By Phil Fairbanks

N E WS STA F F R EPORT ER

Longbefore9-11, andevena fewyearsbefore Lockerbie, America got a glimpseinto the tragic reality of airplanes astools of international terrorism.

It was August 1982 and a bomb plant-ed by a Palestinian terrorist explodedaboard a Pan Am flight bound for Hono-

lulu, killing a 16-year-old Japanese boy andinjuring more than adozen others.

The man who plant-ed it, a member of the15th of May group, apro-Palestinian orga-nization, was eventu-ally caught, convictedand sent to jail, first inGreece and then here.

More than three de-cades later, Moham-med Rashed is free

from prison and facing deportation.He is, by some accounts, a man with-

out a country willing to take him, a manwho for now is forced to call WesternNew York home.

Now 64, Rashed is in custody at theBatavia Detention Center.

“He just wants to go somewhere andbe left alone, and leave everyone elsealone,” said A.J. Kramer, the federal pub-lic defender who represents Rashed.

Rashed’s arrival here is the latestchapter in a story that began as one ofthe world’s first aviation-related terror-ist plots.

Investigators say it was Rashed whoplaced the bomb on the plane that day in

In limbo

in Batavia,

bomber

seeks home

Rashed, who put device

on plane in ’82, now free

See Terroriston Page A2

Checking out the latest in city living

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B Y T I F FA N Y L A N K E S / N E W S S T A F F R E P O R T E R

HOW ONE SCHOOLHELPS CITY KIDS SOAR

INVICTUS:Out of the nightthat covers me,Black as the pitfrom pole to pole,I thank whatevergods may beFor my uncon-querable soul.

B U F F A L O N E W S . C O M / S C H O O L S

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

Photos by Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

In helping ninth-grader Monroe Tillman deal with a personal issue, Eagle Academy teacherDevine Williams, right at top, assures him she will do whatever it takes to make sure he makesit on the list of graduates displayed at the school. Elsewhere, students focus on learning.

T he young men stand between the poles, feeling a pull in

opposite directions. ¶ Street. Or scholar. ¶ The hardships they

have already faced in their young lives enshroud them.

¶ At a young age, they learned to deal with gangs and

violence at school and in their neighborhoods. They feel pressured by

peers to emulate the image of black men portrayed in rap music and the

media. Some never knew their fathers. Even as they try to forge a path for

their future, a few already have their own children. ¶ All of these distractions make it difficult to do well

in school. Some were already behind before they enrolled in a public school system largely ill-equipped to

help them reach their full potential. ¶ “It’s a whole different battle for us out there,” said 18-year-old Tariq

Molson,whodroppedoutofBuffalo’sBennettHighSchool. ¶ Heshouldhavegraduated this year. ¶ Thereare

all too many people out there like Molson – hundreds, likely thousands, of young men struggling to find their

way inaBuffaloschoolsystemthatonestudysuggestsgraduates justone inevery fourblackmalestudents,one

of the lowest rates in the country. ¶ It doesn’t have to be this way.

Eagle Academy in the Bronx combines rigorous academics, high expectationsand a structured environment to help minority students succeed

One out of every four blackmale students in the BuffaloPublic Schools graduates.Source: The Schott Foundationfor Public Education, 2008 data.

| S E E S C H O O L S O N P A G E A 8

By T.J. Pignataro

N E WS STA F F R EPORT ER

At the end of the day at Awald Farms,the busiest workers head for home – bythe thousands.

The honeybees wait their turn to en-ter the colony’s hive on the southern endof the 75 acres of strawberry, blueberry,raspberry andblackberryfields inNorthCollins.

All day long they have flown to hun-dreds of flowering plants gathering andcarrying nectar – and spreading pollen– just as bees have done at Awald Farmsfor 100 years.

But now Jamie Awald and otherfarmers worry about the future of thesebees under constant threat from mites,chemicals and loss of habitat.

“The bottom line is if we don’t havethe bees on the farm, we have no berries– berries don’t exist,” Awald said.

With23percentof thenation’shoney-bees wiped out over the winter, farmers,beekeepers and scientists worry aboutthe long-term sustainability of the insect

Worries

mount over

dying bees

Area keepers concerned

by winter’s toll on hives

What it means

to be Kelly tough

Being strong for somebodyelse is what it’s all about,Erin Kelly says. Page B1

MohammedRashedwaits to bedeported.

