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  1. New life proposed for former South Hills High School

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Jeremy Boren
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, April 19, 2007

    The former South Hills High School soon could be given new life after sitting dormant for 20 years in the heart of a Mt. Washington residential neighborhood.

    “It’s been a white elephant for a long time,” said Mt. Washington resident Virginia Gates, a 1959 graduate of the school, which was built in 1916 and closed in 1986. “You can see from the sheer size of it what an impact its (revival) is going to have on the whole community.”

    North Shore-based developer a.m. Rodriguez Associates Inc. has prepared a $20 million redevelopment plan to build 84 one- and two-bedroom apartments and 25 two-bedroom, market-rate rental lofts in the building.

    The apartments would be marketed to senior citizens. The first floor could have more than 10,000 square feet of commercial space and a health center.

    Room for off-street parking should be plentiful once the developer removes three sections of the mammoth building to bring its size to 155,000 square feet.

    “In terms of why it’s important to bring this building back, it’s a huge building that at one time was a landmark and center of activity for that community,” said Tom Link, manager of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s business development center. The URA has targeted the school for redevelopment.

    Gates, chairwoman of the South Hills High School committee, believes the renovation project will boost property values around the site and drive out drug dealers and vandals.

    Link and Gates said many developers have tried over the past 20 years to devise ways to renovate the building, but none has come as far as Rodriguez Associates.

    Victor Rodriguez said his company has applied for $12 million in tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. If those credits come through in September, an estimated 15 months of construction could begin as soon as June 2008.

    “There’s a great market for this up there, especially for seniors,” he said.

    Ethan Raup, executive director of the Mt. Washington Community Development Corp., credited Gates and the URA for helping to persuade the building’s owner — Pittsburgh Public Schools — to make the property more enticing to developers by removing asbestos, adding a new roof and doing other renovations.

    “To me, it’s going from having an enormous dead space in the middle of a residential community to injecting it with new life,” Raup said.

    Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.

  2. Old school deserves historic status

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteJILL HENKEL
    Letter to the Editor
    Pittsburgh Post Gazette
    Turtle Creek
    Thursday, March 22, 2007

    On March 13, 2007, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Bureau for Historic Preservation in Harrisburg held a meeting to review the nomination of the former Turtle Creek High School to the National Register of Historic Places.

    In order for a property to be considered for nomination, certain criteria need to be met. The property should be at least 50 years old, should be associated with events that have made a contribution to the broad patterns of our history, or be associated with the lives of persons significant to our past, or should embody a type, period, or method of construction.

    The former Turtle Creek High School, now Woodland Hills’ East Junior High School, meets these criteria. I was fortunate to be able to speak on behalf of the nomination, which is the result of countless hours of research by dedicated volunteers. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation offered its invaluable resources to help bring the nomination to fruition.

    Also attending the nomination meeting were Woodland Hills school board President Cynthia Lowery and Superintendent Dr. Roslynne Wilson.

    While I spoke in favor of the nomination, Mrs. Lowery asked the bureau to deny it! She spoke of a declining tax base in the Woodland Hills School District, and of not wanting to further burden the taxpayers therein by asking them to financially support two junior high schools.

    Mrs. Lowery stated that she would like to close East. But if she truly has the taxpayers’ best interests at heart, she should be in favor of the nomination.

    Owners of properties listed in the National Register may be eligible for a 20 percent investment tax credit for the certified rehabilitation of income-producing certified historic structures.

    This [and available tax deductions and grants] would make the former high school very attractive to potential new owners.

    If the school district wants to divest itself of this property, this building needs to be maintained accordingly. There are still costs associated with the day-to-day maintenance of a shuttered building. The school board speaks of an annual savings of more than $900,000 by closing East. Those costs will hardly drop to zero if that plan is carried through.

    Mrs. Lowery spoke to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission of meeting opposition when plans for tearing down East and building a new multimillion-dollar school on the site were disclosed. Where was her concern for the fiscal burden on the taxpayer when that plan was formulated?

