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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1987)
f c. ,e 6/ni'he Battalion/Thursday, March 26, 1987 College of Education to cooperate with school districts in research effort By April Coventry Reporter Texas A&M’s College of Edu cation is forming the School-Uni versity Collaborative Research Committee to build a foundation for collaborative research. At a conference Jan. 8-9, rep resentatives from eight school districts and 30 researchers from the College of Education dis cussed constraints and benefits of collaboration to both school dis tricts and the University and ways to enhance collaboration through field- and University-oriented re search. Dr. James McNamara, profes sor of educational administration and of educational psychology, said the committee found con straints including lack of funds, time factors, increased paper work for teachers, relevancy of research to the school and prior ity of research to the researchers as opposed to the schools. Some of the benefits, McNa mara said, are to provide actual lab work in the schools rather than simulation, an increased rel evancy of University courses, a broader base to bring about change, and a rejuvenation of learning. The committee consists of 12 representatives from A&M and a representative from each of eight school districts: Bryan, College Station, Spring, Klein, Conroe, San Antonio, Highland Park and Richardson. The committee is co-chaired by Robert Smith, superintendent of the Spring ISD, and McNamara. Committee members will work together on a single project that both researchers and school dis tricts agree on and is targeted for improvement of the schools, Mc Namara said. v pr< solved,” he said. For that reason the committee will study the pro ject for a year to acquire a the oretical framework for its re search and analysis, he said. After collecting data from the schools in the fall semester, the committee will have achieved two important objectives, McNamara said. “We’ll have the research find ings and we’ll have learned how to work with each other, which is very important for us,” he said. The researchers and districts will know each other’s interests and constraints in working to gether and, he says, more impor tantly, they will know the true meaning of collaboration: a coop erative effort to produce what neither side could produce alone. “The bottom line,” McNamara said, “is to become more proac tive than reactive.” The commit tee will share its findings with school trustees, the Texas Educa tion Agency and state legislators. The groups may then act on the committee’s research. The committee met again March 6 to determine possible projects for the collaborative re search. McNamara said these projects include assessing teacher effectiveness, becoming more fi nancially ef ficient and developing an annual report for school dis tricts to communicate a school’s success. The plan will be finalized in April, he said. “The future for this group is bright,” he said. After conducting the pilot pro ject, committee members will de cide whether they want to con- tinue in the effort for collaborative research. “I think we will,” McNamara said. Pope plans short tall< to 200 black Catholic! at New Orleans stop NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pope John Paul II has added a brief speech to black Catholics from around the country to his heavy schedule in New Orleans, Arch bishop Philip Hannan announced Wednesday. Hannan said blacks in the arch diocese asked for such an address af ter meetings with Hispanics and protestants were added to the sched ule for the pope’s 10-day, nine-city visit in September. “Originally ... he was not going to address any one racial or ethnic group,” Hannan said. He said John Paul’s schedule in New Orleans is busier than in any other city he is to visit. Other stops are scheduled in San Antonio, Mi ami, Columbia, S.C., Phoenix, Los Angeles, Monterey, Calif., San Fran cisco and Detroit. In recent months, planners added Detroit, where an estimated 600,000 Polish-Americans live, as the ninth city Spamsn also was ule. the itinerary. A si at a San Antonio is added to the popoi “1 felt he should also speal resentatives of black Catnofc United States,” Hannan said He said he proposed thei4 ing meetings in Rome last*f- the pope and cardinals. Louisiana was the obvio# for such remarks, he said,be has the nation’s highest tion of black Catholics. Niu 1 2 black bishops born inthii are from the Gulf Coast, he Five are from Louisiana t each from Mississippi and. said Tom Finney, a spoked the Archdiocese of New OrltJ Hannan said the pope v | to about 200 black Cathofiol around the country. The talk will be given inii 1 at Notre Dame Seminar I So rL ?2 Texas inmate on death row hopes for new trial HUNTSVILLE (AP) — Texas death row inmate Clarence Brandley said Wednesday he was pleased with a stay of execution that kept him from being put to death this week