From the BCCT
Council backs plan to revitalize downtown
Forty-two percent of all residential properties in the borough are rentals.
By DANNY ADLER
A common theme in Morrisville’s new comprehensive plan is to revitalize the borough’s downtown and make it a focus of future economic development efforts.
The 156-page plan, which gained unanimous support from the borough council last week, also addresses housing issues in Morrisville, where 42 percent of all residential properties are rentals.
The plan was created by the borough and Bucks County planning commissions and serves as a policy guide to decisions regarding the town’s physical development. It makes dozens of recommendations.
“We’re trying to enhance the borough,” said council President Nancy Sherlock. However, she later added, the problem is that there isn’t a lot of room to build in Morrisville.
Councilwoman Jane Burger said many of the goals in the plan can be achieved “but not quickly.”
“All of these things probably won’t happen in 10 years, but we need to keep working toward that,” she said. “It’s a guideline. If you were doing a painting, I’d describe the comprehensive plan as the background. … It takes time.”
The plan says the borough can increase its tax base by attracting non-residential development. One such area to develop, the plan says, is south of Bridge Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Delaware Canal, which could serve as an extension to the downtown business district.
It also asks Morrisville officials to adopt form-based zoning that can control the design of the borough’s downtown. Form-based zoning codes, according to the Form-Based Codes Institute’s Web site, “address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks,” with less of a focus on land use.
As far as housing is concerned, the plan recommends Morrisville look at sources of funding for housing rehabilitation and explore creating a program to turn duplexes and other rental conversions back to single family, owner-occupied housing.
Sherlock said the borough has been taking some steps to revert rentals back to owner occupancy; when a house sells, it reverts back to single-family home ownership.
So many rental units increase transience and absentee landlords who “only care about the rent check,” Burger said.
Some other recommendations in the plan: develop community greening and gardening programs; update the borough’s 1999 open space plan; market the borough as a historic and an affordable town; establish a shade tree commission; require all new developments to plant trees along streets; designate a historic district; work with the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission to implement solutions to congestion problems.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"We’re Playing Games With People’s Lives"
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MPS has had their share of bad news, and now the school board is ready to cut and run. With $700,000,000,000 ready to bail out the bankers, who would notice another $100 billion for the schools?
Wouldn't that be a great idea? Instead of saddling future generations with debt that paid for salaries and perks and lunches, at least in this case it would be an investment in the future.
Sorry. There's no white knights here in this story. It's just another story where people in power play with people lives just because they can.
Nobody’s waiting to bail MPS out
Posted: Sept. 20, 2008
Eugene Kane
In a week when America’s financial markets experienced a meltdown, perhaps it shouldn’t have been that surprising to learn Milwaukee Public Schools was also apparently in dire financial straits.
Last week, a shake-up of major Wall Street firms sent shock waves through the stock market. The federal government announced a risky, multibillion-dollar bailout of endangered institutions amid concerns about the worst financial crisis in decades. With all that turmoil afoot, it was almost anticlimactic to learn the School Board had voted to look into ways to dissolve the public school system because of increasing financial problems.
Yes, that’s right; dissolve it.
Most folks knew things were bad at MPS; nobody suspected it was that bad. At least one board member, Michael Bonds, still isn’t convinced.
“I was outraged,” said Bonds, who left the room shortly after a 6-3 vote by MPS board members to consider options for dissolving the state’s largest school district. “Yes, that’s why I left the room.”
Bonds said he understood the daunting budget considerations that led to the vote. But as a new board member, he’s been encouraged by positive developments at MPS, such as restoring driver education courses, music and art curricula and other measures to address the poverty of some MPS students.
Instead of passing such a controversial resolution, he thought the board should have concentrated more on resolving budget problems.
“I think it was one of the most disgusting and cowardly acts I’ve ever seen,” he said during an interview. He noted that talks about dissolving MPS essentially meant discussing the future of more than 80,000 students and 13,000 district employees.
“It’s like we’re playing games with people’s lives,” he said.
Bonds, a university professor elected to the board in 2007 on a reform ticket, was skeptical anyone had really thought the measure through.
“What are we going to put in its place?” he asked rhetorically.
It’s comforting to know that Bonds didn’t agree with the high-stakes game of chicken that other board members and MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos appear to be playing with the public and legislators.
Frankly, even though local governments have taken over the schools in some cities, the results have been mixed. At least in New Orleans, they had a good reason: Hurricane Katrina.
In Milwaukee, the only natural disaster seems to be the failure of some local politicians and bureaucrats to deal with increasing costs and declining aid from the state to finance the state’s largest education system for the most at-risk minority students in Wisconsin. Even with all that, Bonds insists the district wasn’t at a crisis point yet.
“After all, we’re not talking bankruptcy,” he said.
