Tuesday, August 30, 2016

New principal for Perry

Anonymous wrote:

"New Post Please

Dennie Chakey has left PPS Perry. He is now Asst. Superintendent of Gateway. Any news on the new principal at Perry? "

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder what was behind this move. Mr. Chakey had a reputation for targeting and pushing out the older staff. I saw this first hand. I hope Gateway knows what they are in for!

Anonymous said...

I worked with Dennis Chakey for several years at Oliver. He used bullying as a way to control, intimidate and push out senior staff. The board knew about this and did nothing! He continued this practice at Perry. Unfortunatley, the district does not have a very good plan for dealing with this kind of workplace behavior. You can report it all you want, they turn a deaf ear. Many teachers are working under these stressful conditions and are too afraid to speak up.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Hamlet,
I hope you have been referred to read this site. It is an excellent place to get good, factual information. It is carefully monitored and posters are treated with respect. It is one of the only outlets we have for sharing what is REALLY going on in our schools. I know that you are not fooled by the big shows that are being put on on your behalf. Please, take some time and survey your staff. Find out what it is really like for some of us. Coming to work is sometimes an extremely stressful experience, and it's not the students. For whatever reason, the new leadership style of many principals, VP's, and supervisors is based on bullying and intimidation. This is new. Are they teaching this at the professional development meetings for these people? I assure you, there are some very poor managers, leaders, supervisors, directors, coordinators, whatever the title. There needs to be some attention paid to this situation. I hope you will take the time to address during your time with us.

Questioner said...

Disrespect in the workplace is increasingly being recognized as a problem. Based on comments posted, in Pps the problem seems to have worsened dramatically with the arrival of Broad Gates reforms.

Anonymous said...

Every school that Mr. Chakey has worked for is the best run school in the district. There are no kids in the halls and it is a great environment to teach in. He has the last high school where discipline matters. Good luck Mr. Chakey!!

Anonymous said...

I hardly think that the measurement of a good school is the number of students in the halls. I worked at Oliver and for a short time at Perry. The teaching environment was not healthy and everyone knew it. Dennis Chakey does not possess REAL leadership and Management skills. He uses the people around him. He hides in his office. He keeps his hands clean. I watched him closely and studies this for years. He is a coward and a bully. Thank goodness he is gone. You must have been one of his minions. He always had a small group he could rely on. Now sit back and watch what happens at Gateway.

Anonymous said...

I would encourage everyone concerned about bullying to google the following " when the principal is a bully". Go back into the pure reform archives, May 2012, read these posts. It epidemic! And it is here and alive in our Pittsburgh Schools. Not only the principals, but there is staff on staff bullying. It's one of the districts dirty little secrets. It's time for this to become a full fledged topics of conversation. So often the victims are young and too afraid to come forward. Principals are too afraid to handle this very delicate subject.

Anonymous said...

i am sure it can be corroborated here that Mr. Chakey does not return calls to parents. my advice to parents is to go over his head.

Anonymous said...

I also have personal experience with Mr. Chakey. On every occasion I had to in any way engage this man in conversation, I found him to be a bullying misogynist with a seemingly personal vendetta against anyone over the age of 30. He decimated the population at Perry, then crowed at how much "reform" had taken place. Of course the behaviors there were better--all the students were GONE. The tragedy of the whole situation is that those he kicked to the curb were our most marginalized, high-needs students. Kids who needed our help were summarily dismissed, as Chakey had neither the time nor the talents to redirect them. Anyone with a single brain cell need only examine three statistics: African American suspension rates in buildings where Chakey served as principal; attendance rates for those same institutions; and finally the "pre-Chakey" population stats vs the "post-Chakey" population stats. Add a demographic component and the results are abysmal and beyond disturbing. For many years, PPS harbored this man, excused his behaviors and irreparably harmed our children through a series of "blind-eye" maneuvers, moving Chakey when the heat was turned up. The final move to Perry, where our numbers crashed and burned, was calculated to place him in a building where parents, often single heads-of-household in low socio-economic strata, were either too busy, too uninformed, or too otherwise engaged to realize what was happening. Those who did speak up were ignored in favor of that small pocket of parents who had children at Perry who benefitted from Chakey's immoral "cleansing" of the numbers. These kids ended up benefitting from an environment that offered sanctuary to those who knew their place--those who followed blindly and smiled at the misfortune of those dying in the streets when they should have been sitting behind desks. Anyone who shared responsibility in perpetuating the Perry fiasco needs also take responsibility for the blood spilled in that community by those who were turned away or asked to leave. Our district has a responsibility that I am confident will be realized once Chakey finally vacates that office. Dr. Hamlet has impressed me with his insights and keen intuition. I am hopeful that his promises to our children will start at the top with a "cleansing" of his own. Good riddance Mr. Chakey. I wish I could say you will be missed.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Chakey was at Perry H.S. in the 2015-16 school year, right? What years?

