The national media has taken notice of Montclair's $65,000 D West motivational program--and commenters' online opinions about it. According to msnbc, $2.23 million in federal stimulus funding poured into the coffers of the Montclair School District and bloggers (I guess that means me) are cranky about $65,000 of it going to athletes. The story also references the Montclair Times' coverage here, where some commenters criticized the use of the funds for the program.
To get the other side of the story, I called officials at Montclair Board of Education, D West, D West's company Pro Athletes and an MHS football coach. One person called me back, head football coach Ed Lebida.
Here's what he had to say:
I had met D West on one or two occasions. He also brings in other athletes [every two weeks or so] that may have struggled academically and socially because of their environments and what they've had to overcome in their lives. At lot of our kids' parents are working two jobs; parents aren't asking to see their homework... I've been here 40 years, and I can say this: Anytime there's grant money out there, we're trying to get it... We're not satisfied with a 2.0; we want them to strive for at least 3.0.When we look at our educational profession, the most important thing we can put our money into is our youth, our teachers, our schools. I don't look at the dollar value. The money is well spent if there is a positive outcome....This program grew from 25 to 45 like that.
The program is open to all athletes, not just the football players. We tried to solicit some more female athletes. There are more and more students who'd like to be a part of it. It's really kind of cool that they want to be a part of this program. Whoever really wants to take part, we'll be more than happy. We may have to cut it off and limit it at some point--there's an at-home follow up component, and we want to make sure we can follow up with all the students.
Lebida told me there are motivational programs every year, but this one is special because D has charisma and connects to the kids right away. D, as I wrote earlier, will be coming throughout the school year until the spring, and he and his team will visit the middle schools as well. He overcame a hard childhood himself in Irvington--and I've been a fan of his from daytime talk shows. I don't think Baristanet has ever questioned his credentials. That's not the issue.
Here was what some readers took issue with, as quoted in the msnbc story, by one commenter, Annette: "Holy crap. That's $104.17 a minute. Sick!" (So meta, I know.)
In the big picture of $2.23M, is it really? I don't know. And I haven't been able to reach the right people to find out.
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Comments (21)
If the program works then maybe the money was very well spent. I wonder what the students themselves have to say. If they are benefitting from the program then it may be well worth the expense.
That MSNBC article is quite a good case of how the liberal media machine works. Read the article.
Annette says, "Holy crap. That's $104.17 a minute. Sick!"
The average MSNBC reader surely thinks, "whoa, it sure is! Perhaps this Obama stimulus is getting wasted?"
Then MSNBC says:
"The school district hired West and his consulting company, Pro Athletes Inc., to mentor 22 student athletes over the next six months at Montclair High School. They also will put on presentations for students at two local middle schools.
Federico said some of the outrage seems to be based on a misunderstanding. Some readers clearly thought the money was for a one-time appearance by West, she said."
no mention of the fact the the "six months" of mentoring is 24 (count 'em) 40 minute sessions.
So the average MSNBC Obamaphille pinhead thinks "ahhh, annette an idiot!"
And their faith that the stimulus is being spent well is restored.
Despite the $104 per minute being accurate!
whoops.
no mention of the fact the the "six months" of mentoring is 12 (count 'em) 40 minute sessions!
Nice feel good program...go to surrounding towns like Glen Ridge, Verona, Cedar Grove and the Caldwells where they get nothing and their budgets are as bare boned as they come. These programs are a crock...
it's also interesting to note that the points the MSNBC's Obama Protection Patrol had to "smack down" all came from commenters. Of course, to do so, MSNBC had to get the story all wrong and make annette look the fool as a result - one of the people who thought it was a "one-time appearance".
The intrepid baristanet missed a chance to scoop MSNBC in following up on this story.
I highly doubt baristanet will dare to correct MSNBC either.
ROC: What are you talking about?
Of course, to do so, MSNBC had to get the story all wrong and make annette look the fool as a result - one of the people who thought it was a "one-time appearance".
The article doesn't make annette look like a fool, you must be projecting again.
Kind of a typical sort of Baristanet piece of reportage by its crack editorial staff: Well, we really couldn't find anybody to comment usefully at length. But hey, we'll give you what we've got here anyway, which admittedly isn't much...This isn't journalism, it's just idle typing.
I'm still curious about how "D" West computed that he'd lived a very specific percentage of his youth without heat and hot water. And also how he played "professional football" when he admits that he attended Rutgers Newark, which is famously without a football team. I might even suggest that yes, D West's credentials are at least part of the issue. Snake oil salespeople come in all shapes, sizes and racial backgrounds. Why, sometimes they even show up n daytime TV talk shows, after all.
He did, as the article says cathar, play "part of a season for the AFL [Arena Football League] Florida [West Palm Beach] Bobcats [formerly the team was called "Hooters" and sponsored by the restaurant]"
"The article doesn't make annette look like a fool, you must be projecting again."
The article says annette (and other commenters) were wrong because:
"some of the outrage seems to be based on a misunderstanding. Some readers clearly thought the money was for a one-time appearance by West, she said."
Not one single person in that thread said anything about it being a "one-time event". The reporter knows this from reading the thread. The reporter cites this to explain the "mistake". But there wasn't a mistake.
