Friday, February 23, 2018

Superintendent travel expenses

Anonymous wrote:

"http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/01/18/pittsburgh-schools-superintendent-travel-expenses/

I seriously doubt this little old lady sitting at her desktop typing on an twenty-year-old Dell keyboard will have any impact to negotiations, but curiosity got the best of me and I had to go looking for the story referenced above about travel. Sorry to lack the control needed to post this at a later date, say once contracts are signed. Seriously, Dude? Dublin? You can bet somebody will go look at the request made to approve that and listen to a board meeting where it was discussed. Looking forward to seeing the tangible results of these trips "

Sunday, February 18, 2018

State of the Pittsburgh Promise

Anonymous wrote:

"

New Post:Buying into the Pittsburgh Promise.
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/02/18/The-Pitts-burgh-Promise-reaches-into-the-fu-ture/stories/201802110040

When PPS can boast 90% proficiency in the minmum basic competency skills required to be taught and learned in its schools - only then will the community 'buy-in' to the Promise.
Pittsburgh struggles with its self-image because it's schools are failing. "

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Negotiations with teachers' union

Anonymous wrote:

"

New Post

As just an interested citizen I have to admire that no teacher took the issues surrounding contract negotiation to the PURE site and the court of public opinion it provides. As some solution or action gets closer and as we learn new terms used in news article (teacher churn) and just what sticking points still exist, could it be time for us outsiders to weigh in? What is best for kids is not always part of negotiations apparently. I say this because in the PG article of 2/16/18, (http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/02/15/Pittsburgh-Public-Schools-Pittsburgh-Federation-of-Teachers-strike-negotiations-contract-mediation/stories/201802150138) increase of coaches salaries is noted as an item still open in discussion. The arbitrator suggested a 10% increase. The amount of increase does not bother me in the least. What does is that nothing reported indicates whether or not a qualified teacher will be in a classroom while a teacher rides a bus to a game. Yes the game is after school hours but is the transportation time after school hours? Is there just a responsible human in the classroom until the final bell rings or is the coach's fill-in able to actually teach the subject? Maybe after contracts are complete we will hear answers to questions like this. Most likely the biggest issue parents want to hear about is class size. Nothing can ever convince some of us that smaller numbers are not better. I get tired of hearing Marty Griffin tout catholic school and charter school success when the comparison is so out-of-balance. Bring class size down in all grade levels but no classroom from Pre-K-3 should have more than 20 kids. actually no classroom of Pre-K or kindergarten should have more than 15. "

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Mark Roosevelt's term at the PPS

Anonymous wrote:

"New post, please. Perhaps the title of the post should be "Mark Roosevelt's term at the PPS".

Back in 1969 Chuck Noll took over as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers won 1 game and lost 13 that year. Noll ended his Steelers career in 1991, with a record of 209–156–1, including four Super Bowl championships. Not bad!

Given that, I've often wondered how Mark Roosevelt did as the "head coach" of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. He started in 2005, and he left in 2010. He turned the district upside down. So how did he do? What was Pittsburgh's overall state ranking in 2005, and what was it in 2010?

I've done a Google search on this. And I can't finding anything of value. If anyone has the data, I'd love to see it."