War Crimes, Trump, and Mr. Hoar

                                         George Fisbee Hoar, Worcester City Hall

War Crimes, Trump, and Hoar

Recently Presidential candidate Donald Trump said the he would authorize the use of torture (waterboarding) by American forces. Torture is forbidden by international law; it is a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Trump subsequently doubled down on his commitment to torture. He now says that he would execute Muslim prisoners by firing squad with bullets dipped in pork. Summary execution also is a war crime. Some Muslims believe that they cannot enter Heaven when their bodies are polluted with pork.

Former President George W. Bush has an arrest warrant against him by the World Court for his authorization of waterboarding torture. This is the reason that he rarely leaves the boundaries of the United States. Like what happened to the fascist Allende, a country recognizing the World Court could arrest Mr. Bush.

The crime of executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pork is not new to Mr. Trump.  The American General Pershing during his tours of duty in the Philippine American War was rumored to have committed this crime several times.

The Philippines American War is little known, although some estimates are that close to 500,000 Filipinos were killed.  The southern Philippines have had a majority Muslim population that resisted the American occupation.

In contrast to Trump and Bush is George Frisbee Hoar. Mr. Hoar moved to Worcester in the early 19^th Century. He, similarly to Samuel Clemens, opposed the Spanish American War and the American occupation of the Philippines. He thought it to be Imperialism. Mr. Hoar in the early 20^th was a part of a commission that found that Americans had committed war crimes during the Philippine American War.

When George Hoar came to Worcester he became a Free Soiler. He opposed the expansion of slavery into the so called American territories. With the establishment of the anti slavery Republican Party Mr. Hoar joined it early on.

Hoar fought for the rights of Black people and Native Indians. He also sided with those in favor of equal rights for women.  He defended the Italians who were immigrating into New England and he opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute can claim Mr. Hoar as a founding member. Like most Republicans of that time, he was a supporter of industrialization.

A statue of Mr. Hoar graces City Hall in Worcester.

The anti war movement went silent during the Presidency of Barack Obama, even though there were American wars through his time in office.

With the election of a Hoar like Senator Sanders the anti war movement will again find it difficult to act.

I suspect that should Mr. Trump be elected to the Presidency of the United States there will be more wars. Like Obama, Trump will be constricted by the material conditions. I think that the anti war movement will be revitalized, using the Blacklives Movement as a model.

During the 1960s there was a confluence of the old civil movement and the anti war movement. Dr. King and Malcolm X were some in the leadership of this confluence.  It is not clear who or what the new leadership will look like in the fight against war and for economic and social justice in the 21^st Century.

$15/ Hour and Hiring Set Asides

$15 / Hour and Hiring Set Asides

On February 23, 2016 the Worcester Community Labor Coalition held a rally outside of Worcester City Hall. It was building support for its demands regarding the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program.

 Some of the demands are that there be a minimum wage of $15 for workers and a set aside for workers living in Worcester area. Another demand is a compliance with equal opportunity and affirmative active regulations.

Between 50 and 80 people attended the spirited rally. Present were members of several organizations such as the EPOCA, AFL-CIO, SEIU, Neighbor to Neighbor, Socialist Alternative, and the Progressive Labor Party. Local politicians also came, State Senator Dan Donahue, State Senator Jim O’Day, and City Coucillor Sarai Rivera.

                              

Afterward the ralliers moved to the City Council Chamber to urge the Economic Development Committee of the  to adopt as policy the demands. Surprisingly the Committee adopted a policy that seemed to incorporate the minimum wage and hiring set asides. Most people saw this as a victory for the Worcester Community Labor Coalition.

Some people felt that it was not clear to them what the Committee had accepted for approval by  City Council as there are no minutes available. The report going to City Council has not been written.  As many have said it is not a contract until it is in writing.

