This topic is not one that the School Board faces but it is very much related to furthering the education of our children. As the father of two kids going into first and second grade respectively, I wanted to make sure they both got a head start on reading. The Mt Lebanon Public Library is a great place to go to join a summer reading club. You can sign up on the Library website here or you can stop by the library in person.
Also, Dan Miller (Commissioner for the Fifth ward and a member of the Library Board) has posted some interesting library statistics on his website.
James
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Mt Lebanon Makes Newsweek After All
I received some emails a while back when Newsweek published its list of top high schools in the country and excluded Mt Lebanon. We had been on the list previously and had dropped off somehow. Our administration noticed an error in how we were ranked on the 2008 list, notified Newsweek of the error, and Newsweek has published a correction that can be found here.
We were ranked at 1075 on their list of 1300. This is now the third consecutive year Mt Lebanon is on the list (note that if you search, search for Mount Lebanon on the Newsweek webpage).
It is important that we continue to make publications like Newsweek in this kind of positive manner. Thanks go to our administration and to Newsweek for getting this corrected.
James
We were ranked at 1075 on their list of 1300. This is now the third consecutive year Mt Lebanon is on the list (note that if you search, search for Mount Lebanon on the Newsweek webpage).
It is important that we continue to make publications like Newsweek in this kind of positive manner. Thanks go to our administration and to Newsweek for getting this corrected.
James
Monday, June 23, 2008
High School Project Update
I realized I have spent a lot of time typing around the topic of the High School Project and haven't given many details. The reason for this is that there is still nothing concrete to say. However, there was an administrative briefing tonight where we received an update from the architects about where they are in the project and what possible solutions may be proposed for the Board meetings coming up in July and August.
There are a couple of bits of information I will share and I urge readers to keep in mind that nothing has been decided yet. There will be many opportunities for people to voice their opinions throughout this process via email, in person, or on the phone. The High School Project Subcommittee has set up the following link to make it easy for your voice to be heard by the entire Board:
http://forms.mtlsd.org/DisplayForm.asp?FORMID=1187
The presentation tonight will be repeated tomorrow night for the Design Advisory Committee. There should be a revised presentation of what was seen tonight at a discussion meeting in the near future.
We were presented with a number of possible scenarios with regards to the project. The options by no means are final, they were presented as conceptual ideas. There will be much discussion about what the final form of the scenarios will take to come. For now, it is important to note that the options that were described were in line with what the Dejong study had said months ago. There will be options to renovate, building partly new, and build completely new. What was presented last night was variations on the above themes. There were no costs given with any of the above mentioned possibilities.
Keep in mind that you will have the opportunity to address the Board at any upcoming meeting. Here are the scheduled meetings coming up:
So there you have it. That's what I know at this point. There will be tours of the High School that take place later this summer and there will be more opportunities for community input than just the meetings mentioned above. As those dates get solidified, I will be sure to update them here.
Real quick update, I went over to Josephine Posti's blog and found this link with a slideshow of pictures at the high school. Make of it what you will.
James
There are a couple of bits of information I will share and I urge readers to keep in mind that nothing has been decided yet. There will be many opportunities for people to voice their opinions throughout this process via email, in person, or on the phone. The High School Project Subcommittee has set up the following link to make it easy for your voice to be heard by the entire Board:
http://forms.mtlsd.org/DisplayForm.asp?FORMID=1187
The presentation tonight will be repeated tomorrow night for the Design Advisory Committee. There should be a revised presentation of what was seen tonight at a discussion meeting in the near future.
We were presented with a number of possible scenarios with regards to the project. The options by no means are final, they were presented as conceptual ideas. There will be much discussion about what the final form of the scenarios will take to come. For now, it is important to note that the options that were described were in line with what the Dejong study had said months ago. There will be options to renovate, building partly new, and build completely new. What was presented last night was variations on the above themes. There were no costs given with any of the above mentioned possibilities.
