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Watch the video of the December 18, 2013 legislative session; refreshing new ideas, thoughtful questioning, independent thought, real attention to community concerns.
Unfortunately the live feed froze up and stopped transmitting (for live feeds go to discoverpps.org, then to "Video" in the upper right hand corner, then to "Board Meetings" in the left column, then to "Live Board Meeting".
Before the freeze the superintendent made the comment that it was childless adults moving into the Bloomfield/ Lawrenceville area. But, there is suddenly a preponderance of child-oriented new businesses, such as stylish toddler clothing shops, lamaze classes, etc.
refreshing new ideas, thoughtful questioning, independent thought, real attention to community concerns. These are"notions"that were strongly discouraged by our former superintendent and the"Board of Roosevelt".
My hope is that this new Board will move into retreat. Many do not know that Roosevelt did not allow the past Board to ever be alone. Even when then did a so-called retreat, the facilitator would be chosen by Mark Roosevelt AND MR was never far away. I say again the facilitator would be chosen by Mark Roosevelt!
The new Board must re-learn roles and responsibilities of a Board Member. They were greatly distorted, systematically weakened by Roosevelt and several current and former Board Members. One example you may have seen, if a Board Member requests information and the Administration does not want to provide it---they don't.
We may be at the end of a seven year nightmare, but I fear it may be too late.
Is Linda Lane an urban planner now? And are all those childless people going to remain childless? This administration, an extension of the previous, is only concerned with the here and now- not the future of growing Pittsburgh! What other unwise and politically charged decisions can be reversed? Quick! Please check and see!
What's the deal with buying The August Wilson? Are we still broke and hemorrhaging students or did this new board that walks on water cure all of that in their first month?
It didn't seem like the proposal was to buy the Wilson center, but instead to brainstorm with other interested groups about whether PPS might have a role with the building in the future, for example to help expand popular programs like CAPA. No harm comparing costs to current costs, if the numbers didn't work out PPS could pass.
Didnt you hear? Pittsburgh Public Schools Board wants to buy the August Wilson Center in Downtown to turn it into an indoor golf simulator and rename it the Tiger Woods Center?
Year round golf with out needing to drive to the bubble on Neville Island.
Wow, This is how a District of First and Second Choice saves the day with a bail out of another financially bankrupt institution.
Could happen.
Tennis courts in the Convention Center next. Arthur Ashe rebranding.
CAPA athletes with their fighting rainbow unicorn mascot are going to win PIAA Championships.
From a teacher's standpoint, this was a refreshing change and it provided hope for the future. I will be urging board members to revisit the entire sham of the teacher evaluation process, better known as RISE. I will be asking them to look into the countless 'resignations' and terminations over the past couple of years, and I will be asking them to address numerous notations about the board telling school administrators to use this "process" to specifically target veteran teachers, and their salaries. What we have seen in Pittsburgh Public Schools over the past 8 years has been the complete abandonment of ethics at the expense of dedicated teachers and their students. That it has transpired in such a cavalier manner is even more shocking. Let's hope that we have turned a corner, and that administration is made to remember that at its core, public education means students and teachers, first, foremost, and only.
What are you saying Mark? That they are cutting sports to the bone but willing to bail out the August Wilson? Why can't this district just settle down and get to the job of education? Just asking.
Agreeing with 6:32-- and yes taxpayer, know that your money was wasted on making principals push paper instead of running a SAFE school, and that most parents will tell you they have never seen people as miserable as they have in the last 8 years. May we return to safe learning environments where students can learn and grow.
Its now time to look for a superintendent that understands a urban environment. Lane has not got the Job done. Please lets not play games with these students any more. We need real leadership and need it now.
Not just an understanding of the "urban environment" is needed. PPS needs educators who truly understand "teaching" , "learning", "active engagement of students and community", INSTRUCTION, curriculum, Standards (PA and Common Core), assessments (formative and summative), leadership, creativity, commitment, collaboration, etc. These are just some of the basics needed to educate any and all students!
I watched the board meeting on TV and am disappointed that they did not discuss the recent test scores for the district. They were bad but shouldn't someone at least talk about it...not a word.
The Post-Gazette's editorial today only further demonstrates their pro-Bellefield powers that be ties. The P-G wasted no time bashing the new board and their recent decisions. In my opinion, the P-G is a mouth piece of Lane and Co. Give the new board a chance.
Any effort by pps to become involved in getting the August Wilson Center on firmer financial ground is not a good idea. We need to back away from the idea and instead draft a resolution read into the record at a board meeting that states the district's support of any efforts others make on attaining viability for AWC.
I was making a couple of Downtown jokes about the possible re-branding efforts to make the AWC into the Tiger Woods Indoor Golf Center and the Convention Center into the A. Ashe Indoor Tennis Center.
Weird humor.
Would Dr. Lane have remembered that we had GREAT champions in golf and tennis that look much like many of the kids in PPS?
Oh well.
Perhaps PPS can bail out the Convention Center too. A story just ran on how it is under performing.
And, why not make a plan to have PPS bail out PAT as well.
This is Mark Brentley "dreaming". This silliness now, when we are on a highway to hell is to say the least an absurd fools paradise. Why doesn't he ever focus on actual education issues?
