Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Dealing w/ the situation at Langley

From the Tribune:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_751752.html

11 comments:

Questioner said...

It seems like better planning on many fronts over the past 5 years would have resulted in a better high school experience and a better transition than Langley students are now facing.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Oh my gosh!

This is why PPS is in it's downward spiral.

First, they yank around the students and families like crazy. Langley 's unknown fate, but looming shut down as a high school.

Second, ... To 99th, ...

There is so much in there.

But, some of that silliness and last minute junk is getting repeated in other sports and schools around PPS.

Anonymous said...

Mark if you can elaborate it would be helpful to know what the other schools might be experiencing.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Three weeks ago one school needed to still hire head soccer coaches for boys and girls teams, plus a cross country coach.

Coaching openings need to be filled with real coaches in plenty of time to build programs, not at the last minute or day. Or worse.

Physicals need to be provided.

Year round conditioning opportunities are nice.

Old Timer said...

Agreed Mark. In fact, by now the entire year's worth of sport should be in place, and we both know that is not the case in numerous buildings. Off season conditioning--non mandatory, of course--is extremely important. You can't do that when a coach has not been hired and will not be hired until just days before the season.
Why is this so hard?

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it Ms. Shealey who championed the idea that coaches should be named in advance and not have the board approve appointments retroactively? Sounds like the reality of it all is not known to boardmembers? Possible or not?

It sounds like physicals were available at Langley but not too many took advantage of them.

Old Timer said...

I think that this transcends the school board. Isn't this more a case of athletic directors dragging their feet?

Mark Rauterkus said...

Blame, in some situations, is with the Principals. It does transcend the school board. We've got plenty of institutional hurdles. Culture is included.

There is enough smoke to hide the accountability.

Again, a sleeping watchdog, i.e., the media, does little to help.

But, this article is like a breath of fresh air in terms of coverage of athletic process.

Anonymous said...

PPS admin had no trouble issuing a Request for Proposals to hire an Archivist. In fact, the recommendation is on tonight's Agenda Review.

Earlier this summer three Broad-trained, highly compensated administrators were added to the Human Resources team.

This is all about execution, the art of delivering what really matters. After all the song and dance about an athletic committee we see what really matters: who cares that our sons and daughters do not have appropriately qualified and timely hired coaches; it's more important to create the Gates-funded Roosevelt/Lane/Fischetti/Weiss scrapbook.

This is an abomination.

Anonymous said...

Right on! Anon. 7:34

Mark Rauterkus said...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11229/1167811-53-0.stm

This article has merit, IMNSHO. We should bring it to the front of the blog and talk about it in depth.

The plan calls for City of Pgh to take ownership of Greenway and for it to be a public safety center. HQ for EMS, etc. Present rent is more than $1M per year.

Then Langley HS turns to 6-12 and is a true magnet with a public safety focus.

The Gifted Center would need to move, BTW. It moved before and I don't want to have that be any excuse to end it. But that is a different chapter, perhaps.