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══════════════════【立報】═══════════════════ |
| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2005-09-09》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎天災一直來 美國學校怎麼辦？ | |
| ◎重建工作困難 受災學區頭大 | |
| ◎卡崔娜蹂躪 紐奧良孩童到休士頓上課 | |
| ◎台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
| 天災一直來 美國學校怎麼辦？ | |
| 策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
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A Look Back at How Schools Have Dealt With Natural Disasters 以下是近幾年天災對學校造成的衝擊案例，且看個學區如何因應。 2004：查理颶風HURRICANE CHARLEY 受災地點為佛羅里達州與南卡羅萊納州，造成10人死亡，150億美元的損失，為美國歷史上造成第二高損失的颶風。大部分佛羅里達州學區都只有幾天未上課，不過有些地區則整整3週未上課。該州州長傑布‧布希（Jeb Bush）簽下一系列的執行命令，允許學校彈性調整180天的上課日程、教師契約和其他相關的州法律。該州也允許在測驗評量上的某種擴張權，有些學區要求他們不用在該州2004年的一般標準下接受評量，該州另外制定了「颶風等級上訴」程序，滿足某些學區的標準。事實證明，颶風確實對學校成績表現有所影響。 1999：佛洛德颶風HURRICANE FLOYD 受災地區為從北卡羅萊納州以北的東海岸大部分地區。共造成56人死亡，財物損失約58億美元。由於大雨造成的洪水，超過2百名學生無法上學。不過幾天後，某些學區的領袖認為由於某些學區並未出現嚴重問題，不應關門過早。 1994：北嶺地震NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE 受災地點為南加州。美國史上損失最慘重的災難不是颶風，而是1994年1月17日發生在南加州的地震，造成估計5百億美元的損失。這場地震為芮氏規模6.6級，造成57人死亡。地震也造成加州43個學區的學校受到損害。在洛杉磯聯合學區內，有半數以上的學校受損，造成7億美元的損失。學校在6天後重新恢復上課，但是有些修復則在之後逐步完成。比方說，洛杉磯一所高中在地震後3年，主要的修復工作仍擺盪在地方和聯邦官員間懸而不決，主要的爭議點在於是否要重建學校體育館，或是只需修理即可。 1992：安德魯颶風HURRICANE ANDREW 受災地點為佛羅里達州和路易斯安那州。是美國史上造成最大損失的颶風，造成437億美元的損失，以及23人死亡。該颶風為5級颶風，即最高等級颶風。邁阿密—戴德郡的287所學校幾乎全都遭到損害，公立學校在兩週後恢復上課，美國陸軍、海軍、國家警衛隊以及學區人員，全部加入修復工作。有10所學校受損過於嚴重無法復課，其學生被重新分配到其他學校。有3千多名學生到鄰近的布勞沃德郡學校上課；在路易斯安那州，學校在11天後恢復上課。 1989：雨果颶風HURRICANE HUGO 侵襲地點為美國維爾京群島、波多黎各、南卡、北卡等地。該颶風造成美國本土21人死亡，維爾京群島和波多黎各則共有5人死亡。總損失估計高達123億美元。颶風造成北卡、南卡學校數千萬美元的損失，強迫20萬名學生停課一段時間。在南卡的查爾斯頓一地就造成學校共5千萬美元的損失。兩年後的聯邦研究報告指出，災後對學校的支援非常貧乏，受影響的學區由於聯邦政府與州政府間協調出現問題，災後的救援幾乎沒有，或是拖到很晚在出現。 （資料來源／美國國家颶風中心、全國海洋和大氣部門、南加州地震中心、南加州大學、教育週刊） |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 重建工作困難 受災學區頭大 | |
| 策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
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Troubled District Faces Unprecedented Recov-ery Task 摘要 紐奧良的公立學校原本就已經是走在鋼索上了，現在又受到卡崔娜颶風致命一擊，狀況更加雪上加霜。 這座城市的某些地區正泡在20英呎深的水中──在其交通運輸系統、水管、電話線和電力系統都無法修復下──沒有任何穩當的估計可以算出，這個有7萬名學生的公共教育體系到底何時才能恢復？ 對任何一個學區來說，颶風與洪水過後的清理工作是相當困難的，但是觀察家指出，紐奧良學區其實早就因為財務不穩定、政治混亂，政治腐化，以及領導人更迭不斷而蹣跚許久。 「學校重建將會非常困難。」美國教師協會財務秘書納特‧拉寇爾這麼表示：「事實上問題重重，去問他們是否能夠全部重建，這樣的問題是很實際的。」 大城市學校會議的執行長麥克‧凱撒里表示，紐奧良人面臨的，比起2001年9月11日恐怖主義攻擊紐約後，甚至1989年加州舊金山大地震後的學校重建問題，還要更加嚴峻。「紐奧良人面臨的是相當悲慘可怕，以及特大號的問題，與之前任何人遇到的問題都不同。」他說。 颶風後，在今年春天取得紐奧良區域合約，插手干預該學區財務問題的紐約市危機處理公司Alvarez & Marsal的經理人威廉．羅伯提表示，他們與該州首府巴頓魯治的居民電話訪談，並與路易斯安那州學校督學長西塞‧皮卡德會面，另外也和當地教育領袖如紐奧良聯合教師會會長布倫達‧密特歇爾談話，以確認如何讓該地的學校體系重新運作起來。 「最優先的問題是對現狀做實質的評估，」羅伯提表示：「以及評估需要花多長的時間才能讓學童、教學與學習等回歸正常。」 8月31日，羅伯提和其他人獲得警方和國民兵的允許得以進入學區總部。他們發現5層樓高的建築已經受損，地板上有相當多的積水，在主要的電腦教室天花板上也有滲水的現象，羅伯提從電腦系統中取下資料，希望至少可以讓他的公司保留某些學區的運作情況。他們還找來電腦硬體的提供者，將卡帶與學區其他需要用到的資料彙整在一起。 在等待學校重新開張的這段時間，皮卡德鼓勵受創學區的教職員領取失業津貼。儘管重建計劃甚為艱鉅，羅伯提表示他歡迎所有有用的意見。他說：「對路易斯安那州的居民來說，這是個巨大的悲劇，我很高興自己在這裡，可以在他們面臨危機時支持他們。」 Alvarez & Marsal原本預定在今年7月接手管理該學區的財務運作，這是該州教育部門質疑該學區如何花費掉7千萬美元預算後的行動。該州查帳員過去一年不斷抱怨該州的會計帳務不清；聯邦檢察官過去12個月也目前和過去學區職員詐欺的紀錄。上個月，Alvarez & Marsal表示，學區的預算經費應從原先的4億美元中刪減4千8百萬美元。 種種困難都源自於學區最高領袖的分裂立場，學校董事會之間角力不斷。在颶風來襲前，這座城市的許多學校建築建年久失修，很多都興建於二次世界大戰後，沒有空調設備，也不符合現代安全與健康法規。近幾年有幾個學校不斷遭到抨擊。 （資料來源／教育週刊） 原文 The New Orleans public schools, already on the ropes, were dealt a knockout blow by Hurricane Katrina. With some parts of the city under 20 feet of water-and its transportation, water, telephone, and electrical systems inoperable-no firm esti-mates of when schools in the 70,000-student system might reopen were available. For any school district, cleaning up after a hurricane and flood is a Herculean task. But the New Or-leans district, observers noted, already was hobbled by financial instability, political infighting, allega-tions of corruption, and turnover in leadership. 