Friday, June 13, 2008

Schenley proposal called irresponsible'

Yes. Mark Roosevelt's proposal to close Schenley High School, a top performing school, is irresponsible.
Schenley proposal called irresponsible': "Schenley proposal called irresponsible'
Mark Roosevelt is not responsible. To have the slogan, Excellence for All -- one needs to find areas of success, such as Schenley High School, and replicate it. Sustain the high performing places.

Roosevelt's plan is about squashing excellence. Roosevelt seems like he wants domination of all, not excellence.

The full reports from Roosevelt have not been released to the masses and reported upon by the Post-Gazette. Hence, that is were the irresponsible resides.

The headline from the P-G is telling.

Mr. Dowd, a former school board member, said it would be foolish for the district to overhaul Schenley with little more than hoped-for taxes from a Reizenstein redevelopment.
Mr. Dowd says something I am in full agreement with. Read the quote and all the words.

It would be foolish for the district to do an overhaul of Schenley. However, it would not be foolish for the district to do a modest rehab so as to remove the asbestos and patch a bit of the walls and ceilings.

It is Mark Roosevelt who says that the cost is $76 million -- and his plan is an overhaul of all the systems. That is foolish. That is stupid. That is NOT want we need nor what we want.

We don't need a food court.
We don't need air conditioning throughout the entire building.
We don't need to rehab the pipe organ in the auditorium.
We don't need to change all the electrical.

We need the school to be touched up this summer and resume operations again in September.

An overhaul is foolish. That's the only thing that small thinking, high spending, consultant driven, out-of-touch politicians like Mark Roosevelt can spin.

Fix the school and save money by just doing what must be done.

The new windows are being screwed shut in some spaces because the warranty work has not been requested.

Do the basics.

Sustain a good school.

Ask Mr. Dowd if he feels he has been lied to in the past by Mr. Roosevelt.

Ask Mr. Down about the ALAs and the performance of the extended school year and how few of the students go to classes in August.

Ask Mr. Dowd about the performance of Reizenstein in the past.

Ask Mr. Dowd about when the fight to save Schenley really began and why it was on the closed school list when the right-sizing plan looked at Elementary Schools.

Ask Mr. Down about the plan for Vo Tech Education. That was promised when South Vo Tech closed. We are still waiting.

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