Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by ux4.sp.cs.cmu.edu id aa07001; 30 Jun 99 16:12 EDT Date: Wed, 30 Jun 99 16:08:40 EDT From: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Pittsburgh schools X-UIDL: cd36cf5837941ecc15a97f735f5a043d Harry: may I respectfully suggest that you create a "schools" category and add the following to it? Below are collected comments on public and private schools in the Pittsburgh area. Thanks to all of you who responded and agreed to let me share your views! In case you're interested, I'm sending my two kids to Montessori Centre Academy in Glenshaw (private) again next year. It's a long drive from the east end, where I live (MCA is not eligible for busing, as are many private schools) but the school's strengths are a good match for my kids' needs. If I were to choose a public school, it sounds like East Hills may be the best elementary school in the Pittsburgh Public Schools based on the comments below. When reading the email below, note that some of the replies date from 1998, others from 1999. They're in semi-chronological order. Paul Heckbert ph@cs.cmu.edu ------------------------------ From: ph+@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Newsgroups: cmu.cs.general,cmu.misc.parents-network Subject: private and public elementary schools Date: 12 Feb 1998 22:48:04 GMT Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon My wife and I are trying to find the right school for our son, who will start Kindergarten in the Fall. I am most interested in hearing thoughts from parents who have had kids in the following schools: East Hills (public) McEwan Montessori Academy in Glenshaw Falk Winchester Thurston St Edmund's Academy Shadyside Academy What is good/bad about each of these schools? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 18:56:06 -0500 (EST) From: Marvin A Sirbu To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: private and public elementary schools We've had two kids at McEwan and have been very pleased. The facilities aren't much, but the teachers are absolutely first rate and the class size is small. Marvin Sirbu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 09:36:28 -0500 (EST) From: Roger.Dannenberg@cs.cmu.edu To: Paul Heckbert Subject: Re: private and public elementary schools Paul, We've been very happy with St. Edmund's Academy. We looked at a bunch of schools including most on your list. I really liked East Hills, and we might have ended up there, but we were on the waiting list and got in a week after Richard had started at St. Edmund's. We thought that was too late to make a change. Richard is in the 2nd grade now -- what I like is the teachers are very professional educators, happy to be there, supportive of one another, and they work very hard, especially with kids that need the most. There's a lot of emphasis on socialization and community behavior as opposed to straight academics, although the academics in all the schools we looked at seems to be very good. Richard's teacher said almost all of the 2nd grade was testing at the 4th grade reading level, and they have to work really hard with kids that come in from public schools after the 1st grade (I would tend to think that wouldn't apply as much to East Hills students). One thing I've been concerned about there is class sizes are variable and sometimes seem too large, but in the first grade when there were a lot of students, St. Edmund's found an assistant teacher working on and edu. degree. She was there almost full time and I think things worked out well. Ultimately our decision was guided by location: I walk or drive Richard to school on my way to CMU and Richard walks home with his non-driving sitter. I'm really glad we're not driving or bussing out to East Hills. Overall, I think Pittsburgh has a lot of good choices. Good luck. -Roger ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 11:28:58 -0500 (EST) From: Roger.Dannenberg@cs.cmu.edu To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools Paul, Feel free to post my email on St. Edmund's. We're still there and still happy. -Roger ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 13:10-EST From: peter.steenkiste@N2.SP.CS.CMU.EDU To: ph+@CS.CMU.EDU Subject: schools Paul, our daughter is currently going to St Edmund's and we are very happy with them. I don't have any particular insight in the relative value of the schools you list, but I will be happy to tell you more about St Edmund's, Peter ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 14:42-EDT From: peter.steenkiste@N2.SP.CS.CMU.EDU To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools Our son will also be going to St Edmund's this fall so we clearly still like it, Peter ------------------------------ To: Paul.Heckbert@hostess.graphics.cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools From: Gary Pelton Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 15:16:35 -0500 > My wife and I are currently looking > at various private schools for my son, who will be starting > Kindergarten in the fall. We're currently considering most > McEwan and the Montessori school in Glenshaw as our favorites. > Do you know anything about these or other good private schools in > the area? > > -Paul I looked at some of the possibilities when my first daughter entered kindergarten about 8 years ago. I also re-looked at all the