『This is going to be difficult," Nat ?LaCour, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federa-tion of Teachers, said of restoring schools in his native city. "Given the fact that there are so many problems, it's a legitimate question whether they can do it all." Michael D. Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, said New Orleans faces even tougher prospects in trying to recover than did the schools in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist at-tacks, or those in San Francisco after the 1989 earthquake. 『Whether New Orleans is in strong shape operationally or not," he said, "the situation there is so dire and so outsized, so unlike what anyone has seen before, that it's hard to com-pare what they are going to be facing to almost anything else." Setting Priorities In the aftermath of the storm, the New York City crisis-management firm that won a con-tract this past spring to run the district's fi-nances stepped in. William V. Roberti, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal who is leading the New Or-leans work, said in a telephone interview from Baton Rouge that he had been meeting with state Superintendent of Schools Cecil J. Picard and talking with local education leaders such as Brenda Mitchell, the president of United Teachers New Orleans, to determine how to get the school system going again. 『The first priority is to get a physical as-sessment of the situation," Mr. Roberti said, "and how long it's going to take us to be able to get the system back up and running to support children, and teaching and learning." On Aug. 31, Mr. Roberti and others received police and National Guard permission to enter district headquarters, he said. They found the five-story building standing, but damaged, with several inches of water on some of the floors. As the ceiling leakedin the main computer room, Mr. Roberti retrieved tapes from the computer system that he hopes will allow his company to keep at least some of the district's business operations running. 『Now we've got to see if we have the infor-mation we need to meet payroll," he said. He added that his team was doing business from the Louisiana Department of Education's of-fices in Baton Rouge, but was talking with sup-pliers of computer hardware to put together a system so the tapes and other district records could be used. With the opening of schools potentially months away, Mr. Roberti said Mr. Picard was urging employ-ees in the affected school dis-tricts to apply for unemployment benefits. Even though a recovery plan was far from complete, Mr. Roberti said he welcomed the chance to be of use. 『This is a gigantic tragedy for the people of Louisiana and for the people of New Orleans," he said. "I'm glad we're here to be able to assist them through this crisis. We are a crisis-inter-vention and -management firm. That's what we do." History of Turmoil Alvarez & Marsal assumed control of the district's fiscal operations in July, under an agreement pushed by the state edu-cation department in the wake of a federal audit that questioned the district's spending of some $70 mil-lion in Title I money. State auditors had been com-plaining