Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts

Monday, December 16, 2013

To Pittsburgh Public Schools: Crazy talk and charter schools.

My name Is Mark Rauterkus. My family and I reside at 108 South 12th Street on thehistoric South Side of Pittsburgh. I have a home on the internet at Rauterkus.com, a Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates Blog and many of my insights are on Facebook too.
I coach PPS athletes in swimming, golf, and water polo as a leader of Summer Dreamers' as an activity partner with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and Swim and Water Polo Camp.
Tonight's (December 16, 2013) board conversation concerns charter schools. I have been a big fan and advocate for PPS and Public Schools. I am also a big fan of freedom, liberty and choices for kids and families. In my humble opinion, I think the PPS board should approve these charter requests.
Approve the charters because: The crazy talk in PPS is too great and too frequent.With so much crazy talk and we should add, crazy deeds, it is no wonder that the people of Pittsburgh have been voting with their feet. Enrollment is in decline. If PPS was doing its job well, there would not be a demand from others to open nor attend charter schools.
Crazy Talk sounds like these words from Dr. Lane at her State of the Districtpresentation, "Fewer Sports." Our kids don't need fewer sports. That is the wrong way. I feel strongly that our students need more sports. We need better sports. We need management of sports. We need sports reform. Pittsburgh is a great sports town.
My biggest request is that if you do act to make PPS with fewer sports, then you do so quickly. We need prompt decisions. Make a fast decision. On the chopping block at present is swimming, golf, tennis, and all intramural sports at the high school level. Middle school cuts are slated for volleyball, wrestling and swimming. Uniforms, transportation and other cuts are due too.
We understand that the axe is going to swing in many places. But, you need to know that all are dying now, already.
As Dr. Lane says, "5 to 10 schools are going to close or get realignment" that is code for:
I can't make up my mind.
Or, I know what's about to close and change, but I am not going to tell you now.
+ Or, We have no clue as to what we are doing.
+ Some decoder rings reveal: We have not yet hired the consultants to crunch the numbers to tell us what schools are the most expensive.
Or, to the citizens of the world, the code reads as: “Don't move to Pittsburgh.” And, citizens of Pittsburgh, the classlessness is manifested as: Sign me up for a charter school. Or, it is time to get a home or apartment in the suburbs.
The lack of leadership is both "mean" and it means all schools suffer by way ofstarvation.
I live just 2 blocks from South Vo Tech. Remember South? For 5 years, the standing rumor was that the board was going to close South. South is going to close soon. Teachers bailed. Then word was solid that people shouldn't send their kids to South because the school was about to close. This became a self fulfilling prophecy. Board members and administrators must have had a policy of “Starve em. Wait it out.” Of course we have to close those schools.
Likewise, of course we need to shut down golf, tennis, swimming, and intramurals.Why get devoted to those sports as they are dead end activities. Don't go there. Don't waste your time. You're not valued.
Five to ten schools are in jeopardy, but really, all are frail and falling fast.
Smart move.
About five or six years ago I had an initial meeting with Mr. Gavlik, the over arching Athletic Director for all of PPS. I remember well when he said, "Swimming in the city is dying."
I said, "No way. Swimming in the city is thriving. Oakland Catholic had just won the state Championships. It is hard to find an extra minute in any suburban school swim pool. The Pitt Christmas Meet is big time HUGE. Swimming is suffering in the citybecause PPS has done plenty to try too kill swimming.
Mr. Lopez at the Homewood Children's Village is saying that swimming is going to be a part of their educational mission. For that alone, I would vote to approve that charter.
Above script are the speaker notes for the PPS Board Hearing slated for today, Monday, Dec 17, about three charter school applications. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

PPS Sports

Sports Mixed Signals with Recent PPS Decisions
By Mark Rauterkus, PPS Coach

This article was sent to The Thomas Merton Center for possible publication in The New People newsletter.

Some historic adjustments in the city sports landscape are expected in the 2014 sports seasons with Pittsburgh Public Schools, but conflicting currents are clashing as recent board votes are at odds with suggestions from the superintendent in the State of the District address. 

In football, the Westinghouse Bulldogs are to jump out of the City League and into the WPIAL. This league realignment is akin to Pitt's departure from the Big East and entry into the ACC. But other teams have been give the okay from the school board to depart the city league too, including the boys and girls volleyball teams at Obama Academy as well as the swim teams at Brashear and Carrick. 

Different, sports ending clouds are hovering over PPS as "fewer sports" are being suggested by Linda Lane, Ph.D., superintendent. The axe may fall upon swimming, wrestling, tennis, golf, and all intramurals at the high schools and middle school cuts to swimming and volleyball teams. 

These spots ramifications could prove to make an impact on the lives of youth in Pittsburgh and the greater community. Thousands of additional students could be departing the district in the season to come as for better opportunities at suburban and charter schools.

The Westinghouse coaches and school officials pushed the plan of switching to the WPIAL through a positive vote of the PPS School Board in October. This makes the first migration beyond the city league for any PPS school in football. 

Every basketball team in PPS, both boys and girls, remain in the City League, also known as PIAA Section 8. 

In the fall of 2012, a select group of sports teams from PPS migrated into the WPIAL. The boys swim team at PPS Obama Academy claimed the first and only WPIAL section title among PPS schools with an undefeated season in class AA. The squad beat foes of Carlington, Montour, Cornell, South Fayette and Bishop Canevin. At Obama Academy, the only previous sports squads to go into the WPIAL are in swimming and soccer, now volleyball seems likely.

Allderdice has the most number of teams in the WPIAL including swimming, golf, cross country, and baseball. Dice adds field hockey to the WPIAL in 2014. 

Baseball had more teams go to the WPIAL: Carrick, Brashear and Allderdice. Hence, a small schedule remained among Perry, Westinghouse and Obama. 

The sports team coop among UPrep, Obama and SciTech is to continue through the  2016 season. Students from those three schools generally combine to form one team. In football, the team is often called USO. 