There’s been talk of the City of Milwaukee taking over MPS, but Bonds thinks Mayor Tom Barrett isn’t serious about such plans. He also doubts if the city’s financial situation would be that much better.
“The city has its own problems,” he said.
There’s also some doubt whether the School Board can even dissolve the system on its own. According to state officials, the Legislature would have to get involved.
It makes you wonder if the School Board’s vote was nothing more than an attention-getting gimmick that caused unnecessary anxiety in some households. Bonds said “it’s already caused a panic” among some constituents he’s heard from.
Like others in town, Bonds worries that the amount of money spent on the school choice program in Milwaukee contributes to the district’s woes. He’s also concerned about political interference by members of the business community who strongly support more school choice and have ties to various School Board members.
That’s why he’s not willing to discount talk of dissolving MPS as just a scare tactic to get a solution for current budget problems.
“I have colleagues (on the board) who would love to see it,” he said. “There are lots of people in town who want control over our budget.”
It’s disheartening to realize the School Board has either decided to govern through fear by alarming parents, students and employees, or is seriously thinking about blowing up MPS in favor of something yet to be determined.
It’s time to consider innovative changes, renewed strategies for success and alternative funding sources for MPS, but dissolving the school district doesn’t seem like a good solution for thousands of students who depend on a stable educational system.
Unlike on Wall Street, if it fails, there will likely be nobody waiting to bail them out.
Wouldn't that be a great idea? Instead of saddling future generations with debt that paid for salaries and perks and lunches, at least in this case it would be an investment in the future.
Sorry. There's no white knights here in this story. It's just another story where people in power play with people lives just because they can.
Nobody’s waiting to bail MPS out
Posted: Sept. 20, 2008
Eugene Kane
In a week when America’s financial markets experienced a meltdown, perhaps it shouldn’t have been that surprising to learn Milwaukee Public Schools was also apparently in dire financial straits.
Last week, a shake-up of major Wall Street firms sent shock waves through the stock market. The federal government announced a risky, multibillion-dollar bailout of endangered institutions amid concerns about the worst financial crisis in decades. With all that turmoil afoot, it was almost anticlimactic to learn the School Board had voted to look into ways to dissolve the public school system because of increasing financial problems.
Yes, that’s right; dissolve it.
Most folks knew things were bad at MPS; nobody suspected it was that bad. At least one board member, Michael Bonds, still isn’t convinced.
“I was outraged,” said Bonds, who left the room shortly after a 6-3 vote by MPS board members to consider options for dissolving the state’s largest school district. “Yes, that’s why I left the room.”
Bonds said he understood the daunting budget considerations that led to the vote. But as a new board member, he’s been encouraged by positive developments at MPS, such as restoring driver education courses, music and art curricula and other measures to address the poverty of some MPS students.
Instead of passing such a controversial resolution, he thought the board should have concentrated more on resolving budget problems.
“I think it was one of the most disgusting and cowardly acts I’ve ever seen,” he said during an interview. He noted that talks about dissolving MPS essentially meant discussing the future of more than 80,000 students and 13,000 district employees.
“It’s like we’re playing games with people’s lives,” he said.
Bonds, a university professor elected to the board in 2007 on a reform ticket, was skeptical anyone had really thought the measure through.
“What are we going to put in its place?” he asked rhetorically.
It’s comforting to know that Bonds didn’t agree with the high-stakes game of chicken that other board members and MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos appear to be playing with the public and legislators.
Frankly, even though local governments have taken over the schools in some cities, the results have been mixed. At least in New Orleans, they had a good reason: Hurricane Katrina.
In Milwaukee, the only natural disaster seems to be the failure of some local politicians and bureaucrats to deal with increasing costs and declining aid from the state to finance the state’s largest education system for the most at-risk minority students in Wisconsin. Even with all that, Bonds insists the district wasn’t at a crisis point yet.
“After all, we’re not talking bankruptcy,” he said.
There’s been talk of the City of Milwaukee taking over MPS, but Bonds thinks Mayor Tom Barrett isn’t serious about such plans. He also doubts if the city’s financial situation would be that much better.
“The city has its own problems,” he said.
There’s also some doubt whether the School Board can even dissolve the system on its own. According to state officials, the Legislature would have to get involved.
It makes you wonder if the School Board’s vote was nothing more than an attention-getting gimmick that caused unnecessary anxiety in some households. Bonds said “it’s already caused a panic” among some constituents he’s heard from.
Like others in town, Bonds worries that the amount of money spent on the school choice program in Milwaukee contributes to the district’s woes. He’s also concerned about political interference by members of the business community who strongly support more school choice and have ties to various School Board members.
That’s why he’s not willing to discount talk of dissolving MPS as just a scare tactic to get a solution for current budget problems.
“I have colleagues (on the board) who would love to see it,” he said. “There are lots of people in town who want control over our budget.”
