Forging Innovation: February 2006

Upper St. Clair Kills IB Program

I am sad to say that the Upper St. Clair (USC) School Board has officially killed the International Baccalaureate program in a 5-4 vote. According to the Post Gazette:

Dr. Iracki and other newly elected members of the board expressed opposition to the program on the grounds that it is Marxist, anti-Christian, un-American and too costly.

As a native of USC and an older brother to a student that was participating in the program, I would like to go on the record stating that the decision is an embarrassment to the community and a step backwards for education in the region. I mean seriously, does the rationale of the school board sound like a load of "you-know-what" to anyone else? Marxist? Anti-Christian? un-American? Does this reek of McCarthyism to anyone else?

It amazes me that the esteemed members of the school board have elected to take away a key program that affords their most gifted students an edge in an increasingly competitive college application landscape. It only costs $80K/year. You are telling me the USC cannot afford that? Please.

For those of you that are interested in the issue, there is an interesting conversation on Madison's blog on the topic. I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue as well. Sheesh.

Pittsburgh Event - Mike Madison Attending HELP Meeting this Week

Mike Madison, Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Pittsblog, will be attending the monthly HELP meeting this Tuesday, February 21st, 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Upstairs Room, Doc's, Shadyside. See info below.

Michael Madison is THE hot blogger on entrepreneurship and business development in Pittsburgh. His blog post on the Allegheny Conference a couple of months ago was republished in the Post-Gazette and stirred up lots of discussion. Most of the "movers & shakers" keep a watchful eye on what Mike has to say, as he influences a lot of thought around town.

Mike is really "in tune" with what HELP is working for and is part of our efforts to have quarterly entrepreneurial meetups (see article on the left). Just like last month's meeting with Cori Shropshire, this will be a back and forth session with questions addressed to and from Mike.

It should be an interesting meeting. For those of you that are interested in getting a grassroots perspective on the Pittsburgh economic development scene, I highly recommend that you attend.

Former Allegheny Conference Guru is Blogging!

Harold Miller, the former Allegheny Conference leader and economic development guru, is back- this time on the web. The Post-Gazette recently had a story discussing his new project Pittsburgh's Future. No surprise that Cori Shropshire did the story. She is always deep into this scene. By the way, Cori recently apprised me that somebody actually reads my blog. Who woulda thunk it!?! Hello Natalia - thanks for your support.

Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting Harold last summer when HELP approached them for help (no pun intended) with a new "two-way" portal to accelerate entrepreneurial efforts in the region. This was part of my personal "push" to really understand the economic development scene in the region. Unfortunately, I was not overly thrilled with what I found/experienced. Alas, that is another story, for another time...

Long story short, Harold recently reached out to me and was kind enough to let me know that he recently moved into to Pittsburgh's corner of the blogosphere. He is a really smart guy and should have some interesting things to contribute to the discussion. I highly recommend checking out his blog whenever you have a chance.