Pittsburgh Public Schools is at the heart of a great sports town, but PPS has not been offering sporting opportunities to its students to the same degree as those found in suburban Pittsburgh. 

Missing opportunities for the city kids have had ramifications. School spirit suffers, mentoring doesn't happen, petty turf battles fester. Coaching helps kids learn how to "play well with others" or else violence escalates. Sports skills are transferable as athletes learn about devotion, focus, training, teamwork, and rule following. Athletes and teams develop an awareness of relationship with self, with others and with competitors in sports' high-intensity settings that thoroughly engages. 

Throughout the years, much of the outward migration of students from Pittsburgh Public Schools could be attributed to the bare bones sports programs within the city. The city kids played against other city schools and few had chances to face WPIAL competitors. Sure, exceptions exist among the schools and the various teams. Back in the day, the city league was a splendid, robust pursuit that energized the schools and district. 

In recent times, with the changing of high schools and the shrinking school budgets, PPS sports teams might not operate at all. 

To further discuss sports and fitness opportunities in the city, all are invited to attend a session at this year's Summit Against Racism at East Liberty Presbyterian Church on Saturday, January 25, 2014. Or, call or email, Mark@Rauterkus.com.com, 412-298-3432.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Post-Gazette does what the P-G always does: Sleeping and enabling the Pittsburgh Public Schools fumbling leadership

Seems to me that a "comprehensive plan" would be comprehensive and not vauge. The talk about closing or reconfiguring goes to 5 or 10 schools. Well, are they closing schools or going to reconfigure? Are there five or ten? And, most of all, what schools? None are named.

What 10 schools are running at less than 50% capacity? Not said in the comprehensive plan.

The devil is in the details and this has NONE.

Pittsburgh's school age population is falling sharply because Pittsburgh Public Schools has leadership issues that are not friendly to families, not friendly to students, not friendly to communities. People vote with their feet. The people that can often depart the city schools. Hence, the population decline.

Doctor Lane and her staff have NOT looked into every part of the PPS operations trying to save money. That is the biggest lie of them all. I asked for a meeting in November 2012 as Reizenstein had closed and we were at Peabody High School. I told her of 30 or more points that were specific to these facilities and programs at the pool and how many of them were flat out illegal. Some still are. She sends the email to a staff person and I might get one conversation with that person. Then, generally, that person departs the district too. No serious care nor concern about fiscal responsibility, security, and making the district a place where people want to be -- staff nor students.

Furthermore, for three years I've told our principal, and for more than one year I've told our superintendent that the swim programs could make money. But, they can't seem to find it in their comprehensive review to take 30 minutes and meet so PPS and the school can get $50,000 a year.

The school district has much to learn about community partnerships. But, they get an A+ when it comes to hoodwinking the Post-Gazette and having a few uber boosters and consultants blow enough smoke around with PR glitter. The people that go to school know better and those that have to make those decisions every semester know better too.

Rough road: Pittsburgh’s schools have tough choices to make
December 10, 2013

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Linda Lane doesn’t sugarcoat the problems confronting her district.

A comprehensive, two-year planning report she released last Wednesday said that, although more city high school graduates are heading for college than five years ago, academic performance has declined in the last two years, 10 of the district’s 50 schools are running at less than 50 percent capacity and costs must be cut by nearly $50 million by 2016.

As Ms. Lane has done throughout her tenure as head of the district, she prepared a plan to attack the budget while implementing measures to improve student achievement.

The report, “Whole Child, Whole Community: Building a Bridge to the Pittsburgh Promise,” includes ambitious goals for transforming the district. Under her sound approach, many of its details will be worked out during consultations with the community and the school board. The document includes a range of options, particularly dealing with finances, and there the school board will need to be particularly aggressive.

The topic that always draws the most fire is the possibility of closing schools. As had been discussed previously, Ms. Lane makes a convincing case for closing Woolslair K-5 in June because its tiny enrollment means per pupil costs are double the rate of other Pittsburgh elementary schools. That alone won’t be enough.

Pittsburgh’s school-age population has fallen by 29 percent since 2000 to 37,431, the district has too many buildings that are under-utilized and its student-teacher ratio is lower than its peers in other Pennsylvania cities. Under the report's most ambitious option, closing 10 school buildings by the fall of 2015 would save as much as $5 million.

That would move the district in the right direction, but other elements of the plan could generate even larger savings. Eliminating classes that are too small, changing the high school schedule from nine periods to eight and reducing library services could save as much as $14 million. Reducing central office personnel and spending could reduce administrative costs by $6 million.

Deferring technology purchases and reducing student athletics — intramural sports; middle school volleyball, swimming and wrestling; and high school golf, swimming and tennis — could save $2 million. Maintenance costs could be lowered by $7 million if facilities were cleaned and disinfected less often. Having most high school students travel on Port Authority buses and realigning start times for other schools to cut down on school bus trips could save another $3.5 million.

Ms. Lane and her staff have looked into every part of the operation for ways to cut costs, without losing focus on the district’s fundamental mission of preparing its students for success in both higher education and the workforce. There is a lot of work to do.

The school board and its community partners now have a road map that can move Pittsburgh Public Schools toward the fiscal stability the district needs to fulfill its goals.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2013/12/10/Rough-road/stories/201312060034#ixzz2n4mioG00

Sunday, September 01, 2013

Speakers notes from November 13, 2007: Statements to PPS Board in public comment

Blast from the past:
Statements to the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Ed and Administration on Nov. 13, 2007

Mark Rauterkus
108 South 12th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-1226

412 298 3432 = cell
Mark@Rauterkus.com

http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com

I'm a Libertarian who believes in public education.

I understand that people often vote with their feet by moving to suburban Pittsburgh because the opportunities in the city schools are not like what is provided in the burbs.

My oldest son, Erik, joins me today. He is in 7th grade at Frick Middle School. He studies Spanish and may attend Schenley High School. His brother, grade 4, hopes to attend Frick in two years.

With me today: Erik, Schenley High School, class of 2013. Grant, Schenley High School, class of 2016.

