LAUSD slow to report on teacher misconduct

Los Angeles school officials failed to promptly report nearly 150 cases of suspected teacher misconduct — including allegations of sexual contact with students — to state authorities as required by law, an audit released Thursday concluded.

The findings come 10 months after the Los Angeles Unified School District was rocked by the arrest of a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School for allegedly spoon-feeding semen to students in a classroom.

At the time, district officials acknowledged that they did not swiftly send all serious misconduct allegations to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which keeps a database that school systems use to verify teaching licenses.

The audit found that L.A. Unified submitted at least 144 cases of alleged teacher misconduct more than a year later than required, 31 of them more than three years late.

As a result, the commission was unable to "determine promptly whether it was appropriate to revoke the teachers' certificates and thus prevent the individuals from working in other school districts," according to the report.

In one case, the district reported an alleged sexual relationship between a teacher and a student in March — 3 1/2 years after the teacher left the district over the incident, the audit said. The "lack of timely reporting" prevented the commission from taking steps to keep the teacher from working elsewhere.

A Times investigation earlier this year examined another case in which L.A. Unified failed to report allegations against a former teacher who was later hired by another district.

During five years as a frequent substitute teacher, George Hernandez was investigated by police three times over allegations of sexual misconduct involving students. L.A. Unified did not report Hernandez to the state commission, and Hernandez subsequently became a substitute in the Inglewood Unified School District for nearly three years, through August 2010.

He now faces charges in connection with allegedly molesting a student in a classroom.

L.A. Unified officials said Thursday that they agreed with the audit's findings and that they have already addressed the issues raised.

The audit "captured accurately what the district has done in terms of improvement and where the district was," L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said Thursday. He said he was "thankful and appreciative for the honesty and accuracy" of the audit.

Officials admitted they had not promptly alerted the credentialing panel about an investigation into allegations that Mark Berndt, the Miramonte teacher, had allegedly taken dozens of photos of students, some gagged, others being fed tainted cookies. Previous reports of questionable behavior by Berndt had failed to result in any discipline before his arrest.

Berndt is charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct and is being held in lieu of $23-million bail. He has pleaded not guilty.

After his arrest in January, the nation's second-largest school system reviewed old files for evidence of other potential problem employees, submitted 600 records from the last four years to state regulators, and pledged to inform parents within 72 hours when an employee is removed from a school during an investigation into sexual misconduct. The district also improved its system of tracking misconduct allegations.

The audit, which examined six schools and selected misconduct allegations from 2007 to the present, also found that the district acted too slowly internally.

One example was an eight-month delay between the conclusion of an investigation and "the date on which the school's principal issued a memo to the employee about the incident, with no indication of anything occurring in the interim," auditors wrote. "According to district staff, the principal struggled to write the memo."

Other delays were blamed on poor past procedures and staff reductions because of budget cuts.

Deasy ordered the massive filing as a precaution, and also directed principals and other staff to find and review documentation going back decades. This extensive review has not resulted in any current staff being disciplined or removed from work pending further investigation, Deasy said.

Reports to the commission include suspected sexual molestation and such other misconduct as drug use, hitting a student, abusive language or cheating on standardized tests. Districts must report to the panel within 30 days when conduct results in a suspension of at least 10 days or a change in job status, such as a resignation or retirement. Sex or drug abuse charges involving minors must be reported within 10 days.

The audit was conducted by the California state auditor at the behest of the state Legislature's audit committee, which is chaired by Assemblyman Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens).

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U.S. Is Weighing Stronger Action in Syrian Conflict

Francisco Leong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rebels in northern Syria celebrated on Wednesday next to what was reported to be a government fighter jet.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, hoping that the conflict in Syria has reached a turning point, is considering deeper intervention to help push President Bashar al-Assad from power, according to government officials involved in the discussions.

While no decisions have been made, the administration is considering several alternatives, including directly providing arms to some opposition fighters.

The most urgent decision, likely to come next week, is whether NATO should deploy surface-to-air missiles in Turkey, ostensibly to protect that country from Syrian missiles that could carry chemical weapons. The State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said Wednesday that the Patriot missile system would not be “for use beyond the Turkish border.”

But some strategists and administration officials believe that Syrian Air Force pilots might fear how else the missile batteries could be used. If so, they could be intimidated from bombing the northern Syrian border towns where the rebels control considerable territory. A NATO survey team is in Turkey, examining possible sites for the batteries.

