‘City Schools Are Stifled by Regulation’

Regarding Julia Levy’s article “City Schools Are Stifled By Regulation,” the Common Good flow-chart beginning on The New York Sun’s front page is a poignant depiction of the extraordinary process a principal goes through in handling school discipline issues [Page One, November 30, 2004].

I was surprised, however, that Ms. Levy did not mention New Beginnings, which was a successful alternative program for disruptive students.

The program in my district, located at the West Side YMCA, rose above the dubious status quo of school discipline regulations depicted in Ms. Levy’s story.

I witnessed firsthand the success of students who otherwise had a lot of difficulty in their original schools and classrooms. Unfortunately, the Department of Education inexplicably discontinued the program in August 2004.

Ms. Levy’s article raises an important issue. In an ideal world, the good judgment of teachers and administrators would resolve all discipline problems in schools. Too often, however, the reality is that the judgment of even the most fair-minded administrators and teachers can be clouded by complicated power dynamics and unintended bias. Thus, some regulations are needed to protect students.

I believe that the current discipline regulations and procedures are excessive and inadequate in protecting the rights of students, but it does not appear that the DOE is ready to amend its discipline code anytime soon. New Beginnings effectively circumvented these regulations and provided a holistic alternative for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

GALE A. BREWER
City Council Member
Ms. Brewer is a Democrat of Manhattan

United Nations Aid and Hamas

I write to clarify some of the facts about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees that appeared in your newspaper under the headline “Lawmakers Urge Withholding Aid to U.N. Agency That Works With Hamas,” Eli Lake, Foreign, December 2, 2004].

UNRWA does not knowingly employ members of Hamas. Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s commissioner general, was simply being honest when he admitted there were likely to be Hamas sympathizers on the UNRWA payroll as we have 12,000 staff in the West Bank and Gaza from among a population of which, according to recent polls, around 25% to 35% sympathize with Hamas. While UNRWA cannot inquire into the beliefs and religious affiliations of its staff, the agency is scrupulous in insisting that they not engage in any activity that is incompatible with their status as independent and impartial civil servants.

UNRWA delivers services directly to refugees through its own staff and has no need to rely on or work through nongovernmental organizations or other groups regardless of their affiliations.

Palestinian refugee camps are not UNRWA’s camps, as your story claimed. We have no administrative or security mandate or oversight in the refugee camps, as that is the role of the host authorities wherever they are located.

As to the charge that textbooks and educational materials used in UNRWA schools promote anti-Semitism and exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, this appears to rely on a report by Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, which was described by Nathan Brown, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, as “tendentious and highly misleading.”

A more credible study of Palestinian textbooks by the Israel/ Palestine Center for Research and Information, commissioned by the American Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem at the request of the U.S. Congress, concluded that “the overall orientation of the curriculum is peaceful despite the harsh and violent realities on the ground.

It does not openly incite against Israel and the Jews. It does not openly incite hatred and violence. Religious and political tolerance is emphasized in a good number of textbooks and in multiple contexts.”

In addition, UNRWA has been creating curriculum enrichment materials for teachers and extra-curricular activities for students focusing on peace education, human rights, tolerance and conflict resolution, long before the issue of textbooks used in its schools became a subject for public debate.

PAUL McCANN
Chief Public Information Office
UNRWA Headquarters Gaza

‘Rumsfeld for Defense’

I disagree with The New York Sun’s endorsement of Donald Rumsfeld and his team for a second term in the Pentagon [“Rumsfeld for Defense,” Editorial, November 30, 2004].

I see no evidence anywhere of “a tremendous pair of successes in strategy and execution.”

It was not the Pentagon civilian leadership team that is most identified “with Mr. Bush’s idea of making America safer by spreading freedom and democracy.”

It was their idea to do it at the point of a gun.

RALPH AVERILL
New Preston, Conn.

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