After the vote there was some push back against the demands of the Worcester Community Labor Coalition by conservative talk radio host Jordan Levy on January 24, 2016 who felt the demands were “anti business”. It seems possible the issue will be debated at the next City Council meeting.

It certainly makes sense to have hiring set asides for Worcester residents and for affirmative action. It makes sense to have good pay and safe working conditions.

I hope Committee adopting these reforms for the TIFs is not another broken promise or a façade for the business as usual.

The Black Panthers' Influence in Worcester

The Black Panthers’ Influence in Worcester

The recent showing of the Black Panther Party documentary on Public Broadcasting System reminded me of the late 1960s when the Black Student Union of Holy Cross marched to the Worcester police station on Waldorf St. to protest police brutality against a Black teenager, Patsy.

As I watched the TV, memories of the Black Coalition Party in Worcester came flooding back. It was formed in the early 1970s after the so called Kitty Kat incident. The Kitty Kat was a Black owned night club on Main St. that doubled as a meeting place for the Black community.

During the summer of 1971 Paul, a young Black man, was severely beaten by the police in Worcester. Some in the Black community came together at the Kitty Kat Lounge.  From the Kitty Kat a march to the Worcester City Council meeting was organized. There were reports that some of the marchers broke windows; true or not the police began to arrest people.

It is said that the City Councillors were informed of the march and fled the scene.

After the march, the Black Coalition was formed. In many ways it was an umbrella group and it included some White people. As is the history of most umbrella groups the Black Coalition had fewer and fewer people come to meetings.  Soon it became a smaller group of the more militant and committed. This smaller group became the Black Coalition Party.

The Black Coalition Party modeled itself after the Black Panthers. We were armed and patrolled the neighborhood.  We held several rallies, including one which had a starting point near what used to be Gilreins Bar and Grill and another starting point in the Laurel Clayton area.

Like the Black Panthers there were social programs such as the sickle cell anemia testing program which we coordinated with the City of Worcester. The program worked so well that we were offered a grant to continue these programs.  The grant was not accepted.

The Free Breakfast for Children program was supported by the Black Coalition Party, but we did not organize it. As I remember it, Anne Marie organized the Breakfasts in Main South and Ed organized the Breakfasts at Our Lady of Fatima Church. Neither organizer was in the Black Coalition Party.

The Black Coalition Party had an outlook of community organizing of working people. This was in contrast to the line of the Black Panther Party which was to emphasize what some called the Lumpenproletariat or exploiters.  Our view of the Lumpenproletariat was that they were working people who made mistakes. The differences were mostly of emphasis. To some extent these differences in outlook exist today.

Several people in the Black Coalition continued their fight against police brutality and misconduct in the Peace Coalition formed in 1993.  Like with the Kitty Kat incident in 1970s the community became outraged at the homicide of an El Salvadorian man by the police. The Co Chair of the Rainbow Coalition, Delanot, called for a protest at the police station. The influence of the Black Panthers could be seen in that some of the protesters called the police “racist terrorists”, especially by members of PLP. Other in the protest shied away from this characterization.

There was a meeting at Centro from which a march was organized. The marchers went to the City Council meeting which was suspended by Mayor Levy when the group showed up.

The Peace Coalition was an umbrella group that did not want to use the term “racist terror”.  Many in the group fell away when the City said that the cops were not guilty of any wrong doing. The more militant people in the Peace Coalition formed the Justice for Cristino Hernandez Committee to carry on the struggle until the City reached a settlement with the Hernandez family.

Beyonce performance at the Super Bowl has more impact when she stated that it was in support of the BlackLives Matter and in tribute to the Black Panthers.  When I first saw the performance I at first thought it to be gimmicky. I underestimate the reaction.

One can say that the BlackLives Matter new civil rights movement in Worcester has been influenced by the Black Panthers.  Progressive Labor Party, Community United Collective, Socialist Alternative and others are continuing the fight for racial and economic justice.

The Panthers for all of their faults are the model for young people of color to free their mind from mental slavery of the system stacked against them.

