Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20151012

Poorest countries in the world. Reporter why do you come back to congo . I love the people, i love the potential of this place. And i think we have a bright future. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff political and ethnic tensions in turkey were at the boiling point today after deadly bombings in ankara over the weekend. Jonathan rugman of independent Television News reports on the days developments. Reporter it was the biggest bomb attack turkey has witnessed, the single biggest blow to its stability in decades. And even the death toll is disputed, like so much else. The prokurdish opposition says 128 people were killed. The government says at least 97. Saturdays attack was upon this peace demonstration of kurdish and leftist protesters. Two explosions were followed by police teargassing survivors, which only fed the assumption that the state, or dark forces within it, were behind the violence, though turkeys Prime Minister said today that the so called Islamic State was the prime suspect. translated it was definitely a suicide bombing. We have strong evidence for that. I. S. Has a possible motive. By setting kurds against turks, it may be encouraging its twin enemies to go to war with each other instead. At this funeral of one of the kurdish victims in istanbul today, the mourners chanted that turkeys president was the murderer. All this under the watchful gaze of riot police. In the mainly kurdish southeast, you hear the same cry the president s a murderer. translated why are they carrying out these massacres against revolutionaries, socialists and those that are in favor of peace . Why do we never have a politician or a member of government suffering from these attacks . This clearly shows who carried out this massacre. Reporter just up the road from that funeral, turkish troops are advancing after airstrikes against the kurdish p. K. K. The governments up for re election in just three weeks time, and by appearing strong, its not letting this National Security crisis go to waste. Woodruff the violence in turkey has spiked since another bombing in july that killed 33 people. That sparked renewed fighting between the military and the kurdish p. K. K. Rebels. In afghanistan, fighting intensified today as Taliban Forces attacked a new city. This time, the battles centered around ghazni, southwest of kabul. Last month, the taliban captured and held kunduz in the north, for three days. Also today, nato announced two u. S. And two british soldiers died in a Helicopter Crash sunday in kabul. Government troops in western syria made fresh advances today with the help of russian air support. The ground offensive aims to regain a stronghold of president Bashar Assads a village that would give them access to a main highway. Meanwhile, russian jets again hit targets across central syria. But as the air war intensified, president Vladimir Putin claimed russias role is strictly limited. translated by no means do we want to get involved in any interreligious conflicts in syria. We have only one goal, which is to support the lawful authorities and to create conditions for political settlement. This is what we have based our actions on from the very beginning. And this is what we are guided by now. Woodruff the u. S. Military answered russias air Campaign Today by air dropping ammunition and other supplies to rebels in northern syria. This was another day of bloodshed and death in and around jerusalem, with a spate of new stabbings. Within a few hours, two israeli policemen and two civilians were attacked in separate incidents. Two teenagers were shot dead by police. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused israeli arab leaders of helping incite the violence. In economic news, computer giant dell is buying Data Storage Company e. M. C. In the tech industrys largest takeover ever. The deal is valued at about 67 billion. It will help move dells focus away from traditional hardware, like personal computers, to storage and business services. Wall made a modest advance today as investors waited for Third Quarter profit reports. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 47 points to close above 17,130. The nasdaq rose eight points, and the s p 500 added two. And nine former american prisoners of war have returned to japan, seven decades after the end of world war two. The veterans, all in their 90s now, traveled with their families today to yokohama, to honor fellow servicemen who died in captivity. More than 130,000 allied troops were held prisoner by the japanese during the war. Almost a third of them perished. Still to come on the newshour whats next for Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, found guilty by an Iranian Court. Syrian refugees in jordan, desperate to find their next move. Some even going back to syria. School discipline. Is there an age too young to be suspended . President obama faced one of the toughest lines of questioning since taking office in an interview with steve kroft on 60 minutes last night. When asked about Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, while serving as secretary of state, the president said the controversy was politically motivated. I think it is that she acknowledged as a general proposition, when we are in these offices, we have to be more sensitive and stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our own personal data. I do think that the way its been ginned up is in part because of politics. And i think she would be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better, and the disclosures more quickly. Woodruff also this weekend l Committee Investigating the benghazi consulate attack spoke out on cnn claiming the republican lead panel was targeting clinton rather than conducting an objective investigation. Hillary clinton has a lot of explaining to do. We, however, do not need to shift resources to hyperfocus on Hillary Clinton welch didnt need to deemphasize and in some cases drop the investigation on different agencies, different organization, and different individuals. Woodruff all that and a looc president ial debate on tuesday. Its a perfect time for politics monday. Im joined by tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the cook political report. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Woodruff a lot to talkabout. So the president as we just heard, he has weighed in now, said Hillary Clinton made a mistake but said she has acknowledged it. And we just heard the former staffer, tamara, for the Benghazi Committee said that what they were doing was politically motivated. It was too targeted on her. Is this going to mawk a difference, do you think, on this issue . Is it going to go away as a result of this . This is absolutely not going away. The Benghazi Committee is going to have a hearing scheduled for about a week from now, a little more than a week from now where Hillary Clinton is set to testify. She will have more fuel to be able to say look, this a partisan thing. But theyre going to ask her tough questions and shes going to sit there and have to answer them for what could be a very, very long hearing. And the emails are going to keep coming out in monthly doses. So just because she had a couple of desent news cycles doesnt mean that this goes away. It is also very muddy in peoples minds at this point. Woodruff so amy, even withty motivated and this former staffer, it doesnt make any difference . Yeah, i agree with tamara. You still have the fbi investigating. Was her classified material on here that she willingly passed on. Was she hacked by her email server hacked by a foreign government. We still need answers to those questions plus the drip drip drip of emails coming out. The one thing it provides Hillary Clinton and we may see this tomorrow at the debate is the opportunity to rally democrats behind her. Where she is able to say see, democrats, i know you have been a little bit, maybe a little bit questioning about me, maybe not as enthusiastic as you should be. But guess what, the reason republicans are doing this is they dont want me to be president. They dont want me to talk about these issues. They dont want us to bring up they though they cant beat me so they bring this issue up in order to try to defeat me. I must say when i interview democrats about this, and i did at least a dozen, maybe 20 man on the street interviews just last week, all of the democrats i talked to said it doesnt bother me. Woodruff huh. So the rallyins talking about you are saying is already out there. They are convinced that it is part of the vast rightwing conspiracy that Hillary Clinton coined. Woodruff so the democraticdw night. First time we will see them together. Mean time there are new polls out. We can show you the results of this, going in, Hillary Clinton up in some of the primary states. This is nevada where the debate is going to be held, coincidentally. You see clinton up 50 to 34 over Bernie Sanders. In south carolina, shes also up 4924, with an even bigger margin. Then nationally, those are cnn polls. We have a cbs poll nationally showing her up 46 to 27. Tamara, you know, looking at this, does this give her such a big advantage that what, she becomes a target tomorrow night . Did you think she wasnt going to be the target all along . Woodruff exactly. So what ch . Well, the polls obviously dont change anything here. Those states are more diverse than the states where Bernie Sanders is now winning or right on her heels. New hampshire and iowa. But those are the two first states and they have sort of an outside influence on things. Woodruff amy, what do youth . About the debate tomorrow night, she definitely is going to be the person that everybody is focusing on. The question is how aggressive are her o possible ents in making that case. Is bern ye sanders as she said this weekend going to show consistency, and not so vailed reference to the fact that Hillary Clinton has taken multiple positions on the issues over the course of her career, that she most recently came out against the keystone pipeline, against the trade promotion pact, pacific pact. You know, is he going to be that aggressive, is Martin Omalley going to be that aggressive or are they going to sit back a little bit and try to make the case about themselves, not make it about her. Woodruff what do they havet. I mean, somebody like Martin Omalley is barely registering in these polls. Tamara, what is he need to do . In many polls hes an asterisk or a hyphen. He doesnt even have 1 percent. What he needs to do, just by being on that stage, he will do a lot of that. People will figure out who Martin Omalley is. Theyll learn his name. But he also needs to be impressive. He needs to Say Something that gets people excited. And what he has been saying and it seems likely he will continue to say is hey, look, im a new generation, blank blank, im younger than those other people and he talks a lot about his executive experience. I would expect him to do that again. Woodruff is there that muchg these candidate sphs. Not so much now that hillary has come out decisively on two big issues trade and