Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years, which educators say isn’t enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform.

“Would you buy Coca-Cola if they changed CEOs every year?” asked Diana Bourisaw, who left as St. Louis superintendent in July after two years in the top job. “The answer is no. I wouldn’t.”

On Friday, Kelvin Adams signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis district worth $225,000 annually plus bonus incentives, a day after his hiring was approved by a state-appointed board that oversees the district.

Adams figures he can buck the trend of superintendent turnover. “I am absolutely focused on one thing - student achievement,” he said.

Academic accountability is the new national mantra in public education, and low-performing districts are giving high salaries and making high demands on their superintendents, who must deal with conflicts among school boards, teachers’ unions, and parent groups.

The school board in Kansas City has gained a reputation for micromanaging the district and bypassing its own superintendent even as test scores languish year after year.

One school board member, Ingrid Burnett, abruptly quit this past week, and in a resignation letter scolded her colleagues for not doing enough to address the district’s accreditation problems and their “continued demonstrations of micromanagement and defensive posturing.”

The 2006 study by the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of some of the nation’s largest urban public school systems, reported an average salary of $208,000 among the nearly 60 urban districts it examined. More than half of those superintendents got a car or mileage allowance, more than one-third got financial bonuses, and 2 percent received a housing allowance.

Yet it’s not unheard of for a big-city opening to draw only a few dozen candidates - a testament, analysts say, to the job’s professional and political demands.

Atlanta went through five superintendents in 10 years before Barbara Hall arrived in 1999, said school board member Katy Pattillo. She feels the district has made significant academic progress since Hall’s arrival.

Pattillo said the Atlanta school board attended “governance training” to better define the roles of people involved in education and improve communication. It also worked to get community and business support. Hall now boasts of academic gains every year since 2000.

In St. Louis, Adams takes over a district that hasn’t been as fortunate. The Missouri Board of Education has stripped the district of accreditation, finding that it came up short academically and financially.

After a decade in St. Louis, Lori and Eric Peterson and their children are moving to the suburbs because they feel the school district has let them down.

“Do we stay and try to prove a point that we’re ‘city’ people?” Lori Peterson asked. “Or do we leave because that’s in the best interest of our children?”

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Martin Sheen and Paris Hilton have become Hollywood’s hottest odd couple after teaming up to film a new FunnyorDie.com spoof political ad.

Hilton hit the headlines in August when her ‘Paris For President 2008′ campaign ad first appeared on the comedy website, and she was so overwhelmed by the response to her her poolside fun at the expense of presidential candidate John McCain, she’s back for another skit - with former TV president Sheen.

In the new video, the West Wing star admits, “Being a fake president is a lot harder today than it was when I was a fake president. My fake administration started before this country started taking some hits.”

Hilton admits she used a few neighbourhood contacts to get Sheen onboard: “Charlie Sheen, his son, lives a couple of houses down the street from me in my gated community, so it just worked out perfectly.”

The video was shot in an hour at Hilton’s home on Sunday during a party she was hosting for family and friends.

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Cole, the 58-year-old daughter of legendary singer Nat King
Cole, has canceled her tour dates for October but is expected
to make a full recovery, the spokeswoman told Reuters. Cole’s
unexpected hospitalization was first reported by Entertainment
Tonight.

“She has had a setback and is in the hospital in New York.
We expect her to make a full recovery.

She will be in the
hospital a few more days and then will be sent home for bed
rest,” the spokeswoman, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

She said Cole had postponed all her concert dates and other
appearances scheduled for October.

Cole’s manager declined to discuss her condition.

Cole announced in July she had been diagnosed with
Hepatitis C and that she probably contracted the liver disease
from drug use more than 30 years ago.

Her doctors said at the time she was responding well to
treatment, including chemotherapy, but was suffering
“significant side effects,” including fatigue, muscle aches and
dehydration.

The singer, whose father died of lung cancer when she was
15, documented her addiction to cocaine, heroin and alcohol in
her 2000 autobiography “Angel On My Shoulder.” She overcame her
addictions after a lengthy stay in rehab in the early 1980s.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease that is
often without symptoms and can cause inflammation of the liver,
and in extreme cases, liver cancer. It is usually contracted
through transfusions of unscreened blood, or by injecting or
inhaling drugs.

Natalie Cole has won eight Grammys in a 30-year career
singing jazz, pop and R&B and releasing hit albums such as
“Everlasting” and “Unforgettable … With Love,” which featured
her singing a duet with her late father via electronic
technology.

Reuters

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• Cineplex Entertainment launching fall concert series in movie theatres
• Hustle Flow Star Saves New Orleans Family

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Natalie Richards has been named the SSAT Outstanding New Teacher of the Year at the annual Teaching Awards at the London Palladium.

Mrs Richards, a drama teacher at Bishop Gore School in Sketty, Swansea, was described as a “fantastic mentor” to younger teachers and staff.

She has been teaching for three years and was nominated by a pupil.

The school sent along a party of pupils to support Mrs Richards at Sunday’s ceremony.