Worcester Delegation Failing Worcester Schools

The Worcester Legislative Delegation Failing Worcester Schools

Several decades ago Massachusetts Public School Systems were seen as one of the fundamental element of our prosperity and well being.  Although it still is today a basis for our quality of life, Public Schools are not held in the same esteem as then.

There are those who outright want to destroy the best Public School systems in the nation by changing over to charter schools.  Governor Baker fits this characterization. There are those who do not care and see the Public School systems as a financial burden. Then there are those who desire good Public School, but do nothing as the schools are being undefended and left to deteriorate.

To some extent the Worcester legislative delegation is the latter. I suppose it is not much different that other cities In Massachusetts have Public Schools that are becoming majority minority or majority children of color. 

Representatives Keefe and Mahoney have made statements in support of fully funded Public Schools. Rep. Keefe raised the idea of a coalition of “gateway cities”.  This is needed. I hope she is working on effectuating the coalition. They should get credit for their statements.

Chapter 70 of Mass. Gen. Laws was passed to ensure that the poorer communities have good public schools. The basis for the statute is that schools dependent on property taxes in poorer communities would have less money than the more affluent towns where property values and taxes are higher.

Although the law obliges the State to fully fund Public Schools in accordance with the Foundation Formula found in Chap. 70, the politicians always seem to find a way to shortchange Worcester and other cities that are transitioning to a majority children of color schools. This is an outrage and could possible lead to the situation seen in Detroit and Philadelphia where underfunding precipitated inadequate education.

If Worcester was fully funded by the State as is required by Chapter 70 the Worcester Public School System would receive an ADDITIONAL 92 million dollars per year.  For fiscal 2017 the Worcester Public School System is facing a 22 million dollar deficit.  The 92 million dollars owed to the City’s schools would cover the deficit and have money to reduce class sizes and improve opportunities.

In Worcester about three million dollars from taxes go into the Public Schools. This amount is rumored to be scheduled to be reduced by between one and two million dollars. For the more affluent towns relative much more money per capital is allocated to their schools. These towns can do this as their property values and taxes are higher than Worcester.

Several groups are raising the issue, including CPPAX, Jobs Not Jail, Mass. Human Rights, and others.

It is time the Worcester legislative delegates spoke out more forcibly for fully funded schools. It is time the delegation tell us in detail how it intends to get full funding for Worcester children.  The issue of education of our children is too important to let the people representing us to just make a few platitudes and do nothing.

The platitude of “working behind the scene to effectuate change” is no longer credible.  

Scalia, Thomas, and the Redemptioon of the Individual

Scalia, Thomas, and Redemption of the Individual

 Justice Scalia’s view of the law is a form of “Originalism”. This legal philosophy is founded on the principle that the Constitution of the United States is a “Fixed” and unchanging document, except by amendment. This philosophy is disingenuous and even Justice Scalia could not explain its contradictions. 

The principle is based on the premise that the original writers’ of the Constitution views of the world are the only views of the world that the courts should consider unless the Constitution is changed by the amendment process.

For hundreds of years the Supreme Court Justices held something different. They held the principle that the Constitution is a “living” document that could be changed or interpreted. A good example of this is the ruling in the 19^th Century that corporations are legal “persons”. It is a certainty that the original writers of the Constitution did not intend corporations to be legal persons. Another example is “money is speech”; no one in the 18^th Century thought this to be true, let alone the writers of the Constitution.

Justice Scalia was a salesman, actually a wizard of sorts, selling falsities and illusion. He sold us the pretext of Originalism, a wholly made up theory that was contradicted by the facts. Justice used this pretext to push through a very conservative agenda at the Supreme Court that benefited his friends in business and feudalistic religions.

Unfortunately Justice Scalia’s disciple, Clarence Thomas, is still a sitting Justice. I went to school with Clarence Thomas; I can only say good things about him when he was at Holy Cross.

