This is the blog section of the PURE Reform website. Please leave your thoughts and comments here.
PURE Reform has created this blog as a forum for parents, teachers and community members to share information and voice concerns regrading the reform process in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Although we would like to foster constructive dialogue, PURE Reform does not edit content. The views expressed by bloggers in this forum are not necessarily views held by PURE Reform.
To comment on an existing topic, go to the line at the bottom of the post for that topic that begins "Posted by..." That line will list "1 comment," "2 comments," etc. Click on "comments," then leave your comment in the box provided. To post as Anonymous, no registration is required, OR you can choose an identity.
To suggest a new topic, go to this month's post labeled "Start a New Post" and add your comment (as described above) about the new suggested topic. PURE Reform will use these comments to start new posts.
What does happen when outside forces lead to a change in plans? Do contracts still hold? Construction/planning/design would mean big money for facility updates.
It would be great if kids and parents had some kind of heads up on just how big class sizes will be next year. Fewer teachers teaching=big classes.
You would think that TNTP's Pittsburgh contract would have been cancelled the day the Governor announced his proposed budget, but they still proudly share their connection:
"In Pittsburgh, TNTP’s rigorous training requires that teachers demonstrate effectiveness before earning certification. TNTP also recruits certified teachers, and supports hiring in challenged schools."
With the Accountability Block Grant funding reduced to roughly 40% of last year's level, there will have to be furloughs in Pre-K teachers/aides (who knows, maybe they'll find a few cheap, hourly subs to cut with them and claim they have reduced "central administration").
Here's today's article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11190/1159259-298.stm ("Some of city's Pre-K program may be on chopping block").
After reading the PG's Local section front page this morning I had to wonder, was the commentary intentional? The "Booked For The Afternoon" photo and caption prepared readers to really concentrate on the artile above about PPS Pre-K programing.
Cutting programs has serious long-term implications at all levels but at the Pre-K stage we can only imagine what would need to take place to make up for the loss.
There is a meeting Thursday for teachers who recieved letters. The letter stated that this is not a furlough letter, but these teachers must attend this meeting at the PFT.
There are school districts across the state and even in Allegheny County that do not offer full day kindergarten.
I feel bad for the principal - her salary would be north of $100,000 - losing her free day care, but my goodness, get a grip. You make roughly 2.5 times the average worker in the Pittsburgh area.
The district should never have waited this long to look at trimming pre-k. All you did was shorten the window parents had to find other options for the fall.
Corbett's proposal eliminated ABG funds the day after every fat cat took a heavy raise. Two months later the House Republican proposal restored 40% of last year's funding level. And yet here we stand today and PPS is just smelling the coffee?
Really?
Two months ago the WAA/Fiscal Friends put a comprehensive plan on the table. We may not have liked what has to be done to cut so much, but at least it put it all out there at one time (yes, it had a pre-k component).
This does happen every year or most every year. At the meeting they explain how furloughing works (you are on a list to be called back first, you are called first for the long-term sub spots, etc.), that you will be eligible for unemployment and give out forms on that, what happens with health care, etc.
The real question is how many are on that list -- is it a lot more than usual?
A+ Schools website has an item that says they are going to do an analysis of district finances. The individual doing the analysis was an interim CFO in '06-'07. I am sure more info will follow.
Anonymous 9:41, or maybe Mr. Johns is just the guy to hire. It could be that he was the voice of fiscal reson during his brief time in office and warned against grandiose ideas.
"How we got here..." made blog readers think, but it needs to be fed to the masses through bigger media. The City Paper does a good job of reporting but does not have enough of an audience.
It now seems incredible that the board stood by when the issues on the table included the dustup over adding Pittsburgh to the name of each school. Branding was the term we heard. Branding? Are you kidding me? Who the hell were we supposed to be marketing PPS to? Not students on the verge of dropping out or choosing another option. We apparently were marketing ourselves to the big donors who wanted to influence the direction of education based on their limited knowledge of what life is like down here. You know down here, where kids move and go to as many as two or three schools in one year and where landlords put their stuff outside as a way to notify them they've been evicted again, where Mom needs her roots done and goes to the store to shoplift hair dye, where once the school year is done and there is no more district supplied bus pass the kids are trapped in their neighborhood til school starts.
