This is the blog section of the PURE Reform website. Please leave your thoughts and comments here.
PURE Reform has created this blog as a forum for parents, teachers and community members to share information and voice concerns regrading the reform process in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Although we would like to foster constructive dialogue, PURE Reform does not edit content. The views expressed by bloggers in this forum are not necessarily views held by PURE Reform.
To comment on an existing topic, go to the line at the bottom of the post for that topic that begins "Posted by..." That line will list "1 comment," "2 comments," etc. Click on "comments," then leave your comment in the box provided. To post as Anonymous, no registration is required, OR you can choose an identity.
To suggest a new topic, go to this month's post labeled "Start a New Post" and add your comment (as described above) about the new suggested topic. PURE Reform will use these comments to start new posts.
Seven schools on the list -- Fort Pitt Elementary, Langley High, Murray Elementary, Northview Elementary, Oliver High, Schaeffer Elementary, and Stevens Elementary -- will not reopen this fall. Students transferring from those schools will only be eligible if their new school also is on the list, said Education Department spokesman Tim Eller.
Most of the schools receiving those students also are among the worst-performing, though several -- including Fulton PreK-5, Morrow PreK-5, Westwood K-5 and South Hills 6-8 -- are not.
- So do we just keep closing more and more schools despite no track record of success for replacement schools in Pittsburgh?
The Parent Trigger Law of California has been upheld by a Judge. The Black community is fast approaching a revolutionary stage. Duquesne schools, ALA's, Westinghouse and UPRER failures. Enough is enough. Change is coming!
Don't forget that Westinghouse was submitted as a NEW school, therefore, their scores will NOT be published by PDE until three years out. The first year is finished. (Next year will not count either.)
I wonder, though, how they can maintain that it is a new school, since the District revoked the "single gender academies" concept (which was the NEW school premise.)?
Don't forget that Westinghouse was submitted as a NEW school, therefore, their scores will NOT be published by PDE until three years out. The first year is finished. (Next year will not count either.)
I wonder, though, how they can maintain that it is a new school, since the District revoked the "single gender academies" concept (which was the NEW school premise.)?
Does the fact that it is now 6-12 make it new? 8th grade scores are always high and so they can help make up for low 11th grade scores, if the school as a whole is considered. Or maybe the fact that they changed 50% of the staff and changed the principal (back to who it was a few years ago) is enough to make it a new school.
Yes, these are likely reasons for viewing it as a new school even though the "gender academies" did not play out. Does anyone know the ALL requirements for a new school?
The word on the street is that this years' student scores are NOT improved.
Just to be clear -- the scores on that list of failing schools are LAST year's scores (2011).
So, if Westinghouse would have been on the list, it isn't because it turned into a 6-12 school with new leadership (such as it was), new design (such as it was), and mostly different teachers.
But, it does seem that IF parents now at Westinghouse will not have these "scholarships" available to them just because it's a new school, that's really unfair to those parents.
I don't particularly like the idea of these scholarships, but to have put or kept your kid in that school on the basis of their promises and to have had that horrible they just had AND to find out that you wouldn't be eligible to get them out via this new plan -- that doesn't seem fair to the kids at all. They are the "target market" for this money.
However, does that article really say that these scholarships need to have businesses sponsor them?!
Somehow I reckon that Lisa and Ebony won't be hanging a banner on Bellefield Avenue announcing that we have 27 of the worst schools in the state.
This fall we have our first cohort of students that entered kindergarten with all of the hype surrounding Pittsburgh's hiring of non-traditional Superintendent Roosevelt that are now middle school age.
Ask yourself this: are your schools better than they were seven years ago?
How do you think the scores will be next year with all the layoffs & moving people around the district. Don't forget the larger class sizes. Teachers moving around the district for the PRC & senority bumping.