possibilities when this same daughter left the Montessori school in Glenshaw last year. I'll try to relate the issues as I remember from the 2 experiences. Pre-Search: My daughter was at the Montessori School in Glenshaw for 1.2 years mainly for socializing with other kids. Kindergarten: My wife and I were turned off from our local Public School (Liberty) by the kindergarten teacher. My daughter was just sounding out words (we were doing this in October before she was 5) and we thought she might be bored with re-learning the alphabet (which is what the teacher talked about as her goal). This was the Spanish magnet program. After asking 3 times what the teacher would do with a child that might be able to read and being told 3 times that the teacher would put her in first grade if it were her child, we finally got it. This teacher couldn't handle our child in a way she and we would be comfortable with. Since we didn't want my daughter to be in first grade, we opted out of this program. We also checked the East Hills Public School, since we knew so many parents who sent their children there. East Hills has one of the most dynamic and interesting principals. His presence permeates the environment, making it a reasonable choice. At east hills, Laura could have gone to other classes for reading and math while spending most of the day with kids her age. The problem was we had to go through the lottery to get into East Hills, and we weren't comfortable with putting a 5 year old on at least a 45 minute bus ride every morning and night. We re-looked at Montessori Centre Academy (MCA). MCA was initially reccomended to us by Sharon Carver (the current head of the CMU children's school). She had done part of her PhD psychology work at Ellis, MCA and some other schools. The facilities were (and still are) sparse but that didn't bother us at the k-6 level. We liked the idea of multiple age groups in one class, and the flexiblity the multiple ages gave. We also liked the small class sizes. Finally if you go observe a class, we were amazed at the small amount of noise. The teacher's are firmly in control and able to help children who need help. We also looked at Winchester Thurston, and Ellis. They were both expensive (3x MCA) and seemed able to handle children with extra ability. In the end the cost of these schools didn't seem to be worth it at the Kindergarten level. Looking back on it, we probably should have looked at McEwan, Falk, St. Edmunds, and Carlow. From other conversations, I would put St. Edmunds in with Winchester Thurston and Ellis. John Anderson classifies Falk as a public school you pay for. However, alot of our friends like Falk, especially the fact that most of the parents are professor types. This means most of the parents have the same concerns. Last 7 years at MCA. Daughter #2 started at MCA 3 years after the first daughter, so we are still involved with the school. Overall, I think the small school setting has been very beneficial to Laura (my first daughter). Except for one year, she has gained in both her self-confidence and abilities. She is currently at Sewickley Academy, and is doing well. Though not as well as I would like her to do. The standardized tests MCA administers are poor. However, Laura took the CMITES test in third grade, an 8th grade test given to exceptional students, and scored about as well as an average 8th grader. This test just provided some independent assessment for me that Laura's scholastics were not suffering. I really didn't have any way to assess her scholastic progress, and as I'll address next 3rd grade was not a pleasant year. I want to address Laura's 3rd grade experience not to denigrate the school, but rather to describe the mechanisms that the school either has or lacks when problems arise. Laura had one poor teacher in 3rd grade. The teacher is no longer at MCA. The main problem seemed to revolve around, communication and attention. The communication problem revolved around Laura often not having a clear idea what was required for homework. I could go into details, however, my wife's and my feeling was, that in the third grade it is the teacher's responsibility to make sure the assignments are both clear and doable. Our interactions with the principal and teacher proved frustrating. However, the problems only arose in the second half of the year, and we were more frustrated than Laura was. She seemed fine. By the end of the year, Laura was headed for Mrs. Carlbloom's class and we were assured by the principal that we would never have to deal with this new teacher again (eg. for our other daughter). Not a great solution, but one can run into a single poor teacher in any school (this was this teacher's first year) and Laura seemed fine. This case showed me the importance of the principal, and how being able to get a rapport between the principal and parents is important. The principal at MCA is great with the kids, she has brought her years of experience to several kid problems we've had and resolved them wonderfully. Interacting with parents is not her strongest point. Our feeling has been that we just hit a poor year of an inexperienced teacher. With just a little more effort we could steer our youngest daughter's experience and get her the same benefits that our older daughter got without the same pain. 7th Grade We looked at Sewickley, Shadyside, Ellis, Winchester