the keystone pipeline. Woodruff moving west. Moving. I dont think you will see that much difference. Although you may see somebody come up and talk about her vote on iraq which now she said was a mistake. I do think its style statistics. And the difference between this debate and the Republican Debate is the Republican Debate, the republican primary is truly wide open. So there was an opportunity for somebody like a marco rubio, Carly Fiorina to rise up because you have republicans truly searching around for anybody trying to figure out who these people are. On the democratic side, she is the frontrunner. She has very high Approval Ratings among democrats. Democrats do not look like they are looking for somebody else. So if you are Martin Omalley, if you are Bernie Sanders, you have to give them, them meaning the voters, a reason to look away from Hillary Clinton. Woodruff i cant get the twg what is going on in the house of representative representatives, they cant agree on the speaker, what is your reporting tell ug. I checked in with i a spokesman for paul ryan, the chairman of the house ways means committee, former Vice President ial come knee nominee. He is the one that it seems line everyone wants. The spokesman said check my twitter. Woodruff new answer. On twitu even request i have no updates and i dont expect any updates for the whole week. Woodruff could this begin te republicans. Absolutely. The person who is actually most in danger of this being a problem is absolutely Mitch Mcconnell who is the majority leader of the senate. The house demight all this disfunction is likely to say in republican hands. There are just too Many Republican controlled seats that are too safe. The problem for republicans is the senate where they have at least seven seats in state thation bar ago obama carried. Theeses are very marginal states where the republican incumbent is trying desperately to not look too partisan. If we see washington truly meltdown, republicans get the blame, its those senators who are going to take a lot of the suffering, not the house folks. And that is the danger, i think, really for republicans. Woodruff fascinating becaust now just on the house. Right. Woodruff amy walter, tamara. Appreciate it. Washington post reporter Jason Rezaian is spending his 447th night in a jail in iran tonight. News that an Iranian Court convicted the journalist came yesterday, but little else is known about the ruling or his fate. Jeffrey brown has more. Brown irans judiciary announced that an appeal could be filed but gave no specifics on the details of the ruling. Rezaian was tried on espionage and other charges. He did not accept our invitation. For its part the Washington Post is calling the ruling, quote, an outrageous injustice, join meeg is the newspapers Foreign Editor douglas jehl, thanks for joining us. Do we even know at this point what Jason Rezaian has been convicted of or what sentence he might face . We know none of that. We know only that he has been convicted. But what charges, what penalty, and, indeed, what basis iran claims to offer for convicting jason of these crimes, they have never been stated. Brown and is there anyway o, whether he knows any of this or knows the situation . Well, his mother, his wife and his attorney went to the court today and n tehran to the revolutionary court to seek clarity. And they were turned away. They were told that the translator wasnt available. That they could be given no further information at this time. A presump shun is that jason does not know. Brown now even though thisi, your is up sition all along has been that this is really playing out in the political sphere, correct . Explain what you think is going on. I think thats right. I think this is played out very, very slowly in the Iranian Courts for 15 months now but its clear that ultimately the Decision Makers are going to be irans Senior Leadership. Its the Senior Leaders who have the power to overturn a decision in court. They have the power to pardon someone like jason. They have the power to bring him home. And in recent weeks weve seen very strong signals from irans president ru hani and others of what they want. They have made clear theyre willing to move towards freeing jason and other americans if the United States is willing to free iranians held in american prisons in return. Brown well, so what has kep . The United States hasnt really responded to those overtures from iran. At least not in public. We dont know if there has been further discussion behind closed doors. One thing that has prevented it from happening, though, is that until now, the matter has remained in the courts. If there is any glimmer of hope from todays announcement as outrageous and cruel as it was t may be that this sham of a juddishal process is nearing its end and the political steps are about to begin. Brown what about tensions i, conservatives are perhaps sending a message to rhu hani, so called moderates in the context, of course, of the recent knew clear deal and other things. I think it is clear that Jason Rezaian, an innocent journalist has been caught up in a much, much larger struggle inside iran. I think its also clear that the president rhu hani has limited authority of what goes on in iran. I think he made clear he would like to see jason released a long time ago. The fact that that hasnt happened suggests that it is other forces, the Security Services in particular, who have at least equal power here. Brown you at this point dona potential prisoner swap. I we do not. I do not. All i know is that what we have heard publicly from iranian officials for weeks now, referring to as many as 19 iranians held in american jails, and suggesting that while they say they dont like the word exchange, there could be a progress toward the release of americans if there is progress toward the release of iranians held here. Brown douglas jehl of thewo much. