2005-07-22 Indianapolis Recorder

              Preparing a conscious community today and beyond
The Color Purple heads to Broadway. Page C6
Volume 110 ■ Number 29 ■ Since 1895  ■ FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2005 ■ www.lndlanapollSFoeorder.com ■ Four Sections ■ 75C
INDIANA BUCK EXPO EMPOWERING AND FUN
2005 SUMMER CELEBRATION
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Tht Isley Brothers rtctntly performed as part of
Indiana Black Expo's Music
Heritage Festival II. Baby-
fact and Chaka Khan were
among tht othtr performers. Stt mort Summer Celebration coverage on pagt
A2. (Photo/J. Hurst)
NEWS BRIEFS
Library changes
renewal policy
Library patrons are now
allowed unlimited renewals of print and non-print
materials other than adult
feature DVDs under a
revised policy announced
by the Indianapolis-Marion
County Public Library.
Effective the beginning of July, unlimited
renewals are allowed on
borrowed materials, such
as books, audiocassettes,
music CDs, VHS titles, and
juvenile and non-feature
DVDs, as long as they're
not being requested by
other patrons.
In the past, print and
audio-visual materials,
other than adult feature
DVDs, were restricted to
15 renewals, due to occasional misuse of the
privilege by some library
users and a concern about
their availability for other
patrons. The library will
address concerns of abuse
with patrons on an individual basis.
Renewals and holds are
unavailable for adult feature DVDs under a policy,
which provides for greater
accessibility of items in
this highly-popular format.
The policy limits the loan
.period for adult feature
DVDs to three days.
Shattering the
silence
"Shattering the Silence" Community Day, a
campaign to bring awareness about domestic
violence, will be held at
the Indianapolis City Market on Tuesday, July 26
from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The
free event is sponsored
by the Domestic Violence
Network of Greater Indianapolis and WTHR Channel 13. To RSVP e-mail
bmk<s>dvmgi.org or call
(317) 475-6110.
Got a hot news tip?
Want to lie heard?
M you would Mte to report any
caH tte Rtcordtr News Hotlim
at (317) 924-5143 tit 300
By BRANDON A. PERRY
StaH Writer
By any measure, organizing a 10-
day series of expositions, concerts,
summits, luncheons, seminars,
fairs, workshops, community worship services and other events is no
easy task.
However, 19 staff members of
Indiana Black Expo and a host
of committed volunteers not only
Cedrlck
Florence
(left) tmo-
tlonally
accepted
an award on
behalf of his
deceased
father
Johnny
Florence,
past president of
tht Gary
Chapter
of Indiana
Black Expo.
IBE Chairman of tht
Board Arvls
Dawson
presented
tht award
to Flortnct.
(Photo/C.
Guynn)
pulled it off, but made new achievements in the process.
As a result, the 2005 Indiana
Black Expo Summer Celebration
was an affair to remember for tens
of thousands of Indiana residents
as well as out-of-town visitors.
"It was absolutely great," said
Joyce Rogers, president and CEO
ofthe Indiana Black Expo(IBE). "1
think that we were truly blessed to
have a really good 10 days."
Although IBE events have
gained -considerable attention
every year for the past three decades, observers were particularly
watchful of the outcome of this
year's Summer Celebration because
it represented a milestone and
transition.
First, 2005 has marked IBE's
35th anniversary, as a non-profit
► Stt EXPO, A3
|1
158256
Indiana charter schools show
mixed results of requirements
■ Achievement scores for
majority of Hoosier charter
schools are meetinq the
state standards.
By ERICKA C. WHEELER
StaH Writer
As parents begin to zero in on a school for
their children's 2005-2006 academic
year, new Indiana charter schools have
been added to the list of educational
training sites.
Nearly eight new Indiana charter schools will
open in August - three of which will open in Indianapolis.
Ofthe 30 total Indiana charter schools, 13 ofthem
have become established with the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and have test results
available for public viewing.
Since the 2001 incorporation ofthe No Child Left
Behind Act, IDOE has been required to track the
overall student progress by schools and corporations.
IDOE does this through its annual Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) reports.
