On another post Anonymous wrote:
Another NEW POST:
Also please check today’s Pittsburgh Courier . . Board closes 7 schools
"On Nov. 22, the Pittsburgh Public School District Board of Directors approved a slew of plans aimed at reducing the district’s projected 2012 budget deficit of $21.7 million. Among them were the elimination of single-gendered classes at the Academy at Westinghouse and the sale of two school buil..."
“The ACLU wasn’t worried about Homewood until we put single gendered classes there. They were fine with letting those kids suffer for years and years and years,” Shealey said. “I actually heard that since the change in administration people are more confident with the school.”
http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=5953:board-closes-7-schools&catid=38:metro&Itemid=27
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9 comments:
What? Director Shealey is saying on the one hand that kids suffered for years and years at Westinghouse, but that she heard people are "more confident" given the return of the same administration that was there for some of those "years and years". A complete absence of logic.
Let us call for a one day strike of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The idea of the District moving on to merge other High Schools when they have demonstrated that they can not do it successfully(see Westinghouse/Peabody) is outrageous. Please, can the Board/Administration stop using the canard that small school do not have certain offerings? The Board/Administration are not prohibited from offering programs at certain schools. Under the guise of site-based budgeting they allow offerings to be cut.
Thank you Randall! All students MUST have EQUAL access to course offerings across the range. Again, there is no reason for schools to exist if they cannot give ALL students equal access to a QUALITY EDUCATION!
If need be Principals, Teachers, and Communities are best equipped to manage quality education in our schools. WE really do NOT NEED the PPS Central Administration, believe it or not! (Especially the current admin which exhibits gross incompetence on a daily basis.)
I have long held that other than "with a position here and there" that site based budgeting is a myth and even in those instances of "here and there" I think central ops has veto power. No inside info, just years of observation as a parent. Sorry to say that we need to operate efficiently and the fewer high schools the better but with class sizes of 20 or less.
Questioner, you are correct that Shealey makes no sense. However, it was under Shemeca Crenshaw, the returning principal, that Westinghouse actually made AYP one year.
All site-based budgets are reviewed and approved by Dr. Lane and her educational leadership.
It has been that way since she was Deputy Superintendent. She and others cannot pretend there's some esoteric process that somehow runs amuck without them having a say.
It is bad that they are closing all of these high schools (Peabody/Westinghouse/Oliver/Langley/Schenley) because there is only (Perry/Allderdice/Brashear/Carrick) left - SAD.
yes, Dr. Lane reviews school budgets. Honest principals will tell you that she OFTEN suggested getting rid of arts, librarians, etc. to spend more on other things. Of course, publicly she would be a total proponent of these classes
Randall, as a teacher who is ashamed of his district and his union, let me go one step further. Wildcat strikes with information opportunities ala the Occupy movement is the only answer that may get through to the public. No, young teachers will not be on board, of course, as they are both mesmerized by the kool aid and well, scared for their jobs, but I can tell you that most teachers who have been with the district under Louise and Dr.John have had enough of this dog and pony show.
Westinghouse is a prime example of the incompetence of not only central administration, but of the board at large. How these people look themselves in the mirror is beyond me.
We have a group of people calling the shots who are not interested in the education process. They have no idea that an education is the only way out of poverty for so many of our kids.
They are charlatans, plain and simple.
It would be prudent to have mass resignations over Westinghouse and over the idea that perhaps 400 teachers will be fired in favor of keeping myriad administrators who have zero to do with kids and schools.
But these people have no conscience.
And they are certainly not in it for the kids.
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