
Home » Archives for March 2021
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Friday, March 26, 2021
CIF Denial of Sports Eligibility: Which Denials Are Appealable?

Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Markets fail to provide farmers with higher income

Tuesday, March 23, 2021
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14 Steps To Attack A School Suspension
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995
What does a parent do when their child, a stellar wonderful student, gets a suspension, which may tarnish their education records forever? Attack it and try to get it overturned of course.
A student suspension is a permanent black mark in a school record, which will lurk in the background waiting to communicate negative about the student. It will come up on college applications, depending on the college, and can harm a student in their future prospects. How much is unclear. What is clear is that suspensions are a big deal and should be addressed, not ignored, if possible.
A parent should immediately take action if a student is suspended:
1) Meet with the school to get the school's version of what happened. Take thorough notes.
2) It is not a great idea for parents to question their child in the school office about what happened as this may give the school evidence.
3) Get a copy of the suspension form at this meeting if possible. Sometimes schools don't even provide a written suspension form (in breach of the law), so if a parent does not have the suspension form, they should get it ASAP.
4) Review the meeting notes and the suspension form thoroughly.
5) Meet with the student in private and get his or her version of what happened.
6) Compare the suspension form and what it says to what the student says to determine what may be accurate on the suspension form, and what is not.
7) Request the witness statements and other evidence of or related to the suspension. These are student records, and must be provided, although schools often will balk at requests for these (see Ed Code 49069.7).
8) Review these.
9) Review the school policies on suspensions and the practices and procedures related to them.
10) Figure out what is wrong with the suspension- does it not meet school code, should the student have received an alternate punishment (see my blog on this)? Even if the suspension is still appropriate, there can be other arguments to attack it, such as the student's lack of discipline history, the stories of the witnesses conflict, etc.
11) After a parent gets all arguments together, a written document should be drafted to the school outlining the support for the student, arguments, and what is desired: the student returned to school now (if still out), and the suspension rescinded (reversed) and expunged.
12) Forward to the school and request a meeting with someone who has the power to overturn the suspension, such as the principal.
13) Meet with the school and use good manners, firm evidence and positive arguments to get an agreement to get rid of the student suspension now, or at a date certain in the future, such as at the end of the current semester or school year.
14) Review the student records to ensure the suspension is not noted anywhere.
Do it!
If parents take action, they can potentially get suspensions out of student records and positively influence the student's future for years to come.
Best,
Michelle Ball
Education Law Attorney
LAW OFFICE OF MICHELLE BALL
717 K Street, Suite 228
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-444-9064
Email:help@edlaw4students.com
Fax: 916-444-1209
Website, Blog, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn
Please see my disclaimer on the bottom of my blog page. This is legal information, not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by this posting. This blog may not be reproduced without permission from the author and proper attribution of authorship. This blog may not reflect the current state of the law.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Yemenis learn media literacy; enjoy brief respite
The horrifying war in Yemen churns on, creating a growing humanitarian catastrophe in its wake. (See UN report). In the midst of all this, I offered a group of Yemenis few hours’ worth of escape last week.
On Thursday, I conducted a media literacy workshop for 57 Yemeni journalists sponsored by the US Embassy in Yemen and US State Department. Most were in Yemen, but a few were scattered elsewhere in the region, in Egypt, for example.
Zennia Paganini from the US Embassy/Yemen opens the workshop. |
The journalists noted that the infodemic in MENA is virulent, and takes such forms as touting unproven, traditional treatments; unscientific criticism of the vaccine; false info as to the causes of Covid; social media misinformation running counter to science; and politicized excuse-making for poor handling of the crisis.
The final segment of the seminar armed the journalists with tools useful for combating misinformation. I discussed fact checking, social media verification, ideas on educating their readers/viewers on how to be smarter news consumers, and how to check their own work and the work of others using content analysis tools, including a coding list.
I gave them the assignment to come up with a coding list to examine MENA news stories for Covid mis and dis-information. This coding list created by the participants (with a few of my suggestions thrown in) is below:
Covid misinformation coding list
--Use to analyze for misinformation MENA media produced stories about Covid. The reviewer would examine stories and look for these terms or themes, the presence or absence of which would indicate misinformation.
