I wonder if it ever occurred to Daveyboy that if Miss Clairol is really serious about seeking a higher office, and really expects to attain it, the first thing (assuming she uses a "real" campaign advisor) she will be advised to do is jettison the loon. She will be told to keep him far far far away from herself and anything to do with the campaign.She would also be advised to keep her spawn muzzled and out of public sight for the duration of her run. So basically the two "boys" have been actively participating in putting themselves out to pasture, by their helping the Clairol Queen in her self-serving activities. Ironic, not to mention, really funny when you think about it!!

-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters at 09:50, 2008-02-02

lol lol

I almost deserved (and provoked) all of my bannings from dd.com - but that one takes the cake. The guy got banned for LIKING the work done on Providence Square? WTF is that all about? The best thing is that he's right! The place has been cleaned up and is looking better. Sure there's more to do, but you have to start somewhere. How many times can Joe keep jumping the shark?

Lus,

You see, if someone like Rational Thought likes something done in the city recently, then they run counter to the Official Pilchesky Dogma (OPD) that Scranton is in ruins and it's all the fault of Mayor Doherty. According to OPD, everything in Scranton is in horrible condition and it's all Chris Doherty's fault....even things like fires, the very unfortunate death a a fireman, and snowstorms are his fault.

Think of it this way: requiring that everything be bad saves Pilchesky's minions the trouble of having to think and evaluate for themselves. This is also why he attracts people like Fay 'Foam at the Mouth' Franus...some folks are hard-wired to think this way about everything. Fay's face would break if she ever had to crack a smile.

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

Agamemnon wrote:

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[I don't know about "last time", but a better example of Gary's tentency to be too wishy-washy were his votes back in School Board days to keep West Scranton HS open. Now we have a new high school, Scranton, that is at capacity (but could have been built larger) and another, West, with a dwindling enrollment...all because Gary didn't want to upsete the west-side homies.]

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I've noticed from a few different forums that you like to bash the fact that West HS remained open. What I would like to know is, why do you think that ONE high school for a city of about 75,000 residents is a good idea? Would you honestly want to send your kid to a school that would be so enormous that your kid would be more likely a number rather than a name? I grew up outside of Scranton, but when i was looking to buy a home for my family, the only part of Scranton I was willing to move to was West Side, and one of the main reasons is the schools. Scranton HS, for one, is too big, and also draws students from some of the worst sections of the city. The sense of community in West Side is much greater than in the rest of the city. I would definitely be one less person paying taxes and keeping a decent home in this city if the high schools were merged into one. Personally, I think they should have kept 3 high schools open in the city. Wilkes-Barre, which has nearly half the population of Scranton, supports 3 high schools. Smaller schools are more conducive to learning....which is another reason I wanted to raise my kids here. One advantage to the Scranton school district is the small neighborhood elementary schools. So far, our experience with our son's elementary school has been great...much better than the larger grade schools in the districts outside the city. We're on a first name basis with the principal, teachers, and know most of the other parents...which doesn't tend to happen in large mega-schools.

So why is it that you think that a city this size should only have one high school? And if Scranton high school is so overcrowded now, what makes you think it could absorb the approximately 900 students from West Side. There may be some underutilized space at West HS, but with Scranton HS bursting at the seams, what will probably happen is that parts of North Scranton will attend West once again. Which would be a good solution as far as I'm concerned.

IHavehadenoughofhaters wrote:

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As long as you are willing to pay the cost of that system then that is fine. I had a problem with those who wanted the smaller/more school buildings set-up but wanted to pay the taxes of a larger/less school buildings set-up. Everything has a cost.
As a thought for you to mull over (not to argue just for thought and discussion) how do you feel your children will adjust to college after spending their 4 high school years in a small (akin to a private school student/teacher ratio)school. Mine attended Scranton and still found the vast numbers of students at college very overwhelming.

