Month: March 2001

My, my, but I have gotten some rather vicious e-mails this week. I just want the writers to know that yes, the Flyer forwarded them to me at my real job and thanks for the insight about how wrong I am in thinking that our new president is somewhat less than a genius. I guess I was just jumping the gun. I particularly enjoyed the letter from one writer who chastised me for whatever I’d written, told me what opinions were like (a certain part of the body that I won’t mention in print), and then proceeded to give me hers. Let’s see, what was that e-mail address again? Nah, don’t worry, I’d never print it here. But I do have it. And I plan to respond by thanking you for your input about Georgie. I’m sure that when he said, at a White House press conference on February 22nd, “I have said that the sanction regime is like Swiss cheese– that meant they weren’t very effective,” it was just a slip-up of some kind. And how proud the first lady must be, given her recent announcement that educational matters would be her top priority, to have heard her husband say in Townsend, Tennessee, the previous day, “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” I bet her can. (You know, I don’t make these statements up. No one could.) I also hope you read the cover story in The Commercial Appeal’s “Appeal” section this past Sunday, about Rev. Elizabeth Toles, who has for decades been making predictions for various people and institutions, almost all of which come true. Her most staggering predictions were that George W. Bush wouldn’t make it through a full term and that Bill Clinton will hold a position in the Bush administration. Hmm. Now, that is interesting. I can tell you now why Bush isn’t going to make it. Has anyone else noticed that his already close-together eyes are gradually moving even closer toward each other? Well, they are. Must be from all that late-night speech-writing, trying to figure out why sanctions are like Swiss cheese. Before long, those eyes are going to merge into one, and we’re going to have a cyclops on our hands. How in the world can the United States have a president travel around and meet with leaders of other countries and talk about Swiss cheese sanctions with just one eye? As for Clinton serving in the administration, perhaps he’ll do so as Bush’s speechwriter to help solve some of the problems inherent in having a president that doesn’t have a grip on his nation’s language and basic rules of grammar. Clinton could write the speeches, Bush could read them to the press and public, having no idea what half of them mean because of all the big words, and they could include lots of information about Bush’s other brother, the one in Colorado, who was one of the main crooks in the great S&L scandal but got off without any charges because of dear old Dad. That would take the heat off of Clinton for his pardons and those of you who hate him so vehemently might like him a little more and he could step up and take the job back from our one-eyed president. Oh, well. I doubt it will ever happen, but one can dream. In the meantime, keep those letters coming, and here’s a look at what’s going on around town this week.

Additional Facts

The state of Tennessee has implemented the TNKids program, a computerized management system designed to help manage placements of children and caseloads on DCS workers. However, new DCS workers are not being trained on how to use this program, resulting in it not being used. It’s widely considered to a good, promising program, but since no one knows how to use it, they don’t.

DCS does not track medical/mental health treatments to assess the effectiveness of services and service providers.

After DCS was formed by combining staff from other departments, leadership positions were not allocated between employees coming from the previous divisions. Twenty-six of the 43 DCS leaders were formerly employed by the Department of Youth Development, while only five of the 43 came from the Department of Human Services. Conversely, two-thirds of the children in custody are dependent/neglected and previously would have been in the custody of DHS.

DCS caseworkers receive three weeks of job training. Foster parents receive 40 hours of training. However, CASA volunteers (who only report on the conditions the children are living in and make recommendations, but never have custody of the children) receive 30 hours of training.

The state is not complying with the John B. Consent Decree or with federal law by failing to ensure that all children in state custody receive EPSDT’s (Early and Periodic Screenings, Diagnosis and Treatment).

Additional Statistics

One study found that nationally parental rights for African-American children were terminated at younger ages than those for white children, although African-American children as a whole were less emotionally disturbed than white children. This suggests that less patience on the part of the system in working with African-American families. Tennessee does not maintain information that determines the length of stay by race.

Additional Quotes,

from Ira Lustbader, lead counsel for Children’s Rights Inc.

“In TN, we were contacted years ago about fundamental problems in TN. 1996, Dept of Children’s Services was created. The idea was to combine several departments into one, (corrections, foster, mental health) thought it would result in better treatment. At this point CRI stepped back and waited to see if the new DCS would be effective. It was not.”

“There is a high degree of privatization of foster care in Tennessee. All group placements are contract placements. There is a glaring lack of monitoring and oversight on the state’s part to adequately monitor by state. With all this mismanagement there are approximately 15-20 for-profit agencies. You have contract agencies making a profit off this. The possibilities for corruption or for corners to be cut are endless. We don’t have all the detailed information on contract agencies, but when you have this level of mismanagement and a high number of agencies making money off it, something is wrong. These are dangerous situations, overuse of medication, misuse of restraint methods, inadequate training of staff, overburdened caseworkers who can’t meet with the children. Dangerous.”

“The most basic premise of the system is that children are supposed to be reunited with their families if it is at all safe to do so, within a reasonable amount of time, with the services needed. The goal is to give every family an opportunity to reunite, or then to place the child with a relative or an adoptive family. Time and again, this is not happening.”

“The unusual thing about Tennessee is that in Tennessee much of our allegations come from the state’s own data. Year after year the state notes these problems and nothing gets done.”

“We can’t tell what the cost is going to be yet. There will be additional resources needed, but there are financial mismanagement problems, too. Through gross mismanagement the state is wasting millions in federal funds. The state could be doing a lot more with what they’ve got.”