Scientific proof
Theoretical, or verifiable
Sensationalizes deaths
Political sources vs. medical (doctors, WHO)
Overly emotional language/approach
Unproven cures…food, herbs
Underplaying virus…political
Vaccine dangerous themes
Vaccine 100%
Covid Not a crisis/problem
Covid Human created
Spread by (any group—Shia, Sunni, Westerners, Chinese, Jews…)
Under the terrible circumstances, it was my honor to offer a brief respite to the violence, and provide some information to help the journalists help their public become smarter media consumers. In a very small way, maybe this workshop planted a few seeds that might someday blossom into peace.
Monday, March 15, 2021
Moldovans examine media polarization and the PJ solution
Media around the world exacerbate divisions within societies—religious, political, ethnic, economic, etc. What can be done to mitigate these effects?
My talk, titled “Polarized media and the peace journalism solution,” used as exhibit A partisan media narratives about the pandemic and the George Floyd protests and how these have further driven a wedge between Americans. I cited two conflicting studies that examined European media coverage and polarization. One study found “yet little evidence to support the idea that increased exposure to news featuring like-minded or opposing views leads to the widespread polarization of attitudes,” while conceding that there are wide country-to-country differences in polarizing media. A second study, however, showed “many indicators” of European polarization while finding that “social media seem to contribute to the process of polarization (such as through echo chambers and filter bubbles that reinforce people’s existing beliefs and reduce their exposure to opposing perspectives).”
In a country where media are divided into Romanian and Russian language outlets like Moldova, polarization is almost built in, I said. Further exacerbating the polarization is the frozen conflict wherein a breakaway region of Moldova called Transnistria has set up their own government and is supported but not officially recognized by Russia. (No countries recognize Transnistria as an in independent nation). This sets up two very different partisan narratives about the frozen conflict, one from the Russia/Transnistria side, and the other from the Moldovan/pro-EU side.I said that the solution to media fueled polarization is peace journalism, which rejects ‘us vs. them’ reporting and instead seeks to balance stories, build bridges, and give a ‘voice to the voiceless’ across groups. PJ, I mentioned, would offer counternarrative reporting from and about each side in the conflict.
A lively Q&A followed the session. Question included how to keep journalists independent of financial supporters (I talked about the traditional wall in US media between the advertising and editorial/news sides of the operation); and if media should advocate for social causes (I said report, yes, advocate, no since advocates cross the line and are no longer journalists).
It was wonderful visiting again with my Moldovan colleagues, especially EISPM director Dr. Viorel Cibotaru . My first Fulbright was in Moldova in 2001, and I have visited there many times since to teach, though not for about 5 years. I eagerly await my next invitation to beautiful Chisinau.
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Why Indian farmer protest should concern farmers all over the world.
Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest, with tens of thousands of farmers entrenched at the gates of New Delhi for nearly three months now, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly defended the three contentious farm laws saying the reforms are necessary and that is why officials are having discussion with the farmers. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “We have tried to understand what the farmers concerns are with clause-by-clause discussions. We understand that there is no harm in amending the laws if they can harm the farmers business.”
While the Prime Minister ruled out the possibility of withdrawing the three new central laws, agitating farmers fear that these laws will bring them under corporations, which will cut into their income, take away their lands and drive them out of agriculture. As the iconic farmers movement – perhaps the biggest farmers protest seen anywhere in the world – spreads across the country, with ‘mahapanchayats’ (large congregations) setting up a new template for show of strength, agitating farmers remain steadfast on their demand for repealing the ‘three black laws’.
As the stalemate continues, farmers are getting ready for what appears to be a long-drawn battle ahead. After having weathered the cold winters in tractor-trollies and under tents, agitating farmers are now preparing to face the harsh summers with heat wave intensifying as temperatures rise in the next few months. Nevertheless, the determination and resolve to stay put till the laws are withdrawn sees no signs of waning. More when I see a large number of women at the centre stage, protesting along with their male counterparts. “These laws are nothing but a death warrant against farmers. Therefore it is a life and death question for us,” said a visibly agitated Sukhwinder Kaur, wife of a small farmer from Punjab, whom I met recently at the Singhu border on the outskirts of New Delhi, one of the protest sites. And then she added: “I don’t want to see my husband committing suicide. Enough is enough.”
