Monday, May 16, 2011
Sports Reform: Business as usual is not welcomed, then. But now?
In the spring of 2010, Mr. Lopez, one of the top administrators of Pittsburgh Public Schools, hosted a meeting to talk about sports reform.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Democratic County Executive Candidates Debate Issues � CBS Pittsburgh
Democratic County Executive Candidates Debate Issues � CBS Pittsburgh: "Democratic County Executive Candidates Debate Issues"
Study: 90% of Pittsburgh's young adults unfit for military service - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Study: 90% of Pittsburgh's young adults unfit for military service - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Study: 90% of Pittsburgh's young adults unfit for military service"
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Fw: [PURE Reform] New comment on Athletic recommendations released.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
From: Anonymous <noreply-comment@blogger.com>
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 12:02:42 -0700 (PDT)
To: <mark.rauterkus@gmail.com>
Subject: [PURE Reform] New comment on Athletic recommendations released.
We continue to talk as though kids cannot be motivated to learn unless extrinsically rewarded or punished. The reality that we've lost sight of is that every kid inherently wants to learn and in fact IS learning all of the time. Poor grades, suspension, detention, expulsion, 10th periods, "interventions", removal of music, arts, athletics only serve to further marginalize, ostracize, drop out, alienate, victimize, disenfranchise, etc. our young people. Opportunities to develop productive futures based natural talents, desires, goals are closed off by school administrators in PPS who believe that "one-size--fits-all" and that negative consequences will somehow 'turn on lights" motivate, inspire, and prepare students for productive futures. It does not work for the vast majority. How many failures, drop outs, jails do we need to see before we begin to change our educational systems in ways that produce intelligent, educated, athletic, artistic, creative, productive, successful adults?
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Posted by Anonymous to PURE Reform at May 11, 2011 3:00 PM
Two Athletic Reform Documents
Two documents from last night's school board meeting with Pittsburgh Public Schools' Education Committee are now available.
The executive summary is 13 pages:
PDF
Slide share:
The presentation was put onto video tape that night but is going to take some time to put onto the web. There were a number of questions from the board members, naturally.
The longer document is 71 pages and in PDF format.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/aforathlete/images/e/ef/Athletics_Reform_Recommendations.pdf
Or here in SlideShare.
Tip: Click the button on the lower right corner to expand the document to your full screen size. Press the "Esc" key to return the computer screen to continue.
The executive summary is 13 pages:
Slide share:
The presentation was put onto video tape that night but is going to take some time to put onto the web. There were a number of questions from the board members, naturally.
The longer document is 71 pages and in PDF format.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/aforathlete/images/e/ef/Athletics_Reform_Recommendations.pdf
Or here in SlideShare.
Athletics reform recommendations
View more presentations from Mark Rauterkus.
Tip: Click the button on the lower right corner to expand the document to your full screen size. Press the "Esc" key to return the computer screen to continue.
City League, WPIAL merger still far off - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
This is a concern from an educator:
To join the WPIAL is just what students, teachers, coaches and families need when it comes to missing less classroom time.
Presently, in the PPS City League, (District 8, not WPIAL), the sports schedules include plenty of games and matches at 2:15 pm. The kids need to miss their last period, at the least, even if playing a HOME game. The kids who are going to play the game at another school's pool, gym or field depart earlier and often have to miss most of the afternoon of classes.
Meanwhile, afternoon games -- while kids are still to be in classes -- do not happen on a daily basis within the WPIAL schedule. The WPIAL is filled with evening games. Then parents can get home from work and go to watch their children play. And, above all, the students don't need to be pulled from classes.
In the city, we play a lot of 2 pm games because if the kids when to a whole day of school, then had to care for themselves for a couple of hours and get on a bus at 5 pm or so, some whould not show up. And with an evening game, there are other time problems too, such as a return trip to home at 10 or 11 pm, often on a school night.
The abundance of 2 pm games on the PPS sports schedule is not 'fan friendly' nor 'family friendly.' Getting younger siblings to the high school games are often impossible too.
