Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A
Reporter
It's like throwing these women to the wolves.
November 25, 2009
- Kathy Mercer of Forsyth
Fewer mammograms? Locals blast suggestion
BY WILL DAVIS
Monroe County women are reacting
with alarm to a government panel's
recommendation that they wait until
age 50 to have regular breast cancer
screeing.
"I like to hit the ceiling,"
said Kathy Mercer upon hear
ing the new recommendation.
"It's like throwing these
women to the wolves."
For Mercer, who works in
the business office at Monroe
County Hospital, the issue is
personal. She says a mammo
gram she had at age 31
helped doctors catch and
remove some pre-cancerous
cells in her breast. That was 19 years
ago.
Cathy Dargan, a registered nurse at
Monroe County Hospital, has a similar
story.
"If I had waited until I was 50 to have
a mammogram I would've been dead,"
said Dargan, who was 35 when a mam
mogram detected the early stages of
breast cancer.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force released its new recommenda
tions, which do not apply to a small
group of women with unusual risk fac
tors for breast cancer, last week.
According to the New York Times, they
reverse longstanding guidelines and
are aimed at reducing harm from
overtreatment, the group says. It also
says women age 50 to 74 should have
mammograms less frequently — every
two years, rather than every year. And
it said doctors should stop teaching
women to examine their breasts on a
regular basis.
The task force is an independ
ent panel of experts in preven
tion and primary care appointed
by the federal Department of
Health and Human Services. Its
recommendations can shape
what tests and treatments that
Medicare, Medicaid and private
insurance will cover.
According to the Times, the
panel now says the modest ben
efit of mammograms — reduc
ing the breast cancer death rate by 15
percent — must be weighed against the
harms. And those harms loom larger
for women in their 40s, who are 60 per
cent more likely to experience them
than women 50 and older but are less
likely to have breast cancer, skewing
the risk-benefit equation. The task
force concluded that one cancer death
is prevented for every 1,904 women age
40 to 49 who are screened for 10 years,
compared with one death for every
1,339 women age 50 to 59, and one
death for every 377 women age 60 to
69.
But Forsyth obstetrician Dr. Perry
Wells says he opposes the recommenda
tions.
"I've seen enough cases (of early
breast cancer) myself over the years -
women in their 40s — to make me think
bumping it up to 50 would cost some
women dearly," said Wells.
He noted that the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists still
recommends women start mammo
grams at age 40.
Wells said he's not yet so cynical that
he believes the task force is making the
recommendations to save money. But if
that is what's behind the recommenda
tion, he opposes it.
"To put a dolar value on one life is not
possible," said Wells. "If they're doing it
just to save money, then they're off
base."
Since her mother had breast cancer,
Dargan may have been one of those
considered high risk enough to start
regular mammograms earlier.
Regardless, with Congress considering
a much bigger federal role in health
care, Dargan said she's concerned.
"They (the government) are too
involved already," said Dargan. "Obama
healthcare is wrong. They should not be
able to take control. These issues
should be left to the consideration by
doctors who see women every day. It
should be between a woman and her
doctor."
Mercer agreed.
"It scares me that the government is
going to tell us what to do with our
healthcare," said Mercer. "They're going
to make the decision on what you need
to do and you can't get a second opinion
unless your physician refers you. That's
not right. It's taking your health out of
your hands and putting it into someone
else's."
After the firestorm of opposition,
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the
Department of Health and Human
Services, seemed to distance herself
from the recommendations.
"My message to women is simple,"
said Sebelius. "Mammograms have
always been an important lifesaving
tool in the fight against breast cancer,
and they still are today. Keep doing
what you have been doing for years —
talk to your doctor about your individ
ual history, ask questions and make the
decision that is right for you."
However the recommendations have
intensified the debate over broader
healthcare reform. Republican Rep.
Dave Camp of Michigan told NPR:
"This is the preview of what the
movie's going to look like if the Pelosi
health care plan or the Obama health
care plan passes," Camp says.
According to NPR, the Democrats'
health care bills all create a market
place or exchange where people could
go to buy health insurance. The govern
ment would rely on independent task
forces — including the one that issued
the breast cancer screening recommen
dations — to help determine which pre
vention benefits insurers in the
exchange would have to offer.