Don't people realize all this is all planned out. Were set up to fail! This is what the GATES/Broad/Walton backed reform is all about. If the district fails, and eventualy the state takes over like Philly. More than half the Urban Public Schools are charter schools in Philly. This is the death of public education. Coporate take over of public schools and the death of what little democracy have we have left in this nation. This is the Second Gilded Age.
Broad/Gates/Walton backed reforms have invested urban school districts across the nation. Same game plans across the board.
(new topic) Hill District Education Council Protests http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12209/1249673-298.stm
I wish our bloggers here could somehow join with this group and any other groups of citizens. Reading this blog anyone can see something has gone very wrong in Pittsburgh. The last seven years have been a deep spiral downward. No one is claiming things are good in any school. How can this city rally? Maybe non-traditional media- like City Paper can read back through the blog and see the pattern. I am beginning to think that a majority is questioning PPS and its direction. How can we get this message out?
A serious statement of concerns was made at the HDEC Press Conference today at Freedom Corner presented with a list of eight demands from the Hill District Education Council. Only one very small section of the statement/demands is a part of Eleanor Chute's article. She asked no questions of the Council; however, she did call PPS to question Ebony Pugh.
12:48 asks the right question: How do we (the community) get the facts and the message out?
The struggle continues against all odds because "enough is enough".
Don't trust the parent trigger law and certainly here we need to convince parents it is not the right tactic. In actuality, MR and his predecessors were deft at using parent discussion and questions from individuals at meetings such as EFA to present their plans and were likley able to claim strong parent support.
That is how Linda Lane was able to claim that she had 1700 postcards against seniority. But, even those teachers furloughed who have say, 3 years seniority would be the first to complain if someone with two years got to stay. And all of ther "more effective" is a con to get in the kool-aide drinkers. There was a time when Pgh was the fairest at hiring in the county. Elegibility lists etc. were wat better than who knows who. Look at the names appearing for subs and summer dreamers when they dont have to play fair.
This linked manifesto outlines all the problems in PPS as well as our country. Read it and pass it on to everyone you know. Stop waiting for them to fix it. It will never happen.
The article reminded me of the conciliation agreement that came down as a result of the filing by the Advocates for African American Students. We have an Equity Advisory Panel that was a response to the findings detailed in the agreement. Much of the reform that has already taken place is a response to the directions laid out in the agreement. Could the reform that the Human Relations Commission recommended been more successful if there had been less preoccupation with being the leader in teacher evaluation and other initiatives?
Does anyone know if their Board representive reads this blog? I am 99.9% sure mine does not. (Theresa Collazi). She votes along Broad lines.
She seems to be a bit ignorant and has such poor etiquette. I watched her walk out DURING a performance at the Minadeo talent show.
She also makes faces and acts unproffessional during many board meetings. Her disrespect of Mark Brentley is quite apparent. We deserve better representation.
Interestingly South Brook is on the list of failing schools.
Two years ago it was a high achieving school, so much so that it became a School Choice school.
The district, in their wisdom, allowed anyone to transfer into it without a cap. So class size went from 24 to 45 over night. Many kids had to stand during class because there was not enough room for that many desks in the classrooms. The school did not receive more teachers due to the increase in students, as a matter of fact, they lost two.
Violence escalated over night. To 'combat' that, they were given security cameras which were destroyed in a matter of days. And now, within just two years they are a failing school.
I guess that is one way to even the playing field. Instead of improving all schools, they are choosing to make them all equally bad.
29 comments:
Better link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/state-list-of-failing-schools-has-53-in-county-646260/?p=0
Seven schools on the list -- Fort Pitt Elementary, Langley High, Murray Elementary, Northview Elementary, Oliver High, Schaeffer Elementary, and Stevens Elementary -- will not reopen this fall. Students transferring from those schools will only be eligible if their new school also is on the list, said Education Department spokesman Tim Eller.
Most of the schools receiving those students also are among the worst-performing, though several -- including Fulton PreK-5, Morrow PreK-5, Westwood K-5 and South Hills 6-8 -- are not.