See Beeson Page A2

A8 The Buffalo News/Sunday, June 22, 2014 A9

“In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.”

E agleAcademyPrincipalJonathanFoy stands among his pupils atthe Bronx school as they recitethe Victorian-era poem written

by William Ernest Henley.The poet reportedly wrote “Invictus”

during a hospital stay recovering from aleg amputation. The piece is about life anddeath, courage and survival, perseverancein the face of challenge.

The sentiments just as easily apply tolife growing up in the inner city.

The young men, dressed neatly inshirts and ties, belt out the lines to arhythm more apropos of a drum line thana poetry reading.

This is how they start each morning atthe Eagle Academy for Young Men in theBronx, the flagship of a network of schoolsdedicated to educating at-risk boys, virtu-ally all of whom are young men of color.

The school was founded in 2004 by 100Black Men of America, an internationalorganization with a Buffalo chapter thataims to improve education and economicopportunities for men of color. Leaders ofthe group were alarmed by statistics thatshow black and Hispanic men graduatefrom high school in far fewer numbersthantheirpeersofotherracesandgenders.

Nationwide, 52 percent of young blackmen graduate from high school, reportsthe Schott Foundation for Public Educa-tion, compared with 78 percent of theirwhite, male peers. New York has the low-est high school graduation rate for blackmen in the country, with just 37 percent ofyoung black men earning a diploma, com-pared with 78 percent of their white, maleclassmates, Schott reports.

In Buffalo, the foundation reports, just25 percent of young black men finishedhigh school in 2008, the year the organi-zation ranked it in the bottom 10 in thecountry.

So 100 Black Men designed a school to

meet the needs of young black and His-panic men growing up in the inner city.The school’s program centers on rigor-ous academics, a structured environment,high expectations and support for chal-lenges they might be dealing with at homeand in the community, such as gangs,drugs and street violence.

About 80 percent of students at EagleAcademy in the Bronx qualify for free orreduced price lunch, the educational sys-tem’s measure of poverty. About 62 per-cent of the school’s students are black and35 percent are Hispanic.

Although its demographics are simi-lar to the Buffalo Public Schools, EagleAcademy gets strikingly different results.Since it opened, it has consistently postedgraduation rates for black male studentsof about 70 percent and higher.

And that starts with the simplestthings, like the morning meeting.

Dressed in a crisp, sharp suit and anEagle Academy tie, Principal Foy andother school leaders start each morningwith a town hall meeting where they setthe tone for the day and offer students a

chance to talk about things they are deal-ing with in their personal lives.

Several hundred young men sit onbenches in the cafeteria listening as Foyswiftly switchesbetweengivingaccoladesfor good behavior and establishing a fo-cus the young men will carry with themfromthecafeteria to their classroomsand,hopefully, their neighborhoods.

“Good morning, brothers,” Foy says toopen the meeting.

Theyoungmenmeeklymumbleareplyas they make their way to their feet.

Not pleased with the response, heprompts them to begin again.

“Let’s try that one more time. Goodmorning, brothers.”

Theywillkeep tryinguntil theymeethisexpectation: To be firm, engaged and con-fident.Today theydosoonthesecondtry.

When the business of the morning iscomplete, he prompts the students to risefor their morning recitation.

“Let’sgetonour feet,brothers,”Foysays.“Let’s all stand. One, two, three. ‘Invictus.’”

Each morning the young men recitethe lines.

“I am the master of my fate,”they chant. “I am the captain

of my soul.”

R ituals like the town hall meetingare just as much a part of EagleAcademy’s successasacademics.Culture is critical, and these

traditions establish a structure androutine most students crave but may findonly at school.

“It’s how we center the boys at thevery beginning of the day,” Eagle Acade-my Foundation President and CEO DavidC. Banks said. “These little small thingsmake a difference.”

Building a school culture begins wellbefore students start their first year at Ea-gle Academy. Incoming students attend asummer program where teachers not onlygauge their academicabilities for thecom-ing year, but reinforce the school’s high ex-pectations.

Students are grouped into one of fourhouses – essentially teams – named fornotable black and Hispanic leaders. Theschooldoesn’t shyaway frommorecontro-versial figures that are significant in theirstudents’ culture: Che Guevara and Mal-colm X have houses named for them, as doRoberto Clemente and Barack Obama.

