Saturday, August 6, 2011

"School closures represent a loss of identity"

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11218/1165682-53-4.stm

5 comments:

Questioner said...

Six years ago, when Mark Roosevelt arrived, the district had the money and a golden opportunity to create a rational, workable system for high schools. Instead, a hodge podge series of changes have been made and areas that were not affected at the time (like Sheraden/Langley) did not speak up. If the result we are heading toward had been presented all at once there would have been concerted opposition and pressure to devise something better.

Anonymous said...

It's the quality of education, the teaching, the learning, the instruction, the curricula, the options that meet needs, interests, talents, and success in future endeavors.

Quality Educators with the experience, the research, and the commitment to youth, who are free enough, creative enough and autonomous enough to change the face of education in ways that facilitate and prepare students to become motivated, inspired, involved and on the pathway to productivity. All students will invest in success and productivity!

Administrators without vision, expertise, creativity and commitment to STUDENTS falter and fall short because its really not about SUCCESS for ALL students.

Disgusted Taxpayer said...

Questioner:

I don't think you have seen the end of will would have to be done to close budget gap (and let's be clear, this is not a revenue driven gap - there is plenty of funds per pupil - this is "oh my gosh, we have committed to so much local match for Broad/Gates/TIF1/TIF2 that we have to cut biblical amounts to breakeven like we did the last few years" PLUS the same increases in health care most employers face every year PLUS the same long term spike in PSERS employer contributions that every other district in PA is faced with).

The WAA has it right - the plan to close the gap right up through major pieces of PSERS spikes a couple years down the road should have been laid on the table all at once.

The McKinsey study done in 2007 in preparation for the Pittsburgh Promise had a chart that suggested that an "unmanaged" enrollment decline for Pittsburgh would be 22,000 students by 2014.

I think you might be there or worse by the October 2014 count. The addition of the Accountability Block Grants a few years back allowed for expansion of Pre-K programs - with ABG pulling back those numbers will fall.

Old Timer said...

Once again, the average Joe pays for the incompetence of those in charge.
Linda Lane has trumpeted the fact that she cut administration. The truth is, she applied a butterfly bandage to a foot-long wound. The bloat which IS PPS administration is still apparent, and can easily be seen when accessing public mail at the board level and looking over the administrative staffs at each school.

How can one justify what amounts to 4 co-principals at Milliones? How can anyone justify the idea of PELA "directors" at numerous schools? Please note...these "directors" will have no interaction with students, and they won't be ensuring discipline.

And this is just looking at the surface of PPS administration. We'll never see a rendering of the numerous individuals who hold positions in this district who DO NOT deal with students. Each department has a 'head' and numerous underlings that again, do not deal with students.

It's American politics at their "finest". Neighborhoods lose myriad schools, but those who are stealing from the public---many of those at Bellefield or at places like Greenway, among others, whose livelihoods amount to lunch plans--are allowed to keep a paycheck.

Sad. Can anyone point me in the direction of a school board that remembers who it serves and makes decisions commensurately?

Anonymous said...

I can not believe that the author of this article did not include Schenley High School....