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City Briefs: 1/9/02
Wednesday, January 09, 2002
Some city school board members asked Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators last night to look into how the code of student conduct could be changed to allow students to bring cell phones to school.
Currently, students are not allowed to bring phones to school. If they are caught with them, the phones are taken away, then returned at the end of the day or to parents at a later time.
During an Education Committee meeting, board member Jane Wood asked the board and district officials to consider changing the policy since students often have cell phones because their parents want to be able to contact them, especially in emergency situations. She said the district could require the students to keep the phones turned off during classes.
Deputy Superintendent Paula Butterfield said that, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she has gained new appreciation for the way cell phones allow people to get in touch quickly, when needed.
But board members Mark Brentley Sr. and Randall Taylor said they didn't think phones should be allowed. They said most students wouldn't follow rules to keep phones turned off, causing disruptions.
Taylor added that he might support allowing students to keep the phones in lockers during the school day, but school officials shouldn't make a policy based on an atypical situation.
Wood suggested members submit ideas and concerns to district officials to compile and bring before the entire school board later for additional discussion.
Prostate cancer expert Dr. Donald "Skip" Trump will be leaving the post of deputy director of clinical investigations at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
He will be the institute's chairman of medicine and senior vice president for clinical research. Until July 1, he will split his time between Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Candace Johnson, deputy director for basic research, will also be leaving UPCI to become Roswell Park's senior vice president for translational research.
The Hillman center is UPCI's new 335,000-square-foot home, now under construction next to UPMC Shadyside. Dr. William Chambers has been appointed interim deputy director for basic research.
A man apparently armed with a gun robbed a Parkvale Savings Bank in Oakland yesterday morning, making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Pittsburgh police Sgt. Walter Long said the man entered the branch on the 3500 block of Forbes Avenue and asked a teller for money. She turned over the cash and told detectives she saw a gun in his coat pocket.
The robber is described as a light-skinned black man with a scruffy, white beard. He was wearing glasses, a dark brown hat and a long, tan trench coat.
Robert V. Barth, chief deputy clerk of U.S. District Court, will take over the top position of clerk of court Feb. 4. He succeeds James A. Drach, who is retiring.
Barth has held various positions in the clerk's office for the last 23 years.
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