All these ideas! Why don't we just buy Schenley back?!!! If I remember correctly, IT has a THEATER, CLASSROOMS,SWIMMING POOL, AND SO MUC MORE - and we could save the poor students who have been LANGUISHING IN MILLIONES SINCE IT CLOSED!!!
question about PCTV. Why does the school pay for their meeting to be on TV. I thought that the cable companies (through our fees) gave big bucks for community access TV. Why not have more meetings shown and run more often. Somehow, I smell some sort of double dipping. Why should the PPS pay over $1,200 for every meeting? This whole thing is suspicious. Does City Council pay for their meeting?
The P-G coming out against the new board says it all. Add that to A+ schools finding it "troubling" and you know for sure that the toadies of the bullies are running scared.Maybe our new board cant be bought, or impressed by names. Maybe they have and will continue to listen to the people that voted for them. Sounded like- in the P-G,- like the Broadies were shocked at thinking people. At least the rest of the country is looking at us like the place that stops the venture philanthropist bullies!
Sports, athletics, arts, technology are all critical to the development of children's minds and bodies; however, the comments of some posters are narrowing to a single, very small personalized objective that seems to ridicule anyone who thinks broadly, encompassing all possibilities.
Such narrow thinking and sarcasm here is counterproductive.
Broad thinking is good for some, but when the PPS tries new ways to educate children the out-rage is deafening. Why aren't children doing better in the PPS? Something had to give. I don't think there is "narrow thinking" and sarcasm here. This is an opportunity to say what's on our minds too. If this school board can actually entertain the August Wilson Center, then it's all go. Money and declining enrollment be damned. Poor Linda Lane. She is tasked with the budget and this is the stuff that the board on about! Heaven help us.
It's funny to me that Gates and Broad are being outed for the charlatans they are across the country and yet, in Pittsburgh they circle the wagons. I am hopeful that the new board can sort this out and hold this outrageously poor leadership accountable for what they have done to our schools. That the PG continues to support this district's decisions is amazing and smacks of patronage. Ask no questions. See no bigger picture. There simply is no journalistic integrity with this bunch. They seem to think that the Promise trumps everything and yet, it cannot mask the problems of an urban district that continues to slide backwards in terms of achievement and discipline. There were a number of problems in a number of our schools this past week. Did anyone hear of them? Linda Lane, Geri Lippert, Chrissy Otuwa and Dave Stein must go....and quickly. Take your consultants and your payola with you. You have failed the students of Pittsburgh. How do you sleep? Complete and utter failure.
Give the new board a chance to try to get PPS back on track. At least they seem to discuss and think for themselves. Maybe collectively they will be able to come up with ideas about the budget problems, school closings, etc. If we don't want PPS to fall to charter schools, then we need new ideas and plans that work. The former board and current administration is certainly headed down the charter school path and the demise of PPS.
I thought that the Post-Gazette editorial was completely out of bounds also.
It was said above, "Maybe collectively they will be able to come up with ideas about the budget problems, school closings, etc. "
Think again.
Should be, IMNSHO, ... collectively WE will be able to come up with ideas ....
Sure, the board, on its own, gets to vote. However, if they are the ones to come up with the ideas, we are in deep,trouble, still.
The administration and the board and the citizens are NOT working well together, generally.
Case in point, in sports, in an area I know about, we had a few months in 2010 when a reform task force with staff, admin, partners and citizens huddled and began to think about global issues and solutions. It was a magical and brief time. The outcomes were equally fleeting.
Now Dr. Lane says fewer sports and there is no collaboration in recent years.
All the Kings Horses and all the Kings Men couldn't put Humpty together again.
Three years ago, and many time since, I told my principal that we could earn the school $50k a year by holding community programming at our pool that sits idle by their failed design on afternoons, evenings, nights, weekends, holidays and summers.
Detailed letters with specifics were sent to Dr. Lane in November 2012, after the full school move into Peabody and she can't find the time for more than a year to pick up the phone and call me back. The fix is here, and it seems as if their goals are to be a district of 9th choice without engaged students.
Putting all the faith in the board, and not the administration, is much like being in Poland in 1938 and thinking there are friends to either east or west.
This administration has NEVER listened to the community as a whole or to the parents. They have very rarely listened to their teachers (usually only when one of their reforms is tanking so badly and so quickly that they have to ask the teachers for help).
That's why people are putting their hopes on the board. The board *could* encourage Linda Lane to leave. The board *can* change the overall direction of the district -- refusing outside money that requires matching grants of OUR money to experiment, etc.
That's not micromanaging, either, that's doing their job and shifting the overall goal and purpose of the district.
Sports have been on the block for years -- waaaaaaaaaay back during the Schenley closing and all the planning for IB, you could hear what was coming. It's exactly what we're getting too. Ditching vocational education (people who spoke in support of vo-tech were labeled as racist and as having "low expectations"), electives, libraries, sports, and having an array of classes at larger, non-themed high schools were all seen as negatives to be eliminated.