In a battle of perceptions, the real issue is not what amendments are needed to make the laws acceptable to agitating farmers but to understand what prompted farmers to put everything at stake and emerge out of their farms to launch what is now seen as a historic and an unprecedented movement. In a polarised debate that is doing the rounds, what is being conveniently overlooked is the acknowledgement of a harsh reality. For several decades now, Indian farmers had been deprived of their rightful price, with the economic design aiming to keep food prices under control and to push small farmers out of agriculture so as to provide for cheap labour in the cities. Therefore, in reality, it is the compound anger built over the decades that is finding a vent through the opposition to the new laws.
In the epicentre of the protests – comprising the north-western states of Punjab and Haryana, the country’s food bowl – farmers fear the new laws will make the regulated mandis(markets) become redundant and this will result in phasing out the price assurance they have been traditionally getting (since the days of Green Revolution) through the mechanism of the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Every year, India announces MSP for 23 crops but predominantly procures only wheat and rice to be distributed at a subsidized price to meet the food and nutrition needs of two-third of the population – approximately 800 million people -- under the National Food Security Act.
For the rest of the crops, the MSP remains more or less on paper. Since only 6 per cent farmers across the country get the benefit of MSP the remaining 94 per cent have remained dependent on markets. Farm income for this 6 per cent of the farming community is relatively higher than those dependent on markets. In any case, if markets were benevolent, there is no reason why India should be faced with a terrible agrarian distress. And this is what actually worries farmers; they fear the new laws will bring them under corporate control depriving them of an assured income by denying them a guaranteed price.
The issue of denial of an assured price resonates strongly with farmers in America and for that matter in Europe. Left to face the brutality of the markets, farmers in the rich developed world too have borne the brunt. If the markets were so good, and despite receiving monumental subsidies, I see no reason why American farmers should be saddled with a bankruptcy of $ 425 billion in 2020. With suicides in rural areas being 45 per cent higher than the urban areas, American farmers are increasingly faced with worrying levels of mental stress. Rural communities have been left devastated, and there is a kind of eerie silence that greets you.
Ever since Earl Butz, Agriculture Secretary at the time when Richard Nixon was the American President (in early 1970s) made that infamous statement asking farmers to “get big or get out”, small farmers have quit agriculture in large numbers. To illustrate, 93 per cent of the dairy farms have closed down since 1970s. As market dominance increased, farmer share of income in every food dollar the end consumer paid has come down to less than 8 per cent. Farm incomes, when adjusted for inflation, have been on a steady decline. To prop up farm incomes, a study by Centre for WTO Studies in New Delhi shows that American farmers receive an average of $ 62,000 subsidy support every year.
In Europe, it is no better. Unable to cover the cost of production, and faced with the vagaries of markets, small farmers have increasingly quit agriculture. European Commission acknowledges that despite the importance of the food sector, farm incomes are 40 per cent lower than the non-farm sector. That is why the basic intention of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been to support individual farmers, supplementing farm incomes. Nearly 57 per cent of the average farm income comes from subsidy support.
It is clear that free markets haven’t helped increase farm incomes. No wonder, farmers everywhere are asking for fair price for their produce. What the protesting Indian farmers are demanding – making guaranteed price a legal right for farmers – therefore will have global resonance. It’s an idea whose time has come. #
Source: Why the world should watch the Indian farmer protest very closely. Fairfood.nl Feb 17, 2021. https://fairfood.nl/en/
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Learn from Spain: Make trading below cost of production illegal
Shaun Diver is a sheep farm manager in Ireland. He has 240 sheep on his farm. Last month, he sold 455 kg of sheep’s wool at a price of Euro 67. Tagging the receipt, he tweeted angrily: “It costs Euro 560 to shear these 240 sheep. This is wrong, seriously wrong. ”
This reminds me of a farmer from Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district who in Dec 2018 sold 2,657 Kg of onions at a price of Re 1 per kg. After adjusting the transportation cost, labour charges and market fees incurred, Shreyas Abhale was left with only Rs 6 to take back home. To register his protest at the brutality of the markets that farmers are faced with, he had sent a money order of Rs 6 to the Chief Minister. But nothing changed.