Thurston, St. Edmunds, Falk, and briefly at the Public Schools. I could go over this effort, but this letter is already overly long and it probably won't affect you for 7 more years. In the end, we picked Sewickley from Sewickley and Shadyside mainly because Laura liked Sewickley better. Laura liked Sewickley better because of all the schools where she knew people, Sewickley was the only school that her friends were still happy with their choice after a year. She extrapolated her prospects of being happy and picked Sewickley. Gary ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 16:04:26 -0500 (EST) From: Sally Sleeper To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: private and public elementary schools My son is in 3rd grade at Falk. He's been there since first grade, likes the school and seems to benefit from the small class sizes and small size of the school overall. I think he's being challenged academically but not with tons of homework like his 3rd grade friends in public school (his best friend goes to East Hills and has at least an hour or more of homework every night). The teaching is very creative and exciting with room for parent input. There are many +'s, if you want more info, just send email. On the minus side, the bureacracy is and always has been a problem -- the main problem is the disorganization. However, since the school is so small, it creates some exasperation (Why didn't I know about the book sale? etc.) but no major problems. Overall, lots of great teachers who seem to genuinely like their work, lots of opportunity for the kids to express themselves -- art, music, plays -- and strong academics. Sally Sleeper ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 12:28:04 -0400 (EDT) From: Sally D Sleeper To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools Paul, I look forward to seeing other responses to your email. Several parents I've spoken with consider Falk as more of a high-end public school as opposed to a typical private school. As in each case, finding the right school sometimes comes down to matching the environment with your kid's personality, and my son's teachers at Falk have made such an evironment for him. Good luck, Sally ------------------------------ To: ph+@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: private and public elementary schools Date: Mon, 16 Feb 98 13:14:11 EST From: Grace Rohrer My daughter went to kindergarten and first grade at St. Edmund's Academy. She really enjoyed the kindergarten--they have a nice open set up and area and a very nice student-teacher ratio. She attended first grade there also, and did very well. However, she was having trouble getting along with another student in the class and this went on for months. I only found out about it because of a note my daughter had written. I was surprised that in all the parent-teacher conferences I'd been to, her teacher never bothered to mention it to me. I ended up switching my daughter to Carlow College Campus School. They have an excellent student-teacher ratio and offer a strong curriculum similar to St. Edmund's. They do offer Catholic religious instruction, which was something I wanted--but they are not a diocesan school and are much more progressive than standard catholic schools. About half their enrollment is not Catholic. They have wonderful open airy classrooms and a very supportive nurturing environment. I thought I'd mention it as another option--they are located in Oakland. Good luck, Grace Rohrer ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 16:36:43 -0500 To: ph+@cs.cmu.edu From: Bernita Myers Subject: re: East Hills Hi Paul, Brad forwarded this to me. As he told you, we have been very pleased with East Hills, and I've been very actively involved there. Our two older boys (Ryan is now in 7th grade at Frick and Reid is in 4th grade at East Hills) have had really great experiences there. They have had many outstanding teachers; you know how people say that you are lucky if you have a few teachers in the course of your entire education who are really excellant? I have to say that both boys have already had several teachers that I would put into that very special category. In fact, Reid, each year so far, has had truly remarkable teachers, any one of them could be considered for a "Teacher of the Year" sort of award! Our twins, Ethan and Grant will start in kindergarten there next fall; if you do send your son, it would be nice to get together with your son so they'll have buddies. The principal, Mr. Nicklos is the main outstanding asset of the school. He is very involved with the school; I've had occasion to call there very early (6:30 AM) or very late (7:30 PM) and he has been there. He is very involved with parents and students, making personal calls to sort out problems. He takes parents' concerns very seriously; you can always talk to him about problems and he works very hard to solve difficulties. The same is true with teacher concerns, which makes him such an effective principal. Lest I sound like a one-woman fan club, I do not want to give the impression that the school has never had problems. Certainly there is no school that can say that. But what is more important than the problems, has been the complete and total willingness that Mr. Nicklos devotes to working everything out. And I have seen the same response from the teachers. Several