Other, more distant options include directly providing arms to opposition fighters rather than only continuing to use other countries, especially Qatar, to do so. A riskier course would be to insert C.I.A. officers or allied intelligence services on the ground in Syria, to work more closely with opposition fighters in areas that they now largely control.

Administration officials discussed all of these steps before the presidential election. But the combination of President Obama’s re-election, which has made the White House more willing to take risks, and a series of recent tactical successes by rebel forces, one senior administration official said, “has given this debate a new urgency, and a new focus.”

The outcome of the broader debate about how heavily America should intervene in another Middle Eastern conflict remains uncertain. Mr. Obama’s record in intervening in the Arab Spring has been cautious: While he joined in what began as a humanitarian effort in Libya, he refused to put American military forces on the ground and, with the exception of a C.I.A. and diplomatic presence, ended the American role as soon as Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was toppled.

In the case of Syria, a far more complex conflict than Libya’s, some officials continue to worry that the risks of intervention — both in American lives and in setting off a broader conflict, potentially involving Turkey — are too great to justify action. Others argue that more aggressive steps are justified in Syria by the loss in life there, the risks that its chemical weapons could get loose, and the opportunity to deal a blow to Iran’s only ally in the region. The debate now coursing through the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and the C.I.A. resembles a similar one among America’s main allies.

“Look, let’s be frank, what we’ve done over the last 18 months hasn’t been enough,” Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, said three weeks ago after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. “The slaughter continues, the bloodshed is appalling, the bad effects it’s having on the region, the radicalization, but also the humanitarian crisis that is engulfing Syria. So let’s work together on really pushing what more we can do.” Mr. Cameron has discussed those options directly with Mr. Obama, White House officials say.

France and Britain have recognized a newly formed coalition of opposition groups, which the United States helped piece together. So far, Washington has not done so.

Intelligence officials and independent specialists on Syria said that the administration was reviewing its Syria policy in part to gain credibility and sway with opposition fighters, who have seized key Syrian military bases in recent weeks. “The administration has figured out that if they don’t start doing something, the war will be over and they won’t have any influence over the combat forces on the ground,” said Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer and specialist on the Syria military. “They may have some influence with various political groups and factions, but they won’t have influence with the fighters, and the fighters will control the territory.”

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Angus T. Jones Is Not Leaving Two and a Half Men: Source

TV Watch

By Elizabeth Leonard

11/28/2012 at 07:50 PM EST

The Half is back!

Ever since Angus T. Jones bashed Two and a Half Men in a now-viral video, it begged the question: Will the 19-year-old actor return to the hit show?

If he has it his way, he will.

"Angus expects to report to work after the holiday break in January," says a source close to the star. "He intends to honor his contract through the end of the season."

Jones, who called the show "filth" and urged viewers in a video interview on a religious website to stop watching, issued an apology Tuesday night, saying he has the "highest regard" for the "wonderful people" on the show.

Although Jones is not featured in an episode that tapes next week, he intends to show up on schedule after the break, the source says.

In the meantime, the source adds, "Angus is feeling positive and he is concentrating on spending some downtime with family and friends."

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons announced Wednesday. The two groups directed the 2 1/2-year project.

Solutions included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Some hospitals used special wound-protecting devices on surgery openings to keep intestine germs from reaching the skin.

The average rate of infections linked with colorectal operations at the seven hospitals dropped from about 16 percent of patients during a 10-month phase when hospitals started adopting changes to almost 11 percent once all the changes had been made.

Hospital stays for patients who got infections dropped from an average of 15 days to 13 days, which helped cut costs.

"The improvements translate into safer patient care," said Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission. "Now it's our job to spread these effective interventions to all hospitals."

Almost 2 million health care-related infections occur each year nationwide; more than 90,000 of these are fatal.

Besides wanting to keep patients healthy, hospitals have a monetary incentive to prevent these infections. Medicare cuts payments to hospitals that have lots of certain health care-related infections, and those cuts are expected to increase under the new health care law.

The project involved surgeries for cancer and other colorectal problems. Infections linked with colorectal surgery are particularly common because intestinal tract bacteria are so abundant.

To succeed at reducing infection rates requires hospitals to commit to changing habits, "to really look in the mirror and identify these things," said Dr. Clifford Ko of the American College of Surgeons.

