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The Medina City Schools have not made their financial problems a secret. In recent years, they resorted to numerous methods to reduce their deficit. According to their official web site, the district has cut personnel and reduced the transportation department’s bus services to meet the state minimum.

But the Medina Gazette reported that on Jan. 7, the Medina School Board approved a five-year contract for Superintendent Dr. Randy Stepp. This agreement offered Stepp an excessive signing bonus of $83,000, in addition to financial compensation of $186,000 per year, and various other benefits. Cleveland.com reported that this situation was exacerbated when it was revealed the School Board previously covered his student loans, paying a sum of approximately $250,000.

Is it acceptable to offer a single person in the school district such large sums of money when the District is suffering financially? Especially when taxpayers were not transparently informed that their money would be allocated for this purpose?

Considering these questions, it is not terribly surprising that Stepp’s contract elicited the ire of the community. To protest this contract, Mark Kuhar, a resident of Medina, created a Facebook page entitled the “Medina City Schools Outrage,” which has approximately 1,670 likes.

In addition, according to the Medina Gazette, at least 150 people attending a March 6 School Board meeting to express their disapproval of the contract. The article mentions that Stepp agreed to repay his signing bonus and surrender his merit raises in early March as a result of the community’s vehement response.

While it was unethical for Stepp to accept large quantities of money when his district was suffering financially, it should be noted that the real unethical decision was made by the School Board members who voted for the contract.

The School Board is an institution empowered by the people of Medina. Thus, with the power entrusted to them, they were to make decisions in the best interest of the schools. By not being completely transparent about where the taxpayer’s funds were allocated, by using the money provided to them by the people for a purpose that did not clearly serve the best interests of the children, the Medina School Board abused its power.

But while it is clear that the Board has acted unethically and should be replaced, it is not yet time to take that action– Stepp’s contract needs to be redressed first. A new School Board would create a great deal of chaos and a fair amount of complications. Thus, it seems logical that the current School Board should be replaced after resolving the incident regarding Stepp. Perhaps the only question is whether this process should occur immediately after the incident is resolved, or after the Board members’ terms expire.

This is relevant to students for several reasons. For example, the decisions of School Boards and school leaders often impact students when resources are spent unwisely. This particular case is worthy of study because it demonstrates how the poor decisions leaders make can impact an entire community. Hopefully, it will also illustrate how communities can effectively solve the problems these poor choices present them, setting an example for how such issues can be avoided or rectified in the future.

The real human rights conflicts can be seen when looking at a more specific group of Israelis: Arab-Israelis.

These members of Israeli society share almost everything with Palestinians in the Palestinian territories. The difference is how they identify themselves. Instead of living in the PA with other Arabs, they willingly choose to live in Israel.

Why would they do such a thing? Isn’t Israel terrible for Arabs? Doesn’t the United Nations often criticize Israel on human rights issues? Based on standardized measurements like the Economist’s Democracy Index, Israel is better for Arabs than the PA is.

One human rights issue, which also has significant economic impacts, is the Israeli “settlement” practice. This is where the Israeli government places its citizens inside the West Bank or Gaza Strip for permanent residence. Sure, the UN can sanction Israel for the settlement practice, but the cost of living in the Jewish settlements is far lower than it is for Palestinians in the rest of the territories. This economic inequity is the true human rights abuse.

A 2011 New York Times article found that Israel spends twice as much on settlement residents as on other Israelis. This spending (on construction and other necessary supplies) significantly reduces the cost of living in the settlements. Israeli-controlled and PA-controlled land has the same natural resources. The only difference is who is governing. If granted the remainder of the land, Israel would significantly improve the living conditions.

Many attribute the difference in economic conditions to the blockade Israel has in place. However, Iran and other allies of the PA have successfully been able to smuggle goods inside the territories. In fact, the actual goods chosen to be smuggled further demonstrate the PA’s intentions. Israel blocks smuggling trade of weapons, the only thing that Iran attempts to get to Palestine. If they attempted to bring food or supplies, a credible argument in favor of sovereignty could be made. However, they choose to abandon their people’s well being in favor of more weapons and more bloodshed.

One effect of increased cost of living is protests. In fact, The Economist reported in November that the PA was close to collapse. This was not because of a terrorist attack, political infighting or even a top-secret assault mission propagated by Israel (excluding the latter, all are very present inside the PA).