-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters at 08:36, 2008-02-20

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And I am willing to pay the higher taxes to support that system, since in Scranton, we do pay a full 1% wage taz to the SSD, while in surrounding districts, they only pay 0.5% wage tax to their school districts. Our school property tax is about the same as most other districts, so in the end we do pay a little more. Plus, with the neighborhood schools, we do save a lot on bussing compared to surrounding districts with fewer schools. Although I do have a major problem with the fact that SSD does not bus high school students....how do they expect a kid who doesn't have a car or drivers license to get to school....say a kid from Minooka who has to get to SHS or a kid from West Mountain who has to get to WSHS.
As far as adjusting to college, they will be fine. Its not as if West HS is a small Amish schoolhouse with 10 kids or something. Its still larger than my alma mater, Valley View, and I adjusted to college just fine.

LusOnlyVoice wrote:

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:::::So why is it that you think that a city this size should only have one high school? And if Scranton high school is so overcrowded now, what makes you think it could absorb the approximately 900 students from West Side. There may be some underutilized space at West HS, but with Scranton HS bursting at the seams, what will probably happen is that parts of North Scranton will attend West once again. Which would be a good solution as far as I'm concerned. :::::



Bill ... I understand that you think a good solution would be to have the children from NS attend WSHS ... but I don't think that's right or even fair. As someone who has been living in NS for the better part of my life ... I have to say that I do not believe that it is the children of NS that should attend WSHS ... if there is to be a new boundary drawn up ... I think that it should be the children of SS and Minooka that should have the boundaries realigned.

NS has been shoved around as far as school closing going back to the 1960's ... and I for one would be at every meeting opposing the move of these children to WSHS and I know for a fact that I would not be alone.

Why should our children bypass one school to get to another? It makes absolutely no sense.

This is just my opinion but the children of NS should remain at SHS. And hopefully all of NS will fight for this right for our children!

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I see where you're coming from. Because esentially I would fight tooth and nail to NOT have South Side attend WSHS....for selfish reasons of course....I wouldn't want my kids attending school with the criminal element that has taken over South Side. Not that West Side doesn't have its bad parts, but its nowhere near the level of the lower part of South Side and the projects like Valley View and Skyview. But as far as North Scranton kids attending West, I don't believe it was all of North Scranton.....just the parts that are closest to West Side.

Bill,

Sorry for not responding until now...I've been away on business and this time I didn't feel like lugging around laptops. Anyway, here is your post and my responses [dark red brackets]...enjoy.


I've noticed from a few different forums that you like to bash the fact that West HS remained open. ["Bash" is a strong word, but so be it.] What I would like to know is, why do you think that ONE high school for a city of about 75,000 residents is a good idea? [Note...That's only part of my issue here. More so than the notion of just one school is the REASON why West was kept open...namely for political and personal expediency for Gary DiBileo. Quite simply, I'd believe that Gary's position on West had far more to do with pandering than it does with education.] Would you honestly want to send your kid to a school that would be so enormous that your kid would be more likely a number rather than a name? [I'll take your bait...I had one daughter already graduate from SHS and I have others attending there now. I don't have a problem with the size of the school...now or if it were 700 or so students larger. In fact, the size of SHS allows for more opportunities...and I say this having attending a very small school myself...the former Bishop Hannan.] I grew up outside of Scranton, but when i was looking to buy a home for my family, the only part of Scranton I was willing to move to was West Side, and one of the main reasons is the schools. Scranton HS, for one, is too big, [Fair enough and that's a reasonable thought; but it's no more reasonable than thinking a larger school has benefits as well.] and also draws students from some of the worst sections of the city. The sense of community in West Side is much greater than in the rest of the city. [In some respects I agree with that point, but "sense of community" can also transate to an "us" vs. "them" attitude that I think Gary's position exemplified.] I would definitely be one less person paying taxes and keeping a decent home in this city if the high schools were merged into one. Personally, I think they should have kept 3 high schools open in the city. Wilkes-Barre, which has nearly half the population of Scranton, supports 3 high schools. Smaller schools are more conducive to learning....which is another reason I wanted to raise my kids here. [I think an opposing point could be argued as well, but that wasn't the point of my posts in the first place.] One advantage to the Scranton school district is the small neighborhood elementary schools. So far, our experience with our son's elementary school has been great...much better than the larger grade schools in the districts outside the city. We're on a first name basis with the principal, teachers, and know most of the other parents...which doesn't tend to happen in large mega-schools. [All of my children have attended/are attending SHS and most of their teachers know myself and my wife; the fact that the teachers of your children know you may also have to do with the fact that your are an engaged parent who cares...not exclusively because of the school size. Put another way, I think either a large or a small school can work for students...but a lot depends on the parents and teachers are individuals. Having three children in the district in both large and small schools, I've encountered bad teachers in small schools a well.]

