THE WEST
Roswell Daily Record
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
A3
Governor Martinez signs school grading bill
EDGEWOOD (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday signed into law legislation that enacts the first step of her plan for reforming New Mexico’s struggling education system. Before a crowd of excited children, teachers and parents at Route 66 Elementary School, Martinez signed a bill that allows grades from A to F to be assigned to New Mexico’s public schools based on student performance. The governor and other supporters say the grade system will make schools more accountable and help parents and communities understand how their schools rank. “Rewarding excellence, recognizing progress and addressing failure are keys to improving our education system,” Martinez said. “Our efforts to bring real accountability to our schools, to get real results for our children, is the only way for us to reform our state.” The Legislature approved the school grading proposal in the waning hours of the
session that wrapped up earlier this month. The grades will be based on students’ performance on standardized tests and on growth of student performance in reading and mathematics. Other factors include high school graduation rates. Under the program, parents of a student in a school rated F for two years can send their child to any public school that’s not failing or they can use an online “cyber academy” in New Mexico. If a school receives a failing grade for two consecutive years, Martinez said the state will intervene by funneling more resources to the school to improve student achievement. Opponents have said the legislation leaves too many details to the Public Education Department, such as developing the standards for what constitutes each of the A-to-F grades. An advisory group of school district superintendents will have a voice in developing those guidelines. With the legislation
signed, Martinez said the work to implement the grading system will now begin. She expects every public school in the state to have a letter grade by next fall. The grades will be posted online. Martinez said her administration doesn’t know how many schools might receive failing grades, but she pointed out that New Mexico’s education system has long been ranked near the bottom. Among the list of dismal statistics mentioned by the gover nor: 75 percent of New Mexico schools are labeled as failing by the U.S. Department of Education, 80 percent of fourthgraders can’t read proficiently, only 66 percent of students are graduating from high school, and the state recently received a failing grade from a national education group when it came to student achievement. “Those are some huge issues that we’ve got to start addressing immediately, so I think the num-
bers will be frightening, but we’ve got to now take that opportunity and start turning that around,” Martinez said. “Once we know which schools need those resources, we need to move forward and start getting those kids to learn.” Sen. Vernon Asbill, the Republican lawmaker from Carlsbad who sponsored the legislation, said one of the most important aspects of the grading system is letting parents know in a simple way where their child’s school stands. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools are rated on whether they are making “adequate yearly progress” in meeting targets for boosting student achievement. Supporters of the grading system said the current system is bewildering to parents and others because it assigns vague labels, such as “corrective action” or “restructuring,” to schools missing the performance goals. Martinez said she is hopeful the grades will inspire parents, nonprofit
AP Photo
Gov. Susana Martinez signs an important piece of her educational reform agenda, Tuesday, as an unidentified student and bill sponsor Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, look on.
groups and communities to rally around failing schools and that the successes of schools such as Route 66 Elementary can be replicat-
ed elsewhere. Route 66 is one of three New Mexico schools nominated this year for a federal blue ribbon award.
Colorado concussions law Witness: Man killed in most far-reaching in country
DENVER (AP) — The nation’s most sweeping measure addressing youthconcussions in sports was signed into law Tuesday in Colorado, where the guidelines for protecting child athletes will require coaches to bench players as young as 11 when it’s believed they’ve suffered a head injury. The new law also requires coaches in public and private schools and even volunteer Little League and Pop War ner football coaches to take free annual training online to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. Most of the dozen other states with laws meant to protect young athletes only require concussion training for school-related athletic programs. “This is the most far reaching bill in the country with regard to protecting children,” said Republican state Sen. Nancy Spence, one of the sponsors of the legislation. The Colorado law, which goes into effect in January, comes as concern over concussions in youth sports is receiving more attention nationally, and it was among those passed in the last two years with support from the NFL, which either helped states craft legislation or gave endorsements for the measures. Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for public policy, said the league is changing its culture surrounding concussions and how players are treated as new information emerges about the risks and consequence of head injuries. Miller said he understands
sports at all levels look to the NFL for guidance. “We have a responsibility to set the standard and we take that responsibility seriously,” he said. Colorado’s Senate Bill 40 is named after Jake Snakenberg, a Colorado high school student who died in 2004 after being hit during a football game. His family said doctors told him his injury was likely compounded by a concussion he suffered in a previous game that went undiagnosed. Snakenberg’s mother, Kelli Jantz, closed her eyes as she hugged Gov. John Hickenlooper shortly after he signed the bill into law Tuesday. “To have Senate Bill 40, the Jake Snakenberg Act, serve as his legacy gives me some peace and provides some sense of purpose to our loss,” she said. Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon are among the states that have passed laws that address head injuries in youth sports, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Utah signed a bill into law last week and California and Nebraska are among states with pending legislation. About 135,000 children ages 5 to 18 are treated in emergency rooms annually for sports and recreation related concussions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “For me, because the child’s brain is still developing, is still immature, I think we need to take these injuries especially seriously,” said Dr. Michael Kirk-
