PURE Reform - Parents United for Responsible Educational Reform

The bottom line in a complicated matter:

PURE Reform - Parents United for Responsible Educational Reform: "As a result this question will reveal little about whether there are other options respondents would prefer, given complete information and a wider range of choices.

Yes, the survey results are sure to reveal little.

The survey is a facade. The questions were loaded. The best answers can't come from that cloud of options.

The people of Pittsburgh are sure to prefer the choice that includes sensible, coolaborative leaderships.

Pittsburgh needs an educational vision. It must be articulated. It must be debated openly. It must be tweaked and those adjustments need to be clearly understood and visible.

Mark Roosevelt has failed in unfurling an educational vision. His "for all" part is a joke, as in 'Excellence for All.' Sure, there are spots of vision with the opening of a botique school or two. But, even there, the vision is delivered without the collaboration, debate, and adjustments.

The consultants are here and hard at work so as to put another barrier between administration and the parents / taxpayers. The consultants are here to conduct a fishing outing in a quest for the missing elements of leadership and vision.

Who do I support in the May 09 Mayor's Race?

It was asked at another blog, 'Who do I endorse' for mayor in the closed D party primary. Well, I'm a Libertarian and as such, I do not get a vote in the May primary.

All in all, I love some of the replies of Carmen Robinson and her experience as a lawyer, police officer, and women seem most refreshing. But, I don't see her day-to-day energy out on the trails. Proof.

Patrick Dowd is GREAT on paper, but in practice, he has left me empty most often.

I've encouraged those I've talked to to vote for one of the above -- and I expect my wife will do as such. Plus, I also make mention that there are two others who are running for mayor as Indies. It would be GREAT for this city to have heated election(s) in the fall for city offices.

IMHO, this PRIMARY race for mayor is going to be very, very close. Much closer than the status quo minded assume. City residents are smarter than most seem to think.

Dowd's statement / bewilderment about "NO WORK ORDERS" yesterday for the Public Works Department got him some votes, for sure. And, he earned those votes without his typical fanfare. Sadly, Dowd's style squashes much of his substance in overall effectiveness in moving supporters to his ranks.

The Pittsburgh Comet not able to tape a League of Women Voters candidate event

Shame on the League of Women Voters.

The Pittsburgh Comet I do wish I could show you footage of these remarkable events -- however, the League of Women Voters ruled that I might film the proceedings only if all three candidates agreed to it.

Bram, don't ask. Just do it.

Have you been to jail for justice?

Really, that stinks.

Businesses Balk at Pittsburgh Promise Program

Policy Brief An electronic publication of The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy
May 13, 2009 Volume 9, Number 28

According to a Tribune Review report, the Pittsburgh business community has not warmed to the Pittsburgh Promise program. This is the program that plans to offer college scholarships to virtually all graduates of Pittsburgh’s high schools. So far the Promise fund has garnered only $51,000 from businesses while most of the contributions have come from the usual liberal foundations in the City. Foundations that never miss an opportunity to waste money on will of the wisp, do good efforts, especially if they involve public education.

Apparently, the business community has not been convinced of the efficacy or usefulness of bribing parents to stay in Pittsburgh – or attract parents to the City — as a way to increase enrollment in the miserable failure that is Pittsburgh’s high schools. And little wonder. Years of spending vast amounts of public money as well foundation gifts on enormous numbers of programs with precious little to show in return in terms of academic achievement undoubtedly has created considerable skepticism about whether it is advisable to keep propping up this failure with ever more money.

Whereas liberal foundations have the luxury of frittering away money on hopeless causes, businesses, especially in these difficult times, simply must be more level headed and rational about where they put limited resources. After all, firms in the City are already paying taxes to fund the egregiously expensive Pittsburgh Public School District --currently $20,000 per student annually—which continues to have huge percentages of high school students scoring well below grade level proficiency on statewide exams. Given the poor return on investment on their tax money, why would businesses want to waste more money trying to fix the system?

Nominally, a major goal of the Promise plan is to stop the slide in enrollment and begin to turn it around. Enrollment has fallen precipitously in recent years and is forecast to continue dropping. The question businesses must ask is “How does pouring more money into trying to prop up this expensive, poorly performing system benefit y company?”