    Mrs. Lowery stated to school board Vice President Marilyn Messina at the March 14 school board meeting that she attended the meeting in Harrisburg as a private citizen, which is untrue. She pointedly identified herself as the president of the Woodland Hills school board. One has to assume that she spoke as the president of the school board when she said, and I quote: “that the residents of Turtle Creek have been angry for 25 years because the merger forced them to desegregate.” She feels that that is the real motivation behind seeking the nomination to the National Register. I felt compelled to speak again in rebuttal. I stated in no uncertain terms the outrage that I felt at the suggestion that my fellow residents and I are racists carrying a 25-year grudge.

    Despite Mrs. Lowery’s objections, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Bureau for Historic Preservation unanimously voted that the former Turtle Creek High School be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

    I’m sure that I speak for many concerned parents and taxpayers when I ask what Mrs. Lowery’s real motivation is.

    JILL HENKEL

    Turtle Creek

  3. Woodland Hills school closing OK’d

    Pittsburgh Post GazettePittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Thursday, March 15, 2007

    Before a standing-room only crowd last night, the Woodland Hills school board voted to begin the process of closing East Junior High School in Turtle Creek.

    The vote was 6-1, with board member Robert Tomasic dissenting.

    Under the plan, the 280 students at East Junior would attend school with the district’s other middle school students, at a location yet to be determined, at the start of the 2008-09 school year.

    A hearing on the closing will take place in May. A final vote will be taken within three months after the hearing.

    “It has to be done,” said board President Cynthia Lowery of the school closing. “We cannot afford to keep partially filled buildings open. The closing would save us $900,000 yearly in our operating budget.”

    Superintendent Roslynne Wilson favors closing East, saying it “makes sense educationally and financially.”

  4. Moving pupils first step to closing school in Woodland Hills

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteBy M. Ferguson Tinsley,
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Thursday, March 15, 2007

    Last night, the Woodland Hills school board was to decide whether to start the controversial process of closing East Junior High School.

    In conjunction with that, they were beginning to think about remodeling West Junior in Swissvale and transferring up to 350 seventh- and eighth-graders from East to West by the 2008-2009 school year.

    At an agenda meeting on March 7, Superintendent Roslynne Wilson said the closing would consolidate staff and administration and would ensure educational consistency. Further, joining the schools would foster a healthier sense of competition, which heretofore the small population at East has not known.

    She also said the district would save $986,151.

    Under the plan, about 750 pupils would attend West in 2008-09, according to state enrollment projections. West, about 126,500 square feet in dimension, was built in 1978. In the past, the school has housed more than 900 pupils.

    Still, the new setup would require extensive renovations, especially to the cafeteria and other classrooms, she said. “It’s going to cost at least $5 million.”

    The new configuration would keep seventh-graders on lower floors and eighth-graders on the upper, Dr. Wilson said. The only time seventh-graders would go upstairs would be to visit the library, she added.

    Board members William Driscoll and Robert J. Tomasic had concerns about the plan.

    Dr. Driscoll said he did not want to see each classroom stuffed with up to 28 pupils.

    “I would like to know how many sections we’ll need,” he emphasized. “I did divide by 25,” Dr. Wilson replied.

    Mr. Tomasic said he would not vote for any move unless West is equipped with video cameras throughout.

    A West pupil who attended the agenda meeting said the school is already bursting at the seams.

    “Right now we are standing outside for 15 to 20 minutes … in the morning … to go through the metal detectors,” said Amanda Stumme, 13, of Wilkins. “The halls are packed. It’s really hard to get from class to class. People are bumping into each other and people are fighting because they’re mad at each other about it.”

    At the end of the discussion, Bob Mock, a Turtle Creek resident who has vociferously opposed closing East, asked the board: “What are you going to do with the closed building?” Mr. Mock is an alumnus of the old Turtle Creek High School, which became East Junior High.