16 comments:
Good thing the district hired The New Teacher Project for what, something over a $1 million, to help with all the new staff they were going to need?
What does happen when outside forces lead to a change in plans? Do contracts still hold? Construction/planning/design would mean big money for facility updates.
It would be great if kids and parents had some kind of heads up on just how big class sizes will be next year. Fewer teachers teaching=big classes.
You would think that TNTP's Pittsburgh contract would have been cancelled the day the Governor announced his proposed budget, but they still proudly share their connection:
"In Pittsburgh, TNTP’s rigorous training requires that teachers demonstrate effectiveness before earning certification. TNTP also recruits certified teachers, and supports hiring in challenged schools."
Here's the link:
http://tntp.org/clients/
This is the second time something like this has been posted without anything to back it up.
Does anyone have anything to prove this or is it just hearsay?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11190/1159259-298-0.stm
With the Accountability Block Grant funding reduced to roughly 40% of last year's level, there will have to be furloughs in Pre-K teachers/aides (who knows, maybe they'll find a few cheap, hourly subs to cut with them and claim they have reduced "central administration").
Here's today's article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11190/1159259-298.stm ("Some of city's Pre-K program may be on chopping block").
After reading the PG's Local section front page this morning I had to wonder, was the commentary intentional? The "Booked For The Afternoon" photo and caption prepared readers to really concentrate on the artile above about PPS Pre-K programing.
Cutting programs has serious long-term implications at all levels but at the Pre-K stage we can only imagine what would need to take place to make up for the loss.
There is a meeting Thursday for teachers who recieved letters. The letter stated that this is not a furlough letter, but these teachers must attend this meeting at the PFT.
There are school districts across the state and even in Allegheny County that do not offer full day kindergarten.
I feel bad for the principal - her salary would be north of $100,000 - losing her free day care, but my goodness, get a grip. You make roughly 2.5 times the average worker in the Pittsburgh area.
The district should never have waited this long to look at trimming pre-k. All you did was shorten the window parents had to find other options for the fall.
Corbett's proposal eliminated ABG funds the day after every fat cat took a heavy raise. Two months later the House Republican proposal restored 40% of last year's funding level. And yet here we stand today and PPS is just smelling the coffee?
Really?
Two months ago the WAA/Fiscal Friends put a comprehensive plan on the table. We may not have liked what has to be done to cut so much, but at least it put it all out there at one time (yes, it had a pre-k component).
This does happen every year or most every year. At the meeting they explain how furloughing works (you are on a list to be called back first, you are called first for the long-term sub spots, etc.), that you will be eligible for unemployment and give out forms on that, what happens with health care, etc.
The real question is how many are on that list -- is it a lot more than usual?
A+ Schools website has an item that says they are going to do an analysis of district finances. The individual doing the analysis was an interim CFO in '06-'07. I am sure more info will follow.
A+ Schools what a Joke
We need the DA to oversee this audit.
Isn't hiring Mr. Johns a conflict of interest for him? Wouldn't he have set up some of the things he is auditing, and can he be impartial?
Why is IT hiring? They just fired everyone..
http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/143110127104380/
lib/143110127104380/
Database_Administrator_070511.pdf
Anonymous 9:41, or maybe Mr. Johns is just the guy to hire. It could be that he was the voice of fiscal reson during his brief time in office and warned against grandiose ideas.
"How we got here..." made blog readers think, but it needs to be fed to the masses through bigger media. The City Paper does a good job of reporting but does not have enough of an audience.
It now seems incredible that the board stood by when the issues on the table included the dustup over adding Pittsburgh to the name of each school. Branding was the term we heard. Branding? Are you kidding me? Who the hell were we supposed to be marketing PPS to? Not students on the verge of dropping out or choosing another option. We apparently were marketing ourselves to the big donors who wanted to influence the direction of education based on their limited knowledge of what life is like down here. You know down here, where kids move and go to as many as two or three schools in one year and where landlords put their stuff outside as a way to notify them they've been evicted again, where Mom needs her roots done and goes to the store to shoplift hair dye, where once the school year is done and there is no more district supplied bus pass the kids are trapped in their neighborhood til school starts.
Post a Comment