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Friday Report – July 21, 2017
This week in #nced: State Board of Ed to Appeal Court Ruling; Fewer NC Kids Attending Traditional Public Schools
by Forum Admin
The Friday Report
July 21, 2017
Leading News
State Board of Education to Appeal Court Ruling in Favor of NC Superintendent
Photo Credit: Kelly Hinchcliffe, WRAL.
The power struggle between the State Board of Education and state schools superintendent continued Wednesday. After losing a court battle with the superintendent last week over control of North Carolina’s public school system, the board announced that it plans to appeal.
“We’re going to ask for the bypass provision so that we go directly to the Supreme Court,” said state board Chairman Bill Cobey. “We think this is such an important constitutional issue that we’re hoping it will be dealt with expeditiously.”
The board’s decision to appeal was not unanimous, Cobey said. He declined to say how the vote split during the closed-session meeting.
State Superintendent Mark Johnson declined to comment and directed all questions to the board.
The state board filed suit in December after Republican lawmakers passed legislation in a special session that provided the newly elected state superintendent more flexibility in managing the state’s education budget, more authority to dismiss senior level employees, control of the Office of Charter Schools and the ability to choose the leader of the new Innovation School District, which oversees some of the lowest-performing schools in the state.
The powers in question have been under the State Board of Education’s control, and board members said shifting them to the elected superintendent violated the state constitution and threatened the working relationship between the board and the superintendent.
In its ruling [last] Friday, a three-judge panel said the state board “failed to satisfy its burden of proof as to the facial unconstitutionality of any provision of the statute.”
Yet, the judges stated that “it appears to be the clear intent of the Constitution that the State Board shall have the primary authority to supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for the support thereof … “
“We’re trying to parse out what all that means,” said Bob Orr, an attorney for the state board.
In a statement after the ruling, Johnson said he looks forward to, “belatedly, working for more and better change” at the state Department of Public Instruction.
“For too long, the lack of clarity about DPI leadership has fostered a system of non-accountability,” Johnson said. “While this system is great for shifting blame and avoiding responsibility, non-accountability at DPI hurts North Carolina students.”
On Wednesday, Cobey explained his unhappiness with the judges’ ruling.
“Quite frankly, I’m very disappointed in what the three-judge panel did. The best word I’ve heard to describe it is it’s inexplicable what they did,” he said. “They tried to have it both ways or split the baby, and we need clarity. And that’s what the appellate courts are all about, they provide clarity.”
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Who’s In Charge of Public Schools? An Update on Court Case
As referenced above, the NC State Board of Education (SBE) decided on Wednesday to appeal the decision of the three-judge panel of superior court judges which rendered its opinion last Friday, July 14. The panel ruled in favor of the NC General Assembly and the State Superintendent in SBE’s constitutional challenge to parts of HB 17 (now Session Law 2016-126), but stayed its order in light of an anticipated appeal. Given SBE’s decision to appeal this week, neither the order nor the challenged Session Law will go into effect anytime soon.
Why is this important?
At the heart of the case is the following state constitutional provision and a portion of the challenged Session Law:
“The State Board of Education shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support, except the funds mentioned in Section 7 of this Article, and shall make all needed rules and regulations in relation thereto, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.” (Emphasis added). N.C. Constitution, Article IX, Section 5.
“It shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Public Instruction … to have under his or her direction and control, all matters relating to the direct supervision and administration of the public school system.” (Emphasis added). Session Law 2016-126, Section 4.
The threshold question in the case is who runs public education in this state? Is it the State Superintendent or the State Board of Education or some delicate balance of both? That is why this case is important.
What does the three-judge panel ruling mean?
Last week’s ruling upheld the 2016 Session Law where the General Assembly granted new powers and authorities to the State Superintendent and curtailed the existing powers and authorities of SBE. However, in the panel’s order, it noted that “there is a likelihood of appeal” – which SBE has now confirmed with its decision to appeal. The panel stayed both the effect of its order and the implementation of those challenged provisions within Session Law 2016-126. Thus, the status quo of the days before the legislation was ever passed back in December 2016 remain in effect for now. In short, it means: 1) a preliminary victory for the legislature and the State Superintendent; 2) a stay of the court order (and therefore the challenged Session Law); 3) and a long-term question mark on the essential question of who is in charge of public education in NC until this case is decided, ultimately, by the NC Supreme Court.