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour. Nobel prize Winning Economist angus deaton. Some schools under fire for suspending very young students. And, an n. B. A. Player returns to his native congo to help provide opportunities to former child soldiers. But first, we take a closer look at whats driving many Syrian Refugees to risk their lives by attempting the journey to europe. Syrias neighbor, jordan, has taken in more than 600,000 refugees over the past four years, and has quite literally been buckling under the strain on its scarce resources, and a massive drop in international aid. The refugees themselves are the hardest hit there and tonight, special correspondent jane arraf introduces us to a few of them who are willing to risk everything to leave. Reporter every evening ali goes out with his daughters and son hassan. Its not for the fresh air. Its illegal for most Syrian Refugees to work in jordan. In the daytime he tries to find odd jobs without getting arrested. To help put food on the table, at night he looks for soda cans to sell and broken appliances to repair. translated sometimes i take the girls with me and walk for three or four miles. At the end of the month people throw a lot of things away. But when i walk for longer distances i just take hassan and i carry two or three bags with me. Reporter he says its exhausting but he would rather do honest work than beg for money. Hassan is 13. He was in a car accident in syria when he was a baby. He and five sisters and a brother came to jordan with their parents three years ago. Two more children were born here. A blessing ali says. He says when they first came from allepo, things were fine. He brought almost 20,000 in savings. Aid organizations were eager to help. But now the savings are gone. And aid has been cut to almost nothing. With winter coming its become almost impossible here. But ali has a plan. translated my wifes family is in turkey. Her relatives went to germany some of them arrived some of them didnt. We spoke to some people and god willing by the end of the month we will be there. We will leave from here to turkey with our passports and then we will leave turkey for greece and then austria and germany. Reporter alis nephew drowned this year trying to reach europe. He says the children are all terrified of dying on the crossing. He plans to get a backpack and carry the youngest children on his back. His wife will carry hassan. Ali and his family are among the 80 of Syrian Refugees trying to survive outside the camps in jordan. Its a small country with high unemployment and few resources sandwiched between syria, iraq, israel, the palestinian territories and saudi arabia. Politicians like member of parliament mustafa hamarnah say it would make sense to allow syrians to work legally in jordan, but thats unlikely to happen. You have to keep in mind that over 20 of jordans population today consists of Syrian Refugees. On top of that you have 400,000 egyptians. On top of that you have 300,000 iraqis, you have 50,000 yemenis and interior tells us you have 100,000 libyans. So how do you deal with all this and how do you deal with the tremendous unrest around us . Reporter theres an intense sympathy in jordan here for the refugees but as the war goes on, a growing frustration. You will not see what you in europe massive demonstrations against the refugees. You see some voices here and there these are our skinheads who make noise here and there but there will not be any mass negative movement opposing either the iraqis or the syrians. Once it settles down at the end of the day these are arabs and people see them as fellow arabs. Reporter but particularly in the cities, a lot of jordanian citizens feel they are competing with Syrian Refugees for basic resources. This is one of jordans biggest supermarket chains. Its one of 90 supermarkets where Syrian Refugees can access the aid provided by the world food program. Its full of food that refugees now can only dream of being able to afford. Only the neediest of Syrian Refugees still get food aid. With cards like these each one gets 14 a month. That doesnt go very far. For instance, this bottle of oil costs four dollars. Just a bag of sugar would cost almost half a refugees monthly allowance. The cuts in aid have been so deep that on this day, all these shoppers are jordanian. Jordanian businesspeople say rents have risen so much since the syrians arrived that even jordanians have less money to spend on food. Food aid to a quarter million refugees was cut in half. More than 100,000 people, including children, were dropped entirely. Refugees are increasingly making the dangerous journey to europe. The cuts in assistance is one of the driving factors. I dont think we are the only organization but we were described as the straw that broke the camels back and thats probably true. Reporter after four years of fighting in syria, half the countrys population is displaced. And jordans biggest camp, zaateri, is looking more permanent. The tents are still here but now they are attached to trailers provided for each family. Some refugees have started growing vegetables like corn and eggplant. The population at zaateri camp has been capped at 80,000, and the cuts in aid here are far less deep. Its sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter but no one is in danger of starving. From this camp though more than 100 refugees a day are actually leaving back to syria. Theyre not allowed to return to jordan. They load the bus with blankets and clothing theyll need to survive in devastated communities. Um mohammad is trying to take one last photo of her grandson before a policeman stops her. Many of those on the bus dont want it known theyre going back. translated he called his wife and said we are going to turkey. Come and join me. In turkey he can work with chickens or sheep and make money for his family. Reporter with the borders essentially closed, there are now more refugees leaving jordan than arriving. Most of the refugees going back to syria wont talk on camera. Some say theyre being sent back by the jordanian government for working illegally. Some are going back to fight. But most say with the cuts in aid, its just too hard to survive in jordan anymore. The jordanian government says it has in the past deported a small number of refugees back to syria for serious security violations. But it says all those going back now are returning voluntarily. Ali can fix almost anything. Almost everything in their home, including the television, was either thrown away or bought cheaply and repaired. His dream is to get to sweden he says he doesnt want assistance there hell clean bathrooms if he has to. He says the family could die at sea. But here he says they are dying a slow death. Woodruff next, this years nobel memorial prize in economics went to a scottish born academic who teaches at princeton university. Angus deaton was recognized for his analysis of consumption, poverty and welfare. I spoke to him a short while ago at princeton where he is a professor at the Woodrow Wilson school, professor deaton, thank you very much and congratulations. Thank you, its a pleasure to talk to you. Woodruff so you thought itm. I didnt think it was a prank call until they said its not a prank call. But i hadnt really thought of it until that moment. But then maybe i thought maybe it was a prank call. But i recognized two of the people on the committee, so im sure that was a joke. And it certainly made us all smile, even early in the morning. Woodruff you were honoredfoc economic indicators. For people without dont know economics, explain why measuring things matters. Well, i mean, i think we tend to take a lot of things for granted. I mean you know, the very word data means given. And yet most of the numbers we have are not given. Theyre produced by statistical offices, many of whom are under terrible budget pressure and threats and dont understand how important the numbers are. And also if we dont know what sort of progress were making, and how were doing. We dont really know where we are. And you know, a lot of people think the world is getting to be a worse place. A lot are thinking it is going to be a better place. We have to resolve these question and know what is happening am we talk about inequality a lot. We have got to measure it and be able to say if those people who say it is getting worse are right or if those people who say nothing is happening are right. Measurement is a very, very important of this and careful measurement is something thats not always in great supply. Brown . Woodruff so give us anexampe kind of measurement. Well, for instance, one of the things that were interested in is whether how much money people have and how much stuff they can buy given the amount of money they actually have. So one of the things to do that is you need to know what prices are like where they are. So you have to measure very carefully the prices of all the goods they buy. So if your rent goes up even if you have the same income, you are poorer. So thats been a real challenge. Especially in global poverty. But also in measuring individual country poverty. So i have done a lot of work on trying to measure prices in india, principle, and trying to match up their prices to individual people and to find out how well those people are doing. Woodruff how did a professoh most people consider to be a pretty elite place, get so interested in inequality and in poverty and be worried about it . Well, maybe someone asked this today and i think its true, that i grew up pretty poor. I have had experience, you know, i probably belonged to the one percent now adays. I have experienced both ends of the distribution. And thats taught me a lot. And i think if you have never really been poor its hard to understand how, what most of the people in the world live through. And live like. And you how lucky those of us are who dont have to live these really, really difficult lives. Luck is an incredibly important thing. A lot of people who have done really well think its entirely their own efforts, maybe it was. But most of us got to where we are with a lot of luck. I have always been very conscience of that princeton has a Public Policy school and it really cares about these issues. I dont think there is any contradiction there. You dont want to think of princeton as just a bunch of elite kids doing whatever elite kids do. Woodruff you in your bookthe out two years ago, great escape, health, wealth and the origins of inequality. You did show how life on this planet earth has just gotten a whole lot better for many, many people, better than it was a century ago, half a century ago. And yet you do emphasize inequality and why that is a problem. And why its something people need to keep focused on. Thats exactly right. And one of the things that has delighted