It’s disheartening to realize the School Board has either decided to govern through fear by alarming parents, students and employees, or is seriously thinking about blowing up MPS in favor of something yet to be determined.
It’s time to consider innovative changes, renewed strategies for success and alternative funding sources for MPS, but dissolving the school district doesn’t seem like a good solution for thousands of students who depend on a stable educational system.
Unlike on Wall Street, if it fails, there will likely be nobody waiting to bail them out.
2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad? Now It's 1 Out of 2.
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
In these days of mega-bailouts for mega-stupid financial decisions, this seems almost, well, reasonable. Try hard and you'll get 50%.
It's sort of like, a participation trophy to real life. You get half credit for respiration and a body temperature.
Yeah. Anyone try that with their boss lately? How did that turn out?
Hey, Mr. Landlord! I can pay 50% of the rent. Wait...Why are you throwing my stuff out the window?
Eyebrows raised over city school policy that sets 50% as minimum score
1+1=3? In city schools, it's half right
Monday, September 22, 2008
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say they want to give struggling children a chance, but the district is raising eyebrows with a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work.
The district and teachers union last week issued a joint memo to ensure staff members' compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said the policy is several years old.
While some districts use "F" as a failing grade, the city uses an "E."
"The 'E' is to be recorded no lower than a 50 percent, regardless of the actual percent earned. For example, if the student earns a 20 percent on a class assignment, the grade is recorded as a 50 percent," said the memo from Jerri Lippert, the district's executive director of curriculum, instruction and professional development, and Mary VanHorn, a PFT vice president.
In each subject, a student's percentage scores on tests and other work are averaged into a grade for each of the four marking periods. Percentages for marking periods later are averaged into semester and year-end grades.
A student receives an "A" for scores ranging from 100 percent to 90 percent, a "B" for scores ranging from 89 percent to 80 percent, a "C" for scores ranging from 79 percent to 70 percent, a "D" for scores ranging from 69 percent to 60 percent and an "E" for scores ranging from 59 percent to the cutoff, 50 percent.
The district and union insist the policy still holds students accountable for performance.
"A failing grade is a failing grade," district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said.
At the same time, they said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, Ms. Pugh said, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester.
"We want to create situations where students can recover and not give up," she said, adding a sense of helplessness can lead to behavior and attendance problems.
"It's not grade inflation. We're not saying, 'Give people passing grades,' " Ms. Pugh said.
But the policy strikes some teachers and parents as rewarding bad work and at odds with the district's "Excellence for All" improvement campaign.
"Clearly, some people will not be pleased with this policy," Mr. Tarka said. But he added, "We stand by that decision."
Judy Leonardi, a Stanton Heights resident and retired district home economics teacher, said she objected to the notion that a student could "walk in the door, breathe the air and get 50 percent for that."
"I don't think it sets kids up properly for college, for competition in life," she said.
To Ms. Leonardi, a 20 percent score means a student isn't trying or needs more help with the material. Automatically putting 50 percent in the grade book, she said, doesn't help the student in either case.
"To me, it's morally wrong," she said.
Ms. Leonardi worries that the policy could cause high-performing students to goof off from time to time, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn't have to bounce back from anything lower than a 50 percent.
And she said one teacher she knows already worries about how awkward it will look when a student correctly answers three of 10 questions on a math quiz -- and gets a 50 percent.
The state Department of Education doesn't regulate grading scales, and schools and districts across the state use various models. Districts nationwide have debated use of a 50 percent minimum.
Northside Urban Pathways, a Downtown charter school, gives students zero credit for any work below a "C." Linda Clautti, chief executive officer, said that approach complements the school's college-preparatory mission.
"I have not had any complaints. We do parent surveys every year," Ms. Clautti said.
In a recent article in Harvard Educational Review, Freedom Area School District Superintendent Ron Sofo recounted an experimental program that he said helped to dramatically raise the math scores of struggling sixth-graders. Among other features, the program included "A, B, Not Yet" grading, in which students were required to redo work until it merited an A or B.
Some Freedom Area teachers opposed the special grading scale, calling it coddling of bad students, Dr. Sofo said.
In suburban Philadelphia, a Bensalem School District task force on testing and grading has recommended that 50 percent be the minimum score a student receive.
Superintendent James Lombardo said he's in favor of implementing the idea, partly as a fairness issue. He noted that a failing grade carries far more mathematical weight than any other grade if the "E" or "F" has a range of zero to 59 percent.
"I guess I laud the Pittsburgh district for recognizing some of the foibles of our numerical system," he said, adding low percentage scores sometimes are given to students because of their attitude or work ethic, rather than their level of accomplishment.
Asked whether she agreed with the 50 percent minimum, Regina Holley, principal of Pittsburgh Lincoln K-8 and president of the Pittsburgh Administrators Association, said: "Well, that's the board's policy, and that's what we have to use."