What happens next?
SBE will file its appeal perhaps straight to the NC Supreme Court, in an attempt to bypass the NC Court of Appeals altogether. This is an unconventional route; however, SBE will undoubtedly argue that the exigencies of the case, especially given the import of the threshold question in this state constitutional challenge, merit a straight-shot appeal to the NC Supreme Court. In other words, time is of the essence given that the stakes are so high.
When will this case be done?
Hypothetically, if the NC Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, then it could be decided within the year. These state education constitutional issues, and elected officials’ attempts over the decades (on both sides of the political aisle) to flirt with the edges of these education provisions, need to be ultimately decided by the supreme court of the land. SBE’s appeal and a final decision from the NC Supreme Court can do this once and for all.
For many of the court pleadings filed on both sides of the case plus relevant laws, please see SBE’s Legal Affairs website. Stay tuned to the Friday Report for future developments in this seminal case in the weeks to come.
The Public School Forum is seeking nominations for education leaders to be profiled on our weekly TV show, Education Matters.
Do you have a great leader in your local school? Nominate them today! We are seeking leaders who make a difference in their school each and every day.
This includes (but is not limited to) principals, superintendents, teachers, teacher assistants, guidance counselors, parents, students, community volunteers, afterschool providers, and the list goes on!
To nominate an education leader, please fill out the form here.
Fewer Kids in NC are Attending Traditional Public Schools. What Does That Mean?
North Carolina has welcomed more than 116,000 new students so far this decade, but most of these newcomers aren’t going to traditional public schools.
Supporters of school choice say families are benefiting from expanded options provided by state lawmakers, including through the use of vouchers for private schools. But some critics say it’s part of a push to privatize education in North Carolina at the expense of public schools.
“You’re not going to tell families in North Carolina, ‘Public schools only,’ ” said Darrell Allison, president of Parents For Educational Freedom in North Carolina. “You’re not going to tell families that regardless of the school’s letter grade or how safe or not you are, you have no choice.”
But Keith Poston, president and executive director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, says the expanded choice is part of a concerted political strategy to paint the public schools as failing. As an example, he cited the state’s school performance grades – A through F – that are largely based on the passing rates of students on state exams.
“It’s not an accident that we’re seeing an increase in scrutiny of public schools through testing and grades, which tell us nothing more than the socioeconomic status of the students at the school, and those same test grades are being used to justify providing more private options,” Poston said.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
This Week on Education Matters: Encore Showing of Race: Are We So Different?
This week’s show will feature an encore episode of Education Matters that aired April 22, 2017. The topic is Race: Are We So Different?
The show looks at the exhibition currently at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences on race and the story of Joe Holt Jr. In 1956, Joe Holt Sr. and Elwyna Holt became the first black family to apply to an all-white Raleigh school.
Guests include:
Emelia Cowans-Taylor, Assistant Head, Communications, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
James White, Executive Vice President, Organizational Relations, YMCA
Joe Holt Jr.
Zack Boone, Exploris Middle School, Raleigh
Lev Cohen, Exploris Middle School, Raleigh
When and Where to Watch Education Matters
Saturdays at 7:30 PM, WRAL-TV (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)
Sundays at 6:30 AM and Wednesdays at 9:30 AM, UNC-TV’s North Carolina Channel (Statewide)
The North Carolina Channel can be found on Time Warner Cable/Spectrum Channel 1276 or check local listing and other providers here.
Court: Judges Can’t Force State to Transfer Money to Schools
North Carolina legislators violated the state constitution by diverting traffic fine revenues to pay for jails instead of schools, but a state appeals court ruled Tuesday that judges can’t make officials cough up the money that should have helped educate students.
The judges ruled unanimously that the Richmond County school system is owed $272,300, reversing a trial judge’s order last November commanding various state officials to immediately pay the school district or risk being thrown in jail.