The results track each school and corporation's stu-
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dents by their ethnicity, economic background, and
limited proficiency in English and special education
status. The 2004 reports show that over half of the
schools in Indiana are meeting state standards.
"The majority of our students continued to make
AYP, even though we doubled the number of grades
and students tested," said Dr. Suellen Reed, superintendent of public instruction. "Furthermore, the
vast majority of our schools that did not make AYP
missed the mark in only one or two areas."
Like any school district, parents inquire about
the teachers, curriculum, other students and activities available at each school. While a majority of
Indiana's charter schools are succeeding, a handful
of those schools are planning to restructure their
curriculums.
Schools that have failed to meet the standards of
AYP have either "not met one or more student performance targets" (English, math and other) or they
have been unable to meet the required "95 percent
participation and attendance/graduation rates for
any student groups with 40 or more students."
Ofthe 13 charters schools' AYP results reported
in 2004, five of those schools did not meet the AYP
standards by either one or both ofthe requirements.
One of those was Flanner House Higher Learning. It
fell below passing in English and math, passed the
participation requirement, but failed overall.
"We know that we have some work to do, but you
also have to consider that these students are new to
our program and 2004 was our first year for working
with them, not saying that is an excuse," said Cynthia
Diamond director ofthe Flanner House.
Flanner House was not alone, Charter School of
the Dunes, located in Lake County, held the same
outcome for the 2004 school year. Thea Bowman
Leadership in Lake County, Options Charter School
in Carmel, and Camagna Academy in Schererville,
all passed the English portion, but foiled in math
and failed the AYP overall.
"For the most part charter schools in urban Indiana serve a higher percentage of minorities in public
education. Most ofthe kids who come into charter
schools are already academically behind before
they even start a charter school," said Ron Gibson,
president ofthe Charter Schools Association of Indiana. There is no excuse for failing charter schools,
► Stt RESULTS, A3
Birth control
patch linked to
higher death rate
By ERICKA P. THOMPSON
Staff Writer
The Ortho Evra birth control patch
could be more dangerous than initially
reported.
Though the Food and Drug Administration and patch-maker Ortho McNeil
saw warning signs of possible problems
with the patch before it hit the market,
both maintain that the patch is as safe
as the birth control pill.
Yet, FDA reports obtained by the Associated Press appear to indicate that in
2004- when 800,000 women were using
the patch - the risk of dying or suffering
a survivable blood dot while using the
method was about three times higher
than while using birth control pills.
According to AP, the deaths of a dozen
people, all who died last year, could ba
linked to the patch.
The women who died were young-in
their late teens and early 20s - and apparently at low risk for blood clots.
One such woman, Zakiya Kennedy, an
18-year-old Manhattan fashion student
collapsed and died in a New York subway
station last April. Also, Sasha Webber, a
25-year-old mother of two from Bayches-
ter, N.Y., died of a heart attack after six
weeks on the patch last March.
Some health care professionals say
that women who are currently using the
patch or thinking about using the patch
shouldn't worry.
Cathy Han-
sell, a nurse
practitioner
and senior director of medical services
for Planned
Parenthood of
Indiana says
skeptics should
look more
closely at the
report
"I think you
have to look at what those reports are
saying " she said. "The FDA director ofthe
Division for Reproductive and Urologi-
cal Drug Products (Dr. Daniel Shames)
has said he doesn't see that there is any
cause for alarm. As far as the risk ofblood
clots, we are not aware at this time that
the risk of clots with Ortho Evra is necessarily any higher than that with the other
combined hormonal methods. There are
a lot of factors that we don't know about
this reporting."
Some doctors said that they would
have expected some deaths and no investigation is warranted. They say that
more than 4 million women have safely
used the patch and note that the FDA
reports are called in voluntarily, rather
than gathered scientifically.
"It doesn't jump out at me to say, 'Let's
look at this any further,'" said Dr. Steven
J. Sondheimer, professor of obstetrics and
gynecology at die University of Pennsylvania. "I don't feel that these need to be
looked at in any detail."
Though Ortho McNeil says that none
ofthe deaths can be directly attributed to
the patch, AP found that before the patch
was approved, the FDA had already noticed nonfatal blood clots from the patch
► Stt PATCH, A3
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