The hospitals involved were Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Mayo Clinic-Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.; North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY; Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill.; and Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

American College of Surgeons: http://www.facs.org

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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California school districts face huge debt on risky bonds

Two hundred school districts across California have borrowed billions of dollars using a costly and risky form of financing that has saddled them with staggering debt, according to a Times analysis.

Schools and community colleges have turned increasingly to so-called capital appreciation bonds in the economic downturn, which depressed property values and made it harder for districts to raise money for new classrooms, auditoriums and sports facilities.

Unlike conventional shorter-term bonds that require payments to begin immediately, this type of borrowing lets districts postpone the start of payments for decades. Some districts are gambling the economic picture will improve in the decades ahead, with local tax collections increasingly enough to repay the notes.

DATABASE: Bonds by district

CABs, as the bonds are known, allow schools to borrow large sums without violating state or locally imposed caps on property taxes, at least in the short term. But the lengthy delays in repayment increase interest expenses, in some cases to as much as 10 or 20 times the amount borrowed.

The practice is controversial and has been banned in at least one state. In California, prominent government officials charged with watching the public purse are warning school districts to avoid the transactions.

One sounding the alarm is California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who compares CABs to the sort of creative Wall Street financing that contributed to the housing bubble, the subsequent debt crisis and the nation's lingering economic malaise.

"They are terrible deals," Lockyer said. "The school boards and staffs that approved of these bonds should be voted out of office and fired."

Most school bonds, like home mortgages, require roughly $2 to $3 to be paid back for every $1 borrowed. But CABs compound interest for much longer periods, meaning repayment costs are often many times that of traditional school bonds.

And property owners — not the school system — are likely to be on the hook for bigger tax bills if the agency's revenues can't cover future bond payments, Lockyer and other critics say.

Several financial consultants who advise school districts on CABs declined to comment, as did the chairman of their trade group. Education officials acknowledge some drawbacks with CABs, but argue that the bonds are funding vital educational projects.

The Newport Mesa Unified School District in Orange County issued $83 million in long-term notes in May 2011. Principal and interest will total about $548 million, but officials say they are confident they can pay off the debt.

The bonds "have allowed us to provide for facilities that are needed now," said the district's business manager, Paul Reed. "We could not afford to wait another 10 years."

Overall, 200 school systems, roughly a fifth of the districts statewide, have borrowed more than $2.8 billion since 2007 using CABs with maturities longer than 25 years. They will have to pay back about $16.3 billion in principal and interest, or an average of 5.8 times the amount they borrowed.

Nearly 70% of the money borrowed involves extended 30- to 40-year notes, which will cost district taxpayers $13.1 billion, or about 6.6 times the amount borrowed on average.

State and county treasurers say debt payments of no more than four times principal are considered reasonable, though some recommend a more conservative limit of three times.

"This is part of the 'new' Wall Street," Lockyer said. "It has done this kind of thing on the private investor side for years, then the housing market and now its public entities."

The Poway Unified School District, which serves middle-class communities in north San Diego County, is one of the school systems faced with massive CAB debt payments. In 2011, it issued $105 million in capital appreciation bonds to complete a school rebuilding program.

Because the recession had depressed property values and tax revenue, Poway district officials realized that using conventional bonds might jeopardize a promise to district voters to limit the tax rate.

So on the advice of an Irvine-based financial consulting firm, they turned to the long-term notes. Under the deal, the school board could keep construction moving, avoid reneging on its pledge to voters and stay within the legal limits. And it would not have to repay the bonds for decades.

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Protesters Gather Again in Cairo Streets to Denounce Morsi

CAIRO — Tens of thousands of people filled the central Tahrir Square on Tuesday afternoon in an outpouring of rage at President Mohamed Morsi’s attempt to claim expansive new powers and at the role in politics played by his party, the Muslim Brotherhood.

An attempt by Mr. Morsi on Monday to soften his edict, by reaffirming his deference to Egyptian courts, did little to constrain the crowd, which some estimates put at hundreds of thousands of people. In scenes that were reminiscent of the popular uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, and that signaled the country’s current widening divides, the protesters dusted off old taunts for Mr. Morsi, the country’s first freely elected leader.

“Leave,” they chanted. “The people want the fall of the regime.”

The president’s opponents turned out large numbers in several other cities, and clashed at times with his supporters, including in Mahalla el-Kubra in the Nile Delta, where more than a hundred people were reportedly injured. The Brotherhood also reported attacks on several of its political offices.

