tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post8631133122428871585..comments2023-12-24T05:26:48.861-05:00Comments on The Pittsburgh Comet: Bad Media! Bad Media!Bram Reichbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-32236437270959058632007-12-03T11:02:00.000-05:002007-12-03T11:02:00.000-05:00Deegazette,Keep in mind that a lot of things have ...Deegazette,<BR/><BR/>Keep in mind that a lot of things have changed, as I'm sure you know, since I was reporting on these things. But at the time most of those kids were going to private school. A lot were probably from white East End neighborhoods, and probably southern neighborhoods like Arlington. Of course, I'm forgetting that Arlington got a new middle school in the mid-90s, which I think may not be closed.Jonathan Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18433924194960127561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-13384407062360156032007-12-01T21:03:00.000-05:002007-12-01T21:03:00.000-05:00Sauce for your goose, deegazette: I heard a rumor ...Sauce for your goose, deegazette: I heard a rumor that Target had intended at one point to open a location at Reizenstein, but changed their mind -- due to asbestos concerns. Who knows.<BR/><BR/>PPSParent, thank you for putting the needle on some of the other expenses the School District will incur by moving Schenley's students around. If the total starts looking like $45 M, it starts to look awful equidistant to just keeping Schenley.Bram Reichbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-22896831486936959322007-12-01T19:11:00.000-05:002007-12-01T19:11:00.000-05:00Bram has explained to me that most of government s...Bram has explained to me that most of government suffers from institutional ADD, but ppsparent brings more evidence to light. Fix three locations to accomodate the closing of Schenley? Thank heavens the super said he would concede and send the kids to Reizenstein intact. But wait, I have been inside Reizenstein since it last saw students several times. I have to reiterate my impression. We should go back to the architects and ask for a refund. Five years from now when we are looking for the cause of the decline in test scores we can say it is due to lack of natural light. Give me a window or give me medication.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-7712513864880638832007-12-01T17:17:00.000-05:002007-12-01T17:17:00.000-05:00Small time bloggers who don't have comments (MacYa...Small time bloggers who don't have comments (MacYapper) -- who listens to that? And it means I have to come back here to spout off!<BR/><BR/>First off, it's not $64M to "get rid of the asbestos." That's to "refurbish" the school. The district has reported another number of $37M to fix it without AC or $42M with AC. Do you see the range of numbers there? How we can lop off $27M in one fell swoop? If we can do that once, can we do it twice?! The asbestos parts of the plans? As far as I can tell, those come in under $10 million.<BR/><BR/>So, you can see why we'd like to at least sit down with the administration, some engineers, architects, and contractors and talk about what's absolutely necessary, what's nice and should be done at some point, and what's over the top and should only be done if someone comes along and begs to pay for it. <BR/><BR/>Part of what we're asking is for them to break down the safety part from the oops, we forgot to maintain the building for a couple of decades and gosh, we poured money (tens of millions) into, say, additions for other buildings in district in the last year or two. You know , the district with so much overcapacity. Oh, and those additions? Guess what kinds of neighborhoods they were in?<BR/><BR/>We're not saying it's the teachers at the school, either. We're saying it's the MIX OF KIDS. There are ESL kids, neighborhood kids, kids whose parents didn't get them into magnets earlier who go into the robotics magnet, and IB/IS kids. That means there are a huge range of classes too. Even if you aren't good at (math) you could take a higher level (English) class, because there are a lot of options. And all those different kinds of kids seem to form some sort of extremely loyal core -- honestly, I don't get it, but I never went there.<BR/><BR/>Dividing these kids into three different schools? It changes everything good about it.<BR/><BR/>Besides which, they're not saying if we don't spend a kabillion dollars on Schenley, it'll all go to the kids, oh nooooo,<B> they're planning on spending 50 MILLION </B>for Reizenstein, Milliones, new CAPA middle school, redoing Frick (to put in labs like Westinghouse has sitting there waiting for students) and putting the robotics program into Peabody.<BR/><BR/>Okay, well, CAPA is sort of separate from all this. But all those other expenses? Those are all things they're doing instead of fixing Schenley -- moves they "have to" make because they aren't fixing Schenley. Again, do you see why we're saying hold up, talk to us, see if we can find some alternatives that don't break the bank and see if we can keep something good and not create more problems (such as three HSs within 1.5 miles).