My personal and professional life has revolved around schools and education. My wife is a professor. My father is a retired Pgh Public School teacher. I coach swimming and have been in many suburban and city settings. As a coach in Illinois, I coached swimming at the #1 team in the state while it was named the best public high school in the United States (Town & Country Magazine).

Should you go down this pathway of consultants, high school reform, and closing Schenley, you'll enter a battle. You will get soundly defeated on an economic front and nailed in political settings, time and time again. We will not forget. Your careers will wane. The dark cloud that hovers – be it in the US Virgin Islands or elsewhere – will be the Red and Black of Schenley. I'll insure it organizes over you.

This Schenley fight was fought two years ago. It was NOT prudent then. It isn't prudent now. The options and alternatives are horrible.

Mr. Roosevelt felt the wrath of the residents of The Hill communities in the aftermath of his bogus 'rightsizing plan.' Perhaps he felt he needed to toss a crumb off the table to “the hill.” Setting up a new high school in an old, middle school building was thought to be a political win-win. Think again. Folks in The Hill, and folks throughout the city, want Schenley, for all the right reasons.

We all know the top factor in both a child's education and that of a community is “engagement.” Parent involvement is a critical key. We need lifelong learning. We need student, teacher, community, family involvement. We need ownership of the problems and the suggested solutions.

We don't need consultants.

Consultants should not be hired to set in place a plan to destroy Schenley High School.

Rather, consult with us – the voters, taxpayers, parents, stakeholders. We are the customers. We are the ones who pay the bills. We are the one's that empower you. We are the ones that will dash your aspirations.

The first step of so-called “high school reform” was called “The Pittsburgh Promise.” It was a lie. This isn't the first lie. It can't be ignored. Fix it. Apologize. Re-tool the promise so that those that enter Kindergarten have a scholarship fund when they graduate in 13 years. Otherwise, the best you can do is provide pencils. Perhaps the Pittsburgh Promise could fund bus tickets to our graduates so they can return home after flunking out of college.

Hire a real-estate agent to assess, market and sell THIS (BOE) building. If you want cash from property, this is the building to auction and/or sell. Don't sell Schenley. Besides, Schenley has new windows.



Summary:
1.Develop a Vo Tech High School as promised.
2.Advance the discussion and open the Vo Tech High School next, as a top priority. Do the Vo Tech now – before any changes to Schenley.
3.Save Schenley High School. Fix, maintain, and rehab what is there.
4.Consult with the people of the city – now, always, and in open ways.
5.Deploy an open source mindset.
6.The asbestos claims are not believed. Publish them. Prove it. Debate plans, don't dictate them. Creditability has vanished.
7.Publish all reports online.
8.Be thankful of news leaks, not vengeful. Understand that this is my district. Not Mr. Roosevelt's. By the way, Mr. Lopez understanding of listening and talking seems to be upside down.
9.Don't rush the board to vote for spending more money simply because departing votes members are sealed and delivered.
10.Sell the Board of Ed building in Oakland, if you sell anything.
11.If necessary, put Schenley's 9th graders in 2008-09 at Frick Middle School. Do a temporary reduction to the student and faculty at Schenley to make room for repairs. Frick has the capacity.
12.Understand that the “Pittsburgh Promise” is a big fat lie. Fix it. Be realistic.
13.Fix the long-standing lie that Conneley Tech would be 'replaced' too.
14.Replicate what works.
15.Fix what is broken. What about the 'drop out factories?' What about Oliver, Carrick, Langley, Peabody and Westinghouse? What about Vo-Tech too!
16.Make a second Rodgers. Replicate it. If you must, move some downtown. But keep an East Rodgers. Make a West Rodgers too.
17.Putting all the IB at Reisenstein is too far away. Buses won't go there from the south and west. Students and families from the west and south won't go there in mass.
18.If you must, move the administration to Conneley or to Resisenstein.
19.If you must, establish a second I.B. Program at Resisenstein, in addition to the one at Schenley.
20.If you must call the second I.B. Program a 'Metro Magnet.' Attract students from Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, Woodland Hills, Vernona, Shaler, and locally in the city too.
21.A second I.B. Program, as a charter, could attract ESL students from the suburban districts.
22.Understand that afterschool programs, sports, arts and community programs in the district are weak, generally. They need to be factored in the plans. Think about sports and performance facilities now. Those items are expensive, but worthy investments.
23.By the way, the “Rightsizing plan” failed to account for Duquesne schools, as I requested.
24.What is the attendance at the ALAs? What about August enrollment? The grades are still out on those failures. K-8 Schools are a flop. Kaplan Curriculum payments were rushed ahead yet the lesson plans are getting an overhaul by in-district people.
25.Don't yank families around any more.
26.Open schools year by year.
1.Start a Science and Tech high school with 9th grade, for example. The next year do 9th and 10th grades, and so on.
27.Close schools year by year as the students depart.
28.High School Reform should start at grade 9 and go to grade 12. Only in Pittsburgh would the high school reform begin with a college scholarship after graduation without any money to provide it.
29.High School Reform is not “middle school reform.” Worry about grades 6, 7 and 8 after the high school problems are addressed. Don't do too much at the same time and continue the folly.
30.The University Partnership School should be on a University Campus. Make the Schenley Spartins the University Partnership program. Make that in Oakland.
31.A Technology School was part of Pittsburgh's recent past – Weil. What happened there? Report upon it. Why was it closed? Why open a new Science and Technology Program after closing one with the Rightsizing Plan? That makes no sense – again.
32.Reform Weil into a Science and Technology Program – again. Or, make the Science and Tech program in Milliones Middle School or Connelley.



Students Outraged At Plan To Close Schenley HS
KDKA - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Read more in our Privacy Policy Several hundred Schenley High School students, parents and teachers picketed outside the school administration offices to ...
See all stories on this topic
100 parents, alumni discuss Schenley High closing
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
About 100 parents, students and alumni of Pittsburgh Schenley High School gathered yesterday at the Cathedral of Learning to discuss their strategy for ...

