Responsible action

The following is a copy of email exchanged with the Walt Whitman High School principal.



I removed the students from school as soon as I was informed of the formal
charges

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian McCormack

To: Goodwin, Alan S.
Sent: Thu May 25 19:10:02 2006
Subject: Washington Post Article

Dear Mr. Goodwin,

I hope that the Washington Post misquoted you in today's article about the
alleged armed robbery committed by students that attend your school.

"Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin said yesterday that the five students were
being allowed to attend class and finish the school year because the alleged
incident took place outside of school and because none of the five had been
involved in any disciplinary problems."

If this is true you have shown poor judgement and I urge you reverse this
decision and then resign due to the obvious mistake you have made.

Brian McCormack

Given the over-population of lawyers in this nation the school system's hands were tie by procedures and only when the students were formal charged could they be barred from school.

Speechless (and You Will Be Too)

In looking for article to comment upon in Google the following came up a story that is tragic on many levels. The armed robbery of a Smoothie King by high school students for $463 has cast a shadow over the future of the alleged students and caused damage to the mental health if the victim. That said the quote form the principal at Whitman High School is incomprehensible.
Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin said yesterday that the five students were being allowed to attend class and finish the school year because the alleged incident took place outside of school and because none of the five had been involved in any disciplinary problems.
Armed robbery, felony armed robbery. Perhaps there is more to this story, a misquote, or some other explanation. If the crime is as reported this school system has a problem with policies and procedures. This is the use of a gun to threaten a life for the purpose of taking $463. By any definition this is a serious crime and these alleged felons should not be attending school.

School policy says,
"You cannot be disciplined by school authorities for things that you do outside of school hours and off school grounds, unless there is a reasonable belief that the health and/or safety of others in school will be in danger. Discipline may be imposed for offenses for school activities outside of the regular school hours, including on a school bus or bus stop. If you do things outside of school that are related to school (for example, harassing a teacher or fighting with a student while walking home), school authorities may talk with your parents about it or take other appropriate disciplinary action. "

Saftey of others is often in doubt when a weapon like a gun is used in an armed robbery.

The principal can be contacted at Alan_S_Goodwin@mcpsmd.org.

Milk and Honey...Not Yet

This recent article about the ACC and the financial gains from the hostel raid on the Big East demonstrates one of the issues with trying the follow the money. For example:

The conference had two more mouths to feed in 2004-05, but it didn't yet have the full financial benefit of expansion because with 11 members, it was unable to play a lucrative championship football game under NCAA rules.

With 11 schools, the revenue distributed to the nine consistent members dipped 1.75 percent from the previous year ($97,972,822 to $96,257,584).Virginia Tech and Miami each received a previously negotiated sum of $6.25 million as base compensation, and they each received a pro-rated share of the league's budget surplus.

At times it gets difficult to parse the information sports writers tend not to be savvy when looking at the dollars and cents (sense?) of the game. The above is about as clear as mud! Is the $96 million spilt 9 or 11 ways? Where does the $6.25 million figure into the total to be split?

One element of the ACC puzzle that does seem clear, although not detailed clearly in the article, is that the land of dollars lay just ahead with $39 million from Disney and $6 million from the championship game.

Trickle Down

During the Reagan administration part of the argument about the tax cuts at the center of the fiscal economic program was the "trickle down" theory. Simply put, the case went if you give tax cuts, mostly to the rich as they pay most of the taxes, then the money they spend would have a multiplier effect and help everyone. Those on the left saw this as a gift to the rich and the poor would not benefit. The history books show that the tax cuts (and the defense build up) lead to a boom in the American economy. The trickle down amounted to a flood and most people benefited. Those who disagree should review the economy in America in the late 1970's.

While the 12th game on the schedule will not have as big an impact on the nation, the impact on college football is becoming more clear.

Thanks to budgetary mistakes under former Athletics Director Wayne Hogan, Montana's athletic department was saddled with more than $1 million of debt. It forced the Griz to play a guaranteed game against Oregon last season, and open this season against Iowa for a $650,000 sum.

Where will the mid-major and teams without 100,000 seats get the money to compete with the escalating cost of a home game? These games will not be TV/ESPN worthy so, no money there to offset the cost. The only place to look for money is from the fans in the seats. Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium holds about 70,000 minus student seats 60,000 at $45 per seat yield $2,700,000 less $650,000 and IU could clear about $2 million (they have not been packing the stadium this century). Kinnick is be renovated and luxury boxes are being added (more tricle down).

Where is the unintended consequence in this 12th game? Stay tuned?

More Simulation Needed

Put down that textbook. Pick the controller and practice. Apparently the Terp quarterbacks will here that direction after the recent spring game. Sam Hollenbach and Jordan Steffy were a combined 14 for 34 with four interceptions.

Ralph did you keep the receipt? Store credit might not be the best option.

The Washington Times Story

The Limits Are Limitless at Channel NFL

From its introduction the NFL Channel seemed limited. QVC may have seemed the same to many testosterone based being. How many times can the NFL channel hype the Ram’s mini-camp or show the Colts vs. Giants in the greatest game ever? The limits are limitless on the NFL Channel.

So to fill the void the NFL channel will show the Insight Bowl. Which… is… a… college… football… game. According to their press release a dandy bowl game.

Fun aside, this is an interesting move and perhaps show that the NFL Channel has plans to be a football channel.


Press Release

More of keeping up with the SEC's

FACILITIES… yes facilities are the answer to winning. If we just had fill in the blank. We could be better. Are college football players pampered or is it that the coaches and alumni want the facilities for there own egos? The following quote is the classic illustration of the mentality:

Spurrier challenged fans to prove Lee Corso wrong. The ESPN college football analyst said Spurrier could not win at USC when he took the job in November 2004.

“He said the reason you can’t win at South Carolina is because the University of South Carolina either is not willing to spend money to compete at a high level ... or they simply don’t have the money to spend,” Spurrier said.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to get that message out.’ And we’re going to find out if we have a lot of Carolina people that love Carolina football that will step forward and help get our facilities to a level very close to Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.”

An interesting study would be to look at capital spending at universities over the past ten years look for the pay off in the stands and in the wins and losses. How did Utah reach a BSC game without FACILITIES? Coaching? Hard work? Recruiting for character and skills?

FACILITIES is the new scapegoat for why a program is not succeeding.

Spurrier wants bigger coop for Gamecocks