The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Boston schools" ...
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Failing our Athletes: The Sad State of Sports in Boston Public Schools
This series examined the state of athletics in the Boston public school district. The amount of problems discovered was both shocking and disappointing. Some of the discovered problems were the program was “underfunded compared to cities of similar size, staffing problems, poor facilities, safety of the athletes, and competency of many coaches”.
Tags: children; kids; sports; games; education; student-athletes; court; field; season; players; uniforms; city government
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A Girl's Life
The single 7,500-word story chronicled the life and death of Acia Johnson, a South Boston girl who seemed to be doing everything right: getting good grades in school, becoming a standout basketball player with a chance at a scholarship to go to a good high school and taking care of her younger sister. That was until her house was set ablaze last April in what authorities said was a jealous rage by her mother's lover. Acia burned to death along with her three-year-old sister in her third-floor bedroom closet. Her mother stood, safe, on the ground with the family dog. Her father was in jail. It was the last in a long list of instances of neglect recounted in the story. Anyone could have saved her life--her parents, drug addicts and sometimes violent petty criminals who never managed to get straight' neighbors who knew about the violent family fights and often didn't call police; friends who did nothing though thought it unusual that Acia was left to care for her sister while their parents were out running thr streets; social workers who had declared Acia's parents unfit in 2003 and placed her in the custody of her grandmother but who never figured out that she was still living with her mother. They didn't figure it out even though they frequently visited Acia at her mother's house, including two days before the fire. They didn't figure it out even though her mother reported Acia was living with her when she applied for housing subsidies, food stamps and cash assistance. And they didn't figure it out even though her mother's house was listed as Acia's primary residence at her middle school.
Tags: social workers; arson; child death; neglect; custody; Boston
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Marked Absent
The Eagle- Tribune, analyzed the attendance of teachers from seventeen districts north of Boston. The investigation revealed that teacher absenteeism increases the costs for the schools and on an average each child pays $104 for substitute teachers. They also found that 43% teachers used sick leave next to long weekends and holidays and teachers in fact accepted that they use sick leaves to pad their vacations.
Tags: teacher attendance; teacher absenteeism; Boston schools
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Dan Gordon, Merrill Lynch and the Missing $43 Million
Dan Gordon, a 24-year-old Merrill Lynch energy trader, embezzled $43 million from the world's largest securities firm, which ignored warnings of criminal conduct by Gordon and which didn't disclose the theft until after it was reporter by Bloomberg News, three years after Gordon's crimes. Four months after the first Bloomberg News story, Gordon pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
Tags: Williams School; Merrill Lynch & Co.; U.S. Justice Department; Dan Gordon; embezzlement; energy trade; offshore companies; offshore accounts; conspiracy; securities; Yale University; Boston University; money laundering; Ostrich Capital; Kings Holdings LLC; AIG Private Bank; Constellation Energy Group; Newport Pacific Financial Group SA; Allegheny Energy Inc.; Mellon Bank; K2 Energy Corporation; Falcon Energy Holdings; Daticon; fraud
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Teachers' Dirty Look
After 40 school teachers had been fired and 50 others under investigation for sexual misconduct with students, the Boston Magazine finds out a loophole because of which these teachers could have criminal records elsewhere and can still be hired. These offenders benefit from the fact that the Massachusetts criminal background checks only occur within the state and not in any other state.
Tags: sexual assault; sexual misconduct and teachers; state law; Department of Education
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A Tough Assignment
Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant had a vision for Boston's schools. As he completed his first school year, it was clear that implementing his reforms without alienating the community will require a delicate touch.
