Thursday, March 3, 2011
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14 comments:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_725526.html
I posted a few weeks ago to keep your eye on Wisconsin.
Koch Brothers want to own Pennsylvania too.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20110228_Union-busting_brothers_heading_our_way.html
They win, we are apathetic.
Two pondering questions loom large:
One, if the Gov's budget proposal comes to pass and PPS needs to cut a couple dozen million from its budget, what could and what should be done in terms of management of the schools?
Two, what impacts are in the political future for the Gov and for PA if these cuts are to pass? Is there going to be fallout? How? Why? When?
The 3 teens arrested yesterday are all U Prep. This school was supposed to be really working with kids there.
Watched the March Legislative Board meeting today and three things have become very apparent to me.
1) That over the the past few years I had grown accustomed to seeing Mr. Brently seemingly complain about anything and everything, but, I am beginning to wonder if he is the only person on the Board who is willing to go against the grain and not follow the Superintendent blindly. When Mark Roosevelt was the Superintendent the majority of the Board members willingly swallowed and accepted whatever plan he through out there. I don't see much change in the Board members actions with Dr. Lane. I may not agree with Mr. Brently 99% of the time, but, at least he is willing to stand up for what he believes.
2) At last nights meeting, Mr. Brently brought up an issue of Mr. Roosevelt and $200,000 that the District was used as a pass through for. He was shut down by Mrs. Hazuda and asked to stop referring to issues from the previous administration. I wonder if this is an honest attempt to move forward by Mrs. Hazuda or another attempt to hide the fact that the Board DID NOT do their duty in regards to fiscal discipline and responsibility under Roosevelt.
3)That these meetings are becoming more of a forum for Board members to "toot" their own horn. At last nights meeting, Mrs. Colaizzi was practically fawning over herself and how she was so happy that the Summers Dreamers Academy had finally reached what she had dreamed for it.
Finally, Mr. Brently, please keep the pressure on.
CENTRAL OFFICE BUDGET CUTS? If Dr. Lane id trying to prove how fiscally responsible she is why did they just hire another person whose "resposibility" is to put together the monthly Board Tab? Her track record so far says that she should have given this responsibility to someone already employed by the District and given them a pay raise. In this instance it actually would have saved the District money.
The March 23rd Board Legislative meeting included time devoted to Mr. Brentley bring forth items related to Take Your Father to School Day and a new day proposed to salute Moms/Females who keep the kids and schools moving forward. A sampling of comments from building administrators was read twice and Mr. Brentley responded with controlled umbrage. As much as one might admire his devotion to the cause and the spirit of the day(s) he supports and proposes, his efforts might be better spent developing a new idea with the same goal.
As a parent who volunteered for the Take Your Father to School Day I must say it takes a lot of energy and focus to maintain order that day.
He is still talking
http://ysnews.com/news/2011/03/roosevelt-speaks-on-schools-crisis
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/11
New Diane Ravitch blog.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/diane-ravitch-reframing-narrative-public-schools
She worked for Bush and is so open minded she changed her mind.
Nurses are being undervalued As well as teachers.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11107/1139712-28-0.stm
There seems to an ignorant arrogance regarding how "easy" these jobs are and anyone they chose to train can simply step in.
New post
Add Mark Roosevelt to this list:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11108/1140172-298-0.stm
Most of today's education reformers are products of private schools. My favorite quote:
Bill Gates (Lakeside School, Seattle) has donated billions of dollars to public schools with the proviso that they carry out his vision of reform, including tying teacher tenure decisions to students' test scores. In November, Mr. Gates and Mr. Duncan (University of Chicago Laboratory School) called on public school leaders to increase class size as a way of cutting costs in these hard times. The two men suggested that schools could compensate by striving to have an excellent teacher in every classroom. The private school Mr. Gates attended has an average class size of 16, according to its Web site. The home page says the best thing about Lakeside School is it "promotes relationships between teachers and students through small class sizes." Mr. Duncan's private school has an average class size of 19.
Fiscal Challenges. Once again the District makes a late decision and tries to spin it as though they have done something worth applauding. The Central Administration today announced that they were not going t6o move forward with the Techers Academies at Brashear and King as a cost savings, but no mention of the fact that these projects were already bis through the states Co-Stars program and that the contractor's that won the bids will most likely have to be paid for the projects anyway, another waste of more than $300K. Also, apparently the way to save money is to announce a hiring freeze and then advertise for not one, not two, but three new Directors positions for the Technology Department. Typically Directors positions within the District start at approximately $90K a year. If three Directors are needed, what exactly is the Chief of Technology going to do.
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