Thursday, February 23, 2012

Student reports assault at U Prep

From WPXI:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/student-accused-sexually-assaulting-classmate-univ/nJzKc/

30 comments:

Questioner said...

PG report:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12054/1212229-100.stm

Questioner said...

The new (very expensive) auditorium seemed strangely separated from the reconfigured school- not really well-planned.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter. We'll make sure they somehow get their 50%'s during their time off so they can be on the pathway to the promise. And I'm sure that at Milliones, it is all somehow the teachers' faults.

Anonymous said...

Some one NEEDS to investigate the horrific harassment of the teachers at that school. Teachers are being threatened and abused daily, yet you never hear that on the news. There are many good teachers there that are quitting or being fired if they speak up. What can they do? I am not a teacher but I do know them personally and I see the stress they are dealing with, it is ruining their lives. The desperation I see in their faces and the immense helplessness is sickening. They cant get help from the administration who only seems to care about graduation numbers. If it were not for the teachers the kids would be worse off. The teachers need help with out retribution! What can they do?

Questioner said...

If Roosevelt had not dismantled Schenley- these students would have been at Schenley under the leadership of Howard Bullard, where he would have reached far more students on a daily basis than the 130 currently at Clayton.

Anonymous said...

Is UPrep (the publicity name to soak public approval) or Millones another Westinghouse with a protective shield from public consumption of disastrous infractions?

This school is just as bad as Westinghouse. Their decision closing Schenley has snow-balled with numerous mistakes as educational choices for high schools.

Anonymous said...

The grammar in the PPS statement is really bad. So many people in the communications department but no one to proofread statements.

Anonymous said...

When I was a teacher at Milliones, we were told it was our fault the school had to be closed down because we were
doing such a poor job. Now it seems the school is filled with more " bad teachers". You would think the teachers at U Prep would be able to turn to their union to help them, but no, it looks like they can't.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone still think 6 to 12 is a good idea?

Anonymous said...

Good question. I have not seen any research or evidence that supports 6 to 12. In fact, quite the opposite is true!

There is ABUNDANT RESEARCH that definitively supports the MIDDLE SCHOOL 6-7-8 approach.

This research is the reason that the Junior High (7-8-9) concept was restructured as "middle schools".

It is not even 'common sense' to put sixth graders in a building with 10-11 and 12th graders.

Anonymous said...

Again, when all surrounding schools had jr. Highs most pps schools were K- 8. The 'dice and the 'house were 7-12. Alot of very wise parents put their children into the elementary k- 8 to give them a couple years buffer. Then pps decided to join the rest of the country!-- and go to a uniform middle school format. Courses and electives were offered, it was an important right- of- passage, and staff was trained and did a good job of teaching these unique young people. Ecen our teacher certification in the state changed to be k- 6. People actually chose to work with middle school young people. Then this bright "new" idea -- only in urban areas of k-8 appeared. Why? Not for the kids-- it is cheaper to not have those electives, middle school competitive athletics-- remember our middle schools even had athletic directors and a multitude of sports,etc. Newsflash to pps, middle schools across the country provide vast opportunities and that spaks interests that keep kids coming to school and behaving! Students arent taking two remedial reading courses to make up for last year--,they find something to keep them going-- sports, band, a foreign language, computers, foods-- something! Who remembers moddle school science fairs, and a kid who would never miss wed because that was swimming ( oh yeah and a person that hated pool-- must never missed cooking because she did cook forvthe kids at home) pps taxpayers they sold you a bill of goods-- based on "easier to control" if there are less ofcthem spread out in elementary schools. No one can show hpwcthis benefitted our city students.

Anonymous said...

This was the school were the kids Boooed the teachers when the principal told them to. He is still there do a wonderful job bashing teachers.

Maybe if he would have been fired things might have been better?

He is doing such a wonderful job

Anonymous said...

The news clip from WPXI called UPrep "the city's most prestigious school". The description doesn't sound accurate if it's as bad as Westinghouse. The district really did a good job with the PR spin. They never should have closed Schenley which was a true prestigious diverse comprehensive high school.

Anonymous said...

Are we forgetting that an innocent girl was RAPED - in her school no less. This is a place where she was supposed to feel safe and protected. Who is in charge there? This place seems to be in the news all the time. What's it going to take to get this school under control?

Anonymous said...

Remember, this school was sent students from across the city from the Hill to Lawrenceville to Lincoln-Larimer to East Hills. Only 1/3 of the student are from the Hill. And last year's 11th grade PSSA showed 70% of the kids not proficient.

They were also sent a large number of displaced teachers who wanted to be somewhere else.

Pitt has been given hundreds of thousands every year for the last four years; but, achievement has not advanced.

How does this qualify as the "city's most prestigious school?"

Anonymous said...

Rumor is that there will be more changes -- apparently the displaced teachers they received are all under 3 years, and therefore soon to be exited.

Anonymous said...

Lost in the Westinghouse tragedy is the continued saga at Uprep. Here's a school with 4 "top administrators", most of whom are PELA, of course, and they still have chaos.
Perhaps we can get Judy Johnston in there, too, to place the blame on teachers. After all, at Uprep, it's all the fault of teachers.