Keep in mind that you will have the opportunity to address the Board at any upcoming meeting. Here are the scheduled meetings coming up:
- June 24- Design Advisory Committee input on preliminary Alternative Approaches
- July 21- Board Review of revised Alternatives
- July 22- Community presentation of Alternatives
- August 18- Community comment at pre-Board meeting
- August 27- Design Advisory Committee meeting for community input
- Sept 8- Board discussion on a recommended alternative
- Sept 15- Board approval of recommended alternative
So there you have it. That's what I know at this point. There will be tours of the High School that take place later this summer and there will be more opportunities for community input than just the meetings mentioned above. As those dates get solidified, I will be sure to update them here.
Real quick update, I went over to Josephine Posti's blog and found this link with a slideshow of pictures at the high school. Make of it what you will.
James
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Audit Finance Committee Meeting
The Audit Finance Committee is meeting tonight in the High School Library at 7:30pm. The agenda is as follows:
1) Fund Balance Reserves- After recently having the budget pass, it will be important to review our fund balances today and what they will look like heading into the High School Project.
2) Capital Project Status- We will be conducting a review of our Capital Projects. I will be looking to see how we have done with our approved projects in relation to what we budgeted for those projects back in February.
3) Preparation for Retirement Healthcare Fund- One of the things that we started with the passage of the 2008-2009 budget was the funding of a Retiree Healthcare Fund. Please review what I have said about this fund here or here. How much we put into this fund will partly depend on how our 2007-2008 budgets ends up. If possible, I'd like to see us fund it as far out as possible. We know what the costs will be up until I think 2010-2011. After that, things are not so clear. At about $480,000/yr, the costs are significant.
4) New Development Projects and Tax Revenues- This is an item I asked to be added to the agenda. One of the things I owe you is my analysis at the debt for the District. Off the top of my head I believe we are over $75 million in debt. We will be paying between $5 and $6 million per year in debt service payments all the way out to the year 2030. This amount is roughly equal to 2.5 to 3.0 mills (1 mill generates about $2 million in revenue to the District) out of the 23.56 total mills in last years budget. With a high school project set to perhaps more than double our outstanding debt, I thought we might want to take a look at how we service our debt. As I look out a few years on the horizon and see a few significant construction projects, I thought it might makes sense to weigh the question of whether we might proactively reserve a percentage of any new real estate tax revenues related to new development to pay down our significant debt. Putting this in our Board policy could perhaps be a way for us to significantly reduce our debt load in the near and long term. We have a hotel going in downtown, we have the TRID (development at the T station in Mt Lebanon) happening around 2012, we have the Bower Hill Condominum property, and we have the new office buildings across from the Castle Shannon T stop. These projects will generate significant new revenue for the District.
I look forward to the discussion the above items generate.
James
1) Fund Balance Reserves- After recently having the budget pass, it will be important to review our fund balances today and what they will look like heading into the High School Project.
2) Capital Project Status- We will be conducting a review of our Capital Projects. I will be looking to see how we have done with our approved projects in relation to what we budgeted for those projects back in February.
3) Preparation for Retirement Healthcare Fund- One of the things that we started with the passage of the 2008-2009 budget was the funding of a Retiree Healthcare Fund. Please review what I have said about this fund here or here. How much we put into this fund will partly depend on how our 2007-2008 budgets ends up. If possible, I'd like to see us fund it as far out as possible. We know what the costs will be up until I think 2010-2011. After that, things are not so clear. At about $480,000/yr, the costs are significant.
4) New Development Projects and Tax Revenues- This is an item I asked to be added to the agenda. One of the things I owe you is my analysis at the debt for the District. Off the top of my head I believe we are over $75 million in debt. We will be paying between $5 and $6 million per year in debt service payments all the way out to the year 2030. This amount is roughly equal to 2.5 to 3.0 mills (1 mill generates about $2 million in revenue to the District) out of the 23.56 total mills in last years budget. With a high school project set to perhaps more than double our outstanding debt, I thought we might want to take a look at how we service our debt. As I look out a few years on the horizon and see a few significant construction projects, I thought it might makes sense to weigh the question of whether we might proactively reserve a percentage of any new real estate tax revenues related to new development to pay down our significant debt. Putting this in our Board policy could perhaps be a way for us to significantly reduce our debt load in the near and long term. We have a hotel going in downtown, we have the TRID (development at the T station in Mt Lebanon) happening around 2012, we have the Bower Hill Condominum property, and we have the new office buildings across from the Castle Shannon T stop. These projects will generate significant new revenue for the District.