$50,000 / 12 classes / 40 minutes each class = $104/min.
It's also why you won't see the usual liberal baristanetties say much in this particular thread. The MSNBC bias is too obvious and thus it's an "inconvenient truth".
Godfrey Daniel, RoC!....Give it a break. Who has time to watch Liberal or Conservative bobble head shows anyway....and who is D West? The 7th son of Adam & Mae? Montclair,Take some of that money and give it to GR to drain that swamp they call Hurrell Field! Mother of Pearl, peel me a grape, RoCCo!
All this breathless analysis over the prose of one reporter who's probably an intern and is edited, only barely, by a 21 year-old with no supervising adult. It may be pathetic, but it's hardly a conspiracy. Nobody in journalism has the time or the talent for that anymore.
I don't look at the dollar value. The money is well spent if there is a positive outcome...
Ed, in the future, you probably should decline that request for an interview. Your eagerness to spend other people's money without end isn't something to boast about.
Kari Huus
Kari Huus has been a reporter for nearly two decades. For MSNBC.com she has covered a wide range of international events and issues. Before coming to MSNBC.com at launch in 1996, she lived in Beijing and Hong Kong for nearly eight years, reporting on China for Newsweek and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Huus was on one of the earlier reporting trips to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/biographies.html
D West sure is motivational. If I could learn even half of his negotiating skills... My family could survive on $50 a minute. In fact at $50 a minute, I might decide to work only part time leaving a parent at home to ask about homework and coach my own kids to a 3.0 average. No, at $50 a minute I wouldn't be satisfied with a 2.0 either. Now I'm motivated to find stimulus funds and draw them from inspired, retiring public employees.
At $25 a minute, I'd be motivated to go to work even at a hard job.
Wait, am I talking myself down?
Maybe I need some time with D West to keep my sights clearly set on the goal: $100 a minute.
Walleroo, walleroo (delivered in a weary, Claude Rains-ian tone), walleroo, the age and experience of whomever posts and/or "edits" here is not exactly the issue. It is the pretense that it constitutes "citizen journalism," which makes readers suspect that some citizens are then just doltish. (There was an item yesterday citing an upcoming appearance before a group during which this site's very founder is sure to gush about the sparkling new approach Baristanet has brought to the news-hungry public).
From your defense of journalism's rapidly retrenching standards, however, one might conclude that you too were once a dweller on New Grub Street. And that you've since been cast up on the shoals of reportorial irrelevancy.
Please don't pester me with facts, ROC. I have neither the time nor the talent to deal with them. I'm too busy fending off all these interns!
Okay, I actually read the msnbc.com article. It's written as commentary, which is typical of so much of the cr*p on the Web these days, with the exception of my posts ("brilliantly funny" - jerseygurl; "witty beyond belief" -- cathar; "walleroo is the George Will of the dotcom generation" -- ROC). But it falls short of actually taking a stand. Huus merely suggests a point of view, but doesn't actually own the argument she's making, which allows her to get by purely by juxtaposing things other people say.
If she were to write an honest piece, she would argue that criticism of D is racist, or that suburban taxpayers ought to just dummy up and spend the money, which is obviously needed and doing good. Of course, that would require actually thinking things through, which takes time and entails a great many risks. She has neither the time, the talent no0r the stomach for it.
So there you have it. If there's a conspiracy, it's in the prevailing ethos, which carries Huus's piece lazily along to its non-conclusion. I'm not going to articulate that ethos here--too risky! no time!--but it has something to do with racism and education.
I don't defend it, cathar. But I also wouldn't waste my breath criticizing the deck-chair attendants of the Titanic just before the ship reared up and went under.
I'm not suggesting a vast conspiracy Walleroo. Just (fairly typical) liberal bias.
A to this being a "commentary" she's credited as "reporter" and it's in the news section. Is the reader supposed to somehow know that shoddy reporting is somehow "commentary" and thus off the hook for veracity.
Especially telling is that to get the facts right as to what the baristanet commenters were saying all the "research" she had to do was read 6 minutes worth of comments on baristanet!
So, she's either a monumental idiot, or she knows exactly what was said. One would think she's remained reporter for 20 years precisely because she's not stupid. But perhaps her longevity is owed to her common (and approved) bias?
Her clear storyline is this:
A bunch of local louts were complaining that stimulus money was being wasted at $104 per minute. But they were wrong, you see, because a faulty assumption. An assumptions which, well, I am only assuming they made because otherwise they would be right. And I'm not going to actually check this assumption I am assuming they're making, because, you know, I really don't want to know. QED. Mission accomplished.
Well ROC I still think you're misinterpreting the story due to your own bias, but I'll defer as you're clearly an expert on this topic.
I mean, you must be...considering 20 of the 47 posts from the original thread are from you.
Using stimulus $$ for transient services is misusing it. Its better spent in capital improvements or long term projects.
Alas, given the situation around accountability and the current board, I predict that I am pretty alone with my opinion.
Having said that, above motivational speeches are meant to be presented to all students.
A to this being a "commentary" she's credited as "reporter" and it's in the news section.
Dude, it's on the Web. Those categories have long since dissolved.