Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Earlier this year, Paulette Wiley revived the Education Brain Trust, a group founded in 1982 by African-American educators and activists in Des Moines. The group — then and now — had grave concerns about the education of black students in the Des Moines School District, particularly the disproportionate number of blacks who are suspended, expelled and placed into special education programs and the dismal academic achievement of many black students. The group is also concerned about the recruitment, retention and promotion of black teachers and administrators.
Since May, the organization has held several parent meetings around Des Moines in which parents were paid $25 to attend and learn how to better advocate for their children’s education and improve their skills as parents. The next parent summit is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 21 at Des Moines’ Callanan Middle School.
Iowa Independent caught up with Wiley to find out how the parent sessions are going and get her take on why black parents aren’t as involved in their children’s education as they could be.
IOWA INDEPENDENT: How many parents attended the first “parent empowerment zone” meeting and how would you characterize their attendance and participation?
WILEY: Twenty-five parent attended the first training which was held at Carver Elementary [in Des Moines]. This meeting was a tremendous kick off for the parent trainings. We began with a rope exercise. Two people are linked together with a rope tied to both wrists; the goal is to unlink without removing the ropes from either person’s wrist. That took awhile to figure out. The moral is we need to work together to solve issues and resolve problems. This was a great exercise and a wonderful way to begin the day.
During the introductions, we asked everyone to introduce themselves and give us an idea of their expectations for the trainings
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