Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/497821
ByJustinJuozapavicius and Sean Murphy The Associated Press TULSA,OKLA. Afterhesold his insurance company for around $6 million, Robert Bates sought to return to a profession he tried for a year in his early 20s: law en- forcement. Bates — the 73-year-old Tulsa County volunteer deputy accused of shoot- ing an unarmed suspect to death while the ma n was being held down by others — began a law-enforce- ment ca- reer back in 1964, when he attended the Tulsa po- lice academy. He served in the city police department only briefly, until the end of 1965, according to the agency. That's where Bates' path becomes clouded. It's not clear why he left the police force, but 35 years later, he reconnected with law en- forcement, becoming a gen- erous donor to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, a campaign manager for the sheriff and a reserve deputy. Those close ties have raised questions about whether Bates was essen- tially paying for the privi- lege of working alongside real officers and whether he had received proper train- ing and certification to perform law-enforcement duties, including carrying weapons. Bates, who has been charged with second-de- gree manslaughter, went on national television Fri- day to counter criticisms of his qualifications. After Bates left the dep- uty job, his path fades again for more than a decade. In 1977, he started his own insurance company. By the time he sold it in 1999 to the North American In- surance Agency Inc., it was worth nearly $6 million, according to court records. That's when Bates began moving back into the world of law enforcement. He served as a civilian volunteer and rode along with officers in the marine patrol division of the In- dian River County Sheriff's Office in Florida from 2000 to 2001, but his role did not allow him to be involved in criminal enforcement, ac- cording to Sgt. Thom Rau- len, a spokesman for the of- fice. Six years after his volun- teer work in Florida, Bates became an advanced re- serve deputy for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and began working with the vi- olent crimes and narcotics task force in 2008, accord- ing to paperwork he sub- mitted after the shooting. In the paperwork, Bates wrote in that he attended "numerous" schools and seminars related to drug investigations and appre- hending drug-trafficking suspects. Bates has donated tens of thousands of dollars in cars, SUVs and equipment to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office over the past 10 years, records released by the of- fice show. OKLAHOMA POLICE KILLING Deputy sold company, went back to police work Bates By Christina A. Cassidy The Associated Press ATLANTA Thousands of students are opting out of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core standards, defying the latest attempt by states to improve academic per- formance. This "opt-out" movement remains scattered but is growing fast in some parts of the country. Some super- intendents in New York are reporting that 60 percent or even 70 percent of their students are refusing to sit for the exams. Some law- makers, sensing a tipping point, are backing the par- ents and teachers who com- plain about standardized testing. Resistancecouldbecostly: If fewer than 95 percent of a district'sstudentsparticipate in tests aligned with Com- mon Core standards, federal money could be withheld, al- though the U.S. Department of Education said that hasn't happened. "It is a theoretical club ad- ministratorshaveusedtoco- erce participation, but a club that is increasingly seen as a hollow threat," said Bob Schaeffer with the National Center for Fair & Open Test- ing,whichseekstolimitstan- dardized testing. And so the movement grows: This week in New York, tens of thousands of students sat out the first day of tests, with some districts reporting more than half of students opt- ing out of the English test. Preliminary reports sug- gest an overall increase in opt-outs compared to last year, when about 49,000 students did not take Eng- lish tests and about 67,000 skipped math tests, com- pared to about 1.1 million students who did take the tests in New York. The defiance dismays people who believe holding schools accountable for all their students' continuing improvement is key to solv- ing education problems. Assessing every student each year "gives educa- tors and parents an idea of how the student is doing and ensures that schools are paying attention to traditionally underserved populations," U.S. Depart- ment of Education Spokes- woman Dorie Nolt said in an emailed statement. The Obama administra- tion has encouraged states to adopt Common Core standards through the fed- eral grant program known as Race to the Top, and most have, but each state is free to develop its own tests. Much of the criticism fo- cuses on the sheer number of tests now being applied in public schools: From pre-kindergarten through grade 12, students take an average of 113 standardized tests, according to a survey by the Council of the Great City Schools, which repre- sents large urban districts. Of these, only 17 are man- dated by the federal gov- ernment, but the backlash that began when No Child Left Behind started to hold teachers, schools and dis- tricts strictly accountable for their students' prog- ress has only grown stron- ger since "Common Core" gave the criticism a com- mon rallying cry. Teachers now devote 30 percent of their work time on testing-related tasks, including prepar- ing students, proctoring, and reviewing the results of standardized tests, the National Education Asso- ciation says. The pressure to im- prove results year after year can be demoraliz- ing and even criminaliz- ing, say critics who point to the Atlanta test-cheat- ing scandal, which led to the convictions 35 educa- tors charged with altering exams to boost scores. "It seems like overkill," said Meredith Barber, a psychologist from the Phil- adelphia suburb of Penn Valley who excused her daughter from this year's tests. Close to 200 of her schoolmates also opted out in the Lower Merion School District, up from a dozen last year. "I'm sure we can figure out a way to assess schools rather than stressing out children and teachers and really making it unpleasant for teachers to teach," said Barber. Utah and California al- low parents to refuse test- ing for any reason, while Arkansas and Texas pro- hibit opting out, accord- ing to a report by the Ed- ucation Commission of the States. Most states are like Georgia, where no specific law clarifies the question, and lawmakers in some of these states want protect the right to opt out. EDUCATION Opt-out movement accelerates amid Common Core testing MATTSLOCUM—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Meredith Barber is seen with her daughter Gabrielle Schwager, 10, at their home in Penn Valley, Pa. 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