- So do we just keep closing more and more schools despite no track record of success for replacement schools in Pittsburgh?
Here's the link to the list:
http://old.post-gazette.com/images5/20120726lowest_achieving_schools680.png
Westinghouse isn't on the list? That was the year before it got "changed." Or is that why it isn't there, since it's "gone"?
Who knows!?!
Certainly, Westinghouse was not only the worst performing in the District; but one of the worst performing in the state.
Reporters do not do the independent research. They, too often, just take a press release from somewhere, anywhere and publish it.
And we know some in high positions like to "spin" their own 'facts' or data. Omissions have the same effect.
And selective inclusions can create another kind of spin or justification for actions taken.
I found a list here:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/school_services_office/9153/p/1202312
This list is different from the one in the above link.
The Parent Trigger Law of California has been upheld by a Judge. The Black community is fast approaching a revolutionary stage. Duquesne schools, ALA's, Westinghouse and UPRER failures. Enough is enough. Change is coming!
Don't forget that Westinghouse was submitted as a NEW school, therefore, their scores will NOT be published by PDE until three years out. The first year is finished. (Next year will not count either.)
I wonder, though, how they can maintain that it is a new school, since the District revoked the "single gender academies" concept (which was the NEW school premise.)?
Don't forget that Westinghouse was submitted as a NEW school, therefore, their scores will NOT be published by PDE until three years out. The first year is finished. (Next year will not count either.)
I wonder, though, how they can maintain that it is a new school, since the District revoked the "single gender academies" concept (which was the NEW school premise.)?
Does the fact that it is now 6-12 make it new? 8th grade scores are always high and so they can help make up for low 11th grade scores, if the school as a whole is considered. Or maybe the fact that they changed 50% of the staff and changed the principal (back to who it was a few years ago) is enough to make it a new school.
Yes, these are likely reasons for viewing it as a new school even though the "gender academies" did not play out. Does anyone know the ALL requirements for a new school?
The word on the street is that this years' student scores are NOT improved.
Just to be clear -- the scores on that list of failing schools are LAST year's scores (2011).
So, if Westinghouse would have been on the list, it isn't because it turned into a 6-12 school with new leadership (such as it was), new design (such as it was), and mostly different teachers.
But, it does seem that IF parents now at Westinghouse will not have these "scholarships" available to them just because it's a new school, that's really unfair to those parents.
I don't particularly like the idea of these scholarships, but to have put or kept your kid in that school on the basis of their promises and to have had that horrible they just had AND to find out that you wouldn't be eligible to get them out via this new plan -- that doesn't seem fair to the kids at all. They are the "target market" for this money.
However, does that article really say that these scholarships need to have businesses sponsor them?!
The list of "failing schools" includes OLNEY Elementary/Secondary in Philadelphia.
Olney is the SUCCESS SCHOOL that is being used as the model for Faison, King and Milliones.
SUCCESS SCHOOLS is being paid $513,000 to come here and show Faison, King and Milliones how to be successful????
PPS is totally out of control in its spending and bad decisions for Pittsburgh's most underachieving students!
Somehow I reckon that Lisa and Ebony won't be hanging a banner on Bellefield Avenue announcing that we have 27 of the worst schools in the state.
This fall we have our first cohort of students that entered kindergarten with all of the hype surrounding Pittsburgh's hiring of non-traditional Superintendent Roosevelt that are now middle school age.
Ask yourself this: are your schools better than they were seven years ago?
How do you think the scores will be next year with all the layoffs & moving people around the district. Don't forget the larger class sizes. Teachers moving around the district for the PRC & senority bumping.
Don't people realize all this is all planned out. Were set up to fail! This is what the GATES/Broad/Walton backed reform is all about. If the district fails, and eventualy the state takes over like Philly. More than half the Urban Public Schools are charter schools in Philly. This is the death of public education. Coporate take over of public schools and the death of what little democracy have we have left in this nation. This is the Second Gilded Age.
