Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Langley as a city wide public safety magnet?

From Mark Rauterkus's blog:

http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2011/09/cant-langley-be-turned-into-city-wide.html

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your vision, Mark, but I'm not sure it would work out. Peabody, back in the 80s and 90s, was a public safety magnet. Good intentions for sure. But ultimately it attracted only kids who didn't want to go to college, who knew that becoming a paramedic or a cop didn't require a four year degree. It was just another reason (among many) for middle class families to stop sending their kids to Peabody.

Anonymous said...

Peabody may become the next Schenley.

Anonymous said...

Can't even say them in the same breadth. Have you ever looked at the buildings?!!!!!

Mark Rauterkus said...

Thanks for the link.

I sent that posting that rests on my blog to School Board Member, Skip McCrea. Then the other night, Tues, I went to the PPS Board Meeting and heard most of the report about this very topic.

When it got to Skip's time to ask questions -- nothing came from him to even hint that he read the message. Not a peep about Langley nor a concern.

Then there were some things from Dr. Lane that made me say "think again."

First, a magnet for grades 9-12 can offer specialized classes. If it is public safety or a service-safety magent, the courses should reflect that specialization. No need to offer other classes that are out of the magnet's reach -- such as "drafting" or "cooking" or "AP Art."

Sure, a comprehensive high school should offer a wide selection of courses. But those that choose to go to a specialized magnet are selecting into a specialized suite of classes.

Plus, when the coop with the PCA building and the City of Pgh resources are pulled into the day-to-day experience of the school -- that is where the electives reside. Don't take ceramics, take a class that does building inspection with Google Maps or something on Geo tagging. And, those classes can be practical, professional-ish, applied, and specific to the mission of the school.

Mark Rauterkus said...

The discussion about the elimination of Langley High School and Oliver High School seems to call for a re-thinking of District 8 Athletics and smaller number of various sports teams. So, there was some question as to be a stand alone city league in PIAA's realm.

So, the discussion of WPIAL merger is not going to go away!

YES.

I want to have that talk again as I was NOT happy to have it slide to the back burner.

I think I should call for the re-establishment of the Sports Reform Task Force. What do you think? Should we care -- or just let them make the decisions without input?

Mark Rauterkus said...

Finally, I did greatly enjoy the discussion about Oliver and Perry. It seems that Oliver HS is much bigger and has many spaces that are of greater value than Perry. So, this was made public in discussions. A small poll was taken. The administration listened.

Looks like they'll close the program at Oliver but use the building at Oliver. Then they'll move the Perry program to Oliver's building and make Perry's building more of a specialized site for McNaugher.

Same too with Montessori's present site. That building is not as good as another so the program might move again.

Anonymous said...

I think Peabody is toast. Anyone know if there is an IB backup plan?

Anonymous said...

Lots of kids from Squ H used to go to IB at Schenley. Now not as many are choosing it. If the percent of white kids gets to a certain point it will lose even more kids.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Those numbers would need to be proven for me to have faith in.

In the past, there were 15, 20, or perhaps a few more IB students at Schenley per class. I do not know the numbers by year. And some could have been partial IB too.

Now, there are more than 100 per class. I do not know these numbers either, by class nor neighborhood.

But the point is the IB numbers should be much greater now as the whole school is for IB now and only part of Schenley was IB.

Perhaps one day the IB classes will be at 150 per class, or greater. I have heard the aim is 200 per class too.

Perhaps the IB numbers from Sq Hill are down. But I doubt it. However, all PPS numbers are down.

Mark Rauterkus said...

What do you mean by toast? I do not understand.

Anonymous said...

"In the past, there were 15, 20, or perhaps a few more IB students at Schenley per class. I do not know the numbers by year. And some could have been partial IB too."

I'm not sure why this is on this thread -- but this just isn't true.

There were about three or four times that many kids in the IB/IS track (it used to be called both things). There were four languages -- each with at least 15-20 kids per class, per year, and in some languages, more than that.

There were that many kids (15-30) each year trying to do the full diploma, but they were reaching FAR more than that with the classes and programming. In fact, likely about the same numbers as they have now -- or are supposed to have, but with more choices of other classes available to all the students.

Also, in those days, people weren't choosing the IB/IS program because the other options were a closed school, a failing school or a "new and improved but sounds awful" school. AND they had the choice of robotics as well.

Questioner said...

Thanks for the info, Anonymous. That might be it for the numbers topic but if anyone has more to say please request a new post.

Anonymous said...

"toast" as in I don't think Peabody is reopening. When was the last time IB/ Peabody has been discussed In a public forum, have parents been notified about moving to Peabody next year?

I hope I am wrong.

Mark Rauterkus said...

There was talk, after a question, about Peabody, at the Tue PM PPS board meeting. S. Sherry raised concurs of the early childhood center location that is now at Reizenstein. The next location in east is still undecided.

The move to Peabody is on per Obama PSCC meeting in mid Sept too.

And Reizenstein sale is being prepped.

No toast, IMHO.

Anonymous said...

"No toast, IMHO"

I hope you are right.