Justice Thomas’ thinking and my thinking on the issues are far apart. Justice Thomas has not been such a good philosophical salesman. I think that with Justice Scalia’s death, Justice Thomas will be less influential.  Justice Thomas might not be able to do as much harm as he has done in the past. I hope that Cooz can find his way out of the spell of the wizard. I worry about his redemption and salvation.

With the death of Justice Scalia some of the right wing agenda will be delayed indefinitely. The issue of the union busting of Public Service Unions will be put into abeyance. The issue of gerrymandering will be delayed until a replacement for Justice Scalia can be found. Other issues such as Affirmative Action, Abortion Rights, and Immigration will be thrown into doubt.

These important issues will probably have to await the outcome for of the Presidential elections. The Republicans certainly are concerned about their right wing agenda. The Republican lawmakers in Washington sent a shot across the bow of the President within hours of the death of Justice Scalia to not nominate anyone for the vacancy.

It is likely that President Obama, with nothing to lose, will nominate Judge Sri Srinivasan for the Supreme Court vacancy. He is a liberal Judge on the D.C. Appellate Court. Many of the present Justice were appointed from the D. C. Appellate Court, Justice Thomas being one. Judge Sri Srinivasan is of South Asian heritage and I think that he could add a new perspective to rule of law as we move into the uncharted waters of 21^st Century modernity. 

Harriet Chandler's Misguided Defense of Arrogant Drivers

Harriet Chandler Defends Unsafe Arrogant Drivers

Harriet Chandler is the Majority Leader in the Massachusetts Senate. She has a lot of power, but seemingly she does not now have common sense. This is a condition that happens to many long time politicians.

Senator Chandler has proposed an increase in the fines for “jaywalking”. These finds are obviously directed to the poor working people and people with handicaps.  Many of us can not afford a car. Some of us cannot drive a car due to a handicap.

The proposal is downright stupid given the fact that in the winter time pedestrians walk in the streets because the sidewalks are not cleared by property owners. The City of Worcester has never cleared the sidewalk at the corner of Lake Ave. and Sunderland Road, a property which is owned the City. There is no break down lane there and pedestrians have to enter the travel lane to get to the corner.  Perhaps Senator Chandler increases the fines for not shoveling the sidewalks.

In Worcester there is about one death or hit and run of a pedestrian per week.  Let me be clear about this, not one driver was injured. When hit the pedestrian did not run away. There is a rule that the driver is fully responsible for the control of his vehicle and that the driver is obliged to YIELD to pedestrians.

Senator Chandler’s efforts are misguided. It is not pedestrians who are the major safety issue that needs fixing. It is drivers who do not yield to pedestrians, especially the arrogant drivers.

An arrogant driver drives 80 miles an hour on Lake Ave., Mill St. and Chandler St.  An arrogant driver will turns on red through a pedestrian cross walk signal. An arrogant driver will exceed the speed limit of 30 miles an hour on congested streets. An arrogant driver will pass on the right, endangering pedestrians.  An arrogant driver will text while driving.

Let us look at the death of one of the young soccer players I coached. He was riding his skate board when he was struck and killed by a car. The driver said that the youngster “came out of nowhere”. She was found not responsible.  Yet she should have had full control of the car. There should have been some fine for striking the youngsters. A child chasing a ball into the street is dependent on the driver to control his car. This concept should be driven into the minds of all drivers; the driver should be fully in control of his car at all times. The driver must yield to pedestrians and non drivers.

The problem is arrogant drivers. A possible solution is an automatic charge of $200 for every car accident involving a pedestrian regardless of fault. This will make drivers more aware and cautious of pedestrians. It hopefully reduces aggressive and unsafe driving practices of arrogant drivers.

From my experience the police always look for a way to blame the most vulnerable, the pedestrians. Senator Chandler has fallen into the same blame the victim mentality.

