As expected, of the limited choices given to the IB Committee the Peabody building was selected.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08340/933107-100.stm
No information yet as to where students in the Peabody feeder will go or as to the cost of renovations to Peabody.
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Expanded coverage:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08341/933277-53.stm
If PURE reform were to send in some "follow-up" questions on this article, I'd love to hear:
What other buildings were considered and what are the plans for those buildings now?
Who developed the criteria for judging the buildings -- was it done by the committee or were the criteria pre-selected? Was accessibility to the district as a whole or the concentration of themed, 6-12 schools in the East End considered?
Will Peabody neighborhood kids entering 9th grade next year (and in the following 2 years) be given special consideration at other schools, since this school will be phased out? What sort of considerations or options will be available to them?
The new article says
"The district yesterday said enrollment could drop to fewer than 200 in five years"
and
"We feel that's a really growing, vibrant and diverse community,"
- Does it make sense to expect enrollment to drop when the community is growing?
Re: the first question- on other buildings considered- the IB website did indicate that information on the committee's work would be shared on that website. So it will be interesting to see what comes up.
The fact that the committee could only look at closed or underenrolled schools is a concern- that means that the committee was limited to sites where previous schools had been unsuccessful. If you were for example looking to open a restaurant- would you limit yourself to places where other restaurants had failed? Note that the science school was not placed in a school that was closed or underenrolled.
I don't think they'll get 1,000 kids for IB at that location.
I think that you are right, the extreme east end of the city is not conducive to drawing students from throughout the district like the Schenley location did.
As a teacher, though not in the PPS, I would have an extremely difficult time spending the whole day in a classroom without windows. Research has shown(see Vivian Loftness's research at CMU)that students' achievement is higher whent there is natural lighting. I, personally, would have to deal with mood issues. Unfortunately, both Reizenstein and Peabody do not have windows. Is that how you, or your child, would like to spend each day, all day, every day?
Few of us would like that environment- it is not good for staff or student morale- which is why we predicted last June that renovations at Peabody, in addition to renovations done elsewhere rather than at Schenley, will eventually cost as much as it would have cost to renovate Schenley.
The difference is that many smaller capital expenses are less noticeable than one larger expense.
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