The state constitution says the “clear proceeds” of all fines, penalties and forfeitures collected for breaking the law belong to counties and must be used only for maintaining public schools.
“The state violated the North Carolina Constitution when it moved money otherwise destined for the Richmond County schools to a separate State fund,” Judge Richard Dietz wrote for the three-judge panel. But “when the courts enter a judgment against the state, and no funds already are available to satisfy that judgment, the judicial branch has no power to order state officials to draw money from the state treasury to satisfy it.”
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
In each version of the North Carolina budget presented this year, from Gov. Roy Cooper to leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, lawmakers crowed about how they were chipping away at waiting lists for the state’s subsidized NC Pre-K program.
“Over the next two years, we’re adding $27 million to create an addition 3,525 new Pre-K slots,” said House Appropriations chair Rep. Nelson Dollar (R-Cary) during a press conference to announce the final compromise budget between the two chambers of the legislature.
“This will eliminate 75 percent of the current waitlist for at-risk children. And we certainly hope to continue to work on that, but this… this is the largest single investment I can remember addressing Pre-K children.”
But solving the waiting list problem for NC Pre-K may not be so straightforward. In conversations and emails exchanges with managers in more than a dozen of North Carolina’s largest counties, NC Health News found that different counties tabulate their waiting lists differently, so the same county may have a waiting list for part of the year but not the rest of the year and some counties simply turn people away without placing them on waiting lists.
It’s not just funds for Pre-K that keeps kids away. Long travel times and transportation issues limit access in some places. And the availability of the program can depend on whether more of a county’s programs are privately run or housed in elementary schools.
It’s hard to know exactly how big the waiting list for NC Pre-K actually is at any given time and whether the additional state dollars will solve the problem of 4 year olds missing their one shot at Pre-K because there’s no space for them.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Drew Elliot Named Communications Director for NC Department of Public Instruction
The North Carolina State Board of Education is pleased to announce the selection of Drew Elliot as the director of Communication and Information Services for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
“Drew brings a wealth of communications experience, including state government, to the department that will serve him well as Communications director,” said State Board of Education Chair Bill Cobey. “We are fortunate to have him in this position, and I look forward to working with him in this role.”
Elliot is currently the opinion editor for North State Journal, North Carolina’s only statewide newspaper. He also served as a reporter and editor for JonesandBlount.com, a news website covering state government and politics; and director of Communications for the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
He received a bachelor’s degree in History/English in 2001 and a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications in 2007 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We have children on Monday tell us they haven’t eaten since Friday afternoon,” said Meredith Honeycutt, the School Nutrition administrative assistant for Rowan-Salisbury Schools.
Last summer, Honeycutt and her team worked to bring nutritious summer meals to thousands of students across their district through mobile meals sites, breaking down the transportation barrier and filling the crucial nutrition gap that occurs when school is no longer in session.
This summer, they added a new pilot program: weekend backpacks filled with food to make sure students have enough to eat on the weekends when summer meals are not served.
Rowan-Salisbury Schools: Addressing Transportation Barriers and Weekend Food
With six trucks, four vans, four buses, two cars and a large catering truck, Rowan-Salisbury School Nutrition Services brings hot meals directly to the communities that need them most. On the first day of summer meals programming, 24,000 lunches were served from all of these vehicles combined, breaking down the transportation barrier one bite at a time.
To emphasize support from local school officials, teachers, principals, and other school staff members will be following these mobile food trucks around to connect with the children on-site. Honeycutt believes that when school employees interact with the children, encourage them in their studies and show a vested interest in their well being, student outcomes will improve during the school year.
“The more buy-in you have from your system, the better your programs will be,” Honeycutt said.
Beyond mobile meals sites, Rowan-Salisbury Schools has launched a pilot program this summer at four sites to provide food to students on the weekends when summer meals sites are not operating.
After identifying four sites across the school district, students already participating in the school lunch program were given information about the weekend bags. Seventy-five students responded indicating a desire to receive them. With the help of nonprofit partners that are providing funding and volunteers for this program, the students will be handed a bag of healthy food to eat over the weekend each Friday at their summer meals site while they are eating lunch.