<BR/><BR/>Okay, maybe I see why he doesn't risk the comments. ;-pppsparenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04711759435383392771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-76383563511507813232007-12-01T12:29:00.000-05:002007-12-01T12:29:00.000-05:00JP, Do you remember where the "lost" middle grade ...JP, Do you remember where the "lost" middle grade students went? One trend I see is kids going to our middle school and then ending up in a charter or catholic school for high school. Some do well in these settings, some end up back in a public school. It is often not a matter of being unable to do the work in the new school. It is an issue of not being accepted socailly. Kids are snobs and just sometimes not nice people. I wonder where they might learn these behaviors?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-11608895212214112162007-12-01T08:52:00.000-05:002007-12-01T08:52:00.000-05:00When I was a reporter covering the school district...When I was a reporter covering the school district, from 1999 to 2002, middle schools where were the district lost a lot of students. Many students did return for high school; I expect that was due to Allderdice, CAPA and Schenley. <BR/><BR/>Back in 1999, the city had 14 relatively large middle schools, some with magnet programs, some without. The middle schools were one of the prime engines in the city's desegregation plan, from back in the early 1980s. Parents in Arlington, for example, hated having their kids bused over to Hazelwood to attend Gladstone.<BR/><BR/>During that time, and specifically after, several schools have closed and been reconfigured. During the 1990s, the debate over middle schools was over whether there was value in a middle-school education, or whether a K-8 model was best. There were, of course, racial overtones to the debate, since many of those who advocated for the K-8 schools simply did not want their children to have to leave (white) neighborhood elementary schools.Jonathan Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18433924194960127561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-82755671005912071942007-12-01T07:19:00.000-05:002007-12-01T07:19:00.000-05:00Please don't judge all middle schools by what you ...Please don't judge all middle schools by what you mention. The two in the south end are examples of what is possible in a comprehensive middle school. Both have strong leadership and dedicated staff. For the record, I do not work at either. In the city, excluding the magnet programs, it is all in the zip code and feeder pattern. In many urban school districts the performance of the students is all about the financial health of the area in which they live. I blame a lot on Disney, too. If it were not for those shows that show a middle and high school experience close to nirvana, our kids might have more hope and enthusiasm when they go to school. Share a locker? They never had to do that on Disney. How many kids got suspended today for 11 days or more? Never heard of such a thing on Disney. I'll write again later. It is the weekend---have a sense of humor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-31139115900969230552007-12-01T00:43:00.000-05:002007-12-01T00:43:00.000-05:00Schenley is a disgrace and should be closed! My s...Schenley is a disgrace and should be closed! My son went to Schenley for 2 years before I bit the bullet and moved out of the city. It is a disgusting, filthy, dirty hellhole. I can't believe the difference in the school that he is in now. <BR/>The elementary schools in the city are o.k., if you get into a magnet school. God forbid your child has to go to Fort Pitt! The middle schools are horrible - most concerned parents who send their kids to Pgh Public Elementary Schools transfer at this point. Do you want your child at Arsenal Middle - I think not!<BR/>Schenley, while it has some invested students in the IB program, ignores the rest. My son spoke of kids doing drugs in the rest rooms, answering cell phones during class and telling teachers to F@#@ off if they were reprimanded. Homeroom is in the middle of the day, they don't know at any given time if a Child is actually present at school. <BR/>I LOVED living in the city, but I am so glad for my kids that I was able to move away. There are a lot of families that don't have the same option.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-857197416139437502007-11-30T16:35:00.000-05:002007-11-30T16:35:00.000-05:00I only have a minute, but want to make two points....I only have a minute, but want to make two points. When the 6-12 configuration was announced as a plan for Pittsburgh, I looked at my own sixth grader. I immediately knew it was a bad idea. If that was the only reasonable option for us, he would not be in PPS. I would need an unbreakable agreement with any superintendent saying that for electives and classes like art, music, phys ed etc that grade levels would never be mixed. Oh wait, they'd agree and a year later say there is no money to support the number of teachers needed to keep the zones separate. By going to a 6-12 model is the administration admitting some level of failure for the k-8 model? I say five years sounds about what it will take for the data to come back to support the middle school model again. Yeah, that's right the model we seem to be running from now. Watch out for the theme schools. Is it a way for the parents of the gifted students to get a top notch education for those students while the mainstream kids languish in unthemed schools? Is all this creation of "new" schools some masterplan to outsmart NCLB? Does anyone know the rule on when PSSA results start to count for NEW schools? Is it three years? How many points did I say I wanted to make? Have a nice weekend.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com