Throughout the year students earnpoints for their house with accomplish-ments such as good attendance, doing theirhomework, community service, maintain-inggoodgradesandshowingimprovement.Theycanalso losepoints forbadbehavior.

The system sets up students to workwith and for each other – and to hold eachother accountable.

“This really takes care of the boys’ de-sire to belong,” Foy said. “Almost like, totake from negative culture, a gang. Ormore positive, a fraternity.”

Each grade level has its own unique tie,whichtheboysmustearnbycompletingthecriteria toadvance to thenextgrade level.

“It may seem like a subtle thing, butthose kinds of things are important in set-ting a standard and letting them knowit’s not a game,” Foy said. “It’s a lot of tra-dition. It’s a lot of rituals. Part of the aca-demic success comes with a culture that’sdifferent from a regular school.”

Photos of students working on class-

room projects and attending specialevents cover the hallways alongside imag-es of black leaders and posters advertisingspecial opportunities, including a trip toIceland. The Eagle Academy Foundation,which was created to support the schools,helps raise money to provide the youngmen with those opportunities.

“Thewallsshouldspeak,”Foysaid. “Thewalls should tell a story of who you are.”

Along the top row hang pictures ofgraduates. Their smiles beam from thewall, young black and Hispanic men don-ning graduation caps and gowns, proudlyclutching their diplomas.

T he students, looking neat in theirnavy blue pants, dress shirts andties, sit in rows of desks coveredwith notebooks, worksheets and

calculators.As the teacher tossesoutques-tions during a lesson on exponents, theboys shoot up their hands to answer.

This ninth-grade algebra class at EagleAcademy could just as well have been inany of Buffalo’s prestigious private highschools.

Here, the young men learn they have achoice that may not be as evident in themass media, their homes or most oth-er classrooms in urban school districts:Street. Or scholar.

Forsomeinthisadvancedclass, thepullbetween the two poles is already strong.

One young man who raises his hand toanswer the teacher’s question is alreadyin trouble with the law. The school knowsabout the situation and is trying to guidehim through the criminal justice systemand in the right direction for his future.

He is engaged during this lesson, pay-ingattentionandreadilyofferinganswersto the teacher’s questions.

Foy knows it may not take much tosteal that focus.

“Part of it is knowing the stress on eachof our students,” Foy said. “We’re hop-ing he’ll eventually come over to our side.We’ve seen it.

“We’ve also seen kids go the other way.”Those stressors usually start in the sur-

rounding neighborhoods of the Bronx,communities ridden with crime and vio-lence that touch many of the students. Thewalk to school alone takes students down

neglected streets marked by boarded-upwindows, abandoned buildings and graf-fiti-covered storefronts.

“There are good parts and bad partsof the Bronx,” said Zimba Hamm, a juniorwho wants to attend the University at Buf-falo. “We grew up in this environment.The areas I come from are not that good. Iwouldn’t go out at 11 or 12 at night.”

Eagle Academy opened its first schoolin theBronxasa traditionalhighschool toserve ninth- through twelfth-graders.

But leaders quickly realized they need-ed to start their work earlier. Its schoolsnow start in the sixth grade, an age whenboys may already be battling negative in-fluences.

To try to help students find the rightpath, Eagle Academy matches each stu-dent with a mentor who meets with themon a regular basis.

The staff includes many men of colorwho serve as positive role models.

Banks,who isnowdirectorof theEagleAcademy Foundation, has a rapport withthe students. During one recent visit, hestops to reprimandthreeboys for running

in the hallways.“Hey, hey, hey,” he cautions the group.The boys not only heed his warning,

but offer up a cheerful “Hey, Mr. Banks”to greet him.

“Our mantra for 100 Black Men is ‘Theywill be what they see,’” Banks said. “If allthey see are hustlers on the street, it shouldbe no surprise which road they go down.”

Older students are also mentorsthrough a program called Eagles at Flightthat allows them to guide their youngerclassmates on field trips to places such asthe Statue of Liberty and art museums.

Students also have the option to staylonger at school to work on academics andparticipate in extracurricular activities,including culinary and chess clubs as wellas sports such as lacrosse.

More time at school also means lesstime on the streets.