Aggressive support vowed to save Schenley
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bobby Kerlik Schenley High School junior Sean Thomas said Saturday that closing his 91-year-old school would destroy more than the bricks-and-mortar ...
Officials quash Schenley rumors
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
The rumor began spreading by e-mail Thursday night, after a community meeting at which Schenley supporters denounced district officials for plans to close ...
Schenley High School allies plan for a fight
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bill Zlatos Schenley High School supporters worry officials will seal its fate with a vote Wednesday, despite assurances from the school board. ...
Schenley students tout pride, history
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bill Zlatos Fred Quinn plays volleyball, performs in the school musical and is active in student government at Schenley High School -- and he hopes to ...
Schenley girls kick distractions
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Brian Graham The Schenley girls soccer team was able to overcome so many obstacles this season that just playing in tonight's PIAA Class AAA playoff game ...
School officials meeting with Schenley students
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By The Tribune-Review Administrators from Pittsburgh Public Schools will meet with students of Schenley High School at 6 pm Thursday to discuss their ...
Schenley High School shuttering on the table again
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bill Zlatos Despite the asbestos in the nearly century-old Schenley High School, real estate officials see a market for it as a place to live or work. ...
Plan to shut Schenley High School revivedPittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bill Zlatos Pittsburgh's venerable Schenley High School, 91 years old and showing its age, would close in June under a reorganization plan detailed ...

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Message to PPS Board and Administrators at public comment about Erik and Summer Dreamers too

My name is Mark Rauterkus

My family and I live at 108 South 12th Street, South Side.

I'm a proud parent, concerned citizen, scholastic coach and the lead activity provider with the BGC with Summer Dreamers Swim & Water Polo Camp.

Erik is going to make a great swimmer for Swarthmore. Of course he'll take care of his studies and figure out what to devote his life to along the way.

Erik was also a varsity golfer. He was in the top 10 in PA Junior cycling.

As governor, he delivered more than a dozen podium speeches to hundred-plus audiences. He gave 2 keynote speeches. One to the PA Lobbyist Assn and another to the state-wide YMCA professionals.

He attended three week-long conference: One for fellow youth governors and twice went to CONA, a Congress of North American Affairs. As he enters college he already has good friends and contacts from around the nation.

Erik was a fixtures on a great Ultimate Frisbee team that played in the regional semi-finals.

He and his mates went to Ohio twice for water polo. Last year our side had 8 wins and 1 loss there.

He was 7th in his graduating class.

For 4 years he went to the PIAA Swim Championshps. Last year our relays set new city records in the pool, going faster in 2 events than than anyone ever in the city.

But this is what I want to stress. For the past 3 years, Erik worked as a coach for PPS Summer Dreamers Swim & Water Polo Camp.

This summer, Erik, with 2 other recent PPS graduates, led Swim & Water Polo activities at Camp Carmalt. They bonded with the kids, taught butterfly, and backstroke. They played great water polo. Almost all passed their deep water test. The last day of Summer School, tears came with their Good Byes. They bonded with the kids. Eight of the Carmalt kids, ran in the Liberty Mile. Erik WON the Liberty Mile in 2012.

It was a busy, action packed summer for myself and the 25 others on the staff in five sites. We ran, exercised, swam, played water polo, raced and did an “A for Athlete” literacy project that we're sharing with the world on a wiki.

The staff, like Erik are mostly young adults, mostly varsity swimmers. They worked half a day and made some money. Plus, they made tremendous impacts on the lives of the PPS students. The students, mostly going into 4th grade, learned a life skill that they'll never forget and had a sports-camp experience.

I think it is imperative that PPS put at the top of its priority list a vision that screams: WE PLAY Well with Others.

That is what we need in our neighborhoods. The wellness has to spring to life in the afternoons, evenings, nights, weekends, holidays and summers.

Summer Dreams is 5 weeks. I also worry about the other 47. Summer Dreamers had 5 sites, 2 with PPS pools, and had more than 1,300 rejection letters.

Our capacity in terms of QUALITY interactions leaves something to be desired.

We had a lot of help: Shoe vendors, Pgh Marathon, PPS, sponsors, partners, Citiparks.

With a little more help from PPS and a philosophy that puts Erik and other kids much like him on our team – together – we are 10-times better, stronger and more robust.

The key to a thriving PPS comes with a serious change of heart to the overall after-school approach within PPS.

PPS has to be a place were we value, teach and learn how to play well with others. Playing well with others is a learned skill that must happen year-round and beyond the school day.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

PPS Attendance matters, plus Senior night at pool. H2O = Hail 2 Obama!



Hi Friends,

With all the noise about attendance at PPS in the media, it is good to know of a bright spot. See below as we honor 14, devoted senior swimmers.

Plus at 6 AM swims practice this week we had 20, 17 and 12 each on M, T and W.
FYI, three boys in Summer Dreamers Swim and Waterpolo Camps in past years are on the Varsity Swim Team now. Six more worked as staffers.

One other tidbit on attendance, our biggest trouble point in Summer Dreamers Swim and Waterpolo Camp was guarding the door to prevent kids from sneaking into our sessions. We had waiting lists. We got scolded for recruiting, but really so many were having fun and learning they told their friends. PPS record showed Waterpolo at 95% attendance in 2012, and that included the need for all kids to run 1 mile over and back to the pools in The Hill.

I really wish we were offering, robust year round, "Dreamers" at PPS with Swim and Waterpolo so our kids could get invested in their teams, fitness, schools and academics. Let's all replicated and empowered what is proving to really work wonders in our community and hooked to athletics.

Go, go, go!

H2O

Coach Mark Rauterkus
412-298-3432

PS: Heard that high school students in National Honors Society have been asked, because of funding issues, to tutor middle school kids now. Rather, let's get those senior and smart students, our swim team really, to teach swimming and play waterpolo with the kids. Then greatness can happen with self esteem, relationships, mentoring, sportsmanship and rule following. Then the academics can flow for the individuals and institutions.