These are not just two exceptional cases. World over, farmers are actually struggling to make both ends meet, barely able to sustain their livelihoods. Victim of unfair prices, market manipulation, farmers continue to suffer ruthless exploitation at the hands of food supply chains. Even the US National Farmers Union acknowledges: “Over the past several decades, policymakers have weakened price supports for American farmers, resulting in a never-ending cycle of overproduction and low prices that has pushed tens of thousands of small- and mid-sized farms out of business.”
That’s the reason why 20 big players according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as per media reports have provided farmers with a direct income support of $475 billion per year between 2015 and 2017 so as to meet the price shortfall farmers suffered. A clear indicator that supply demand criteria of determining the right price for farmers produce had left farmers high and dry.
No wonder, for decades farmer protests in most countries had remained focused on the need to provide a guaranteed price. But only recently, coming after months of protests by Spanish farmers, Spain has emerged as the harbinger of a global initiative – moving towards a new normal – by bringing in a law that prohibits sale of food below the cost of production. This is exactly what the farmers everywhere wanted. The historic initiative – to penalise retailers and wholesalers for the sale of food that results in losses for the farmers – will not only reset the food supply chain template but strengthen small scale agriculture.
The reverberations will certainly be felt across the continents. Already France and Germany have introduced laws to stem the flaws in the food supply chain practices but these were considered to be not strong enough. In France, for instance, a 2018 Ordinance to amend an existing law to prohibit reselling below the actual price, allowing a 10 per cent increase in retail food prices did not see a rise in farmer’s income as expected.
To prevent what it calls ‘destruction of value in the food supply chain,’ Spain has gone ahead and taken a lead by legalising what farmers had always been fighting for -- guaranteeing a price that covers the cost of production -- a definite decision that political leadership across the globe had shied away from. So far the effort has been to protect consumers (and the industry) at the cost of farmers. In other words, it is farmers who have been subsidising the consumers and corporate all these years.
Bringing in amendments to improve the functioning of the existing 2013 food supply chain law, Spain had made suitable amendments (under the new ‘Royal Decree-Law 5/2020’), which became effective Feb 27, 2020. The objective is to ensure “that the price agreed between the primary agricultural, livestock, fishery or forestry producer or a group thereof and its primary purchaser covers the effective cost of production.” On the need to work out the ‘effective cost of production’, Spanish lawmakers can perhaps learn from the Indian experience.
Nevertheless, for those violating the provisions, in other words selling below the cost of production, stringent penalties have been enshrined ranging from Euro 3,000 to 100,000 that can increase to Euro 1 million in severe cases. France had earlier announced a punitive fine of Euro 75,000.
To the question that ensuring cost of production to farmers would force the supply chains to pass the additional cost to consumers, Marita Wiggerthale, senior policy advisor with Oxfam Germany, said that as the implementation has begun recently there are no analyses of the impact on consumer prices. Earlier, at the time of introducing the new law, Luis Planas, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food had told media that if everyone ‘takes responsibility for food chain’ the retail prices will not surge. His French counterpart, Didier Guillaume, too had earlier appealed to supermarkets to stop the practice of extracting 30 to 40 per cent margin on food products.
Spain’s new law will also have greater implication for India, especially at a time when protesting farmers have been seeking repeal of the central laws and demanding minimum support price (MSP) to be made a legal right for farmers, ensuring that no trading takes below this price. What it effectively means is ensuring a minimum assured price that covers the cost of production plus profit for all the 23 crops (not only for wheat and paddy) for which MSP is announced. And like in Spain, making MSP a legal instrument does not mean the state has to procure the entire produce. It only raises the price band for farmers, making it obligatory for private trade to ensure fair price delivery to farmers.
Experience shows unless farm incomes are connected with realistic food prices, it is futile to expect farming turning into a profitable venture. The claim that increased private investments will bring enhanced incomes to farmers hasn’t worked either. Nor has unregulated markets ensured a higher farm price. Like in Spain, to penalise any trading below MSP will go a long way in making farming overcome agrarian distress and become an economically viable proposition. Spain’s new law therefore holds promise.#
It's changed for Spanish farmers. The Tribune. Mar 3, 2021. https://www.tribuneindia.com/
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Where Should A School Discrimination Complaint Be Filed?
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995
When a parent or student experiences discrimination in the school system, they have a choice of where they want to file for an administrative review (e.g. by a government body). Should they pick the federal government to review the matter or should they file with their local school or college?
