Thursday, April 26, 2012

Board director constituent meeting tonight

New Board member Regina Holley had the idea of regular meetings with constituents, not just before elections.  You don't need to live in District 2 to attend. 

Bring your questions, concerns and comments tonight:

Thursday, April 26, 2012




Where: Barack Obama Academy of International Studies
129 Denniston Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Time: 6:00—8:00 pm



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe they can come here and get rid of LANE AND Co. Can anyone tell us the real dollar amount that is spent at the admin building?????

Anonymous said...

How was the meeting? Was it a good turn out and who attended?

Anonymous said...

I bet at some point Dr. Holley covered the hot topic of athletic facilities available for Obama 6-12at the Peabody building since it was a topic of big discussion at the board meeting. If this was discussed please share. Frequently, boardmembers sit at the table and thank staff for work performed, for example the work on the policy updates was discussed this week. That's fine, but it must take a big effort for athletic management and others to create new ways to accomodate practices, games, and other demands for facilities when change is constant. Next year's transportation changes will be one more thing that will bring the need for flexibility. It'd be nice to hear a shout out to the people in the trenches from time-to-time.

ASW said...

The topic did come up, and it came up even more so at the legislative meeting which can be seen today on cable at 10:00 and throughout the weekend. It features a non-East End board member suggesting that maybe some kind of arrangement for sports facilities can be cobbled together with a YMCA to meet the facility shortfall.

Please. The best way to ensure the success of not only the athletic program but the IB program itself is to just place it in Oakland rather than in the Peabody building. High school students from the 3 magnets could play sports in the $18M athletic facility while middle school students could play in the two former middle school buildings.

An occupational health and safety professional could quickly confirm that the Schenley building does not pose health or safety threats that normal maintenance (of the kind done at Miller) would not resolve. Sure it could use some updating, but use the money that will otherwise be spent updating Peabody. Or sell Peabody (East Liberty is heating up for retail development) and apply the funds to Schenley (not to remove all asbestos, which was not done at Miller or Woolslair and does not need to be done at Schenley, but to remediate where necessary as is done at other historic schools and buildings throughout the country). It's a matter of priorities- is it more important to maximize a key program's chances for success, or to be "right" about the Schenley building?

Mark Rauterkus said...

The turnout was light overall, but decent enough. Guess, 35. Some principals and their helpers who presented. Some parents. Some Westinghouse Alumni.

ASW said...

Also discussed in detail at the meeting was the proposed earlier HS start time. The consensus was that it is a bad idea. Here is a link to a recent letter to the PG editor that sums up the issue:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/for-adolescents-health-and-success-dont-start-school-at-an-earlier-time-633137/?print=1