PSS: Friday's visit with USA Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer, Cullen Jones, with black history month, has the potentials to be special. He is at Obama at noon and UPrep at 2 pm. FYI, in April, three other USA Olympians, Waterpolo players, visit Pitt for a weekend clinic with Tiger Waterpolo (community, club program that supports our Summer Dreamers), and we will get our kids and the media to interact as well.
Footnote: Sam's fist season of swimming this year, as a senior, happens as he is registered and training for the May 2013 Pittsburgh Marathon, his first.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mark Rauterkus" for Morning Announcements
Date: Feb 6, 2013 7:01 AM
Subject: Senior night

The last home meet for the swim team is tomorrow, Thursday, at 6 pm against Bishop Canevin. This is our senior night and we honor our greatest class of seniors ever in the city swim scene.
The team as 14 seniors including three time PIAA swimmer Erik. Plus:
Annie
Hannah
Wendy
Nicole
Rene
Jonah
Tobias
Max
Mat
Demetri
Daniel
Ben

And, Sam Lapp who will compete in his first ever swim event on Thursday.
Win the section.
Go Seniors!
Swimmers have AM swim on Thursday and should be at the meet by 5 pm.



Friday, December 21, 2012

Rauterkus Letter, mailed on December 20, 2012

#Firstworldproblems

As we reviewed the highlights we wanted to share over the past year, we realized that we have been blessed with a year full of first world "problems" and we thought we'd share some of them.

Which gelato flavor should Grant choose? Should Catherine have a cappuccino or latte? These questions came up daily as Catherine and Grant toured Northern Italy in June, 2012.

What water polo team should Grant play with for the Junior Olympics? Grant stayed with a very generous family in Princeton, New Jersey, while he trained with the Princeton club team to get ready for the JO competition at Stanford, CA, in July. Erik's God parents hosted him while he was in California!

Would Erik prefer the garnet colored sweatshirt or the white with garnet trim?  A decision that became important after receiving early acceptance to Swarthmore College!

What do you do when Grant becomes a freshman in HS and wants to play on the golf team but there is no coach? Dad steps up and becomes the golf coach and big brother joins the team. Grant was 4th in the city championships (after 3 seniors). So, Dad is "Obama's new golf coach." (Keep in mind that "Obama" is the name of the school!)

Which dress shirt should Erik wear for his acceptance speech as Youth Governor of Pennsylvania? Erik was elected by Youth and Government (YAG) students from around the state to be their Governor.  He traveled to North Carolina for the Conference on National Affairs and spent a week in Washington, DC at the governors' conference. He has spoken to groups throughout PA and was met with a standing ovation at a talk to YMCA CEOs.

Will Grant be on the A or B Northwest Zone Olympic Development Team?  It was the A Team so the whole family had a great vacation visiting family and friends in Florida.

Should you eat another delicious meal at the Loveless Café or play a round of golf? common question when Erik and Grant make their yearly Nashville visit to Uncle Bob and Aunt Molly.

Is it possible to make every city youth water safe? Mark's reach stretches beyond first world problems as he provides aquatic opportunities to the youth of the city.  What do you do when kids can't be on the swim team because they have no way to get home – you drive them home yourself. What do you do when you are organizing a trip to a water polo tournament and a kid can't tell you where to pick them up in the morning because they don't know where they will be spending the night – you have them spend the night at your house. What do you do when kids show up to play water polo not owning swim suits or towels – you make sure you have extras of both.

We hope to embrace more first world problems this year and to reach out to others who are facing real problems.   

Happy Holidays 2012    

Mark, Catherine, Erik, Grant

108 S. 12th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203  mark@rauterkus.com

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Winning Swimming Rookie Camp, a position paper and rant

My latest rant is below and also in a 10-page PDF without photos at http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/aforathlete/images/3/39/7-year-olds-v3.pdf.



Presentation to Educational Leadership and
Dr. Linda Lane, Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools
By Mark Rauterkus, swim and waterpolo coach.Mark@Rauterkus.com, 412-298-3432 = cell. http://Rauterkus.blogspot.comAfter an educational conference call on Early Childhood Education and the value of play, I wrote this article.
Calling for an overhaul and expansion of high-quality aquatics in times of budget cutbacks is possible because the plans deploy what is already available. Simply, use what we have and deliver what Pittsburgh kids need.


We have massive problems that are pressing hard against the Pittsburgh community. We've got:
  • violence,
  • academic achievement gaps,
  • obesity,
  • so-called school reform trends with doubtful standards and accountability, and
  • sustained cutbacks that have lasted for a decade and continue to grow.
The best news is we have everything we need. We have:
  • swim pools,
  • support of nonprofits,
  • proof of concepts with astounding success,
  • volunteerism,
  • a defined, documented vision with specific plans, and
  • a growing political will.
We must do what is best for the kids given these tough times of both
  • budget cuts, and
  • educational reform.
I think this aquatics overhaul for Pittsburgh delivers what the kids need, is achievable in the current fiscal climant, and is the right thing to do.

Time to Play

One aim is to defend children’s right to play, grow, and learn in an era of school reform focused on standards and accountability.

Cuts within schools, the city and at social service agencies have changed experiences for kids. These are different times. Today's kids spend more time with TVs and video games.

Music, physical education, and even outdoor recess has contracted greatly. Pittsburgh used to have many “language magnet schools” introducing foreign vocabulary words in Kindergarten settings. Pittsburgh kids used to get string instruments in the third grade. Gone. Pittsburgh's, city-wide, “Centers,” classes for arts and music, once held on Saturdays at CAPA, is no more. It isn't always safe for kids to play pick-up ball on the streets or in the parks like 'back in the day.'


Mayor Ravenstahl and PPS Superintendent, Doctor Lane, can join with the citizens and promote play-based early education and common-sense policy making. A push back for the sake of kids comes with actions and by standing with others in this fight, including:

The mayor and the school superintendent must ask, 'What are the kids not getting?'