With the current system, plenty of athletes miss plenty of classes, and those coaches who are teachers miss as well. I've heard of baseball coaches who are also teachers in core subjects who have to miss two consecutive weeks of classes with those in periods 6 and 7. They are in the building until the team needs to go to play a game, either home or away, with a 1 pm dismissal. That isn't fair to the students who have those periods with those teachers to miss so much instructional time.
In the city league, those afternoon games are a big problem. Moving to evening and night games makes another set of problems, no doubt. But, when it comes to missing class time, there would be a lot less of that going on with a move to the WPIAL.
We talked in the athletic reform committee about a few elements that would need to occur to make the move to the WPIAL work for the PPS student athletes in terms of the schedule adjustments to evening matches.
+ Night games and longer bus rides in some instances means that the kids get back to the school at later times. Arrival to the school at 9, 9:30, 10, or 10:30 pm is not out of the question. Consider a Friday night football game that starts at 7:30 pm. Those kids are getting back to their home school after an away game at 11 pm or so. The rub is with PAT, the public bus schedules, and a city-wide magnet. Students get to their home schools after the game but these are not NEIGHBORHOOD schools any more. A kid who goes to a North Side or East Side school might live in the other end of the city, say the South Side. We know that the bus schedules have been greatly reduced. The non-peak times of buses are on a schedule that is often one hour between pick-ups, if the bus runs at all. Using mass transit and getting from Peabody or Westinghouse at 10 or 11 pm to the North Side or West End after a big game is asking plenty.
As a solution, we'd need to work hard to drop off kids at various parts of the city from the team bus on the way home and the bus would need to have to make a run out to various points after visiting the home school. Car pools are necessary too.
+ Night games are fan friendly. They'd attract more people. It is dark. In the winter, it is also cold.
+ The student athletes need places at the schools to be open for them upon their return. Getting dropped off by a team bus and waiting outside is not prudent.
+ The student athletes need places at the schools open to them for non-playing time situations. Kids need places to hang and be productive from 2:30 pm (end of school day) to they depart at 5 pm for an away game or are due to hit the locker-room for their home game at 6 pm. Team rooms, weight rooms, cardio rooms, training facilities, student lounges, on-school coffee shops, library access and rec room settings are needed. Getting into the library to do homework after school is a problem now. To extend library time to 6 pm, only now and then as homework is due and as the team needs it -- while eating even -- is a dreamworld fantasy the way things operate now.
+ The student athletes need to be concerned with nutrition and food. We are hungry. We need a good meal. We need to eat after school on game days and practice days. We need to hydrate. We need more than a vending machine. Kids should not need to sneak to find access to a microwave oven just to have something warm to eat before or after practice and games.
With an evening game, many of the kids won't have the time to go home after school, eat, do homework, and return for the game. They'll need to be productive at the school in places where they don't get into trouble.
People have been known to freak out when a single McDonalds wrapper comes back into the school's doors. I'm talking about PRINCIPALS. Sure, kids need to put their trash in the cans, but expectations and hospitality at the schools for being a place for our young people to settle and be secure are far from ideal within PPS. They've been promised student lounges in the past and they've never been delivered, unless there is a whole building re-hab as is the case at Sci-Tech. Even there, getting access to a student lounge in odd times is doubtful.
We need to care for our kids well beyond the end of the school day or the end of the last play in the game. And often, the kids face hostilities around their schools even from within. Perhaps this is part of the duties of the boosters and volunteers, granted. But those in PPS have a lock it and leave it mentality that can't work with a reform agenda that keeps our kids productive settings.
City League, WPIAL merger still far off - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'What would it mean, in terms of what time kids would have to leave in the afternoon to go to games? What would our costs be for the transportation? What about our families who don't have access to a car? How do they get to watch their daughter play basketball if it's not here in Pittsburgh? Those are some of the things we need to think about.'"Her concern is unfounded.
To join the WPIAL is just what students, teachers, coaches and families need when it comes to missing less classroom time.
