Archive for October, 2013

PG logo

Moving students out of Franklin Elementary School in Franklin Park to relieve crowding will be a challenge, North Allegheny School District administrators have told board members.

Most of the Franklin students live very close to the school, Roger Botti, supervisor of transportation and operations, told the board at its Oct. 23 meeting.

That means that many of them would have to travel farther to school than they do now, he said.

To read more, click here.

Related Posts:

Redistricting and Projections October 25, 2013

Erroneous Enrollment Projections May 15, 2013

The ballot for the November 5th election is shown below. The candidates endorsed by SaveNASchools have a check mark next to them.  Scott Russell, Tara Fisher and Ralph Pagone are running for 4-year terms.  Kevin Mahler is running for a 2-year term.

Please share this with other NA residents, friends, and family members.

ballot.final

click for ballot

Candidate Kevin Mahler

Posted: October 29, 2013 in Community Information
Tags:

Kevin Mahler is an NA parent, business professional, and 18-year district resident.

NA Parent: Kevin’s daughter is a 2010 NA graduate (now at NYU).  His son is a Senior at NASH (honors student, co-captain of the NA soccer team, and Boy Scout).

Business Professional: Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a Marketing Research Director for Schmidt Consulting.

18-year District Resident: Kevin’s wife is a local pediatrician with a Wexford office.  Kevin has coached several NA recreational sports teams, been an active member of his neighborhood’s homeowner association, and a regular attendee at NA board meetings.

To learn more about Kevin and his platform, please visit www.kevinmahler.com.

At the school board meeting on Wednesday night, the administration presented two preliminary redistricting scenarios.

SaveNASchools believes that, prior to redistricting students, the administration needs to:

  1. acknowledge increasing enrollment trends, and
  2. adopt a new projection model

If the redistricting plan is not based on a model that accurately reflects enrollment trends, it will limit the district’s ability to administer equitable class sizes across all buildings.

Last year, the administration recommended closing Peebles Elementary School based on a projected decline in elementary enrollment in McCandless.  This year, there was a 60 student increase across Peebles (+15), Hosack (+20), and McKnight (+25).

The projection model used by the district to make 5-year enrollment forecasts has consistently underestimated actual enrollment.  In 2008, the district predicted an elementary enrollment of 3,182 students for the 2013-14 school year—400 students below the third-day enrollment of 3,582 students.

Oct 25 Chart1 elementary-page-001

SaveNASchools has endorsed candidates who are focused on improving projection models and creating more transparency around the board’s decision-making processes.  Please visit www.movenaforward.com to learn more.

Post-Gazette.com

Students in all seven elementary and three middle schools in the North Allegheny School District will be affected by a proposed redistricting plan.

Roger Botti, supervisor of transportation and operations, told school board members Wednesday that two plans are being considered, and each would move approximately 400 students.

To read more, click here.

Related posts:

Redistricting Scenarios: Balancing Enrollment Versus Closing Peebles (Posted: March 15, 2013)

SaveNASchools encourages residents to attend the school board meeting this Wednesday, October 23rd at 7pm.  The meeting will be held in the Central Administrative Office Board Room.

This is the last school board meeting before the election.

Residents interested in registering to speak can do so by contacting School Board Secretary Rose Mary Ryan at rryan@northallegheny.org or 412-369-5437.

If you will not be present to vote on November 5, you will need to obtain an Absentee Ballot to cast your vote. The deadline to apply for an Absentee Ballot is Tuesday, October 29th.

Applications for Absentee Ballots are available at the Allegheny County Elections Division, Room 601 of the County Office Building, located at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Ross Street downtown. For more information, you may call (412) 350-4520. Regular business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You may also obtain an application from the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site. There you may download, print, complete, sign and send the form to:

Attn: Absentee Voting Section
Division of Elections Allegheny County
542 Forbes Ave., Room 601
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-2953
 

All completed Absentee Ballots must be returned to the office of the Elections Division by Friday, November 1st.

SaveNASchools has endorsed four school board candidates running in the November 5th general election.  To read their bios and learn more about their platform, please go to www.movenaforward.com.

Election card2

North Allegheny Patch
Marketing Research Director, NA Parent, Seeks Seat on North Allegheny School Board

Richard Cook, North Allegheny Patch

“Kevin Mahler is running in a special election for a two-year seat on the board.”

Click here to link to the complete article.

Post-Gazette.com

The North Allegheny School District will seek input from parent focus groups before redistricting elementary and middle school students.

The redistricting, the third in 20 years, will take effect for the 2014-15 school year.

Administrators provided a timeline and parameters to school board members at their Sept. 25 board meeting.

To read more, click here.