[412] Schenley High School -- fixing asbestos costs $3.4 Million -- according to their experts -- big city lie gets attention on TV today: "Schenley High School -- fixing asbestos costs $3.4 Million -- according to their experts -- big city lie gets attention on TV today"
I sent out an email blast today. I didn't send any in the month of May.
Hi All,
"The sky is falling!" That is what we have been told about Schenley High
School. They want to close it. They claim costs are to great to fix that
some damaged plaster.
Today, (Friday, June 6, 2008) from 3-4 pm, a live TV call in show will
feature two parents, both experts on this topic. See PCTV 21 on city cable
or the web, http://www.pctv21.org.
The truth of the financial outlook of Schenley High School is much unlike
what the PPS school superintendent has presented. Using the same reports
obtained from Pgh Public School sources -- you'll hear a different story
with much different costs.
The quote for asbestos removal at Schenley High School is only $3.459
million. Schenley High School has never presented a dangerous air quality
reading.
The inflated numbers reported to the public by Mark Roosevelt include such
items as an overhaul and repair of the massive pipe organ at Schenley. Go
figure. Think again.
To move to Reizenstein, the alternative location for some of Schenley's
students, costs much more than to simply fix up of the weak plaster at
Schenley.
Saving Schenley, because of both the building and for the educational
ramifications, is the best thing to do. A domino factor with his high school
reform is not being reported, and the costs that the district expects to
rack up is going to kill city taxpayers. Hope of a sound education in the
city for our kids is at stake, now, because of this Schenley decision.
Plenty of bogus information is flowing from the administration from our
schools. This isn't unexpected. In Penn Hills the superintendent resigned
and a large chunk of the faculty had to be fired because of bad
budgets/planning coupled with too little too late actions from the public
and parents. In Pittsburgh, it isn't too late, yet.
We've got plenty of smart people in our neighborhoods. We know much more
than they do. Their proposals have serious flaws.
This conversation about Schenley High School isn't over.
I'm a zealot for:
+ our kids,
++ educational opportunities and
+++ prudent spending of taxpayer's money.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Why do you care? A true libertarian believes we ought to close down ALL the government schools. I certainly believe we should.
Saving Schenley as a historic landmark is another matter, but not a libertarian one. If somebody wants to buy it and fix it up, let them spend their money on it. We had 17 inclines in Pittsburgh once (actually, not all at once), and I am sorry they're gone, but it wasn't a legitimate function of government at any level to save them.
My reply:
We need to be honest. That is my first aim.
I should care that a government official (pgh superintendent of schools) lies to the public.
The budget of Pgh Public Schools is greater than that of the municipal / city budget in terms of money spent each year.
I should care that they are wasting a lot of my (our) money with goofy programs and closes to schools that will cost more to re-open elsewhere. They are churning the money foolishly.
You can try to run for office with the intent of closing all government schools -- and see how many votes you get. L does not need to be "looser" or "last place."
Today, (Friday, June 6, 2008) from 3-4 pm, a live TV call in show will feature two parents, both experts on this topic. See PCTV 21 on city cable or the web, http://www.pctv21.org.
The truth of the financial outlook of Schenley High School might be much unlike what the PPS school superintendent has presented. Using the same reports obtained from Pgh Public School sources -- you'll hear a different story with much different costs.
The quote for asbestos removal at Schenley High School is only $3.459 million. Schenley High School has never presented a dangerous air quality reading.
I haven't gotten my report together of the Hill House meeting last evening with B-PEP but for those of you not on Mark Rauterkus's list, I wanted to tell you about the show today. amy
Mark, do you have any idea when this might be replayed? I was not on a computer til now today. This is shocking information. Will you be at the A+/PPS meeting on budgets on Monday at Life's Work?
A guy in the city wrote to me saying:
Mark,
Just remember that the problem with our students is not in the High Schools - that is where it becomes most obvious. It's the tiered school system, the demoralizing crap that goes on in elementary school created by the Feds being involved with public ed. We've gotten so far away from teaching the "simple" basics of education; reading writing & arithmetic in grade school and have developed a system of classifying our kids as poor, black, hispanic etc and immediately label them as disadvantaged that we've programmed them to be stupid and that's the level they rise too. The district gets rewarded by the Feds for having more of these so called disadvantaged kids that there is no real incentive to teach them. We continue the cycle of creating more dumbed down kids because it gets rewarded with more money to pay for more "support" staff to fix the problem they have created, but once the system is in place why change it will only lose jobs and we can't do that. Remember the english language is composed of 26 letters and 44 sounds and if these so called professionals can not teach a child all 44 sounds in 36 weeks, approximately one school year, shame on them. I could go on and on about how these system is doing exactly what it has been designed to do - make our kids blythering idiots and in spite of this a great deal of kids still succeed because of the teachers that understand the environment they have been paced in.
You are right, the Schenley HS episode is a sham, if there is an asbestos problem there, then there is a problem in every city of Pgh school district building over 40 years old!!!!!!! There's money involved somewhere. We will just have to wait and find out whose putting the pressure on the Board to sell!!!
Enough for now.
Great points.
Post a Comment