Broad/Gates/Walton backed reforms have invested urban school districts across the nation. Same game plans across the board.
Danny Green
All is lost if we do not stop this insanity now!
(new topic)
Hill District Education Council
Protests
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12209/1249673-298.stm
I wish our bloggers here could somehow join with this group and any other groups of citizens. Reading this blog anyone can see something has gone very wrong in Pittsburgh. The last seven years have been a deep spiral downward. No one is claiming things are good in any school. How can this city rally? Maybe non-traditional media- like City Paper can read back through the blog and see the pattern. I am beginning to think that a majority is questioning PPS and its direction. How can we get this message out?
A serious statement of concerns was made at the HDEC Press Conference today at Freedom Corner presented with a list of eight demands from the Hill District Education Council. Only one very small section of the statement/demands is a part of Eleanor Chute's article. She asked no questions of the Council; however, she did call PPS to question Ebony Pugh.
12:48 asks the right question: How do we (the community) get the facts and the message out?
The struggle continues against all odds because "enough is enough".
Anon 4:18
The Parent Trigger law is a trap. It is funded by Broad & Gates. They set communities up to fail then fund the backlash.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/18/hopes-and-feard-for-parent-trigger-laws/another-battle-in-the-war-against-public-schools.
Don't trust the parent trigger law and certainly here we need to convince parents it is not the right tactic. In actuality, MR and his predecessors were deft at using parent discussion and questions from individuals at meetings such as EFA to present their plans and were likley able to claim strong parent support.
That is how Linda Lane was able to claim that she had 1700 postcards against seniority. But, even those teachers furloughed who have say, 3 years seniority would be the first to complain if someone with two years got to stay. And all of ther "more effective" is a con to get in the kool-aide drinkers. There was a time when Pgh was the fairest at hiring in the county. Elegibility lists etc. were wat better than who knows who. Look at the names appearing for subs and summer dreamers when they dont have to play fair.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/hill-district-education-council-demands-better-schools-646468/
Better title here than what was published in the hard copy of the PG: "Group demands better teachers in Hill District "
http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/StopStealingDreamsSCREEN.pdf
This linked manifesto outlines all the problems in PPS as well as our country. Read it and pass it on to everyone you know. Stop waiting for them to fix it. It will never happen.
The article reminded me of the conciliation agreement that came down as a result of the filing by the Advocates for African American Students. We have an Equity Advisory Panel that was a response to the findings detailed in the agreement. Much of the reform that has already taken place is a response to the directions laid out in the agreement. Could the reform that the Human Relations Commission recommended been more successful if there had been less preoccupation with being the leader in teacher evaluation and other initiatives?
Its the Administrators fault!
Does anyone know if their Board representive reads this blog? I am 99.9% sure mine does not. (Theresa Collazi). She votes along Broad lines.
She seems to be a bit ignorant and has such poor etiquette. I watched her walk out DURING a performance at the Minadeo talent show.
She also makes faces and acts unproffessional during many board meetings. Her disrespect of Mark Brentley is quite apparent. We deserve better representation.
You can't really know why she left, she could have been feeling sick or received a message from a family member needing help.
I was there, she said goodbye to me. She was simply making an apperance. I was apaulled.
Interestingly South Brook is on the list of failing schools.
Two years ago it was a high achieving school, so much so that it became a School Choice school.
The district, in their wisdom, allowed anyone to transfer into it without a cap. So class size went from 24 to 45 over night. Many kids had to stand during class because there was not enough room for that many desks in the classrooms. The school did not receive more teachers due to the increase in students, as a matter of fact, they lost two.
Violence escalated over night. To 'combat' that, they were given security cameras which were destroyed in a matter of days. And now, within just two years they are a failing school.
I guess that is one way to even the playing field. Instead of improving all schools, they are choosing to make them all equally bad.
Post a Comment