L 9L
MERCER
THE KAY
WILLIAMS’
TIMELINE
March 24
Monroe County's
school board names Kay
Williams the new principal
at Hubbard Elementary
School. Williams was rec
ommended by superin
tendent Anthony Pack,
as well as a committee of
10 parents and teachers
from Hubbard. She had
worked with Pack in Lib
erty County schools, but
came to Forsyth from De
troit, where she had been
principal of Romulus Ele
mentary School.
Sept. 8
The school system or
ders Williams to quit
leading the Pledge of Al
legiance in Spanish.
Some parents also com
plain that Williams is in
jecting racial and political
controversy into the
school.
Nov. 16
With Williams out of
town at a conference,
school system officials
interview teachers and
staff at Hubbard and
document answers.
Nov. 17
School system officials
interview Hubbard par
ents at the central office
about Williams and doc
ument answers.
Williams
continued from the front page
wanted answers. Roughly the
other half included mostly parents
wanting to thank board members
for the decision.
After an hour-long closed session,
the board agreed to allow a repre
sentative from each faction five
minutes to speak.
Former mayoral candidate and
Hubbard Alumni president James
Green said he met Williams at
church and called her a highly
qualified and professional woman.
Green contended the board had no
reason to remove Williams and
said he and a large group of sup
porters intend to support her to
the end.
"They hired her for the job. She
quit her job in Detroit and came
here to work. She came highly rec
ommended by Anthony Pack him
self," said Green. "Then they treat
ed her this way? How can they
[school board] make a decision
based what two families said. They
waited until she was out of town at
a conference and then they went in
and hand-picked the teachers they
wanted to talk to and went
through her files. It's not called for.
I'm trying to figure out why they
did that."
Becky Cleveland, mother of two
Hubbard students, said she is
appalled at the board's decision
and said she came to the meeting
to get answers. Cleveland said
Williams was a good principal.
"I want them [school board] to
tell me why they took her out of
the school. I don't see anything
she's done wrong. If they can prove
to me that some child was in dan
ger or some child was hurt by her
actions or that she was wasting tax
payers' money then I would be OK
with this decision," said Cleveland.
Green said Williams was set up
to fail from the very beginning. “At
some point it will all come out,”
said Green. “They have to tell us
the reasons they removed her from
her job. We will get some answers,
whether we get them now or have
to go through the law.”
Green said by “we” he means the
community of Williams’ support
ers.
Herbert Gantt read from a letter
from the Forsyth-Monroe County
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference requesting the board
revisit the matter and allow Ms.
Williams to continue as principal.
Gantt said Williams was treated
rudely by Pack and was not given
a chance to give her side of the
story.
Repeated attempts made by the
Reporter to reach Ms. Williams
were not successful.
Gantt told the board that parent
volunteers and the PTO president
think they have authority over
Willliams. Gantt also said that it
was uncalled for that parents and
teachers went around Williams to
bring their concerns to the school
board.
But, dozens of parents who
attended the meeting said they
have tried at length to discuss
their concerns with Williams and
have been repeatedly turned away,
ignored or intimidated.
Parent and HES volunteer Karen
Leverett said parents felt they had
no other choice than to go to Pack.
Leverett was part of the inter
viewing committee that recom
mended Williams as the principal
of Hubbard Elementary School last
spring. It is a decision she now
says she regrets.
“Initially I highly recommended
her. She was very professional and
she came in with wonderful ideas.
I believed in her. I believed she
would be good for our school,” said
Leverett. “Shortly she after she
began working at our school, unfor
tunately I discovered that she’s
very confrontational. She did make
some decisions that weren’t in the
school's best interest, but as a par
ent I can forgive her for that. But it
was the fact that she was so con
frontational about her decisions.
Speaking of professionalism, I
don't see it. Mr. Pack is completely
professional and is committed to
the education of every child. We
are a community. Don’t let this
divide us.”
Leverett told the board that
Williams’ repeated bad decisions
diminished her trustworthiness
and led parents to begin to ques
tion her ability.
“She brought politics into our
schools and brought politicians
into our schools," said Leverett.
“Mr. Gantt made the remark that
volunteers are walking around the
school. Well I will say to Mr. Gantt
and everyone else that volunteers
put in hundreds of hours a month
doing projects and things that
teachers do not have time to do.
The volunteers make a big differ
ence.”
Leverett says Williams was not a
visible presence in the school. “I do
not see her in the hallways. I do
not see monitors in the hallways
anymore. Actually I’ve seen vio
lence escalate in our school,”
Leverett said. “That was not a part
of our vision when we brought her
here. We expected the standard of
education to be improved. We did
not expect this.”