Although the weekend bags are only a pilot program this summer, Honeycutt is optimistic about the potential of these efforts to expand in the future.
To continue reading the complete article click here.
Lexington City Schools Board to Question Legislators on Legality of School District
The Lexington City Schools Board of Education announced during its regular meeting on Tuesday that it will be sending a letter to local and state leaders questioning the constitutionality of elected districts for the school board.
In an 7 to 1 vote, with board member Angela McDuffie dissenting, the board decided to instruct Lexington City Schools Attorney David Inabinett to draft a letter that will be sent to North Carolina legislators Sen. Cathy Dunn, R-33; Rep. Larry Potts, R-81; and Rep. Sam Watford, R-8; and the Lexington City Council. School Board member Brian Lancaster was absent from the meeting.
Inabinett said that the fact the board will be elected from this point is not the issue, it is a matter of making sure everyone in each district has been treated fairly. “It’s about equal representation,” Inabinett said. “There is a question of constitutionally of how the districts are currently drawn. We will send this letter and ask (legislators) to take a look and respond to our questions.”
In June, legislators passed HB 447, making the Lexington City Schools Board of Education a seven-member elected board based on the City of Lexington’s six electoral wards and one member representing Davidson County residents living outside the city limits, but inside the school district.
According to several school board members, the issue is that there are some school districts that have populations outside the city limits but attend city schools. During a municipal election, households in those wards that have children attending county schools would be subtracted from the entire voting population creating an imbalance in the number of voters eligible to vote for the school board representative for that ward.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Wake School Budget Cuts Might Delay Raises for Coaches, Halt Plans to Hire Counselors
Garner High School baseball coach Derik Goffena talks to Garrett Capaforte.
Photo credit: Johnny Johnson, The News & Observer
Wake County school athletic coaches might not get pay raises and nearly 150 new counselors and social workers who would help struggling students might not be hired due to a nearly $29 million budget gap.
School administrators said Tuesday that $28.8 million has to be trimmed, largely because the district got less than half of the $45.2 million increase it wanted from the Wake County Board of Commissioners. School officials said eliminating some or all of a $10 million plan to hire more counselors and social workers this year and delaying a $2.6 million increase in extra-duty pay are possible budget options.
School leaders will now try to arrange a small-group meeting of members of both the school board and commissioners to see if any additional local funding could be provided this year. In the meantime, the school board will work through August to balance the budget.
“As you all know, I was an optimist thinking that we were going to get what we asked for,” school board Chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said in an interview. “So now I’m a realist that we didn’t get that.
“Do I think we’re going to go in this room and get everything that we asked for? Probably not.”
National groups recommend having one counselor and one social worker for every 250 students. The ratio in Wake is one social worker for every 1,860 students and one counselor for every 630 elementary school students, 372 middle school students and 393 high school students.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
This document serves as the most recent draft of the state’s application for funds authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as reauthorized under the ESSA in accordance with the requirements of the template issued by the U.S. Department of Education.
All stakeholders and the public are invited to review the draft plan and provide any comments via email to NCDPI Federal Policy Director Lou Fabrizio or Federal Program Monitoring and Support Division Director Donna Brown.
Reprinted from:
NCDPI. “July 27 is Deadline to Comment on ESSA Draft State Plan.” 7/20/17.
National News
How Severe, Ongoing Stress Can Affect A Child’s Brain
Amy Band teaches children how to handle confrontations at the Verner Center in Asheville, NC.
Photo Credit: Chuck Burton, The Philadelphia Tribune
A quiet, unsmiling little girl with big brown eyes crawls inside a carpeted cubicle, hugs a stuffed teddy bear tight, and turns her head away from the noisy classroom.
The safe spaces, quiet times and breathing exercises for her and the other preschoolers at the Verner Center for Early Learning are designed to help kids cope with intense stress so they can learn. But experts hope there’s an even bigger benefit — protecting young bodies and brains from stress so persistent that it becomes toxic.
