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Can the PPS Board please insure that the Summer Dreamers program for summer of 2015 be held only in schools that have swimming pools?
Carmalt has no pool.
Faison has no pool.
It is not ideal to have the kids that go to those schools in the summer and who want to swim to take FOUR bus rides a day. (to school, to pool, to school, to home)
Summer Dreamers could be held in Langley, where there is a pool and where SDA 14 was held, as well as:
Westinghouse, Obama, Allderdice, PCA, Carrick, Brashear, Perry, Oliver, Sci-Tech, U-Prep, and a few others with smaller pools (Arsenal, Allegheny).
As a top suggestion, it is not out of hand to move the Faison site to Westinghouse and move the Carmalt site to Carrick.
I spoke to the PPS Board about this on Monday night and it is also point #27 in the position paper I crafted for them earlier in 2014.
is there any way to keep our buildings open on a regular basis until maybe 8:00 p.m. and have them serve as the hub for community activity? try a pilot and offer space like PCTV offers its resources. allow student leaders the chance to manage after hours use.
People have been asking for this fou YEARS, including the Open East End Panel in 2010. A pilot is a great idea. With so many administrators and outside vendors PPS most likely wouldn't have the money but maybe the city or other finder could help. It would be a nice project for someone.
Why does your Police Department have two Chiefs? What does School Police do on a daily basis? Why do you have Police Officers that never passed the exam in Harrisburg? You should request the results. Why was G. Brown chosen over M. Williams to become a Commander when M. Williams has more seniority? Was it Politics? Sounds like it to me! Why are these poor Security Officers never getting a fair raise like the Police Officers. These Security Officers keep these Schools under control. Why did the Police get a raise to $45,000 when they do nothing? Two Chiefs(REALLY)! Why cant you just promote a few Security Officers to be in charge of Security?
Why are there so many Superintendents? What do they contribute to their schools?
With 97% of PPS teachers getting satisfactory RISE reviews(as per the PG), at what point will the Board start looking at other aspects in the PPS system that might be causing poor performance and decline in enrollment?
If students evaluations contribute to a teachers RISE, why can't teachers contribute to a principal's evaluation?
I just read the latest personnel report from HR. I realize that PPS has a number of schools and employees. However, EVERY month there are hundreds of various personnel moves. Why is this? Where is continuity in our schools when staff is continually moving or be moved around?
The August PPS Personnel Report shows there were the following moves from school to school.
88 New Appointments 42 Re-assignments from Leaves of Absenc 11 Day to Day Substitutes 9 New Paraprofessionals 211 “”TRANSFERS from one position to another without change of salary
That's a lot of turnover. Admin itself has acknowledged the importance of continuity. Can you go back and compare the figures for August 2005, before MR arrived?
Yes, that could be done; but for what purpose? We SEE the results, plain and simple. Right NOW the conditions, the culture, and the collective and individual results are (or should be) totally unacceptable.
We know the reasons for all of these moves NOW and that's what matters!
All of these problems are solvable! YES, they truly are solvable. Where there is a WILL there's a way. It will take a UNITED WILL of the stakeholders HERE and NOW! Instead, everyone is into the blame game.
A good first step would be to quantify the extent of the increase in the turnover rate. That would provide objective confirmation that there is an issue.
The large "quantification" of people confirmed as moved/transferred in August, 2014 IS "OBJECTIVE".
And, we all know that professional stability, experience and the expertise that develops with experience, consistency, commitment over time ensures quality education. Extensive research tell us that without a doubt. Roosevelt is not longer here and to continue to reference a non-educator who exited the city more than seven years ago is an exercise in futility.
Let's spend our time working toward correcting the "issues" that we know exist here and now!
To clarify, it would be good to have a comparison before Broad-Gates to quantify that the current level of turnover is not normal, that it is not what existed when the district was doing better, and that the change came with Broad-Gates. Which may lead to bigger questions about the role of Broad Gates in our system.
Again, it is an exercise in futility to fight Broad/Gates P.R., money, power, or resources.
We know enough to address all of the "issues" here and now in PPS. We need to make Broad/Gates and the Roosevelt regime irrelevant to Pittsburgh's here and now solutions for the successful education of all of our city's students!
The bottom line is that our school district is unstable and is dysfunctional. All the PR in the world can't cover up the facts. And all the Kings' men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again...
So sorry for all of those who have given up and turned the District over to instability and dysfunction.
If you believe that abandoning ship and helping push Humpty Dumpty off the wall, you are not made of the stuff of which Pittsburghers have always been proud.
Could the school board explain why PPS district resources are being provided to West Allegheny? Some of WA personnel were at a PPS provided training and the participants discussed some of PPS personnel recently doing professional development in their district. Did WA help pay for the trainers from Pitt? If we are struggling to keep our heads above water, why are curriculum supervisors assisting another district? Shouldn't they be in our schools, helping our teachers and students? As a teacher constantly under scrutiny in the classroom I would applaud some help. You can go to another district but you have not been in our schools. So sad.
Dear anon 8:58 PPS teachers rock!! It is unfortunate that people are jumping ship to the suburbs from PPS and that the suburbs feel that they have to attend our training, but rest assured that if PPS teachers went to the burbs--we would be rock stars--IDK that the same could be said if the suburban teachers came to PPS.
25 comments:
Can the PPS Board please insure that the Summer Dreamers program for summer of 2015 be held only in schools that have swimming pools?
Carmalt has no pool.
Faison has no pool.
It is not ideal to have the kids that go to those schools in the summer and who want to swim to take FOUR bus rides a day. (to school, to pool, to school, to home)
Summer Dreamers could be held in Langley, where there is a pool and where SDA 14 was held, as well as:
Westinghouse,
Obama,
Allderdice,
PCA,
Carrick,
Brashear,
Perry,
Oliver,
Sci-Tech,
U-Prep,
and a few others with smaller pools (Arsenal, Allegheny).