Most significant, though, was the turnout in Tahrir Square, where Egypt’s secular-minded opposition appeared to have momentarily overcome its divisions, bolstering its numbers with new allies among people implacably opposed to the Brotherhood, in an effort to muster a serious, visible challenge to Egypt’s Islamist groups.

It remained unclear whether Tuesday’s numbers signaled a new movement, or a moment. Islamists have repeatedly won at the polls since the fall of Mr. Mubarak, and the Brotherhood has shown its ability to turn out large crowds with little difficulty.

On Tuesday, the Brotherhood mocked the gathering in Tahrir Square, dismissing the protesters as “remnants” of the Mubarak government on a television channel associated with the group and playing down their numbers on Twitter.

The taunts were ignored in Tahrir Square, where the crowd chanted, “The square is full without the Brotherhood.”

The gathering was prompted by an edict released by Mr. Morsi last week that his decisions would be above judicial review, a move that essentially removed the last check on his power, since Egypt’s Parliament had earlier been dissolved by the courts.

Though Mr. Morsi framed the decree as an attempt to insulate Egypt’s constitutional assembly from being dissolved by Mubarak-era judges, it was quickly attacked as a power grab and a worrying return to autocracy. On Monday, through his spokesman, Mr. Morsi again tried to explain his intentions, saying he would work within judicial precedents to hold back efforts to dissolve the constituent assembly, rather than putting his power above judicial scrutiny.

Even as Mr. Morsi tried to placate the country’s judges, Egyptian television on Monday showed the growing polarization of the country in split-screen coverage of two funerals, each for a teenage boy killed in clashes set off by Mr. Morsi’s edict.

“Now blood has been spilled by political factions, so this is not going to go away,” said Rabab el-Mahdi, an activist and professor at the American University in Cairo, adding that these were the first deaths that rival factions had blamed on one another and not on the Mubarak government’s security forces since the uprising began last year.

Despite Mr. Morsi’s attempts at clarification, opposition leaders went ahead with Tuesday’s protest. Some said that respect for the judiciary was now only a small part of their cause, and that their goal was to abort the current Islamist-dominated constituent assembly.

Many protesters treated the occasion as a referendum on Mr. Morsi’s leadership, saying he and his prime minister had failed to make important changes, like reforming the Interior Ministry.

“I voted for Mr. Morsi,” said Emad Abdel Kawy, 35, a computer engineer. “It seems like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. You expect a revolution to bring revolutionary actions. It didn’t happen.” And like many here, Mr. Abdel Kawy blamed the Brotherhood, which Mr. Morsi helped lead before becoming president.

“It’s clear he doesn’t make the decisions,” he said of Mr. Morsi. “The decisions come to him.”

The gathering brought together the revolution’s hardened activists with some of their former foes, including supporters of the Mubarak government, in an odd convergence. Yosra Mostafa, a 28-year-old activist, said she realized that some of Mr. Mubarak’s loyalists were simply looking for a way to return to power.

“I don’t mind being on their side to oust a dictator,” she said, speaking of Mr. Morsi.

The show of unity masked deep divisions between the opposition and other groups and even in them, Ms. Mahdi said.

“This is not a united front, and I am inside it,” she said. “Every single political group in the country is now divided over this. Is the decree revolutionary justice or building a new dictatorship? Should we align ourselves with felool,” the term for the remnants of the old government, “or should we be revolutionary purists?”

Yasser el-Shimy, an Egypt analyst at the International Crisis Group, argued that the persistence of protests against Mr. Morsi reflected in part the failure of the opposition to accept its own recent defeats, including in the parliamentary and presidential elections.

“It has never come to terms with these defeats, so it tries to delegitimize the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

As she walked on the square with her children Tuesday night, Mona el-Gazzar gave a different reason for the protest, saying, “We’ve learned how to say no.” 

Mayy El Sheikh and Mai Ayyad contributed reporting.

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Nintendo Unveils Wii Mini for the Canucks

Nintendo‘s pushing the new $ 299 Wii U console hard (and has already sold 400K units in the process), but in at least one region, the gaming company has a new back-up plan: The $ 99 Nintendo Wii Mini.