    State law requires the district to hold a public hearing at least three months before deciding to close the school. A notice of the hearing must be advertised 15 days before the hearing is held. The vote last night was a small first step in the process.

    In other business, the board:

    heard David Johnston, the pupil services director, present information on the Student Assistance Program.

    The SAP is administered by the state Department of Education’s Division of Student and Safe School Services to assist school staff in identifying drug use or emotional and mental health troubles affecting student performance, according to the state Web site, www.pde.state.pa.us.

    Mr. Johnson said 177 high school students were referred to SAP this school year.

    By March 2, unacceptable behavior sparked 60 percent of referrals; 31 percent resulted from poor academics. Drug and alcohol abuse spawned 17 referrals. Ninety percent of the referrals were staff-initiated, 1 percent parent-sought.

    unanimously voted to adopt a resolution asking voters in the May primary if they favor the “district imposing an additional 0.7 percent earned income tax.”

    The increase would take the tax from 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent, which would fund a minimum homestead/farmstead exclusion of $405 for those who qualify.

    Board Member Randy Lott was absent.

  5. Turtle Creek may lose junior high

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Daveen Rae Kurutz
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, March 15, 2007

    Two months after rejecting a consolidation plan that would have closed three schools, the Woodland Hills School Board Wednesday night took steps to close East Junior High School in Turtle Creek.
    The board cited declining enrollment and a deteriorating building for the move, which is expected to save the district about $748,000.

    “The process will result in establishing the Woodland Hills Middle School for all seventh- and eighth-grade students in the district for the 2008-2009 school year,” according to the motion that was approved by a 6-1 vote. Robert Tomasic cast the lone dissenting vote. Dr. Randy Lott and Fred Kuhn were absent.

    Public hearings will be scheduled on the proposal. A final vote could come in August.

    “It’s not a done deal when you begin a process. We want to get the facts. If I don’t like it, I am not going to vote for it,” said board vice president Marilyn Messina.
    If the school is closed, the nearly 290 seventh- and eighth-graders at East Junior High School would attend West Junior High School in Swissvale. Based on the district’s enrollment this year, about 750 students would attend West Junior High School.

    An architect will do a comparison of the costs of renovating West Junior High School and the cost of constructing a new building.

    “The decision made by this board tonight in this economically challenging time will not be particularly popular or happy or easy,” said Cindy Leone, of Edgewood, who has three children enrolled in the school district.

    The proposal to close only East Junior High School arose after a comprehensive school consolidation plan designed by Superintendent Roslynne Wilson was rejected by a 6-3 vote at the Jan. 10 school board meeting because of significant opposition from parents.

    The original plan would have closed Shaffer Primary School in Churchill, Rankin Intermediate School in Rankin and East Junior High School by the start of the 2009-10 school year. The closings would have begun with Shaffer Primary at the end of this school year.

    Parents packed the January meeting, concerned that the closings were being rushed and that too many students would be in one school.

    Daveen Rae Kurutz can be reached at dkurutz@tribweb.com or 412-380-5627.

  6. Retiree’s volunteer efforts put her on right track at History & Landmarks

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Sandra Fischione Donovan
    FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Sunday, February 25, 2007

    Judith Harvey lives in a historic house in Fineview, so she is a history buff by association. When she retired and was looking for a channel for her unbounded energy, it seemed natural for her to volunteer in 2001 for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
    The association proved fortuitous for both. The former librarian, who retired from the Baldwin-Whitehall School District after 35 years of teaching and doing library work in public schools, was in the foundation offices when she saw boxes full of railroad memorabilia collected by the late Frank B. Fairbanks, of South Park.

    Undaunted by the prospect, the peppy, petite and fair-haired Harvey volunteered to catalog it all. Foundation officials agreed.

    Some of the tasks, such as putting thousands of railroad tickets in separate plastic sleeves, would take her years. But Harvey patiently did that and even computerized the collection.

