Revisiting closing a school

Remember how Elaine Cappucci said that they will not revisit saving Building C?  Remember how nearly 4,000 residents felt that we should scale back the high school project since projections indicated a drop in student population, rising pension costs, a possible need to close a school or cut programming, and a decrease in state funding? Well, guess what?  WE WERE RIGHT! In today's Almanac (saved in Google Docs), Nick Lewandowski recapped Monday's meeting. The School District has realized they are in a quandary over the 2013-2014 budget.

Elaine Cappucci admitted that, “Closing a school is an option we should at least look at.”  Nuh uh.  Did you just realize that, Elaine?  We have been saying this for more than three years now. We were vilified by the VOICE people. (Gee, where are they now? Oh yeah, they are our elected officials.) We were trashed by local bloggers. (Huh...another elected official.) We hated kids. We were anti education. A school board director was humiliated. We were told to cut back on our lattes. Twenty five percent into the project and Elaine will now revisit closing a school.

Last year at this time, our illustrious school board decided to come up with a list of cost reductions.  We were never permitted to see the entire list.  Students were faced with parking fees, but the administrators all received nice raises. We were also told about a $30 million fundraising campaign to offset the second bond issue. The board has decided to stay with Pursuant Ketchum to raise $6 million.

We have two school board directors who will be running again, Mary Birks and
Dan Remely. Is Mt. Lebanon going to re-elect them just as we re-elected Elaine Cappucci, Ed Kubit, and Larry Lebowitz? Can we come up with some new blood?  Where is the RCML?

Common Core State Standards

I was checking Center Court and Steinhauer's blog for anything that resembled a post on the new Common Core State Standards, and struck out.  Instead, I noticed that Josephine now has ads on her blog. Really, Jo? Not making enough at your day job? Or was this a recommendation made by Pursuing Ketchup?

While Josephine is blogging about charter schools and Timmy is blogging about pizza, pics, and post it notes, nothing has been mentioned about Common Core State Standards.

PA Common Core Standards

The State Board adopted Common Core Standards in July 2010. Since that time, the decision was made to craft a set of PA Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. A group of Pennsylvania educators created a draft set of PA Common Core Standards. These new standards mirror the content and rigor of Common Core, but reflect the organization and design of the PA Academic Standards.

Pine-Richland School District's website has a whole page dedicated to understanding the Transitions to Common Core Standards.

Eleanor Chute mentioned PA Common Core Standards in Monday's
Study: Pennsylvania students with access to full-time librarians do better

As school districts look for ways to save money, supporters of school libraries point to a recent study showing Pennsylvania students do better on state tests in reading and writing if they have access to strong school libraries.

The study found students with access to a better-staffed, funded, equipped, stocked and accessible school library are more likely to score advanced and less likely to score below basic on the state reading and writing tests.

Remember how our illustrious board cut staff in our libraries as listed in the
Cost reductions list totaling approximately $850,000 while twenty administrators received raises?

Ms. Chute continues:

Mary Kay Biagini, director of the school library certification program at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and an analyst for the study, said that 56 percent of public schools in the state didn't have access to a full-time school librarian in 2011-12.

With the economic conditions and resulting library cuts of the past two years, she said, "Students are getting even less of a chance to have access to library resources and information literacy curriculum."

She believes school libraries will be even more important as schools implement the new Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math that call for the curriculum to go deeper in fewer areas rather than skimming the surface in many.

When will this Board and Administration report on more pressing issues such as the transition to Common Core State Standards, 21st Century Education, replacing our fuzzy math program, and the like, instead of concentrating on sports, turf, fundraising, and charter schools? On the two year anniversary of Lebo Citizens blog, I can't think of one wise decision this Board has made.

"The List"

No, not THAT list.  This list. The list that Molly Born refers to in today's PG. Staff cuts possible in Mt. Lebanon schools

From Center Court Blog, the March Board Report.

...we have started in-depth discussions concerning next year’s budget. Last month we discussed the possibility of using some of our undesignated fund balance in addition to reductions and a small millage increase in order to close a budget gap of about $2 million for next year in addition to possible exposure from a grievance filed by MLEA for about $900,000. Those reductions could include cuts that may mean possible reductions in payment for supplies and services, paid extra duty assignments and positions vacated by retirees. As we discuss these possibilities, along with any use of reserves or increasing millage, we would like your feedback. Dr. Steinhauer has prepared information about the possible reductions being discussed and it's available here. The next budget meeting will take place at 7PM March 26 in the JMS library.

In addition to public meetings, we’ve scheduled a couple of community coffees during the next few weeks. These are opportunities for you to sit down with a small group of Board members in an informal setting, ask questions, share your concerns and enjoy some time together. The first two coffees will be Saturday, March 31 from 9-11AM at Coffee Tree on Washington Road and Wednesday, April 25 from 7-9AM at Orbis Caffe (formerly Aldo's). I’ll be at the March 31 coffee with Mr. Goldman and Mr. Ostergaard and Mrs. Cappucci will be at the April 25 coffee with Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Birks. No appointment is necessary and we hope to see you there.

Of course, none of this is found on the District website.  You have to go to the unofficial blog to get official information. (Why do we have Cissy Bowman again? I forget.)