years ago the Board of Ed set up a committee at each school to provide an extra level for parents to turn to if there were problems within the school. After a few years of literally doing nothing, the group decided to carve out a new place for themselves in the school; they were simply not needed as a go-between agent for problems between parents and the administration! What about academics? As I said, I feel as though there are excellant teachers there, and I have no doubt that Ryan and Reid have received a very solid, very good education. Aside from the core curriculum, the teachers have chosen additional materials such as The Heartwood program, or they have created their own enrichment programs; for example, the second grade focuses on famous artists in literature, social studies, and creative writing, as well as during art class. Last year, at the end of Ryan's 6th grade, there was a ceremony for children chosen to be in "The Beta Club" which is a national organization that requires academic excellance as a membership requirement. During the program, I idly started counting; of the 66 new 6th graders that were inducted, over half (34) were East Hills graduates! (And while East Hills alumni do represent a significant portion of the 6th grade population, they are far less than half.) I didn't realise that I would be writing a dissertation! I actually could go on and on - I haven't run out of good things to say about the school! Feel free to call me if you have any questions. (242-2723) -Bernita Myers ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 10:01:42 -0400 To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.cs.cmu.edu From: Bernita Myers Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools Hi Paul, [now, a year later, still using East Hills] I would like to add some things, especially about kindergarten. My twins had a phenomenal teacher and have had a wonderful year! If you ever want a school tour, let me know! I'm at school a lot. : ) Also, feel free to call if you have any questions. -Bernita ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 16:45:55 -0500 (EST) From: Ria David To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: private and public elementary schools Paul, It's not so much what is good or bad about the schools but what kind of child your son is in terms of the following: personality - outgoing, shy, aggressive (posititve, not negative connotation), or sensitive, is happy in large groups, or prefers small intimate groups. Learning style: how does he like to learn, what does he like to learn, does he like to be competitve, is he a self-starter, or does he need some motivation, push or incentive, is he a detail oriented child, or does he focus more on the general picture. We looked at East Hills, McEwan, Montessori, and Falk, and finally chose McEwan based on two years of soul searching and long, involved discussions with teachers, friends and family (particularly those with psychology and education backgrounds. I also personally 'interviewed'many different parents sending their children to different schools that we were interested in, always trying to figure out why they had chosen that particular school. And visited all the schools a number of times. Do I need to add that this was our first experience with school choice?! Feel free to email or even call me at home, 521-7421. Ria David ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 13:32:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Ria David To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools I would also add that assessing the match between child and school should also continue beyond the initial selection because sometimes the child will change to the point where after a couple of years a school no longer fits the need of a particular child. ------------------------------ From: ph+@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Newsgroups: cmu.misc.parents-network,cmu.cs.general Subject: compare Pittsburgh public schools Date: 29 May 1999 19:14:47 GMT I'm trying to decide where to move and I'd like to hear comparisons among the Pittsburgh schools in Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and surrounding areas, particularly the public elementary schools Colfax, Liberty, Linden, Minadeo, and East Hills. Comparisons to more distant school districts (e.g. the highly regarded Mt. Lebanon or Fox Chapel schools) or to private schools would also be helpful. Personal anecdotes (e.g. "my son hated it"), hard facts, and especially inter-school comparisons are welcome. If you email me a response, as opposed to posting, let me know if I can share it publicly. -Paul ph@cs.cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 May 99 18:57:37 EDT From: Jaime Carbonell To: ph@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Public Schools Paul, I sent my 3 kids to Pittsburgh Public Schools (Liberty elementary, Frick middle, and Schenley HS). 