    “She’s a remarkable woman,” says Albert Tannler, the foundation’s historical collections director.
    “Because of her meticulous volunteer work, we were able to open it to the public,” says Louise Sturgess, PH&LF executive director.

    “Her ability to organize a massive amount of information and present it to the public in a pleasing way is amazing,” Sturgess says.

    The Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive opened last month at the History & Landmarks offices in Station Square. And Harvey has a new title: railroad librarian. She works at the archive one day a week.

    Though she wasn’t a railroad buff to begin with, having gone through every tiny detail of Fairbanks’ collection has enabled Harvey to glean much about railroads and the people that love them.

    “A rail buff can tell you how many repeat miles he’s traveled, but the real number is how many new miles you’ve traveled,” Harvey says. “If a rail line is reconfigured — oh, the joy of adding a tenth of a mile.”

    As Fairbanks traveled, the chief executive officer of Stowe-based Horix Manufacturing Corp. not only noted his rail miles, he collected timetables and rail orders for engineers, handfuls of swizzle sticks railroads gave out to patrons to stir martinis and playing cards available in club cars, among many other items.

    His collection lay in boxes in his South Park home until he met Jack Miller, History & Landmarks director of planned giving. Fairbanks subsequently donated part of his collection to the foundation, along with a $10,000 endowment to maintain it.

    “We wouldn’t have taken it if it didn’t come with an endowment,” Tannler says.

    After Fairbanks died in 2005 at age 74, his widow donated the rest of his extensive collection to History & Landmarks.

    “The strengths and weaknesses of a private collection are evident in this,” says Harvey. “When you’re dealing with a private collection, you’re taking what they collected” for their own immediate goals.

    Harvey says rail buffs will be thrilled with the collection, which includes official railroad timetables ranging from the 1800s until 1976; train orders engineers used for each trip; reference books on railroads; slides Fairbanks took and all those tickets.

    A sign in the archive notes that Fairbanks was “clearly recognized as the third-ranking American with the most route miles traveled,” and was most likely the third-ranking such person in the world. He traveled 156,993.81 new miles and 7,841.47 duplicate miles.

    The maps Fairbanks collected are Harvey’s favorite items. She has placed them in Mylar covers so researchers can readily handle them. “I’m not a hands-off librarian,” she says.

    “Nothing was dirty or torn. He was very respectful of what he had,” Harvey says.

    Tribune-Review Publisher Richard M. Scaife was impressed enough with the collection on a recent visit to ask Harvey whether she wanted several metal railroad signs he owned for the archive.

    “You never ask a librarian if she wants anything,” Harvey says with a smile, pointing to the signs, which are now in the collection. Each red metal sign marked a different rail line for engineers.

    The archive is in a sunny room with tall windows facing the Monongahela River. New and antique furniture is arranged for reading, research and perusal of railroad objects.

    Hours for the collection are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesdays by appointment, so that Harvey is sure to be on hand to guide visitors through the collection. Members may use the archive for free; nonmembers pay a fee of $10 for three consecutive visits.

    “It has a lot of information that will be very important,” Tannler says. “People who know railroads feel that we have an asset.”

    Sturgess says the transportation collection has further established the foundation’s archives, including its James D. Van Trump Library of regional architectural history, as a “top-notch collection” of historical resources.

    “I am very happy at Landmarks, and hope to be able to serve those interested in railroad materials for a long time to come,” Harvey says. “I count it a privilege to do this for pay. I count the days till I come in the next time.”

    People who wish to use the Frank B. Fairbanks Jr. Railroad Collection may call the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation on Wednesdays to make an appointment with Judith Harvey at 412-471-5808, ext. 542, or e-mail fairbanksarchives@phlf.org.