Very well said, PPSparent. In addition, it has been mentioned that school order is at an all time low-- across the country this has been blamed on traditional education schools who may not be teaching management skills. Hmm another note from the "new day" meeting was the drop in the number of student teachers PPS has now. While I agree with Dr. Holley, that the RISE process leaves teachers wirh little room to take on the rigor of an intern, I think there is more here. --universities have pulled their students from PPS because they feel their students need a different experience than "the script" --RISE also keeps adminstrators attached to rheir laptops instead of managing their schools --"the script" leaves little room for teacher or student initiative in problem solving --"the script" precludes the development of teacher/ student relationships necessary for a good learning atmosphere --drill and kill scripting, extra time on the script, instead of varied learning experiences( vo tech, the arts, libraries, sports) causes student disinterest and unrest. --let's take a mnute in our " new day" msings to remember being....a kid. Were you the kid that Did well cause Coach expected it? Kept grade up so you coud play? Pushed yourself to go to school cause today was -----( cooking, library,gym you fill n the blank) Stayed late to work on....( not some canned homework help) Had a real passion for something at school? If that was you, let's give that back to our students and see f those old school ways can return us to well run schools
Well said, and while I completely sympathize with Mark and agree about sports, the bigger picture here is more troubling. This district cannot afford to cut more teachers, janitors, secretaries and to close more schools. This is an administration that has refused to trim the fat at Bellefield Ave and at Greenway. Well, the time has come. Countless administrators with huge paychecks must be the first cuts. This district cannot afford the luxury of administrators with their own small staffs who have nothing to do with day to day operations at the schools. And given the events at school this year, it is apparent that discipline is gone completely. Principals and VPs spend more time observing teachers than they do observing their halls and enforcing discipline codes. Here is a central administration which has its priorities completely out of line just so it can say it is a 'Gates district.' Gates should stay to what he knows---computers. His interference in this district can only be called catastrophic. Parents need to talk to their kids about what transpires in each school, and they need to call Lane about it.
When I said "collectively," I meant that this group seems willing to LISTEN not only to one another, but the parents/students they represent. We can hope that they reach out to the people they represent and listen to what their concerns are. Maybe then we'll see some problem solving and shared decision making.
Remember Mark that Lane's ideas about sports, etc. have not been voted on yet.
The problem for the new board may be the Gates, Broad, etc. initiatives already in place for a price. Roosevelt/Lane and the former board sold PPS down the river. We need to find a way to undo some of that mess. A good start will be to get rid of some of the top heavy administration at Bellefield to save some big bucks. We have more assistants to assistants to assistants, etc. Trim the fat.
Get rid of the extra administrators, their assistants and yes, even their secretaries. I don't think they will be missed. If an administrator was at one time a teacher, he/she loses the right to bump back into the position of a teacher. The pft may come up with a lame excuse for allowing them to return. UNLESS the new board says NO!
PPS at one time had a great Voc-Ed program. They hired Julia Stewart whose primary task was to close them down. "We can't afford the single period classes" She had a plan to eliminate graphics, construction, power and energy, drafting. ALL GONE.
While you are chopping, why don't you get the pft officers back into the classroom. They have a V.P. and Secretary who are not needed as full time staff. Custodians and Clerical-Technical units do not have staff dedicated to only union activity. Put em back! Why do they receive teachers pay and pension when not in the classroom? Get rid of them now and they won't want to hang around to 40 years like Tarka and Wilson did. No normal thinking teacher would stick around that long. Let them live the daily life of the good people they are supposed to represent!
Actually, Julia Stewart did every possible thing she could to resurrect CTE. The heavy interference of central leaders stopped that from happening. Her hands were tied, and she was treated terribly--bullied incessantly just like so many others were by certain district officials. So she left. But while she was there, she did everything possible, including bringing significant industry cluster leaders back to the CTE industry advisory councils--people who lead the region, and who respect Julia. In fact, Julia was recommended highly and recruited by the local workforce investment board to help out pps as a favor to pps since CTE was in terrible shape after the retirements of Johnson Martin and then Joe Poerio.
How could the August Wilson Center be utilized as a regional asset? I would look to other school districts without strong arts programmingThe AWC could offer their students at least a half a day of exposure to the arts. Could not the Center have courses in dance, music, theatre, or creative writing that could be offered at a cost per pupil.
The theatre space should be rented, tickets sold, and hall filled every day.
Finally, because we tend to be so parochial here, we forget, or do not know, August Wilson is an international name. In fact, the travails of the Center have been covered by the New York media, including the New York Times.
The name August Wilson will enable you to raise money on an annual basis in New York City alone. This center can be saved as a home for the arts. August Wilson had issues with his home town, yet He brought international fame to Pittsburgh, and the Hill District through his wonderful plays. Should we just stand by and allow his name to be associated with failure. Don't we owe August Wilson more?
Randall, they tried that, above, as to what you posted. The AWC is a Regional Asset and the Regional Asset Board and the URA already dumped a lot of money and value into the AWC.
Now what?
Or, are you saying that they fumbled? Miss-managed?
To repeat the past and expect a different set of results is by definition, crazy.
There are some folks in Pittsburgh who would call this "Envisioning". Let's envision a completely and creatively new PPS with African American children at the "center".
2:02, I'm sure you meant creating a new PPS around ALL of our children, right?
The test scores for the district's African American children are not where they should be. Every effort must be made to change this.
But to say that only one racial group should be at the district's center, that's just wrong. EVERY child should be at the district's center of attention.
August Wilson had a very negative experience as a student in Pittsburgh Public Schools, and as I remember it, he dropped out and bitterly complained about the district from time to time throughout his life. When Mark Roosevelt explored renaming a school to honor August Wilson, I believe Mr. Wilson's family said no way. Not sure why anyone who knows anything about August or how anyone in his family would want his name tied to Pittsburgh Public Schools, so it is seems possible the family, would hesitate to let Pittsburgh Public use the name August Wilson in connection with the school district. So everyone is probably getting very excited here anticipating something that will probably never happen between August's disdain for the district and the school system's never ending budget crisis.
