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If anyone from any of the schools who had teams in the recent past could give us a quick rundown it might be helpful to know how things worked. Were activity buses provided after pracices and games? Do coaches get named like they do in high school and middle and get extra pay for a season? What is the price tag for the 4th and 5th grade teams?
There was a girls' basketball team when my daughter went to Linden, but this was more than a couple of years ago. I don't think they played many other PPS teams, mostly Catholic schools. At least once the team they played was made up at least partly of 7th and 8th graders, against our little 5th graders. The coach was the gym teacher, he has since retired. He coached all the teams as well as running inter-mural sports most days after school. I don't know about transportation to games. I don't think there were activity buses for practices. It was great for the kids to get involved in sports at that early age. For many of them it was their only after school activity. For all too many they would have gone home to an empty house, so at least this was something constructive they could do instead. As I said, this is not recent, but I imagine that the coaching situation is the same, that is, that it is the gym teacher.
Thanks anon, some of us may be thinking that building a strong program at the middle and high school level should begin not by playing against teams with a long history, but by developing skills without actual league games at the elementary level. Some parochial programs begin with dribbling and ball handling skills and drills at the K-3 grades and then in 4-5 grades kids are ready to compete. I have tried to convince high schoolers to design such a program and adopt an elementary school as a grad project but have failed. This would require organization that may be beyond what can be offered in an Intramural program because not every kid in intramurals is a basketball fan. The hoop policy that has not even been installed already needs modified.
Miller African Centered Academy had no basketball program for 4th and 5th grade girls or boys last year nor the year before last. This I know for a fact because I was a teacher there.
Wonder how much i'll paying the Broadies and the Board to continue destroying the district now that my property value has increased by 185%?
I see Fink's property value decreased by 6%. It's good to be a board member!!
Hazuda's increased by 18% Isler's by 25% Colaizzi's by 74%
The irony. My share of the tax burden exceeds that of Bill Isler's who lives in Squirrel Hill and I in a neighborhood of section 8 housing and abandoned homes. How is this fair? Like I said, it's good to be a board member!!
What really smarts though, is that I will be bailing Bill out of the mess he helped create by over spending, rubber stamping, and allowing foundations to take over. He, with the rest, should be the ones paying off the debt.... not me! 185%! Good golly, Miss Molly!!!!!! This is criminal!!!!!!!
1. You give Mr. Isler far, far too little credit for the current state of affairs. Do not forget that for nearly Mark Roosevelt's entire tenure Bill drove MR home after each and every board/committee meeting.
When MR was floundering at getting a job at a school district for a time much longer than it took him to complete the rigorous 7 weekend - weekend, not months, not years - Broad Superintendent's academy, it was the John Kerry/Teresa Heinz camp that pushed Bill Isler very directly to lead the test of the Board to hire Roosevelt.
By some great act of coincidence, the Fred Rogers Center at St. Vincent College receives a very very very sizable foundation donation that completes it's capital campaign and literally the house the Isler built is, well, built.
Tit for tat here folks, follow the private money in this.
2. Too little credit in your posting goes to PPS Solicitor Ira Weiss for filing the original lawsuit that started this whole round of reassessment.
The volume of business generated by the last countywide reassessment was a gold mine for the Law Offices of Ira Weiss. The tax practice was so rich that he's added junior attorneys at the same time as walking away (or quietly being thrown out of) solicitorships at Montour SD and Keystone Oaks SD.
Remember that the Weiss revenue from filing tax appeals on behalf of schools/municipalities and the amount made defending those filed by taxpayers is literally self-generating: most terrified school boards and borough councils will simply agree to whatever threshold their solicitor/tax counsel (Weiss) recommends for intervention.
No doubt this boondoggle sits squarely at Ira's feet.
No board member had any influence on the numbers. There is a great deal of incorrect information out there about assessments and we don't need to add to that. Everyone should vent though before they appeal, if need be. 185% is an outrage, but don't be misled into thinking that increases will mean any financial boost to the schools or that any cuts will be overturned. The assessment is no bailout. Seriously, the 2011 amounts should hold and 2012 should be used to get the numbers right and allow for an easier appeal process.