Firms need a sufficiently well educated and skilled workforce that can help their business thrive and succeed. If they donate some of their limited resources to the Promise program, they may eventually benefit if some the recipients get degrees in disciplines they can use. However, this is a high risk strategy with a low probability of paying off for the firm. Instead, corporations are more likely to spend money on education programs for current employees through either tuition reimbursement programs at area colleges or through training and certification rograms. These two options provide a more direct payoff with a much lower downside risk than does contributing scarce dollars to the Pittsburgh Promise.

Moreover, companies already have high quality alternatives available for helping students get a good education. For example, they can donate to the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese’s Extra Mile Foundation, which provides scholarship aid to needy
children so they can attend one of the Diocese’s Extra Mile Schools in the City.
Companies can also participate in the State’s Education Improvement Tax Credit,
a program that provides a 75 percent tax credit for donations to a non-profit
scholarship or educational improvement organization. The percentage increases to
90 if the business makes the same donation for two consecutive years. The tax
credit is limited to $300,000 annually per firm. Still, the program is very popular as indicated by the fact that the state’s legislatively established annual limit for the program is completely met each year. Indeed, there are calls to expand the current annual tax credit limit.

In short, there are far better places to invest than the Pittsburgh Promise for companies wishing to allocate funds for the purpose of improving education in the region.

If the Mayor wants to attract corporate and business money for educating Pittsburgh’s children, here’s an idea he should try. Establish a scholarship program that will allow City parents to choose an alternative school for their children—be it religious or private. Then see how that plan fares in raising money compared to the Promise plan. It might even lure some of the more sensible members of the foundation community away to support a program for Pittsburgh’s students who would like a choice other than the public schools but cannot afford it.

To be blunt, why would a rational parent opt to keep a child in a failing school district for nine or ten years, robbing them of chance at a good education, if real alternatives to the public schools were available and affordable? Protecting the public school system as it is—and is likely to remain given the powerful groups who are in charge—is a fool’s errand.

And here is the best part of a scholarship funded choice plan. Competition from such a program could force City schools to improve or fade away altogether. That has happened in Milwaukee where public school performance has improved in the years since the voucher program was introduced there. This is a clear win-win situation that businesses should support whole heartedly.

Jake Haulk, Ph.D., President Frank Gamrat, Ph.D., Sr. Research Assoc.

Please visit our blog at alleghenyinstitute.org/blog.
If you have enjoyed reading this Policy Brief and would like to send it to a friend, please feel free to forward it to them.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our web site: alleghenyinstitute.org

If you wish to support our efforts please consider becoming a donor to the Allegheny Institute. The Allegheny Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Please mail your contribution to:

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Thank you for your support.

Is the mayor corrupt? Absolutely says Patrick Dowd on KDKA Radio

KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin is a friend of Luke Ravenstahl and Dan Onorato. So, he hated to hear and baited the question to challenger Patrick Dowd.

My instant message to Griffin, who said he has heard no rumblings in law enformcement realms of 'corruption' on the part of the Mayor follows:

If the mayor's office was clean -- then do you think the state would have TWO sets of OVERSIGHT Authorities in town watching every move of the city officials?

Proof of corruption on Grant Street is in Act 47 and ICA.

Another bit of PROOF of corruption is the hush money paid, still to this day, to Pat Ford, with a contract that does NOT permit statements from him nor the mayor.

Poem by Geri Ann called "Mark" for my 50th birthday

Mark

You are the bedroom at the back of the house, the heaps of junk
and Rum Rum cars that exploded from a little sectioned box
tipping out of the corner of your closet.

You are the back yard, shouting out to Chicky and Colin catching balls,
knees and elbows spinning out to grab the next fly.
And that large patch of dirt where grass didn't have time to grow.
That warm dirt, softer than the powder
sprinkled on Vanilla Angel donuts after orchestra on Sundays.

You are Rose Avenue, up for a neighborhood game of Release,
defining back yards and boundaries between telephone poles
convincing Mom and Dad to let us stay out,
even after the street lights came on.
You are those hiding places, under Rhododendrons
where no one is ever found.

You are a chipped tooth, the word "Leftovers!" called before dinner,
and the pounding floor boards under the weight
of acrobats and wrestling matches, even with Mom.

