Is that Pittsburgh Public Asshat or Asshat Pittsburgh?

It's early this week, and not without competition. Certainly the John McCain for President campaign had an Asshat worthy week, what with the resignations of the campaign's top two people, McCain blaming his poor showing on "gay sweaters" and the head of his Florida campaign finding a new way to raise funds for the campain by offering to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer for $20 all within a 7 day span. As could be the parents who neglected their kids in lieu of playing video games to the tune of leaving the son in need of treatment for starvation and the daughter needing part of her head shaved because it was matted with cat urine. Certainly we have all seen the video by now (if you haven't, you go get it, I am not getting it for you) of the kid on ecstasy. Yet none are this week's Asshat. You, I am sure, are wondering why Matt, why are these not Asshat worthy?

Truth be told, most weeks any one of those could have been the winner (just where the hell were they a week ago anyway?), yet this week we tackle the fine realm of education in the land of the Asshat. It goes without saying that American schools have been less than stellar, consistently getting outperformed by their foreign counterparts. Places like Washington DC continually spend over $17,000 a year per pupil, and yet results get worse, not better. In Pittsburgh we are only slightly better, spending in the ballpark of $14,000 a year, yet nearly half of all African American students never see graduation. Obviously money can not be the sole solution for what ails the public schools. Fear not however, the Pittsburgh Public Schools decided to seek the help of consultants to see what could be done to fix the image of what can best be described as an educational system in need of plenty of work. And how praytell are we to make the public schools here in the city of Pittsburgh better you ask? We will just quit calling them public schools!!!!!!!!! Check please, that's an Asshat!

Pittsburgh schools drop 'public' from name to boost image

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Public Schools will drop "public" from its name and adopt a new, standardized way of referring to its schools as part of a campaign to brighten and strengthen the district's image.

For example, Schenley High School will be called Pittsburgh Schenley.

Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's staff unveiled the policy at a school board Education Committee meeting last night.

Under the policy, the district simply will call itself the "Pittsburgh Schools." The district's logo -- a pattern of circles, triangles and squares -- will still be used.

But the district also will begin using "Excellence for All," the name of its sweeping academic-improvement plan, on all stationery and other written materials. "Excellence for All" has its own logo with a gold swirl and star.

Lisa Fischetti, chief of staff, said the district isn't changing its legal name or the legal names of its 65 schools, it's just introducing a new way of referring to them. She said the new policy complements Mr. Roosevelt's efforts to remake the district academically and boost its image.

Under the new policy, Sterrett Classical Academy will be called Pittsburgh Sterrett. But the school's traditional name still will be used -- albeit in smaller print -- on stationery and other printed materials.

School board members offered little reaction to the policy, which does not require board approval.

By dropping "public" from its name, Randall Taylor said, the district might be able to avoid the negative attitude often associated with public schools.

Ms. Fischetti noted that suburban districts don't have "public" in their names, and a marketing consultant who helped develop the policy, Meade Johnson, said the district is less interested in the "public" tag than in linking its identity to the "Excellence for All" agenda.

By adding Pittsburgh to the identity of each school, Ms. Fischetti hopes the public will come to associate a level of quality with every school in the district. Ms. Fischetti said the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has developed that sort of customer respect by attaching its acronym, "UPMC," to its member hospitals throughout the region.

Ms. Fischetti said she had no timetable for implementing the name changes.

Also, the district last night announced plans to upgrade its parent hotline into a "customer service center," another initiative aimed at boosting the district's image.

The plan includes better training for operators, the ability to send out thousands of phone messages or e-mails at once and a standard turnaround time for responding to parent complaints.

The district also said it was forming a committee to revise its curriculum on human reproduction. Mr. Roosevelt said the group will study the possibility of adding contraception to the curriculum. Currently, that subject is raised only in presentations by outside agencies. Students must have their parents' consent to attend those sessions.