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American people, is going to
depend on whether or not we can
do something about these
schools." the president said in an
interview on NBC's "Today” show.
U.S. schools through high
school offer an average of 180
instruction days per year, accord
ing to the Education Commission
of the States, compared to an
average of 197 days for lower
grades and 196 days for upper
grades in countries with the best
student achievement levels,
including Japan, South Korea,
Germany and New Zealand.
That month makes a differ
ence." the president said. “It
means that kids are losing a lot of
\\ hat they learn during the school
year during the summer. It's espe
cially severe for poorer kids who
may no! see as many books in the
house during the summers, aren't
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Randy Lloyd, front, and Trevor Hurst drive an ali-terrain vehicle out of
a flooded area Monday. The Wisconsin River surged around a levee in
Caledonia, Wis. and flooded a neighborhood after heavy rains.
so high and so forcefully it surged
around the dike and poured into
ihc bottom lands around the
neighborhood, said Steve Miller,
director of the state Department
of Natural Resources Bureau of
Facilities and Lands.
\ 'a".
fhe rising water chipped away
a: portions of the berm system
Monday afternoon. Much of the
levee protects forest and farm
land but a breach in the
Biaekhawk Park portion could
rake matters tar worse for the
neighborhood by potentially
washing away the access road.
DAK workers patrolled the
length of the berm Monday, using
windbags to control the seepage.
The woods around Forrest
Travis' fishing camp were a bog
on Monday. Water rushed across
the gravel service road a few
steps from his camp, but TYavis, a
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longer school year
getting as many educational
opportunities.”
Obama said teachers and their
profession should be more highly
honored as in China and some
other countries, he said and he
said he wanted to work with the
teachers’ unions. But he also said
that unions should not defend a
status quo in which one-third of
children are dropping out.
And the president endorsed the
firing of teachers who, once given
the chance and the help to
improve, are still falling short. J
“We have got to identify teach
ers who are doing well. Teachers
who are not doing well, we have
got to give them the support and
the training to do well. And if some
teachers aren't doing a good job,
they’ve got to go,” Obama said.
They’re goals the president has
articulated in the past, but his abil-
53-year-old part-time construc
tion worker, said he spent Sunday
night at the camp and didn't have
any plans to go anywhere.
“I’m not worried about it,"
Travis said. “It would have to get
a lot higher to get where we're
standing."
Diana O'Neill, 56, a retired
DeForest police officer, evacuat
ed on Sunday.
On Monday, she inched her
truck along the access road, cre
ating a wake, to get back to her
house.
Her place was still dry 7 when
she arrived. She grabbed three
dozen eggs and her Chicago
Bears shirt for the big Green Bay
Packers-Chicago Bears game on
Monday Night Football and
inched her way back out. The
water was easily an inch higher
than when she drove in.
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ity to see them realized is limited.
States set the minimum length of
school years, and although there’s
experimentation in some places,
there’s not been wholesale change
since Obama issued the same
challenge for more classroom
time at the start of the past school
year.
One issue is money, and
although the president said that
lengthening school years would be
“money well spent,” that doesn’t
mean cash-strapped states and
districts can afford it.
“It comes down to the old buga
boo, resources. It costs money to
keep kids in school,” said Mayor
Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz.
“Everyone believes we can
achieve greater things if we have a
longer school year. The question is
how do you pay for it.”
One model is Massachusetts,
Philly tow truck driver
charged in rival’s death
PHILADELPHIA Turf wars
among tow truck drivers are noth
ing new in Philadelphia, but they
have turned unusually violent
and now deadly in 20i0.
A territory feud apparently led
one driver to repeatedly run over
over a rival with his truck at a gas
station early Sunday, killing him,
police said.
Ray Santiago’s death comes
months after authorities charged
another tow-truck driver with
shooting a competitor at an acci
dent scene. Both firms involved in
that case were then vandalized,
one with a barrage of bullets and
the other with a fire that tore
through 13 vehicles.
“It runs in cycles, but 2010 has
been the most violent year I’ve
seen in almost a quarter century,”
said lawyer William J. Brennan,
who has defended several tow
operators charged in on-the-job
scrapes. “Maybe it’s the economy.
Maybe people are getting desper
ate.”
Glen McDaniel, 25, of
Philadelphia, was being held with
out bail on murder, drunken-driv
ing and other charges in
Santiago’s death. It was not clear
if he has an attorney.
Philadelphia police try to rotate
tow jobs among a list of approved
operators, but they don’t do so if a
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Maryciaire Dale
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
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Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 I 5
President Barack Obama speaks
in the East Room of the White
House Monday.
where the state issues grants to
districts that set out clear plans on
how they would use the money to
constructively lengthen instruc
tional class time, said Kathy
Christie, chief of staff at the
Education Commission of the
States.
tow truck beats officers to a crash
scene. That leaves rivals racing
dangerously through narrow city
streets to claim jobs before police
give them away, critics say.
That cutthroat competition
explains why TV producers seized
on Philadelphia for an upcoming
TLC network show called “Wreck
Chasers,” which is following sev
eral drivers with an unidentified
firm for a series set to start next
month.
The city was chosen because of
the unusual and competitive
nature of its towing businesses,
the show’s executive producer,
Jim Kowats, told The Associated
Press earlier this month.
A TLC spokeswoman did not
immediately return a message
Monday.
Santiago, 30, may have been
involved in a towing-related film
project, but police did not know if it
was the TLC program, Lt. Frank
Vanore said. And no filming was
under way when the fatal argu
ment erupted, said Vanore, a
police spokesman.
City Councilman Jim Kenney
wants oversight of the industry
moved from police to the
Philadelphia Parking Authority.
The authority has dispatchers and
impound lots available, and could
eliminate the dubious practice of
drivers getting cash from auto
body shops to bring in wrecked
cars, Kenney said.
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