Dear Commons Community,

A doctoral student, Steven Franklin, in the Education 
Psychology program here at the Graduate Center, needs 
participants for a survey he is conducting of 
elementary school principals. 

If any of you are principals or know of any who might be 
interested in participating, please see and/or forward the 
email request and link to the survey from Steven below.

Thanks!

Tony
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Hello, my name is Steven Franklin and am currently a 5th year 
PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center. In addition, I am a 
School Psychologist who works for the NYC DOE. I am presently 
conducting a study that investigates elementary school 
principals' perceptions of teacher ineffectiveness. The study
will also use student achievement data in order to investigate 
any correlation between perceived causes and student 
achievement. The overall purpose of the study is to add to the 
current literature on teacher evaluation in order to help 
develop a more fair and productive teacher evaluation system.

My study consists of a survey that can be accessed online. 
I am writing to you to find out if the survey can be placed 
on your website and/ or emailed to principals. In addition, 
if a list-serve of elementary school principals in your region 
exists I could send them the survey myself. 

All responses are kept confidential. 

The survey itself can be accessed by copying and pasting 
the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WTRPFMC > > 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. 

Thank you for your support,

Steven Franklin

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times has a front-page, investigative report on Wal-Mart’s push to build a store in the shadow of one of Mexico’s most treasured cultural landmarks, the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacán.  This story is a follow-up to another investigative report that was published earlier this year.

The essence of the issue was that Wal-Mart wanted to build a major store that was on the main road leading to Teotihuacán.  However, local zoning restrictions were being established that would not have allowed commercial development so close to the pyramids in order to preserve their historical significance and cultural ambience.  However, 30 miles away in Mexico City, at the headquarters of Wal-Mart de Mexico, executives were not about to be thwarted by an unfavorable zoning decision. Instead, records and interviews show, they decided to undo the damage with one well-placed $52,000 bribe.  The plan was simple. The zoning map would not become law until it was published in a government newspaper. So Wal-Mart de Mexico arranged to bribe an official to change the map before it was sent to the newspaper, records and interviews show. Sure enough, when the map was published, the zoning was redrawn to allow Wal-Mart’s store.   Problem solved.

The article mentions similar cases in other parts of Mexico involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.  As a result, there have been a number of protests in Mexico against Wal-Mart’s stores.   It is no wonder that American enterprise is so distrusted in many parts of the world.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Rupert Murdoch may have become a vocal advocate of increased gun control in the wake of the massacre in Connecticut. Just don’t tell that to his “fair and balanced” network, Fox News.

The Huffington Post reported that the media mogul loudly called for a renewed push for tighter gun laws after the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary. Many of his papers followed suit. The New York Post’s front page on Monday blared, “ENOUGH!” The Sun cried, “END THE LUNACY.”

However, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman reported on Monday that top Fox News executives explicitly barred people from discussing the topic. According to Sherman, the edict came from David Clark, the man in charge of weekend coverage, as well as Michael Clemente, the powerful vice president for news, who backed Clark’s ruling that it was too soon to talk about guns. “We were expressly forbidden from discussing gun control,” one source said.

Fox News has traditionally not been the friendliest place for gun-control advocates. Both network chief Roger Ailes and host Sean Hannity reportedly have permits to carry concealed weapons in New York.

Tony