There are generally two choices for non-court∗∗ administrative discrimination complaints depending on the entity involved, one being the school or college itself, and the other being a government entity.
For a private school student, in a school which takes no federal money and is non-religious, parents and students may be able to go to the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ). The DOJ will then determine if they may accept the matter for investigation. A parent or student may also pursue internal filings in their private school, if available.
Why is this a choice?
First, the California Department of Education (CDE) does NOT take discrimination complaints directly and only looks at them on appeal from a public school.
Second, if a student files with their school or college, and the school or college says there was no discrimination, OCR will not usually review the matter other than the process. This means the feds won't review the substance of the alleged discriminatory conduct if a parent or student already filed with their school or college and the matter was concluded (in their favor or not).
So, students and parents have to decide at the getgo where to file a request for an investigation, and it is an important determination.
My personal preference is OCR, as OCR tends to be more objective, is not afraid to find discrimination occurred (as it is not their school!), has more resources, and truly aims to get a resolution in most cases.
How motivated do you think a school district is to find discrimination occurred in one of its own schools or by one of its staff?
Exactly.
This is why OCR may be the better place to start.
There is never any guarantee OCR will find actual discrimination, but it seems more likely they will more objectively pursue the school discrimination investigation and potentially have fairer results.
OCR can leverage the government purse against schools to obtain correction of wrongs and justice for students.
OCR does not take all complaints for investigation, so it is important for a parent or student to write the initial filing properly, file it timely, and attach any evidence which supports the claims.∗∗
Best,
Michelle Ball
Education Law Attorney
LAW OFFICE OF MICHELLE BALL
717 K Street, Suite 228
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-444-9064
Email:help@edlaw4students.com
Fax: 916-444-1209
Website, Blog, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn
Please see my disclaimer on the bottom of my blog page. This is legal information, not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by this posting. This blog may not be reproduced without permission from the author and proper attribution of authorship. This blog may not reflect the current state of the law.
∗∗Administrative filings are separate and distinct from claims students may file in court and I am in no way reviewing those matters here.
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
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Tuesday, March 2, 2021
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Are our projects contributing to positive peace? Ask IEP
How do you know if a society is truly peaceful? How can you measure the benefits of peace, and the cost of violent conflict ($1.7 trillion dollars, by the way)? And for our roles as peacebuilders, how can we assess if our organizations and projects are making a real difference?
IEP, the Institute of Economics and Peace ( www.economicsandpeace.org ) to the rescue!
I had the privilege of meeting with Michael Collins from IEP last week, and even though I was familiar with IEP’s work, our session with Michael was nonetheless a tremendous learning experience.
I had known about IEP’s groundbreaking work producing an annual Positive Peace Report (https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PPR-2019-web.pdf) which evaluates countries for their levels of positive peace by measuring what they call pillars of peace—well functioning government, free flow of information, human capital, good relations with neighbors, acceptance of the rights of others, low levels of corruption, equitable distribution of resources. and sound business environment.
Positive Peace Pillars |
What I hadn’t thought of is how valuable these pillars of peace are when used as an assessment tool for any peace project. For example, in my projects at the Center for Global Peace Journalism, am I having an impact in each of these eight pillar areas? The same with the Greater Kansas City Peacebuilding Conference we co-sponsor each fall with Johnson County Community College: Are we positioning the conference so that we can have an impact across all eight peace pillar domains? For both my center and the conference, the answer is that we hit some of the peace pillars, but not all.
IEP, based in Australia with five other offices worldwide, has also produced another invaluable resource for peacebuilders—a report dedicated to Covid 19 and Peace (https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PPR-2019-web.pdf). Among its many findings:
--The pandemic raised tensions between the US and China over the role of the World Health Organization (WHO), trade disputes, and the origins of the virus
--The Global Peace Index is expected to deteriorate although military expenditures could drop as countries redirect resources to propping up their economies.
--As economies contract due to shutdowns, countries will find it more difficult to repay their existing debt.
--“The economic downturn will impact food security. A total of 113 million people in 53 countries were already on the brink of starvation even before the onset of the pandemic. Countries such as Venezuela, Burundi and Yemen will see deepening food shortages.”
For peacebuilders, peace studies instructors, and anyone just interested in peace, the IEP’s resources are an invaluable tool for those navigating this complex, dynamic field.