Anonymous said...

Hearing rumors that there is a spike in pregnancies. Is there any truth to rumors. Is this the result of 6-12s?

Anonymous said...

Uprep has flew under the radar because much of the attention is on Westinghouse. However by all accounts Uprep is just as bad.

I withdrew my son from there and sent him to obama. When he finished at liberty he was set to go to obama but I thought uprep sounded more like a college prep program. Believe me its not. There is too much bullying going on and no college prep training at all.

The school is a time bomb waiting to happen.

Anonymous said...

Am I missing something here? Three students, one female and two males at UPrep are allowed to just wonder around the building unsupervised, they can go into a restricted area which was unsecured? Why? Where was everybody?

The female is raped. The administration waits two weeks to report it. Why?

Isn't UPrep's principal the same principal who without approval or authorization bought $30,000 + worth of gimicky t-shirts and when the district first refused to pay the bill, it almost bankrupted the 'Mom and Pop' store he purchased the shirts from?

Isn't it the same principal who took a group of students to Chicago/New York and allowed them to wonder about unsupervised and the police had to return to the hotel a student who got in trouble?

Isn't this the same principal who was caught using his deceased secretary's board issued procurement card? Has this ever been reported? Yes, he's the perfect principal for our 'flagship' school.

Unlicensed lobbyists $400,000 + payments for 29 emails, credit card fraud, bid fraud, hidden rapes, Westinghouse fiasco, The New Orleans PELA Caper, excessive legal fees, Gates money project falling apart, layoff's, furloughs, etc.

Lane and Fischetti are captains on the titanic, the iceberg's in site, but they are ordering 'full steam ahead.' The ship is going down, Broad, Gates and PELA are not enough life boats and the victims are our 27,000 children. There are life boats named, voucher, charter, private and parochial.

There is another smaller life boat, send those two carpetbaggers back to Iowa and Oakmont with them in it.

Questioner said...

Is it reasonable to put a K-8 principal (without even a whole lot of experience in that position) into a high school (or even more demanding, a 6-12 school) and expect everything to just work out smoothly? Experience has been severely undervalued in recent years.

Anonymous said...

What happened to all of the "old school" style principals that used to serve as the leaders? They knew how to organize and operate safe schools where students could and did learn. I've known many such principals as my children went through PPS. Couldn't they have taught these PELA's a thing or two? It seems to me that Central Office administrators could also have learned from them.

Anonymous said...

Please remember 8:57 that this PPS Board and Administration is totally committed to BROAD and Gates. That is the only reason they are in the positions they have. Roosevelt/BROAD/Gates chose those who knew less than they did about education so that there would be no obstructions to their venue.

Linda Lane's contract provides the explicit connection and commitment to the BROAD Fdn. Agenda. (The February Legislative Minutes confirm the continuing mentoring of Linda Lane by BROAD Foundation's Barbara B. Bennett.)

Thus, we have PELA that trains and molds bright, young, inexperienced men and women in the BROAD cast for principals and directors. No 'interference' from successful, mature, former principals/leaders in PPS is allowed. Unfortunately, this model has been an outright "failure" for our children, but is glossed over by a PR campaign and cost the likes of which no school district has ever seen. It is truly 'criminal' in nature through its devastating effects on Black children and communities. They are victims of the current PPS Administration.

PELAs, has we have witnessed, are also 'victims' of an administration that has 'set them up' for failure.

Substantiating evidence for these claims are abundant and quite overwhelming!

And yet the beat goes on . . .

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute....you are actually feeling sorry for PELA's, the most arrogant and most inexperienced of all board administrators? What can you possibly be thinking? "Set up for failure?" That's complete and utter madness.

Anonymous said...

Add me in as someone who can't feel sorry for the PELAs. Either they had enough experience and common sense to do better than they were taught or they didn't.

If they didn't, they should be out. A bad administrator can do far more damage to a school and ALL its students than a bad teacher can do in years of teaching.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, that they should be out; but, they should never have been in to begin with. They were not ready! The question was: What happened to the mature, successful, experienced principals who knew how to run a school? The PELAs were none of those things, and in addition were trained by PPS. Given that, they were "set up" for "failure." We have whole group of administrators who do not have a clue about what they don't know and you can't lead or teach what you don't know.

The BROAD group is a breeding ground for arrogance and incompetence, unfortunately for Pittsburgh.

Anonymous said...

Is this principal a pela? I didnt think he was.

Anonymous said...

Do not forget the whole plan for gates/broad and pelas is the removal of all experienced teachers thru rise. They have spent most of their training over at greenway being schooled on how to eliminate higher paid teachers and hire alternative professionals at the now defunct teachers academy. Now the only choice now is to abuse experienced teachers to the point of them quitting or having so much asked of them it is impossible to be rised fairly if your number is called. The whole plan is a broad strategy to get control of a district so all elements of it's philosophy can be implemented. They get control of salaries thru a contract that limits raises and promises money no one can ever attain bec of new step requirements

Anonymous said...

No he is not a Pela.

Anonymous said...

Bopping in to check comments and surprised the thread morphed to talk of Broad, Gates and PELA when there was a alleged assault.