WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN SUMMER SPORTS CAMPS -- Whether it's to work on their golf swing or tackling technique, more and more kids are attending summer sports camps.
But not all camps are created equal and there are some things parents should look for before dropping their kids off, says Dr. Kathleen Swanik, a professor in Temple's department of kinesiology and a certified athletic trainer.
"The most important thing you want to look at is the ratio of kids to instructors," she says. As for injury prevention and treatment, not only is it important that camps have athletic trainers but that they use them, or any other medical personnel, wisely.
"Camps will usually have a number of playing surfaces and training areas. You want to make sure there's proper medical coverage at each site." Even if a camp has plenty of certified athletic trainers, it's still important that parents give the camp all the necessary medical information about their child.
"Typically, athletic trainers can only give first aid. If, for example, a child comes to camp and needs to have their ankle taped because of weakness or a pre-existing condition, the parents need to provide a doctor's note."
Commonsense measures, such as not wearing brand-new sneakers to reduce the chance for blisters, and bringing a water bottle to help guard against dehydration are all that's needed to make most kids' summer sports camp experience positive and injury-free, says Swanik.
Reach Dr. Swanik through the Office of News and Media Relations, 215 204-7476.
HELP WANTED: SUPERINTENDENT; NON-TEACHERS MAY APPLY -- Of all of the qualifications needed, actual in-the-classroom teaching experience is not necessarily a prerequisite to become a city school superintendent, notes Donald Walters, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Temple.
In cities like Seattle and Washington, D.C., retired military generals have held the top spot, while in Philadelphia, David Hornbeck, who resigned last week, had no actual classroom teaching experience, Walters notes.
"Some of the very large school districts have done some experimenting with non-educators. That immediately rubs teachers and administrators the wrong way. It tells them that their own education is not valued." When you have superintendents who have been educators, says Walters, "you get an understanding, when decisions are made, how they impact what teachers do. If superintendents don't understand how the decision impacts the classroom, it creates a situation where it alienates the staff."
Ultimately, says Walters,"superintendents have to understand how the politics, the finances and all other issues impact on kids. If we don't have the top person being the spokesperson for the child, we're never going to have successful schools."
Reach Dr. Walters through the Office of News and Media Relations.
IN MICROSOFT WE (ANTI-)TRUST-- It may be the New Economy, but the same old principles apply that broke up the Standard Oil trust early this century, followed by anti-trust rulings against the American Tobacco Company, U.S. Steel, Alcoa and AT&T, notes Raj Chandran, senior associate dean of Temple's Fox School of Business and Management.
"Microsoft misbehaved. The company used its power to shut off the growth of competition, namely Netscape," he says. "The message here is not about monopoly per se but points to Microsoft's predatory behavior. And Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson saw no contrition in Bill Gates."
Reach Dr. Chandran at his office, 215 204-8148, or through the Office of News and Media Relations.
TESTING THE MERITS OF MERIT PAY -- Introduce a merit pay system and watch your employees' on-the-job motivation soar, right? Not so, according to the results of a study by Temple Professor John Deckop, who surveyed 173 faculty, staff and administrators at a college in the region.
"We actually found a decline in motivation and love for the work itself, especially when employees perceived the procedure as unfair. "Most people have a distorted perception of their own performance on the job--90 percent in our survey saw themselves as above average. That's another strike against merit pay," says Deckop, chair of the department of human resource administration in Temple's Fox School of Business and Management.
Money may be a powerful motivator, but it's the hardest one to use effectively, he observes. Deckop's study will be published in the September issue of the Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
Reach Dr. Deckop at his office, 215-204-1933, or through the Office of News and Media Relations.
nb-877 *** June 9, 2000
VISIT THE NEWS AND MEDIA RELATIONS WEBSITE: http://www.temple.edu/news_media
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