Recent Entries
Appropriate response or overreaction?
Backing down on payday loan sharks
Monthly Archives
- June 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
RSS Feeds
Tennessee
Longer school days?
Jan 16, 2008The Sullivan County Board of Education floated a proposal Tuesday to add 30 minutes to the school day. What do you think about that?
A member of the newspaper’s Readers Advisory Panel is concerned. Her grandchildren catch the school bus at 7:30 a.m. and don’t get home until 3 p.m. After homework and basketball games, there isn’t much time left.
She writes: Whoever is making the suggestion of a longer day, could not possible have a child in his home, trying to fit everything into an average school day. There is no time left over to just be a child!
I sympathize, but I’m at least somewhat supportive of the concept of extending the school day. Most children in this area live in families where both parents work. That means they are in some form of extended day program after school ends. If you replace unstructured and costly afterschool care with an extended school day - particularly if this gives times for more instruction in the arts, physical education and reading - that might be a worthwhile trade.
Posted by Andrea Hopkins Government “sunshine”
Nov 13, 2007Last week, we told you about efforts by the Tennessee Municipal League and the Tennessee County Services Association to change the state’s open meetings law to make it easier for government officials to discuss public matters in secret. You can read our editorial opposing the change here.
Basically, the law change would give officials wide latitude to discuss controversial (or not-so-controversial) matters behind closed doors, as long as a quorum of the public body wasn’t present. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the potential for mischief.
Now, some better news on the topic. State Sen. Tim Burchett, R- Knoxville, will apparently introduce legislation to strengthen the Sunshine Law. According to the Knoxville News-Sentinnel, that legislation will mirror the recommendations of the Tennessee Coaltion for Open Government.
Bravo Sen. Burchett. We need more champions of open government - at all levels.
A slap on the wrist
Aug 23, 2007... is pretty much what David Davis’ aide, Timothy Hill, is getting for his escapades on Wikipedia. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that Hill will be required to attend “conduct classes” to atone for his bad behavior.
According to the News-Sentinel, Brenda Otterson, Davis’ chief of staff, released this statement about Hill’s punishment:
“After reviewing Timothy’s misstep and his overall performance as press secretary, the congressman believes Timothy is a valued employee who made a mistake. ... Moreover, we have learned that editing of Wikipedia files is a relatively common occurrence among many government and private sector offices. ... Consequently, Timothy will be required to take congressional operations classes in September in order to give him a better understanding of House rules and the restrictions governing the actions of congressional employees.”
Show of hands. Who believes the lesson that Hill has learned from all this is to cover his tracks better next time?
The flap at Sullivan Central
Jan 15, 2007In Sunday’s editorial, the newspaper editorial board weighed in on the controversy involving a Sullivan Central High School student suspended from basketball games for standing up to students who were chanting racist slogans.
You can read it here.
We believe the school administration needs to address this situation publicly.
Our core argument: [Josh] Hughes wasn’t spoiling for a fight. He sought to right a wrong. He was morally correct, even though he violated the school’s rules. He deserves another chance.
The heavy-handed punishment meted out to Hughes isn’t the only issue raised by this controversial case. Hughes would not have acted if school officials had quickly put an end to the racially charged chants of “Pocahontas” that were directed at a basketball player of Native American ancestry.
Why did school officials, coaches and teachers fail to act? Why did adult spectators fail to act? Where were their morals, their courage, their outrage? Why weren’t the taunters banned from ball games under the same sort of rules? It was their behavior that was egregious.
However, the theme of today’s callers appears to be that the newspaper has no right to comment on the matter at all. Come again? We aren’t picking on teachers or Science Hill or up to some nefarious purpose - “keeping it stirred up” as one woman said.
This case involves two serious policy considerations: zero tolerance and racial insensitivity. Those are matters of broad public concern and appropriate areas for comment by the newspaper. To look the other way (as it appears many adults did in this case) would be to shirk our responsibility.
Just in case any of the callers are reading this, the unsigned editorial expresses the views of the newspaper’s editorial board. That’s myself, the publisher and the managing editor. That’s what we mean by “our views.” And the issue would not have gone away if the newspaper had ignored it; it would have merely been whispered about by everyone in the community.
