulKreager
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
(770) 889-9971; pkreager@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Nsncy Roche
7840 Chestnut Hill Rd., Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 8898229; nroche@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
HwSOfJCCfI A* UH3WWI
2030 Commonwealth Place, Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 8448830; rdowell@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
unairman jenrey owpnens
P.O. Bax 169, Cumming, GA 30028
(770) 889-1470; jstephens@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
>
the new federal law requiring
all teachers be "highly quali
fied" by the 2004-2005 school
year, some states are choosing
to lower the bar and overlook
the object of the law: to raise
achievement for all students.
School leaders princi
pals should be empowered
with the ultimate say over per
sonnel decisions, the Comm
ission says. Improvements in
principal recruitment and
training are fundamental, so
school leaders can foster a cul
ture of excellence in which
teachers have more opportuni
ty to become decision makers.
Declaring that "It is time
for revolutionary not evolu
tionary changes," the
report concludes with power
ful recommendations for the
Commission as well: to reach
out to a broad coalition of
education groups; work with
governors and their chief state
school officers; support col
lege and university presidents
to improve teacher education
programs, work with the fed
eral government to build sup
port for the recommendations
and develop an outreach cam
paign on national, state and
local levels.
Chairman Gerstner vows
that this Commission will
measure its success not on rec
ommendations, "but through
its ability to mobilize key
stakeholders, and through sub
sequent changes in policies
and practices nationwide."
"Teaching at Risk: A Call
to Action" is one report
unlikely to gather dust.
Thanks to the Commission's
diversity, commitment and
bold action, this pledge to
mobilize the commonsense
campaign and ensure far
reaching change is no empty
promise to the nation.
Dr. Holly Robinson is sen
ior vice president of the
Georgia Public Policy
Foundation, an independent
think tank that proposes prac
tical, market-oriented
approaches to public policy.
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