2 graduated and are now at CMU and Oberlin. The third is in Schenley's international baccalaureate (IB) program. In general, PPS are good IF and ONLY IF the kids go through the top academic programs (e.g. magnet language specialities -- CAS -- international bac.). For the former, the bus will pick them up to go to the magnet school for which they are registered (one for French, one for Spanish, one for German) -- so if you are inside Pgh city limits, the actual neighborhood is secondary. How do Pittsburgh Public schools compare with Mt Lebanon? The "average kids" program is worse. Clearly worse. The scholar's programs are comparable and IB in particular may be superior. Best, --Jaime ------------------------------ From: donpaul@cs.cmu.edu To: Paul Heckbert Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 20:45:36 -0400 look into: The Waldorf School - This is a national (international?) chain of private schools. While I do not myself have children, I know several people that will not live in a city if it does not have one of these. There is one in Pittsburgh, I believe in the South Hills. All of the kids I have known to attend there loved it. I believe the teacher stays with the children for their entire elementary school years. Its rather unconventional, but I would encourage you to give them a call for information. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 May 99 16:42:07 EDT From: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU To: Paul Heckbert Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools The daughter of a friend of mine went to East Hills Elem. and is now at Frick Mid. and she's planning to go to Allderdice (not a magnet) rather than Schenley (a magnet) High School, because she thinks the former is better in math and science. When she was looking at elementary schools, she didn't like the Colfax kindergarten teacher (this was 7 years ago). She's been quite happy with East Hills and Frick, except for occasional teachers that don't get along with her daughter, which you're likely to find at any school, public or private, she thinks. The bus ride from Squirrel Hill to East Hills school was about 40 minutes, but apparently for some kids the bus ride is their favorite part of their school day! Regarding the suburban schools, she says they don't work out for everyone: a friend of hers moved to Mt. Lebanon for the schools, they disliked it to the point that they ended up sending their kids to a private school in Pittsburgh from their home in Mt. Lebanon. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 11:00:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Andi Kaufman To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Hi Paul, My son went to east hills. It is a wonderful. the best schools I have ever seen. The teachers are incredible. I now homeschool but it isnt cause of the school. Good luck. Andi Kaufman tl2b+@andrew.cmu.edu mom to Isaac 8/23/90 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 21:15:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Dean K Jackson To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Excerpts from cmu.misc.parents-network: 29-May-99 compare Pittsburgh public s.. by Paul Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu > Comparisons to more distant school districts (e.g. the highly regarded > Mt. Lebanon or Fox Chapel schools) or to private schools would also be > helpful. I'm from the area; I grew up thirty miles southeast of Pittsburgh. I was in a program that sent students to other schools for varying competitions. From all of the schools I've seen, make sure that you look at Upper Saint Clair and Mt. Lebanon. The students there never seem to lack for opportunity. Dean ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 10:22:37 -0400 From: "Kathryn L. Baker" To: Paul Heckbert Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Curious that you didn't mention Homewood Montessori on your list -- we have been extremely happy with this Pgh Public School. Some folks are even surprised to find out that it is a public school. I live in walking distance of Linden, and for me that was just not an option after I visited Homewood. email any questions. btw, I think that, of all the schools you mentioned, my first choice would be Minadeo. I never actually visited that school, since it is not a magnet, and I don't live there. But the word-of-mouth on that school is pretty good, and I think it may be more cohesive than E. Hills, for what it's worth, since it really is a neighborhood school. I know they have a great chess team! Kathy ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 12:02:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Larisa Goldmints To: Paul.Heckbert@cs.cmu.edu (Paul Heckbert) Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Hi Paul, I live in Colfax school district. When it was time to send daughter to school, we could not send her there. We decided that any other school would probably be better. Minadeo was a good school because of the principal. Last year the principal left, but the school will remain good for at least several years. (However, our friend moved to Fox Chapel and told that her son and she both like Fox Chapel school better then Minadeo). Everyone is satisfied with Linden, but you should either live in the close vicinity or win the lottery there, because it's a magnet school. I personally don't like the principal in Linden. The other magnet school we considered is Homewood Montessori. It's a great school, I liked most of the teachers and the principal very much. But the school is located in Homewood, which is not a safe neighborhood. We ended up in Jewish private school (CDS), where the principal from Minadeo is working now. What to look for when you choose a school: Principal. He is the one who determines the spirit