You are canon balls, Fireballs, and Crazy Relay Day when the whole team
swam like dolphins, and windmills, and upside down butterflies.
You are the one who'd still try to win, no matter how ridiculous.

You are the Pennsylvania mountains. And the arm that grabbed me
to say "Look down!" before I jumped over a fifty foot drop.
You are also the bus ride in D.C. and the finger that pointed
to someone asleep on some steps, bundled up in a homeless coat
who said, "Look at everything. And keep looking.
We'll never be here again."

You are all the letters, countless as the stars,
missing from your spelling words. And all the pages
from all the books you printed. You are the monster press
spewing out paper to bind in your South Side basement.
And all the boxes and all the piles of books ready to ship out.

You are the South Side, the shops, the horns, the Beehive, the neighbors,
and Mabel's store across the street filled
with stale Clark bars and ketchup.
You are the rooftops and fireworks every summer.
A ricochet off high rises and burst of sparks
glittering down the Monongahela.

You are the last quarter I had. The one I used to call you
from the Greyhound Station to pick me up in the middle of the night
home from an interview when I didn't get the job.
You didn't say anything. You are the "It doesn't matter"
in situations like that, because you're my brother.

You are the son who bravely trumpets forth and carries our family name,
Rauterkus.
No matter how hard it is to pronounce,
no matter that it's all stripes and checkers,
or that it comes clumsy with trips and blinks.
You wear it like the Thunderbolt,
the oldest wooden roller coaster
climbing the highest hill in Kennywood.

You are the speed on the way down,
as everything inside lifts up into your ribcage
and through your rumbling, airborne heart, midflight.

---

My little sister, Geri Ann McLaughlin, wrote the poem when asked by my wife for a suprise 50th birthday party with some friends and family at Kennywood.

Officially, I turn 50 on May 16th, Saturday. That day includes a swim meet in Monroeville's JCC (the boys are in that) and a wedding. Great fun.

Invite to PPS Facilities Planning Sessions

Like this matters.

Invite details.

Churn looks like this -- not progress

"In the mid 90s, the building underwent a $1.5 million renovation to become Pittsburghs only International Youth Hostel. After experiencing a downturn in international travel following 9/11 the hostel was closed on October 31, 2003.

Can we turn the old police station into a Youth Hostel?

How about if we turn South Vo Tech into a Youth Hostel?

What about Fifth Avenue High School into a Youth Hostel?

What about Gladstone?

Perhaps not the entire building, but a part of it.

The weenies that ran the old Youth Hostel ran it into the ground. That $1.5M investment was lost and it is more than sad.

The second floor of the facility houses one of three state-of-the-art fitness rooms for use by not only Zone 3 officers, but all City police officers. The other two are on the Northside and in Highland Park. Because the fitness room is on the second floor, Nautilus equipment is used instead of free weights. The floor has been reinforced and covered with a special surface to soften the surface and help deaden the sound. The fitness facility is available 24-hours for officers on all shifts.

So we have nice workout areas for the police -- but can't get either the South Side Bath House -- a swim pool already paid for and operational to open so that the kids in summer school have a place to workout in the afternoons. Nor can we get Warrington Rec Center's pool to open.

Party Games - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper

Party Games - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper For a town led by 'good old boys,' Pittsburgh seems to have created a surprisingly youthful crop of politicians for the May 19 Democratic primary. In the races profiled on the following pages, you'll find numerous candidates who aren't even in their mid-40s yet. That makes them practically adolescents, in Pittsburgh-politician years.

All three candidates for mayor think marijuana should be illegal. All three are sorta old fashioned in that stodgy belief. The war on drugs is part of the problems and helps to drive many of the killings of the kids on the streets of Homewood and The Hill District.

Santonio has nobody to endorse.

Nor do the older folks who would have great comfort in their final weeks and months of life with the use of medical marijuana. And, medical marijuana's legalization is before the PA House and Senate now.

I'd hope that the City Paper, of all places, would take a 'younger view' at the issues and size up these spring chicks for being so old-school on this front.