Randall, it strikes me that while I understand why you felt the need to get away from the Board of Ed, this district would have been much better off with you as a voice of reason. As a 30 year teacher, what has struck me most has been the RISE system of evaluation for teachers. Perhaps it truly is a new day in Pittsburgh, but I tend to doubt that morning has broken just yet. I'm struck by the number of administrators who seem to enjoy ending the employ of many, many dedicated teachers. I'm astounded that central office has streamlined RISE into a weapon: one which can eliminate higher salaries by firing veteran teachers and one that can hold the line on salary increases of teachers under step 11. Can anyone say with a straight face that this is not a salary dump disguised as an evaluation system? Can anyone say that teaching in PPS is now more effective, and then quote test scores? Much has been written about the failure of Gates's evaluation system. Many articles have looked at the failures of people like Rhee in DC. Why do I get the distinct feeling that central administration will cling to its methods right until the very last minute? Why do I believe that Lane and Lippert would rather retire than admit failure or mistake? I am not sure the new school board can tackle what really needs to be addressed right now: horrible curriculum, teachers forced to teach with faulty methods and under complete and utter duress, and school administration that is forced to look the other way where discipline is concerned, as its charge is to focus on teachers, instead. Whether it is the fame of the entrepreneurs or the millions themselves, what I see and hear of Lane and her assistants is very troubling. This is a district that is crumbling, and with an administration that seeks to stay the course. New day? Not until Lane and her assistants are sent packing. They have failed teachers and students.
'Voices of reason' are squelched or rendered obscure by this administration with backing from every political avenue. The 'backing' people are not educators, but have a vested interest in assembling cadres of bright young people and assuring their allegiance by providing high-paying positions that are stepping stones to even higher paying positions. The network is vast and quite consciously excludes anyone who knows anything about educating children, particularly urban children. It advances the economy in the here and now while decimating all opportunities for the underserved by deliberately keeping them permanently underserved.
"Reason" requires that schools educate children. Educating takes knowledge, experience, commitment and caring for the most vulnerable of our children. These qualities are antithetical to expanding employment opportunities for 'friends' and progeny of corporation and foundation execs.
Perhaps the new board can begin by going out into the schools they represent and observing for themselves what is really going on. And I mean going unannounced so that there is no time for the principal to set up a dog and pony show. Spend a day, sit in classes, walk the halls during classes and between classes. Oh, and maybe spend some time in Bellefield during business hours and see what really goes on there also.
Those teachers are already in place, 1:20. That is, by and large the teaching faculty of Pittsburgh Public Schools *do* know the needs of urban students--especially those from difficult economic backgrounds--and have committed their lives to helping those children. No industry is perfect and you invariably have employees that are substandard or needing of refinement but it is logical to say that principals already dismissed most subpar teachers back in the days of site based management, when they were given budgets and had to streamline their own individual staffs. What has been in place over the past few years has been a salary dump and way to hold the line on ALL teacher salary bumps, to say the least. The subjective way in which teachers have been targeted and relieved of their duties is disturbing and sad, again, as most of the teaching force has dedicated their collective lives to helping kids. Let's face it, no one is working as a teacher in PPS these days because the pay is good. On the contrary, any aspiring teacher can make much better money in another district and with much less duress. And any good teacher in this district could likely make it in another industry with much better pay because the old adage that those who can't, teach, is outrageously wrong. Someone states above that some national entity should look into what has transpired in PPS....the mismanagement, the collusion and the ethical corruption. I can think of many entities and can only say that local media should be investigated, as well. Where have they been? How have they allowed Roosevelt and Lane to conduct business with a free pass?
The new board members did visit schools last year. They lspoke with, listened and took notes from teachers while many new and veterans broke down and cried about what has been happening in the schools. They vowed to be a voice and advocate change and assured teachers things would get better. They truly seemed to care and be sincere in wanting to know what was going on. And they met with individuals privately and asked administrators to leave while they spoke with teachers.
When you say "new board members" are you referring to this just elected board? You said "last year," so who exactly are you referring to? They haven't been members very long.
I can testify that friends of mine in the schools these members represent were really THERE- present in the moment, listening, talking, understanding. This may sound like a no- brainer to some, but the teachers and parents involved in these discussions were very excited. Some may not know, but in the past, even the most mundane teachers' meeting had DISCUSSION (sometimes heated- but for the good of all). Now that too has been scripted and limited. So, the fact that the newly-elected board members listened was a real big deal!
In line with this thread would be the outstanding article linked below. I would bet that most PPS teachers would say the same thing. Questioner, perhaps it deserves a separate thread.
This article is a MUST READ for parents and board members. As a teacher i can verify that is exactly how I feel as do all of my colleagues. I am one of those teachers who will retire before I planned.
56 comments:
Did TFA come up for another vote?
Unfortunately the live feed froze up and stopped transmitting (for live feeds go to discoverpps.org, then to "Video" in the upper right hand corner, then to "Board Meetings" in the left column, then to "Live Board Meeting".
Before the freeze the superintendent made the comment that it was childless adults moving into the Bloomfield/ Lawrenceville area. But, there is suddenly a preponderance of child-oriented new businesses, such as stylish toddler clothing shops, lamaze classes, etc.
Yes, agreement to contract w TFA was rescinded, only Isler and Hazuda were in favor of contracting.