I look forward to the discussion the above items generate.
James
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tribune-Review 'Coaches' Article
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ran an interesting article the other day regarding Mt. Lebanon's Curriculum Coaches. You can review the article for yourself here.
The author points out that the Board voted in favor adding a Math Facilitator for this school year. Even though I voted against the budget I was in favor of adding the facilitator. While I understand the frustration some have with the budget and the costs we have with total staffing, one thing we absolutely need to do our best at is to give our teachers the resources they need to effectively and efficiently teach our students.
During our Program Change Proposal meetings earlier this year, we were given a presentation about our math curriculum and how outdated it had become. If I remember correctly, our math curriculum and books were over 12 years old. While I understand that solving the same equation should give the same result, how we actually teach our kids to solve the equation will change. With the newly introduced math curriculum, we need to make sure our teachers are in alignment with the new textbooks so that we have a consistent teaching method across all grade levels with the new curriculum. This can only help our children in the long run.
Subject facilitators are temporary and when the implementation has been completed then much of the responsibility for maintaining the curriculum should fall to the Principal and to the curriculum supervisors.
The important long term process here has to be the implementation of curriculum across all subject areas. One of the things I have talked with people about is the importance of having the same math kids are learning in math class to be the same math they are using to solve problems in other classes. When kids are learning vector mathematics in math class, they should at the same time be using that vector math in physics class. When we have students doing standard deviations in statistics classes then they should be doing experiments in science class that gather data to reinforce what they learn in statistics. I believe this is the direction in which we are moving.
Having facilitators when we try to do this alignment will be important for both our teachers and students. This is one area where I see tremendous value.
Thanks for reading.
James Fraasch
The opinions expressed above are mine and do not reflect the opinions of the Board as a whole
The author points out that the Board voted in favor adding a Math Facilitator for this school year. Even though I voted against the budget I was in favor of adding the facilitator. While I understand the frustration some have with the budget and the costs we have with total staffing, one thing we absolutely need to do our best at is to give our teachers the resources they need to effectively and efficiently teach our students.
During our Program Change Proposal meetings earlier this year, we were given a presentation about our math curriculum and how outdated it had become. If I remember correctly, our math curriculum and books were over 12 years old. While I understand that solving the same equation should give the same result, how we actually teach our kids to solve the equation will change. With the newly introduced math curriculum, we need to make sure our teachers are in alignment with the new textbooks so that we have a consistent teaching method across all grade levels with the new curriculum. This can only help our children in the long run.
Subject facilitators are temporary and when the implementation has been completed then much of the responsibility for maintaining the curriculum should fall to the Principal and to the curriculum supervisors.
The important long term process here has to be the implementation of curriculum across all subject areas. One of the things I have talked with people about is the importance of having the same math kids are learning in math class to be the same math they are using to solve problems in other classes. When kids are learning vector mathematics in math class, they should at the same time be using that vector math in physics class. When we have students doing standard deviations in statistics classes then they should be doing experiments in science class that gather data to reinforce what they learn in statistics. I believe this is the direction in which we are moving.
Having facilitators when we try to do this alignment will be important for both our teachers and students. This is one area where I see tremendous value.
Thanks for reading.
James Fraasch
The opinions expressed above are mine and do not reflect the opinions of the Board as a whole
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Washington Playground Update
In the past few weeks I have been hearing from people regarding the changes that are being proposed to the Washington Elementary Playground. The playground is outdated and it is time for a new one to be installed.
It's been interesting to see how something seemingly so simple can become the itch we all need to scratch. There really does seem to be a solution that will satisfy the great majority of folks with an interest in the playground. I hope last night's discussion meeting will help people see how much we all have in common and allow for everyone to come together to support what should be a great project for the children at Washington Elementary.
Here are the issues:
1) Small Play Area- This will not change but it also means that adding more parking spaces and taking away children play area ought to be out of the question
2) Security issues- I have received numerous emails from parents and teachers saying that there is an issue with people who simply want to use the playground as a shortcut between the library and a way to get uptown. Additionally, this playground is used by a number of life skills students who may be at risk of wandering off the play area if they do not see a playground barrier.
