Everyone's got themselves all riled up because Mark Roosevelt has proposed a plan to close and relocate programs from certain schools, most notably Pittsburgh Schenley in Oakland. This is all part of a larger plan to retool PPS from the ground up. While Pittsburgh Schenley is a good school in a good location, and it will certainly be missed for many of its good factors, moves like this are needed to move PPS forward.
Now, I understand pride in one's high school. But people have to realize, the moves that are being made by Roosevelt are being done to improve the overall quality of the school district. Using the closing of Pittsburgh Schenley as a lightening rod to condemn the whole plan is both ridiculous and myopic.
I have heard Roosevelt speak last year, at the Pittsburgh Foundation. He's smart, innovative, and uses deep studies of educational problems to find correct solutions. I'm certain that the plan he has proposed is something that, while it will be tough for students in the short run, will help to make the district successful in the long run. That is what is important to Roosevelt, and really, what should be important to all Pittsburghers. The public school system that is in place right now is an artifact of a different time for our city, and serious reforms, like what Roosevelt has proposed, are needed to move us forward.
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I agree. Mark Roosevelt's plans are going to cause some pain, and it can seem callous in the short term. However, it is one of the few well thought-out, researched and aggressive plans to correct for the state we find ourselves in these days. In Pittsburgh government there are plenty of plans with years of research, but no action, and plenty of plans with action but no logical process to back it up. This is a refreshing change. The foundations have backed this process because it's right, albeit unpopular with many. Hard work will pay off, let's hope those who take the brunt of the short term negatives will find ways to succeed along with the program in the long run. The whole city will be better for it.
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