Here's a direct link to video archives; today's meeting should be in there soon, the live feed is still frozen up:
http://video.discoverpps.org/?q=node/6
refreshing new ideas, thoughtful questioning, independent thought, real attention to community concerns. These are"notions"that were strongly discouraged by our former superintendent and the"Board of Roosevelt".
My hope is that this new Board will move into retreat. Many do not know that Roosevelt did not allow the past Board to ever be alone. Even when then did a so-called retreat, the facilitator would be chosen by Mark Roosevelt AND MR was never far away. I say again the facilitator would be chosen by Mark Roosevelt!
The new Board must re-learn roles and responsibilities of a Board Member. They were greatly distorted, systematically weakened by Roosevelt and several current and former Board Members.
One example you may have seen, if a Board Member requests information and the Administration does not want to provide it---they don't.
We may be at the end of a seven year nightmare, but I fear it may be too late.
Today's Trib. re: TFA
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5278549-74/board-teach-america#axzz2nsyHb4y0
It is a new day. This new board did stand up! I hope it isn't too late to save PPS.
This board makes PPS look world class once again...they think they question WOW
Is Linda Lane an urban planner now? And are all those childless people going to remain childless? This administration, an extension of the previous, is only concerned with the here and now- not the future of growing Pittsburgh! What other unwise and politically charged decisions can be reversed? Quick! Please check and see!
What's the deal with buying The August Wilson? Are we still broke and hemorrhaging students or did this new board that walks on water cure all of that in their first month?
It didn't seem like the proposal was to buy the Wilson center, but instead to brainstorm with other interested groups about whether PPS might have a role with the building in the future, for example to help expand popular programs like CAPA. No harm comparing costs to current costs, if the numbers didn't work out PPS could pass.
Didnt you hear? Pittsburgh Public Schools Board wants to buy the August Wilson Center in Downtown to turn it into an indoor golf simulator and rename it the Tiger Woods Center?
Year round golf with out needing to drive to the bubble on Neville Island.
Wow, This is how a District of First and Second Choice saves the day with a bail out of another financially bankrupt institution.
Could happen.
Tennis courts in the Convention Center next. Arthur Ashe rebranding.
CAPA athletes with their fighting rainbow unicorn mascot are going to win PIAA Championships.
From a teacher's standpoint, this was a refreshing change and it provided hope for the future. I will be urging board members to revisit the entire sham of the teacher evaluation process, better known as RISE. I will be asking them to look into the countless 'resignations' and terminations over the past couple of years, and I will be asking them to address numerous notations about the board telling school administrators to use this "process" to specifically target veteran teachers, and their salaries.
What we have seen in Pittsburgh Public Schools over the past 8 years has been the complete abandonment of ethics at the expense of dedicated teachers and their students. That it has transpired in such a cavalier manner is even more shocking. Let's hope that we have turned a corner, and that administration is made to remember that at its core, public education means students and teachers, first, foremost, and only.
What are you saying Mark? That they are cutting sports to the bone but willing to bail out the August Wilson? Why can't this district just settle down and get to the job of education?
Just asking.
anon 6:32, Include TAXPAYER in public education!
Agreeing with 6:32-- and yes taxpayer, know that your money was wasted on making principals push paper instead of running a SAFE school, and that most parents will tell you they have never seen people as miserable as they have in the last 8 years. May we return to safe learning environments where students can learn and grow.
Its now time to look for a superintendent that understands a urban environment. Lane has not got the Job done. Please lets not play games with these students any more. We need real leadership and need it now.
Not just an understanding of the "urban environment" is needed. PPS needs educators who truly understand "teaching" , "learning", "active engagement of students and community", INSTRUCTION, curriculum, Standards (PA and Common Core), assessments (formative and summative), leadership, creativity, commitment, collaboration, etc. These are just some of the basics needed to educate any and all students!
As a parent, I am so tired of hearing the BS of "Effective Teaching" "Common Core" and whatever else shoved down our throats.
The "Education Crisis" has been created by a long term divide & conquer approach, and it is working.
I watched the board meeting on TV and am disappointed that they did not discuss the recent test scores for the district. They were bad but shouldn't someone at least talk about it...not a word.
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2013/12/20/Preposterous/stories/201312200005
The Post-Gazette's editorial today only further demonstrates their pro-Bellefield powers that be ties. The P-G wasted no time bashing the new board and their recent decisions. In my opinion, the P-G is a mouth piece of Lane and Co. Give the new board a chance.
Any effort by pps to become involved in getting the August Wilson Center on firmer financial ground is not a good idea. We need to back away from the idea and instead draft a resolution read into the record at a board meeting that states the district's support of any efforts others make on attaining viability for AWC.
I was making a couple of Downtown jokes about the possible re-branding efforts to make the AWC into the Tiger Woods Indoor Golf Center and the Convention Center into the A. Ashe Indoor Tennis Center.
Weird humor.
Would Dr. Lane have remembered that we had GREAT champions in golf and tennis that look much like many of the kids in PPS?
Oh well.
Perhaps PPS can bail out the Convention Center too. A story just ran on how it is under performing.
And, why not make a plan to have PPS bail out PAT as well.
Ho, ho, ho to all.
This is Mark Brentley "dreaming". This silliness now, when we are on a highway to hell is to say the least an absurd fools paradise.
Why doesn't he ever focus on actual education issues?
All these ideas! Why don't we just buy Schenley back?!!! If I remember correctly, IT has a THEATER, CLASSROOMS,SWIMMING POOL, AND SO MUC MORE - and we could save the poor students who have been LANGUISHING IN MILLIONES SINCE IT CLOSED!!!