Presently, in the PPS City League, (District 8, not WPIAL), the sports schedules include plenty of games and matches at 2:15 pm. The kids need to miss their last period, at the least, even if playing a HOME game. The kids who are going to play the game at another school's pool, gym or field depart earlier and often have to miss most of the afternoon of classes.
Meanwhile, afternoon games -- while kids are still to be in classes -- do not happen on a daily basis within the WPIAL schedule. The WPIAL is filled with evening games. Then parents can get home from work and go to watch their children play. And, above all, the students don't need to be pulled from classes.
In the city, we play a lot of 2 pm games because if the kids when to a whole day of school, then had to care for themselves for a couple of hours and get on a bus at 5 pm or so, some whould not show up. And with an evening game, there are other time problems too, such as a return trip to home at 10 or 11 pm, often on a school night.
The abundance of 2 pm games on the PPS sports schedule is not 'fan friendly' nor 'family friendly.' Getting younger siblings to the high school games are often impossible too.
With the current system, plenty of athletes miss plenty of classes, and those coaches who are teachers miss as well. I've heard of baseball coaches who are also teachers in core subjects who have to miss two consecutive weeks of classes with those in periods 6 and 7. They are in the building until the team needs to go to play a game, either home or away, with a 1 pm dismissal. That isn't fair to the students who have those periods with those teachers to miss so much instructional time.
In the city league, those afternoon games are a big problem. Moving to evening and night games makes another set of problems, no doubt. But, when it comes to missing class time, there would be a lot less of that going on with a move to the WPIAL.
We talked in the athletic reform committee about a few elements that would need to occur to make the move to the WPIAL work for the PPS student athletes in terms of the schedule adjustments to evening matches.
+ Night games and longer bus rides in some instances means that the kids get back to the school at later times. Arrival to the school at 9, 9:30, 10, or 10:30 pm is not out of the question. Consider a Friday night football game that starts at 7:30 pm. Those kids are getting back to their home school after an away game at 11 pm or so. The rub is with PAT, the public bus schedules, and a city-wide magnet. Students get to their home schools after the game but these are not NEIGHBORHOOD schools any more. A kid who goes to a North Side or East Side school might live in the other end of the city, say the South Side. We know that the bus schedules have been greatly reduced. The non-peak times of buses are on a schedule that is often one hour between pick-ups, if the bus runs at all. Using mass transit and getting from Peabody or Westinghouse at 10 or 11 pm to the North Side or West End after a big game is asking plenty.
As a solution, we'd need to work hard to drop off kids at various parts of the city from the team bus on the way home and the bus would need to have to make a run out to various points after visiting the home school. Car pools are necessary too.
+ Night games are fan friendly. They'd attract more people. It is dark. In the winter, it is also cold.
+ The student athletes need places at the schools to be open for them upon their return. Getting dropped off by a team bus and waiting outside is not prudent.
+ The student athletes need places at the schools open to them for non-playing time situations. Kids need places to hang and be productive from 2:30 pm (end of school day) to they depart at 5 pm for an away game or are due to hit the locker-room for their home game at 6 pm. Team rooms, weight rooms, cardio rooms, training facilities, student lounges, on-school coffee shops, library access and rec room settings are needed. Getting into the library to do homework after school is a problem now. To extend library time to 6 pm, only now and then as homework is due and as the team needs it -- while eating even -- is a dreamworld fantasy the way things operate now.
+ The student athletes need to be concerned with nutrition and food. We are hungry. We need a good meal. We need to eat after school on game days and practice days. We need to hydrate. We need more than a vending machine. Kids should not need to sneak to find access to a microwave oven just to have something warm to eat before or after practice and games.
With an evening game, many of the kids won't have the time to go home after school, eat, do homework, and return for the game. They'll need to be productive at the school in places where they don't get into trouble.
People have been known to freak out when a single McDonalds wrapper comes back into the school's doors. I'm talking about PRINCIPALS. Sure, kids need to put their trash in the cans, but expectations and hospitality at the schools for being a place for our young people to settle and be secure are far from ideal within PPS. They've been promised student lounges in the past and they've never been delivered, unless there is a whole building re-hab as is the case at Sci-Tech. Even there, getting access to a student lounge in odd times is doubtful.
