Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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May 30
The Commercial Dispatch says crime concerns should be backed by numbers:
The scope of a community’s “crime problem” is often a reflection of the community’s perception of it.
In that respect, we are reminded of Franklin Roosevelt’s admonition during his inaugural address of 1933, which came when America was in the desperate throws of the Great Depression.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” FDR observed, noting that the crippling fear of what was happening across the country only exacerbated its effect.
Roosevelt understood that while there was no denying the reality of the crisis, a response based on fear, suspicion and hopelessness were counter-productive in addressing the serious problems facing the nation. FDR inspired confidence, hope and unity as necessary tools to rebuild confidence.
The same can be said now.
During his appearance at a recent Rotary Club meeting, CPD Chief Fred Shelton faced multiple questions about crime in the city. That’s his job, of course, but the questions seemed to convey something else: A disturbing belief that crime not only exists but is beyond our control.
Like most issues that develop over time, there are no quick solutions. The underlying causes of crime are persistent and entrenched. Where there is poverty, there is hopelessness. Where there is hopelessness, there is crime. When that hopelessness begins to spread throughout the broader community, efforts to combat crime lose an important ally - the confidence of the law-abiding citizens.
Shelton, on the job as chief since January, offered no quick solution. What he did offer Tuesday were practical steps that can be taken, both short-term and long-term.
Some steps are obvious - increasing staffing, for example. A year ago, the CPD’s staffing was at a critical low, just 40 officers. By the end of the year, Shelton said, the department should have 70 officers.
Beyond that, Shelton said, the joint drug task force of the city and county is making a real impact.
Aside from those changes, some of the bigger factors in making our neighborhoods safer are up to the citizens themselves.
The removal of blighted areas through redevelopment - both public and private - restore confidence in neighborhoods. Engaging citizens through volunteer opportunities - Shelton said many of the duties that used to keep officers at a desk instead of on the street are now being performed by volunteers - ensure the most efficient and effective use of police personnel.
Those relationships between police and citizens are of critical importance. We cannot expect 70 officers, no matter how committed, well-equipped or well-trained they may be, to “solve” our crime problem.
Part of our role as citizens is understanding the problem.
The crime concerns held by the Rotarians are not unique to them. There seems to be a pervasive opinion that Columbus has an uncontrollable crime problem.
We believe such concerns should be rooted in facts, not opinions formed by anecdotal evidence.
The Dispatch will start collecting crime data from area law enforcement agencies. We’ll look at the data and talk to crime experts. Once we have a comprehensive view of crime in our communities, we’ll present it to our readers.
When we understand what crime actually looks like in our community, we’ll be on our way to a unified effort to address the issues as they actually exist, not as we imagine them to exist.
Online: http://www.cdispatch.com
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May 25
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal says the state needs to change the perception of teaching to address the shortage:
A recent decision made to adjust the score required for those seeking to become math teachers in Mississippi doesn’t need to be the only move made to address a critical teacher shortage throughout the state, although it could prove to be a good start.
Earlier this month, the state Board of Education approved to change the standardized test score that a student must receive in order to become a middle school or high school math teacher.
Previously that score was 160. After the approval, the score is now 152.
The Associated Press reported the change is also retroactive, meaning 89 students who would not have qualified for a license between 2013 and today will now be eligible.
Students have to pass the standardized Praxis II test in math to earn the license. Mississippi, like 27 other states and the District of Columbia, had required a score of 160 on the test, which is scored on a 1-200 scale. Now, Mississippi will be one of seven states requiring less than that level, along with Iowa at 135, Alabama at 145, Nebraska at 146, South Carolina at 150, and Colorado and Kansas at 152, the AP reported.
Math teacher groups had lobbied for the change, saying 160 is too high. The Educational Testing Service, the New Jersey-based entity that administers the test, says the national median score on the test is 158, meaning half the students score above that level and half below, the AP reported.
Before 2013, Mississippi had the lowest score nationwide required on the math test, but voted to raise it as part of a general toughening of teacher preparation academic standards. Educators and business leaders pushed for the change, but some now support the decrease. University of Mississippi Education Dean David Rock, for example, signed a letter supporting the increase then and signed another letter in March supporting the decrease.
Others believe the adjustment will not help address the critical shortage found specifically for mathematic teachers across the state.
This brings us to the larger question of how we entice more students to become a teacher.
The AP reports that the number of overall candidates enrolled or completing Mississippi teacher preparation programs has been falling sharply since 2013 and that the state has taken other moves to assist candidates who can’t pass part of the test, such as allowing students to teach for a year and enroll in an alternate certification program.
The reality is that we - as a community, region and state - need to change the perception of teaching.
Teaching should be viewed as a noble and rewarding career path, and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to convey that message every chance we get and entice high school students to start on the path to becoming educators.
Online: http://www.djournal.com
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May 25
The Greenwood Commonwealth on the prison industry in Mississippi:
The concept of working inmates is a good idea, assuming the labor is not abused by prison officials for their own personal benefit.
Prison life is a boring, dreary experience. If inmates have meaningful work to do, they have less idle time to get into trouble, and hopefully they’ll acquire marketable skills that could help them find employment when they get out of prison, which most of them will at some point.
A recent report, however, by Mississippi’s legislative watchdog committee suggests that the state erred when it turned this responsibility for working state inmates over to a private nonprofit company.
Mississippi Prison Industries Corp. is tanking financially, has made questionable expenditures and is doing a poor job of recordkeeping, including tracking just how beneficial its services are in reducing the numbers of inmates who return to prison when they get out, according to the Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review.
Over the past six years, according to PEER’s analysis, Mississippi Prison Industries has seen its net worth fall by $6.7 million and its cash balance decline by more than $4 million. The financial situation has deteriorated so much, according to PEER, that the corporation might have to seek bankruptcy or dissolve if it doesn’t make some drastic changes both to the products it is producing with inmate labor and the amount it is spending on administration.
Among the expenditures are some obvious red flags - more than a half-million dollars on lobbying the Legislature and almost a quarter-million dollars in travel in one recent year. Then there’s this nugget, as provided by Rep. Jerry Turner, the chair of a separate committee in the House that was created to monitor government efficiency and accountability: Over the past year, even as its finances were swooning, Mississippi Prison Industries raised the salaries and benefits of the administration and employees by 27 percent. That’s one suspicious way to stay nonprofit: Give cushy salaries and benefits to those who work for it.
The Legislature needs to revisit its 1990 decision that created Mississippi Prison Industries. The state is one of only two in the nation that privatized this function. Maybe it made sense at the time as a way to combat the problem with wardens and other corrections officials treating inmates as if they were indentured servants.
That corrupt system, however, appears over time to have just been replaced with something that, while not as bad or as directly, may still be taking advantage of inmates for personal gain.
Online: http://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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