Would make a great expanded arts or env school plenty of room for excess Pps applicants to CAPA and for tuition paying students outside Pps as well
question about PCTV. Why does the school pay for their meeting to be on TV. I thought that the cable companies (through our fees) gave big bucks for community access TV. Why not have more meetings shown and run more often. Somehow, I smell some sort of double dipping. Why should the PPS pay over $1,200 for every meeting? This whole thing is suspicious. Does City Council pay for their meeting?
The P-G coming out against the new board says it all. Add that to A+ schools finding it "troubling" and you know for sure that the toadies of the bullies are running scared.Maybe our new board cant be bought, or impressed by names. Maybe they have and will continue to listen to the people that voted for them. Sounded like- in the P-G,- like the Broadies were shocked at thinking people. At least the rest of the country is looking at us like the place that stops the venture philanthropist bullies!
Can we buy South Vo Tech back too? Since we are going to re purchase Schenley.
Sports, athletics, arts, technology are all critical to the development of children's minds and bodies; however, the comments of some posters are narrowing to a single, very small personalized objective that seems to ridicule anyone who thinks broadly, encompassing all possibilities.
Such narrow thinking and sarcasm here is counterproductive.
Broad thinking is good for some, but when the PPS tries new ways to educate children the out-rage is deafening. Why aren't children doing better in the PPS? Something had to give.
I don't think there is "narrow thinking" and sarcasm here. This is an opportunity to say what's on our minds too. If this school board can actually entertain the August Wilson Center, then it's all go. Money and declining enrollment be damned. Poor Linda Lane. She is tasked with the budget and this is the stuff that the board on about!
Heaven help us.
It's funny to me that Gates and Broad are being outed for the charlatans they are across the country and yet, in Pittsburgh they circle the wagons. I am hopeful that the new board can sort this out and hold this outrageously poor leadership accountable for what they have done to our schools.
That the PG continues to support this district's decisions is amazing and smacks of patronage. Ask no questions. See no bigger picture.
There simply is no journalistic integrity with this bunch. They seem to think that the Promise trumps everything and yet, it cannot mask the problems of an urban district that continues to slide backwards in terms of achievement and discipline.
There were a number of problems in a number of our schools this past week. Did anyone hear of them?
Linda Lane, Geri Lippert, Chrissy Otuwa and Dave Stein must go....and quickly. Take your consultants and your payola with you. You have failed the students of Pittsburgh. How do you sleep?
Complete and utter failure.
Give the new board a chance to try to get PPS back on track. At least they seem to discuss and think for themselves. Maybe collectively they will be able to come up with ideas about the budget problems, school closings, etc. If we don't want PPS to fall to charter schools, then we need new ideas and plans that work. The former board and current administration is certainly headed down the charter school path and the demise of PPS.
I thought that the Post-Gazette editorial was completely out of bounds also.
It was said above, "Maybe collectively they will be able to come up with ideas about the budget problems, school closings, etc. "
Think again.
Should be, IMNSHO, ... collectively WE will be able to come up with ideas ....
Sure, the board, on its own, gets to vote. However, if they are the ones to come up with the ideas, we are in deep,trouble, still.
The administration and the board and the citizens are NOT working well together, generally.
Case in point, in sports, in an area I know about, we had a few months in 2010 when a reform task force with staff, admin, partners and citizens huddled and began to think about global issues and solutions. It was a magical and brief time. The outcomes were equally fleeting.
Now Dr. Lane says fewer sports and there is no collaboration in recent years.
All the Kings Horses and all the Kings Men couldn't put Humpty together again.
Three years ago, and many time since, I told my principal that we could earn the school $50k a year by holding community programming at our pool that sits idle by their failed design on afternoons, evenings, nights, weekends, holidays and summers.
Detailed letters with specifics were sent to Dr. Lane in November 2012, after the full school move into Peabody and she can't find the time for more than a year to pick up the phone and call me back. The fix is here, and it seems as if their goals are to be a district of 9th choice without engaged students.
Putting all the faith in the board, and not the administration, is much like being in Poland in 1938 and thinking there are friends to either east or west.
Mark,
This administration has NEVER listened to the community as a whole or to the parents. They have very rarely listened to their teachers (usually only when one of their reforms is tanking so badly and so quickly that they have to ask the teachers for help).
That's why people are putting their hopes on the board. The board *could* encourage Linda Lane to leave. The board *can* change the overall direction of the district -- refusing outside money that requires matching grants of OUR money to experiment, etc.
That's not micromanaging, either, that's doing their job and shifting the overall goal and purpose of the district.
Sports have been on the block for years -- waaaaaaaaaay back during the Schenley closing and all the planning for IB, you could hear what was coming. It's exactly what we're getting too. Ditching vocational education (people who spoke in support of vo-tech were labeled as racist and as having "low expectations"), electives, libraries, sports, and having an array of classes at larger, non-themed high schools were all seen as negatives to be eliminated.
Very well said, PPSparent. In addition, it has been mentioned that school order is at an all time low-- across the country this has been blamed on traditional education schools who may not be teaching management skills.
Hmm another note from the "new day" meeting was the drop in the number of student teachers PPS has now.
While I agree with Dr. Holley, that the RISE process leaves teachers wirh little room to take on the rigor of an intern, I think there is more here.
