Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Board to discuss HS configuration on Monday

From A+ Schools:

School Board Discussing Excel 9-12 on Monday, August 2nd

The School Board will meet on Monday, August 2, 2010 at approximately 6:15 PM (immediately following a special Legislative Session) to have its second discussion about the high school reconfiguration plan. This plan could come up for a vote as early as August 25th.

The meeting will be held in the Board Committee room on the 2nd floor of 341
S. Bellefield Avenue. Monday's meeting is open to the public. Members of the public can observe (and we encourage you to), but cannot speak before the board. Members of the public can speak before the board at its public hearing on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 6:00 PM.

Check out the A+ Schools website for more information on how to register to speak at the board hearing on August 23rd.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this as The Board/Broad already know how they are voting regarding HS configuration, and they are putting on a show for the select few that get into a board meeting. BTW, the new tactic is forcing all director level employees must attend the meetings, it takes up seats, and shows the employees who has the power. (they have zero say, and they have to sit there and endure all the BS).

I think I found a private school, and I am honestly giddy, for lack of a better word. It seems like a better fit for my kids/kid. PPS will never ask why we left even though my kids/kid help out the PSSA results.

Regardless of how children are performing in school, a district should want to know why parents and kids leave. They do not care, that alone speaks volumes.

Questioner said...

Around the end of 2008 there were plans to have a Broad fellow conduct an investigation on why families left, but nothing was ever heard after that.

Anonymous said...

To be fair I suspect that one additional reason directors must attend the meetings has to do with Boardmembers always looking around for or asking if a director is present to answer questions. Cassleberry, Barone-Martin, Lopez, always in demand. There have been times when a question was asked and I had to say "Huh? they didn't know this already?"

The overflow crowd or staff sit in the larger room next door if I recall.

I have never heard of anyone being turned away from a meeting due to overcrowding.

kathy Fine said...

When we asked the district about exit interviews for families leaving PPS, we were told that they were interviewing a sampling of families with plans to expand in the future. As Questioner stated, we have heard not of neither the sampling nor the expanded surveys.

Questioner said...

One explanation that seems to come up a lot is "things are too unsettled"-people don't know what to expect and so are opting out for a surer thing.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the view (on a screen) in the next room is LIMITED to a single camera focus___missing the very revealing looks, expressions and interactions between and among Board members, Superintendent, presenter(s) and upper administration.

Anonymous said...

Enclosed parents, educators and taxpayers another commissioned consultant to facilitate Roosevelt’s Agenda?

Does any one of us have access to this new Rand Report and the details other than Graduation rates that is a vital core component for the Race for the Top money and for the federal and national levels to attain PPS monetary moola?

GED should be readily available for students that need.

In addition, CTE and other key Excel 9-12 goals will be part of Roosevelt’s tour.


Pittsburgh High School Reform Task Force | Assurance Network Blog
By admin

In an effort to make necessary educational reforms and improve the rate of Pittsburgh Public Schools graduates, Superintendent Mark Roosevelt commissioned a recent RAND Corporation study that revealed 64 percent of the district's high ...


Assurance Network Blog - http://wp-mu.assurancenetwork.net/

Anonymous said...

"To be fair I suspect that one additional reason directors must attend the meetings has to do with Boardmembers always looking around for or asking if a director is present to answer questions. Cassleberry, Barone-Martin, Lopez, always in demand. There have been times when a question was asked and I had to say "Huh? they didn't know this already?"

The overflow crowd or staff sit in the larger room next door if I recall.

I have never heard of anyone being turned away from a meeting due to overcrowding."
July 29, 2010 7:39 AM

------------------

I am not talking about assistant superintendents, or cabinet level employees, I am discussing their department employees that are required to attend the meetings, they serve no purpose being there.

Mr. Brentley mentioned how hard it was for anyone to attend a school board meeting last month, what was he referring to?

Anonymous said...

I cannot blame concerned and caring parents from deciding to exit this school district. However, as a member of the community and a taxpayer, I care about the education of our children and that the monies are spent appropriately.

I am an advocate for Public Schools, because I believe in a fair and equitable education for all young minds. With that said, I do not support the policies that Roosevelt is implementing and the Board is rubber stamping. Exiting from the District will not solve the issues, and unfortunately, will still follow you.

Go ahead leave the District for a more promising education. I agree completely, but please do not give up the fight! As taxpayers, you still have a voice because you are a stakeholder (stockholder).

I believe that education is a privledge supported by the public (taxpayers)for the betterment of the community and for the strengthening of our Nation's economy. Therefore, students and families bent on abusing this privledge are the ones that should look elsewhere, not those who appreciate these privledges.

It is Federal policies and mandates, like NCLB, that is destroying the students' motivation to learn and killing the National economy. If we want to stop this run away train speeding towards the cliff, we need to call our state and federal representatives and request that the NCLB policy be appealed. Let's get that locomotive running.

Request the elimination of the Department of Education too. Put the education of our children back in our hands, where it belongs.

It is time to organize ladies and gentlemen. The opposition already has!

Anonymous said...

I am not giving up, I hope my kids can go to Public High School, this is going to be expensive. It is simply what is best for my family right now.

Anonymous said...

http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/is-gates-foundation-involved-in-bribery.html

"Here is how a news story describes it: "Now the foundation is taking unprecedented steps to influence education policy, spending millions to influence how the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools. The federal dollars are unprecedented, too. President Barack Obama persuaded Congress to give him the money as part of the economic stimulus so he could try new ideas to fix an education system that most agree is failing. The foundation is offering $250,000 apiece to help states apply, so long as they agree with the foundation's approach."

Something to think about.

Anonymous said...

HAS THIS WEBSITE GONE DOWN? JULY 30th IS NOT AVAILABLE?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:27,

Thanks for the website.

Sweet, progressives throwing one of its own under the bus. If you believe that Gates is not a progressive, then go to his foundation sites. As a true progressive, he promotes 'zero population growth,' 'eugenics,' 'global warming hoax'....the list goes on. Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me. I rather you do!

Questioner said...

Can you give us the link to any mention of eugenics? This topic came up at several recent school board meetings.

Anonymous said...

As far as I can tell from searching around the web, the "eugenics" charge comes from some conflation of Gates' planned parenthood support, and the funding of vaccines and birth control in third world countries.

Some people seem to believe that allowing people to have fewer children, because they have more control of their reproduction and because their children are more likely to survive due to vaccines, is actually eugenics. Also, all attempts to stop the continually rising population of the planet? Yup, you guessed it, eugenics again!

I'm not at all fond of Gates, mind you, but at least in the large scale overseas efforts there is a huge emphasis on actual scientific research. Not so much in the education field, where it seems to be more random and not at all rigorous. At least the foundation admitted that just having "small schools" didn't do anything in and of itself.

Questioner said...

It's puzzling why the Gates Foundation took off in the direction of small schools when there seems to be widespread agreement that it is small CLASSES that make a difference.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:23,

Please do your homework. Gates foundation is vaccinating all impoverish children and adults in Africa under the guise of philanthropic healthcare. Meanwhile, those receiving the vaccines are unaware that it is laced with other drugs that effects the reproductive system. If that isn't eugenics, then I don't know what is?

Questioner, I will look for the link and pass it on. The story broke in February of this year.