It’s no secret that growing up in tough circumstances can be hard on kids and lead to behavior and learning problems. But researchers are discovering something different. Many believe that ongoing stress during early childhood — from grinding poverty, neglect, parents’ substance abuse and other adversity — can smolder beneath the skin, harming kids’ brains and other body systems. And research suggests that can lead to some of the major causes of death and disease in adulthood, including heart attacks and diabetes.
“The damage that happens to kids from the infectious disease of toxic stress is as severe as the damage from meningitis or polio or pertussis,” says Dr. Tina Hahn, a pediatrician in rural Caro, Michigan. She says her No. 1 goal as a physician is to prevent toxic stress. Hahn routinely questions families about stresses at home, educates them about the risks and helps them find ways to manage.
Mounting research on potential biological dangers of toxic stress is prompting a new public health approach to identifying and treating the effects of poverty, neglect, abuse and other adversity. While some in the medical community dispute that research, pediatricians, mental health specialists, educators and community leaders are increasingly adopting what is called “trauma-informed” care.
The approach starts with the premise that extreme stress or trauma can cause brain changes that may interfere with learning, explain troubling behavior, and endanger health. The goal is to identify affected children and families and provide services to treat or prevent continued stress. This can include parenting classes, addiction treatment for parents, school and police-based programs and psychotherapy.
Many preschoolers who mental health specialist Laura Martin works with at the Verner Center have been in and out of foster homes or they live with parents struggling to make ends meet or dealing with drug and alcohol problems, depression or domestic violence.
They come to school in “fight or flight” mode, unfocused and withdrawn or aggressive, sometimes kicking and screaming at their classmates. Instead of adding to that stress with aggressive discipline, the goal is to take stress away.
“We know that if they don’t feel safe then they can’t learn,” Martin said. By creating a safe space, one goal of programs like Verner’s is to make kids’ bodies more resilient to biological damage from toxic stress, she said.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Why Americans Think So Poorly of the Country’s Schools
Each year, parents responding to the Phi Delta Kappan poll report high levels of satisfaction with their kids’ education. Asked to assign letter grades to their children’s schools, the vast majority of parents—generally around 70 percent—issue As and Bs. If those ratings were compiled the way a student’s grade point average is calculated, the public schools would collectively get a B.
When asked to rate the nation’s schools, however, respondents are far less sanguine. Reflecting on public schools in general, a similar share of respondents—roughly 70 percent—confer a C or D. Again calculated as a GPA, America’s schools get a C or C-.
So which is it? Are public schools generally meeting Americans’ expectations? Or are they teetering on the brink of failure?
This may seem like an academic exercise. After all, school quality is what it is, regardless of perception. But, as it turns out, this gap in perceptions is a matter of tremendous importance.
Consider the impact on policy. If the nation’s schools are generally doing well, it doesn’t make much sense to disrupt them. But if they are in a state of decline, disruption takes on an entirely new meaning. Seizing on the presumed failures of the education system, reform advocates have pushed hard for contentious policies—expansion of charter schools, for instance, or the use of value-added measures of teacher effectiveness—that might have less traction in a more positive policy climate.
Perception also shapes the decisions people make about where to enroll their children. If the quality of public education is generally poor, then parents must compete for a small number of adequate schools—a competition that will be won by those with the greatest access to resources. As research reveals, residential segregation by income has increased in the past 20 years—driven chiefly by families with children seeking home in “good” school districts. If the average public school is of C or C- quality, this is rational behavior. But if most schools are good, segregation is being exacerbated by misperception.
So which picture is right? One way to decide is to consider the knowledge base that structures each set of perceptions. Are Americans more likely to be well-informed about the quality of their own children’s schools or to be well-informed about the quality of all 100,000 public schools in the U.S.? The answer seems self-evident.
The question, then, is why Americans maintain pessimistic views of the nation’s schools, even when their own experiences are largely positive.
One obvious factor is the rise of a national politics of education. Beginning with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, leaders in Washington have argued with increasing regularity that the country’s schools are in crisis. From the National Defense Education Act of 1958 through the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, the failing-schools narrative has been quite effective in generating political will for federal involvement in education.