Negative Forces:

A dark side of reform scares many parents and educators. A 'reform overdose' can generate 'deformed outcomes.' The miss-informed would rather build prisons than invest in educational programs.
The push to inappropriate standardized testing is happening. The re-writing of state standards for young children have led to the heavy use of standardized tests in kindergarten and the lower grades, despite their unreliability for assessing children under age eight. Current proposals from the miss-informed (National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers) go beyond most existing state standards. An absurd example: Every kindergartner must be able to write “all upper- and lowercase letters” and “read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.”

It is misguided to intensify inappropriate testing in place of broader observational assessments that better serve the needs of young children. New research is showing that didactic instruction of discrete reading and math skills has already pushed play-based learning out of many kindergartens. Blocks and dress-up corners in many kindergarten classrooms are getting replaced by desks and worksheets. Testing in schools is moving to crowd out other important areas of learning. Overuse of didactic instruction and testing cuts off initiative, curiosity,and imagination. It limits their later engagement in school, the workplace and responsible citizenship. And, it interferes with the growth of healthy bodies and essential sensory and motor skills—all best developed through playful and active hands-on learning.

The miss-informed educational reform standards are superficial. Counting to 100 by 10 is rote. Rather, seek conceptual knowledge, not superficial skill sets. Some adults seem to be more comfortable seeing young kids in chairs being neat. Making a mess and then doing the clean up should be a part of the play and learning.

There is little evidence that the newest trends lead to later success. While an introduction to books in early childhood is vital, research on the links between the intensive teaching of discrete reading skills in kindergarten and later success is inconclusive at best. Many countries with top-performing high-school students do not begin formal schooling until age six or seven. The miss-informed agendas conflict with cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education. Groups of educators have called on the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to suspend the drafting of standards for children in kindergarten through grade three.

A new wave of testing is washing over preschool activities in a bad way. It has become fashionable to give lip service to the importance of play. The reality: Play continues to disappear in many schools, even for the youngest.

Learning must go beyond literacy and math. Our kids need to learn how to play well with others, how to swim, how to listen and interact with a team. They need to learn about getting fit, how to follow a schedule, how to pace, race, finish and score. They need to know how to be defensive, aggressive, and offensive. They need to understand sportsmanship, running, time trials and car pools. As our kids learn all the above, the literacy and the math becomes a breeze.

Kids learn mighty lessons through their bodies and senses and with self expression. Kids need to have experiences where learning happens in three dimensional spaces. Just entering the swim pool, especially on winter days, gives total immersion. Natural ways of learning happen in the water. The swim pool is a learning laboratory unlike what may be happening in rigid classrooms where there are rules against running and other expressions of enthusiasm.

Many kids learn to wonder through a coaching voice that resonates within families and communities. Swimmers develop physical, social, emotional, problem-solving, self-regulation, and perspective-taking skills.

Rookie Camp Swimming is good for young children and every kid in Pittsburgh at the age of seven can be included in a free program at the Oliver Bath House starting in the fall of 2012.

The Winning Swimming Rookie Camp, geared to those age seven, provides a swim team setting that “amps up” typical swim lessons. The Rookie Camp delivers bigger, bolder, better benefits with buzz. Everyone still learns how to swim. Swimming is a great exercise, but to be a swimmer is to change character.

All learn, but especially young children, by being with others who are more experienced and older. The Rookie Camps' daily dry-land times have story-time visits with guest coaches that include middle school and high school swimmers. Kids learn by placing themselves in the shoes of others. Rookie Camp swimmers learn social awareness, how to care, how to solve problems together, and how to negotiate together.


Swim teachers are keen observers of children. Coaches pay attention to where the students are. Aquatic teachers work on what they see that the kids are able to understand. At the swim pool, we model, evaluate and give fresh beginnings to kids in new surroundings. Plus, kids have time to play and act it out at the pool. Rookie Camp serves plenty of opportunities for self regulation for kids. Kids get into roles, and they control themselves. They stay in their character and learn self control. Rookie Camp is for learning many concepts and becoming comfortable with each other.

Scaffolding, inventing from each other, demonstrations, teamwork coaching, making rule-based games and playing them are serious happenings. Seldom are children allowed to have outdoor discovery time with low structures. Rare are the chances for kids today to organize their settings. But that happens at swim practices as kids pick their own lanes, make up lane orders and choose to play goalie or not.

In hours beyond the regimented school day, we need to bump kids away from screens and get them to play together. Sitting passive before a screen weakens the capacity to imagine and have inventiveness for oneself. We don't know what damages are being done as our children don't discover their own sense of self. Today's kids are too often looking outside of themselves to be entertained with apps and screens. Rather, in Pittsburgh, lets allow the stories and the creative ideas to come from within. So much of life today is with virtual reality, let's create our own reality.

Numbers

Play situations, true number concepts, classifications and serialization forms the basis of being able to understand the concept of number.

Classroom sizes used to hover around 20 students. In 2012, PPS contracts swelled physical education classroom sizes for high school students to 44 students per class with one teacher. Best practices in swimming, especially with seven-year athletes, won't allow those inflated numbers. The Rookie Camp can give more attention to more kids with more coaches than is possible these days in our public school classrooms.

It takes time for children to come to understand symbols. We rush children, and if they don't understand right away, we start to think that they are different. The difference between “d” and “b” might be maturity. Consider how math is detached in the mind of a four-year-old who is shown a card that reads:

(3 + 1 = ?)

Inappropriate demands are coming to young children from assessments in schools at the age of four.
Bogus testing is unreliable at young ages. For example: One test given to five-year-olds asks the kids to identify as many numbers and letters in a minute. That's puzzling. Wee kids do not know how to race yet. Swim coaches know how strange it is to get five-year-olds to race. Rather, success at five comes with a float and bouncing off the bottom across the shallow end of the pool. Then at age seven, join the Rookie Camp. Staging races of merit can happen by age 8. After kids know how to race, those “academic” identification tests in time periods become meaningful.

