Monday, November 7, 2011
Eliminating single gender
Word is that single gender will be eliminated at Westinghouse in February. Legal action by the ACLU and Women's Law Project is part of the reason. Also contributing most likely was that the arrangement was not very popular and was not working out as hoped. Probably also made scheduling more difficult.
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You heard about the problem first on PURE, April 2010 blog post:
http://purereform.blogspot.com/2010/04/gender-based-public-schools.html
Word is that the school will be back to a regular schedule too (no more extended day and year). Since it is also back to the old principal, is there any federal money that was received for being a "new school" that will have to be returned? Or was the turnover in teachers enough to keep the money?
Cha ching!
Not to mention the million plus that was spent over the summer to convert the school to 2 single gender academies... and then all the staff time and communications expense to market them...
Tribune article on this topic:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_766132.html
The article mentions that teachers and staff went on a 3 week retreat as part of preparation for the school year. Wouldn't that time have been better spent at the school, preparing student schedules and adapting lessons to the trimester schedule and planning for how to handle disciplinary issues?
Board member Sharene Shealey's comment was that the ACLU and Women's Law Project were not suing PPS 3 years ago when achievement was subpar. But wasn't that the year Westinghouse had a big improvement in achievement that PPS liked to point to as proof that reforms were working and as a reason for closing Peabody rather than Westinghouse? And under what federal or state statute can a suit be brought based on "low achievement"? The legal actions are actually providing PPS with a convenient out for a plan that was not working.
PG article which in addition to the lawsuits gives staff training as a reason to discontinue the program:
w.post-gazette.com/pg/11312/1188312-298.stm?cmpid=relatedarticle
"As for the staff training, Ms. Lane said, "I wasn't comfortable with some of the things that were stated to be characteristics of girls or characteristics of boys. I wasn't comfortable with it, and I don't think most people would have been."
Give the students at WHS and elsewhere in PPS an option of a 13th year.
At least somebody can admit the mistake and move on. Poor execution of plan.
Yes, credit should be given for admitting the mistake and also to the 2 civil rights groups for helping to bring about an understanding of the issues involved. Thanks to these efforts the district will also be agreeing to take affirmative steps to eliminate gender stereotyping discrimination in PPS. Congratulations!
It is time for people to be brought to the accountibility table.
What a waste of money and resources, the people in charge of this should be fired, not just the two principals.
Time to clean house at the Ivory Tower, when is enough, enough.
The Board knew last spring that the ACLU would take them to court. They are acting like they just discovered this.
My own union deserves some of the blame for this mess. Ever since they became a rubber stamp for PPS board, they have thrown away their
ability to examine closely what is best for the children.
More re: the ACLU not suing 3 years ago, implying that there were problems that should have drawn ACLU attention- at that time the principal at Westinghouse was Shemeca Crenshaw, who Sharen Shealey is welcoming back to Westinghouse:
"Board member Sharene Shealey, whose district includes Westinghouse, said she's optimistic things will improve under their leadership.
"I'm hopeful that Dr. Crenshaw will come in and fix a lot of the problems that we saw at the beginning of the year," she said."
Read more: Westinghouse High School gets set of principals - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_766251.html#ixzz1dJGfhtyy
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