She said teachers and principals should take other steps to give parents a clearer picture of how their children are performing in class.
"Our school provides that to the parents in a conference. We provide it in a letter. We give it to the parents in a phone call," Dr. Holley said.
In these days of mega-bailouts for mega-stupid financial decisions, this seems almost, well, reasonable. Try hard and you'll get 50%.
It's sort of like, a participation trophy to real life. You get half credit for respiration and a body temperature.
Yeah. Anyone try that with their boss lately? How did that turn out?
Hey, Mr. Landlord! I can pay 50% of the rent. Wait...Why are you throwing my stuff out the window?
Eyebrows raised over city school policy that sets 50% as minimum score
1+1=3? In city schools, it's half right
Monday, September 22, 2008
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say they want to give struggling children a chance, but the district is raising eyebrows with a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work.
The district and teachers union last week issued a joint memo to ensure staff members' compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said the policy is several years old.
While some districts use "F" as a failing grade, the city uses an "E."
"The 'E' is to be recorded no lower than a 50 percent, regardless of the actual percent earned. For example, if the student earns a 20 percent on a class assignment, the grade is recorded as a 50 percent," said the memo from Jerri Lippert, the district's executive director of curriculum, instruction and professional development, and Mary VanHorn, a PFT vice president.
In each subject, a student's percentage scores on tests and other work are averaged into a grade for each of the four marking periods. Percentages for marking periods later are averaged into semester and year-end grades.
A student receives an "A" for scores ranging from 100 percent to 90 percent, a "B" for scores ranging from 89 percent to 80 percent, a "C" for scores ranging from 79 percent to 70 percent, a "D" for scores ranging from 69 percent to 60 percent and an "E" for scores ranging from 59 percent to the cutoff, 50 percent.
The district and union insist the policy still holds students accountable for performance.
"A failing grade is a failing grade," district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said.
At the same time, they said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, Ms. Pugh said, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester.
"We want to create situations where students can recover and not give up," she said, adding a sense of helplessness can lead to behavior and attendance problems.
"It's not grade inflation. We're not saying, 'Give people passing grades,' " Ms. Pugh said.
But the policy strikes some teachers and parents as rewarding bad work and at odds with the district's "Excellence for All" improvement campaign.
"Clearly, some people will not be pleased with this policy," Mr. Tarka said. But he added, "We stand by that decision."
Judy Leonardi, a Stanton Heights resident and retired district home economics teacher, said she objected to the notion that a student could "walk in the door, breathe the air and get 50 percent for that."
"I don't think it sets kids up properly for college, for competition in life," she said.
To Ms. Leonardi, a 20 percent score means a student isn't trying or needs more help with the material. Automatically putting 50 percent in the grade book, she said, doesn't help the student in either case.
"To me, it's morally wrong," she said.
Ms. Leonardi worries that the policy could cause high-performing students to goof off from time to time, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn't have to bounce back from anything lower than a 50 percent.
And she said one teacher she knows already worries about how awkward it will look when a student correctly answers three of 10 questions on a math quiz -- and gets a 50 percent.
The state Department of Education doesn't regulate grading scales, and schools and districts across the state use various models. Districts nationwide have debated use of a 50 percent minimum.
Northside Urban Pathways, a Downtown charter school, gives students zero credit for any work below a "C." Linda Clautti, chief executive officer, said that approach complements the school's college-preparatory mission.
"I have not had any complaints. We do parent surveys every year," Ms. Clautti said.
In a recent article in Harvard Educational Review, Freedom Area School District Superintendent Ron Sofo recounted an experimental program that he said helped to dramatically raise the math scores of struggling sixth-graders. Among other features, the program included "A, B, Not Yet" grading, in which students were required to redo work until it merited an A or B.
Some Freedom Area teachers opposed the special grading scale, calling it coddling of bad students, Dr. Sofo said.
In suburban Philadelphia, a Bensalem School District task force on testing and grading has recommended that 50 percent be the minimum score a student receive.
Superintendent James Lombardo said he's in favor of implementing the idea, partly as a fairness issue. He noted that a failing grade carries far more mathematical weight than any other grade if the "E" or "F" has a range of zero to 59 percent.
"I guess I laud the Pittsburgh district for recognizing some of the foibles of our numerical system," he said, adding low percentage scores sometimes are given to students because of their attitude or work ethic, rather than their level of accomplishment.
Asked whether she agreed with the 50 percent minimum, Regina Holley, principal of Pittsburgh Lincoln K-8 and president of the Pittsburgh Administrators Association, said: "Well, that's the board's policy, and that's what we have to use."
She said teachers and principals should take other steps to give parents a clearer picture of how their children are performing in class.
"Our school provides that to the parents in a conference. We provide it in a letter. We give it to the parents in a phone call," Dr. Holley said.
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