Local Asides and Updates - Play Nice

There are plenty of little issues swirling around the area this week that garnered more than the average amount of my attention span. Rather than dive into one and try to flesh it out for all it’s worth (as has been my usual recent practice), I thought I’d just list them here. All have a common theme.

Gridiron Glory and Life Lessons

There will likely be a little more public and media attention as Quaker Valley’s football squad takes the field vs. Carlynton tonight in Leetsdale. The Cougars’ first year head coach, Mauro Monz, resigned earlier this week after his team encountered significant hardships over the first three games of the season. Mr. Monz cited his concerns over player safety after several were lost to injury, dropping his roster to 23 players.

Coach Monz, who has been an assistant coach in many area college football programs, also cited the team’s move up from Class A to AA this season, after male enrollment at the high school creeped just over the PIAA cutoff for Class A. This makes Carlynton the smallest school statewide in Class AA.

The coach has been roundly criticized for this move. Tribune-Review columnist Kevin Gorman got down to the basics about it -

Quitting has become a problem permeating WPIAL football. Wilkinsburg had four players quit at halftime of its 86-0 loss to Clairton on Sept. 5. For a head coach to do the same sends the wrong message. Sports are supposed to teach us life lessons. First and foremost, that quitting isn’t an option.

Mr. Gorman embellished his remarks in a post the next day, recognizing Coach Monz as “a good football coach” despite throwing in the towel when other coaches have endured what Mr. Gorman felt were greater hardships.

His post also included a picture of Steeler wide receiver Derek Moye addressing the Carlynton team. This is significant in that Carlynton counts Bill Cowher among its football-playing alumni. Carlynton High Principal Michael Loughren, in a statement to KDKA, tried to put the most positive spin he could on the situation.

I believe that Coach Monz could have done better by his kids, but I also believe that his actions bring to light a disturbing trend surrounding high school athletics. They receive far too much media attention. Too much hype equals expectations that can be unreasonable, perhaps even negating the positive impact of some of those life lessons.

In any event, Go Quakers - Don’t underestimate them, and play nice.

My Charter School Ate My School District

Propel Charter Schools wants to open what will eventually be an 800-student school, eventually serving all grade levels, in the Sto-Rox School District. According to a Post-Gazette report, total enrollment in Sto-Rox schools is around 1400.

Considering the demographic of Sto-Rox and districts like it - struggling post-industrial tax base, stagnant or declining enrollment, and financial challenges related to these - it isn’t surprising that the district is trying to fight this expansion. Their solicitor equates the charter school’s establishment as “death blows” to the district.

If you follow the media reports about other school districts in the county, such as Wilkinsburg and Duquesne, and the various struggles they are engaged in to survive, I’m wondering why these districts along with Sto-Rox just won’t recognize that they may be outmatched in their efforts to provide a quality educational experience.

Some districts saw the handwriting on the wall and acted, or are in the process of acting - Monaca’s merger with Center Area to form Central Valley, and Cornell entertaining a merge offer from Moon Area are examples of this.

Cornell appears to be a healthy district that cooperates with other districts to allow its students quality opportunities in both athletics and academics. Cornell seems to have a realistic approach toward the future viability of their district, while maintaining a sense of identity and pride - despite the fact that the district doesn’t have a football team. They’re rooting for the Quakers tonight as well.

I’m trying to imagine what it must be like to be Sto-Rox in this situation, especially with the confounding nature of the way charter schools exist. I have to pay them to educate students that would otherwise attend my schools. They operate with what may be a more efficient business model than I do. They may indeed be the death of me - what do I do? Perhaps they will need to play nice with neighboring districts, like Cornell is.

As it happens, I am living something like this, only in a different arena. More about this in a future post.

Sto-Rox, along with other small struggling districts, may need an exit strategy. Distressed and/or miniscule municipalities in our area should take note.

North Allegheny - The Road Not Taken

The Post-Gazette reported Wednesday that the North Allegheny School District looked carefully at the pros and cons of dealing with Highmark and UPMC, considering that their current health benefits provider is Highmark and there are two UPMC hospitals in immediate proximity to their district.

When faced with the choice of the region’s two feuding health giants, they chose the road less traveled by - United Healthcare. The P-G story cited lesser premium increases in 2015 by this insurer over that which were forecast by Highmark.

Hopefully service provision won’t suffer - according to my doctor, insurers such as United, Cigna, and Aetna require a lot more authorizations for diagnostic testing than the local big guys.

Not wanting to leave its employees in a lurch by denying them affordable access to as many providers as possible, NA appears to have made a wise choice. I think that Robert Frost would approve.

If it works, perhaps more business groups can send a much-needed message to both UPMC and Highmark - Play nice...or else.

Progress on the “Tacky Buzzer”

In the “play nice” department, it’s good to conclude on a positive note. This week’s Sewickley Herald and the Sewickley Fire Horn Petition site both contained positive information about the manner in which the horn is utilized in the age of improved notification technologies, a subject that I covered in July.

In both accounts, Cochran Hose Chief Jeff Neff was reluctant to elaborate about exactly what hours the horn will sound and when it will not, although the Herald reported that “the horn still will function during business hours”.

I’m not an expert on updating this type of technology - colleagues have told me that other fire departments have spent thousands to rehabilitate the electronics of old sirens at their stations. Thinking in terms of the simplest possible solution, I’m guessing that a commercial grade programmable timer, similar to this, could be used to allow power to the horn only when desired.

I’ve been in the Village once in recent weeks when the horn went off - on a Sunday morning after church. Whether or not that’s considered “business hours” is not as important as how many firefighters show up when needed, something that Chief Neff has stated he will keep close tabs on.

Those behind the horn petition appear cautiously satisfied with the efforts to make Sewickley that much more of an attractive community, while not compromising the public safety system already in place. It’s nice to see the fruits of respectful discourse, even if the jury is still out on both sides as to whether the fix will be satisfactory to all.

Have a great weekend. Play nice.

The opinions expressed in this weblog are solely my own as an individual and private citizen, and do not represent the opinion or policy of my family, my employer, or any other private or public entity.

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