Perhaps next time she can write a more balanced law.

Boss Bergman Law

Boss Bergman’s Law

The City of Worcester has a long history of using police power to violate the Constitutional rights of its residents and interfere in what are civil matters. The City ordinance regarding panhandling was recently ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. The pursuit of criminal charges against BlackLives Matter protesters by the City Manager was declared not to be a criminal matter by the Worcester Court.

The City government has also asked the Attorney General to investigate fraud charges against a predominantly Black run community center when the City’s own audit found not fraud. In this case the City Manager caved into a gang of racists in the City Council.

Once again the City Council of Worcester will decide on whether it will seek police force in what is clearly a civil matter. A reasonable person could conclude that this new ordinance is another abuse of police power.

On February 9, 2016 City Councillor Moe Bergman will petition the Council for an exception to State statutes. He wants landlords to have the ability to evict tenants who are charged with illegal possession of weapons.

Of course anyone who has an illegal weapon is a cause of concern and the police should be involved. However the issue is that of eviction, a wholly civil matter.

There are civil remedies other than increasing the police power of the City of Worcester. The best remedy is to have a clause in the lease that the lease can be terminated when there is a conviction of illegal weapon possession. Even this might not be needed if the conviction results in incarceration. In any event the lease will at some time expire and it does not have to be renewed.

For tenants at will the landlord can evict a tenant with a 30 day notice.

The landlord or business manager should have the common sense to screen a potential lessee BEFORE the lease is signed. This is standard business practice.

The real purpose of Mr. Bergman ordinance is to help landlords in low income neighborhoods get rid of tenants they do not like. It is essentially a new way for landlords to circumvent the rights of tenants found in the statutes.

Mr. Bergman’s ordinance will probably be ruled unconstitutional if it reaches the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.  It punishes people who have not been found guilty of any crime and presumed innocent. The other items in the so called Public Nuisance ordinances of the State and Worcester could also then be reviewed as well.

It seems to me that the petition will fail at the State level. No other city in the Commonwealth has such an ordinance and the usual way to establish such use of police force would be through the State Legislature.

Reportedly some elements of the Mr. Bergman’s petition’ as drafted by the “use the police first” City Manager Augustus’ are downright silly. It includes a clause giving the District Attorney of Worcester County permission to evict tenants. As we all know eviction is a civil matter and outside of the germane of the DA.

This petition is especially bad as it shows the influence that bad or incompetent landlords have on the making of laws. It also shows the propensity of the City government to use police force unnecessarily against mostly poor people. 

The Bosses' Money

The Bosses’ Money

When thinking about Mosaic and the City Council of Worcester, Malcolm X, southern Black churches, and the White Citizens Councils comes to mind. The Worcester City Council has given its support for the investigation of Mosaic, a Black run community center.

Mosaic is in the Black community a center for meetings. Some of the meetings are in opposition to City policies. The City Council has voted to support the City Manager’s decision to ask the Attorney General to investigate Mosaic for fraud.

Many in the Worcester community thinks the Manager’s action is political retaliation.

At least one group that used to meet at Mosaic was BlackLives Matter. It no longer meets there due to pressure from Worcester City government. The City had pursued criminal charges against people associated with BlackLives Matter in what has been described as malicious prosecution.

Malcolm X said that black coffee loses its essence if too much milk is added. For a long time some people in government and elsewhere said that they were “revolutionaries” or at least progressives. These people I suppose were well meaning, but they misled the struggle for racial and economic justice. City Manager Augustus is one such person.

While in State office he was instrumental in getting an office of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to reopen in Worcester. There was a rumor that he actually tried to help Mosaic behind the scene. Like the analogy given by Malcolm X,  the fact remains people depending on so called liberals or progressives or their money for the achievement of racial and economic justice will be misled. City Manager Augustus sought criminal charges against BlackLives Matter protesters and he is now seeking criminal charges against Mosaic.

