Pgh Public Schools to lay off a lot of people. Wow (Pittsburgh: school district, salary)

[gg]

Pittsburgh Public Schools Lays Off More Than 100 Employees « CBS Pittsburgh

[SteelCityRising]

I made a delivery today to the main Pittsburgh Public Schools Administration Building on South Bellefield Avenue in Oakland, and the atmosphere in there was tense, to say the least. The personnel at the front desk didn't want me to take the gift directly to the recipient due to the unrest. I suppose I arrived simultaneously to the point when the employees were finding out who was getting the ax.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

This is the beginning stages of the movie Idiocracy.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Pittsburgh Public Schools Lays Off More Than 100 Employees « CBS Pittsburgh

Post-Gazette has it laying off/furloughing 147. Cutting a total of 217 jobs.

Not good news, and only further illustrates the issues with city schools that have been brought up in the city-v-suburbs debate that's been going on here as of late.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

Post-Gazette has it laying off/furloughing 147. Cutting a total of 217 jobs.

Not good news, and only further illustrates the issues with city schools that have been brought up in the city-v-suburbs debate that's been going on here as of late.

This is going on in the suburbs too. It is the result of Corbett's budget cuts. There obviously is debate about whether or not the cuts are needed. At some point, I would like to think that the unions would care about their peers losing jobs but instead they would rather sacrifice jobs to preserve the status quo on salary and benefits. Students are suffereing because of this, as class size grows and activities are cut. Teachers jobs are getting harder because class sizes are getting bigger. My problem with unions is that is very difficult, if not impossible, to take something away when the circumstances change.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

Not good news, and only further illustrates the issues with city schools that have been brought up in the city-v-suburbs debate that's been going on here as of late.

I thought the standard city-bashing suburbanite argument was that the city schools were mismanaged and wasting money. Seems to me like such a person should see this as a positive development--unless, of course, the goal is just to bash the city no matter what happens.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

This is going on in the suburbs too. It is the result of Corbett's budget cuts. There obviously is debate about whether or not the cuts are needed. At some point, I would like to think that the unions would care about their peers losing jobs but instead they would rather sacrifice jobs to preserve the status quo on salary and benefits. Students are suffereing because of this, as class size grows and activities are cut. Teachers jobs are getting harder because class sizes are getting bigger. My problem with unions is that is very difficult, if not impossible, to take something away when the circumstances change.

Yep. My school taxes just took a substantial hike while my district didn't really make any cuts. Less funding from Harrisburg? Great, let's pass it on to the taxpayers instead of trying to tighten our belts.

[Bong477]

The article states they are not cutting any significant number of teachers, its mostly admin type jobs. I don't want to see people lose their jobs if they don't deserve it, but got to make hard choices to bring spending under control. I am not an expert on PPS admin but I'd imagine if it runs like every other government agency there is a fair amount of overhead that could be cut without impacting the end product.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I thought the standard city-bashing suburbanite argument was that the city schools were mismanaged and wasting money. Seems to me like such a person should see this as a positive development--unless, of course, the goal is just to bash the city no matter what happens.

From the article, it seems that most of the cuts were in the central office, as opposed to teachers, so that is positive. But from John Q. Public's perception, cuts in an ailing school district doesn't add to the appeal.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

Yep. My school taxes just took a substantial hike while my district didn't really make any cuts. Less funding from Harrisburg? Great, let's pass it on to the taxpayers instead of trying to tighten our belts.

As the suburbs age you'll be seeing a whole lot more of that – and not just with schools.