Leverett acknowledged that
Williams had some great ideas, but
says most of her ideas were never
implemented. “She's talked about a
foreign language initiative since
August, but her plan for imple
mentation was not a good one. She
wanted to hire a parent to come in
one hour a week to teach kids in
kindergarten through fifth grade.”
Leverett said she is very disap
pointed by Williams’ behavior and
attitude.
“She is duplicitous in her behav
ior. She has not been completely
honest. I think what the board has
done is the right thing,” said
Leverett. “I wish her the best in
her new position but we need a
leader who loves all the children in
our school. That's what I'm hoping
for.”
But Green says Williams’ sup
porters have no intention of “just
laying down and accepting this.”
Green says an injustice has been
done and he won’t stop until it has
been corrected.
‘We just can't allow it,” he said.
Williams was hired in the spring
to replace long-time Hubbard prin
cipal Angie Dillon, who was named
the system’s executive director of
teaching and learning.
But some Hubbard parents com
plained in September after
Williams started leading the
Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish
over the intercom in the morning.
She also recited a “minority fact of
the day” about a prominent black
or Hispanic person and displayed a
Cabbage Patch doll named after
President Obama. On Sept. 8, the
school system ordered her to quit
saying the pledge in Spanish.
Several parents said what had
been a strong school last year had
turned into one with racial and
political tension. PTO president
Rob Blair had told the Reporter he
was taken aback when Williams
brought two local political leaders,
commissioner Larry Evans and
Green, to a meeting with parents
to discuss getting more textbooks.
Parents began meeting with Pack
to share their concerns and some
moved their children to private
school. Then last Monday, with
Williams out of town for a three-
day training conference, central
office administrators entered the
school to interview teachers and
staff and document any problems.
On Tuesday, they met with par
ents to record their concerns. Some
parents told Pack that if she was
not removed, they were moving
their children into private school.
And at a called meeting Thursday
night, the board accepted Pack's
recommendation of the transfer,
effective immediately. Pack said
rumors about Williams' status
made his job more difficult.
As news spread around town
Friday, some Hubbard parents
complained that Williams was still
patrolling the halls with Green.
The Reporter tried to ask Williams
about the situation and she agreed
to an interview Friday afternoon.
But she later refused to talk a
reporter who asked questions as
she entered her automobile to
leave the school.
Green said he visited the school
on Friday because he was planning
to become a school volunteer.
Nov. 1 9
The school board votes
4-0 with one abstention
to re-assign Williams to
the central office.
Nov. 23
About 75 parents and
citizens evenly divided
for and against Kay
Williams share their con
cerns before Monroe
County school board
members. The board lis
tens but offers no com
ment.
Hopper
continued from the front page
few days, Hopper said she wants the stu
dents to be able to be as calm and focused
on their success as they can be.
Hopper had applied to be Hubbard princi
pal when former principal Angie Dillon was
appointed to the central office in the spring,
but Williams got the job. So why is someone
who's qualified for state retirement still in
the school business?
"I love what I do," said Hopper. "I believe
in doing what I can do to help boys and
girls. They keep you young."
She said she has no plans to retire. Asked
if she could stay on as principal for next
year, Hopper said it's a possibility.
This is the first time Hopper has changed
positions in the middle of the year, but she
said she's learned over 32 years to be flexi
ble.
"One thing I've learned in education is
that change is inevitable," said Hopper. She
said she knows many of the teachers at
Hubbard and is eager to get to know the
others. New or old, she said most teachers
have the same attitude: They want to teach
and do what's right for boys and girls. "If we
can concentrate on that we'll have success,"
she said.
Hopper graduated from Tift College, doing
her student teaching at Hubbard, and mar
ried Forsyth native David Hopper. After
stints teaching in Florida and Crawford
County, she joined Hubbard Elementary as
a teacher in 1981. Over the next few years
she won Teacher of the Year honors at
Hubbard and oversaw the pre-K and Title I
programs.
In 1993 she became co-assistant principal
at Hubbard and was later named assistant
principal for curriculum and instruction.
Hopper became the assistant principal at
T.G. Scott Elementary School when it
opened in 2005 and has been there since.
She has a master's degree from Mercer
and a specialist's degree from UGA. Her
daughter, Jennifer, teaches in Gwinnett
County.