We need to care for our kids well beyond the end of the school day or the end of the last play in the game. And often, the kids face hostilities around their schools even from within. Perhaps this is part of the duties of the boosters and volunteers, granted. But those in PPS have a lock it and leave it mentality that can't work with a reform agenda that keeps our kids productive settings.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Erik's TV interview about Sports Reform in Pittsburgh Public Schools
This is part 2 of the interview that should run on TV soon. Erik Rauterkus, 16, (proud dad moment injected here), sophomore, gives a sit-down interview with activist and show host, Kenneth Miller, about sports reform pending before the board of directors of Pittsburgh Public Schools. The conversation is pressing as the matter goes to the Education Committee, a sub-group of the board, tonight. The decision is pressing in light of the state budget cuts and the outward migration of many in the city.
The city schools are shrinking! Families that desire great opportunities for their children often move out of Pittsburgh, in large part, in my not so humble opinion, because of the lack of quality offerings in sports, music, after-school activities and holistic living beyond the end of the school day.
Watch this show segment and hear from me again, at the end of the clip.
The other part of the interview will be put online as time permits.
WPIAL, here we come, perhaps, sorta, we hope, one day, maybe.
The city schools are shrinking! Families that desire great opportunities for their children often move out of Pittsburgh, in large part, in my not so humble opinion, because of the lack of quality offerings in sports, music, after-school activities and holistic living beyond the end of the school day.
Watch this show segment and hear from me again, at the end of the clip.
The other part of the interview will be put online as time permits.
WPIAL, here we come, perhaps, sorta, we hope, one day, maybe.
Monday, May 09, 2011
On the Elimination of Osama bin Laden
Ron Paul's remarks make sense to me, again.
On the Elimination of Osama bin Laden: "Last week marked an important milestone in the war on terrorism for our country. Osama bin Laden applauded the 9/11 attacks. Such deliberate killing of innocent lives deserved retaliation. It is good that bin Laden is dead and justice is served. The way in which he was finally captured and killed shows that targeted retribution is far superior to wars of aggression and nation-building. In 2001 I supported giving the president the authority to pursue those responsible for the vicious 9/11 attacks. However, misusing that authority to pursue nation-building and remaking the Middle East was cynical and dangerous, as the past ten years have proven.
It is tragic that it took ten years, trillions of dollars, tens of thousands of American casualties and many thousands of innocent lives to achieve our mission of killing one evil person. A narrow, targeted mission under these circumstances was far superior to initiating wars against countries not involved in the 9/11 attacks, and that is all we should have done. This was the reason I emphasized at the time the principle of Marque and Reprisal, permitted to us by the US Constitution for difficult missions such as we faced. I am convinced that this approach would have achieved our goal much sooner and much cheaper.
Schenley musicals go out on high note with spunky 'Seussical'
Now that's drama.
Others can divide between music and sports -- but that is not my mission. I fight for both. I want cooperation among the productions -- from the athletic venue to the stage.
This Tuesday is a good example. One of my sons will be in a competition and the other is in a school music event. But both -- or all kids -- should have great opportunities for whatever they should desire in structured, energetic, educational endeavors.
Schenley musicals go out on high note with spunky 'Seussical': "Because I'm writing an elegy as much as a review, let's anoint the Cat the animating spirit not just of this musical or even the Schenley musical comedy tradition but high school musicals in general, which have to use their wits in the struggle to survive in the jungle of budget cuts in competition with the bigger, more voracious beasts of sports."Yeah, right. Sports in the city are not so voracious nor beasts.
Others can divide between music and sports -- but that is not my mission. I fight for both. I want cooperation among the productions -- from the athletic venue to the stage.
This Tuesday is a good example. One of my sons will be in a competition and the other is in a school music event. But both -- or all kids -- should have great opportunities for whatever they should desire in structured, energetic, educational endeavors.
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