Moving from Minadeo: Colfax, Linden, or where? (Pittsburgh, Liberty: home, transfer) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

sun4384 · 05-11-2011, 09:56 AM

I have a 1st grader in Minadeo elementary school. The school is suffering serious behavior-related problems these days, and it looks the new principal is not handling the issues appropriately. Many parents and teachers are not happy with the situation, and I'm planning to move my kid to another school.

I also have a daughter (at kindergarten) who gets special education in a different school, but mainstreaming in the coming school year. Our neighborhood school is Minadeo, but as stated above, I'm trying to avoid that school. I hope them to go to the same school however.

I have heard good things about Colfax, Linden, Greenfield, and Liberty. Among them, Colfax (very close to my house: about 5min drive) and Linden (which is a magnet school, and currently placed at 12th and 20th on the waiting list...) are under consideration. I would greatly appreciate any advice or experience regarding these schools.

And for those whose kids are going to go to Minadeo: you may want to check out other schools.

scrapp · 05-12-2011, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun4384

I have a 1st grader in Minadeo elementary school. The school is suffering serious behavior-related problems these days, and it looks the new principal is not handling the issues appropriately. Many parents and teachers are not happy with the situation, and I'm planning to move my kid to another school.

I also have a daughter (at kindergarten) who gets special education in a different school, but mainstreaming in the coming school year. Our neighborhood school is Minadeo, but as stated above, I'm trying to avoid that school. I hope them to go to the same school however.

I have heard good things about Colfax, Linden, Greenfield, and Liberty. Among them, Colfax (very close to my house: about 5min drive) and Linden (which is a magnet school, and currently placed at 12th and 20th on the waiting list...) are under consideration. I would greatly appreciate any advice or experience regarding these schools.

And for those whose kids are going to go to Minadeo: you may want to check out other schools.

We've currently got 2 at Colfax. This is our fourth year there, and we plan to continue there next year. I don't know enough about what is going on at Minadeo to compare the two. I also don't know much about special ed there (IEPs).

Colfax, like any school, has its pros and cons. I can say that our main area of concern at Colfax have been curriculum-related rather than behavior-related.

Sideblinded · 05-12-2011, 09:41 AM

You may not be able to just pick a school. Linden is a magnet school, has the date passed to apply? I would call the principal.

sun4384 · 05-12-2011, 12:22 PM

Thank you for the replies. Yes, I submitted applications to Linden for both kids, but placed in the waiting list (12th and 20th). The main issue is that it's not very likely to get into Linden since we are quite behind the waiting list (should have acted earlier in the last year) and I was told the decision is usually made very late in the Summer, so I hope to make a backup plan (Colfax in mind).

1. Just one downside with Colfax is the school starts and ends too early for me. Are there after-school activities like in-school chess, baseball, or soccer club to keep my kids a little longer in Colfax?

2. I also heard the principal has changed recently, and the former principal did a great job. How is it going now?

3. My 1st grade son's identified as a gifted student, and I heard Colfax has special education program for gifted ones. How is the curriculum structured?

scrapp · 05-12-2011, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun4384

1. Just one downside with Colfax is the school starts and ends too early for me. Are there after-school activities like in-school chess, baseball, or soccer club to keep my kids a little longer in Colfax?

2. I also heard the principal has changed recently, and the former principal did a great job. How is it going now?

3. My 1st grade son's identified as a gifted student, and I heard Colfax has special education program for gifted ones. How is the curriculum structured?

1. After school sports start at the middle level (grades 6-8)... alot of the younger kids do external sports stuff like Dynamo Soccer in Schenley park. There is a chess club, but it meets during lunch rather than after school. The JCC provides two after school care options (one is at Colfax, the other the kids take a bus to the JCC in Sq Hill after school).

2. this change isn't official until July 1, but the new guy is currently the acting principal. So far, so good. The new principal is a PELA resident, so he has been on campus all year and has come to all the PSCC meetings, etc. so all of us involved parents are already familiar with him (and seem ok with him).