and hoped for a new trial that would exoner ate him. Brandley, 35, was to die by injection early today for the Aug. 23, 1980, rape-slaying of 16-year-old Cheryl Dee Fergeson at Conroe High School. A state district judge Friday granted him a stay and Brandley’s attorneys insist they now have statements from wit nesses who can clear him. “I don’t know any more than I’m hearing and seeing,” Brandley said Wednesday in an interview outside death row. “I’m very hope ful something will turn up for the good for me. I feel better now that I’ve got a stay.” Brandley said he would prefer another trial — which would be his third — rather than merely walk free. “I think I’d much rather be retried because I think there would still be a lot of doubt in people’s minds,” he said. The trial, however, should be anywhere but Montgomery County, Brandley said, be cause he did not believe he could get a fair trial in the county where the Fergeson slaying occurred. Meanwhile, a former Conroe High School janitor, the focus of an evidentiary hearing last summer in the Brandley case, said he was harassed by defense attorneys trying to free Brandley. James Dexter Robinson, 26, of Greenville, S.C., said investigators for Brandley’s attor neys visited him last week. Robinson said defense attorneys and their investigators are trying to “make me look like a suspect” and free Brandley. Brandley, who also was a janitor at the school, said Wednesday he was unaware of Robinson’s possible new connection with his case. Bradley said, “I never knew he was even at the school that day." Defense attorneys said two former high school janitors witnessed the abduction of Fergeson. The janitors also said in videotaped statements that Brandley was not involved, the attorneys said. Meanwhile, an attorney for Brandley said he met in Houston Tuesday with FBI agents to discuss the case. Lawyer Mike DeGuerin said an investiga tion by authorities could crack the case and catch the right murderer within two weeks, paving the way for Brandley’s release. Brandley said, “I'd like to see anybody come into this case to solve it." He said he has not talked with federal offi cials recently but his supporters have asked for a federal probe. His case has generated widespread publicity, with supporters staging rallies and demonstrations alleging that Brandley is the victim of racism. Brandley is black. Fergeson was white. Montgomery County District Attorney Peter Speers has branded the racism allega tion as preposterous. Brandley, who said he had no first-hand knowledge to identify the killer, said he would like to see Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox get involved because he thinks Mattox would be fair. Jeffrey P. Marcon, assistaci coordinator for the papal | New Orleans, said prcliminir| call for a 15-minute talL:| about 8 a.m. After that come event! scheduled: remarks at St thedral, across town in tht Quarter; a one-car "paradi there to the Superdome, gives a speech to Catholic ministrators and conduct! rally; an open-air Mass, at to naif a million people pected; and a speech toC lege and university leaders There won’t even be diKtj for supper before thesperr: lege and university leaders! University, Hannan said. “We’re counting on die have an enormous amountof just to get through his here,” Hannan said. “It'sal * I I I 5' ¥ S' I | ^ • Chicken Fried Steak • Hamburgers ^ • BAR-B-Q • $ 1 ^ Pitchers Every Night 5-9 pm ^ Catering for any size group East Bypass/Hwy 21 778-0077 MSC CAFETERIA MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER-TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY WEEKDAY SPECIALS $ 018 MONDAY EVENING TUESDAY EVENING W PLUS TAX SALISBURY STEAK Mushroom Gravy, Whipped Potatoes, Choice of Vegetable, Roll or Cornbread, Butter MEXICAN FIESTA Two Cheese Enchiladas with Chili, Rice, Beans, Tostados WEDNESDAY EVENING CHICKEN FRIED STEAK Served with Cream Gravy, Whipped Potatoes, Choice of Vegetable, Roll or Cornbread, Butter THURSDAY EVENING FRIDAY EVENING ITALIAN DINNER Spaghetti, Meatballs, Sauce, Parmesan Cheese, tossed Salad, Hot Garlic Bread FRIDAY NIGHT FISH FRY Tartar Sauce, Coleslaw, Hush Puppies, Choice of Vegetable WEEKEND SPECIAL $ 089 PLUS TAX SATURDAY NOON & EVENING SUNDAY NOON & EVENING FRIED CHICKEN Mashed Potatoes with Country Gravy, Choice of Vegetable, Roll or Cornbread, Butter ROAST TURKEY DINNER Served with Cornbread Dressing, Cranberry Sauce, Giblet Gravy, Choice of Vegetable, Roll or Cornbread, Butter TEA OR COFFEE INCLUDED AT NO EXTRA CHARGE ON SPECIALS EVENING SPECIALS AVAILABLE 4:00 PM TO 7:00 PM DAILY MSC CAFETERIA OPEN 11:00 AM-1:3Q PM AND 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM DAILY I N 817 South Texas Avenue across from Eastgate, next to Red Lobster in College Station $ 4 9 Puts You On The Right Sii Of The Tracksl It’s two minutes until your class'! in Kleberg and you’re stud] Blocker—on the wrong side of] tracks. 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