for more than a year that the district's overall poor account-ing had made it impossible to get a clear picture of its finances. Federal prosecutors also have indicted scores of current and former district employees on fraud charges over the past 12 months. Last month, Alvarez & Marsal said the district needed to cut $48 million from its $400 million budget. The system also had to seek a loan of $50 mil-lion to make payroll, and announced the first of what was expected to be a series of layoffs just before Katrina hit. Compounding the difficulties have been the fractious relations among its top leaders. Super-intendent Anthony S. Amato called it quits in April amid tensions with the school board. Since then, board mem-bers have quarreled a-mong themselves over the hiring of the private contractor and other issues. This past summer, the board reportedly al-most replaced its acting superintendent,and the panel has yet to hire a search firm to find a suc-cessor for Mr. Amato. Even before the hurricane, and the ensuing flooding of the low-lying city after critical lev-ees were breached, the city's school buildings were in a state of disrepair, plagued by For-mosan termites, mold, and rot. Many were built before World War II, lacked air conditioning, and didn't meet current safety and health codes. Several schools had been condemned in recent years. The Knowledge Is Power Program, which has been in the process of converting a low-per-forming New Orleans school into a KIPP char-ter school called Phillips Preparatory, received an e-mail message from a regional official that embodied the uncertainty hanging over all the city's schools. The Aug. 30 e-mail from Shani Jackson said that she had reached the school's director of opera-tions and "been able to account for most of the staff," who are scattered from Baton Rouge to Atlanta. But information about students and their families, many of whom live in a nearby housing project, was "hard to come by." 『Our concern is for our the safe-ty and well-being of our families, and for the time be-ing education takes a back seat as ?school staff members focus on coping with this disaster," said Stephen Mancini, a spokesman for KIPP, which is based in San Francisco. "But we are committed to get it up and run |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 卡崔娜蹂躪 紐奧良孩童到休士頓上課 | |
| 策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
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Houston-Area Schools to Enroll Evacuated New Or-leans Children 在卡崔娜颶風的蹂躪下，或搭公車，或搭小客車，幾十名、幾百名無家可歸的學生湧入了休士頓地區。 德州官員在8月31 日宣布德州將在可以容納4萬5千名觀眾的圓頂運動場，提供路易斯安那州的居民避難所時，緊急事件協調官員已經預備吸收5千名學童在休士頓地區就學，然而現在數字已超過8千人。 亨利斯郡學區教育部門督學約翰‧索耶在9月1日表示，他們已協調並結合休士頓地區26個獨立學區的努力，在這些學區內都可以看到來自風災地區的學生在當地就學，然而這筆花費目前還無法估計。 圓頂運動場收留的，是那些在颶風來襲時躲在紐奧良市巨蛋體育館，而逃過一劫的災民。 其實在紐奧良被疏散的民眾來到這裡之前，休士頓地區學區早就見識到卡崔娜颶風的威力。擁有5萬5千名學生的阿爾丁學區發言人說，一名教師早在颶風襲擊紐奧良前，就集合她家附近的10名兒童逃到這裡來了。 索耶表示，在德州教育長官宣布這道命令前，擁有1萬2千名學生的北森林學區，就已經出現了650名由紐奧良出城學生註冊的情況。 而在命令宣達後一天，一群坐著校車的青少年和兒童，他們並不是巨蛋體育館的災民，出現在當地尋找躲避處，根據相關新聞報導，他們隨後也都被安排住在圓頂運動場內。 休士頓教師協會會長蓋耶‧弗倫說，這些學生在聯邦法對於無家可歸兒童的管理條例下，不需要有當地居民的身分資格，就將可在當地入學。學區已經撤回需要完全的預防接種記錄和教室內有一定師生比例的限制。近幾年內退休的老師都被徵召回來服務。 當政者一開始是考慮直接在圓頂運動場內授課，不過現在的局面是，許多路易斯安那居民搬到城裡較小的避難所，而兒童則在鄰近學校註冊就學。 大部分疏散的學生都被吸收到休士頓學區內，這是該州最大的學區，擁有約20萬9千名學生。「我們有資源可以這麼做。」休士頓學區的發言人泰利‧阿玻特表示：「我們感覺這樣才是真正幫助到這些孩子。」 （資料來源／教育週刊） |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
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| （回目錄） | |
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