The southern Black churches during the old Civil Rights movement supported its ministers independently of the White community.  It was known that taking the “man’s” money brought ambiguity to whom the ministers were ministering.  A predominantly Black church’s minister was on the board of directors for Mosaic; he abruptly quit the board. It is known that he also serves on at least one committee run by the City with some funding involved. A reasonable person could conclude that instead of ministering to his flock, there is ambiguity in his responsibilities.

 A history of divide and conquer by the racists existed in the old civil rights movement. It seems to be extant in the new Civil Rights Movement. The president of predominantly Black organization has in essence slandered Mosaic. She said that Mosaic should be defunded. It is rumored that she wants the funds to go to an agency with which she has personal friends.

The City Manger has created a Chief Diversity Officer position as a crumb for people of color to fight over.

 Wikepedia gives the following definition “The Citizens' Councils (also referred to as White Citizens' Councils) were an associated network of white supremacist organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South. The first was formed on July 11, 1954 After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America.”

Although the Worcester City Council is not anything like the so called Citizen Councils, they come to mind for this issue. The Worcester City Council to some extent is a representation of the old Worcester. The old Worcester was mostly White and seemingly comfortable to many White people. It was not so comfortable for many Black and Latino people then.

This nostalgia has allowed City Councillors like Michael Gaffney, Gary Rosen, and Konnie Lukes to remain in office. Mr. Gaffney recently had a fund raiser in which at least one of his guests came in blackface, intentionally mocking Black people. Gary Rosen approved of criminal charges against BlackLives Matter people, while he does nothing about the continual violation of City ordinances by dog owners who have racially written in their blog “BlackLabs Matter”.

Ms. Lukes is an attorney and while seeking fraud charges against Mosaic made not relevant personal attacks on Mosaic staff. There seems to be some personal history in her attacks.

I suppose each generation will have to learn anew the lesions from the old civil rights movement, people with one foot in each camp will eventually mislead us and the bosses’ money will be the downfall of some and the heartbreak for others.

The Pretext in Search for Superintendent

Superintendent Search in Disarray

On February 2, 2016 the Worcester School Committee held a “forum” on what qualities Worcester residents wanted to see in the new Superintendent of Schools.  The so called forum was confusing and to some extent showed how inexperienced or confused the three so called panelists from the school committee were.

As a rule panelist are the speakers. In this forum the panelist said nothing and Worcester residents spoke from the floor.

School Committee Woman McCullough ran the “forum” like a school marm. She seemed a little nervous and unsure as she told speaker after speaker “your time is up”, “please only talk about skills”, and “hold your applause”.

The irony here is that the first speaker from the audience asked what are the objective requirements for selecting a new superintendent and whether direct experience as a superintendent was required. The same speaker asked if speaking a second language other than English is a requirement.  The three school committee women on stage Donna Colorio, Dianne Briancharia, and Molly McCullough, could not answer the questions. Ms. McCullough said that she would refer the question to the school committee.

After the so called “forum” Ms. McCullough and Ms. Briancharia took the time to share their personal criteria for a new superintendent; the successful candidate they said would be effective, communicative, and a problem solver.

Ms. Colorio went out of her way not to give a statement on the qualities that she thinks a new superintendent should have.   I supposed that she might have worried about a question regarding her vote to take money from the Worcester Public schools and give it to charter schools.  

School Committee members John Monfredo and Brian O’Connell, although not on the stage, gave more coherent answers as what are the preferred requirements for a superintendent. Mr. O’Connell said that previous experience as a superintendent was preferred and the ability to speak a second language was a plus. Mr. Monfredo said that a Certificate of Superintendency was a must, but a doctorate was a preference.

The president of the teachers union spoke and asked that a member of his union be on the search committee.

A representative from the Worcester Educational Cooperative said that a superintendent should be able to fight for full funding from the State. The Worcester Schools are underfunded per the State’s educational formula. This is especially true for special needs students.