Another factor is the unintended impact of civil-rights advocacy. As part of the broader push for social justice, activists in the 1960s and ‘70s worked to demonstrate the ravages of segregation and unequal funding. But the public has not always been careful to distinguish between inequity and ineptitude. As a consequence, many observers have simply concluded that the public-education system is collapsing, and that their local school is simply an exception to the rule.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
As Trump and DeVos Push for Private School Choice, Opponents Highlight Vouchers’ Racist Past
Today, school vouchers—giving students public money to use toward tuition at private schools—are often reserved for needy students: those with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
But vouchers were once deployed during the Jim Crow era to perpetuate segregated school systems post Brown v. Board of Education as detailed in a new policy brief from the Center for American Progress, a progressive public-policy research and advocacy organization.
Understanding how private school vouchers contributed to racial segregation in the nation’s schools is crucial, argue the report’s authors, as the Trump administration and the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos push for expanding voucher programs.
How Were Vouchers Used to Segregate Schools?
The report highlights a case in Prince Edward County, Va., during the late 1950s and early ’60s when public officials effectively cut off funding for public schools, forcing them to close. Under a new school voucher system, white families could use public money to send their children to all-white private schools. (A later Supreme Court ruling made it illegal for private schools to discriminate based on race and keep their tax-exempt status.)
Prince Edward County became something of a model for other states, write the brief’s authors. “By 1969, more than 200 private segregation academies were set up in states across the South. Seven of those states—Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana—maintained tuition-grant programs that offered vouchers to students in an effort to incentivize white students to leave desegregated public school districts.” (The report provides more details on each of those programs.)
The federal government did eventually step in and force Prince Edward County to start funding its public schools, but traces of that discriminatory system are still seen today in the disproportionately large proportion of black students in the public schools and white students in private schools.
To continue reading the complete article click here.
Friday Institute Offers Professional Learning on Personalized and Digital Learning
Building upon the exciting work with leaders across the state, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University, in partnership with NCDPI, invites educators across NC to join their colleagues in ongoing, job-embedded cohort-based programs in 2017-18. These programs are targeted for superintendents, district leaders, principals and assistant principals, coaches, media coordinators, Instructional Technology Facilitators (ITFs), and teacher leaders.
The programs include face-to-face sessions in regional locations and opportunities to learn and collaborate with peers. Data from 2016-17 participants in the programs show that they are excited about the quality and the relevance, and many share examples of how the programs have contributed to or accelerated changes in their districts and schools. The programs provide educators at all levels the opportunity to learn while also working directly on challenges and ideas for their own school(s) and district.
Apply now for this face-to-face and blended opportunity to learn and share with your colleagues from across the region and state. Program details, FAQs, applications and deadline information are available here.
NC Science and Engineering Fair Teacher Workshop Opportunities
Want to learn how to inspire your students to conduct independent research? Interested in learning how to assist students in topic selection, time management, and presentation of science and engineering research projects? Planning your school’s science and engineering research competition? New to the process or looking for a more organized approach?
Plan to attend a NC Science & Engineering Fair Workshop
for the 2017-2018 Academic Year!
Workshops will be offered at the locations below. All workshops run from 9:00am to 3:30pm and include coffee, snacks and lunch.
July 27 – Biogen, Research Triangle Park
July 28 – Triad Math and Science Academy, Greensboro
There is a $15 registration fee but all attendees will receive a $65 stipend for participation and 0.5 CEU for completion of the workshop.
ONLY Teachers & Administrators in grades 3 – 12 are eligible to participate. Participants will be asked to implement a science and engineering fair for your class, grade-level or school during the 2017-2018 academic year and complete a survey spring 2018.
The following topics will be discussed during the workshop
Learn how to foster and guide scientific and engineering research in the classroom.
Learn how to initiate, manage, and evaluate student science and engineering research projects.
You will be guided through the steps in planning a school or district science & engineering fair.
Workshops are sponsored by the Biogen Foundation.
The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.
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