--universities have pulled their students from PPS because they feel their students need a different experience than "the script"
--RISE also keeps adminstrators attached to rheir laptops instead of managing their schools
--"the script" leaves little room for teacher or student initiative in problem solving
--"the script" precludes the development of teacher/ student relationships necessary for a good learning atmosphere
--drill and kill scripting, extra time on the script, instead of varied learning experiences( vo tech, the arts, libraries, sports) causes student disinterest and unrest.
--let's take a mnute in our " new day" msings to remember being....a kid. Were you the kid that
Did well cause Coach expected it?
Kept grade up so you coud play?
Pushed yourself to go to school cause today was -----( cooking, library,gym you fill n the blank)
Stayed late to work on....( not some canned homework help)
Had a real passion for something at school?
If that was you, let's give that back to our students and see f those old school ways can return us to well run schools
Well said, and while I completely sympathize with Mark and agree about sports, the bigger picture here is more troubling. This district cannot afford to cut more teachers, janitors, secretaries and to close more schools. This is an administration that has refused to trim the fat at Bellefield Ave and at Greenway. Well, the time has come. Countless administrators with huge paychecks must be the first cuts. This district cannot afford the luxury of administrators with their own small staffs who have nothing to do with day to day operations at the schools.
And given the events at school this year, it is apparent that discipline is gone completely. Principals and VPs spend more time observing teachers than they do observing their halls and enforcing discipline codes.
Here is a central administration which has its priorities completely out of line just so it can say it is a 'Gates district.'
Gates should stay to what he knows---computers. His interference in this district can only be called catastrophic. Parents need to talk to their kids about what transpires in each school, and they need to call Lane about it.
When I said "collectively," I meant that this group seems willing to LISTEN not only to one another, but the parents/students they represent. We can hope that they reach out to the people they represent and listen to what their concerns are. Maybe then we'll see some problem solving and shared decision making.
Remember Mark that Lane's ideas about sports, etc. have not been voted on yet.
The problem for the new board may be the Gates, Broad, etc. initiatives already in place for a price. Roosevelt/Lane and the former board sold PPS down the river. We need to find a way to undo some of that mess. A good start will be to get rid of some of the top heavy administration at Bellefield to save some big bucks. We have more assistants to assistants to assistants, etc. Trim the fat.
Get rid of the extra administrators, their assistants and yes, even their secretaries. I don't think they will be missed. If an administrator was at one time a teacher, he/she loses the right to bump back into the position of a teacher. The pft may come up with a lame excuse for allowing them to return. UNLESS the new board says NO!
PPS at one time had a great Voc-Ed program. They hired Julia Stewart whose primary task was to close them down. "We can't afford the single period classes" She had a plan to eliminate graphics, construction, power and energy, drafting. ALL GONE.
Shame on them. Shame on them all.
Yes. Remember South Vo Tech.
Remember Robotics even.
While you are chopping, why don't you get the pft officers back into the classroom. They have a V.P. and Secretary who are not needed as full time staff. Custodians and Clerical-Technical units do not have staff dedicated to only union activity. Put em back! Why do they receive teachers pay and pension when not in the classroom? Get rid of them now and they won't want to hang around to 40 years like Tarka and Wilson did. No normal thinking teacher would stick around that long. Let them live the daily life of the good people they are supposed to represent!
Actually, Julia Stewart did every possible thing she could to resurrect CTE. The heavy interference of central leaders stopped that from happening. Her hands were tied, and she was treated terribly--bullied incessantly just like so many others were by certain district officials. So she left. But while she was there, she did everything possible, including bringing significant industry cluster leaders back to the CTE industry advisory councils--people who lead the region, and who respect Julia. In fact, Julia was recommended highly and recruited by the local workforce investment board to help out pps as a favor to pps since CTE was in terrible shape after the retirements of Johnson Martin and then Joe Poerio.
How could the August Wilson Center be utilized as a regional asset? I would look to other school districts without strong arts programmingThe AWC could offer their students at least a half a day of exposure to the arts. Could not the Center have courses in dance, music, theatre, or creative writing that could be offered at a cost per pupil.
The theatre space should be rented, tickets sold, and hall filled every day.
Finally, because we tend to be so parochial here, we forget, or do not know, August Wilson is an international name. In fact, the travails of the Center have been covered by the New York media, including the New York Times.
The name August Wilson will enable you to raise money on an annual basis in New York City alone. This center can be saved as a home for the arts. August Wilson had issues with his home town, yet He brought international fame to Pittsburgh, and the Hill District through his wonderful plays. Should we just stand by and allow his name to be associated with failure. Don't we owe August Wilson more?
Randall, they tried that, above, as to what you posted. The AWC is a Regional Asset and the Regional Asset Board and the URA already dumped a lot of money and value into the AWC.
Now what?
Or, are you saying that they fumbled? Miss-managed?
To repeat the past and expect a different set of results is by definition, crazy.
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2013/12/24/The-Wilson-Center-is-worth-saving/stories/201312240013
There are some folks in Pittsburgh who would call this "Envisioning". Let's envision a completely and creatively new PPS with African American children at the "center".
2:02, I'm sure you meant creating a new PPS around ALL of our children, right?
The test scores for the district's African American children are not where they should be. Every effort must be made to change this.
But to say that only one racial group should be at the district's center, that's just wrong. EVERY child should be at the district's center of attention.
