Monday, October 15, 2012

Reizenstein building

On another post Anonymous wrote:

NEW POST:

I was just watching the city channel where city council was having a meeting and they are rezoning the part of the city include Reisenstein school. Can someone refresh my memory and tell me how many millions of dollars we just put into that building a couple of years ago? Think of how many teachers etc....that could have paid for. Another Linda Lane/Mark Roosevelt "light bulb" moment.

10 comments:

Questioner said...

It was over $10M spent on Reiz, want to say close to $15M; plus $3M so that robotics could move to Peabody, only to be moved out to Allderdice a couple of years later. The cost of the whole temporary move may approach $20M.

This is one of the issues the Schenley petition is asking the School Board to address. That this much money was wasted is simply beyond belief.

Anonymous said...

You've got that right......20 million is a large chunk of the upcoming projected budget defecit.

Anonymous said...

https://www.change.org/petitions/pittsburgh-public-schools-board-of-directors-investigate-if-important-information-about-schenley-was-withheld-in-2008

Anonymous said...

I agree -- I think the initial costs ended up being close to 14M, before 3M at Peabody (and of course, don't forget UPrep).

I think there were a couple of other fairly big ticket repairs at Reiz. after the initial reno too. Weren't there roof repairs later?

Questioner said...

$20 million probably would have brought us close to halfway toward a beautiful renovation of Schenley that would have lasted 35+ years.

Anonymous said...

I think it would have gone even further than that -- if I recall, at the time, the estimate for a "good enough" reno of major systems and a knock down all the plaster and just paint was about 20M.

Remember that the developer who made an offer planned to reno the whole building top to bottom, convert to luxury apartments with all the extra work that would entail...and planned to do it for 34M.

Questioner said...

Can they spell Fiduciary Responsibility?

Anonymous said...

They systematically got rid of all central office employees who tried to be fiscally and morally responsible. It is a free for all.

Anonymous said...

As a teacher, I appreciate the initial comment here, but it is a moot point. This group of people--Roosevelt, Lane, Lippert, Otuwa, French, Fischetti, May-Stein and many, many more in the admin building have no regard for teachers whatsoever. Let's be honest for a moment.
You've seen a "philanthropist" place teachers in his personal crosshairs. Ordinarily, that would have meant little but when that "philanthropist" is Bill Gates, a man some would like to see canonized...and when that "philanthropist" throws 50 million at his top target, the rest of the pieces fall into place quickly.
Cutting teachers was tops on the Roosevelt-Lane list the minute that the district's bank account swelled and the minute the name "Gates" suddenly was bandied about with PPS.
I often wonder how Mr.Roosevelt sleeps. I often wonder if Mrs.Lane has a conscience. I often wonder about the hatred within individuals like French, Lippert and Otuwa, to cause so much damage to teachers via RISE and continued haranguing.
I think about how many teachers lost their jobs through firings/forced resignations and furloughs, and it seems to me that there is a great deal of blog on the hands of administration.
The duress and troubles these individuals have had to endure after having been fired...the personal hardships that they have had to confront...for no other reason than to advance the philosophy of someone not even in the education field.
Building sales have brought millions, but there was never any hope that any of this money was meant to retain teachers.
Read the board minutes for each month. Look at the personnel pages and think about the forced resignations. Then remember that these are dedicated individuals whose crimes were often times just having too much experience. They were simply salaries that had to go.
Yes, a lot of blood on the hands of administration. Dedicated individuals who must live lives of desperation and compromise.
Shame. What an incredible shame.

Anonymous said...

Many of these higher ups do not have children of their own, and from the looks of it families or personal lives either. They are putting their entire lives into the job and expect everyone to do the same. Hours are increasing while scores and trust are decreasing. Gone are the days of true expertise, trust, collaboration, balance, and educating the whole child. It all boils down to scores which equals more money...