As a top suggestion, it is not out of hand to move the Faison site to Westinghouse and move the Carmalt site to Carrick.
I spoke to the PPS Board about this on Monday night and it is also point #27 in the position paper I crafted for them earlier in 2014.
is there any way to keep our buildings open on a regular basis until maybe 8:00 p.m. and have them serve as the hub for community activity? try a pilot and offer space like PCTV offers its resources. allow student leaders the chance to manage after hours use.
People have been asking for this fou YEARS, including the Open East End Panel in 2010. A pilot is a great idea.
With so many administrators and outside vendors PPS most likely wouldn't have the money but maybe the city or other finder could help. It would be a nice project for someone.
Have you been reading the proposal about the All-City Sports Camps?
http://aforathlete.wikia.com/wiki/All-City_Sports_Camp
Why does your Police Department have two Chiefs? What does School Police do on a daily basis? Why do you have Police Officers that never passed the exam in Harrisburg? You should request the results. Why was G. Brown chosen over M. Williams to become a Commander when M. Williams has more seniority? Was it Politics? Sounds like it to me! Why are these poor Security Officers never getting a fair raise like the Police Officers. These Security Officers keep these Schools under control. Why did the Police get a raise to $45,000 when they do nothing? Two Chiefs(REALLY)! Why cant you just promote a few Security Officers to be in charge of Security?
Why are there so many Superintendents? What do they contribute to their schools?
With 97% of PPS teachers getting satisfactory RISE reviews(as per the PG), at what point will the Board start looking at other aspects in the PPS system that might be causing poor performance and decline in enrollment?
If students evaluations contribute to a teachers RISE, why can't teachers contribute to a principal's evaluation?
"If students evaluations contribute to a teachers RISE, why can't teachers contribute to a principal's evaluation?"
Wow. Poster at 6:35, that is an excellent question!
School Board, Are you there?
I just read the latest personnel report from HR. I realize that PPS has a number of schools and employees. However, EVERY month there are hundreds of various personnel moves. Why is this? Where is continuity in our schools when staff is continually moving or be moved around?
The August PPS Personnel Report shows there were the following moves from school to school.
88 New Appointments
42 Re-assignments from Leaves of Absenc
11 Day to Day Substitutes
9 New Paraprofessionals
211 “”TRANSFERS from one position to another without change of salary
361= TOTAL CHANGES
26 Resignations
13 Sabbatical Leaves of Absence
That's a lot of turnover. Admin itself has acknowledged the importance of continuity. Can you go back and compare the figures for August 2005, before MR arrived?
Yes, that could be done; but for what purpose? We SEE the results, plain and simple. Right NOW the conditions, the culture, and the collective and individual results are (or should be) totally unacceptable.
We know the reasons for all of these moves NOW and that's what matters!
All of these problems are solvable! YES, they truly are solvable. Where there is a WILL there's a way. It will take a UNITED WILL of the stakeholders HERE and NOW! Instead, everyone is into the blame game.
A good first step would be to quantify the extent of the increase in the turnover rate. That would provide objective confirmation that there is an issue.
The large "quantification" of people confirmed as moved/transferred in August, 2014 IS "OBJECTIVE".
And, we all know that professional stability, experience and the expertise that develops with experience, consistency, commitment over time ensures quality education. Extensive research tell us that without a doubt. Roosevelt is not longer here and to continue to reference a non-educator who exited the city more than seven years ago is an exercise in futility.
Let's spend our time working toward correcting the "issues" that we know exist here and now!
To clarify, it would be good to have a comparison before Broad-Gates to quantify that the current level of turnover is not normal, that it is not what existed when the district was doing better, and that the change came with Broad-Gates. Which may lead to bigger questions about the role of Broad Gates in our system.
Again, it is an exercise in futility to fight Broad/Gates P.R., money, power, or resources.
We know enough to address all of the "issues" here and now in PPS. We need to make Broad/Gates and the Roosevelt regime irrelevant to Pittsburgh's here and now solutions for the successful education of all of our city's students!
Pretending Broad Gates is not there is an exercise in futility.
The bottom line is that our school district is unstable and is dysfunctional. All the PR in the world can't cover up the facts. And all the Kings' men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again...
So sorry for all of those who have given up and turned the District over to instability and dysfunction.
If you believe that abandoning ship and helping push Humpty Dumpty off the wall, you are not made of the stuff of which Pittsburghers have always been proud.
We need educators who can stand strong!
It is likely that the prior commentator was not giving up but rather noting that the current approach is beyond repair- a new model is needed.
Could the school board explain why PPS district resources are being provided to West Allegheny? Some of WA personnel were at a PPS provided training and the participants discussed some of PPS personnel recently doing professional development in their district. Did WA help pay for the trainers from Pitt? If we are struggling to keep our heads above water, why are curriculum supervisors assisting another district? Shouldn't they be in our schools, helping our teachers and students? As a teacher constantly under scrutiny in the classroom I would applaud some help. You can go to another district but you have not been in our schools. So sad.
Dear anon 8:58 PPS teachers rock!! It is unfortunate that people are jumping ship to the suburbs from PPS and that the suburbs feel that they have to attend our training, but rest assured that if PPS teachers went to the burbs--we would be rock stars--IDK that the same could be said if the suburban teachers came to PPS.
Big article with 20+ comments in the PG. Part 1 of 3? Talks of population changes in last decade.
That will make a good new topic.
Stop being such clerks and remember you were in school once. When did it hurt to think of the community?
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