On another post Anonymous wrote:
One quarter of the school year is almost gone. Parents, how do you think
being a part of WPIAL is going so far? Parents of 2012 grads how are your kids
doing? What recommendations would you have for those of us with kids currently
in PPS? Anyone, is class size affecting student performance?
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13 comments:
I believe things are going as well as anyone could've expected...but surprisingly disappointing to anyone who doesn't understand the concept of sports! Fr years the successes that the City League had seen was simply the individual efforts of skilled, blessed athletes...not the results of quality programs with dedicated trainings, coaches and/or facility and opportunities. That is in no way a "swipe" at coaches, as there are individual coaches across the various City sport teams who are extremely knowledgeable and skilled at coaching. But they are far and few between. I put that blame squarely on the district and the administrators from Bellefield to the school buildings who put, for the most part, very little effort into selecting, monitoring and evaluating their coaches, like they do the other teachers who are in their classrooms. As such, until there is a serious level of commitment and investment by the district into the overall athletic program of the City League and that ALL STUDENTS at ALL SCHOOLS regardless of their SEX have the SAME OPPORTUNITIES (or s the district likes to say "Excellence for All"), the best one can hope for are a continuation of individual student athletes who are either highly blessed athletes or whose families invest in their training to perform at above average levels of performance who will either bring the district notoriety or on a collective basis, may bring an individual team to the WPIAL's attention. That is the best that can be expected and/or hoped for!
Saturday, 11 am, tailgate at our house. We have hotdogs. Open invite. Then at 1 pm is the kickoff for the City League Football Championships at Cupples Stadium. Perry vs. USO (UPrep, Sci-Tech, Obama).
Nice post above.
But, the last line is one I'd question. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a change in attitudes and support from the administration at PPS so as to invest in sports with energy and effort. I say it won't cost much more to do it well in terms of real cash.
The line, District of First Choice, --- is "First Down" talk, to use sports jargon.
BTW, tickets to the game and parking on the South Side are on your own. Illegal parking or parking in a private lot could get your car towed.
What can be done to increase the number of fans traveling to away games? Will students participating in athletics be surveyed like they have been in the past? This was very detailed and often time-consuming for kids but may be of greater value now.
Since when does PPS take election day off? Students need to be in school.
It is a safety issue. Schools are polling places. Do you really want that number of strangers loose in your kid's school. Best use of time, inservice for teachers so another day isnt wasted. It is pretty standard around the county. Note suburban achools dont get Veterans Day off. Not saying this is right-- just putting it out there.
I'm baffled at the lack of foresight in PPS. I mean, truly hornswoggled. How do you send "most" programs on to the WPIAL and leave a few behind. And Mark, for someone who seemingly is in the know, you come off as having vested interests, at best. Your school will be trying to figure out this very problem shortly in baseball and softball.
The city sends Dice, Carrick and Brashear to the WPIAL. Langley is closed. So you have Perry, Obama and Westinghouse left???
What are those kids supposed to do? Why should they even play?
Please don't tell me they can play exhibition games against the WPIAL. As soon as rain-outs need to be made up, the city schools' games will be the first to cut. Don't tell me they can play each other umpteen times. Don't tell me they can play JV teams.
Outrageous. An unforgivable lack of foresight that I am going to see to it gets a public sounding board.
This maneuver let down a number of city kids.
Your tax dollars at work.
Sci-Tech parent:
I actually think this IS foresight on their part. They are slowly but surely killing off sports, just like they did with most middle school electives. 6-12 schools help this along too, since there are fewer kids in each grade, making it harder to fill teams or to offer more than a very few options.
Soon enough, the students from k-8 will only have reading and math, with a little sprinkling of social studies, science, and gym.
Look at the looming budget woes and you'll have no problem discerning the "foresight."
Of greatest concern around this particular issue is the choice of schools. What are we seeing here?
Certainly, there will be multiple interpretations depending on race, class, and effect.
But how many times do we need to see this kind of egregious inequity in PPS?
I agree with Sci-Tech parent-- when pps stopped k-8 for middle schools-- like the rest of America!-- the lure was wondrous opportunities to have both electives, and survey courses to learn about options in careers. Could the great scores of the other 450 districts in this state BE because kids go to school with a passion for something? It could be sports, CTE, foreign languages, technology, the arts, service projects, you name it. Parents -- how long would you keep sloggin' through reading and math from kindergarten and still only taking that in 8th grade?
Do grades 6-8 get social studies, science and foreign language currently? Does it vary by school or how the school is set up? K-8, 6-8 or 6-12
Have costs associated with athletics risen since joining WPIAL? It seems logical that they have. The transportation costs must have increased significantly. Have you heard any kids say, "this is the best thing that has ever happened to us"?
For all the parents who attended the meetings when the idea of WPIAL was still in the discussion phase, please tell me again why it is such a good idea. I came away thinking it would never fly, or at least not now when so much was in transition financially and educationally.
On the issue of class size I only know what I hear from kids. Sometimes it is hard to learn with the number of people in a class due to the noise level alone, especially if some kids are hell-bent on not learning anything that day. The admin may be surprised to learn that even with all the promise of The Promise and the monitoring of the paths being done, there are still kids who have not bought into the idea and come to school just to have somewhere to be.
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