me and as i thought about inequality and worried about inequality all my working life. But its not something that has been very much talked about. On the last on the right, people denounced people who worried about inequality. And its been very little serious discussion until recently. And i think inequality has its good sides. Its part of the reward for effort. And part of the reward for new innovations and all the things that are propelling our lives forward. But it also can be a terrible threat of the people who get very rich, trying to deprive the rest of us of things that are important to us like democracy, like Public Schools, Like Public Health systems and so on. So i think inequality is a very twoedged sword. I think its very important that we have an enormous public debate about it, and at this prize helps that debate, i would be delighted. Woodruff professor angusdeal prize in economics. We congratulation you and thanks. Thank you very much indeed. Its been a real pleasure woodruff with more than 3 Million Students suspended from Public Schools each year, president obama and the department of education want schools to find alternatives to sending kids home. Studies show that students who are suspended are more likely to be held back a grade, drop out of school, and end up in trouble with the law. Most suspended students are in high school or, less often, middle school. But in some schools, children as young as five or six are being disciplined this way. Newshour special correspondent for education, john merrow, looks at a high profile Charter Schools network in new york city. If you have ever been sent home from school, what they call suspended, raise your hand. No hands at all. Do you use out of School Suspension for kindergarteners and first graders. No, i cant. I cant see it. I dont see the benefit of it. We send the child here to get instruction. So im actually robbing the child of an education if i use send suspend the child. This is ps138. A Public School in brooklyn, new york. It reports 0 suspensions in kinder gat enand first gaid but at the Public Charter School in the same building, things are different. So here we do have a very structured environment. One, two. And we do have very high academic an behavioral exemtions for our scholars. Lock your hands and track the chart paper. And we do suspend children. Quite a few. Last year principal monica issued 44 out of School Suspensions to her 203 kinder gafort owners and first graders. Her school is part of success academies, the Largest Charter Network in new york city. Like all Charter Schools, their publicly funded but privately run. The Networks Founder and c. E. O. Eva moss cowowitz believes behavior setds the stage for learning. If you get it right in the early years, you actually have to suspend far less when the kids are older. Because they understand what is expected of them. She opened her first Success Academy in 2006. Since then the network has grown to 34 schools, nearly all of them elementary. They emphasize science and the arts and are wildly popular among parents with ten applicants for every seat. I was ecstatic when we got into Success Academy. Grade school, i tell all my friends and family. If you can, do it. And what else do they find appealing. For us the learning, to me, and the discipline as well. We do have a no tolerance policy around certain behaviors. But i dont just sus tend suspend children as the first course of action. Its well thought out. Its a process and there are systems in place. The code of conduct runs six pages. And identifies 65 infractions from bullying and gambling to littering and failing to be in a ready to succeed position. Beautiful. Former Success Academy student jamir gedy told me about some of the other rules. I would always have to keep my shirt tucked in. And lets say i wasnt wearing black shoes and i was wearing red shoes, then that would be an infraction. These infraction, if repeated, could trigger an out of School Suspension at the discretion of the principal. By contrast, principals at traditional Public Schools have to have district approval before suspending any k through third grade student. Suses pengs rates at success academies are almost three times higher than the citys k12 Public Schools even though 70 of success academies are elementary schools. What does a five year old do that warrants an out of school sus peng, of one day or multiple days. Well, using sexually explicit language. Very first. First time, yeah. But your code of conduct calls for out of School Suspension for a lot of other things, not just for example, calling out the right answer twice without being called on. Thats not accurate. The first time you do it is at level one infraction. The second time is a level two and one consequence of level two is out of School Suspension or getting out of your seat without permission. Yeah. Is a level two which could be out of school or even. But it could be. But its not. Im sorry. Its there but you havent done it. I mean thats not the context. A disciplinary code is written to give maximum freedom and we believe its preparing children for life. Success academies are obviously doing something right. Last year 93 of Success Academy students passed the states math test compared to just 35 percent in the citys traditional Public Schools. Could out of School Suspensions be a factor in the networks academic success, evas critics think so. They accuse her of suspending very Young Children over and over to persuade parents to change schools before state testing begins in third grade. Could that be true . We do know that some Success Academy students are suspended over and over. Thank you. The 44 suspensions at this school were issued to just 11 kindergarteners and first graders. One child was suspended 12 times. Eventually the family withdrew the child. At another Success Academy, 101 suspensions went to just 32 students. I was suspended so many times it was just like, it was just it was like why do i even come here every day if i just know that im going to get suspended. His mother told us he was suspended three or four times his first year for losing his temper. She said she was also called two or three times a week to pick him up early. Other parents told us their Young Children were sent home multiple times for infractions like not paiing attention. Or for getting out of their seats to look at the bull tin board. How do you hear so many stories, keep meeting these parents who say early on, we were councilled out. Our kid was sent home because he would get up and go look at the bull tin board, a five year old. First of all, anecdotes dont make for statis trends. But in my experience, you know, parents often have a different interpretation of what happened. I often have parents say to me, my child never punched the teacher. I say well, but you werent there. Jamir mother withdrew him from Success Academy after two and a half years. Now ten he just began his third year at a Public School that approaches discipline differently. He has had meltdowns. Yes, he has anxiety, yes, hes cried, yes hes had outbursts. But guess what, the school says fine, you need a break. Youre going to go help one of the secretaries in the office. Are you going to shred paper, will you water the plants, you will do something helpful. When are you ready, you will come back. And guess what, is he geght his education. Do you ever use out of School Suspension as a way to persuade parents to. Yeah, yeah, we dont suspend in order to boost our academics like thats just crazy talk. But our sources including several Public School principals, quite a few former Success Academy parents and one person inside her organization charge that is exactly what she does. Repeatedly suspends certain kids to push them out. However none of these critics were willing to publicly confront her. Well, the numbers just dont support that, john, what you get is what you see which is suspending kids does not lead to high attrition rate that is what the data shows. In fact, the attrition rate is at least twice that of another major charter network, kip. The Success Academy representative told thaws for every 100 new students, at least 10 leave before the years out. Most of them in the first few months. They are then replaced by students chosen from the waiting list. In the end, how Charter Schools conduct their business is basically their own business. New york could demand detailed information about out of School Suspensions but they allow all Charter Schools, not just evas success academies to set their own rules. For the pbs newshour, reporting from new york city. Woodruff tonight, we begin a threepart series entitled congos hope. The democratic republic of congo is one of the worlds poorest countries as a result of colonialism, misrule and most recently, war. And this despite being endowed with precious natural resources. Our series marks the debut of newshours contributing editor Soledad Obrien. She begins the series in goma, a city on the shores of lake kivu, and the place where congolese n. B. A. Player bismack beeyombo returned this summer. Reporter Bismack Biyombo comes ashore on the banks of lake kivu like a jolly lean giant. Young. Handsome. 69, he is 22 years old. A center in the n. B. A. Who towers above this village of coffee growers. And that is not where the contrast ends. Just hours earlier, biyombo signed a twoyear, 6 Million Contract to play basketball for the toronto raptors. Done im a raptor reporter signing right here, in the democratic republic of congo, one of the poorest countries in the world. I grew up here. I dreamed one day about being in the n. B. A. And the process that ive been through to be able to make it, and then come back here and sign it from here is just, its that feeling that i cant explain. Reporter why do you come back to congo . I love the people, i love the potential of this place. And i think we have a bright future. Reporter biyombo is of the congo, perhaps even a metaphor for what it might be. He was born in lubumbashi on the southeast end of the country. What was your childhood like, in lubumbashi . Like we were eating once a day. Reporter one meal a day . One meal a day because you cannot afford. But, im actually glad of those things happen to me. Reporter really . Why . Because it teach me. Thats what help me to come back here and help. Reporter like congo, he was rich with potential but low on prospects. He was discovered by a portuguese coach and played in spain before being drafted to the n. B. A. Every time i think about the way i got to the n. B. A. , it is a motivation to myself and im thankful for it. Reporter biyombo is traveling with the eastern congo initiative. E. C. I. , the brainchild of actor ben affleck, which focuses in the area around goma, a place scarred by volcanos, overrun by refugees, and repeatedly for the last two decades, at war over its rich minerals. Congo is fighting to do what biyombo did pick itself up off the floor. Its good to see people trying to help us put it together. But more than anything, its that i believe in human resources. Reporter e. C. I. Showed biyombo an example of those resources in these