Sunday, September 28, 2003

My observations

I read with interest the report from the Mayor's Commission on Public Education ("Report Rips City Schools," Sept. 23). Let me initially explain that my wife is a teacher at a city high school, Peabody. I am the father of two daughters who graduated from the city school system and currently teach in the city school system. One daughter teaches English at Langley and the other teaches special ed at Pioneer Education Center. I worked as a county probation officer for more than 20 years and performed field work, visiting clients in the homes almost constantly for the final five years.

Therefore, I observed firsthand the poverty in which many city schoolchildren are raised. For various reasons, one-parent families were the norm rather than the exception. This brings me to what I believe is missing in the mayor's study.

Concerning the 66 percent of low-income students who cannot read at grade level and the 71 percent who are not proficient in math, does the study reflect how poorly the 66 percent and 71 percent performed when they initially entered the first grade or kindergarten? In other words, how much have they actually "improved" during their years in the city school system?

Obviously, I do not have those figures. But wouldn't that be more fair to everyone involved, especially the city school teachers, who -- at least from my observation -- work every night after school and evenings, correcting papers, preparing lessons, making telephone calls to parents, etc.

Therefore, any implication that the teachers who teach in the city schools are part of the problem, not the solution, is narrowminded, bigoted and not based in reality.

VINCENT KIRK
Overbrook

Voters must retain power
Let me get this straight: Mayor Tom Murphy creates a commission to "study" the school district, and its major recommendation is to exclude city voters and allow Murphy to handpick his own school board. Funny how that works, huh?

Think it has anything to do with Murphy getting his hands on that $83 million in school district reserves? You bet it does! He probably wants to build us a new stadium. Or maybe he just wants to squander it on other misguided, useless projects.

Giving Murphy control of the school board would be a disaster; he and his cronies have nearly bankrupted the city. The power to select board members must remain with the voters. It's the only way to keep Murphy from wasting our money.

DON SZEJK JR.
Regent Square

Reversing the crisis
The recent devastating findings from the mayor's task force investigating the Pittsburgh Public Schools demonstrates once again that poor student performance is not necessarily related to how much money we spend on education. Student performance is poor in Pittsburgh despite huge expenditures on education ($11,651 per pupil).

This flies in the face of the popular notion promoted by special interest groups that we must spend even more on education to improve student performance.

Despite more than 30 years' experience of spending more and more on education while student test scores continue to decline, many self-righteous "experts" still insist that we are still not spending enough. This is why legislators in Harrisburg are considering yet another proposal to raise taxes to increase school funding, which is being touted by some as "the" solution to the school crisis.

Why doesn't anyone in public office have the courage to say, "Hey, wait a minute; poor student performance is really being caused by lack of discipline in schools, which allows a few bad apples to disrupt the learning experience of the majority"?

The lack of discipline is due to misguided laws and court rulings on corporal punishment and discipline that have handcuffed teachers and administrators from effectively dealing with those disruptive students who hold the learning process hostage.

Poor performance is also caused by discontinuing teaching phonics and experimenting with the so-called new math, both of which have served only to confuse young minds. And declining student test scores are also due to irresponsible parents who fail to instill in their children the importance of hard work and a good education. Dealing creatively with these root causes in a common-sense manner would not be expensive but would go a long way to reverse our educational crisis.

As long as our educational system panders to the shrill minority with a left-wing agenda or to those who profit from the increased spending, all the fancy school buildings will do nothing to ensure that students go on to get good jobs.

DAVID MAJERNIK
Plum

Losing focus
Mayor Murphy Tom should be centering his efforts on creating long-term economic growth and on bringing back the semblance of fiscal responsibility instead of attempting a blatant power grab.

The city and region are at a crossroads of continuing our 20-plus years of decline or getting us all back on the path to sustainable growth. The mayor's efforts would seem to be pushing the city and the region toward continued decline by distracting the city, the school district and state officials from their distinct roles and jobs in the region.

Focus on what you were elected to do, Mr. Mayor.

JEREMIAH DUGAN
Brookline

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