[More from Mashable: Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week]

The new smaller, black box with red trim is a simpler game console. It offers no Internet access and cannot play older GameCube console games. What it does do is play virtually all Wii games (Nintendo says there are around 1,300 of them). The other major caveat is that the console is only available in Canada. According to a Nintendo press release on the new system, “Wii Mini is available exclusively in Canada during the holiday season. No information is available about its potential availability in other territories in the future.”

Nintendo also left out some details on the console itself. We do not know the exact size or weight of the box, though judging from the above image, it’s not much wider than a Wii Remote.

[More from Mashable: Meet the Super Fan Who Waited in Line for a Month for a Wii U [VIDEO]]

As Nintendo describes it, the Wii Mini is “all about games,” and without the Internet, it has to be. No Web browsing, cavorting with other Mii’s or multi-player gaming. It’s also worth noting that while the Wii Mini ships with a single Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk (both red), a brand new Black Wii with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort (including Remote and Nunchuk) is currently $ 119 at Best Buy.

What do you think of the Wii Mini? Would you game without the Internet? Is this the perfect gift for young, Canadian children? Let us know in the comments.

GamePad

The Wii U GamePad has a 6.2-inch touchscreen.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Angus T. Jones Apologizes after Bashing Two and a Half Men

TV Watch

By Elizabeth Leonard and Rennie Dyball

11/27/2012 at 08:50 PM EST

It's been a strange couple of days for Angus T. Jones.

One day after a video of the Two and a Half Men actor calling his show "filth" and urging viewers to stop watching went viral, Jones, 19, issued an apology.

"Without qualification, I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on Two and a Half Men whom I have worked and over the past ten years who have become an extension of my family," Jones said in a statement Tuesday night.

"Chuck Lorre, Peter Roth and many others at Warner Bros. and CBS are responsible for what has been one of the most significant experiences in my life to date," he continues in the statement.

He adds: "I thank them for the opportunity they have given and continue to give me and the help and guidance I have and expect to continue to receive from them."

In his video interview on a religious website, Jones proclaims: "I'm on Two and a Half Men and I don't want to be on it. Please stop watching it … I'm not okay with what I'm learning [about] what the Bible says and being on that television show. You go all or nothing."

In Tuesday's statement, Jones thanks the cast and crew for their "support, guidance and love over the years. I grew up around them … I will never forget how much positive impact they have had on my life."

"I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed," Jones concludes. "I never intended that."

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks represented more than half of new infections in youths. The estimates are based on 2010 figures.

Overall, new U.S. HIV infections have held steady at around 50,000 annually. About 12,000 are in teens and young adults, and most youth with HIV haven't been tested.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

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O.C. officials kill longtime plan for bridge between two cities

After decades of debate, Orange County transportation officials have finally and formally killed plans to build a bridge across the Santa Ana River, a span that would have been a new link between Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach.

The Orange County Transportation Authority board voted unanimously late Monday to remove the proposed 19th Street Bridge from the county's master plan, where it has been since the 1950s. The bridge would have connected Costa Mesa's 19th Street to Huntington Beach's Banning Avenue, potentially relieving traffic on the river's other crossings.

Opponents of the estimated $150-million bridge have repeatedly cited environmental, noise and traffic concerns.

Eleven OCTA directors — including outgoing Huntington Beach Mayor Don Hansen — voted in favor of removing the bridge from the plan. Five members were absent by the time the issue came up for a vote during a prolonged board meeting.

"I'm really proud to deliver this result as one of my last official acts," Hansen said. "I think we've made the right decision."

Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever, who is not an OCTA board member but has been involved with the issue, said in an email that he's "happy that we finally have closure on this contentious issue, and have preserved the quiet enjoyment of the neighborhood."

The board had voted to remove the bridge from the plan in March, but later decided, amid legal threats, to work toward alternatives with the affected cities — Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach — and other entities, OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik said.

But on Monday, the conclusion was the same: Erase the 19th Street Bridge.

Dean Reinemann said he's campaigned against the bridge since the early 1990s, in part to protect the quality of life at his Westside Costa Mesa home where he says he has a 213-degree view where "you can look out and nothing gets in the way."

"That's very hard to get anywhere in Orange County, especially in Costa Mesa," Reinemann said.

Even though the bridge was unlikely to ever be built, he said it was troublesome having it "hang over your head" all the time, even if it was just a "dotted line across the river" indicating a future crossing.

He called the decision a little anticlimactic, but still cause for celebration for a saga that's been moving at "glacier speed" for years.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

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