OpenOffice.org has a significant upgade now available

The OpenOffice.org Community is pleased to announce the general availability of OpenOffice.org 3.1, a significant upgrade to the world's leading open-source office productivity suite. Since OpenOffice.org 3.0 was launched last October, over 60 million downloads have been recorded from the OpenOffice.org website alone. Released in more than 90 languages and available as a free download on all major computing platforms, OpenOffice.org 3.1 looks set to break these records.

Thanks to all community members who have helped make this release possible. Users of previous versions of OpenOffice.org were asked to vote for their 'most desired' new features, and this wish list helped shape the new release. The new release also includes a feedback mechanism where users can opt-in to supply feedback automatically to the developers about how they use OpenOffice.org.

The biggest single change (half a million lines of code!) and the most visible is the major revamp of OpenOffice.org on-screen graphics. Techies call it anti-aliasing - users just appreciate how much crisper graphics are on screen. The improved look extends to other subtle changes, such as: how images display when they are being dragged, how selections of text are highlighted, and even adding the ability to overline text.

New core features include:

Writer (word processing)
* Improvements to comments: reply feature now supports 'conversations'
* Further grammar checker integration
* Outline levels within paragraphs for complex documents

Calc (spreadsheet)
* Hot hints for formulae, with new and improved formulae available
* Improved sorting
* More performance bottlenecks removed
* The zoom slider added to the status bar
* Rename sheets with a double-click

Chart (graphics engine)
* Flexible positioning of axes for scientific and educational users
* Flexible handling of "missing" data points

Impress (presentation)
* Font size buttons

Base (database)
* SQL syntax highlighting
* Easier deployment of macro applications

Internationalization and Localization
* Improved support for bidirectional scripts
* New locale support

Behind the scenes, OpenOffice.org also now has a more capable file locking mechanism, enabling users to share files safely in a multi-user, multi-platform environment.

The guide to new features is available here:
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.1/index.html

Download OpenOffice.org 3.1 here: http://download.openoffice.org/

Read our Press Release:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/OOo/31/prweb2388264.htm

The Bike Pittsburgh Blog Archives � Bike the Vote! Pittsburgh’s Democratic Mayoral Candidates Answer Questions from BikePGH

Of course cycling is a political issue.

The Bike Pittsburgh Blog Archives - Bike the Vote! Pittsburgh’s Democratic Mayoral Candidates Answer Questions from BikePGH: "Cycling is a political issue."

Just yesterday I sent out a tweet that Rev. Ricky Burgess, city council district 9, was against the bike lane on East Liberty Blvd. He would have worked hard to stop it too, so he said. Because, the people in his district do not use the bike lane, so he thinks.

I'm not saying that the bike lane is done well -- or not. But, I reported that interesting fact. It is fair to say that he is a politician that can be hostile to bikes.

Next, onto the comments from the blog.....

Buc home runs to benefit city parks - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Dogs around the city are barking for joy.

Buc home runs to benefit city parks - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Every time a Pittsburgh Pirates batter hits a home run, a city park gets a tree.

That's the idea behind a partnership announced today between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Too bad the kids don't get a coach rather than an obstacle for their play spaces and fields.

By the way, I'm anti trees when it comes to putting them in open spaces, such as on the practice field next to the moved Schenley High School, where the soccer and baseball teams could have practiced prior.

It is crazy how the Pgh Parks Conservancy fixes up a lot next to a park on two sides but chooses to do nothing within the park itself.

These are RAD parks too. The RAD parks have lots of money.

Get your own store by clicking to a new service

What I'm selling isn't that important. But, do go set up your own new store to sell your stuff online.

College Bills

http://kdka.com/video/?id=57065@kdka.dayport.com

Edits to a mission statement for male involvement in PPS

I've edited a handout from last-night's meeting and made some changes. So, how does this draft sound?

M.E.N.N. = Meeting Education's Needs Now

M.E.N.N. Mission
To assist and facilitate school success through a variety of male aimed initiateves that promote overall parental involement and continuity within the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) District.

PPS' M.E.N.N. facilitates meaningful male involvement in students' lives in school, home and the community.

We believe and work to insure that children are happier, healthier and better students when positive male role models are active and engaged.

The 2010 goals for M.E.N.N.:
- Create a blueprint for consistent male involvement that benefits all students.
- Create belief statements among the steering committee and M.E.N.N. participants.