Gov defends panel choices
SANTA FE (AP) — Republican Gov. Susana Martinez is defending her appointment of Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White to a commission that investigates alleged misconduct by judges. State Democratic Party chairman Javier Gonzales has asked Martinez to withdraw White’s appointment to the Judicial Standards Commission. Gonzales said in a letter released Tuesday that the former Bernalillo County sherif f’s “track record has raised much more doubt than it has inspired confidence.” Martinez spokesman Scott Dar nell praised White’s qualifications. Darnell said White has
G e t C l a s s i fi e d
proven to be “fair and thorough” as a law enforcement administrator and has extensive experience in investigating and evaluating allegations of misconduct. The commission makes recommendations to the state Supreme Court for disciplining judges. The governor appoints six of the commission’s 11 members. “WAKE UP WITH A”
GRAND BREAKFAST
$3.99
2 eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, toast or biscuit
1900 N. Main Street
wood, a pediatric neuropsychologist at the Children’s Hospital and co-director of the hospital’s concussion program. Kirkwood said another reason to pay attention to brain injuries in youth sports is that there is little information about the long-ter m impacts concussions have on young athletes. Most of the infor mation doctors know about the consequences of concussions, including mood and cognitive disorders, come from the NFL. “We don’t have an answer yet for younger kids,” Kirkwood said. Jake Bryant, 16, was a goalie in an advanced youth hockey with the Colorado Rampage when he decided to retire after suffering five concussions in less than two years. “I just kept getting more and more and it was to the point where it was too much it was risking my health,” he said. Bryant said he feels fortunate that he did not suffer more serious harm because he and his coaches handled his injuries correctly because he was never pressured to stay in a game or return prematurely. Another youth hockey player, Alexandra “Z” Karlis, suffered her first concussion last October while playing in Boston with a Colorado youth hockey team. Karlis, 17, will continue to play, but she said the injury made her aware of all the potential long-term impacts of concussions. “That completely freaked me out,” she said.
G e t C l a s s i fi e d
NOTICE TO OUT-OF-TOWN SUBSCRIBERS
Listed below are our distributors in your local delivery area:
Buena Vida, Picacho, Tinnie, Hondo, Glencoe
Ruidoso, Alto, Ruidoso Downs
Capitan, Lincoln, Carrizozo, Fort Stanton Artesia (Inside City Limits)
Dexter, Rural Dexter
Hagerman, Rural Hagerman
Rural Artesia, Lake Arthur
Rural Roswell
Loyd Sanders 317-7562
Loyd Sanders 317-7562 Loyd Sanders 317-7562
Carmen Scafella 625-9480 Patricia Hariston 347-2087 Senida Jurado 914-1729
Senida Jurado 914-1729
Circulation Department 622-7730 Any questions or comments? Call 1-888-842-4121
Mexico was trafficker EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A witness testified Tuesday that a man kidnapped in 2009 in El Paso and found dead in Mexico was a drug dealer who got into trouble with his bosses after a marijuana cargo was seized by U.S. authorities. Rafael Vega and Cesar Obregon-Reyes have been charged with abducting Sergio Saucedo on Sept. 3, 2009, from his house in El Paso. He was later found dead on an unpaved street in neighboring Juarez, Mexico. His slaying is one of few cases of drug cartel violence spilling over from Mexico into the United States. The witness said he was friends with Saucedo and both had trafficked drugs for at least 16 years. A federal judge agreed to let the witness remain anonymous because of safety concerns. “We worked with Sergio distributing drugs into the U.S.,” said the witness who portrayed himself as a well-known person in the drug trade underworld in Juarez, with business and family connections to cartel leaders and paid assassins. He has been convicted twice for drug trafficking and is on proba-
tion in one of those cases. The witness said owners of a 670-pound marijuana shipment were angry at Saucedo for lying about the drug seizure. He said Saucedo produced a copy of an affidavit to prove the shipment had been seized and he hadn’t stolen it, and initially, the owners were satisfied. But drug cartel leaders later came to believe Saucedo had lied because of the date of the seizure on the legal document. He told the owners the marijuana had passed through border patrol checkpoints on its way to Ohio after it had already been seized. The drugs never left El Paso. Saucedo’s wife, Maria Longoria, acknowledged that her husband was trafficking drugs and testified about the day he was kidnapped. She recalled how three men toting guns and wearing “cholo style” clothes broke into her house, waited for her and her husband to return and subdued them at gun point. The men were wearing black shoes, T shirts and baseball caps and baggy jean shorts. She and her husband were bound with duct tape and her husband was taken afterward, she
said. The defense attorney for Obregon-Reyes asked her if she was able to identify his client when detectives showed her pictures of him after the incident or today in court. She said she couldn’t, but she added she did not see the assailants very clearly. A school bus driver identified Obregon-Reyes as one of the kidnappers. Olga Martinez told the court she was dropping off children near Saucedo’s house when Cesar Obregon-Reyes and other men wielding bats put him into an SUV. “He was bleeding on the head, his hands were taped,” Martinez said while Obregon-Reyes stared at her and the defendants’ friends and relatives shook their heads in disapproval. Martinez told the court that when she saw the kidnappers punch Saucedo, she called the children back into the bus and took off. Defense attor neys asked her to recall details like the length of Obregon-Reyes’ hair, his complexion and whether he had a mustache or wore a baseball cap, some of which she wasn’t sure about. She had previously identified Obregon-Reyes from police photographs.
Crimestoppers
1-888-594-TIPS