So why is it that you think that a city this size should only have one high school? [I don't think I explained my rationale very well in some prior posts, so here goes: My point is that Gary made a decision to support the new SHS only if West were kept open; again, it's my personal opinion that this position had more to do with his political career than anything else...he should have supported the new SHS without any strings attached...again, my opinion. This is simply one example where Gary has been "wishy-washy", again in my opinion...and for the record, as a person I think Gary is a great guy and terrific insurance agent.] And if Scranton high school is so overcrowded now, what makes you think it could absorb the approximately 900 students from West Side. [It was going to be built to accomodate the extra students, but that was torpedoed in part by Gary.] There may be some underutilized space at West HS, but with Scranton HS bursting at the seams, what will probably happen is that parts of North Scranton will attend West once again. [See my comment, below.*] Which would be a good solution as far as I'm concerned. [So forcing students from North Scranton to attend an older facility...when they could attend a modern facility...is a good solution? What if those parents wanted their children to attend Scranton HS?]



(*) Here's an ENORMOUS issue for me on this topic Bill: I accept that fact that people in West Scranton may want their "own" school, but why should students in other sections of Scranton be FORCED to attend West simply to accomodate that desire? I want my children, who do not reside in West Scranton, to attend Scranton HS because it is a terrific facility staffed by excellent teachers (for example, there is no better music teacher on the planet than Ms Amabile...Ms Sack is an outstanding English teacher...and I could go on). I would be very pissed off if my kids were forced to attend West HS simply because some folks in West Scranton to keep that facility open. So while I understand your desire as a West Scranton resident to have your own High School, I don't think that supercedes the rights of others to make similar choices.





-- Edited by Agamemnon at 19:00, 2008-02-21

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

LusOnlyVoice wrote:

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Ditto Ag ... What you said ... we in NS should not be forced to pass a brand new facility to take our children to an antique ... sorry but that is how we in NS feel ... we have been getting the crappy end of the stick since the 60's ... with school closings and now to make the West siders happy we should have to send our children to an old building to keep the happy ... No Way!

How about we do this ... any students who attend SHS that live in the boundaries of WSHS ... should be made to go back to that old building that all of WS fought to keep open! Believe me ... we have some students at SHS that are from WS.

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I'm sure there are very few West Siders going to SHS. Most people here do not want their kids in school with the South Side/Hill Section criminal element. However, there are plenty of kids at West and at West Side elementary schools from South Side and other parts of the city that received boundary exceptions because their parents didn't want them going to schools like McNichols, South Intermediate, NE Intermediate,SHS, etc. My wife was from South Side and got a boundary exception to go to West when she was in school.

I was also going to point out another major negative to Scranton HS in that you have Janet Evans for a teacher, but then I remembered that West Side is stuck with Chris Evans, so I guess that's a draw.

Like I said, Scranton HS may have the nice modern building, but to me, education is more than the building. And Scranton High is quickly resembling an inner-(big)city school. There's too much of an out-of-town bad element coming in. The sad part is, a little of that element is starting to filter over to West Side too. If that keeps up, my kids may be at Holy Cross by the time they get to high school.

LOL LOL That was really funny Bill. LOL LOL They are like roaches. They say once one of them gets in no matter what you do you can't get rid of them and they seem to multiply very quickly. LOL LOL

Ok, since housing projects have come into thread...

I DID grow up in a housing project...Midtown Apartements to be exact. We moved in when I was a kid, shortly after they were opened. I don't live in one now...in fact, all of my brothers and I own houses. I now live in South Scranton, in a very nice area r (close to Judy Gatelli actually), but near Hilltop. Does that bother me? No. People are people. There are good, hard-working people in housing projects, but there are less than good hard-working people as well. Criminal element? Some of the worst "criminals" I have ever met were people who were very well off financially. Anyone who has ever worked in financial services can testify to that fact.