Mrs Richards was said to be respected by pupils for her belief that everyone has talents.

One pupil said she was “not the most amazing teacher I’ve ever met, she’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met”.

Natalie Richards joined Bishop Gore School in Swansea three years ago

Since she joined the school, Mrs Richards has run productions of Arabian Nights and The Crucible and has started a lunchtime talent club.

As a fundraiser and runner she also ropes in pupils to train and compete with her in Sport Relief events.

The Teaching Awards were founded by Lord Puttnam 10 years ago and are open to every school in the UK, and reward excellent teachers, headteachers, teaching assistants, governors and sustainable schools.

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Remember the not-quite-as-awesome-as-we’d-hoped recording of a phone call between Harvey Weinstein and Joe Roth that leaked in July and purportedly came from a former Miramax assistant writing a tell-all? Well, there’s another one! The Post is hosting not-totally-exciting audio of a call between Harvey and Quentin Tarantino, made during production on Jackie Brown, with both complaining about Robert De Niro. Since the perpetrator allegedly has access to fifteen years’ worth of tapes, we hope he’ll leak some better ones nearer to the release of his book. [NYP]

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Cole, the 58-year-old daughter of legendary singer Nat King Cole, has canceled her tour dates for October but is expected to make a full recovery, the spokeswoman confirmed.

Cole’s unexpected hospitalisation was first reported by Entertainment Tonight.

“She has had a setback and is in the hospital in New York. We expect her to make a full recovery. She will be in the hospital a few more days and then will be sent home for bed rest,” the spokeswoman, who declined to be named, said.

She said Cole had postponed all her concert dates and other appearances scheduled for October.

Cole’s manager declined to discuss her condition.

Cole announced in July she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C and that she probably contracted the liver disease from drug use more than 30 years ago.

Her doctors said at the time she was responding well to treatment, including chemotherapy, but was suffering “significant side effects,” including fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration.

The singer, whose father died of lung cancer when she was 15, documented her addiction to cocaine, heroin and alcohol in her 2000 autobiography Angel On My Shoulder.

She overcame her addictions after a lengthy stay in rehab in the early 1980s.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease that is often without symptoms and can cause inflammation of the liver, and in extreme cases, liver cancer. It is usually contracted through transfusions of unscreened blood, or by injecting or inhaling drugs.

Natalie Cole has won eight Grammys in a 30-year career singing jazz, pop and R&B and releasing hit albums such as Everlasting and Unforgettable … With Love, which featured her singing a duet with her late father via electronic technology.

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Writing on behalf of the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and its board of trustees, the school’s leader apologized to the victims and the entire BB&N community and encouraged any victims of former teacher Edward “Ted” Washburn who have not come forward to do so, offering anonymous, school-funded counseling for all abuse victims.

In a letter mailed Thursday, head of school Rebecca T. Upham said she hoped to “begin a long-delayed process of healing.” She pledged BB&N’s commitment to student safety and swift, open action in responding to any future allegations of abuse.

“Today we must confront and acknowledge that the school failed to respond to those awful events in an appropriate way, as they unfolded and in the intervening decades,” Upham wrote in a four-page letter sent to 5,600 alumni as well as the 800 families of the school’s current K-12 student body. She acknowledged that “BB&N did not undertake timely or effective efforts to determine whether Washburn victimized others. Consequently, we could not offer to those students the services essential to begin a healing process.”

Upham, head of the school since 2001, acknowledged that the letter came after a campaign by an alumnus and Washburn victim, Daniel Weinreb, to seek an apology from the school and support for victims. “I admire the tenacity, courage, and commitment” he showed, Upham wrote.

Weinreb, who lives in Vermont, called the letter a good start by the school.

“A hurdle to recovering from the abuse has been removed,” said Weinreb, a 1989 graduate who approached Upham’s predecessor privately in the 1990s without success. He contacted Upham last year and also went public with his campaign, creating a website and soliciting letters and e-mails of support from alumni. “What Upham has done, it appears at least, is create an opportunity for healing.”

After meeting Weinreb, Upham immersed herself in the history of the school’s handling of the Washburn case and sought advice from a number of specialists on preventing and responding to sexual abuse of children, said Joe Clifford, a BB&N spokesman.

Upham could not be reached yesterday but she issued a statement about her letter through Clifford: “All great institutions need to take responsibility for their past, even as they focus on their future. We care deeply about any alumni/ae who have been hurt by Washburn, and we want to foster a healing process for them and our community.”

Washburn, a school alumnus who holds two degrees from Harvard, taught middle school English from 1965 until 1987, when he was dismissed quietly after the school received allegations that he had sexually abused several adolescent boys.

Washburn was not prosecuted until his sister - whose son had been sexually abused by Washburn, the boy’s uncle - contacted the Department of Social Services and the district attorney, frustrated that the BB&N administration had failed to do so. In December 1987, Washburn pleaded guilty to one charge of raping a 13-year-old boy and two charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Middlesex Judge J. Harold Flannery gave Washburn - who was also a Harvard crew coach and the son of Bradford Washburn, an explorer and founder of the Museum of Science - a suspended sentence and ordered him to perform 1,000 hours of community service, stay away from adolescent boys, and undergo continued psychotherapy.

