Remember this blog post? Pittsburgh Business Times School Rankings
Elementary Schools:
Fifth grade: Lincoln dropped 1 spot
Jefferson dropped 6 spots
Markham dropped 3 spots
Washington dropped 1 spot
Foster dropped 11 spots
Hoover dropped 9 spots
Fourth grade: Lincoln dropped 5 spots
Markham dropped 23 spots
Washington dropped 1 spot
Hoover dropped 51 spots
Third grade: Lincoln dropped 18 spots
Hoover dropped 16 spots
Evidently, many parents of Mt. Lebanon elementary school children do too. The reason why I asked about vouchers and St. Bernards is that a growing number of parents are considering pulling their kids out of our elementary schools. I have no numbers as to how many, nor do I know the numbers from previous years to see if this trend is cyclical, but with thoughts of cuts, larger classes, and dropped programs, there are parents who think this is as good as it's "gonna" get. I am so glad my kids are out of school. I hope we can get our act together and soon~
4 comments:
Elaine,
To answer your question from a previous post about whether a student from an under performing school district will be able to use a voucher at Mt. Lebanon under SB 1, the answer is yes, if Lebo is willing to accept students from other districts. From what I have read about the voucher experiments in other states, most (but not all) public districts have been unwilling to take students from other districts (just look at how the neighboring districts of the Duquesne School district have been fighting the state on taking Duquesne's students).
As a parent of two daughters at St. Bernard's, I can tell you that St. B's student population numbers have been trending downward. They have laid-off several teachers over the past few years. They get decent Kindergarten numbers, but not all go on to first grade. There is another drop-off when students get to third grade (it's a widely discussed among the parents about their frustrations with the third grade teachers) and enrollment takes another hit as parents move sixth graders from St. B's to the public middle schools. Only about a 1/3rd of St. B's students reside in the Mt. Lebanon School District.
I should say that we sent our daughters to St. B's because we wanted them to have the Catholic experience and not because we were concerned about the quality of a Lebo education (my wife went to Lebo schools and I went to Catholic schools in another state).
Michael,
Thanks for getting back to me on St. Bernard's. The third-grade teacher situation at St. Bernard's might be useful information for the frustrated Mt. Lebanon elementary school parents.
Elaine
That being said, St Bernard's has a wait list for preschool and kindergarten for the fall. That's the first time in many many years that they have been "full". Also, a very large percentage of the kindergartners have enrolled for first grade. Catholic schools have been dealing with budget cuts for years. Thankfully, STB has a dedicated principal and priest who are making the school work smarter.
I realize that the last comment was not signed. I published it since there was nothing inflammatory and could be helpful to parents who are faced with this decision.
Elaine
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