No, it was simply because of high gas prices that sparked Palestinian protests of “Down with Salam Fayyad!” (the PA’s Prime Minister, who recently resigned), “Down with Mahmoud Abbas!” (the PA’s President) and, after a week of protests, “Down with the Oslo Accords!”

The Oslo Accords (officially the Declaration of Principles) is the document that created the PA. Without this declaration, the people of the PA would be living in the state of Israel, with cheaper gas and safer human rights standards.

This tension creates more problems inside the PA, provoking response from the international community. Unlike the “simple” answer of a two-state solution, the international community faces a decision with four basic options:

One option is to ignore the situation, which would not solve anything. Another equally poor option would be to sanction Israel and forcibly remove the settlements. A more favorable option would be to ease the tensions strictly inside the PA with UN aid; however, providing all of the costs associated with governance can become quite expensive. The final option is to give the protesters what they want: give control of the Palestinian territories back to Israel.

Unfortunately, living in Beachwood, most students basically only hear one perspective and it seems to be radical to even consider that the Palestinians have any rights at all. But these refugees are people too, and that is why I believe that Israel should respect the rights of the Palestinians.

Firstly, I think it is important to recognize that if Israel respects the rights of the Palestinian people, it will not threaten Israel because many of these people already live there. There are millions of Palestinians who live in Israel-in fact the Israeli Central Statistics Bureau notes that around 20% of Israel’s population identifies as Palestinian. Not all of these people are sympathetic to Israel or respect its sovereignty, yet the rights of democracy in Israel are also granted to these Palestinians despite being such a controversial minority group. That is something to be admired in Israel’s conduct. However, the situation is still far from ideal.

The Economist Magazine notes that these individuals have been marginalized in Israeli society, receive much less government funding than Jewish towns do even in education, and have often found that political parties that are more focused on Arab citizen issues are banned. This is certainly not a fair system and is based on valid fears that the Israeli government has about these Palestinians.

Having such a large population of educationally marginalized individuals certainly is not beneficial to any country’s economy for one. But more importantly, these people already live in Israel, so any harm they may cause is already a risk that is unlikely to be alleviated by unequal treatment. In fact, it will probably fuel resentment by Palestinians in and outside of these areas-and that resentment certainly is not going to aid the peace process. Even if Israel is uncomfortable granting full rights to all Palestinians, addressing the ones who are already citizens of their country could be a step in the right direction.

Of course, the most contentious issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict are the restrictions of the rights of the Palestinians in things like freedom of movement and freedom from indefinite detention and settlement-building. On the former, Human Rights Watch reports that Israel has been holding 178 Palestinians in “administrative detentions”. An administrative detention is when the military is allowed to hold prisoners without charge or trial and by keeping the evidence for this detention secret. In Israel, these detentions are 6 months long but can be renewed over and over again.

And B’Tselem, an Israeli non-governmental organization, has reported that there are many physics barriers and 98 military checkpoints that restrict the ability of Palestinians to move freely in and out of the West Bank. These restrictions have made it harder for the Palestinians to purchase their basic necessities, receive an education, and seek medical treatment without going through a complicated bureaucratic process that often ends in a rejection of the Palestinian’s ability to actually travel.

This is clearly a gross violation of human rights that have been guaranteed by convention and international laws that must be addressed.  As for the building of settlements, the United Nations Human Rights council found in January of this year that Israeli settlement-building violates international law and the human rights of the Palestinians, and asked Israel to stop.

I understand that many Israelis view these settlements as land that rightfully belongs to them, but there are people living here who are displaced by the building activities and have nowhere to go. Israel, if it is going to continue this policy, has a moral obligation to do something to guarantee the rights of these people so that they are not forced into deplorable living conditions. If these lands belong to Israel, then so do the people who live on them and they must be treated fairly.

Unfortunately, by not guaranteeing these basic rights to the Palestinian people, Israel has been creating its own enemy. Rather than solving anything, the problem is only being perpetuated by this lack of rights.

Israel and the Palestinians have to accept their reality. They live in the same land and use the same natural resources. Without a mutual respect for the rights of each other’s people, there is only violence and conflict.

