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Raleigh police officers file grievances over evaluations By Sommer Brokaw Raleigh activist. “The chief said ing to the Raleigh Police be concerned. They might get bers of Teamsters Local 391. isteredtohimatthispoint,”said [email protected] that was very misleading. No, Protective Association. The stopped for something they Walters spoke out on behalf of Chip Roth, Teamsters commu- it’snot.It’scenteredaroundthe Raleigh Police Department has otherwise wouldn’t have.” the RPPA at a press conference nications director. “But it was RALEIGH - When Raleigh po- community policing, not racial 777 sworn personnel. Police officers were also eval- on July 5 after more than 100 lice officers began to file griev- inappropriate for police super- profiling because we don’t do Police officer Trey Walters, uated on raw activity numbers officers had filed grievances. visors to try to intimidate any ances over a new evaluation that. After the chief came back, and RPPA spokesperson, said under the prior Top Cops sys- Onehundredmorefiledthefol- systemthatgradesthemonthe of their officers while exercis- I do believe it was overrated.” the new evaluation boils down tem. “Basically, the biggest dif- lowing week. ing their fundamental freedom number of traffic stops or tick- Community policing has in- to an emphasis on “quantity ference is that Top Cops was a Sincethefirstgrievanceswere ets, it set off concerns about to speak out on such an impor- creased, and violent crime has overquality,”asthemainmeas- sidecomponentoftheoldeval- submitted, Teamsters said tant issue.” racial profiling. decreased in Raleigh since ure of performance. uation system so it was not re- Waltersreceivedsomebacklash. “Ithinkwhentheofficerswent Raleigh City Policy 300-18 4.2 Police Chief Harry Dolan came “The community should take ally at all about numbers,” “Supervisorsofthedepartment says that any employee may to file the grievances, the buzz into office five years ago. But comfort in the fact that we’re Walters said. “This new system called in the young officer who was centered around ticketing pursue any grievance without the new Priority Performance bringingthisissueforward,say- replaces the whole evaluation did the media conference for fear or reprisal in accordance that signaled to African- Measure Evaluation System is ingthisisn’tright,”hesaid.“We and this is the entire new eval- us and dressed him down, Americans or Hispanics that it with the Raleigh Civil Service stirring up dissension within don’twanttovictimizethepub- uation.” spoke harshly towards him Act, April 23, 1981. was the marching orders,” said the ranks. About 200 officers lic.Ifthissystemcontinues,the TheRPPAcomprisesover500 about what he was doing, but Octavia Rainey, a southeast have filed grievances, accord- average person has the right to policeofficersthatareallmem- no discipline has been admin- See RALEIGH/2A SPORTS Former ECSU star Celeste Trahan is making a splash overseas VOLUME 14 NO. 32 WEEK OF JULY 22,20122,2012 $1.00 THE TRIANGLE’S CHOICE FOR THE BLACK VOICE Prescription South for diversity among fails on medical school doctors funding By Chandra Thomas Whitfield By Sue Sturgis DIVERSE ISSUES IN EDUCATION THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY FormerU.S.SecretaryofHealth Many states are failing to and Human Services, Louis provide public schools with Sullivan is all too familiar with the resources they need to the myriad of challenges plagu- serve all students equitably, ing the medical profession. and Florida and North For one, he said, the nation’s Carolina are doing a partic- longstandingcriticalshortageof ularly poor job in address- primary care physicians lingers ing educational disparities on. In addition, although 30 per- caused by concentrated cent of Americans are African- poverty. American, Latino or Native That’s among the findings American, those populations of a new report from the now make up less than 10 per- Educational Law Center and cent of those working as physi- Rutgers Graduate School of cians and dentists. Education titled “Is School Sullivan hopes his newly Funding Fair? A National launched initiative will help ad- ReportCard,”whichanalyzes dress those issues in Ohio and data through 2009. It’s the second such report card createamodelthatmayberepli- Joe Henderson (second row, far left) and other graduates of Hire Level Ministry in Raleigh. cated nationwide. from the group,with thelast TheEducationforServicemod- one issued in 2010. el is a key element in the part- “Most states continue to nershipbetweenNortheastOhio neglect growing student MedicalUniversityandCleveland Ministry serves underemployed poverty by failing to direct State University. The initiative resourcestothestudentsand aims to encourage minorities to schools most in need,” said become