August Wilson had a very negative experience as a student in Pittsburgh Public Schools, and as I remember it, he dropped out and bitterly complained about the district from time to time throughout his life. When Mark Roosevelt explored renaming a school to honor August Wilson, I believe Mr. Wilson's family said no way. Not sure why anyone who knows anything about August or how anyone in his family would want his name tied to Pittsburgh Public Schools, so it is seems possible the family, would hesitate to let Pittsburgh Public use the name August Wilson in connection with the school district. So everyone is probably getting very excited here anticipating something that will probably never happen between August's disdain for the district and the school system's never ending budget crisis.
Randall, it strikes me that while I understand why you felt the need to get away from the Board of Ed, this district would have been much better off with you as a voice of reason.
As a 30 year teacher, what has struck me most has been the RISE system of evaluation for teachers. Perhaps it truly is a new day in Pittsburgh, but I tend to doubt that morning has broken just yet. I'm struck by the number of administrators who seem to enjoy ending the employ of many, many dedicated teachers. I'm astounded that central office has streamlined RISE into a weapon: one which can eliminate higher salaries by firing veteran teachers and one that can hold the line on salary increases of teachers under step 11.
Can anyone say with a straight face that this is not a salary dump disguised as an evaluation system? Can anyone say that teaching in PPS is now more effective, and then quote test scores?
Much has been written about the failure of Gates's evaluation system. Many articles have looked at the failures of people like Rhee in DC.
Why do I get the distinct feeling that central administration will cling to its methods right until the very last minute?
Why do I believe that Lane and Lippert would rather retire than admit failure or mistake?
I am not sure the new school board can tackle what really needs to be addressed right now: horrible curriculum, teachers forced to teach with faulty methods and under complete and utter duress, and school administration that is forced to look the other way where discipline is concerned, as its charge is to focus on teachers, instead.
Whether it is the fame of the entrepreneurs or the millions themselves, what I see and hear of Lane and her assistants is very troubling.
This is a district that is crumbling, and with an administration that seeks to stay the course.
New day? Not until Lane and her assistants are sent packing. They have failed teachers and students.
'Voices of reason' are squelched or rendered obscure by this administration with backing from every political avenue. The 'backing' people are not educators, but have a vested interest in assembling cadres of bright young people and assuring their allegiance by providing high-paying positions that are stepping stones to even higher paying positions. The network is vast and quite consciously excludes anyone who knows anything about educating children, particularly urban children. It advances the economy in the here and now while decimating all opportunities for the underserved by deliberately keeping them permanently underserved.
"Reason" requires that schools educate children. Educating takes knowledge, experience, commitment and caring for the most vulnerable of our children. These qualities are antithetical to expanding employment opportunities for 'friends' and progeny of corporation and foundation execs.
Perhaps the new board can begin by going out into the schools they represent and observing for themselves what is really going on. And I mean going unannounced so that there is no time for the principal to set up a dog and pony show. Spend a day, sit in classes, walk the halls during classes and between classes. Oh, and maybe spend some time in Bellefield during business hours and see what really goes on there also.
Those teachers are already in place, 1:20. That is, by and large the teaching faculty of Pittsburgh Public Schools *do* know the needs of urban students--especially those from difficult economic backgrounds--and have committed their lives to helping those children.
No industry is perfect and you invariably have employees that are substandard or needing of refinement but it is logical to say that principals already dismissed most subpar teachers back in the days of site based management, when they were given budgets and had to streamline their own individual staffs.
What has been in place over the past few years has been a salary dump and way to hold the line on ALL teacher salary bumps, to say the least. The subjective way in which teachers have been targeted and relieved of their duties is disturbing and sad, again, as most of the teaching force has dedicated their collective lives to helping kids.
Let's face it, no one is working as a teacher in PPS these days because the pay is good. On the contrary, any aspiring teacher can make much better money in another district and with much less duress. And any good teacher in this district could likely make it in another industry with much better pay because the old adage that those who can't, teach, is outrageously wrong.
Someone states above that some national entity should look into what has transpired in PPS....the mismanagement, the collusion and the ethical corruption.
I can think of many entities and can only say that local media should be investigated, as well. Where have they been? How have they allowed Roosevelt and Lane to conduct business with a free pass?
The new board members did visit schools last year. They lspoke with, listened and took notes from teachers while many new and veterans broke down and cried about what has been happening in the schools. They vowed to be a voice and advocate change and assured teachers things would get better. They truly seemed to care and be sincere in wanting to know what was going on. And they met with individuals privately and asked administrators to leave while they spoke with teachers.
When you say "new board members" are you referring to this just elected board? You said "last year," so who exactly are you referring to? They haven't been members very long.
Yes, the just elected that were unopposed and had definite seats.and it was very much appreciated that someone cared to hear concerns.
I can testify that friends of mine in the schools these members represent were really THERE- present in the moment, listening, talking, understanding.
This may sound like a no- brainer to some, but the teachers and parents involved in these discussions were very excited. Some may not know, but in the past, even the most mundane teachers' meeting had DISCUSSION (sometimes heated- but for the good of all). Now that too has been scripted and limited.
So, the fact that the newly-elected board members listened was a real big deal!
In line with this thread would be the outstanding article linked below. I would bet that most PPS teachers would say the same thing. Questioner, perhaps it deserves a separate thread.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/31/i-would-love-to-teach-but/
This article is a MUST READ for parents and board members. As a teacher i can verify that is exactly how I feel as do all of my colleagues. I am one of those teachers who will retire before I planned.
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