hills. Here, a sleeping coffee industry is waking up, as a string of aid organizations are Building Infrastructure and training workers. The newest customer for the arabica coffee is starbucks. Baraka kasali manages the initiative that works with 4,000 farmers. There has been coffee in this community for 30 years. I mean, the farmer we met said his grandfather is the one who brought the coffee plants and planted them 30 years ago. They havent received the value for that coffee. Reporter why not . Because they havent had access to the markets. So we partner with them, we were able to be a catalyst to bring in folks, like u. S. Aid and the howard buffet foundation, and say hey heres an opportunity to invest in people. Reporter the work has transformed the life of this woman and her children. This is her old home. And this one, the new. Bought and built with coffee money. The program is one of several that ngos are promoting with the goal of creating a Sustainable Society for the congolese, one with Economic Development at the forefront, rather than war. Peace and stability will one day be a reality in this country. Reporter dario merlo is executive director of e. C. I. Reporter is it realistic to think that a country that literally for the last 20 years has been in conflict can turn it around . You need to invest in people. People are ready to do something for their country. Reporter the drc, the largest country in subsaharan africa, is a compilation of sad statistics. The Life Expectancy is in the 50s. The infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world. Hunger and starvation are commonplace. This is a country with extraordinary people, and when you add it to the potential in minerals, in forrest, clean water, you know, such a resilience from nature, from people, from everything. Reporter that means that successful congolese like biyombo must do more than just encourage business. What does hope come in the form of . Is that, hey you just got a big contract you are going to write some seriously big checks. Is it, youre going to come and visit . Describe specifically what hope looks like. Well, uh, to me is to be able to establish uh, companies that will create jobs, give people jobs, uh, establish schools, that kids will be able to go and get an education. And, and then establish farms where people actually can eat, because if you dont eat you cannot work. Reporter to fill those jobs, congo needs a welltrained workforce. Here, young people learn new skills like carpentry, auto repair, and plumbing. This young woman told biyombo she wants to be a mechanic. What she said to me was touching because she said that i wanted to do mechanics because its not just a mans job, and i dont want people to think this is just a mans job. Reporter for biyombo, this is a very different congo than the one he left. Goma, where the program runs, was in the crossfire of a civil war just two years ago. The population was on the run from violence. Now people are dropping their arms and picking up tools. Jobs arent all this Community Needs to prosper. They need to get along. Biyombo also came here to run a basketball clinic. For all of us, he is this national hero. Every professional athlete must show some discipline, hard work, and all these value, you want him to actually share that with the kids. Especially in postconflict area because kid who plays together, when they grow up you know you realize that actually difference and diversity is a richness, and its not something you should be afraid of. Reporter for biyombo, this is fun in a country where there has been too little. A place where he no longer wants to see the ugliness, but the beauty. Like the vast rich farmland which could grow an economy, or the rare gorillas that could attract new tourism. The story of congo, to him, is all of this. And the potential of a people, who have resilience at their core. For the pbs newshour, im Soledad Obrien in the democratic republic of congo. Woodruff our series congos hope continues tomorrow. Soledad profiles a congolese filmmaker who is bringing movies and moviemaking to his country. Woodruff finally tonight, we want to note the passing of Longtime Secret Service agent jerry parr. He was with Ronald Reagan at the Washington Hilton Hotel in 1981 when the president was shot. A few years ago, the newshour returned to that hotel and parr explained what happened that day, just moments after the shots rang out and he immediately shoved the president into his waiting limousine i ran my hands up under his koalt, his hair, everything. And found no blood. So thats when i radioed back, raw hide is okay. But in Du Pont Circle or very close to it, he started frothing bright red blood and he was dripping it on my coat, so i said i am taking you to the hospital. He said okay or he nodded to me. And i was very, very worried. I was also there that day. Jerry a remarkable man. Woodruff you can hear the rest of jerry parrs description of that day, and his career in the secret service, at our homepage, pbs. Org newshour. Our condolences to his family. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, i sit down with bob woodward and the source of his new book, nixon aide alexander butterfield, to discuss the contents of the twenty boxes of documents butterfield took from the white house when he walked out 40 years ago. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And sonys pictures classics. Now presents truth. This is dan rather. I wanted something for the election. The president went awol. Parts of his files going in the waste basket. Tonight we have