primary care doctors made you feel like they’re look- employed, but there’s not a lot employment. co-author David G. Sciarra, By Sommer Brokaw ELC’s executive director. “In working in underserved [email protected] ing to help you get back into the for underemployed,” said “The underemployed popula- Northeast Ohio neighborhoods. community and get your life JacquelineBrewer,programman- tion is a very large group,” he some states and regions, the Both institutions are joining RALEIGH–JoeHenderson,who back,” he said. agerfortheeight-monthprogram said. “They are the people just shortfalls in school funding forces to recruit promising un- used to just scrape by, is now Hire Level Ministry paid for thatbegananewclassinJanuary. hanging on by the skin of their are reaching crisis levels.” dergraduate students for enroll- making a livable wage with Hendersontogetthetrainingfor “From a purely economic stand- teeth and trying to rationalize The report defines “fair” ment into CSU. enough money left over to give his commercial driver’s license point, we’re trying to ease the going to buy their medications school funding as a state fi- “The Census Bureau reports back. after he graduated from the pro- burden on our community. A or their kids’ medications.” nance system that provides thatby2042therewillnolonger “Once you’re so far down and gramlastfall.Hendersonsaidhe portion of our taxes goes to so- Founded in 2010, Hire Level a sufficient level of funding be a white majority in this coun- they say there ain’t nowhere to has gone from driving small box cialservices,andourparticipants originally focused on leadership tolocalschooldistrictstoac- try,” said Sullivan, president go but up, I’ve been through truckstomaking“$38,000ayear don’twanttorelyonthesystem. skills and has since expanded to count for additional needs emeritusofAtlanta’sMorehouse that,” he said. “I was kind of fac- andclimbing,”driving18-wheel- Our participants aren’t interest- include wellness and computer due to student poverty. In School of Medicine. “Research ing just the chain of command – ersandtrainingotherdrivers.He edinthatlifestyleanymore.They classes as well. It also has a new other words, a fair system shows that people tend to pre- howtomoveuponajob.Iwould nowmakesenoughmoneytonot want to be sustainable.” partnershipwithECPIUniversity would increase funding for fer doctors who look like them. find myself getting those jobs only sustain himself, but also to Founder Robert Bruce said he inRaleighthatprovidesthespace local districts as the level of This program is designed to ad- where I was just being satisfied help take care of his family and originally envisioned the min- for its classes on Thursday concentratedstudentpover- dress that issue as well.” or content with the place where others in need. istry providing services for the evenings. ty rises. The ultimate goal, he said, is I was.” The ministry aims to close the homeless and calling it “shelter “We’ve been using a room out The report observes: to affect the quality of care and Hire Level Ministry in Raleigh gap in services for people who and beyond.” But then he real- of ECPI University that was gra- Student poverty, especial- improve health outcomes for taught a leadership skills class are underemployed and to ease ized that other groups were al- ciously donated to us by James ly concentrated student residents in urban and rural thathelpedbuildhisconfidence. the tax burden from reliance on ready doing that, so they decid- Campbell of ECPI, and we’ve re- poverty, is the most critical “I got out of my experience - social services. “There are a lot ed to focus on helping the un- variable affecting funding See PRESCRIPTION/3A you are somebody - and they of resources for homeless or un- deremployed reach sustainable See MINISTRY/2A levels. Student and school poverty correlates with, and is a proxy for, a multitude of factors that impact the costs ofprovidingequaleducation opportunity - most notably Residential segregation still thrives gaps in educational achieve- ment, school district racial composition, English-lan- AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS of Washington, examined neigh- guage proficiency and stu- borhood tract data from the dent mobility. Residentialsegregationcontin- 1990, 2000 and 2010 U.S. cen- Thereportevaluatesstates ues to persist in 21st century suses, and created “cartograph- on four measures: America though the dynamics icvisualizations”of53largemet- • Funding level: The over- havechangedsomewhat,experts ropolitan areas. The academi- alllevelofstateandlocalrev- have found. According to a new cians found that though there enue provided to school dis- analysis published in The aren’tmanyneighborhoods“that tricts Professional Geographer, highly are all-white or all-black,”

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