And, with the piling on here directed at Mr. Chakey, can we pin the blame on him for draining the water out of the swim pool at Perry High School in the winter/spring of 2016?

Moving forward, who are the folks who are the leadership team at Perry now, 2016-17?

Good luck to all. And, is the water back in the school's pool?

Anonymous said...

Good question Mark- and while we are asking -- What happening to pool at U Prep-- wasnt used last year-- is this something happening all around? Is this yet another thing we "used to have?" That phrase is getting really tired in Pittsburgh. (If this is at more than one school- perhaps new topic-Swimming in Pittsburgh--

Mark Rauterkus said...

I asked a few months ago about the swim pool at Perry and its lack of water and I was told by a person at PPS that that is none of my business.

Go figure. Hey. I'm a taxpayer.

There is so much to say that I can't even figure out where to begin. ...

Questioner said...

!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I heard that Mark Roosevelt wanted to close all the middle school pools as a cost saving measure. (Never mind that you might save a few lives if the kids know how to swim.) I believe he was largely if not totally successful. Maybe Dr. Lane felt that high school pools are also too expensive.

Anonymous said...

Again-- how is no one holding this board accountable for cutting programs? So much talk about mentors (not a bad program but..) attendance and no one speaks about the magic of a kid's eyes when they return from a middle school visit and see- opportunity! Maybe THAT is the one reason a kid goes to school-- have you ever heard, " oh I have gym today?" This would also be a reason to stop home school/ charter school nonsense. How about having something to offer kids that isnt reading/ math/ uniforms- 1956 life? PPS tax payers deserve to start asking ... What happened to __________? Why dont we have________? This is NOT something you can blame on the teachers. They are there, they are certified and ready to teach some 21st century subjects.
I know parents have full plates- but you are paying for this-start questioning those board members.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Did you hesr of the 2 hour delay for Tuesday after Monday of Labor Day due to Liberty Bridge shut down, or was it due to the recent rash of defeats for the Pirates?

Anonymous said...



This past August, the 19th Annual Pittsburgh Triathelon( 1,500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run ) was held at Point State Park. That our schools do not support a swim program is beyond comprehension in this city of three rivers.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Well, to be fair, PPS does support some swimming.

PPS has 14 indoor pools. This summer, to the best of my knowledge, ONE was open and used, Brashear, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm for 27 days.

PPS has about 250 students who can, any given year, reasonably call themselves "swimmers." I figure PPS has the capacity to have about 6,000 swimmers.

As for the community and river / sports town, consider the LIFEGUARD jobs issue. North Park wants to hire 40+ lifeguards every year for its staff. This year they had to start the season with 16. Citiparks, Sandcastle, and everywhere, there are shortages.

There is a lot to do.

Anonymous said...

PPS did away with the "swim" matrons for the physical education department in 2008. These people were invaluable for the swim/gym programs more often than not multitasking in their duties. I think that was the beginning of the end of the swim classes in the physical education programs at least in the high schools. Not all students brought swim suits and towels so the schools were providing them. Someone was needed to hand them out, collect them, and launder them. When the matrons went, so did the swim classes.

Regarding the lifeguard shortage, does PPS conduct any lifeguard training courses anywhere/anytime? Does Citiparks? This would seem very beneficial since young people are looking/needing jobs.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Hmm Asst. Superintendent in the suburbs isnt a demotion-- it was voluntary- as far as kids cussing. hitting and being sent back to class- welcome to PPS. Remember the word is do not put them out of the classroom- not matter what-- and if the disruptive student is under 10, or already identified, forget getting any help what so ever-- ask any admin that moved to the suburbs- not heaven-- but "orderly" is the word they use-- because the other parents would through a fit is the disruptions that PPS teachers deal with happened anywhere else

Mark Rauterkus said...

Citiparks does lifeguard training for no cost if the newly certified work at Citiparks.

No clear lifeguard training by Pps, as per my views. But i am going to offer a class soon. Might be at 6 am.

Agree about pool matrons.

Questioner said...

On September 6, Anonymous wrote:

To Sept 2, 6:09-look at the statistics -2008 was the beginning of the declining population at Perry- the principal did not keep the school safe, did not make sure teachers did their job - the decline continued until Chakey came, kids and adults felt safe- the decline in kids leveled off,, good teachers replaced some bad ones Now that principal [has moved] to a small elementary school- hope they are not in ruins-This is the first time I worked with him- being a 40+ female I felt treated with respect and support - more than other high schools I was at where students could cuss out & even hit teachers & sent back to class Your view is beyond ridiculous- we will miss him

Anonymous said...


The board members unanimously approved the hiring of James V. Cooper as principal of Perry Traditional Academy. He worked in the Palm Beach County school district.