  7. Turtle Creek Mayor to School District: Redistrict; don’t consolidate junior highs

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteBy ADAM R. FORGIE
    Mayor, Turtle Creek
    Thursday, January 25, 2007
    Pittsburgh Post Gazette

    This letter is in response to the comments made by Colleen Filiak, of the Woodland Hills school board, who, at the Jan. 10 board meeting, said the students of East Junior High in Turtle Creek were not receiving the same level of education as a student at West Junior High in Swissvale.

    As an alumnus of Woodland Hills School District who spent my junior high years at East Junior High, as a social studies teacher of six years at East Junior High, and as the mayor of Turtle Creek, I believe I am highly qualified to voice my opinion and express my disappointment in Mrs. Filiak’s comments.

    The children of East Junior High have had and will continue to have an excellent education, which is being taught by a very professional and highly qualified staff. The opportunities and curricula being taught are the same as what is being taught by my outstanding colleagues at West Junior High. If anything, the learning environment at East is much more conducive to learning because it is a smaller and more controllable student body. Consolidating junior highs will create a chaotic atmosphere that will lower PSSA scores and promote a horrible educational atmosphere.

    I believe the solution is to redistrict 150 students from West to East. This will lighten the load on both the West staff and the borough of Swissvale and, furthermore, equalize the student populations in both schools. Turtle Creek and its citizens also will get to keep their historic, treasured and beautiful high school operational.

    Mrs. Filiak makes me wonder, if I had not gone to East, would I still have ended up just a teacher and mayor? Her comments suggest that if I had gone to West, that I would be a superintendent and our governor.

  8. Parents worried about historic school buildings

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteBy Karamagi Rujumba,
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Thursday, January 11, 2007

    After celebrating a quarter century of growth in Woodland Hills schools, district officials are worried about the next 25 years.

    That’s what lead Superintendent Roslynne Wilson to propose a building consolidation plan that she had hoped would save the district nearly $2.5 million a year.

    The school board last night, though, voted down that proposal as well as a last-minute plan pitched by board member Colleen Filiak that targeted the same three schools — Shaffer Primary, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High schools.

    Their votes were in reaction to district taxpayers’ concerns with the closings.

    In Turtle Creek, school board members and about 40 people from the community met last Thursday night at Palmieri Restaurant to discuss what the school district’s plan would mean to the community.

    Some parents said the superintendent’s plan, in particular, would have lead to the closing and eventual abandonment of historic school buildings in some communities.

    The key question for many district parents and others at the meeting was what the school district would do with buildings such as East Junior High School when it is closed. East Junior formerly was historic Turtle Creek High School, and a group has been working for about two years to prevent it from being razed or having its facade renovated.

    “That building is very important to many of us,” said Robert Mock, of Turtle Creek, who has been trying to save the school.

    “We believe that, if the building is closed, it should be repurposed. What we don’t want to happen is to have the building abandoned,” Mr. Mock said.

    Dr. Wilson told the group that the next quarter century would see a much smaller school district, noting that a number of factors such as Act 72 and Act 1 restrictions, declining enrollment and potential teacher retirements would force the district to trim its size, especially the number of buildings it can maintain in tight budgetary times.

    “This makes an opportune time to consolidate our buildings,” Dr. Wilson said .

    That is why the school district has proposed a three-year building consolidation plan, which would see the closing of three schools in three years: Shaffer, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High School .

    Dr. Wilson said the district’s plan ultimately would save the district about $2.5 million from a reduction in property, personnel and benefits expenses. Without the implementation of the plan or some other cost-saving steps, the district will be faced with some very hard decisions, including possible teacher layoffs, the superintendent said.

    School board President Cynthia Lowery said she supported the building consolidation plan because, if it is not implemented, the district would have to consider making cuts somewhere else in its $80 million budget.

    “We have to stop deficit spending,” Ms. Lowery said. “We have tried to listen to the community about what they want to see, but there will never be a consensus on this issue.”

    (Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at: krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719. )

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Phone: 412-471-5808  |  Fax: 412-471-1633