So what this means is that the Palestinians need to stop taking aggressive actions against Israel, especially against civilians, without expecting Israel to defend itself as it has every right to. But Israel needs to stop aggravating the Palestinians with these human rights violations-or at least protect the rights of the Palestinian citizens who already live in Israel.

I know this whole situation seems unsolvable. And with the current political climate in Israel, Palestinian territories and even the United States, it probably is. But without respecting the rights of the Palestinians, the human cost to both the Palestinians and Israelis will continue to grow.

Though a leading actor became ill halfway through, the cast came together and figured out a plan. Roles were switched, cut and rearranged to fit the new needs of the show. As they say, “the show must go on.” Rent: School Edition certainly did, and with a bang, too.

The singing was spectacular. Michael Dailey filled-in as Roger on opening night. With little notice and and even less practice as his character, Dailey shined, earning praise from the audience for his efforts.

Tamarea Townes (Joanne) put her lungs to good use. Her outstanding rendition of “Tango Maureen” with Kyle Cohen made the crowd go wild. The scene was tastefully risqué.

Enrique Caballo (Angel) played a fabulous drag queen. With his leggings and short skirt, heels and wig, his character was portrayed with refinement and humor. Although Caballo could have worried about negative comments from the audience, he explained that he planned to ignore ignorant viewpoints and remember what the show is about: being who you are…and proud.

Jessie Gill (Maureen) stole the show. Without her poise and stage presence, the show would not have been the same. She played a hilarious tough girl and blew the crowd away with her performance of “Take Me or Leave Me.”

Rent was a hit, and people will talk about it for months to come.

]]> http://www.bcomber.org/arts-and-entertainment/2013/04/29/rent-cast-proves-the-show-must-go-on/feed/ 0 http://www.bcomber.org/news/2013/04/26/plain-dealer-columnist-mark-naymik-reflects-on-life-as-a-columnist/ http://www.bcomber.org/news/2013/04/26/plain-dealer-columnist-mark-naymik-reflects-on-life-as-a-columnist/#comments Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:52:23 +0000 adviser http://www.bcomber.org/?p=3501 Mark Naymik spoke at BHS on Wednesday, Apr. 24. Beachcomber staff, Cleveland club members and other students gathered in English teacher Josh Davis’ room to listen to the Plain Dealer columnist share his experiences and answer questions.

Naymik spoke about a wide array of topics, including the journalism profession, current economic and political issues in Cleveland and his path from bartending to reporting to column writing.

“He didn’t stay on one topic for too long, so we got a lot of information,” Beachcomber cartoonist Ali Pinhasi said.

Naymik discussed the interesting interviewees he’s encountered during his career. Among them have been lawyers, businessmen and presidents. But the most interesting person he says he’s talked to was a child molester who was released from prison. Apparently, that person eventually made his home a refuge for other released child molesters who couldn’t find a suitable place in society upon release.

Regarding The Plain Dealer, Naymik discussed a few changes that were taking place. A third of its reporters will be laid off, and delivery will be cut to three days per week because an increasing number of people would rather read their news online than pay for a newspaper.

“[I learned that journalism is] still a viable career and college major to get into. Even though the format is changing, there’s still an industry,” said Beachcomber News Editor Grant Gravagna.

Although major changes are under way in the industry, Naymik still stressed that journalism will always exist for the sake of distributing information, which is why the industry will never die.

“I thought Mark Naymik was really cool,” Beachcomber Arts & Life Editor Emily Topilow said, “It was interesting to see someone from the journalism profession who could explain to us how real-world newspapers work.”

End-of-course exams have a legitimate purpose: to keep our education system from failing by better evaluating classroom effectiveness and holding both teachers and students accountable for progress. But the truth of the matter is that we, as a nation, are not ready to completely reform our education system, as that would require addressing inequities in school resources and parent involvement (or lack thereof) in a child’s education. These are some of the most fundamental issues that riddle the education paradigm, and, try as we may, no testing formula can take these things into account.

Teachers will have an even more difficult time arranging field trips and other educational enrichment experiences that take place out of the classroom because they will be too busy cramming information into students’ heads.

It’s true, change is scary and we all want to get back to those days at Walden. As teachers are trying to adjust to new evaluations tied to student performance, and students are trying to adapt to new expec- tations, everybody is bound to be overwhelmed. I fear for the future of the teaching profession, and for the future of our grandchildren as the ante will continue to be upped.