A parent said that a superintendent should also be able to get funding for gifted students.

Worcester resident, Ken Person, said that the Worcester schools were actually good schools when compared to other schools in the country. He wanted a superintendent that could continue and hopefully improve what is good about Worcester Schools.

A couple of teachers felt that there is a need for a superintendent to be able to communicate well with all principal parties, students, parents, teachers, and staff.

School safety was brought up by one speaker who thought that the decision to limit the search for a superintendent to within the Worcester School District was a mistake. He felt that a superintendent from a larger urban area with experience in school safety was needed. Although the speaker on school safety was one of only a few who described an objective requirement, the school committee had previously decided against it.

Some speakers mentioned diversity and the fact that over 90 languages are spoken by students in Worcester Public schools. They suggested that the new superintendent should be able to relate to this diversity not only educationally, but in terms of personal experience.

It was pretty clear that some of the school committee members could not or did not want to state objective criteria for a superintendent. To some extent the so called forum was a charade masking a subjective choice that seems already made.

The School Committee will likely choose Dr. Bienienda because she grew up in Worcester and worked her whole career in the Worcester Schools. The School Committee will ignore the facts that Dr. Rodriques has run a School District, has the same experiences of many in the Worcester Schools who have recently come to Worcester as the Worcester Schools become more majority minority.

Students' Rights Forum

Students ‘Rights Forum

On January 30, 2016 the Massachusetts Human Rights and the Progressive Labor Party organized a forum regarding students’ rights in relation to the so called School to Jail pipeline. About 30 people attended the forum. Half of the attendees were students. The groups had advertised the event at a couple of Worcester public high schools.  Several staffers from Worcester public schools could also be seen in the audience.

One of the presenters, Walter Joval a therapeutic counselor, spoke of the harm done to children by the school to jail pipeline and the trauma they suffered. Ruth Rodriquez, a long time activist, spoke on how charter schools were draining money from the already underfunded urban public school districts and how standardized high stakes testing is causing some students to leave school.

Nathan Wong, a defense lawyer, spoke of the rights the students have when facing the school police. He indicated that a student did not have to answer questions in a police investigation unless a parent was present; even with a parent present, a minor did not have to answer questions in an investigation. Mr. Wong noted that unless a person was under arrest the person was not obliged to remain with the police. He also pointed out although lockers are considered public and could be searched without a warrant; a student personal property required a warrant for a search.

I was the last speaker. I spoke on how the City of Worcester was out of compliance with the update of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) required by State statutes. I spoke as well on the topic of Chapter 222 which sets forth the rights of students in disciplinary matters. The purpose of Chapter 222 was to reduce the number of suspensions and time out of the class room for students. This is to be accomplished by providing a cooling off period for staff and students in order to ensure that no snap decision are made. The decisions regarding suspensions and expulsions should be well considered.

The full time school police do not have to comply with Chapter 222. The School Safety officer, Mr. Pezella, had indicated that arrests of children at school were up since the police were stationed in schools. There is a need to update the MOU to indicate that the police should operate per Chapter 222 and the police are directed by the principal or her designee.

It is understood that there will be times that the school police will have to operate in emergency situations and make snap judgments. What is an emergency should be defined in the MOU as it is also defined in Chapter 222. It is also understood that the some of the staff of a school prefers to have police on campus just for these emergencies.

Recently there was a safety audit of the schools and the concerns of all parties should be discussed in the implementation of the safety recommendations found in the audit.

During the informal talks after the forum, where information is exchanged, it became known that the school police and the staff at the Worcester schools are aware of the concerns the forum sponsors and others have about the school to jail pipeline. There seems to be some effort to use the school police in a cautious manner.

Several people representing community group indicated that there will be a larger meeting in March of parents, students, and concerned people to discuss the so called racist school to jail pipeline and other issues. Hopefully the City will invite this coalition to help in the formulation of its policies.