Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Addition by Subtraction? Not in this Case
The Pittsburgh Public Schools is going to re-brand itself. Thankfully, they aren’t adding words to the title like the regional marketing initiative from a few years back. Instead, they are simply dropping the public tag from its title, renaming individual schools with the word Pittsburgh in front of it, and focusing on achieving “excellence for all”.
If it were only that easy. The problem is not with the name but with the product and its claim that it can produce excellence for all students. The district is already spending upwards of $18,000 per student and enrollment is on the decline. One board member noted that maybe some of the negative connotation with public schools might dissipate if the district takes on the new name (which, by the way, is not a legal change) like suburban districts do.
Let’s face it: people with school age children know that Pittsburgh schools are public schools just the way they know that Fox Chapel, Quaker Valley, and Mt. Lebanon are public schools. The difference is that the performance in Pittsburgh’s schools is severely lacking in comparison to these districts and is a primary cause of the exodus from the city.
While we applaud some of the changes the district has made in closing schools and trying some alternatives, this latest effort is more sizzle than steak. And it is far past the time when feel good cosmetic changes to have any positive effect.
If it were only that easy. The problem is not with the name but with the product and its claim that it can produce excellence for all students. The district is already spending upwards of $18,000 per student and enrollment is on the decline. One board member noted that maybe some of the negative connotation with public schools might dissipate if the district takes on the new name (which, by the way, is not a legal change) like suburban districts do.
Let’s face it: people with school age children know that Pittsburgh schools are public schools just the way they know that Fox Chapel, Quaker Valley, and Mt. Lebanon are public schools. The difference is that the performance in Pittsburgh’s schools is severely lacking in comparison to these districts and is a primary cause of the exodus from the city.
While we applaud some of the changes the district has made in closing schools and trying some alternatives, this latest effort is more sizzle than steak. And it is far past the time when feel good cosmetic changes to have any positive effect.
