Monday, August 8, 2016

Employee credentials

Anonymous wrote:

"New Post

PITTSBURGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD MEMBERS & SUPERINTENDANT:

PPS can you please list all employees and their credentials to be in that job please? Can you please list the day and time the PPS board members voted on their position? If this is ignored we know politics and unqualified persons are working with our children. Someone needs to investigate! "

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suppose one were able to secure such a list. What action or recourse is at anyone's disposal to rescind the hire? Politics is always at play and whether someone is qualified or not is subjective and credentials are not always worth the paper that the letter of certification is printed on.

Anonymous said...

I would bet that nearly 100% of the hires in the past 5 yrs are on the up & up 're:certification and degree requirement. If an unqualified person applies and they want to hire him/her, they just change the posting. Or, better yet, write postings for the candidate they have in mind to hire anyway. Happens all the time especially with promotions

Anonymous said...

You are so right, 7:23. PPS central administration decides on the person they want to hire, then they write the posting to fit that person.

Who can stop such corruption? Only the PPS School Board. But, sadly, the new School Board behaves just like the old Board did. They rubber stamp everything put before them. So much for reform. And so Pittsburgh continues its downward slide.

If anyone doubts me, let me ask this one simple question. The Pittsburgh school district is now ranked near the very bottom of all school districts in the state. Would you bet any money that the city will move up in the rankings? I sure wouldn't.

Please don't kill the messenger here. I'm just calling it as I see it.

Anonymous said...

IGNORED BY THE PPS!

Anonymous said...

Forgive me for not knowing, but two things occur to me as an education and PPS outsider. Could it be that most school districts operate in the same patronage mode, and, if the district must hire consultants why not limit those eligible to people who have not worked for the district in the past 10 years? Or at least make it so that you can not be hired as a consultant within 3 years of your retirement or resignation. Otherwise, it seems more than a bit untoward.

Anonymous said...

PDE has a valuable online resource--SAS--Standards Aligned System---that provides the Standards and Assessments required in PA. These have been in place for 10 years. Roosevelt and Lane by-passed these Standards/Assessment at PPS. Broad and Gates controlled PPS. PDE, the PA Department of Education, does not use Common Core. PA holds all 500 Districts accountable to PA Standards and Assessments. The PSSA and Keystones are PA's Assessments, NOT Common Core (as with the majority of United States.. Do, what sense does it make to use the Standards/resourcee from anywhere or any State outside of PA??? Yet PPS does it over and over while ignoring PA's wealth Standards and resources.

Anyone care t answer that question?

Anonymous said...

PPS students will never advance academically, unless they TEACH the SKILLS that are assessed in PA---the PSSA and Keystones.
These SKILLS with examples and categories are available to ALL on the SAS website. Students, teachers, parents have open access----no codes required.

Note that for the last ten years (since Roosevelt/Lane) PPS did not use PDE or the SAS standards or skills or systems.

Anonymous said...

Right! PPS did not attend, nor participate (in Harrisburg) any of the Institutes, Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, etc. that the PA Dept. of Education provided for all educators in PA (EXCEPT for one former PPS educator who attended every year on her own dime.)

Anonymous said...

Posters 7:22, 9:29, 11:14 same person?
Let's get some objective perspectives here!

Anonymous said...

Are you the EXCEPTION 11:14? and why would you do that as a former educator?

Anonymous said...

At my high school, we use the SAS resources throughout the school year. We even have an entire Keystone help class that uses this resource, as well as others. Parents have been introduced to the SAS resources and provided handouts, but only sporadically across the district. One particular parent organization attended an SAS training provided by the testing supervisor of the district. I'm not sure where the info went from there or how much it was used, but maybe that's a next step for the district. I will say, that even though students at my school are given this information in class and the resources are used, very few, if any students continue access to these resources outside of the school day for more practice.

Anonymous said...

Teachers are never afforded the opportunity to attend conferences offered outside of the district. Many of these conferences, workshops, and seminars are quite pricey. There is no subsidy offered by the district. The only thing they'll pay for, for teachers to attend workshops are Gates workshops, which obviously further a political agenda and are only offered to teachers whom the district thinks will buy into their agenda

Anonymous said...

When all $ didnt go to consultants- teachers were permitted to attend professional development opportunities. Besides not always taking advantage of PA state resources, PPS is the only district that doesnt take advantage of Allegheny Intermediate Unit opportunities. Even when our teachers were SPEAKERS! at their events, our teachers had to jump through hoops to get that professional day off! Again, look at the dates-- part of the Broad/ Gates philosophy is script for adult professionals too. They purposely dont want PPS teachers to learn what is outside "the script"- When we participate in on-line learning and seminars- which they cannot censor, our teachers are not able to fully gain because we either dont have the software, systems etc., or we dont have the autonomy to do the job. And we are jumping back in that pool again.

Anonymous said...


12:25,12:29,8:38 and any other teacher who has some insight: Do you agree with the premise that PPS students will never advance academically, unless they teach the skills that are assessed in Pa - PSSA and Keystones?

If the answer is yes and since these skills are available to all with open access, have you mastered them in such a way that they are part of what you teach every day and in every way?

And, no ,I am not 11:14 or 7:22 or 9:29.

Anonymous said...


11:14
Care to offer a workshop?

Anonymous said...

What prevents a teacher from embedding these "skills" in everything they teach through out the day, "scripted" or not?

What say you teachers?

Anonymous said...

Not a thing prevents the teachers except not knowing the "skills"!WOW Somebody "gets" it!

Anonymous said...

I would hope that teachers have been doing that all along since the curriculum is only the "floor." Why is it that you expect teachers to NOT know the skills their students need? What an insult! Harrisburg isn't the answer for what teachers need to know. The state education department didn't even know they weren't suppose to be reimbursing charter schools! Let's not put our all in Harrisburg as the saving grace because they're still trying to figure things out. Let's invest in the gifts and talents of our teachers right here in Pittsburgh and give them the credit they deserve as they continue to pull on their knowledge and expertise to educate students in conditions that aren't always optimal.

Anonymous said...

Honestly- it depends. It may have improved of late in some schools, but for a period of time "on script" meant only what was deemed correct-- not tried and true methods of seasoned teachers- remember people actually checked teachers' walls for correct signage, door decor had to be the same etc. High school teachers had more flexibility because they are subject oriented- but at lower levels teachers were being judged by exact steps for every lesson-- again not leaving room for the techniques that teachers found effective. Remember too that this was why some schools of education pulled their student teachers.

Anonymous said...

I heard the Police Chief for the schools safety department only has a high school education. How is this possible?

Anonymous said...

He is not educated beyond a degree at the police academy, has no professionalism, is a hothead, does not make sound decisions & cannot solve problems. Perfect!

Anonymous said...

I heard that George Brown only has a high school education too.I heard he harasses his staff but the administration givess him that power. No one with just a high school diploma should make chief of police decisions. What a joke. This needs to be investigated by the district attorney General's office. Let them know.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is why all the schools safety matters are a mess!

Anonymous said...

Half of the school police force is not even certified! Its a joke!

Anonymous said...

If they arent certified that means they really are not police officers.

Anonymous said...

When people came into uprep last school year to watch video footage of the situation that made international news. They say that the city of Pittsburgh police had to get the school under control there was gossip that both the chief and assistant chief did nothing but walk past the city officers taking complete control and doing absolutely nothing.

Anonymous said...

They think because they are incharge they just have to just walk around. Its a joke.

Anonymous said...

Did you ever watch chanel 21 about the PPS? You always hear about racism. Where are tje white staff at central?