3. Colfax is part of the district's in-school Gifted Pilot Program. This year we had a problem that the program was understaffed. To correct the problem for next year changes have been made. Grades K-5 will have all their instruction at Colfax, and grades 6-8 will be split: they'll have pullout classes at Greenway and push in at Colfax. If you want to know more about this, I suggest you stop by the school and get a copy of this month's Colfax PTO newsletter and read the meeting minutes from the last Gifted Pilot Meeting we had at Colfax with the District folks... there are a lot of details in there about what is going on (more than I can type here).

Sideblinded · 05-12-2011, 06:28 PM

PPS has "dedicated curriculum" which means the same, pardon me, subpar curriculum is being taught throughout the district. Colfax may have an advantage due to the gifted pilot program. Will PPS just let you move from Minadeo to Colfax?

Our youngest finished Minadeo last year, we got out in time. PELA's are not helping, hopefully Colfax will do well with one.

Sideblinded · 05-13-2011, 01:41 AM

I tried to edit my post, but I was unable to do so. As a rule PPS does not let parents pick a school out of their feeder pattern (other than magnet) unless that school has not met the federal guidelines to warrant a transfer request. Minadeo has not met the failing standards to warrant a simple transfer. However, the current principal actively recruited (gifted) students from Minadeo to pump up the stats. He is leaving, and I would not do anything unless I got it in writing from the current administration. BTW, the gifted pilot was/is a way to make the very vocal (Perfect example of WTG parents!) Colfax parents happy(ish) for a little while. The district has no interest in this other than to temporarily placate the community. *It will be gone or as this year went, understaffed to make it ineffective within 2 years if not sooner. *Just a guess.

Greenway is a money maker for PPS, kids from some private schools attend Greenway! Do the math, this is not about our kids.

It is unethical, unfair and political.

sun4384 · 05-13-2011, 03:00 AM

Thank you for all very informative replies! Yes, the district will not allow transfers just because I want them to move. What I'm relying on is called "Limited Open Enrollment", which is detailed in the following link:

Pittsburgh Public Schools News » Blog Archive » Pittsburgh King added to list of Limited Open Enrollment Opportunities Available at Select District Schools for the Start of the 2011-12 School Year

My kids will be 1st and 2nd graders in 2011-2022 school year. A problem is that there is no opening in the 2nd graders. I hope I can make a deal with the principal, so that both kids can get in.

So, the gifted students at Colfax does not go to Greenway at all? That's new to me. My son began to go there since Kindergarten, and he's been enjoying going there a lot. Currently gifted students at Minadeo go to Greenway, and on top of that they have pull-out classes at Minadeo. Maybe I need to visit Colfax to get more information about gifted education program there.

scrapp · 05-13-2011, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sideblinded

Our youngest finished Minadeo last year, we got out in time. PELA's are not helping, hopefully Colfax will do well with one.

What exactly is going on at Minadeo anyway?

I think they've got mixed results on PELAs. The Colfax EFA rep said at the last EFA district meeting that a bunch of parents from Lincoln showed up and hijacked the EFA meeting with complains to Dr. Lane about the Lincoln principal (who was a PELA, I think).

scrapp · 05-13-2011, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun4384

So, the gifted students at Colfax does not go to Greenway at all? That's new to me. My son began to go there since Kindergarten, and he's been enjoying going there a lot. Currently gifted students at Minadeo go to Greenway, and on top of that they have pull-out classes at Minadeo. Maybe I need to visit Colfax to get more information about gifted education program there.

As part of the Gifted Pilot Program, the district has placed 2 full time Gifted Resource Teachers at Colfax. The idea is to do the instruction in the home school rather than bussing to Greenway one day a week.

The problem with that this year at Colfax is that Colfax has too many gifted students for two teachers, so there is an overload. The district is addressing this problem by resuming sending grades 6-8 to Greenway while the K-5 remains with the two teachers we already have. That will get the student to teacher ratio back down to where it is supposed to be (or so the district claims!).