of school (if any), and whether the school is good or bad in all the aspectes, including academics. Location. Availability - can you get there for the coming school year if you move now, or do you need a lottery in October - November. Schedule. Colfax (public school) turns out to be more expensive for us than any private school. They had kindergarden somewhere from 12:15pm to 2:25pm. A family of two full-time graduate students could not afford to pay that much for babysitter in the morning and afterschool program in the afternoon. Afterschool programs. Some schools have them (Minadeo, Linden), some don't. The quality of afterschool programs is poor by definition. It's usually overcrowded and noisy. I couldn't do any homework there. I would recommend investigate the afterschool program carefully, or try to arrange a babysitter. Good luck, Larisa ------------------------------ From: anonymous1 Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 13:20:47 -0400 To: Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Pittsburgh schools Paul.Heckbert@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU wrote: > Did you compare the Homewood Montessori to other schools? > Among the public schools, I've heard the strongest raves about > East Hills, and also some strong comments (but mixed) about Liberty, > but haven't heard much about Homewood Montessori before. To the extent that we visited all these magnets, yes, we compared them, but we never had our child enrolled in any other school. My son is just finishing 3rd grade and has been enrolled in Homewood since K. [discussion of several other schools omitted at authors' request] We thought that East Hills was appealing and made that our second choice. Homewood is a very small school -- limit of 26 kids *per grade level.* There is a lot of personal attention and the teaching staff is excellent. The fine arts are great. The art and music teachers work closely together. I could see that the art program at Homewood was going to be much better than the one at Linden, for example. They get lots of grants and do partnerships with the Children's Museum, Carnegie Museum, Linsly Environmental Center, etc. ------------------------------ To: Paul.Heckbert@hostess.graphics.cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: comparing schools Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 13:08:08 -0400 From: anonymous2 Paul, Our son went to East Hills and is graduating from Frick International Studies Academy (ISA) middle school this June. We've opted to put him into private high school for both educational and sports participation reasons as well as an antidote to the size of the public high school. He would have gone to Allderdice in the scholars / gifted program so this was a difficult decision. I think East Hills was a great experience, and as others have indicated, this is due to the principal and the staff of teachers that Mr Nicklos has assembled. Frick was ok, but I think my son spent a fair amount of time spinning his wheels educationally. The management and teachers were highly mixed in terms of teaching ability and management style. Given the demographics and selected population of students, Frick should do better. All in all i'm not as bullish on the public schools as I was 8 years ago. Most of the problems lie with the board of education and the residual topheavy management structure. However, I think that the magnet programs, especially the language/international studies magnet is as good or better than the variety of private school options for k-8. ------------------------------ To: ph+@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools Newsgroups: cmu.misc.parents-network,cmu.cs.general Date: Fri, 4 Jun 99 0:16:32 EDT From: sdc+@crackle.maps.cs.cmu.edu Paul, My daughter is graduating this term from Minadeo, which she has attended since third grade (three years). This school has been excellent, however it may have reached a local maximum for her grade, with a really excellent principal who left last year and a lot of really exceptional students in her class. The classroom student to teacher level is not great (28-33). I cannot compare Minadeo with other schools. Steve Cochran -- Steven Douglas Cochran, Digital Mapping Laboratory, Computer Science Department Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891, USA email: sdc+@cs.cmu.edu (Office/FAX) +1 412 268-5654/5576 (Home) +1 412 422-4350 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sdc Finger for PGP key: FEF092FD00679BC9338974CBFF61FCD4 ------------------------------ To: Paul Heckbert Subject: Re: compare Pittsburgh public schools From: dey@lns.ius.cs.cmu.edu Date: 08 Jun 1999 14:55:07 -0400 Professor Heckbert, > Colfax, Liberty, Linden, Minadeo, and East Hills. From my 2-semester of teaching experience at Linden Elementary, I felt it is a good school - I dont know the official rating and so on, but just based on my experience, the atmosphere seems academic (that is not so common/obvious in other schools) and creative and the teachers (based on experience with two or three class-teachers) seem to give a lot of individual attention to students. In front of class rooms they put up little essays and pictures and drawings of students to encourage them and so on. Unfortunately this is the only elementary school I volunteered for - cannot give a comparison on others. thanks, Joyoni