Parents and mentors help reinforce theEagle Academy’s college-going message,which is evident in Kareem Donaldson’sclassroomwhere juniorsandseniorsspendpart of their week learning about the col-lege admissions process and getting help

withtheirapplications.Juniorsandseniorshave time built into their schedules for halfof the school year to work with Donaldsonand other volunteers.

Donaldson’s room is covered with col-lege pennants, everything from local NewYork City schools to Ivy League institu-tions. He invites some of these colleges togive seminars and coordinates field tripsto various campuses, which for some stu-dents offers a first chance to travel outsideof their neighborhoods.

“It keeps you going,” said RoshaneGray, a senior who plans to attend SUNYBuffalo State. “It gives you a reason to stayin school and stay off the streets.”

T he questions posted on thescreen prompt the studentsto contemplate their heritage.Students in this eighth-grade

humanities class spent the year studyingtopics such as the slave trade, the Har-lem Renaissance and race and culture inthis country. They read the works of blackscholars and leaders including MarcusGarvey and Booker T. Washington.

Now, they will decide whether theyagree or disagree with them.

What should be the place of the Ne-gro (“Black and Brown people”) in WhiteAmerica?

What were the strengths and weak-nesses of each scholar’s plan for improv-ing the Negro?

What philosophy would be more ac-ceptable to White America then? WhiteAmerica now?

The questions that guide the discus-sion are edgy, but they force the studentsto think about their identity, culture andplace in society – historically and now.Some educators argue that seeing this re-flection of themselves and their history inthe classroom will better engage them inlearning.

A group of six boys sit in a circle in thecenter of the room preparing to maketheir case. The rest of the class sits in an-other circle around the perimeter to ob-serve and evaluate how well they maketheir argument.

The first student critiques Booker T.

From left, Avery Logan, 16, Anthony Lebron, 16, and Berkley Sessions, 17, catchsome fresh air outside Eagle Academy in their uniforms, which students wear eachday. Each grade level has its own unique tie.

Principal Jonathan Foy explains the “house team” system and tally case in the main hallway at Eagle Academy: Students areassigned to one of four houses, and they contribute or subtract points to their group’s final outcome.

Eagle Academy student Alton Jackson, 15, swaps his sneakers for dress shoesas classmate Robert Figueroa, 16, left, waits for him to complete the daily ritualas a passer-by walks past them along the street in the Bronx.

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

RITUALS AND ROUTINE BUILD STRUCTURE INTO THE DAY

B U F F A L O N E W S . C O M / S C H O O L S

SCHOOLS • from A1

Denise Browne, parent coordinator at the academy, holds upa photo of herself and her son Eugene Murray at graduationlast year. Parents and mentors reinforce the school’s message.

College counseling director Kareem Donaldson, right,discusses the transition from high school to college withRoshane Gray, left, and Zimba Hamm, center.

Photos by Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Eagle Academy uses rituals to establish a structure and routine that help its students succeed and that they may not find at home. “These little small things make a difference,” said David Banks of the Eagle Academy Foundation.

See Schoolson Page A10

A10 The Buffalo News/Sunday, June 22, 2014

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

Washington, who was among the lastgeneration of black leaders born intoslavery. Washington discouraged blacksfrom fighting to end segregation, urginginstead the creation of create long-termeducationalandeconomicopportunities.

“People said that he would please thewhite people, and it would please them,too,” the student said. “The only thingwrong with his argument was he said itis too much race pride that leads to seg-regation.”

The conversation shifts to a debateon what it means to “cast down yourbuckets” and whether that philosophyadvanced or hindered civil rights forAfrican-Americans. The phrase, fromWashington’s “Atlanta Compromise”speech, reflected his belief that blacksshould make the most of what they hadand not agitate for civil rights.

The next student goes on to criticizeGarvey, theauthorwhopromotedthere-turn of African-Americans to Africa.

“He was telling people to do stuffthat he would not,” the student said, crit-icizing Garvey for staying in the UnitedStates and promoting his ideas.

“If you’re going to start a movement,you have to be the epitome of what youbelieve and you want to see happen.”

Beyond this place of wrathand tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

T he cost of academic failure ishigh for young men of color –and their communities – withstatistics showing that black

and Hispanic men who do not finishhigh school fuel a pipeline to the unem-ployment office and prison.

The Brookings Institute reports thatthere is a nearly 70 percent chance ablack man who drops out of high schoolwill be imprisoned by his mid-30s. Thatis more than triple the risk for whitemen who don’t finish high school.

