Sunday, January 28, 2018

Q & A with Superintendent Hamlet

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/01/27/Pittsburgh-Public-Schools-superintendent-Anthony-Hamlet/stories/201801270012 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

With no kids left in school I have no recent experience but I would bet many parents considering a path for the education of their children to name safe and orderly schools to be the main goal in making choices. The final question in the article is about "unexpected challenge" and I am hoping to get an explanation on this forum of this portion of the answer, "One of the things that came out was that Pittsburgh Public Schools has the highest rate of suspensions in the state. But I came to find out that the state tracks that by the number of referrals you put in, so if you only put in out-of-school suspensions, of course you’re going to have the highest rate because those are the only referrals you’re putting in the system." Can anyone help this clueless old lady?

Questioner said...

There are also "in school suspensions"! Students are pulled out of regular class but hopefully do receive instruction. So if PPS was entering both in school and out of school suspensions and everyone else just enters out of school suspensions, Pittsburgh numbers will look really high. Seems like the system needs a fix to specify what it is they are asking for.

Anonymous said...

The issues on what gets reported to the state and the differences from on building to another in procedures on what gets counted came up about 10 years ago when the numbers were so askew in the A+ Report to the Community. What the heck? We still do not have it right? That is on PPS!!

Anonymous said...

Still don't understand because of this portion "so if you only put in out-of-school suspensions, of course you’re going to have the highest rate" please forgive me but shouldn't the statement be LOWEST if you're only putting in out of school? Muddy waters all the time.

Questioner said...

By “you” he apparently means other school districts are only putting out of school suspensions, while “we” (Pps) report all suspensions.

Anonymous said...

Still think LOWEST should have been used if we apply your explanation. Just so typical that there is any confusion at all. I hope it is me being thick-headed.

Questioner said...

He wasn’t very clear with the pronouns but the general idea comes across.

Anonymous said...

I believe its about referrals too - district A tracks every time a student is tardy to class or gets detention or a phone call home for behavior, as well as suspensions. The have 1,000 total incidents and 100 suspensions. PPS only reports suspensions, so 100 incidents and 100 suspensions. It looks like every time a student misbehaves they are suspended because other minor things are never captured. That's my understanding

Anonymous said...

Thanks 9:49

Anonymous said...

Where do negotiations stand?