Friday, November 6, 2009

Hill District meeting on restructuring

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011258-298.stm

7 comments:

deegazette said...

I thought about attending this meeting but quickly realized holding it is premature. There is NO PLAN at this point. There is a report from a out-of-towners containing recommendations only. What might be more effective is a meeting to create an alternative set of recommendations with supporting documentation for each suggestion.

Questioner said...

Isn't the Hill group meeting to work on an alternative set of recomendations?

One major obstacle is that the consultants have not furnished realistic numbers to work with. There is no way that all or most of the school buildings are going to be renovated "like new." We need the amount it would cost to make each building useable for the next 30 years. And figures must include the cost of necessary improvements like auditoriums, while excluding changes like the configuration of rooms when the existing configuration is adequate.

Questioner said...

Most people seem to have trouble finding Milliones if they haven't been there before, so here's what to do: drive up Centre past Schenley and past the intersection with the light (Aliquippa Street is on the left at this light leading to Falk, the VA, Pitt campus). Continue on Centre a bit and look for an entry road on your right that leads up a hill to Milliones.

Questioner said...

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011708-455.stm

Mark Rauterkus said...

A number of signs to lead people to U-Prep would be most welcomed. And, put some other signs a few blocks away too.

How about those M*A*S*H* like signs, then all the schools can be listed. (funny)

Annette Werner said...

The scope of this meeting was very limited. It focused on just the 3 elementary schools in the Hill. For each school there were 3 options to rank- for ex, for Miller the options were to add foreign language as an option, add foreign language as a partial magnet, or change the African focus to an African arts focus and add a foreign language option.

For Vann the options were whether, if the school closes, ECC's from elsewhere should be consolidated at the school; a community center should be opened; or some other use made- but unless a funding source is found these options seem to undercut the district's goal of saving money by closing buildings.

This focus was a little surprising, because it seems that while preK-8 foreign language offerings and location of ECC programs are worth discussing they would not be the top concerns of most parents and community members.

Questioner said...

Focusing just on the foreign language issue- reportedly it has been really hard to find and retain qualified foreign language teachers for the programs already in place. Maybe the teacher training initiative can address this problem.