Current News
Legislation will take hard look at schools
Plan focuses on struggling districts
Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 31, 2009
State Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola, R-Dauphin, yesterday said he'll introduce legislation to take a firmer line with low-performing school districts, warning that may involve closing some schools and dissolving some districts.
Mr. Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said other options include merit pay for teachers and administrators, converting struggling schools into charter schools and bringing in outside management groups.
Some of the language reflects the U.S. Department of Education's get-tough stance in inviting states to compete for $4 billion in Race to the Top funds.
Mr. Piccola said another option is requiring troubled districts to open accelerated learning academies, a concept he borrowed from the Pittsburgh Public Schools. In 2006-07, Pittsburgh opened eight academies with special programs and a longer school day and year.
While Mr. Piccola's bill would focus on districts that have repeatedly failed to meet the federal performance standard known as "adequate yearly progress," it also would give new scrutiny to districts that have just one or two bad years.
"It's time we realize that when our children fail, it's often because the system has failed," he said in a statement. "We must act to provide the children of Pennsylvania's lowest-performing school districts with the education they so very much need and deserve."
Karen Seivard, Education Committee counsel, said the bill likely will be introduced next month. She said she was not aware of companion legislation planned in the House.
Though the location had not been determined, a hearing on Mr. Piccola's bill was scheduled for Jan. 22 in Pittsburgh. City schools made AYP this year after missing the standard six years in a row.
A hearing also was planned for Harrisburg, where city schools have missed AYP for seven years.
Mr. Piccola's bill would create a new Education Empowerment Law, replacing the one enacted in 2000 and due to expire June 30.
The original law, which Mr. Piccola helped author, has funneled additional money to low-performing districts statewide so they could finance improvements.
Pittsburgh was a late addition to the list in 2006. Duquesne City School District and the Chester-Upland, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Reading districts also are on the list.
A handful of districts, including Aliquippa and Wilkinsburg, were on the list at one time and worked their way off of it. But Mr. Piccola isn't satisfied.
"Since the enactment of the Empowerment Law, there continues to be a lack of academic improvement in some of our urban school districts throughout Pennsylvania, most noticeably here in Harrisburg where citizens have grown more and more displeased and impatient with the consistent failure of the district," he said.
Under the bill, schools and districts failing to make AYP for eight years or more would be placed under the control of three-member "school reform commissions" reporting to the state secretary of education. The secretary could order the commission to close a school or dissolve a district.
Depending on how many years they've missed AYP, other schools and districts would face more moderate measures, such as merit pay for instructional employees, new charter schools and creation of accelerated learning academies. Mr. Piccola's staff heard about Pittsburgh's academies and believes they would be a viable option elsewhere, Ms. Seivard said.
Philadelphia, which already has a school reform commission and has missed AYP for seven years, would be exempt from the law.
It wasn't clear whether all of the sanctions would be new. A state Department of Education Web site says schools that have missed AYP for at least five years already are "subject to governance changes such as reconstitution, chartering and privatization."
Overall, Ms. Seivard said, the bill would attempt to force districts to take stronger action faster than before, so they don't falter for long periods. Under the bill, she said, a district would have to write an improvement plan after missing AYP only one year.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09365/1024743-298.stm#ixzz0bHGU1jTE
Friday, January 1, 2010
Renovations for new facility almost complete
Accel Cyber will be moving shortly into their new facility in January. Renovations are for the new facility is expected to be complete by January 9th. Expected move in date is slated for January 19th. It has been a long journey and the staff, parents and students are looking forward to the move.
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