Wilkinsburg schools to take out $3M loan (Pittsburgh: school district, tax rates)

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

You can't due to the majority of one district being a minority. That would come off as being prejudicial. Imagine if Edgewood said, hey we are done with this crap and we are going back to the way it was. The outcome would be Edgewood homes would skyrocket overnight and on the flip side... well I will leave that vision up to those that want to imagine it.

AFAIK, Edgewood cannot do anything to change its school district due to the court order. It may be able to join PPS, under the rationale that it's leaving one racially-mixed district for another. The trade-off would be worth it in terms of lower taxes, access to the magnets, being in the Allderdice feeder, and the Pittsburgh Promise. That said, I think the only way they could assuredly be kosher regarding the court order was if they just folded into Pittsburgh wholesale.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Regarding Duquense school district, there is only one option: West Mifflin. There is no bridge connecting it with East Allegheny across the river, and it wouldn't make much sense to merge it with McKeesport Area either. Given West Mifflin isn't that great of a district either, I think it's hard to argue allowing the K-8 students at Duquense to go there would make it appreciably worse.

Seems like good sense.

I've argued for awhile that if Wilkinsburg went into PPS, the logical breakdown would be along the busway, with the portions west going to Allderdice, and east going to Westinghouse. An Allderdice feeder would really help already redeveloping segments of Wilkensburg fully take on the "East End" vibe, and help Wilkinsburg's general finances quite a good deal (much lower taxes would help too of course). And while Westinghouse isn't a good school, it's no worse than Wilkinsburg, and at least doesn't have dire financial troubles facing it every single year. Plus the magnet system would be an option for all of Wilkinsburg as well.

A PPS-WSD merger has plenty to recommend it. As an idea, it's been kicked around for awhile, not just here on CD but in the real world. Obviously, it's easier to achieve in theory than in practice.

As a practical proposition, the first step will be electing a Wilkinsburg school board committed to the idea that the status quo is unsustainable and willing to look seriously at all options. I think all members of the current board understand there are problems, but not all are prepared to consider any and all solutions.

Secondly, the ideal board would have some expertise with legislative liaison. The WSD board in the past hasn't been made up of dummies, but it has generally lacked some areas of expertise, including what it takes to work with state legislators and Dept of Ed officials. And obviously, if there's any chance of avoiding an endgame like Duquesne's, working with Harrisburg people will be crucial.

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

AFAIK, Edgewood cannot do anything to change its school district due to the court order.

That wasn't the question from MLNorth. The question was why don't they try and overturn. The court order would just be what is challenged. There is such a thing as overturning court orders you know. In this case it would be wildly hard to do, but it would be the right thing to do. Small neighborhood schools would have kids walking to school and get back to a community feel again, not having kids bussed all around to a school that doesn't have much of anything to offer in the way of an education. The real result of the whole thing is a place like Edgewood had kids going to private schools or parents moving families to the suburbs. It is what it is, but it certainly was a very bad decision and compromised kid's educations as well us uprooting many families as well as creating more demand for private schooling.

[sealie]

The question from MLNorth, which was crystal clear to me, was that when the question is asked "why don't these guys merge", the response is "because of what happened in Woodland Hills, these people pay good money for their house and taxes so their kids can have nice schools, and be safe, and letting in the violent riff-raff from Wilkinsburg is detrimental to their education". The question he's asking is, why is the response never "The people from Wilkinsburg who are prepared to learn, and want to learn, can't learn. We should put them somewhere they can learn".
Personally I think it's understandable that parents are out to protect their own kids and their own property values first, that's just human nature. It's not a pretty part of human nature though.

[sealie]

Squarian, didn't you say something in the past about that, and about people running for the board that were more amenable to the possibility? Is there any way to find out who? Obviously they're not going to put into their platform that they're open to the idea of throwing in the towel, but there have to be hints somewhere.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

That wasn't the question from MLNorth. The question was why don't they try and overturn.

That absolutely IS NOT the question or the point I was posing.

Originally Posted by h_curtis

It is what it is, but it certainly was a very bad decision and compromised kid's educations as well us uprooting many families as well as creating more demand for private schooling.

The formation of Woodland Hills School District likely resulted in much better outcomes -- relative to what otherwise would have happened without the merger -- for the students of General Braddock School District, which probably would have had a fate similar to Wilkinsburg or Duquesne. My point is that those kids are too often excluded in the anti-merger arguments.

The perfect illustration is the quote above in which you point out that the merger was bad for Edgewood kids but fail to acknowledge that it was probably good for Braddock kids. Why do you choose one group of kids over the other?

[ML North]

Originally Posted by sealie

The question from MLNorth, which was crystal clear to me, was that when the question is asked "why don't these guys merge", the response is "because of what happened in Woodland Hills, these people pay good money for their house and taxes so their kids can have nice schools, and be safe, and letting in the violent riff-raff from Wilkinsburg is detrimental to their education". The question he's asking is, why is the response never "The people from Wilkinsburg who are prepared to learn, and want to learn, can't learn. We should put them somewhere they can learn".

Right.

Originally Posted by sealie

Personally I think it's understandable that parents are out to protect their own kids and their own property values first, that's just human nature. It's not a pretty part of human nature though.

Indeed. However, I'm just asking school district separatists who are not stakeholders on either side of the argument to explain their rationale for choosing one group of kids over the other.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by sealie

Squarian, didn't you say something in the past about that, and about people running for the board that were more amenable to the possibility? Is there any way to find out who? Obviously they're not going to put into their platform that they're open to the idea of throwing in the towel, but there have to be hints somewhere.

Four board seats (of nine total) are up for election this year. It's an important moment: up until now, several reform-minded candidates have stood, generally with the backing of Neighbors Unite Wilkinsburg, but momentum for a major effort at reform hasn't been reached. Gaining a majority committed to taking a broad view of the district's problems would be a major step forward.

Information on the present school board is available here.

One interesting point: whoever wins those four seats, the new board will be working with a new superintendent: the job ad is here. It's not all that surprising: the outgoing super, Archie Perrin, sounded rather weary and defeated in this article published last summer, and the recent developments addressed in this thread can only have speeded the decision to depart.

[sealie]

I think Curtis and I are in agreement over one thing - the Wilkinsburg school district is a drag on the whole town, even the upper middle class parts west of the busway. It's also not any kind of incentive for a young family to move into a Victorian that needs some money and some elbow grease to make it into what it (used to/could) be. Fix the school and tax situation and you drop an albatross from your neck. If that means Allderdice, then that's what it means. There are some houses west of the busway that have what could be showpiece homes with original woodwork and stained glass if the district lines were drawn differently, or for that matter, if they could attend ECS. The area is improving despite this.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Let me clue you in on something. Sharpsburg is one of the poorest districts in the county and they can go to FC Schools just like the kids that live on Squaw Run East. You can live in the FC district and own your own home for under $50K.

That's not the same thing as Wilkinsburg because there is no Squaw Run East. You have to have a mix of high and low income people so that you have a tax base to run the district and some parents who are themselves educated. That Sharpsburg students to well in FC Schools is an argument for merging poor districts with wealthier ones.