ArleeDanielsJr. seesthis fallout inthestreetsofBuffalo,often in theearlyhoursof themorningwhenheiscalled fromhissleep to mediate a dispute at risk of be-coming violent. Through his work withthe Stop the Violence Coalition, he seeswhat happens when young men start tostumble down the wrong path.

And he tries to catch them beforethey head too far in the wrong direction.

Some of these young men end up in

his classroom at the YMCA on WilliamStreet. This is where he spends threenights a week working with studentswho have dropped out of school to helpthem earn their GED certificate.

Danielsusesmanyof thesamestrate-gies found at Eagle Academy. When stu-dents enter the program, he reinforceshis rules and routine, setting a tone thathe will not accept the same behaviors –such as fighting and poor attendance –that causedmanyofhis students todropout of school in the first place.

Students also participate in a men-toring program, which allows Daniels toaddress the underlying issues that mayinhibit their success.

“We want to make sure we addresswhatever it is that caused it to not workoutthefirst time,”Danielssaid. “Wedon’twant the same thing to happen here.”

A number of his students far surpassthe minimum requirements needed toearn their GED. Most go on to continuetheir education or enter the workforce.

Yet he knows this work is just triagefor a much larger, problem. It does noth-ing to prevent the scores of young blackmenfromdroppingout in thefirstplace.

Daniels said he once ran a similarmentoring program at Buffalo’s East andBennett high schools, catching at-riskstudents before they dropped out of thesystem. He and other male role modelsunderwent training through a nationalprogram and then worked with some ofthe district’s most at-risk students.

Daniels says the program yieldedresults but was cut because of budgetproblems. The district now offers otherprograms at those schools, but studentsstill struggle.

Molson, the Bennett dropout, andthe other young men in Daniels’ classoffer plenty of suggestions for how theBuffalo schools could do better. Smallerclasses with more individual attention.Uniforms to eliminate fighting and pos-turing over clothing. More vocationalprograms and hands-on projects. Sin-gle-sex classes to eliminate distractionsfrom young women.

The students in Daniels’ class alsoacknowledge that their academic strug-gles startwithdistractionsoutsideof theclassroom. Popular culture that paintsan image of black men as ballers, thugsor gangsters. Broken homes and absen-tee parents who gave them little guid-ance. The temptation to trade school fora life of drugs and violence that mightbe, at least for now, more lucrative.

Not knowing whether they will sur-vive the journey from their neighbor-hood to school each morning.

BLACK MALES WHO DON’T GRADUATEFACE TRIPLE THE RISK OF PRISON

SCHOOLS • from A9

“Our mantra for 100 Black Men is, ‘They will be what they see.’ If all they seeare hustlers on the street, it should be no surprise which road they go down.”Eagle Academy Foundation President and CEO David C. Banks

The Buffalo News is spotlighting Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx after review-

ing graduation data for schools in New York State as well as several urban districts elsewhere

in the country. Eagle Academy consistently posts high graduation rates among schools that

have a substantial minority population and that do not employ special admissions criteria.

Eagle Academy’s population also is entirely male, highlighting approaches that

improve black male student achievement, which has been a challenge for the Buffalo

Public Schools.

The first Eagle Academy was opened by 100 Black Men of America in the Bronx in

2004, offering programs specifically targeted to at-risk, inner-city youth of color. The

organization then created the Eagle Academy Foundation, which has since expanded

and now has five schools in New York City and Newark, N.J. The foundation identified

the neighborhoods that are the biggest “feeders” into the state prison system and opened

schools there in a proactive attempt to put young men on the right path.

The Eagle Academy Foundation is now working on plans for an Eagle Institute, which

will offer training to schools and districts interested in adopting its methods. – T.L.

Eagle Academy / At a glance

Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Eagle Academy opened in the Bronx in 2004 and has since expanded.Now a foundation, it has five schools in New York City and Newark, N.J.

Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Eagle Academy organizers deliberately placed the school in a tough neighborhood, using incarceration data to find the population most in need.

See Schoolson Page A11

Eagle Academy / By the numbers

Percentof Eagle

Academy graduates whogo on to four-year collegesand universities.

90% Numberof students

at Eagle Academy,Bronx campus.

600Suspension rateat Eagle Academy.2%

Attendance rateat Eagle Academy.88%

Source: New York State Department of Education