Kids are intrigued by things that hold their interest. With interesting topics, they ask about things that are harder to understand, if we follow their interests. What is this? How is this? These things are passions and serve as openings to more knowledge. Rookie Camp Swimming is a choice and for diving deeper. Swimming becomes a giant gateway to good, thoughtful debate. Fans are fanatical. Rookie Camp makes swim and sports fans. Rookie Camp is a portal to discover, discuss and clash among our favorites. Is it Phelps or Lochte? Why does that work for him? And, can it work for you too? At Rookie Camp, we certainly watch and re-watch the Olympics and cheer.

For the young lives, this concept of swimming serving as an intimate bridge to a vast unknown world might be a first-time encounter. Kids can get into it because swimming is deep, wide, personal and foreign. The clumsy kids as well as both the early and late-blooming kids can appreciate swimming's challenges and find a home within themselves with swimming too. A rich and fulfilling life has many such encounters where inspiration plants its seeds and brushes with greatness occur. Everyone should have that 'something' by the age of seven.
Seemingly, the lowest, most scripted curriculum and drill-based testing is headed to the poorest parts of society. Drill-based teaching is at odds with what happens at the Waldorf Schools. Wealthy families and the well-to-do-and-privileged emphasize that no child is like any other child. They all grow. Kids don't touch reading in the Waldorf system until they are seven. Likewise, in Finland, they don't teach reading until age seven. Kids learn to read at later ages in Finland, but by third grade, those in Finland are ahead of where the American kids are in reading.

What happens in the PPS school day is up to the school board and school administrators to decide – and not a swim coach with a blog. However, what happens at the public pools is up to taxpayers, advocates and professional swim coaches to influence. We must insure that the public pools are used for holistic instruction by the entire community – rich and poor alike. Sadly, in my humble opinion, too many of Pittsburgh's youngsters go through life without ever having a solid introduction into anything with a foundation for supporting long-term enrichment. Swimming is a great lifeline that can pull thousands into an exciting future of discovery and wellness. Of course everyone is not going to “get it.” But, with the help of the mayor and the superintendent, we can make it very difficult to ignore.
Language development occurs meaningfully through play.

Swimming opens a glossary of meaningful interactions with language. Rookie Camp participants often learn more than 10 words a day. Drills like 'catch-up' (one arm catches up to the other arm in the freestyle stroke) are described and done. In the stroke drill called catch-up, hands have to touch together, and the coach jokes that mustard and ketchup are not allowed in the pool.

The achievement gap is not a distraction in the middle of the deep end of a swim pool.

Swimming presents an equal opportunity for all kids. Needs are few: a swim suit and a pair of goggles. Both are affordable items and can be provided with organizations or facilities as necessary. To be sure, some of the poorest kids are the most independent. The poorest kids can be very confident and gracious and with higher level of problem solving. At Rookie Camp, we won't knock that out of them. The harder-edged expression, “I can't do that,” gets replaced with, “I'll try.”

In American communities, water polo is traditionally a sport for wealthy, older kids (ages 13 and older) in deeper water pools. In Pittsburgh, we can change that premise by structuring an affordable (if not gratis) program with younger kids in shallow waters. In a few years, as our kids grow, our city all stars will be able to match up with anyone, anywhere. On two consecutive years our city kids played tight games against an exclusive prep schools from New Jersey. In our third year, in September 2011, our city kids beat Upper Arlington's JV team in Columbus, Ohio. UA is one of Ohio's top public schools, and also quite affluent. Worldwide, waterpolo is wildly popular with younger kids.
Concrete manipulatives hatch math wizards on the swim team.

Swimming gets students to use manipulatives, a central mathematics concept. Manipulative use increases scores on retention and problem solving tests. Attitudes toward mathematics are improved when students have instruction with concrete materials provided by teachers knowledgeable about their use. Kids and classes that have great grasps of manipulatives outperform those who do not. This benefit holds across grade levels, ability levels, and topics. Many manipulatives and, in turn, math "makes sense" for swimmers.

Below is an example of one simple swim practice set that Rookie Campers would master:

Swim: 10 (repetitions) x 50 yards on 1:30 interval.

These forumlas, the one above in shorthand is, 10 x 50s @ 1:30, are the common building blocks for swim practices. I've published books filled with pages of workout numbers, sequences and formulas. (Tide Teamwork, SprintSalo, A DAM Good Year, Coaching the Young Swimmer, Organizing Swimming Practices)

Swimming coaches emphasize learning with understanding. Swimming instructions from the coach to the team give the young athletes new vocabulary richness with actions and experiences. Swimming coaches blab a foreign yet fun lingo packed with numbers, standards, records, zones, cuts, thresholds, qualifiers, sets, repeats, intervals, decimals, times (in tenths and hundreds of seconds to minutes, plus days, weeks and months). Coaches give kids descending, contrasting, tempo and intensity instructions. Expectations with heart rates help with self understandings and healthy awareness, but also make clear to the kids the difference between 55, 65 and 75 in beats per minute/BPM or in weight or in distance in meters.

Constructs and minipulatives jazz the swimming experience and makes more fertile ground for academic scholarship. An age-seven swimming team experience gives individuals an arsenal of transferable skills. The benefits are countless when one examines the collective impact with the families, car pools, lane leaders, team buddies, training groups, coaching staffs, junior assistants, volunteers, boosters and various institutional elements of support.

Swimming makes a new setting for young minds to absorb different, meaningful elements. Sadly, some students sometimes learn to use manipulatives only in a rote manner. They perform the correct steps, but have learned little. Daily encounters with the swim coach forces kids out of their comfort zones and beyond rote manner manipulatives. Swimming gets kids to live among numbers and be the agent of change to move their realm of being. As things click at the pool, that clicking cascades elsewhere. And for the faster swimmers who get it, the stop watch clicks sooner as they pick up speed, earn praise and grow.

Some day, PPS teachers may come to use swimming and sports manipulatives as an extra pathway for mathematics teaching. Swimming talk can pour into the classrooms as teachers reflect on their use of representations of mathematical ideas with students who swim. Aspects of their instruction can change when the classrooms are filled with swimmers. Not only are the kids knowing their numbers in an intimate way, but their bodies are settled, relaxed and defused from the prior exertion of yesterday's workout and its twenty-five twenty-fives on twenty five. (Shorthand: 25 x 25s @ :25.) That's my favorite swimming practice set to coach. We deploy that with my teams often. Each kid swims 25 times the distance of 25 yards on an interval of 25-seconds.