TV Show on City Cable, PCTV 21, Public Access, about Take Your Father To School

Mark Brentley, Sr., Pgh Public Schools board member and candidate for Pgh City Council in the May 2009 primary, has a TV show that includes, this month, snips of the 2008 Take Your Father to School events.

Air dates:

May 6, 9 am
May 8, 11 pm
May 11, 10 pm
May 14, 3 pm
May 16, 9 pm
May 18, 5 pm
May 19, 9 am
May 21, 3 pm

This year's event is Friday, May 22, 2009, at all Pgh Public Schools.

We also stand in for those who don't have a dad in school that day, for whatever reason. Dad's are positive role models in the child's life -- being the actual father is not necessary.

Did you hear about these 8 who were arrested?

Yesterday morning, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up to Senator Max Baucus.

And the private health insurance industry.

And the corporate liberals in Congress.

The eight activists demanded that single payer - everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital - be put on the table.

And as a result they were arrested.

And charged with a so-called "disruption of Congress."

The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Democracy Now and National Public Radio all carried stories about the protest.

C-Span carried it live.

And it was widely disseminated on the Internet.

Baucus crafted a hearing to kick off the health care debate in the Senate yesterday where 15 witnesses would be at the table to discuss health care reform.

The insurance industry was at the table.

The Business Roundtable was at the table.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was at the table.

Blue Cross Blue Shield was at the table.

The Heritage Foundation was at the table.

And corporate liberals like Andy Stern, Ron Pollack, and AARP were at the table.

But not one person who stood for what the majority of Americans, doctors, nurses, and health economists want - single payer - was at the table.

Not one.

When I heard about this corporate line-up last week, I called the office of Senator Baucus.

And politely asked that, as a matter of fairness, a single payer doctor be allowed to testify.

I was told - no way, Ralph.

The deal is done.

So, yesterday, at 10 a.m., the Baucus Eight, led by Single Payer Action and other single payer groups, took to the Senate Finance Committee.

And directly and respectfully confronted a room full of corporate lobbyists.

And corporate controlled Senators.

And again asked that a group of doctors who were in the room to support Medicare for all be allowed to testify.

The answer again - no, no, and no.

Remember what Senator Richard Durbin said last week?

Durbin said that the banks "own" the Congress.

To which we might add - the health insurance industry and the drug industry own the Senate.

Faxing, writing, and e-mailing is not getting it done.

Enough is enough.

Time for action.

This is a winnable issue.

But the American people need to focus on 535 members of Congress.

And get mobilized.

Single Payer Action is at your service to get the job done.

So, donate now -- $8, $18, $80, or $800.

To honor the Baucus Eight - who all wore black yesterday in memory of the more than 20,000 Americans who - according to the Institute of Medicine - die every year from lack of health insurance.

And to fuel a citizen action movement that will deliver single payer to the American people - sooner not later.

Together, we can break the corporate stranglehold on Congress.

And deliver health care for all.

Single payer.

More comprehensive. More efficient. More humane. More peace of mind.

Let's get it done.

Onward to single payer, Ralph Nader

Half Marathon Course, slated for Oct 25, 2009

Hey running mates: http://www.spiritofpittsburgh.com/index.html

Time to consider that Republican write-in effort for mayor: Pat Ford

Perhaps we can get a write in campaign for the mayor's race for Republican voters?

We now open nominations from the floor of the blogosphere.

Consider, Pat Ford.

For some, PAT could be Port Authority Transit, and Ford could be the auto company. Merge the two together, whatever.

Consider, Mark DeSantis. I'm sure he'll get some votes.

Consider, Kevin Acklin.

Consider, Dok Harris.

Consider, Luke Ravenstahl, or Patrick Dowd or Carmen Robinson.

If Patrick is less of a candidate because Carmen is on the ballot in the primary, splitting the anti-Ravenstahl vote, then let's have a do-over. But, the general election ballot in November might have four or more candidates. You never know.

Consider, Tom Ridge. Some are talking about Tom Ridge for US Senate in 2010. Why not have him get onto the ballot for the Rs for the Pgh Mayor Race in 2009 -- just to re-build his base. Perhaps he can help install and monitor the homeland security cameras that Luke just purchased.

Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more

Bravo!

Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more: "Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more