Last night we had a good discussion about where we are in the planning of the playground and we heard from a number of parents who have been involved in the playground committee. The plan that was presented last night was NOT the one that most people had seen even as late as last week.
The proposal that appears to be before us now includes the following:
1) Security cameras- There have been incidents of alcohol being used on the playground when the school is not in session. Cameras will allow the District to see exactly what is going on. It will also deter any vandalism.
2) Parking Spaces- Parking spaces have been removed from the latest proposal. This will allow us to maximize the limited playing space that we have.
3) Fencing- Much of the fencing has been removed from the playground proposal. Again, this will allow us to maximize the limited playing space
4) Security- We discussed adding security gates at the ingress/egress points of the playground. The goal is to have these be as low profile as possible but to clearly be a visual deterrent to people who want to use the playground as a shortcut. There may be ways to time the opening/closing of the gates to coincide with playground and off-hours times. We need to make sure the playground area is available to the community when school is out of session.
I believe the Board does see an issue with parking spaces for teachers and staff at both Mellon and Washington schools. Mr. Allison has been tasked to try to figure out something to alleviate the problem. I think there are opportunities for us to work with either the Mt Lebanon Parking Authority or even with the church that owns the parking lot next to the library. Either one of these options would help. In my mind it is important prioritize maximizing playground space for our children over adding just a few parking spaces.
In sum, I think we have a pretty good solution for the playground. There will be more discussions by the Board when final proposals are submitted. What I wrote above is the direction I believe we are headed at this point.
I wish the playground committee luck in raising money for the new equipment. Please try to keep me up to date regarding fundraisers.
The opinions expressed in the post are mine and do not represent the opinions of the Board as a whole.
James Fraasch
It's been interesting to see how something seemingly so simple can become the itch we all need to scratch. There really does seem to be a solution that will satisfy the great majority of folks with an interest in the playground. I hope last night's discussion meeting will help people see how much we all have in common and allow for everyone to come together to support what should be a great project for the children at Washington Elementary.
Here are the issues:
1) Small Play Area- This will not change but it also means that adding more parking spaces and taking away children play area ought to be out of the question
2) Security issues- I have received numerous emails from parents and teachers saying that there is an issue with people who simply want to use the playground as a shortcut between the library and a way to get uptown. Additionally, this playground is used by a number of life skills students who may be at risk of wandering off the play area if they do not see a playground barrier.
Last night we had a good discussion about where we are in the planning of the playground and we heard from a number of parents who have been involved in the playground committee. The plan that was presented last night was NOT the one that most people had seen even as late as last week.
The proposal that appears to be before us now includes the following:
1) Security cameras- There have been incidents of alcohol being used on the playground when the school is not in session. Cameras will allow the District to see exactly what is going on. It will also deter any vandalism.
2) Parking Spaces- Parking spaces have been removed from the latest proposal. This will allow us to maximize the limited playing space that we have.
3) Fencing- Much of the fencing has been removed from the playground proposal. Again, this will allow us to maximize the limited playing space
4) Security- We discussed adding security gates at the ingress/egress points of the playground. The goal is to have these be as low profile as possible but to clearly be a visual deterrent to people who want to use the playground as a shortcut. There may be ways to time the opening/closing of the gates to coincide with playground and off-hours times. We need to make sure the playground area is available to the community when school is out of session.
I believe the Board does see an issue with parking spaces for teachers and staff at both Mellon and Washington schools. Mr. Allison has been tasked to try to figure out something to alleviate the problem. I think there are opportunities for us to work with either the Mt Lebanon Parking Authority or even with the church that owns the parking lot next to the library. Either one of these options would help. In my mind it is important prioritize maximizing playground space for our children over adding just a few parking spaces.
In sum, I think we have a pretty good solution for the playground. There will be more discussions by the Board when final proposals are submitted. What I wrote above is the direction I believe we are headed at this point.
I wish the playground committee luck in raising money for the new equipment. Please try to keep me up to date regarding fundraisers.
The opinions expressed in the post are mine and do not represent the opinions of the Board as a whole.
James Fraasch
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