Live and let live I say. I don't judge people based on where they live, as I was judged that way as a kid. As a kid, I was ashamed of where I lived; now I am not...I now realize that my mother was doing the best she could, and a part of whatever success I have now is because of growing up when and where I did. In fact, growing up there taught me how to get along with people who are not like me...be it racially, religiously, or otherwise. So while idiots like Anti crow at DD about downtrodden poor whites and black people...while they themselves have probably never stepped outside of their nice middle class environment...some of us actually were in those situations. In other words, I can far better respect an on honest opinion like Bill's, as opposed to what I would call a "limousine liberal" attitude as expressed by that swine Anti.

Anyway, while I respect Bill's opinion about where to send his kids...who could ever fault a parent for wanting the best for their kids...I don't agree with the criminal element stuff. But hey, this isn't Communist China or DohertyDeceit, so we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

His Girl Thursday wrote:

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::: ... but in NS I grew up near one and I have to say that some of the best people that I know and knew throughout my life were the families that lived in Bangor Heights Housing Project. ... :::

Lus, I am going to step out on a limb and say that you are not 22 or 23 years old. If you are my age (coughcoughpushingfiftycoughcough) many people you knew when you were a child/teen, no matter where you lived, at least had a modicum of respect for where they lived, for their parents and for their teachers and authority figures. We were taught to be 'good people', mostly by parental or authoritative example.

Yes, we were able to stay out til the street lights came on, and our parents knew we were safe in our neighborhood and that other neighborhood parents would also be watching out for our well-being -- and doling out discipline if need be.

Sure, there were a few kids who just pushed the envelope and were a real nuisance to teachers in school and a bad influence in our parents' eyes. But parents back then actually disciplined their children. God knows every smack to the back of the head I got, I DESERVED.

If some of us got caught "back the tracks" or "down the tunnel" or "back the Cut" at a beer party, we ran from the police but if we got caught we took the consequences - we didn't argue wth the cops and parents - you stood there with your eyes to the ground as your parents chewed your ass out in front of the other kids and parents. Then you went home and the REAL discipline began - we took our lumps - and learned from them.

That doesn't happen these days. Parents don't (or won't) discipline their children. Some of these kids today need a swift kick in the pants - but what we really should do is give the parents a swift kick to the pants to make up for all the ones they should have gotten from THIER parents way back when.

Yeah yeah -- I'll shut up now ...

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I am around that age and grew up across the street from bangor heights. My family never had any problems with anybody from the neighborhood. I dont know why people have this stigma for housing projects. This is not Philly or New York where the projects are unlivable.

As far as Scranton High goes, I think its common knowledge that Scranton High is looked upon as a better school academically by teachers andcollege recruiters. More kids go on to Ivy League schools. Scranton always has better standardized test scores. And If your lucky enough to get into honors or AP classes, then from what I have been told Scranton is definately a beter choice. Dont forget that it is a big school. It gets the worst of the worst from the city but also gets the best of the best. Its really unfair to label it as the school that gets the minorities, like some have hinted at. All in all, its a great city public school where you will come out a well rounded individual.

And I too am sick of north scranton always getting the short end of the stick when it comes to setting new boundaries. From middle school to high school, we get bounced around every few years. North Scranton kids belong at Scranton High.

DaMarvine wrote:

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While we're on the high school subject, it reminded me of when I had Mrs. Evans as a teacher my senior year. It was when she was running for council the first time. She actually passed out voter registrations to the entire class to fill out in front of her if we were of age. Then she collected them. I always thought that was a little shady.

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Shady yes, but also consistent. This is a lady who, while serving on the School Board, just happens to get a full-time teaching position. For those new readers out there, in Scranton it's the School Board who just happen to vote on the teacher hiring eligibility list and on the appointments. So in essence, Ms. Evans used an elected position to get herself a full-time job. Oh, and her son is a teacher too...and the DD dolts complain about nepotism by others????

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

Welcome to our forum DaMarvine ... please read and adhere to the rules of conduct!

Happy Posting!