7 comments:
If anyone from any of the schools who had teams in the recent past could give us a quick rundown it might be helpful to know how things worked. Were activity buses provided after pracices and games? Do coaches get named like they do in high school and middle and get extra pay for a season? What is the price tag for the 4th and 5th grade teams?
There was a girls' basketball team when my daughter went to Linden, but this was more than a couple of years ago. I don't think they played many other PPS teams, mostly Catholic schools. At least once the team they played was made up at least partly of 7th and 8th graders, against our little 5th graders.
The coach was the gym teacher, he has since retired. He coached all the teams as well as running inter-mural sports most days after school. I don't know about transportation to games. I don't think there were activity buses for practices.
It was great for the kids to get involved in sports at that early age. For many of them it was their only after school activity. For all too many they would have gone home to an empty house, so at least this was something constructive they could do instead.
As I said, this is not recent, but I imagine that the coaching situation is the same, that is, that it is the gym teacher.
Thanks anon, some of us may be thinking that building a strong program at the middle and high school level should begin not by playing against teams with a long history, but by developing skills without actual league games at the elementary level. Some parochial programs begin with dribbling and ball handling skills and drills at the K-3 grades and then in 4-5 grades kids are ready to compete. I have tried to convince high schoolers to design such a program and adopt an elementary school as a grad project but have failed. This would require organization that may be beyond what can be offered in an Intramural program because not every kid in intramurals is a basketball fan. The hoop policy that has not even been installed already needs modified.
Miller African Centered Academy had no basketball program for 4th and 5th grade girls or boys last year nor the year before last. This I know for a fact because I was a teacher there.
Happy New Year!?????
Wonder how much i'll paying the Broadies and the Board to continue destroying the district now that my property value has increased by 185%?
I see Fink's property value decreased by 6%. It's good to be a board member!!
Hazuda's increased by 18%
Isler's by 25%
Colaizzi's by 74%
The irony. My share of the tax burden exceeds that of Bill Isler's who lives in Squirrel Hill and I in a neighborhood of section 8 housing and abandoned homes. How is this fair? Like I said, it's good to be a board member!!
What really smarts though, is that I will be bailing Bill out of the mess he helped create by over spending, rubber stamping, and allowing foundations to take over. He, with the rest, should be the ones paying off the debt.... not me! 185%! Good golly, Miss Molly!!!!!! This is criminal!!!!!!!
Anon 311:
Happy New Year indeed!
A few quick thoughts to add:
1. You give Mr. Isler far, far too little credit for the current state of affairs. Do not forget that for nearly Mark Roosevelt's entire tenure Bill drove MR home after each and every board/committee meeting.
When MR was floundering at getting a job at a school district for a time much longer than it took him to complete the rigorous 7 weekend - weekend, not months, not years - Broad Superintendent's academy, it was the John Kerry/Teresa Heinz camp that pushed Bill Isler very directly to lead the test of the Board to hire Roosevelt.
By some great act of coincidence, the Fred Rogers Center at St. Vincent College receives a very very very sizable foundation donation that completes it's capital campaign and literally the house the Isler built is, well, built.
Tit for tat here folks, follow the private money in this.
2. Too little credit in your posting goes to PPS Solicitor Ira Weiss for filing the original lawsuit that started this whole round of reassessment.
The volume of business generated by the last countywide reassessment was a gold mine for the Law Offices of Ira Weiss. The tax practice was so rich that he's added junior attorneys at the same time as walking away (or quietly being thrown out of) solicitorships at Montour SD and Keystone Oaks SD.
Remember that the Weiss revenue from filing tax appeals on behalf of schools/municipalities and the amount made defending those filed by taxpayers is literally self-generating: most terrified school boards and borough councils will simply agree to whatever threshold their solicitor/tax counsel (Weiss) recommends for intervention.
No doubt this boondoggle sits squarely at Ira's feet.
No board member had any influence on the numbers. There is a great deal of incorrect information out there about assessments and we don't need to add to that. Everyone should vent though before they appeal, if need be. 185% is an outrage, but don't be misled into thinking that increases will mean any financial boost to the schools or that any cuts will be overturned. The assessment is no bailout. Seriously, the 2011 amounts should hold and 2012 should be used to get the numbers right and allow for an easier appeal process.
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