Viva La Resistance! - Parents Fight Back at USC

According to the Post-Gazette:

A group of 10 Upper St. Clair families filed suit in federal court this morning claiming five members of the school board improperly voted to terminate the International Baccalaureate program in February.

At a news conference at the Upper St. Clair municipal building this morning, Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and lawyers from the firm Schmader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, said the suit claims five board members retaliated against parents, administrators and students who supported IB because they were publicly critical of the board members during the fall election and actively campaigned against them.

Yes! I am glad that there are some folks in USC that have the good sense to fight to save the IB program. Things like this definitely give me hope that Pittsburgh can continue to grow into a more progressive and forward-thinking region. Happy day. Later fan-boys.

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.

Picture Story of Oakland Post Superbowl XL

Pretty.

Pretty crazy.

Pretty Stupid.

You get the picture.

Hot Technology Companies Leveraging Carnegie Mellon

Google has recently been added to the list of technology power-houses that have set up shop in Pittsburgh in order to leverage the top-flight talent and ideas out of Carnegie Mellon University.

Creating and commercializing innovation is the key to creating a self-sustaining economy. By putting together leading academic researchers from places like Carnegie Mellon and Pitt with private sector firms, the probability of creating commercially viable research technologies goes up tremendously. Not only will this fuel innovation, but they create jobs. It is also estimated that Google's move will result in 100+ new jobs in Pittsburgh. Not bad eh?

This is definitely a step in the right direction. I applaud CMU for making it happen and hope that we continue to make it easier for high-technology companies to come to Pittsburgh and build our economy.

Pittsburgh Boom?

I recently stumbled upon an article in the Post Gazette discussing the burgeoning real estate market in Pittsburgh. According to the author, "the Pittsburgh region is on the verge of another building boom, with more than $3 billion in projects underway or ready to break ground." Oddly enough, in the same sitting I also read an article discussing how entrepreneurs have tended to favor "college towns." That is particularly interesting given the recent post on the HELP blog, as well as my own post regarding creating a research-oriented, college town, focus to economic development in Pittsburgh. Maybe with a couple smart moves by our community leaders, we could bolster the growth spurt associated with real estate and advance projects that contribute to the development of a region driven by academic innovation.