Tags: community; school; superintendent; children; classroom; teachers
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Feed 5: Best of Show and Tell
1) Jennifer Kraus (WTVF-Nashville) This story exposes problems at the Nashville office of international charity "Feed the Children." In a four-month investigation, WTVF-TV's undercover cameras caught the charity's staff loading up their personal cars with donated items and taking the items home. 2) Deborah Sherman (WFXT - Boston) Costa Rican trips for child sex. Actually spoke with girls who used to get paid by American tourists for sex. Focuses on one area man charged with this crime. 3) Anna Werner, David Raziq (KHOU-Houston) KHOU-TV reports that "You're in physical pain. You need help. So you go to your doctor expecting needed relief and comfort. But what if in the process of treating you, you realize this healer's touch has become 'sexual?' That's what dozens of Houston women claimed happened to them when they were referred to a local health professional, a professional they claimed used their trust to molest and even rape them. His name is Shin Higashiura and he claimed to be a Master of Shiatsu, also known as acupressure, a Japanese massage therapy that promises health benefits...." 4) Jilda Unruh (WCCO-Minneapolis) An investigation reveals that automatic door sensors can't detect certain colors. The doors often close on elderly people, causing them harm. 5) Tom Merriman/Jeff Harris (WEWS-Cleveland) The story investigates how state-trained lifeguards perform on state beaches as compared to privately trained lifeguards on private beaches. Follows both teams though a simulation. The state team fails horribly and never recovers the dummy planted for them to rescue. 6) Jim Schaefer; Shellee Smith (WXYZ-Detroit) WXYZ-TV discovered that the leaders of Highland Park, a poor city surrounded by Detroit, had virtually ignored a major problem in the 911 emergency response system while continuing to enjoy the relatively expensive perks of their jobs. While claiming there was no money in the budget to fix the problem, the mayor leased a brand-new Lincoln with city cash. Undercover video found citizens at risk, fire fighters in danger and no one helping. 7) Drew Griffin (KCBS-Los Angeles) "The Real ConAir" Investigation reveals department of corrections transporting convicts on commercial flights. Passengers are not told who's sitting beside them. Planes are forced to land because of disturbances during the flight. A girl is sexually assaulted by one of these convicts. 8) Robb Leer; Maria Tomasch (KSTP-Minneapolis) Inmates can change their names on the taxpayer's dime. 9) Jeremy Rogalski; Bill Dutton; Gerry Lanosga; Kathleen Johnston (WTHR-Indianapolis) WTHR-TV reports that "a source mentioned to us that numerous DUI cases were being dismissed because police witnesses fail to appear in court... After we crunched a slice of our county's criminal justice data ... We found thousands of DUI cases - nearly one in ten - thrown out because cops didn't show..." 10) Wes Williams; C.J. Ward (KPNX-Phoenix) Security guards with criminal records have a "License to Steal." 11) Tony Kovaleski; Matt Goldberg (KPRC-Houston) Ninety-eight guns were discovered in schools in 10 of Houston's largest school districts -- that works out to 5,864 students per gun. 12) Phil Williams; Chris Clark (WTVF-Nashville) WTVF-TV's investigation into the backgrounds of school teachers found more than three dozen convicted felons working in Metro Nashville-Davidson County schools. 13) Chris Halsne; Kim Albro; Dave Weed (KWTV-Oklahoma City) Voters handed Oklahoma City Schools a 93 million dollar bond in 1993 to improve schools. The money is now gone, but many projects remain unfinished. KWTV-TV's investigation found millions of dollars in waste, fraud and mismanagement. 14) Laure Quinlivan; Jeff Keene; Ken Fulk; Mark Shafer; Scott Diener; Stuart Zanger (WCPO-Cincinnati) WCPO-TV's investigation "... to monitor County officials as they began spending nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money... earmarked to build two, new sports stadiums for our city's professional sports teams, the Bengals and Red. As (the) investigation enters its third year, work on the first stadium is two-thirds complete and ground will soon break on the second. Already, our investigation has revealed broken promises, manipulation of numbers in official reports, political cronyism in contract awards, creation of 'pass-through' companies and other questionable and possibly illegal activities...." 15) Jim Barry; John Campbell; Sam Zeff; Jennifer Snell; Denise Haley; Brad Naw (WTXF-Philadelphia) After transit union strike crippled Philadelphia's bus and subway service for forty days, WTXF-TV investigated the region's transportation agency - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA is one of the largest and most expensive transit systems in the county. This investigation exposed a widespread culture of laziness and dishonest work habits that was allowing hundreds of buses with potentially dangerous problems out onto the street each day. 16)Darcy Spears; Kim Kruger (KVBC-Las Vegas) "Taken for a Ride". Taxi drivers getting kickbacks for taking clients to certain bars/stripclubs.
Tags: TAPE; Investigative reporting; computer-assisted reporting; IRE; FOI; CAR; no transcripts
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Raising the Perfect Child
Boston Magazine analyses the stress factors for today's children. The story finds that most children have busy schedules and their free time has dropped from 40 percent to 25 percent in the last two decades. "Children are on the brink of burning right before our eyes," warns the author. The report looks at suicide statistics among teenagers. It also includes tables with detailed data on schools' and students' performance in Massachusetts.
Tags: Harvard; M.I.T; schools; education; psychology; suicide; stress; crisis line; colleges; universities
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Family Outing
Boston Magazine looks at gay parents, the normalities of having children but also the never ending criticisms of outside people. While many gays and lesbian parents quietly live out their lives, many heterosexual people still have problems when issues such as sexuality are brought up in area schools. In addition, critics argue that living with gay parents "normalizes" homosexuality. Gays and lesbians both agree however, that "there is nothing controversial about us". . . they are simply "too busy being parents" to care.
Tags: homosexual; children; Domestic Partnership Bill; Defense of Marriage Act; schools; sexuality
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"Norwich Severs Ties With Indonesia"
In two articles submitted on a free-lance basis to the Boston Globe and the Vermont Times (see story # 16096), the reporter traced how graduates from an elite New England military school were serving in East Timor around the time of heated conflict in Indonesia. Several high-ranking members of the Indonesian military's elite special forces who had been accused of human rights violations were linked to administrators at the school. The investigation called into question a United States presidential ban on cooperation with the Indonesian military, and led to the reporter's firing from a daily newspaper.
Tags: Kopassus UN United Nations Norwich University Human Rights Watch ROTC Barre-Montpelier Times Argus