Washburn, who lives in Lexington, did not return a call seeking comment.

Weinreb said school administrators two decades ago treated abuse as something that doesn’t happen, or should not be discussed, in elite circles. That attitude harmed victims and kept the full extent of the abuse from being uncovered, he said.

In her letter, Upham said the school has changed over the past two decades, with counselors and nurses on each of its campuses, regular criminal background checks for all faculty and staff, and other measures. She said BB&N treats abuse allegations with the utmost seriousness.

She also noted that the school last summer learned that a former teacher, Andrew Goldman, had been convicted of Internet sex offenses in Florida. Although a school investigation found that no student had been affected by Goldman, the matter contributed to Upham’s decision to write this letter, she wrote.

Weinreb, a Princeton graduate and a consultant to nonprofit agencies who is applying to rabbinical school, said that while he appreciated the credit Upham gave him, credit also goes to the initial whistle-blower, Washburn’s sister.

Reached yesterday, the sister, who has consistently preferred to speak anonymously, said that she has “great respect for Daniel [Weinreb] and for his courage and determination in holding the school accountable for its past serious errors in judgment.”

Weinreb’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse, agreed with Weinreb that the letter marked a step and not an end to the process.

“These are powerful statements, but actions speak louder than words,” he said. “Hopefully the leaders of this school will follow through.”

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Former teen heart-throb David Cassidy is delighted to be compared to new pin-up Zac Efron.

Cassidy shot to fame as an actor on hit TV show The Partridge Family and later went on to launch a highly successful pop career, with his boyish looks making him a poster boy for young girls everywhere.

And Efron, who has found stardom through the High School Musical franchise, is now being hailed as a teen icon in the same league as Cassidy.

Cassidy says, “In the States they have been comparing me to Zac for a while now, I’m very flattered by the comparison - although I’m not too sure Zac would be. There might be some physical similarity - people often referred to me as androgynous-looking and I had a lot of gay fans.”

And the former teen star has passed on his advice to the 21-year-old: “All I can say to Zac is that as long as he does good work, doesn’t lose his mind and stays grounded as a human being, he’ll be fine. He’d better fasten his seatbelt - it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

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A sport utility vehicle carrying the cheerleaders collided with an oncoming car late Friday night on a wet, foggy highway in Scott County, northwest of Knoxville, authorities said. A passenger in the car also was killed.

Ashley Mason, 15, had been ejected from the vehicle and taken to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. She died Saturday night, said Myala Romines, an administrative supervisor.

“It’s more than a shock and we are just horrified,” said Cynthia Reynolds, the cheerleading coach at Scott High School. She said the girls went out after the game to celebrate another cheerleader’s birthday. “They were really, really close.”

Police identified the other three teenagers killed as Scarlette A. Hill, 17; Jaime Hill, 15; and driver Shirley N. Hughett, 16.

A passenger in the car, Jeweline Ledbetter King, 49, was killed. King’s 22-year-old daughter-in-law, Miranda King, was sitting in the back seat and lost her unborn child because of injuries from the crash.

Investigators believe the crash was caused in part by the slick and foggy conditions, and a preliminary report indicated none of the girls in the SUV was wearing a seat belt, said Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Scott High School Principal Bill Hall said the teens were considered leaders on the squad and were well-liked in the close-knit school of 800 students.

“We’re all devastated,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and the other victims that were involved.”

The car’s driver, Malcum King, 22, and a 10-month-old child, Aiden Wilson, also were injured and taken to a hospital. The conditions of the car’s survivors were not immediately known.

Investigators believe the SUV hydroplaned on a curve on the two-lane highway, flipped on its side and crossed the center lane, slamming into the oncoming Ford Taurus. The SUV erupted into flames.

McPherson said investigators believe passengers were still trapped inside the second vehicle when the SUV caught fire a few feet away. A passing motorist used an all-terrain vehicle to pull the Taurus away from the burning SUV, she said.

Patsy Allen, grandmother of the Hill sisters, said Jaime started cheerleading two years ago. Scarlette, who goes by her middle name Alisha, started cheerleading in 7th grade.

“They were good girls,” Allen said. “Jaime was outgoing. Everyone liked them both. They made average grades. Alisha was looking forward to starting college.”

Reynolds said the 16-member cheerleading team met for dinner at a McDonald’s after the home game ended in a loss to Anderson County 48-19. Reynolds said she heard about the crash after midnight and spent most of that night with the team at the hospital.

School officials discussed offering grief counseling, and a memorial for students and families also was planned. Funeral arrangements were pending.

The crash occurred on U.S. Highway 27 in Scott County, which sits on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line. It shut down the highway for about eight hours.

Those in the other vehicle were from neighboring Fentress County, McPherson said.

—-

Associated Press Writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.

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