Educators of mathematics indicate that "concrete" is good and “abstract” is bad. Swimming diminishes the nasty "abstract," which is much more difficult for the wee ones to understand. Students that swim get a wide range of understandings and tools. Research suggest that instruction begin "concretely." It also warns that in-school-teaching of manipulatives are not sufficient to guarantee meaningful learning. So, swim teams are needed for kids for benefits of both play and brain-developmental homework.

To understand the role of concrete manipulatives and any concrete-to-abstract pedagogical sequence, we must further define what we mean by "concrete." Most practitioners and researchers argue that manipulatives are effective because they are concrete. By "concrete," they probably mean objects that students can grasp with their hands. This sensory nature ostensibly makes manipulatives "real" and connected with one’s intuitively meaningful personal self, and therefore helpful.

Swimming gets students to make connections between manipulatives and nascent ideas. Two classroom tools that helps kids perform addition are the classic “number line” and the abacus. The students make external actions with each. Meanwhile, at the pool, the number line comes to play as the team does an intra-squad match with bodies wearing numbered waterpolo caps. Likewise, at the pool, the mental activity of counting is done by using the lane-line beads to keep everyone in the water straight as to the number of repeats completed. Lane lines and water polo caps are playful abacus and number lines.

Swimmers reflect on their actions with manipulatives with team meetings. Although manipulatives have an important place in learning, their physicality does not carry the meaning of the mathematical idea. Kids need both teachers and coaches who can reflect on their students’ representations for mathematical ideas and help them develop sophisticated mathematical representations. "Although kinesthetic experience can enhance perception and thinking, understanding does not travel through the fingertips and up the arm."
Swimming presents a myriad of ways to get young people to learn through play and active experiences. Swimming in a holistic program makes meaningful and engaged learning. Swimming makes a contrast to superficial, mechanical learning with its testing and disjointed implications. Swimming can't be disjointed, really. Swimming at age seven is about being joined in a fun way.

At Rookie Camp, we connect the dots, and we connect various swim sites as well. The Swimming Rookie Camps deliver short lessons with videos often via teleconference at poolside. The team, standing or sitting on kick boards while dripping wet, interact with expert coaches at other sites to recap lessons. Often, other kids are in on the interactions too.

Further, these concrete understandings in swimming are not always referring to physical objects nor to those just to the swimmers at age seven. Benefits continue with digital assets, technology and for the ones in the later grades. Science fair projects, swimmers' think-a-thons and postal swim meets are a few of the middle-year activities to promote in a dynamic, smart, aquatics program.


In higher grades, biology, physics and kinesiology all offer great sport-specific, concrete manipulatives. Swimming provides a ton of Sensory-Concrete Knowledge that could fill an entire academic career, if desired. But, as the kids mature, other sports often call. Ex-swimmers enter other sports and activities stronger -- physically, socially and academically. Swim coaches are thrilled as kids grow out of swimming and into other athletic pursuits. For the program to flourish, it should have a wide base of participants. The Rookie Camps for seven-year-olds is a springboard to other things yet to come. After youngsters out-grow Rookie Camp, individuals engaged in other aquatic specializations, growing year-to-year. Waterpolo, nippers (i.e., junior guards), lifeguarding, underwater hockey, triathlons, cycling, syncro, modern pentathlon and kayaking are in the mix.

These other journeys are still within the Pittsburgh aquatics landscape that must be part of the global overhaul. Leadership must plan and be expected to press forward with other budding programming challenges for the sake of capacity. The 750 7-year-old swimmers in the Rookie Camp program in 2013 are expected to value quality programming and crave a variety of activities in 2014 and beyond.
Aquatics can catapult athletes to other sports. Baseball, basketball, football, golf, cross-country, hockey, to name a few, would benefit greatly as confident participants join their ranks already aware of sportsmanship and good team behaviors. Plus, life offers countless pursuits beyond sports: music, theater, dance, outdoors. All in all, the Rookie Camp experience needs to be a bedrock for whatever else is to come in life in public spaces, parks and schools. Swimming can be the model to set the stage for the theme of “plays well with others.”

Summary
It is fine to survey teachers, program directors, and child development experts. It is fine to speak out with well-reasoned arguments against inappropriate standards, assessments, and classroom practices. It is fine to protest a governor's visit to demand more educational funding. However, it is much better to just fix the problem. Let's provide Pittsburgh kids with a competitive swim team experience (Winning Swimming Rookie Camp) that is rich with play and promotes appropriate activities for childhood times while costing little to accomplish.

Even naysayers who trumpet rigor for early childhood would agree: Swimming builds stamina to assist kids so that they are better able to focus on the long hours of instruction in literacy and math.

Citiparks Summary

Healthy environments for youngsters must be developmentally appropriate. Padded ground-surfaces under swings, play structures for climbing, free lunch programs and even the newer spray parks are fine amenities for tykes. A free week of swim lessons and an afternoon encounter with the art cart is fun. Taking a dip on a hot summer day at the local public pool with friends is refreshing.

But the Rookie Swim Camps take developmentally appropriate healthy environments to a new level. The Rookie Swim Camps further root kids to community along a course of an engaged life within Pittsburgh's public spaces. The enormity of the Rookie Swim Camps, and what spawns from them as children grow, should impact thousands every year. The Rookie Swim Camps and “playing well with others” is what's needed next in the struggle to reverse the migration out of the city, the academic achievement gap and youth violence.

Age 7 has traditionally been the "age of reason" for most activities. Regardless of swimming ability, a 7 year old is still often not capable of making good safety decisions on his or her own; "Am I tired, dehydrated, in too deep, is the play around me too rough by the older kids?" Of course we will teach water safety and plain old survival floating. But by the third week we can be doing butterfly and gearing up for waterpolo tournaments.