Mayor Willie Herenton says he will attend a schools meeting with suburban mayors and County Mayor Jim Rout some time in the future but he doesn’t expect much from it.

“I’m going to go in a spirit of good will but I don’t expect anything to come out of it,” Herenton said in an interview with the Flyer Thursday. The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday but has been re-set for an undetermined date. “They’re very entrenched in their opposition to consolidation, but I firmly believe a consolidated form of government in the long run is going to be the most efficient and effective form of government. But it’s like crying in the wilderness alone.”

Herenton said he thought about skipping the meeting, which will be held in Rout’s office, and he “pointedly” asked Rout what would be accomplished. He said Rout assured him that he would offer some alternatives.

Herenton, formerly city schools superintendent, seemed weary of the debate which flared up again in February when a bill was introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly that would limit all counties to a single, unified school system. He laughed and admitted his suggestion in a television interview last week that school funding could “bankrupt” local government was “pretty strong.” But he predicted financing of government will be the hammer that will eventually force government and business leaders to push for consolidation.

“There is no political will in this community to consolidate,” he said.

The situation could change, however, in the coming months if Rout clarifies his political plans. The county mayoral race is in 2002. There has been speculation that Rout might run for governor, “but my bet is he will run for reelection,” Herenton said.

The costs of consolidation are not clear yet to Herenton, but he is confident that there would be long-term savings in personnel, school construction costs, pensions, and debt service.

“So what if you initially have a gap you have to make up? It’s just like a business plan. Some businesses don’t make money in their first few years, then they turn around and make money.”

He scoffed at fears that county students would be bused to inner-city schools and insisted school assignments would not change. And he said that fears of school construction cost overruns could be met by putting those decisions in the hands of a schools building authority. The city and county school boards would give way to a new elected county-wide board.

On the whole, Herenton was not in one of his famous fighting moods.

“None of what I’m talking about is easy,” he admitted.

He brushed off critics who say he injected race and class into the issue.

“Maybe it’s part of my education background, but in Memphis if you start talking from an academic perspective and mention race and class people go crazy. Well, race is a factor, and class is a factor. And nobody wants to admit that. It’s not just true of white suburbanites, it’s true of black suburbanites. The white and black middle class typically have the same views about people who are poor.”

He went out of his way to praise Shelby County Commissioner Buck Wellford, businessman Russell Gwatney, and the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce for a school-funding reform effort last year which Wellford admits went nowhere.

“We got stymied because the majority of commissioners and Mayor Rout were not ready to get out in front of a sales tax referendum and the suburban mayors were very resistant to both single-source funding and a building authority,” said Wellford.

Asked about a timetable for consolidation, Herenton said he expects it to happen “well within this decade.” He does not have to run for reelection until 2003. He wouldn’t say what his own political plans are, but his patience on the consolidation issue he has plugged for two decades now suggests he is in it for the long haul.

My, my, but I have gotten some rather vicious e-mails this week. I just want the writers to know that yes, the Flyer forwarded them to me at my real job and thanks for the insight about how wrong I am in thinking that our new president is somewhat less than a genius. I guess I was just jumping the gun. I particularly enjoyed the letter from one writer who chastised me for whatever I’d written, told me what opinions were like (a certain part of the body that I won’t mention in print), and then proceeded to give me hers. Let’s see, what was that e-mail address again? Nah, don’t worry, I’d never print it here. But I do have it. And I plan to respond by thanking you for your input about Georgie. I’m sure that when he said, at a White House press conference on February 22nd, “I have said that the sanction regime is like Swiss cheese Ñ that meant they weren’t very effective,” it was just a slip-up of some kind. And how proud the first lady must be, given her recent announcement that educational matters would be her top priority, to have heard her husband say in Townsend, Tennessee, the previous day, “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” I bet her can. (You know, I don’t make these statements up. No one could.) I also hope you read the cover story in The Commercial Appeal‘s “Appeal” section this past Sunday, about Rev. Elizabeth Toles, who has for decades been making predictions for various people and institutions, almost all of which come true. Her most staggering predictions were that George W. Bush wouldn’t make it through a full term and that Bill Clinton will hold a position in the Bush administration. Hmm. Now, that is interesting. I can tell you now why Bush isn’t going to make it. Has anyone else noticed that his already close-together eyes are gradually moving even closer toward each other? Well, they are. Must be from all that late-night speech-writing, trying to figure out why sanctions are like Swiss cheese. Before long, those eyes are going to merge into one, and we’re going to have a cyclops on our hands. How in the world can the United States have a president travel around and meet with leaders of other countries and talk about Swiss cheese sanctions with just one eye? As for Clinton serving in the administration, perhaps he’ll do so as Bush’s speechwriter to help solve some of the problems inherent in having a president that doesn’t have a grip on his nation’s language and basic rules of grammar. Clinton could write the speeches, Bush could read them to the press and public, having no idea what half of them mean because of all the big words, and they could include lots of information about Bush’s other brother, the one in Colorado, who was one of the main crooks in the great S&L scandal but got off without any charges because of dear old Dad. That would take the heat off of Clinton for his pardons and those of you who hate him so vehemently might like him a little more and he could step up and take the job back from our one-eyed president. Oh, well. I doubt it will ever happen, but one can dream. In the meantime, keep those letters coming, and here’s a look at what’s going on around town this week.